"Too Many Notes"

     The past week just sort of got away from me... is it Spring Fever? Is it too many projects? I really wanted to get both the Once Upon A Time charm size finishing kit AND another set of five Carefree Highway designs out this month-- by working on both, I've pretty much assured neither will happen.

     I really missed sending out subscriptions on Friday-- just spend the time finishing your Once Upon A Time stitch outs. The charm size finish is well on its way, and honestly I think it will be ready early next week. Finishing kits always require a bit of marination time-- the 5x5 will take a little longer-- it's BIGGER obviously! 

    I raised a figure skating daughter, so there's no lack of winter and snowflaked themed projects in my stash. I picked a light for the center and a darker print for the border of my charm piece to get a little bit of an ombre effect. My intention is to make a pillow with the charm size designs and a table topper with the larger size to get a nice decor set for my winter living room.

    Trim your charm size blocks to 4-1/2" if you want to get a head start... sew cute! I was able to put them in order from memory-- I'm always giving myself a little memory test, hee, hee.... but we did try to tell a little story as we went along, so that was a good memory jogger. Now that I think about it though, I think the animal band was playing BEFORE the dancers.... hmmmm.....

     I wanted to pick up some of the flowers from the Forest Floor design for a central floral "snowflake," and this is what I came up with...

I also repeated the blue lacework in the background for continuity...
I love it so far!

Today's job is to add a bird and snowflake border. We will end up with a square piece of about 20" x 20" which you can either make a large, comfy pillow or a flat table topper or even a little festive winter wallhanging.

For Carefree Highways,
New Jersey is crossed off our list of the nifty fifty!

If you're a San Fran fanatic, you know I'm from this state and it's still very close to my heart! The town of Clinton should be on every world travelers bucket list-- LOL.

This one had a TON of color changes.

And I had a customer complain this week-- too many color changes...

I was reminded of the conversation between Mozart and the Emperor Joseph, who commented the new symphony had "too many notes."

So no, I only use the precise number of threads that are required for each design. That being said, any artist struggles with self doubt, so I was able to eliminate 5 colors without ill effect.

For the hobby sewing part of my week, I completed finished and gifted one of my Frivols kits...

The fabric is Little Miss Sunshine from Lella Boutique... one of my favorite past collections. I had bought the fat quarters years ago, in a happy coincidence, and made a scrappy border.

 

This one was on the longarm for longer than I'd like to admit. They always tell you that tension is an issue on these things, and I have found that to be TRUTH.

So once it was off the longarm, I loaded a practice muslin. Most of my problem is the fear I have of turning those knobs-- like, "Will I make it worse and never be able to get it back where it was?"

(On a side note, my son is a fan of jumping out of planes-- I am frequently invited to come along-- would a near death experience help me confront my fear of knobs? I'm betting it would, but so far, no go.)

So on the practice piece, I tightened, loosened, made better, made worse, went back and forth. My biggest discovery is-- if the knob doesn't feel like you are tightening it, it's not gettting tighter. Seems obvious, but no one told me that. I needed to make more bold moves. I think I now have the "feel" of it.

I also discovered...

PRACTICE IS FUN!

So now I hope to have a rapid succession of completed tablerunners-- perhaps a quilt isn't finished when it is pieced but when it is on your coffee table? I look forward to exploring this idea further.

This is my Cider Sew Sampler project (Fat Quartershop)... just simple straight line quilting-- a few of you encouraged me to put some embroidery in that dark center, but I really don't have time to get sidetracked so I'm just going to try some fabulous feathers. The contrast of straight and curvy always works.

In a moment of family camaraderie this week, my husband came up to see what I was doing last night and discovered this on my desk...

I'm not sure how that happened, but in retrospect,

WHAT IF I HAD ACCIDENTALLY SIPPED THAT TOP ONE!

He and my daughter went to work,
and in less than ten minutes did this...

My heart swelled with love for both of them... isn't it amazing how much better everything looks when simply placed at right angles?

(Mr. SFO is an architect)

They assured me they are open to phone calls all week
when I can't find anything.

Family is forever.

xox

Carol