Embroidery in the Wilderness

     I promised I would show you my temporary studio space, and at the risk of losing all credibility for the internationally renowned machine embroidery company that is San Francisco Stitch Co., here it is!

     It's a beautiful, large, south facing space just needing sheet rock. Our first home was am extreme fixer-upper to put it kindly, (there were bullet holes in the windows) and I always remember the listing heading when we bought it was: "For the Buyer with Vision!" So I am keeping that in my heart-- that house was a showpiece after 17 years of effort, and so my worldwide headquarters here will eventually be the best space ever, in less time, I certainly hope!

     In the meantime, I have had the battle of the mice--won-- the battle of the flies-- won-- and now the battle of the lady bugs-- winner still to be determined. I'm doing my best to be a hearty wilderness machine embroiderer up in my attic. Yesterday, I finally unpacked my beloved Babylock Spirit-- I gave it a hug and actually said," I Love You!" out loud-- an it was just a very healing moment of promise for the creations that will be born and grow here. Today will be my first stitch out in this establishment-- the November Birth Month Mug Rug.

     To further encourage myself this week, I stopped by my new local quilt shop-- Pins and Needles.

     This picture is pulled off their website-- it's a bit fuzzy. I met the owner and she gave me her entire life story which started in British Columbia-- she still had a lovely accent to show for it. Then, of course, there was a good love story, and she was persuaded to spend many years in Maine, and the shop has been open for thirty years or more. Everyone here is just beyond friendly-- but I liked her even more after discovering her store was extremely well stocked with fabric, DMC floss, wool, batting, books... She warned me that people who weren't born here are know as transplants, and that may be so, but everyone I meet has totally opened up their home and hearts to Mr. SFO and I. 

     You can make a virtual visit to the store here:

Pins and Needles 

     Be sure to check out the Maine Birds and berries fabric-- I am definitely going back for it! Do we see more Cloud Club birds in the future? Heck, yeah!

Maine Birds and Berries

    There are other little retail shops along this block-- The Twice Sold Tales bookshop, the Mix It Up cooking store and a gift shop. I can't wait to go to those, too. It is great to live in a place where it isn't Barnes and Noble, Bed Bath and Beyond, and the Hallmark Store lined up predictably, one after the other.

     I was challenging myself between unpacking, to put an hour into my cross stitch in the morning, and an hour into quilting at night-- so I didn't quite make it, but progress has been made!

      One bit of wisdom I learned-- or probably relearned-- on days where I felt like I just didn't have time, it is better to just put in 15 minutes, than do nothing-- 15 minutes is the difference between having another UFO and potentially finishing something. If you skip a day, you tend to skip the next day as well-- but if you put in just very few minutes, you have made a placeholder for the habit the next day, when you may be able to put in your hour!

I am stitching along with Kimberly at the Fat Quarter Shop, but I am not stitching the whole Autumn Love piece-- I'm just taking the bottom and making a cute mini bench pillow. I found my Lori Holt Prairie fat quarters, and I'm going to make a scrappy one inch square border around it to make it a little bigger. I'm giving myself plenty of time, just hoping to have this done by Thanksgiving. I am having my family up for Thanksgiving here-- hee hee-- wow, that's a goal! There's not even a hotel anywhere near here where I could put people up! We will all be lying about on the floor!

For the quilting hour at night, it was also hit/miss, but those sashings are coming along...

I just about have 32 more of those zig zaggy things done, and this week's job would be to sew on the background strips to the top and bottom as shown above. Then, I get to pick a new task-- I think it's going to be the triangle setting squares-- they have fewer pieces and I think if I do them as strip sets, not as individual pieces as the pattern is written, I can save some time. Did I mention there are sixteen of them?

So that's been my week of sewing-- the middle of the day is filled with many other things and the post move to do list. I stumbled upon the last box of things I packed as I ran out the door of our sold house for the last time, so that caused a little angst, and I still wonder what I have traded my perfect home and life for. But looking at the beauty of autumn in this remote place, and the faces of my family around me, well, they all just look very happy, so I am determined to conquer this wilderness and will fake it till I make it myself!

xox

Carol