Summer's End...

    The month of August is rapidly coming to a close and with it, another summer of enjoyment! I have given up on trying to tempt beachgoers, campers, and gardeners to the sewing room and have been quietly working on the fall line up with all due diligence.

     After finishing the Christmas ABCs, I am addicted! So I made this little Autumn ABCs piece for release right after Labor Day.

    It's like a puzzle to think of all the words-- I am particularly proud that I thought of Equinox-- and fall is such a Xenial time of year, isn't it? Can't you just see Winter, Spring, and Summer ABCs, as well as Thanksgiving, Valentine, and Fourth of July versions? I can!

     The next set of five Carefree Highway states are in production-- we are going to leaf peeping states. Just look at that foliage in Vermont!

I decided on these because I want to start filling in some of the rows to see what the quilt is going to start to look like. (You can view the layout in the previous post.) I'm going to stitch mine together in the order they were admitted to the Union and I assumed the northeastern states were first. Wrong again! When I went to look at the first row, Georgia was third and I don't have it yet! If you want to get ahead, I did figure out that you can only add the star points to the left and right of your states for the layout-- the corner blocks are shared. If none of this makes sense to you, no worries-- it's barely making sense to me right now, but I'm going to release finishing instructions with the next set and we can all find out.

     I also spent part of my week on volunteer work-- I'm putting my quilt guild's 24-page membership handbook together. I worked in advertising for years, and I know Adobe InDesign, so that insures that I'm the best one in my guild to do this job, and also that no one else is ever going to be able to take it over. I did ask the artist-in-residence to do the lighthouse-- it is Nauset, on Cape Cod, isn't it fabulous? It's so good to see this group resuming activities, and if you're in the neighborhood, you should join-- but it's too late to get your name in the handbook, though! LOL

   So 2/3 of the year is now over, and I thought I'd review my table-runners-a-month goal-- the next post is going to be dedicated to this. "Where are they now?" I'm proud to say at least three are table ready, one is gifted, and one is in active use. But it turns out I'm missing a month... the final excuse I needed to start the Fat Quartershop's Bats and Boos stitchalong. This picture is of their project:

   They were releasing a free block each week for the last four weeks-- I usually won't begin a project unless I know how it's going to look. And I like Bats, but I'm not keen on Ghosts,which I assumed were the Boos. Well, I guess they just liked the catchy name, because we got bats and then pumpkins-- it's futile for me to resist anything pumpkin, edible or not. 

I made two rules for myself since obviously I shouldn't be starting another project-- ONLY stash, and ONLY if I learned how to use my new Cricut Maker to cut the pieces! Done and done.

    This beauty has been sitting around at the office for too long. I got on the Cricut "Design Space" app and very easily created all the squares and rectangles needed. Then, it organizes them into the most efficient cut on a 12" x 12" piece of fabric. The pink thing is a sticky mat for the fabric, and then there is a cutter in the machine-- well, it's an actual tiny rotary cutter.

    So I'm not ready to say it was quicker than cutting them the usual way, but it was tremendously fun. I got 120 pieces cut for the pumpkins, not to mention the bats-- and an added benefit of this method-- the cutter does not ever make a mistake on size as I frequently do-- LOL.  I do love a bit of gadgetry. 

    Now that I have one video under my belt, I'm looking for potential other things to film, and I promise I'll show you it this fall. I hear shipping is screwed up worldwide and Christmas is in trouble-- this lovely gadget I'm convinced will save me a bundle on presents this year. It does so many things and I love it!

    So here's where I am on Bats and Boos-- I have four bats and one pumpkin. The pumpkins have about 40 pieces each-- wish I'd thought about that a little more before starting, but I'm loving it and enjoying making it so far. The border would be sew much better with a little appliqued pumpkin vine-- yes, we must raise the bar constantly!

   If you now are sucked into this thing-- the link to the free blocks is below, and you don't have to wait, as you are now, four weeks late! heehee. They are soon to start a Christmas one-- I need to see it before I commit, but you might not be like me!

Fat Quarter Shop Bats and Boos

Fat Quarter Shop All the Trimmings

    Coriander Christmas arrows are sewn (all 31 of them) and are in the process of being attached to my twelve blocks. I much prefer to add a side and a bottom sashing to each block instead of sewing long rows as is always suggested. It keeps the pieces a manageable size for longer. My shoulders don't enjoy pinning and hoisting 70" of quilt through the machine. 

    I found a friend on Instagram who's at the same place I am with it, and we've been encouraging each other to keep going. All that being said, I do not think I will make my goal of finishing by the end of the month. I do not prefer this part of a project-- and it shows when you see my UFOs-- all blocks, waiting patiently to be sewn together.

    So that's it for this week. I have a little road trip planned next week, but I'm hoping to be able to keep all the balls up in the air at the same time. As they tell me, there's always HOPE!

xox

Carol

You have to start somewhere!

"You have to start somewhere!" That’s been the theme of the week in this establishment… but to that I add a cautionary note— don’t keep starting over all the time!

It began with my plans for a YouTube channel... I keep putting it off. My cutting mat looks gross, my tripod is not stable enough, I need to lose weight... until finally the artist-in-residence said, “You have to start somewhere, mom!” And so I just dove in one afternoon last week. 

I was able to completely film an episode from start to finish in about two hours. My first topic is "Setting Your Carefree Highways Blocks into a Sawtooth Star." It all went very well, aside from breaking into hysterical laughter at the ludicrousness of myself talking to an empty room about the merits of flying geese.

It's kind of a sweet thought that the little girl who frequently had an attack of the giggles in church on Sunday morning is still alive and well! 

Filming turned out to be the easy part. When I took all my clips into Adobe Premier to assemble them, well, let’s just say, it was pretty intimidating! Fortunately, there is a ton of talent in this house—the artist-in-residence studied animation, and knows very well how to deal with the fourth dimension of time. I traded her some graphic design (my major) for editing.

My adventurous daughter has discovered the White Mountains after swearing she’d return to New York City after the pandemic. She and her friend are finishing up the "New Hampshire 48" this weekend— it’s 48 hikes to mountains 4000 ft. and more, completed in a single year. Next year, they are doing the Appalachian Trail! She wanted a logo for her YouTube channel, "Gypsy Trails." I've never seen her happier.

My video came out really well— sometimes it is just extremely helpful to SEE someone doing a thing, and there’s lots of general tips and advice that came up as I stitched along. When I showed Mr. SFO the finished cut-- he also howled with laughter--to my dismay. When he finally composed himself, he explained, "Did you know the quilt block matches your shirt exactly?"

I’m saving the release for when the next set of Carefree Highways designs comes out in September, but here’s a peek at the quilt we’re all going to make. It incorporates all fifty 4-1/2” blocks set like the stars in a real flag— I’m putting mine in the order they were admitted to the union. And, of course, we need some beautiful red stripes!

Don’t start making sawtooth stars yet— in my head, I thought each state would be in its own star, but if you study the layout, some of the corners are shared.

Besides that, I also worked on Stitches of the Sea borders— not quite happy with that yet, and I finished the Christmas ABCs cross stitch piece— that I am thrilled with. 

To frame or to make a pillow? I took another of my old finishes up to Michaels for framing— can you believe the piece below was done and sat in a drawer for 25 years— and they are just amazing. So I’m highly partial to framing Christmas ABCs  as well. I’ve always been convinced that all my WIPs will end up in a dumpster, but hopefully I’ll leave a few really nice finished things to be remembered by.

The Coriander Christmas quilt also saw progress— I have thirty one Christmas arrows ready to go. They are the sashings. This has proved more work than I thought it would be, but I might make a rule for myself— like add sashing to two blocks a day this week, to try to drag it over the finish line by the end of the month. I love to make rules for myself, almost as much as I enjoy breaking them.

If you've ever done a Fat Quartershop BOM, you know how much extra fabric they give you! So I bought this pattern that was also developed for the Holliberry fabric--I might make a nice tablerunner with it for the holidays. So cute!

I have a big "ZERO" birthday coming up— for my present, I am being flown out to Las Vegas (only nerds say "Las Vegas," but if I catch myself saying VEGAS, another fit of hysterical laughter may ensue.) It's my first time and I’m really looking forward to it, but the fall sewing embroidery designs are gonna take some extra time bit to get in swing. I'm not a gambler-- I’ve always wanted to see the Hoover Dam— but I’ve promised my son I will at least TRY a slot machine or two!

Of course the highlight of the stay will be looking up quilt shops to visit—heehee!

xox

Carol

Summer Grows Short...

      Last night I noticed how loud the crickets are getting... also it's getting dark earlier. Only means one thing... summer is winding it down. We have had a rainy, cloudy one this year... my basement is starting to get a musty smell! That has never happened before.

    All this is good news for sewing time, I guess.

    My Coriander Christmas monthly program has ended. After getting a late start, I am congratulating myself on keeping up! This is a BIG quilt of 18" blocks and I had to send a drone up to get this picture.

   I made a goal for myself to finish this by the end of the month-- that will make my #2 quilt finish of four hoped for this year. All that stands between me and my quilt is thirty-one of these "Christmas Arrows" sashing as I'm calling them in my head. Cute red striped fabric, huh?

     So there's ONE finished! I don't enjoy this type of repetitive sewing, which explains why I love a sampler quilt, but doesn't at all explain why I enjoy this hobby. Here's my eighty flying geese needed...

    I got tricked into making 18 of the wrong kind... the instructions in this book were PERFECT up to the end. One of the diagrams was colored improperly. 

    Of course, you are supposed to check on line for pattern corrections before beginning anything, but I couldn't find a thing anywhere. Once I questioned it, "they" sent me a link to where it was noted... honestly, it is in the remotest spot possible-- in fact, I haven't even been able to find it without the link "they" gave me. By "they" I mean to protect the guilty-- I understand the difficulty of writing instructions, and furthermore, I've spent a lifetime protecting the guilty-- apparently, I missed my true calling as a defense attorney.

Stitches of the Sea is together! 

(At least as much as it needs to be for the QAYG finishing kit. )

When I put my creatures under the ruler for trimming, I felt like I was looking into an actual aquarium! I am so proud of this work and they deserve a stunning finish.

I am planning shell and wave quilting… it does not look right now like you are going to need sashing fabric. There's just a question in my mind if the shells should be stitched right on there, or stitched separately and then appliqued on. (Don't worry, I'm not talking about hand applique.) 

I'm pouring myself into this right now and I’m pretty motivated to close it out this month. The freestanding version is posing some technical issues with the odd shaped sashings and will be done second. Thanks for your patience everyone and I think you will LOVE IT!

Christmas ABCs are almost done. Pillow or framed? I need more Christmas wall art like a hole in the head, but I seriously love this thing.  Can I imagine people sitting on it? Not at this moment! You have to wait until about October until instructions and color charts are written, but making ABC lists is fun and I already have Autumn and Halloween sketched out. Christmas is four panels but others might be less to make them a bit more approachable.

Adding a little sentiment to the center of the design this afternoon.

My guilty pleasure… this is the last time I’m showing this for a bit. Progress. Is. Sew. Slow. 

Still can’t put it down, but it’s teaching my how to Uber focus ON ONE THING AT A TIME. I completely mean to move on to my Baltimore Album quilt borders, DO OR DIE by September. There are two left to do, and I may prep them both at the same time— yes, from the Coriander Christmas quilt, I have learned that eighty at a time goes faster than one at a time— assembly line, people, assembly line. Like other things in my life it seems like I must learn these lessons again and again. How grateful I am to be able to wake up every morning, ready to start over.

xox 

Carol