Glasses half full...

 Here we are at the end of January-- I made my lists, fell quickly behind, but in spite of that, I have had a super productive month! 

Sometimes it is more beneficial to write down what you did accomplish, instead of what's missing... so here's my January wrap-up...

1.

I got Once Upon A Time, Winter rolling-- FREE Charm 5 is out today. A secret-- my talented daughter Caroline is drawing these up for me-- did you notice a little stylistic difference? I've been really enjoying the fresh, new color scheme--some of these thread colors were never touched by me-- hee, hee, and it's been challenging and exciting to explore new ways of digitizing that only occur to me now that I am interpreting someone else's drawings.

A case in point-- I never could get a decent poinsettia digitized despite my love of all things Christmas-- I think my brain looks for symmetry, in which the poinsettia is sadly lacking. Presto! She did it. I would never have tucked that gold leaf in there!

Does it occur to us to ask for help when we need it? Just a thought.

So as we work together with this, I also have her drawing up some PEOPLE-- specifically, sewing people--let's see what happens! My skin tone thread assortment will have to be taken out of its preshrunk plastic wrapper for the first time!

2.

Cottages of the Month are ready for assembly! I used my chunk of time theory to spend 4 straight hours trimming them-- my least favorite part. Next week, I am going to schedule in a time chunk to stitch it all up at once-- how long do you think that would take? I'm guessing another four hours. In my quest to quantify the time spent on quilting tasks-- I've noticed after two hours on a single task, it gets very hard for me.

Once it's all together, I promise I'll get a better picture. Another thing I did differently is to use block, sashing, and border fabric that are all quite similar in color. It is subtle and sensational... but just can't be captured by a camera. As an artist, it's always such an exciting feeling to throw away your usual choices and try something new, isn't it?

3.

I mentioned that I want to have four quilts finished this year-- the first one I picked is Laundy Basket Quilts "Alaska." So at the beginning of the month, I wrote in my planner that I would stitch up a set of four blocks every three days-- that ended up being totally unrealistic! Glass half full, glass half full-- I did finish twenty blocks in all-- nothing to sneeze at. Also, these blocks are all made of diamonds-- that's something I haven't done in a while, and there was a bit of a learning curve. I put it aside for a bit, but next week, I am going to give it a huge chunk of time-- maybe even a whole day, and see where I am. I really have till the end of March when I'd like to finish it. It snowed here, so I'm really channeling it!

4.

The more I resolve NOT to do something-- the opposite usually occurs at an accelerated pace. So, NOT starting new projects has NOT happened. I want to try to make a new tablerunner every month this year, so I pulled this out of my closet.

A couple of years ago, I subscribed to Fig Tree Quilts Little Box of Figs subscription-- I got a cute little box each season full of goodies. They're still in my closet. LOL. This was a Valentine's Day edition-- it is a table runner named "Mimosa." I love this pattern-- I'm very partial to checkers.  

So, again, LATE on the January tablerunner of the month, but I'm giving it a chunk of time next week and hope to even finish it. On the plus side, I have a stack of "started" table runners, so other months may get a head start. I still think I can do it! Isn't it great, how hope springs eternal in my heart? Another topic I've been discussing with Caroline this week-- if you have a PASSION for something, do you really need TALENT? I just don't think you do. :-)

6.

Carefree highways-- Maine is done and Colorado is under the needle as soon as I get up. I'm issuing sets of five, and this collection is now going to get time and love-- look for it SOON.

Your turn-- what will you spend a chunk of time on today?

xox

Carol

"Chunks of Time"-- a theory.

    So here we are, two-thirds of the way through January, and I'm already behind on some of the things (but not all) I wanted to sew. This is an update on my current projects-- as well as a theory I intend to put to the test next month about how to MAXIMIZE SEWING PRODUCTIVITY-- it's always a endlessly fascinating topic to me. 

1) Morning handwork-- I'll start with this because I am AHEAD-- I wanted to finish my Baltimore Album applique border by the 15th and got 'er done early-- I'm now back to the Snowman cross stitch. Only one snow person left to go! This could also be done by the end of the month. Feeling confident, I ordered the black tray from Sudberry House it was originally displayed in and you can see, it looks sublime. I was so happy after 23 years to find they still make it! So be encouraged-- pull all those old projects out and finish them up! 

After this, I only have two old cross stitches left-- the House of Hardanger, and the Fruits of the Spirit. If you're a fan of vintage cross stitch kits, I started this WIP odyssey in this blog post and you can see them there: 

Vintage Cross Stitch Projects

2) Alaska Quilt--okay, so my clever new planner is telling me I should be starting Block 8 today. I finished through Block 5. There are four of each, so that's twenty blocks-- nothing to sneeze at. I have enough to complete two rows out of seven. Here it is on my "Design Floor." (clearly we're in need of new carpet-- is this a business expense? Although if the IRS suggested I could have just vacuumed for once, they'd be right.)

 I want to finish four quilts this year-- probably unrealistic, and twelve table runners--complete unrealistic, but I still think I can do it, by trying my new "chunks of time" technique below.

3) Cross stitch cottage finish. While I was stitching the Alaska blocks on my sewing machine, my cross stitch cottage sashings were running on the embroidery machine. So this is truly the zenith of the machine embroidery experience-- yes, you can be sewing two things at once-- a multi-tasking heaven. Thirty-one sashings are done, as well as a restitch of two blocks that weren't the happiest. Now I have a marathon of trimming up and stitching together to do-- and voila-- my first finish of 2021. This is within reach. Soon.

4) Stitches of the Sea-- So-- yes, I have gotten a lot of questions about this, and yes, we are going to close out the twelve blocks and the finishing kit ASAP this year. The octopus is almost done and will be on the site next week. Then we have a tropical fish for February, and a finishing kit ASAP after that. The finishing kits usually have KILLER instructions to write-- be patient. So far, I at least have the idea in my head. I am sincerely sorry this didn't get finished on time-- I didn't know we'd all be trying to survive a worldwide pandemic. Look, ma-- eight arms-- and a zillion suckers!

5) Carefree Highways-- I've been working this along in the background, and we have Maine. Colorado is sketched. Then, as part of the release of five themed to National Parks, we are working on Utah, Wyoming, and Tennessee. I don't have a picture for this-- so I'll give that much away.

6) Coriander Christmas BOM Block 6 came in,  and I got that sewn up almost right away. I needed this BOM like a hole in the head, but I'm really glad I did it. For one thing, it's beautiful. I also really want a Christmas quilt on my bed at the holidays. (Yup, this one is MINE.) This seems to be the right amount of work for me each month-- the "Laugh with Friends" block has 80 pieces, but there's only ONE of them, and it's a hefty 18"x18"--so I'm getting bang for my buck in square footage, too.

So that's SIX active projects for now--I've tried to limit the number of WIPs this year, but this is really as spare as I can be-- there's just too many fun things to do out there.

AND THE THEORY:

Instead of spending a couple hours here, and a couple there, I'm wondering if I just spent a bigger chunk of time on each of these, would it maximize my progress a bit better? In thinking it through, a lot of time may be getting wasted by putting away, taking out, figuring out where I was... 

At the same time, creative work definitely needs marination time-- for instance, could I have given a month last year to JUST doing the entire Stitches of the Sea quilt-- and the answer, for me, is definitely NO-- I would have drowned. Something more repetitive like Alaska could see quite a bit of progress if it just got a few hours one day-- maybe I could even catch up to my made up schedule. 

I intend to put this to the test in the next couple of weeks-- and I will absolutely share my findings... I'd love to hear your input on sewing time management below as we all try to have a BIG YEAR in 2021!

xox 

Carol

In The Pursuit of Happiness...

 If the performance of 2021 in this first few days is a predictor of future results-- I'm already wanting another trade-in... still, you're not going to catch me sitting in front of TV, nail biting.

I'm going to *VOTE* for myself, buy a piece of land in some remote corner of the planet, and start a cult. 

You're welcome to join me... it doesn't have to be a big piece of land-- we won't be growing our own food. All the food is going to be takeout. The majority of our time will be spent in the pursuit of happiness--sewing, sewing, sewing, Until my plan is a reality, we still have this blog for a little respite-- and a free stitch-a-long. You are welcome with open arms.

Once Upon A Time, Winter

I snagged this cool planner at Michaels (to start your own republic, you need to be organized) and one of the first things I did this year was open up my closet, and write down every quilt I have fabric for. I was so pleased to see I only needed one page! I starred the ones that I think I'd like to tackle first. As I said before, show quilts aren't a thing with me right now-- I'd love to make actual blankets that provide warmth and wrap my family and friends in love.

First up, is another Editya Sitar design-- after Sew In Love, I'm on a bit of a roll with her. So, every year I promise myself to finish the ones I started already first-- I'm considering this in the "Started" column because it's already cut!

"Alaska" arrived in this neat box, all arranged like a puzzle, and I do love a puzzle. This is my first laser cut kit and so far, I am really pleased-- there's absolutely no waste! No scraps, hanging around, looking like they want to be used for something else...

This is the first block-- I looked it over, and decided to schedule a block every three or four days through January in my planner-- you do have to make four of each, but there's only twelve pieces.

I guess I should have looked ahead, because Block Two has twenty pieces...

and then there's one with 28 pieces... so I have to admit it's barely two weeks into January and I'm already completely behind!

I had the foresight to put everything in my planner in PENCIL... and this is a beautiful quilt I'm determined to sew on... I found that Editya (we're on a first name basis now) did an entire series of videos on how to make this which I discovered late...

It's been very difficult to get these points to match so far. I'm letting go of perfection... it certainly doesn't help progress, but this quilt will be no less warm because of it. I think I will get better as I go along-- and at the end I'll make a decision about tweaking a "mistake" here or there.

For my hand sewing in the morning, I 'm happy to report I finished another one of these applique borders...

...never mind that one is shorter than the other-- the one on the right has been hanging for months and I will bet they will even out later this summer!

On the business side, I have the third part of Once Upon a Time well underway...

I got my supply of thread re-stocked and can now finish making my Cross Stitch Cottage borders... this quilt I'd love to have completed by the end of the month, but it's a bit dicey...

I had to remake two of my blocks, because in the height of the pandemic, I ran out of stabilizer, didn't use enough and wasn't happy with my stitch-out-- you might be surprised to hear that, but STUFF happens in even the most experienced sewing room. I admit it in the hopes that you'll get back on the horse with this project if you've been derailed for whatever reason.

And I've also started the next set of five states for "Carefree Highways" They are going to feature states with National Parks-- I love this theme, even though I've visited very few of them.

Acadia National Park in Maine gets the second highest visits each year-- gosh, I love a bit of trivia and this series is so full of fun facts to find.

So here we are in 2021. My resolution was to do more of the little things-- making food for my family, making a positive comment to all in my circle... to be a better person... it's a key to happiness for me. Take care of your little world as best you can, and pursue your own happiness today.

xox

Carol