Happy Holidays!!

      Here we are at the most wonderful time of the year! I hope you had a fun and filling Thanksgiving-- ours was the perfect mix of kids, dogs, food, and the great outdoors for four straight days! I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it in this new place. My new oven turned out to be awesome-- it is HUGE inside, with three racks. And while I did miss my formal dining room, the company more than made up for it-- squeezed in together, is best. <3

     I even finally cajoled someone into helping me assemble 10,000 Perler beads into a cute cabin! I bought this kit a year or so ago when all the container ships were late for Christmas, and it was 80% off... now I dream of creating an entire Perler bead Christmas village. See, I do have dreams beyond sewing, people!

     While I did quite a bit of cooking, I managed to sneak in plenty of sewing-- did you? Here are my complete Ribbon Runs Through It stars-- if you see any piecing mistakes, speak now or forever hold your piece. [sic] 

     I have one more block to finish-- then it's full on assembly-- but I may just start assembling tonight, then go back to the block when I get tired of assembly. Stitching together those long rows is my least favorite part of quilting. This quilt finishes at 100" x 100"-- it's a big one-- those are long rows!

     My Let's Pop Some Corn table runner is fully popped! After trying the blocks on for size on my various tables, I opted for a smaller five corn layout. That leaves two extra for a pillow, plus the kit had enough fabric for two more corns, or another pillow. I did have to order some extra background fabric for the last two corns that I found it on Etsy. Etsy is a great resource for older fabric that you local quilt shop has run out of. This set will be fabulous in next fall's living room! These are BIG corns-- the pillow is about 18" x 18."

    Then, I finally got a Lori Holt Prairie Meadow block pinned up and ready for hand stitching. I always wanted to try one of her applique quilts, and this stitch-a-long started on my birthday in August, so I took it as a sign and treated myself! After a few moments of doubt mid-assembly, it looks sensational. I love the patchwork background-- I always wanted to do this type of patchwork/applique mix.

     I can't wait to start hand stitching this tomorrow morning-- I haven't had a hand stitch project since about Halloween, when I double down on star blocks. I used Lori's method for the large pieces, Appliquik for the smaller pieces and Applipops for the circles. Lori is fine with this-- she is always telling me, "You are the boss of your own quilt." 

     She apparently does not cut out large parts of shapes that are under other shapes, either. This area has three big shapes layered with stabilizer. So I think I'm going to lift those up and trim all of it back. It's a bit much thickness for hand stitching, and I'm afraid all of that extra stuff will just telescope through when it's quilted.

     This is Block Ten, and I picked it for the Christmassy vibe. It took me quite a while to get this point, and it will probably take me another couple of weeks to stitch it all-- I'm thinking this will be my Block of the Month for next year. 

     My re-dos of the Kris Kringle Cross Stitch Club for hand stitch are looking great, too. I'm hoping to release them on the Sugar Meadow Stitchery Etsy shop soon. I'm switching  digitizing software so you can do, either-- machine stitch or print out a chart. Hand cross stitch is extremely popular right now-- have you pulled out your old kits?

  

     Finally, I stitched out the "2023" motif-- my yearly year design! 

I really didn't change it up this year-- I'm still extremely limited in what supplies I have access to-- most of it will be in boxes until the spring. It's a happy finish, though, and I did find my favorite red truck snow lantern in a completely unrelated box of stuff!

     To end, I'll share with you this sweet photo from Thanksgiving of Mr. SFO and his granddog, Rolo-- you know how it is-- when an animal is in your lap and you can't get up. Or maybe you've just finished Thanksgiving dinner, and you don't want to get up!

     Wishing you a very happy holiday season-- myself, I just can't wait for it all to unfold!

xox

Carol

A White Thanksgiving

      It appears the Alexa of weather heard me say we haven't had snow yet. Then this happened!

     These are my first views of winter at Sugar Meadow, so I bundled up with the determination of a lumberjack and sallied forth for my first impression. Beautiful!

The pines that ring the meadow rival anything that Rockefeller Center has to offer, but this cute Charlie Brown Christmas tree that marks the path to the lake is my favorite.

The artist-in-residence is trying to convince me we are living in a Hallmark movie, to allay my fears of brutal temperatures to come. I completely bought in to her vision of making the pond a movie set, with lighting, figure skaters, and a hot chocolate shack!

     The cabin looks lovely... I cannot wait to photograph my Ribbon Runs Through It quilt hanging over that rail...

The woods, lovely, dark and deep, just like the poem...

And best of all, the pond, beautifully gray with a misty mountain backdrop if you look hard for it!

     The "move" is well behind us now and I'm feeling very content and at home in this new place. Creativity is flowering-- well, bad metaphor for the time of year. I'll probably have to re-read this post to encourage myself in mid- February-- or May, whenever winter ends up here in the Great North.

      I had hoped to get my corn husks on this week-- check! You know, I decided to let my piecing standards drop a bit to finish this more quickly. Big mistake-- I really had to coax three misshapen units together for each and ended up using more time. Luckily, I peeked ahead and the pattern is a forgiving one at this point- not too much more tricky matching. Do your best at all times for the win, quilters!

     I had also hoped to finish my eight Ribbon Runs through It stars-- not quite. Five are done, but I may be able to get the last three sewn up today. They are going together very easily-- I kept up standards on this stitch, thank goodness! Then, can you believe, only one more block I skipped earlier is all that stands between me and final assembly. I'm thinking between Thanksgiving and Christmas I just put in an all sewing day to push it along. Do you think the whole thing could be together in one day? I'd love to put this in the finished column for 2022!

    Of course, that hope might get derailed, because I started a NEW project-- lol. I treated myself to the Lori Holt Prairie Meadow quilt for my birthday in August. I have this memory of watching her kick off video back then, while packing up my dusty cellar! So twelve weeks have now passed, and she's finished all the blocks, and I haven't even started yet. Lori didn't have to move, obviously! Quilty desires became irresistible this week and I pulled out my Simple Shapes and tried her applique method.

     You sew the fabric shape to stabilizer and then turn it right side out-- presto-- your edges are all turned. Things went well, but I can see you don't get a sharp point this way-- I'm fine with that, because this quilt is folksy, so it's almost better. 

The biggest problem is I am cutting away way too much off the seam allowance to get a clean turn. In one place, the seam split open a tiny bit. So I may use a combination of both techniques-- and then Karen Kay Buckley's perfect circles! So it kind of proves there's not just one best way of doing anything.

    

 On the creative side, I have been busy reformatting my Kris Kringle cross stitch for hand stitching. That is happening very quickly. Here's the machine embroidery version of one:

    And here's the handstitched pattern:

     The main difference is backstitch. No one is seriously going to want to outline that entire checkerboard border in dark brown, and you can see I've really taken out all the backstitching except for the typography. That's where I draw the line-- pun intended-- backstitch was made for typography, people! I kept a little in the windows, too. 

     Going through this exercise of simplification brought to mind some artistic thoughts With machine embroidery cross stitch, you are really pushing beyond the limits of hand stitch, into a new art form-- something that has really never been done before. An embroidery machine is completely willing to zoom through repetitive, detailed backstitch without complaining. I took a look at my cross stitch cottage series, and realized that any hand stitch version made of these would be completely different design. Trying to follow a back stitch chart for the trees, the tiny windows, or the snowflakes in the border is totally unrealistic for a mere human.

    I'm only re-doing the Kris Kringle designs mostly to practice the cross stitch software. There's never going to be a hand chart for anything more complicated-- the goal is really new work-- maybe some sort of hybrid style. I do find it odd that a hand chart PDF prices out at easily four times what you can charge for a machine embroidery design. I think I will have enough to launch my Sugar Meadow Stitchery brand before Christmas. I did get it up on Etsy if you want to look-- nothing to buy yet though! I don't expect my machine embroidery customers will do both, but there's lots of exposure for hand cross stitch on Instagram and I may be able to attract a few new customers.

    So these were some of my thoughts that came to me while working, because I don't listen to music or watch TV. Maybe I should start, and then we can all be spared my lofty, artistic musings!!

    The December Birth Month mug rug comes out tomorrow-- YAY! Another set of twelve that I am really proud of. Thank you to all who stitched along, and I hope you'll continue to make those birthday gifts for years to come. I am planning new series for next year, but I'm not going to do subscriptions-- keeping on a schedule is really hard for me-- if I had known when I offered the Birth Month subscription that we would be moving, it would have never happened. I did get it done though-- only one came out at midnight on release day!

   Another quilty week has come and gone.

 This week is Thanksgiving and I wish you all a happy one, even if yours isn't white.

xoxo

Carol

Sugar Meadow Stitches is Born!

      Another great week for all things stitch-y at Sugar Meadow! I wish I could understand the comings and goings of SEW-JO and make a pill for it. The world would beat a path to my door.

     Very early last week I had a finish-- 

     My Lori Holt Autumn Love Sampler bottom row is done. I am going to make it into a cute mini bench pillow using some of her Prairie Meadow fabric line to add borders. I think I'm going to do a few Photoshop studies and get your input on that before I rush that to a conclusion. One important consideration is how much room to leave around a cross stitch piece and even after professionally training as an artist I struggle with it!

    I used my freed up morning hand stitch time for the rest of the week to double up on A Ribbon Runs Through It-- I'll get back to that in a minute-- but I'm taking a hiatus from hand cross stitch for another handwork project--my almost finished Baltimore Album quilt! I started this around the turn of the century-- LOL, but, seriously-- and I have ten blocks and two borders done. When making the borders, I used up a bit too much of the fabric and needed more for the other two-- of course, nothing in my extensive stash of batiks worked. I think the fabrics are really FAKE batiks-- honestly, the quality is not great, but it's too late to change it now. I have been keeping my eye on eBay for at least five years. I'd see the patterns here and there, but never the fabric pack with it. What do you know-- someone finally posted these blocks with the ENTIRE pack of fabric for the borders-- I jumped!

    When it arrived all the way from Arizona, it was the exact same fabric from Keepsake Quilting-- I couldn't have been more pleased. I use Rosa Rojas' Appliquik method, so as soon as I restock on her paper and glue, I am off to the races on this. Hoping to finish it in six months or so? I am now HIGHLY motivated.

     I finished the new cross stitch set for Thanksgiving, and I'm really pleased with how they came out!

     Why so much self-doubt all the time? It's a real question with me. These are going to be released on my new Etsy platform, Sugar Meadow Stitches. It's not quite up yet, so don't bother looking. I'm also trying to keep it completely separate from my San Francisco Stitch Co. brand, or people will get very confused about what they are buying-- machine embroidery? a PDF chart? I do expect some of my concerned friends to eventually say-- "Did you know someone has stolen your designs and put them on Etsy?" We can only hope.

     To produce hand stitch charts these days, no one really wants to back stitch anymore (a shame), but I may introduce a little in later designs if this brand gets going. I totally smashed the learning curve with the new cross stitch program-- it's pretty exciting to see it spit the chart right out after machine embroidering it! Here is a sample-- if you want to print it out and try you have my blessing, just pick your own colors. These patterns are extremely late for Thanksgiving, and I probably won't actively advertise the Etsy Shop until quite a few things are in there.

     A Sugar Meadow logo is required and the artist-in-residence has stepped right up to the plate. It's great to have her back in residence again. :-) Those aren't spiders, they are milkweed seeds flying around and I love them! This is pretty much what my meadow looked like when I first fell in love this summer. And spiders are also appropriate-- big hairy ones. I looked it up, and none of the spiders of Maine are venomous, though. That fact doesn't save me when I run into one!

     The December Birth Month Mug rug is well underway-- another Series of 12 finished! I plan to write a blog post on the past ten years of BOM at San Francisco Stitch Co. just to get them all straight in my mind and to plan the path forward. I'm thinking of TWO series for next year-- a cross stitch and a regular embroidery. The cross stitch one is going to be bowl fillers, and the other one I'd love to be Sugar Meadow inspired? We'll see what happens!

I'm not really making it red and green. The color scheme has more to do with accenting the birthstone color-- for December, it is blue.

   So machine sewing got double duty this week, morning and night. I am working on 8 of the same filler block for A Ribbon Runs Through It and they are gorgeous!

    I chain pieced my heart out to make 8 rows of eight tiny units-- I have never done anything like this before, since I don't prefer quilts with repeated blocks. I wish I had taken a picture of all eight at once, but honestly the camera was not big enough to hold it all! This reminds me of that web piecing idea-- I guess I understand it better. This kept me organized, but I frequently had to snip things apart for more flexibility in arranging the next piece to be sewn. It gets tight.

    My self-esteem problem took a break-- through the magic of nesting seams, I am sew proud of this work! I agree there is a time for seams to be pressed open-- but it isn't often, and I can't imagine trying to piece these rows with open seams. I really impressed myself! Have you ever seen some of these top designers pieced blocks and seen some major OOPS in there?! It especially triggers my OCD when striped fabrics are crooked. I'm sure they work ten times faster than me. Or get someone else to do it!

    Here's a photo to keep myself humble-- haha! Not looking very professional here. But that's my process. This is the side table to my sewing machine right now-- behind my computer.

   A Ribbon Runs Through It got priority, but I did make progress on some corn husks, too! I don't know why I thought I could have this by Thanksgiving, but we could be poppin' corn for stringing on the Christmas Tree, right?

     The corns keep getting bigger and bigger-- but that little tip on the husk is like a teeny tiny 1/4" piece! That is why things are always taking longer than you'd planned, once started.

     So that's not even everything I got done last week-- I'm working on some Christmas presents that are secret. Don't be too impressed with that-- they are ones I am still finishing from last year!

     I've seen snow on some of the blogs I read-- none for us yet-- maybe Wednesday? I am always so excited for the first snow, but not the eighth or ninth one-- we'll see what Western Maine brings.

     Thanks for visiting and I hope you feel inspired to get out your own needle and thread--  let the new week begin!

xoxo

Carol

Satisfaction.

      Good morning from the western mountains of Maine, where it was 75 degrees this weekend! With that kind of weather, you'd have to ask why I wasn't outside, but I was killin' it in the sewing room, people! I had a beautiful week of cross stitch, machine embroidery, and quilting. And even some more unpacking, the never ending chore.

     I can't begin to even tell you how satisfying it was to cut 42 charm square into nine pieces each and then sew them back together into corn for the "Let's Pop Some Corn" table runner. If you are a quilter, you understand this! Yes, it's another kit, but oh, sew appropriate since we frequently make popcorn in this establishment. We even have the professional movie theater salt-- it's call FLAVICOL, and a really nice popper. 

     These are BIG corns-- I have to keep reminding myself to check the dimensions before deciding to make things-- this one is 18" x 58"-- that's almost taller than me. The large dimension also made me feel sad-- I don't have a dining room anymore, and it will just be six of us this Thanksgiving. 

     I got nine corns out of my charm pack, and plan to use the two extra for some cute pillows, but once the blocks are done, I'm going to lay them out on my various tables and see if I should make two shorter pieces. Or maybe just use the extra for a fancy backing like everyone seems to be doing these days. Hoping to get the husks on this week!

     I don't listen to music or watch TV while I'm working-- I just let the musings in my head wander about for entertainment-- such as this one that came to mind while I was stitching kernels.

    Now here's a little tip for you-- sewing patches of 4 x 10 tiny squares is never going to give you a straight edge along the perimeter. And there's probably very little extra to be able to trim them down to size, either. I just cut off the merest fraction to get the fuzzies and sewing thread off the edges. Then, on the other side, I draw a nice straight stitching line with erasable fabric marker. 

     "A Ribbon Runs Through It" did not fall by the wayside. All 888 pieces are stacked and ready for assembly on my handy, dandy Block Layout Sheet. Lots of rows to piece this week! After that, can you believe I will only have one more of the original star blocks to finish-- everything will be ready for final assembly. All my pieces are within 1/8" of where they should be, so I think assembly will go well, with just a little easing here or there.

     Cross stitch-- okay, maybe not hitting out of the park, but progress has been made. I might have this finished by next week-- I'm just doing the bottom strip of this lovely thing for now and making a mini bench pillow.

     Machine Embroidery-- I almost have another new set! It's more cute cross stitch-- these are sew fun to design and very easy to digitize. Tomorrow, I'm test stitching, and then I'll finish them off into some new Thanksgiving decor. It is so nice after years of machine embroidery to be able to pull out things I have made over the past years-- they are just like old friends! Not all of them have popped out of the boxes yet, but again, unpacking progress has been made.

     

     During some of my down time over the move, I learned a new software-- it's a cross stitch program that will let you machine embroider your designs, but also print out a chart for hand stitching. Often, I draw people into the site who think my work is for hand stitch-- should I start offering my designs as charts? There is a real glut of people jumping into that market now, but it is really beyond easy to just make a PDF chart with this software. Should I do it? I was thinking of starting a new brand on Etsy "Sugar Meadow Cross Stitch." I'd love to hear your input. 

     Instead of all these quilt kits I buy and work on, I also have been doing some of my own block designing. I really want to make an Autumn Sampler quilt, but don't see quite the right one to make. Another new brand for me... Sugar Meadow Quilts? Haha-- since change is in the air around here, let's change everything! Quilt designing is also a tough market since there is so much free content out there and I don't have any fabric to sell.

     Sugar Meadow Fabric?? LOL

     At home, the kitchen is starting to look like MY kitchen! It quite didn't feel right until I moved the silverware to the left of the fridge like it was in my old home. Makes me wonder if my silverware drawer has always been the right of my various fridges, starting with that first Brooklyn apartment and through all the moves, all these years. 

     It's such a mental boost when things get in order. All I need is a little more curation of the open shelves, and a storage place for my large crock pot!

     Now let's all get out there and start stitching!

xoxo

Carol