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