Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Welcome, Summer!

It's been a quiet month for new designs at San Francisco Stitch Co... mainly because this was happening!


Yes, our daughter graduated with highest honors from Pratt Institute in NYC. This was our family's first graduation in twenty years, since our son graduated from kindergarten, when I realized that child was never, ever going to sit down and so we decided to pull him out for a year and teach him at home until he settled down... which never happened and so we began a sixteen year odyssey of homeschooling which is still my greatest accomplishment and joy.

But it's nice to know that I didn't completely ruin my kids at home... the aforementioned daughter received four awards-- highest honors, Student Worker of the Year, Outstanding Merit in Digital Arts, and Community Service. That's her on the big screen with all the cords!


Of course, I could go on and on about the kids, but here's a few things that did get done in the sewing room this month.


My friends Elaine and Tere and I decided to make a QOV for Memorial Day... Tere picked an Eleanor Burns Quilt-in-a-Day pattern and yes, technically the top was pieced in a day, it just took three people to do it.



Tere did this fantastic feathered quilting... isn't it a show stopper! I have to wonder if this even begins to be the thank you that our service men and women deserve-- all give some, some give all.

xoxo



I still have ten of twelve Frivols tins sitting lonely on a closet shelf-- this is #2, one of my favorites, and I really want it for Fourth of July. It is Minick and Simpson fabric-- they usually come out with red, white, and blue collections, and in my spare time at night, I was able to complete the top. I am just going to so some simple straight line quilting and then it will be all ready for family BBQs-- no sauce allowed on the table!


This is my little cherry quilt, "Mon Cherie." I thought it would be done by the end of April-- I don't know why I thought that, heehee. The border is now free motion quilted with cherry blossoms, leaves, and swirls in the yellow part, and piano keys in the purple part. There is nothing like that straight line, swirly line combination if you are stuck for a quilting idea. 


After quilting, the piece shrank up a half an inch, and I had to complete redo my blue lattice template (you can see it, top right) and re-glue all the lattice-- a setback. I then basted the lattice down to the paper template for stability-- intending to tear it out later. Then, the lattice was cut to the exact size to meet the border, and I zigzagged them together. Now the join gets covered over with more lattice strips as you can see on the left. All of this, despite the setbacks, is giving me immense pleasure in my free time-- if you understand this feeling, you are a true sewist.


We did manage to finish all four Spring Twist blocks... did you get them all for FREE? The corners and borders are digitized but still need to be stitched and then assembled. The June mug rug is next, the the Spring Twist finish, then the Christmas Album finish. One thing at a time for now.




June will be here in time for June! That's always a good thing.

We also finished the first bird of Series Two Cloud Club! This time, we're planning five more birds by the end of 2019, so you can plan a larger layout, or more beautiful singles. We were afraid we'd be a bit rusty after a few months away from birds, but we couldn't be more pleased!

We pulled out this San Francisco Treat for sale over the weekend--



This is a Dungeness Crab... it was one of the first "realistic" designs I did a few years ago, just to test the limits of machine embroidery. Seeing it again, I am still really excited about this work, and it got me thinking that we would do a "Creatures of the Sea" block of the month next year? Comment below!




We hope your summer is off to a block buster start-- it's so nice to have the sunshine and warmth again. But don't forget your embroidery machine!

xoxo

Carol

 Visit the Site