Memorial Day Weekend

I am not sure why we would say "Happy" Memorial Day weekend... we are supposed to be remembering those who gave their very lives to keep us free, so the mood is more grateful and somber to me. To support our troops, we are going to donate half of the sales of our new cross stitch design to Wounded Warrior Project-- there is currently a matching gift program in effect, so it will be doubled. It's our way of saying thank you to all who have served-- your sacrifices will never be forgotten. 

It looks like the entire weekend is going to be a wet and chilly wash for the entire northeast... what a shame! I will be stuck in my sewing room. I am once again at that place where I am working less and less on more and more projects-- but have not quite reached the point of doing nothing on everything, so a few things did move along this week.

I kept my promise of doing before and after pictures-- nope, too ashamed of my office yet, but I did this front garden last weekend.

I dug out all the deer food, aka tulips, and the bulbs looked nice and healthy so I'm on the fence about saving them for the fall. It is really hard to get a second year of bloom out of a tulip bulb-- but maybe since I was denied a first year of bloom, I might be rewarded next year. Then I also dug up and moved the yellow shrub to the left--- in our NJ home, one of the neighbors commented that my plants might as well come with wheels because they moved all over the yard. True statement.

Then I cleaned up up all the ivy and juniper mess and planted coleus and marigolds. Mr. SFO thinks they are too evenly spaced, and I tend to agree, but let's see what happens when they fill in. They can always be moved. Will the comical stalk grow back this year? I certainly hope so.

Then... look what got dragged across the finish line!

So I had four more sashings to do, and on Wednesday, it came up my back TODAY'S THE DAY! And I did them all, one after the other, in very little time. Now that I'm an expert at aligning them, yup, it's finished and I won't be needing that skill for a very long time, I hope!

Not only that, but you can see in the top photo two of my wild rose borders are done and a third started. This is scheduled to be shown at a smaller quilt show my guild is hosting this year. They wanted to do something-- we've already missed one big yearly show-- and it's going to be at a greenhouse in Hyannis, MA during the Hydrangea Festival in July. They were looking for flower themed quilts-- so if this isn't a flower themed quilt, what is? I won't have the rose borders on yet, but I'm just going to bind it anyway. Then, the plan is, to enter it in next year's AQS shows fully finished. Do you think I can do it? If I start working more and more on less and less, (this project has a lattice between the center and the borders and will be quite finicky) until I am spending all my time doing everything on nothing with this piece, it might just happen.

I got this table runner bound-- it is Kit 12 from the Frivols tins series-- that sounds like I finished the dozen doesn't it? But no, I've been know to eat dessert first and am no respecter of numerical order. 7, 3, 9, and 2 are still left with maybe a couple others.

I noticed now that I have the longarm, the biggest pile has moved from those needing quilting, to those needing binding. I don't mind binding, except for the dreaded moment when it is mostly sewn on and you have two ends to attach-- are you with me, there?

This week I digitized a beautiful cross stitch alphabet--

This is a set I really want for myself-- for gifts, and also I want to add a saying in a border around my cross stitch cottages.

I want it to say, "Whatever things are true, what ever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, think about these things." I think it matches the sentiments perfectly. 

I also want to come up with four seasonal colorways, and some gift ideas, so I'm not sure when this would be released-- there are 26 letters in two sizes and ten formats-- a TON of files to sling around.

This weekend, I'm sitting down to make a list of June designs and at the top of the list is the Stitches of the Sea finishing kit-- yes, it's time, and Set Five of Carefree Highways-- we're almost halfway through the states! We're also going to start a Summer Twist free stitch-a-long, to match our Autumn and Spring Twist pieces-- did you finish those?

I now conclude with a photo of my little drawing desk which is more clear now than it has been in quite a few months! I'm gradually trying to up my game in the organization department. This isn't a before and it's not an after-- it's in between.

I have had this desk since I was a teenager, and many happy hours have been spent there. I'm looking forward to more this weekend.

Happy(?) Memorial Day to you!

xox

Carol