ME, The First Person that ever had to MOVE...

My friend’s neighbor has a daughter who just got engaged-- my friend commented how it’s the only thing the neighbor can now talk or think about. My friend commented, “It’s like no one ever planned a wedding before!” So here I am, in the middle of a move, GUILTY-- yes, it’s like no one ever moved before. I frequently like to warn people when my blog posts will be insufferable-- like the sign before Hades, “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here!” I know I can count on you, my quilt-y friends, to read on if I leave trail of bread crumbs, so I’ll also be sharing four quilt-y packages I just received interspersed with the rant. 

So nothing has gone well with the move. Take some advice-- spend part of your summer finishing up any projects around the house you may have started. Go through the rooms and get rid of any unwanted furniture. Clean the junk out of your cellar, your garage, your attic. Dust, for heaven’s sake! For the past eight weeks, Mr. SFO and I have been working, working, working through fifteen years of benign neglect from early morning to late night. You could say, this is what happens to a house when you have been sewing for 24/7 for the past few years. Mr. SFO and I have called this clean up effort “slave camp,” and we’re currently on about Day 81.

My jobs initially rotated between packing and painting. I’ve now moved into loading 26 ft. Penske trucks, dusting off the HVAC equipment. Scrubbing a rust stain off the cellar floor. Sanding greasy handprints off the garage walls. Learning how to use enough pillows on the beds to make the house look like a hotel. Only buying WHITE towels. Scheduling real estate agents, stagers, photographers, furnace cleaning, landscaping. Making phone calls.

While buying moving boxes at Home Depot, the checkout person quipped, “Coming or going?,” to which Mr. SFO cleverly answered-- “It’s usually both isn’t it?” I teased you that San Francisco Stitch Co. is heading WEST again-- yes, it is Western Maine-- a beautiful home on a lake, where Mr. SFO and I will retire, spend summer with our yet to be grandkids, write our memoirs, and of course, SEW. I will only leave this beautiful home and land for groceries, or quilt shows.

But the next piece of the puzzle is to sell this big ol’ family house. We’re, oh, so close to listing it. Today the photographer comes. It’s a seller’s market, and we’re really hoping to be out of here ASAP. The average market time is five days-- fingers crossed. In the meantime, does anybody out there really live like this?

In the meantime, I have been very sorry for myself. It’s like being at the gym for twelve hours a day-- I do think I am stronger after all the work! So in spite of the fact I have to pack and move whatever comes into the house, I did order a few quilty things from Fat Quarter Shop and from eBay over the last couple of weeks. Of course, they all had to arrive on the same day, right in front of Mr. SFO as we were loading the truck. I grabbed them from the mailbox, threw them into a magazine holder that was sitting on the garage floor waiting to be loaded without missing a beat. Mr. SFO said nothing and kept working along. Will he later say-- “What was in those three boxes that came yesterday?” Maybe. We’ll see what happens.

So here are Door Numbers 1, 2, and 3.

The first is the July Sew Sampler Subscription-- I had thought to cancel it right now, but so far I haven’t. This month the feature fabric is Camille Roskelley’s Nantucket Summer. Camille of Bonnie and Camille-- I had always thought their color scheme of navy blue, red, yellow and other brights was just perfect. So Bonnie retired, and this is Camille’s first solo collection. It’s pretty, but just not totally “me.” For one thing, there’s only blues and greens-- I like a collection with more range. Second, it doesn’t look like Nantucket to me at all-- I live just a bay away from Nantucket and have been there many times, so I believe I’m allowed to have an opinion on this. They are famous for hydrangeas, grayed out shingles, and a specific color called Nantucket Red that is used for shorts, baseball caps, etc. etc. Also, wicker baskets. 

(Photo snipped from Fat Quarter Shop website)

If you read the Sew Sampler Swap page, no one is really loving the pattern this month, either-- it looks to me like flying seagulls, but is called Sailaway, and is supposed to be tulips? Hello-- Nantucket is famous for the DAFFODIL FESTIVAL each spring.

I still really love getting these boxes, even though some may not be quite up my alley. You can easily just go on the Sew Sampler Swap Facebook group and just buy ones you like-- many of these July boxes are already for sale. Do be prepared to get verbally jostled amongst the huddled masses-- the opinions on these boxes are STRONG, and then you get the pushback from people who leap to defend the Fat Quarter Shop, then commenting has to be shut down!! The same thing every month. It’s a guilty pleasure and I have to admit I enjoy the spectacle each month, but never, ever do I leap into the fray and take a side! I love all my fellow quilters, feisty as we are.

Door number two. This I picked up on eBay. You should regularly search MODA QUILT KIT and QUILT BLOCK OF THE MONTH to see all the kits you wanted to buy but knew you wouldn’t make, and now you can get cheaper from someone who bought and did not make it, and you can still not make it yourself! Got that?

One year I took a break from the Sew Sampler Box and switched to Fig Trees "Little Box of Figs"-- it only came out quarterly, so I figured it would be a savings as well. So instead of spending $25 a month on Sew Sampler, I spent $75 every quarter. Hee-hee, sometimes my math is not great. 

Just like the Sew Sampler subscription, I wasn’t totally in love with everything I got for the year- in fact, I only made one of them for the year. I then switched back to Sew Sampler, but I still kind of watch the Fig Tree reveals-- some of the projects I really love-- this one was from last year. I was going to buy the pattern, but I snagged the whole “Little Box of Figs” on eBay. I hope I can make this in time for Christmas-- it looks fairly simple. I am really enjoying projecting myself forward in time, to when the move is OVER. The box also contained this little kitchen towel project I'd love to make.

On to Door #3!! About four years ago, Moda released it’s own subscription-- the Frivols kits. Each month, they featured a collection in a cute tin with a pattern and a couple of other goodies. I went on eBay a couple years later and made a hobby out of slowly collecting all 12 at a discount. To date, I’ve made five of them. The others, I’m not in love with-- this is a continuing theme with these subscription programs-- but #2 I am obsessed in love with! It’s the Minick and Simpson kit-- red, white and blue, and the pattern is glorious. I already made this, but unfortunately threw out the pattern, and I’d love to make a bigger quilt with my M&S Bella fat quarters I have. So I just couldn’t resist picking up another one when I saw it for $25. Unlike some of the other Frivols kits, you did not have to buy extra fabric to complete this top.

So those are three guilty pleasures-- a fourth, my Ribbon Runs Through It BOM came the next day. In spite of the whole house being turned upside down, I made sure I left myself this corner:

It hasn’t seen much action, but just to have the option is such a pressure release valve. I project too far into the future-- when will all those sewing supplies be unboxed in my new sewtopia? It seems like a that day will never come. Here is are my leftover supplies, hidden like a kid’s candy stash under a bed.

Feeling hopeful today I will survive this season of change. Thanks for reading... I know your heart is with me, even though you've never had to move before--ha, ha!

xox

Carol