Merry Christmas!

     It is Christmas Eve morning-- I have my fabulous and cute customer thank you email all designed and scheduled-- the Chris-Mystery Ornament #4 is done-- just a little customer service and my job responsibilities are ended. But I really wanted to reach out to my blog friends with a little longer end-of-the year greeting-- love you guys!

     The Chris-Mystery series of four ornaments is complete! The annual stitch-a-long this month was definitely an afterthought this year. I was almost going to skip it, until a few people asked. I can’t do an all FREE stitch along anymore- yes, they create more customers as you would think-- they are a giant following of FREE people! And don't get me wrong-- that's fine, except when you have to pay bills. Shout out to a select few non-customers who were willing to do the unthinkable and pay $1.99 for the Christmas-Mystery this year! You are AWESOME!

     We had a bit of glitch as you may have seen-- we lost power for three days last week! (we are fine). A tremendous rain storm came up the coast. So it rained on top of the snow we already had- everything melted and ran off the mountains in one big whoosh. 

    When you picture Maine, picture those rocky rivers with men in waders fly fishing, water bubbling happily away. I wish I had been able to capture the pure, evil rage they turned into-- a ghastly olive colored water reaching for the sky, and spraying and spilling over the banks. We foolishly tried to go to the post office the next day. We witnessed flooded farm fields, roads undercut by the water and caved in, missing decks from houses, and cars full of pine needles swept and left in the middle of the road. It was apocalyptic to be sure. We had to turn back.

    I remember in California when there were mud slides--- the news people would always say, “This is in an area of million dollar homes,” to emphasize how tragic the situation was. But I’m sure those million dollar home owners had plenty of resources to help them. How much more tragic it was to see people who have very little to begin with then lose everything. 

     It really reset my flagging Christmas spirit to see everyone come together. It hasn't been a great year personally-- things happened that shouldn't have happened, and things that should have happened, didn't. The unthinkable even happened. This sign has become a bit of a running joke in this establishment-- at least we can still laugh.

It will just be four of us this year with a small meal-- I’m grateful.

    And now for the sewing news-- the sew jo has returned, but the time has evaporated. Never fear-- the week between Christmas and New Years is one of my favorites.  December 26th through Jan 1st-- all is finally calm and bright. All the stress of gift giving and meal making is over and everyone is on vacation. I'm really hoping to get a little down time, a little of sewing time, and at most just come up with a general direction for next year's designs.

    

    My goals for the past year were monthly and seemed to revolve around the Sew Sampler box subscriptions-- I think I crushed it, although there’s still plenty to finish up! This worked well for me-- I still don’t have a dedicated office and most of my unfinished work is still in boxes, patiently waiting-- it was perfectly acceptable to buy new fabric and start new projects. So here's what I have done in the past couple of weeks:

   I was hoping to have my Alfresco quilt done the first half of December, and the Christmas “Jolly Box” done the second half-- not even close, but I did make progress. Maybe one of the animals on Tula Pink’s Besties fabric should have been a sloth. The four large stars are done. I had a little unforced error, as we say in the quilting big leagues, that I’m making work for me-- do you see it? In my defense, it was incredibly hard to cut a cute animal face in half-- I cringed every time-- this may be why people who don't like Tula Pink fabrics don't like her fabrics.

     For the Jolly box, I have seen pictures on Facebook of the candy quilt finished with the provided pattern-- it is cute, but I am offended by the candy canes without stripes on them. 

     And the prints are all large scale-- so I thought one of those quilts made of gift boxes would be perfect for the fabrics. I have all my fabric prewashed and an unintelligible sketch. 

     I also balked at the navy blue background and came to the conclusion that the dreaded PINK is the perfect color for the fabric. I made the pink less objectionable by choosing a grunge-- I'm still not quite succeeding at liking the color.  I do have a really deserving friend who loves pink-- the idea of gifting it to her next year really makes me smile. Hoping to dig into it next week. I might go to an open sewing class at my LQS for dedicate time? Maybe 2024 is high time to get out there and show myself.

    The last box of the challenge has been revealed and is on it’s way-- The December box. So the way they work is that they come really late in the month, I’m giving myself till January 31st to finish all the 2023 boxes. The fabric line for December is okay, (yay! more pink!)  and the pattern is fine, so I’m doing something really different this time and making it the way it’s supposed to be! I even ordered the finishing kit from Fat Quarter Shop -- should be fun to not have to think (read: overthink) for a change. Fat Quarter Shop photo again:

   The box this month is CHOCK full of good stuff-- a ruler, a generous amount of fabric, notions-- I was thinking of stopping my membership next year. I don’t really intend to continue making something from every box next year. I'd rather pick things myself. But I think I will just continue on at least until April. I’m only going to make the ones which have fabric I really love-- the rest, I am going to quickly sell on the Sew Sampler Swap page instead of filling shelves. Don’t want those teal boxes collecting again! I am in the middle of the BOM, which ends in April-- and I've kept up! 

     In a weak moment, I also signed up for the Fig Tree Quilts quarterly box-- they’re more expensive, but Joanna Figueroa is popular, so if I don’t get something I love, I’m going to just list it on eBay. I do enjoy a subscription box.

    Did you see my funny meme on the San Francisco Stitch Co, page? I took my own advice-- twice! I bought the Kona calendar and the super expensive set of 12 charm packs to go with it from Fat Quarter Shop (their photo). The calendars are sold out-- you have to Google them at this point. 

    Then, I also had my eye on this cutest ever Tilda Christmas quilt for months. Would you believe the pattern is free-- but she can do that, because her fabrics are so cute, so it's hard to imagine this quilt made from my stale stash. 

    When in the world will I ever have time to make all these things? In 2024 I’m trying for one finished quilting a quarter-- just have to figure out which ones. I'm toying with the idea of finishing two, allowing myself to buy one. But I really need to stop adding to my quilt kit collection. Someone is going to have a field day at my estate sale in a future year.

    My silly Christmas crafts came along-- again, one of the designs should have been a sloth! I started with the heart ornament, and this is about three hours in:

    If that seems like a waste of time, consider that I also completed one and a half Hallmark Christmas movies while stitching it.

    My folded star garland is just about there-- I'm planning to have it at the absolute last minute. Think of me at precisely 11:59 tonight-- I will be standing on a chair in the kitchen hanging it. I just have to string these beads:

     You should have seen me trying to thread the bakery string through the beads-- but by the time I finished the last one, I could do everything perfectly. I never got back to my hot pads-- next year!

     So that's how everything stands at the end of 2023. Charles Dickens, for the Christmas win: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way." 

     Wishing you a Merry Little Christmas,
whatever your circumstance is this year.

xox

Carol

Twelve Little Joys this Christmas...

  Well the sew-jo has returned, but the time has evaporated! Sound familiar? Instead of showing projects this week, I want to share a few of my favorite things I'm enjoying this Christmas-- maybe they will bring you a smile, too! In full disclosure, I receive NO commission from  this blog, and some of the "simple joys" might be hard to resist and also EXPENSIVE-- particularly the set of twelve chickens. You are forewarned. Let's go!

     1. See's Candy So this is a thing I discovered during my time in San Francisco-- when you think of San Franciscan chocolate, does Ghirardelli come to mind? Heavens, no. Grandma Sees has the best of chocolate of them all--I discovered her in a mall shop near my home in Dublin, CA when we lived there. They would actually give anyone who set foot in the store a "free" chocolate-- boy, did I ever get sucked in. Those free candies have cost me quite a bit over the last 20 years! Thank goodness for mail order-- my beautiful sister sent me a box as my gift, this year. I promptly turned it over to my DD, with the instructions to just give me one a day, a role she seems to really enjoy. Added bonus: They always have such nice tins for the holidays-- what sewist could resist a tin?

     2. Silly Christmas Crafts. One of the great loves of my life-- craft projects of any type. Ahh, the joy of assembling any little thing with instructions not written by me. Many of you will recognize the name Herrschners-- I so enjoyed getting their catalogs back in the day before the internet, and they came to mind a couple of years ago and I was delighted to find they were still around with a website. They've got it all-- felt, yarn, paint, pony beads. This year, I snagged these cute felt ornaments, and I can't get my mind off the Perler bead Christmas craft set that's currently on sale. So enjoyable to just zone out and let your hands do the work. I also got the cute set of plaster ornaments at Michaels for $4.99. All will be ready for Christmas 2024, I swear!

     3. Chickens. I say this with absolutely no pride and only the facts-- if the bottom drops out of machine embroidery, I am hitting it out of the park as a egg farmer. Every morning, my precious sweeties get oatmeal-- every afternoon a bowl of grapes. It is delightful to see how fast they can peck up those grapes-- making even my highest rate of consuming Sees candy seem dang respectable.  The rooster is such a gentleman-- he's the handsome guy in the back there--he lets the hens eat first. He steps up to the tray, looks to the right, looks to the left, then slowly chooses a grape and steps back. In an instant, a greedy hen will peck it right out of his mouth. Eventually he will step forward again, look left and right, choose a grape, only to lose it again. By the time this process is repeated three times, the grapes are gone. I love him, and I could watch this every day for years.

     4. The Jingle Ball. So this was a thing I saw advertised on Instagram last year, and I made a mental note to do it this year. It's a virtual cross stitch convention, happening the first weekend in December. For a $10 ticket, you get free cross stitch designs from twelve designers, the chance to work at Zoom tables with various groups of people-- "New England Stitchers," "Antique Sampler Stitchers" and what not. Or there's a "speed dating" area, where for five minutes you randomly stitch with a random person, then switch again. There's a shopping area, and a main ballroom with entertainment. So, I didn't really have time to enjoy it for hours like others were doing, but I fantasized that I was still living in my first Brooklyn apartment, never married, and stayed at my same job for 30 years. And I had all weekend to sit around in my jammies and virtual party at this thing with no responsibility. It was a beautiful dream, but like George in "It's a Wonderful Life," I did end up wanting to get back to my real life. So this event is over now, but I'd definitely do it again, just for the shopping and the spectacle of it.

     5. Folded star ornaments. How long have we seen these batting around the internet? I finally did make some of these this year, and I really enjoyed it. Now you can always count on me to tell the truth about things-- so I have to dispute the folklore that this would be a fun family activity. First of all, one star uses a heck of a lot of fabric! Four 4" x 14" pieces-- that's the better part of a fat quarter! So with the price of fabric these days, you're not gonna make a killing at a craft fair. Second thing, ironing is involved- a lot of ironing. And the final nail-- it really takes a good deal of concentration to figure out how to do it- and then, do it neatly. So that rules out the kids and just about everyone else in the house--except for the person who is good at wrapping. Do it with that person if you must have a group activity. I made twelve stars (oops! thirteen... there I go, overachieving again!) over the course of about a week-- I ordered big wooden beads to string together and make a garland. I'm pretty well set to have this for this year-- I'll be sure to take a picture! 

     6. Jazzy Café. So this is a channel on You Tube, and boy, if you think Kimberly Jolly is killing it with monetization on her hour and half shows, she's got a lot to learn. Jazzy Café is beautifully digitized virtual environments-- choose your cozy corner-- snow is falling, people are walking by on the streets, there's always a roaring fireplace and comfy seating-- all in an endless loop. And jazzy music-- Christmas music, or not. So this is what I put on and just let it roll for hour upon hour, pretending I am working in some beautiful place. Highly addicting, super relaxing, and I'm sure a big money maker for the genius who creates it. Jazzy Cafe is really the only thing I can watch/listen to while sewing without frequent need of a seam ripper. Highly recommend.

     7. Snapfish. Back in the day, when the kids were growing up, I was an avid scrapbooker-- it makes me smile, but some of the fabric designers like Basic Grey and Echo Park got their start with paper. This is before everyone just kept their photos on their phone. So at some point, when the coast to coast moving started, probably around 2008, the scrapbooking pretty much stopped. My whole family just loves pictures and nostalgia-- so this year, I uploaded all my photos from a past Christmas and in an afternoon, created an entire 20 page scrapbook on Snapfish. Their interface is super easy to use-- in fact, it will just add all your photos to the book for you, and then you just add text and cute graphics. My 8x8 book was $32-- it's a surprise for Mr. SFO. It was just really pleasant to go back a few years and make this thing-- I'm thinking next year, I may do a bigger projects starting with 2008? Like the quilts, the scrapbooks are waiting to get finished and I still believe they will! On the plus side, I always kept my photos super organized on my computer, and while all my scrapbook supplies are still boxed up after the move, Snapfish could fill a nice niche for me with something I really used to enjoy.

     8. Kona Calendar. Now a half hour jog is fine for some, but new quilt projects to make is a bigger endorphin producer for most of us! I saw this Kona calendar quilt for next year-- it is made of a different color of their solid fabrics every month and it is STARS. Fat Quarter Shop is selling charm packs for each month-- it's a bit pricey, but I'm hugely tempted. So what that I still have the Barn Star, the Dessert quilt, and the Cookie Tin star quilts to make. What do you think? I could always just get the calendar and see what happens...

     9. Dunkin Donuts. I guess I'm a simpleton at heart-- but yes, I run on Dunkin, and they're paper hot cups this year are really tickling me, In fact, I have saved them to reuse at home. And the vanilla creme filled donut has been my lifelong love, in case you wondered.  Thankfully, even though there are fewer street corners in Maine, there's still a Dunkin on every one of them.

    

    

10. When Christmas decorating happens by itself. So Christmas is a bit of a shell game here-- who will be the first to suggest we get a tree? We have actually gone up till Christmas Eve without one in past years! To redeem myself, I do like to leave it up well into January-- it gets me though the hard part of winter. Thankfully the DD and DSIL took responsibility this year-- cut, set up, lights, and decorating all! To redeem myself again, let's just remember Mr. SFO usually takes little interest beyond the chain saw part. So while the kids were out of the house, I did this by myself for many years. Trust me folks-- this was better. 

 11. Home Goods Store. If you are in a situation where you just don't want to decorate-- I'm at an age where I perfectly understand! Just go to your local Home Goods store and take pictures-- ours was amazing-- groaning with every style of décor in every department-- food, kitchen, linens. Of course, if other people are willing to decorate, I'm willing to finance-- look at this beautiful boy I snagged for $40! I'm in love.

   12. Winter Joys. Here we are in the Western Mountains of Maine, proof that life takes some surprising turns. Historically, I'm not a huge fan of winter-- but when I married Mr. SFO, I knew he was a mountain man, and he promised me a Florida vacation every winter. So every day, I bundle into my long down coat, and go outside. I walk up to the mailbox, looking through the birch to the blue sky. I take in the Bigelow Mountains at the top of the driveway and check for happy mail. Then, I stop at the coop to look for eggs. Next, it's downhill to our sweet cabin-- almost completely renovated with the hope of plenty of company! And down through the deep forest to the lake, which each day has a different mood. Here, I stop to think how quiet it is in this place of White Christmases and a thousand more simple joys.

xox

Carol

A History of Chris-Mystery

 

A History of Chris-Mystery

   As we get ready to start our Christmas Stitch-a-Long this year, I thought we might enjoy a little stroll down memory lane. Can you believe this will be our fourtheent year of Chris-Mystery? They started in 2011. Many of you have been with us since than and some even since our start on eBay in 2003. xoxo

So, the Chris-Mystery idea began as a Halloween stitch-a-long all those years ago! We had been doing "Friday Freebies" to generate some traffic, and it occurred to me that something on a larger scale might be more fun. Each week, we released a letter-- this is where the poems began, too! Here's our very first instruction sheet. 

Pretty cute, huh! If you told me I would be expanding on this tradition through fourteen years of stitch-a-longs, well, I just wouldn't have believed it.

We had the Yahoo group at this time-- participation was fabulous! Were you a part of the old group? You could post your own photos, and each week we had hundreds of photos of each letter. When Yahoo closed the groups down, all these photos were sadly lost.

Of course, we went on to do a Christmas one, just a couple of months later. Short words seemed to work well. Both my finished Halloween and the Joy table runner were given away as gifts. I know exactly where they are--hee,hee-- do you think it would be nervy if I asked for them back to take better photos! 

2011 Chris-Mystery JOY

A year later, we were still working on short words! This one, I had the presence of mind and also the greediness to keep-- it also had quilting patterns for the embroidery machine to finish it. I think a bell definitely went off in my head-- and it took a while, but this is the precursor to the fully quilted designs you see now, like Stitches of the Sea.

2012 Chris-Mystery NOEL

Now we're in three years, and the next one lives in INFAMY-- my main embroidery machine broke down, and would be in the shop for WEEKS! I had to get out an old one-- and then finally had to buy a new one. Instead of PUT UP THE TREE! and SLICE UP THE FRUITCAKE!, other exclamations were coming out of my mouth all through this stitch-a-long. Looking back on it, I see it more favorable now-- that fruitcake design is one for the ages. This finishes piece, I have no idea of where it is honestly. I think it's in the house somewhere buried. Cement shoes.

2013 Chris-Mystery DECK THE HALLS

In 2014, I decided to go back to short words-- I wanted us to make something for our sewing rooms. We stitched out the word PIECE, because I though "Piece on Earth" was sew cute! To this day, I have people write to me saying Piece is spelled wrong. For those people, did you know that an A is included so you can also stitch it as PEACE? Apparently, no one reads product descriptions anyway.

I ended up donating this, unfinished, for my local quilt guild's sale-- someone finished it, and I guess at that point, I felt better about it--

I bought it back!! LOL

2014 Chris-Mystery PIECE

I guess by 2015 I'd had enough with short words-- we did ornaments. I love the way this came out, and this is out every year in my home. This stitch-a-long had one color ornaments for free, and full color ornaments for sale-- the upgrade kit had been born!

2015 Chris-Mystery Ornaments

2016 was the year of the Countdown to Christmas Advent Calendar-- we did a design a day for the month of December. I do not know how I kept up with this! I would still like to take these counting designs and make a big applique quilt out of it.


Countdown to Christmas

For the stitch-a-long, I just took bits and pieces from it and used them to cobble together a table runner. This is one of my favorites-- and one of our best-sellers--I hate to say it, but it's still just a flimsy--quilted this year? Hope so.

2016 Merry Christmas Tablerunner

Next came the Twelve Days of Christmas-- this had a free charm size, and then a 4"x 4" detailed version for sale. The charm size has a beautiful finishing kit, not pictured here.

2017 Twelve Days of Christmas

The 4" x 4" set I stitched on large star blocks I had made with the Fat Quartershop's book "Among the Stars." They just re-released it, and it reminded me how close I was to finishing this! For the life of me, I cannot find it. It's one of those situations where I have obsessively looked in the same places time and time again. 

Twelve Days of Christmas 4x4 Set

The next is my very favorite one! My Christmas Album. There were charm and 4"x 4" designs. I was thinking of the song "A Few of My Favorite Things" when I digitized this.

My Christmas Album 2018 Charm Size

Here is my finished 4"x4"-- completely embroidered with sashings and plaid and bows. Art from the heart! This hangs proudly at my front door, from about Thanksgiving to Valentine's Day... all the finishing designs are also available you can make one just like it, too!

My Christmas Album 2018 4x4

Then the year of Cross Stitch began!
These were sew fun to digitize, with all of our favorite Christmas Carols. Again, there were two sizes. 

Kris Kringle's Cross Stitch Charm Size

Kris Kringles Cross Stitch 2019


2020, such a crazy year! I did not even think of a Christmas Stitch-a-long. Instead, we did "Once Upon a Time, Winter." There was talk of a dark winter for all of us-- I hope this brightened yours. There was again, a charm size and a 4x4 size.

Once Upon a Time, Winter Charm Size

Once Upon a Time, Winter 4x4 Size

That brings us to 2021-- and we created this beautiful winter city together--

"St. Petersburg Christmas"

I did some armchair travel on this one-- taking bits and pieces of cathedrals and recombining them into the 4x4 designs. I'd love to redo this in cross stitch-- would you make it?

St. Petersburg Christmas

Last year was our first year in Maine-- looking out over our meadow was the inspiration for the four creature of "Winter Twist." That reminds me-- I still need to get a binding on this! LOL

""Winter Twist"

All the links under the photos are live-- catch up any missed years for up to 75% off-- but that is today, Monday, December 4, 2023 ONLY!

Got some of these in a closet somewhere-- waiting to be finished? Tomorrow, we will be heavily discounting all the bits and pieces to complete past year's Christ-Mystery designs.

Still with me-- YAY!

You get a sneak peek at this year's stitch-a-long-- we're going to make four ornaments for gifting or for your very own tree.

And now let's hear from you! Did you stitch along for all these years? Did you finish, or still WIPs? I hope I've inspired you to put a few stitches in something today. Look for our new stitch-a-long starting later this week.

xox 

Carol

For the die hard fans and friends!

      I just wanted to get FOUR posts done in November... precious little sewing has been going on, so I will really have to dig for material. We'll just say this post is only for the most diehard SFO fans out there!

     Last I left you, I was sick as a dog... this bug really knocked me out for the entire month. I did finally go to the doctor at the urging of some of you-- it was a total waste of time. No, I am not going into bronchitis. Just over the counter stuff was suggested. Should've saved my $30 copay for fabric!

    The Sew Sampler Challenge is about to die--- While I am almost finished with the October Box, November and the Jolly box have piled right on in. Both have sets of nine fat quarters, and neither of them seem to suggest any "easy" project options.

     November features Tula Pink's new "Besties" fabric-- I'm not a huge fan, but I do appreciate it. I had thought of just sewing them all together whole, getting it quilted and donating it-- CHECK it off the list! The fabrics are all large scale-- maybe a good compromise is to cut 8" squares? Another good compromise would be-- JUST GIVE UP ON THE CHALLENGE-- heehee. I think I'm already a winner with all that I did do!

    And here's the Jolly box-- the overwhelming opinion of this box has been decidedly underwhelming-- I love it though! I think it's a good value-- I love the little candy cane charm and unlike most sewists, I can always use fresh pins and needles. 

    I also like the pattern and the fabric-- unfortunately, not that pattern with that fabric-- it's again large scale prints, which I don't think make particularly good candy canes. I see them as more of a "wrapping paper" idea with "present and bow" quilt blocks. And that is not going to happen before Christmas, or even the end of the year.

     The point of the Sew Sampler Challenge was to have nice Christmas gifts this year-- I do have a ton of possibilities, unlike last year when I had NOTHING. Since tomorrow is December 1st, I really need to sit down and figure out who is getting what-- then tie up some loose ends, mostly binding.

     I also want to make some of these cute folded fabric stars this year-- have you seen them? Click the link below to be taken to a video on it by Erica Arndt-- I swiped the photo from her. 

Folder Star Ornament Video

     And I never got back to my Shabby fabrics star pot holders-- I gave away this Autumn one--lol. I have tons of Christmas fabric that could be used-- nice gift!

     Good news is, Mr. SFO is traveling for the next two weeks-- don't get me wrong, I do feel sorry for him and will miss him, but it's going to enable some LONG sewing days to help me make up for November. Honestly, I could hit it out of the park with a two or three days effort.

     In other news, I had to have a couple of little biopsies of a patch on my neck this past month-- it was extremely stressful as we all have experienced. The idea that you are full of cancer is never good news for anyone, but for us quilters with the closets full of UFOs, it is particularly frightening. The first was was inconclusive, the second one proved it was pre-cancerous, but then I had to get it removed anyway. I'm super grateful to be able to put that behind me-- that was part of why I was down in spirits all month. 

     I had to drive back to civilization to have all these medical things done-- and more good news, I got most of my Christmas shopping done... just a few little things this year. I did finally succumb to the gingerbread giant sign pictured above, from Michaels, that was 50% off. Mr. SFO is an architect and will not be impressed-- he likes his house super spartan. After he saw me struggle all month, I think he'll give in.

        Some of you are looking for a free Christmas stitch-a-long, and heaven knows we need it this year. So I am trying to get something together last minute-- maybe some cute ornaments or something. I found out a sobering statistic this year-- 60% of my customer base has only ever "bought" free things. So are you on the naughty or nice list? I am actively working to only have access to my free stitch-a-long to paying customers-- I think that is fair.

    Thank you for reading my blog, now let's sit down and make our Santa lists and SEW!

xox

Carol