Lots of (sideways) progress for January!

   January is one for the history books! Did we keep our sewing resolutions? Did we get a lot done? I'm happy to say I did, even though progress might not have been in a straight line!

    We lost power for 24 hours this weekend, so that was a bit of a glitch, but we're back up and ready for February. We got about 20 inches, and I'm still not tempted to leave the house. We do have a generator that can support half of the house. Clearly I wasn't around when the decisions were being made about which half-- sewing room, no, TV, yes? Who does that?

   The Birth Month Mug Rugs of the Month have had a successful launch-- thank you to all who subscribed. It's going to be a great year. I keep thinking of more projects for this series. The snow makes a great back drop!

    Our tour of the Eastern Seaboard is just about done-- that makes only ten states left to go in the Carefree Highways series. I'm working on South Carolina today.

     Stitches of the Sea is one doodad away from being a finishing kit. I just think that small space needs a snail shell--do you see it? My big embroidery machine is back from its cleaning and I'm ready to catch up my own blocks and finish this beautiful piece in time for summer!

   On the hobby side of my sewing passion, Winterville has really progressed this month. I had so hoped to finish and photograph it in the snow, but we are currently a bit sideways!

    I broke my promise to keep "A Ribbon Runs Through It" sealed until Winterville was done. I really had to know if I could make one of these intricate block... and five hours later, here is my first one!

   Not my taste in fabric in the slightest, but goodness, this is a gorgeous block! If I can do one a week for sixteen weeks, I'd be keeping up. The designer kept referring to "little tipsys" in the instructions. I didn't understand-- was I supposed to have a glass of wine with it? I finally figured out, she means a TIP. So hope that helps all of you who are likewise as dense as I am, and don't let that knowledge prevent you from pouring a glass.

   So that kept me from Winterville, but I am still very pleased with progress-- I now have to send the drone up to get a picture-- it's big.

   I am really liking this thing again, after the too blendy holly border. The black and white houses have really compensated for it. Hope it inspires you to continue on with something you have reservations about and has ended up in a drawer. Leave it and just make better decisions going forward. The color isn't great in this photo-- and there's still time for another snowstorm this year to get a better picture!

   I had a slight case of  "measure once, cuss twice" and need to fix this roof. As the wife of an architect, I'm really ashamed of myself and I'm hiding this from Mr. SFO, AIA.

    Also, my black flower houses are a fail-- I decided to take the time to redo them. It's who I am.

    I have become a fan of "The Repair Shop" on the Discovery Channel, and watching people patiently restore other people's treasures-- (a sweet dish, broken into a million pieces was my favorite), has really inspired me to take my time and work patiently along. Check this show out if you want to watch something peaceful and wholesome and restoring of your faith in the world.

   I do have this black print left from the Tole Christmas fabric collection which I thought was too plain for the houses at around the same time the flower house idea seemed like a good one.

   Once this project is done, I'm going to cut all the remaining fabric into charm squares. I forget where I read this, but I love charm packs, and this is the perfect scrap solution for me-- every other size has proved too small for me to save. Then I'm going to use this box for my Ribbon Runs Through It project. It's one of those beautiful Michael's boxes which are now way too expensive and more cheaply made-- this one is about ten years old-- I love it.

   So the other project that went sideways this month was my morning stitch-- the Baltimore Album quilt. I just can't get it rolling! I'm mad at myself-- a whole month of morning stitch time was wasted. I did complete sixteen Christmas Eve themed, 400 piece puzzles on my iPad, instead!

   I pulled this out again-- maybe it was a mistake to ever put it away when I had such a nice rhythm going. If stitching a black cat in January is wrong, I don't want to be right!

I'm almost down to the bottom corner which is super gratifying. But there's still lots to do. Witch Girl takes up just as big of an area as Apple Lady in the center, and she took forever. Still not totally forgetting the Baltimore Album, but let's see what happens in February-- a new month!

Finally, since enough of you were interested in my AeroGarden to make me think this should be a gardening blog-- here it is:

It did not suffer with the power out, and every one of my nine herbs is up! I have since staked my dill (in the center, there) with a toothpick and some cross stitch thread. Keeping your garden tidy at this scale is even more important than a big garden... or so I read on the AeroGarden website. I'm going to start looking out recipes that need fresh dill.

   So that's my little world-- please comment or write to me about your own projects and happenings and I do promise I will give them the attention, overthinking, and sideways advice that they deserve, in the same way that you all graciously consider mine each week.

xox 

Carol

Three Days in January

     Here are the results of "My Three Days of Vacation While Mr. SFO is Out of Town Git 'er Done" challenge:

      Day One-- you will laugh-- I am a Marvel comics fan, so I went to see the new Spiderman movie. This is a topic a very small percentage of you will be interested in, but since half my day was spent doing that, I'm talking about it. I'll throw in some sneak peeks and eye candy for those of you who haven't gotten sucked in to the Multi-Verse.

(Valentine ABCs debuts Today)

    It was back in 2011 when Mr. SFO decided we would go to the movies. This is an extremely rare occurrence, and I was pleased so I let him pick the flick. He picked Captain America! I rolled my eyes as we bought the tickets, and two hours later I was hooked! What a cool movie.

(Carefree Highways Set 8, "Eastern Seaboard"-- next week!)

    I then followed religiously through Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Ant Man, and Dr. Strange like a demented proselyte. I kind of lost interest after the Infiniti War, but the Spiderman franchise was pretty cute-- it involves teenagers in high school so it's clean, wholesome, and funny. So the movie was the usual fun distraction, but I'm not sure I understand why it would be the top grossing movie ever. People must really want to get back to usual! Anyway, my biggest takeaway-- don't order a medium sized drink for an action film at the movie theater-- my Diet Coke was more like a keg and twice I had to run down an extremely long hallway to get to the restroom. Both times, I sneaked out when all was quiet on the set, and then all H#%@! was breaking loose when I returned. Thank goodness I had my sister with me to fill in the missing minutes. Recommend this movie.

(Birth Month Quilt Block Video-- awaiting editing!)

     I came home and finished up the six black houses for Winterville-- six white houses and four stars to go and I have my quilt. This is a pattern from Thimble Blossoms, if you're interested. I saw some were searching it on my website-- it's just a quilty pleasure I work on at night. I still think I can finish this by the end of the month or very close, even with four hours lost to Regal Cinema.

Day Two-- Michaels

     I had the most wonderful day of my life on Day Two! 

    I got Christmas all put away, and just thought I'd stop into Michaels for a couple of Valentine decorations. Now, you remember all those container ships that were sitting off California waiting to be unloaded before Christmas? Apparently, they finally arrived!  Three employees were pulling and stocking the shelves with Christmas decorations from huge boxes-- and it was all 75% off! I'm not an early shopper, but I picked up a few gifts and of course a couple of things for myself. 

     My prize purchase is this amazing Perler bead gingerbread house-- Perler beads AND a house is a double win for me. Just look at those buffalo plaid walls and the little bear!-- and I have 11 months to make it. This is quite the upside down world we live in-- remember when Christmas was out at Halloween? I think that was a little more practical timing after all, but certainly not as cheap!

     The downside? I don't think Valentine's Day will show up until Easter. I did snag the cute "Love-O-Meter" to welcome Mr. SFO home. I'm gonna glue the little gold arrow for him in its present location. I was missing him. (xoxo) 

Day Three--

     Pick up sewing machines. I'm really proud of the fact that I ran the business without missing a beat for three weeks while two of my best machines were in for cleaning. I mean, did you even notice! My Babylock Flourish really rose to the challenge-- I was limited by a 6x10 hoop, but I made it work. So I picked up both machines on Day Three-- it's and hour and a half drive to the shop. Does anyone have a place to service a machine that is ten minutes away and offers while-u-wait service?

     This is the hole in my sewing table that is now filled in once again with my favorite machine. Mr. SFO made this table for me. <3

     I have my big hoop back, and plan on running out the eight stitches of the sea blocks needed to finish my quilt, one after the other. And start dreaming of my next big stitch-a-long after Carefree Highways finishes. I'm thinking of taking some of my favorite 4x4 images over the past 20 (yikes) years and making them fully fleshed out large blocks. Name: "A Few of my Favorite Things."

   That night, I did break my promise to finish Winterville before starting A Ribbon Runs Through It. I made this tiny square in a square block just to see if I could do it. The first block is cut to an 1/8" measurement-- have you ever done eighths? I haven't. Kudos to the designer for supplying this handy worksheet to lay your parts on--you can make sure right away they're the right size and keep track of assembly! All went mostly well, so I had the resolve to box it again until Winterville is a flimsy. My white houses are all cut out.

   Writing about my three days makes me realize how much I enjoyed my mix of business and pleasure. A few important things got done, and some fun things, too. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

 So that was my "vacation." I sure missed Mr. SFO, and I really need my boy scout back. It looks like another and HUGE snow storm is heading our way! 

xox

Carol

Why don't you make something of yourself?

The sign of a beautiful relationship is the number of running jokes you have going between you-- the artist-in-residence and I have plenty. I secretly bought her some beautiful, expensive yarn that she had admired for Christmas; she has taken up knitting and is always making for someone else. I enclosed a sweet note that started out, "Why don't you make something for yourself for a change?"

Well, Christmas morning, she read it as "Why don't you make something OF yourself for a change!" So we have been laughing about that one for three weeks now.

On that note, I don't have a ton of photos of beautiful, complete items to show for myself this week, but that doesn't mean a lot hasn't happened! First of all, massive cleaning and organizing has been going on, precipitated by my new DIY planner I made and did a video for. (I'm going to get in the habit of putting links at the end of my blogs if you have additional time to waste after reading.)

It's been a struggle to fill in the planner as it always is-- I am trying to fill in at the end of the day what I did get done instead of what I hope to do each day.-- a psychological trick I'm hoping will help me feel productive.

   One day in the future, in a galaxy far, far away, I will take you on a tour of my gorgeous four room sewing office-- until then, you have to settle for this corner, and you will see the problem.

This is the AFTER photo, and I'm pleased to say since then, the entire floor on that wall is now exposed. I blame it on my creative, overly busy mind. My plan is to just tackle a little space each day-- yes, dibble dabbling in things is a problem for me, but I've tried to focus on things for longer, and my brain just doesn't work that way. So now I'm trying to just quickly move from one thing to the next, instead of allowing a half hour of segue time to pass between each activity. And I'm hoping all this overthinking about productivity is not going to be wasted time! LOL

Three weeks of morning sewing time has now been wasted, as I got sucked into that dang Puzzle app again on my iPad. I tried to get my arms around the uncompleted heart wreath-- I decided to shelve it and work on the uncompleted tree of life. This is going only slightly better so far. By the end of this week, I want morning sewing back in full swing.

On Winterville, I am working through my list of To-Dos... I'm seeing now, that to feel more productive,  instead of "Make six stars," I should have listed "Make a star. Make another star. Make another star. Make another star..." because I LOVE checking things off! I did decided to go with the full quilt-- as I said changing plans is hard for me, (unless it's deciding to stay home instead of going out.) Thank you all who wrote me advice. My takeaway is JUST USE THE QUILT, and I will.

This project is going to get a huge boost tomorrow-- I mentioned my friends and I are doing a UFO day once a month. Here are six houses cut out. To solve my contrast problem, I am making only black and white houses on the dark teal-- heck, I might even start liking this thing again! Also, Mr. SFO is out of town next week-- this means no meals, no bedtime, no pretense of making something of myself, and I'm really hoping to CRUSH Winterville by the end of the month. Do you think I can do it? Thinking of renaming it: Christmasville? Comment below.

In the happy mail department, the first month of "A Ribbon Runs Through It" shipped on time. The first month's assignment is to make four stars, in completely different color arrangements of 127 pieces. (yikes) The fabric is WAY out of my comfort zone-- it's reproduction-- this IS my grandmother's quilt! So I'm tempted to just scrap it and make a Halloween version instead. I'm sure I'd be able to sell the fabric at the end of the year. But that would be a very hard change to make, and I already starched Month One. So let's see what happens. This would be a very good project to keep my hours on, just in terms of making one star, for planning purposes. Will I be able to make four stars at a time? Probably not, since they are all different colors. Should I worry if I mixed up the colors? Probably not. Let's see what happens! Technically, I have until February 15th to finish the four stars.

I heard on a self-help radio show that you should write a letter to your NOW self, from your FUTURE self with advice. I'm not sure I understand that, and I don' t have time to do it anyway, so I'm just going to imagine myself reading this blog post a year from now, and the quilt is on my bed. :-)

I have another State done, that's two of five in our Seaboard series. So here's another thing I wanted done by the end of  January-- Carefree Highways Set 8-- thank God the month is 31 days. Even that's getting a little tight. It takes me two days to finish one of these, from state "research" to zipped up file, but I might be able to get it down to 1-1/2. And I do have my days when Mr. SFO is away. 

So the next un-finished project of the week is this February Birthmonth Mug Rug. You are creative, honest, and tranquil-- are you?

I did find a person on Etsy who sells fat quarters of Grunge-- I love Grunge, and I love it for this project, so I bought about twelve of the lightest ones to complete this project-- the ones I have in my stash are too dark-ish. I'm still not sure which ones I will use-- I have to have them in my hot little hands to know, and also coordinate with the birthstones and flowers, so I can't really tell you what they are.

So, was all this obsessing about time and productivity fun to read about? I doubt it, and it sure made me feel like I better get busy! So let's all get out there and make something of and for ourselves!

xox

Carol

DIY Planner Video on YouTube here

Catch up your Carefree Highways sets here

Start the Birth Month Mug Rug Series here

Out of the starting gate....

We had our snowstorm as promised-- we got about 5 inches. 

The house just never looks so peaceful and beautiful as when wearing a blanket of white.

Our little lantern stayed on the entire day to make us feel warm...

I went out to explore and found our holly trees looking very festive!

It is safe to walk up the little stone stairs-- no spider webs!

We checked up on our neighbors, and shoveled for an older couple.

(hee, hee-- older than us, and I'm so pleased to say I was only a little sore the next day!)

And best of all, the power stayed on the entire time

On to sewing-- we're almost halfway through January--
some projects are exploding, others not so much!

Let's start with morning handwork. So I put away cross stitch and took out my Baltimore Album which is tantalizingly close to being finished-- who'd a thunk it? Twenty-five years in the making!

There are two blocks left that are about halfway done. Clearly, they are why this sat on a shelf for years. This is the "Heart Wreath." Great job on stitching down the vines! Until I realized some of the leaves were supposed to be behind them. Also, the blobby shaped ivy and weird flower petals do not lend themselves to the Appliquik method... I'm coming back to the idea I should once again try straight old needle turned applique, which I hate. Lost two weeks already overthinking this!

This is the other unfinished block-- I may switch back and finish it first. This was the original Month One of this series in 1997-- a heck of a place to start, with a Tree of Life for a beginner, right! Fortunately, most of this work is covered over with two birds and a lot more leaves, so I'm not sure why I worried over this anyway. There is a good bit of "not caring" about this project now, that is really a help to finishing a thing-- does anyone relate? It's the idea of don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Now here are my business projects! So let me interject how blessed I am that my job and my hobby are the same thing. Fabric is my life-- does that sound hollow to you? It is my art-- my very being. 

So, Stitches of the Sea was very much in danger of being another victim of the pandemic. It was our 2020 stitch-along... then March happened. I very quickly ran out of the thread for the satin stitch color, then my favorite stabilizer. Everything was shut down. 

Other things became more important, like the free World Tour stitch-a-long. I stopped adding batting and backing each month and just stitched them out on the fabric, for speed. At the end of the year, I only had five usable blocks. 

I finally have the designs for the sashing, and this project is coming back to life-- this is just a corner using the blocks I have, but really it would take no effort to just stitch them up the right way now. This is going to be a 2022 finish, for sure! It's also been a bit of a metaphor for picking up and getting on with my life, post-pandemic. The Quilt-as-you-Go designs may be up as early as next week. Are you ready?

The February Cross Stitch ABCs piece is well underway-- just need to add some doodads. This didn't start out as a series, but I just love making them, and I'm starting to see some amazing projects on the Facebook group. Do you people understand how much you inspire me? I love you! <3

My first UFO piecing project of the year is "Winterville." I have 24 tiny Ohio stars made so far this year, which is why this one did shelf time for about two or three years.

So here's my quandary-- I could just finish up that center medallion and have a nice throw for the couch AND a beautiful snowflake and tree table runner with the extra blocks. Or I could continue on, add twelve houses, and make the full quilt, which most likely will not get a lot of use in my house. What would you do? 

As I've been evaluating my project load for the beginning of the year, I noticed how hard it is for me to "change plans." I have all the supplies to make the quilt, and maybe it's that I feel a quilt would have more value as an heirloom? I'd love your thoughts on this-- be warned, if you argue for the smaller pieces, I am going to be like the immovable object-- it's crazy how hard it is for me to change direction!

I'm really trying to settle in for the winter, to get the year off to a good start, and avoid running around too much. So here is just this sweet little project for me-- this is one of the thoughtful gifts I was telling you my son came up with this year-- he knows I love gardening-- isn't this just the best thing ever!

It's an "Aerogarden," and came with nine different herbs. You can graduate to cherry tomatoes, though! I'm also thinking I could use it to start flowers for the spring. Believe me, you will be getting updates as my little sprouts come to life! Maybe all the fresh herbs will rejuvenate my interest in cooking!

So here we are in 2022-- we made it! I am feeling extremely positive about everything, and really, with a view like this, who wouldn't.

Hope you are off to a great start.

xox

Carol

Plans...

      Who doesn't love the New Year-- a fresh start, making plans, organizing... it's great! To close out last year, we got the tree down and the ornaments put away, but there's still other decorations here and there I like to have out for a bit, like snowmen and angels which are still wintery. Yes-- we are the annoying neighbors who leave our wreath up on the door 'til Valentine's Day! This guy, however, didn't stand much of a chance and he was "put away" rather quickly. Mmmmm.

We are currently under a storm watch-- our first snow. First, it was 1-3, then 2-5, then 5-8, and now I've seen up to 10" being predicted. I'm really excited for it! It's only Thursday, but it seems like the weekend. I will be sure to get some pictures-- I love to take pictures of the snow.

Some people have all their 2021 projects closed out, and are full swing into 2022. I'm taking a little bit of a softer approach this year, and not planning too far ahead. I want to just focus on one or two things at a time. I did whip up some planner pages for myself, and you might like to have them, too-- I put them up for free on the website. I just don't want to shell out $50+ for a planner this year. Mine is coming out super cute! I'm going to make a little video of it with ideas of how to use it. I called Staples, and for $5 they will spiral bind it for me! Now, the age old problem is just to USE it!

This got retired for a few months. I came to a really good stopping point. There's a corner with Halloween in the lower left, and Back to School is the theme on the right. I used an online cross stitch calculator that told me it will take me four months to finish, based on what I already have done. So I already marked on my planner to take it out May 1st-- done and framed and on my wall for September. This thing is already huge-- if adding a double mat and a huge frame is wrong, I don't wanna be right. I LOVE IT!

So now for my "new" winter morning hand stitch project, it's time to finish my 1997 Baltimore Out of the Box Quilt! I'm sure some of you old-timers will recognize this-- it was a BOM from Keepsake Quilting. I took it back out about four years ago, and all I have left now is to finish a couple of the harder blocks and make two more borders. This is the picture that came with it.

I believe this was the block that convinced me to abandon the project all those years ago! Those blobby ivy leaves are pretty challenging for me. I've been happily using Appliquik materials for a couple of years-- these shapes are pretty hard to prep. I might be better off just trying to needleturn them. 

Not good so far.

Fortunately, this is also the year I choose to let go of that unicorn called Perfection, be kind to myself, and git 'er done!

That's the handwork "thing" I'm focusing on-- here's my piecing "thing" I work on at night. This is a pattern called "Winterville" by Thimble Blossoms. I started it about three years ago. The original pattern was blue snowflakes on a white background, but everyone knows snowflakes are supposed to be white, so I reversed it out.

The fabric is this impeccable Christmas line called
TOLE CHRISTMAS.

So I remember being disappointed that the greens didn't show up well on the teal background I picked, and it got put away. The 28 red and TINY Ohio Star blocks didn't help my creative juices, either. But, if I just FOCUSED on this for a short period of time, it could be finished and loved by somebody who could care less about the greens, right? And offer some great longarm practice, because it won't reach that "precious" stage that makes you afraid of ruining  a thing. So I pulled it back out over the holiday and have made more progress. Ten more stars and then twelve houses and it's done. I'm really enjoying working on it again.

Another resolution for the year-- I could have quite a few quilts made this year if some further ahead UFOs just got a little push!

Then, on the business side of my sewing obsession, the Birth Month Mug Rugs are a hit! Thank you so very much for the response. After the website debacle last year, the creative juices dried up, so I needed the win. I might make scrappy pillows out of my mug rugs, but then again, wouldn't it be great to combine them in a big quilt? Let's see what happens together!

Some of you want to pay for the entire series at once-- so when February's is ready, I will offer a pre-pay at a reduced price for the whole series. It's going to be fabulous.

Set 8 of Carefree Highways is going to be our remaining Eastern Seaboard states. I cannot believe there are only 15 states to go-- I was so hesitant to start this project-- it seemed HUGE. I am really going to focus on this and try to finish the states and the quilt by the end of April. It's already in my planner-- so it has to happen right?

Georgia is no longer on my mind-- it's finished. Georgians, you have to wait for the set of five Seaboard states!

So there it is, I have showed you four projects when I said I was only going to work on one or two at a time-- well, business projects do not count-- that's work-- heehee!

So here's hoping for a long, lustrous, and productive winter... and that the power stays on!

xox

Carol