It's Monday... Blog Day!

Who would ever guess Monday morning would be the best time for me to do a blog post! But that's how it is working out. I'm guessing it's because the weekends are jam packed with activity during the summer-- lots to report when it's over!

So this is high birthday season for us-- it's been celebrate, celebrate, celebrate. Plate looks empty, but the only side dish I require with this is melted butter!

Instead of buying gifts for birthdays this year, (no one will help out with a wishlist)-- I'm making thoughtful, handmade items (so they have themselves to blame.) I can't show any of that till next week! Which would you prefer? Purchased gift? Handmade gift? Money? Be honest.

I did have a narrow escape this week (not in the new car, thank God.) I came within a hairsbreadth of starting a new project. I had to get tough with myself and sat myself down to "have a talk." In the end, I agreed-- no new projects. 

This is what precipitated the attack:

The May Sew Sampler box finally showed up... I may have been suffering withdrawal. The Sew Sampler subscription now has a Facebook group-- it is so great to see all the finished projects-- I thought you were just supposed to keep it all in the box in your closet.

I'm not in love with every box every single time, but as an industry professional, it's important for me to stay on top of trends and new products. (Huge GUFFAW on this end.)

The project is really cute this time and it was hard, with that group, not to get sucked right in!

After reasoning with myself, the box joined others in my closet. Instead, I pulled out a WIP-- do you recall the "Snickerdoodle" quilt I started last September?

I had all the snickers done, I just had to doodle them... which was easily accomplished. 

So here you have July's tablerunner of the month-- well underway, but this thing is going to be big, and it's going to take awhile to get all the sashings in. It was made from jelly rolls-- I'm not a big fan, and the block sizes range from 8-1/4" to 8-1/2." I have a way of dealing with this I will share you in July.

 

The balance between "fun" sewing and "business" sewing can be a tough one for me, but in that talk with myself, I wrote down a list of business sewing as opposed to "waste of time" sewing-- I am ashamed to say that my thoughtful, handmade items mentally fall in that category-- they shouldn't. I have sometimes thought that they are the most important thing I am doing in life.

But this is my "meaningful sewing" list for the week, so you can see where we are with "website" things:

Top of the list--  My flower piece is in a show at a garden center in two weeks-- I will tell you more about that next week-- but it needs binding and a hanging sleeve! If I spent as much time WORKING on this as I do STRESSING about it, it would be done long ago.

Next, if you can read my writing-- finish the longarm project-- well this is a personal project that just needs to get done so I can load the next business project.

Third-- STITCHES OF THE SEA! yay! I know many of you are waiting very patiently for the finishing kit-- it is ready to be born. Why so slow? I'm glad you asked. During the early pandemic, I ran out of the satin stitching thread color AND stabilizer. How could such a thing happen? It is so easy to recall that it seemed like the end of the world and I froze in my tracks a bit and prepared myself for... whatever. It wasn't even possible to order these things for a good few weeks, remember?

So I was dutifully testing them, but some of the colors were wrong-- wrong stabilizer, so I stopped adding batting and backing-- to use an unfortunate pun, my stitchouts are a bit of a shipwreck. Hopefully, this may encourage you where ever you are in this process-- we're all in it together. I scraped up four passable blocks and can use them to write the finishing kit. Then I will have a big corner done, and will be able to fill in during the rest of the year.

Finally-- Item 4-- we are halfway through Carefree Highways-- it's time to make those states into stars like I have had in my head for a year now-- this is one I can't wait to work on!

The artist in residence has some free time this week and I may make use of her video skill to produce a tutorial on this-- sew fun!

And finally, the agreement is-- fun sewing-- ONLY SNICKERDOODLES gets worked on! Read my lips-- no new projects. So that's my plan this week-- fail to plan, plan to fail, let's take the road less traveled and all of that. Meet ya back here next Monday and we'll see how we did...

Have a wonderful week. 

xox 

Carol

A Waste of Time...

 It is the high holiday season at SFOXCO! First, Father's Day, then a rapid succession of three birthdays in two weeks. (Mine is not one of them-- remember, I always have to be different!)

It is nice to have a really full table again... my son brought over enough seafood to turn a Great White Shark black. We judge a good party by this yard stick-- did we use every dish in the house? Since I had to rinse out some forks for the cake, I'd say it was a HUGE success.

This is the only picture I took unfortunately-- I was too busy eating and laughing. It's already Wednesday and I'm still exhausted.

On the sewing side, the guilty pleasure continues...

"Apple Lady" is almost all finished besides a few stitches in the hat (and then miles of backstitch!) I saved that hat for last-- it is no exaggeration to say every stitch in it is a different color!

You would not believe how many hours of work this entailed... if you look at the full pattern, if this took a month, you can see it would probably take a full year of earnest work to complete it. 

One of the things that surprises me about stitching this is just how guilty I do feel about it. Why? I've really tried to analyze it... is it a WASTE of TIME? That's a cardinal sin in this household! And so I sneak it out every morning for an hour when no one is looking. I suspect I will keep going-- after Apple Lady, I can branch out in any direction, and certain parts look easier and faster to do (ha). I'm always a fan of typography, so "AUTUMN" is really looking attractive to me to work on next. I did promise myself to complete the third border of my Baltimore Album quilt "Forever Project" this year and the switchover is going to happen on July 1st. What happened to my Christmas House of Hangover? It is sitting neglected on a shelf under my coffee table. I still think I could have it by Christmas, though.

My table runner of the month plan in January has been a smashing success- I do have more than six done so far this year-- I may do a recap on the blog here in early July. So I've turned my attention back to my beautiful longarm to try to quilt some of them. The longarm was my present to myself after getting the artist-in-residence through college and since Mr. SFO does not like to travel, it's a bit of a down payment on my retirement.

I loaded January's table runner of the month and I have been dabbling at it here and there.

I sketched up a pretty plan for some quilted wreaths since the blocks look "circularish" to me.

So, on the front, this looks great to me, but the back shows every imperfection. I took this photo Michelangelo fashion on my back under the longarm. (What is that blob of thread and why is there a string hanging down?) I know you're supposed to use a blending thread and a busy background fabric, but red grunge and white thread is what I had. I've been trying to work from my stash lately.

Permit me a moment of pride-- as a kid, I was always good at everything I tried to do. Not so much anymore--it had been kind of frustrating, and I'm not sure if this talent is going anywhere. Fortunately, this activity has not reached the guilty, waste of time, point in my head and it will continue to its logical conclusion, whatever that is. (Not having clear goals is another sin around here). I imagined myself making show quilts, but this past year, I learned that keeping people warm and covered at night is a more satisfying goal in the end, than a ribbon.

My stitching in the ditch has made some progress-- remind me to never press a seam open again, though! You know if you stitch in those open seams with that big needle, it will probably destroy the stitching that holds those pieces together and it might pop open up over time. So what to do? I try to just stitch to one side, but it is practically impossible to keep it from slipping right in to that seam at certain points.

I watched one of Kimberly Jolly's two-and-a-half hour show one Friday, and she pressed EVERY seam open... this works if you are going to do an allover quilting pattern. But I fancy myself doing these gorgeous custom quilting jobs you see on Instagram, so on I go.

For business sewing this week, I almost have Set FIVE of Carefree Highways ready!

The theme is "Land O Lakes"...
we're touring the Great Lakes this time.

These are so fun to digitize, and I bet I could pass a test on State capitals right now if I had to... 

not a waste of time at all!

There seem to be a lot of robins, cardinals, and lighthouses in this part of the country.

Now halfway through this series, I've discovered the commission formed to select the birds for each state was not comprised of people who like to be "different," apparently. Seven are cardinals? I do salute Minnesota for the Loon though-- great job on that pick!

Indiana is next--yup, another cardinal. I so wish my DNA would allow me to just cut and paste a cardinal from another state, but I would just not do that and I'm betting a couple of you would notice!

So that is the story for another summer week that has rolled by. I hope you are all enjoying yourself-- you know, wasting time, not having clear goals, and low productivity. In the scheme of things, I think that is what summer is for.

xox

Carol

Four Wheeled Friends

This is going to get to be a very boring blog if all I keep saying is-- where did the time go? Everyone in my little world is saying the same thing-- almost half the year is over!

Where did this week go?-- well, here it is-- A new car!

I have been driving around in a 2008 Ford Fusion since well, 2008... it's actually in very nice shape besides a bad run-in with a shopping cart at Market Basket and then, of course, we had the 2012 Chocolate Shake debacle... but most of my friends have been through a couple new cars in all that time and I'm sure they wondered what was up with me. I just had other financial priorities-- that being said-- BUYING FABRIC does not effect my credit rating at all. Another contributing factor to my long lived Ford-- son J.D. has an auto shop, and he took such pride in fixing mom's car and I think he considered it a bit of a challenge to keep it running. 

Last week, I was in three times for three different warning lights-- one of the guys sweetly told me J.D. was messing with it on purpose so he could see more of me-- I don't know about that!

He did give me a recommendation-- RAV4-- and J.D. knows better than anyone what is coming through that shop needing repair so I listened! Of course, you've heard about the microchip shortage and that there are no new cars-- I did find ONE at a dealership about a half hour away-- wasn't exactly what I wanted-- well, it was the LIMITED fully loaded one, DARN! And the rest is history.

All of my friends seem so pleased for me and my mom was so excited to get chauffered in it-- it's quite endearing. I have never had a car where you don't stick a key in an ignition or where you sit high up off the road-- it came with a 600 page manual, plus a 200 page one just for the GPS screen so it's like learning how to drive all over again. I have to confess I am just tickled with it.

(TIP: If you find negotiating for a car distasteful-- just go when there is only one available and it won't be an issue!)

By the time Sunday rolled around, I had nothing new for the blog-- so in spite of great weather, I knuckled down and dragged another couple of things across the finish line.

The PEAR STREET gift is finished-- table runner and three cute pears. I will quilt it up this fall-- I'm really excited about having some nice handmade gifts this Christmas!

All that was standing in my way was that last ivory border.

Kitty table runner of the month-- CHECK! I was tempted to try to make a YouTube video on checkerboard borders-- thank God I did not because the cats fought me tooth and nail and would have most certainly exposed me for the incompetent rube that I am. Nonetheless-- expect this at some point-- everyone is doing it-- I always wanted my own TV show, and it will be a rousing mix of comedy and tragedy.

I'm a pinner-- I sew over pins.

I am totally pysched that I made this entirely from scraps. Given the frequency of new fabric coming here these days, I'm not even sure why that is a consideration.

I probably only used up a yard of fabric on this whole thing-- one way to use up those fat quarter is to make pieced backings, so I got these out.

I'm planning an all longarm day this week to take some of this stuff from finished (pieced) to finished (finished.) I think you know what I mean.

I hope that everyone got their free block two of Summer Twist! We're having another glitch-- this time, if you are logged in, you can't add the new block to your account-- it is pulling up Block One. So just log out to get those slippery fish in your cart! Then you can log back in.

I guess I knew there would be troubleshooting, and everyone has been super patient-- THANK YOU!-- thank God it is summer and not Christmas.

This week, it's more Carefree Highways-- never more appropriate-- heehee. And look what my friend Rosemary from AU sent me before this even happened-- the woman is a prophet!

So to close out, I got up at 6am this morning to go for a walk along this very scenic trail in my area.

My summer days just quietly roll from one to next and I have to admit, I hope God grants me a long life, because I could just live this way for a very long time.

xox

Carol

Flummoxed...

 I think we've all been here! As June starts, I realize half the year is almost over, but NOT half of my quilting plans... I did stick with my cute sewing themed planner through about April, but not sure where May went! This will be a rambling post for sure... be forewarned!

  The big sewing room tidy up has continued... I gathered, washed, and organized ALL of my grunge fabrics, and was pretty pleased to see I have a bigger assortment than I realized. Problem is, I am not sure where to put them yet-- all my containers are bursting at the seams still yet. Pun intended.

   In the happy mail department, those bursting seams are not going to be helped by this!

   I must've ordered this American Gatherings fabric at the end of last year-- a stitch-a-long was supposed to start in January. So here it is, just in time for 4th of July-- but all chances of having a quilt for my patriotic son, born on the 5th, is lost. It's OK-- I probably wouldn't have had it anyway-- and I have now switched my thinking to a patriotic chicken quilt (he is a chickem dad), and there's always Christmas or next birthday. 

    I sold a bunch of charm packs, but traded in the $ for these-- I am completely HOOKED on Minick and Simpson's Mackinac collection from last year-- I have tried to like the upcoming collections, but there's just something about those roses... I also snagged a layer cake that is on the way. These do have a space available now on my precut shelf, but don't have any idea what I will make with them.

     The table runner of the month is: KITTIES! After posting the nostalgic photo of my grey cat, well, there is only one cure for nostalgia and that is Lori Holt's Farm Girl blocks. I was a big fan of Lori when you could buy her book for $25 and use your scraps... not such a big fan when she started applique quilts where the pattern was free, but you have to buy $200 of assorted templates, fabric, and tools to make the project. The projects are still very cute and I do understand a quilty girl's gotta make a living, just not in the budget.

   Lori always has the measurements for a 6" kitty block and a 12" kitty block-- that's great, unless you want a 9" kitty block (I always have to be different) but I discovered if you just take the measurement in between those sizes-- well, it worked out perfectly if you want to know!

   Even where I scribbled out "WRONG" I was actually RIGHT... I had just sewn together in the wrong order. It reminds me that Mr. SFO often says to me... "She thought she was WRONG, but she was MISTAKEN." And I am sure he means that as a compliment.

   It was 90 degrees outside this weekend, and guess what... our A/C is broken, so even hotter in the sewing room, but I soldiered on...

   There's also a great Chicken block in here for the Chicken quilt, but again, I don't want 6" or 12" or even 9"... I'd like 18" giant chickens, (this kid has a king size bed) but I'm not sure of the math on that. I don't believe you would add the 6" and 12" blocks sizes together, but I will let you know.

    In addition to the table runner a month, I also wanted to do four quilts this year. So I did finish the Laundry Basket's "Alaska" but I have all of the Farm Girl blocks from years past, just waiting to be assembled, but so far... nada. I still have June to do it. Let's see what happens!

    So here now, is the 600 pound gorilla of hand work this week:

I got really tired of all the white work on the House of Hardanger, and wanted to work on something super colorful. So in a moment of extremely bad judgement, I bought this vintage cross stitch kit off  Ebay...

    (No, this is not my completed piece, but the picture from the package.) And let's be honest, because I also bought SPRING, SUMMER, and WINTER. These are Sandy Orton's designs and I just love her work... do you remember them from the 90s? I have NO business starting this at my age... the little bit I got done in the photo above took HOURS. 

   When I check Instagram, I see that people have stitched these in 2-3 months??? There must be something wrong with me. It has crossed my mind to just throw it out NOW, to avoid the 20 years of work ahead, just on ONE of them. At the very least, I need to put it away NOW.

   What should I do?

   On the business side, Last week was the first week the new site was officially "Grand Opened," and I knew in my heart there was going to be some kinks to work out, so it was a bit of a loss in terms of new work. 

The biggest reason I moved the site was-- no customer accounts-- and the biggest question has been-- I can't log in to my account!! So in a bit of circular logic this week, I have wondered-- if everyone thought they had an account, why did we move? And where are these phantom passwords coming from, people, to login to the phantom accounts? You do know you're not supposed to use the same one for everything!!??

I did start the next five sets of Carefree Highways-- we're traveling to the Great Lakes!  It ninety degrees, so it nice and cool to me.

The FREE Summer Twist has begun-- are you stitching? And I hope to have the next one by Friday. I am just giving in to the whole beach theme-- a seahorse next? I tried to come up with summer themed animals and I can't honestly think of any.

Yes, the Stitches of the Sea finishing kit is on the drawing board-- this has been good inspiration for that.

Sew that's where I stand this first Monday in June-- I think I'll grab another cup of tea, get my planner out, and start making plans... FOCUS, people!

xox

Carol