Death, taxes, and sewing

      If you are the lucky one in your family who knows how to wrap gifts nicely, I'm sure you've been popular at Christmastime. If you are the lucky one in the family who likes math-- (me)-- this is the time of year you are in demand--do you know why?

    Yup, it's tax time! I have no less than four people's Form 1040 on my plate, so I am taking a bit of a break from San Francisco Stitch this week and switching hats to Carol's TurboTax Service. To cheer myself along, I will allow myself a few minutes of "break" sewing as I roll along. So to Death and Taxes, I will add Sewing as one of the certainties of life!

   Lots of things coming along or not since my last post less than a week ago. Let's start with the steps forward...

   The Barn Star Sampler block finally got fully assembled. A little rough on the pressing, but my points survived. After initially feeling "meh" about it and thanks to some kind comments on Facebook, I am really liking my results. The finished star looks very like my sketch of so many weeks ago!

    One thing's for certain-- I better stop opining and start sewing because I am getting seriously behind on this stitch-a-long. I may take a Saturday and just work on the second Block 1. It has occurred to me that a few projects could use some seriously dedicated time soon instead of all this dibble dabbling I do. The "dark star" below is next. Then I may skip ahead to some smaller blocks from later on in the stitch-a-long-- Months 2 and 3 are also KILLER twenty-four inchers (two of each, no less) that I could come back to over the summer.

         I guess this mindless cross stitch is the perfect follow-up to itemizing home office expenses-- I got the entire pink part of the envelope filled in, with just a little border to go on the bottom. It's destined to become a pillow. 

    The mindless stitch came at the serious expense of Lori Holt's Prairie Meadow quilt-- the thing is in dire danger of become a long-term UFO. I wasn't too pleased when I photographed my set of six and saw how crinkly they looked. No progress this week. I think I need to make a commitment to get my next block prepped this week.

     Then March Sew Sampler box came in this week. FQS needs to think about skipping a month just to name these better-- it should be called the April box. Just because they ship the last week of the month, you are constantly feeling behind.

     I was none too pleased to get another jelly roll-- the despised pre-cut that maximizes zig zag edges. Plus, the pattern is a "woven" look-- and I'm just finishing up my Cupid Box which is very woven looking-- enough!

    Then I had the great idea to make the free FQS "Brick House" quilt from the fabric-- it's Simply Delightful by Sherri and Chelsi. I did my math, and figured out we can get nine 12" houses from the junior jelly roll, and I think the colors will look great, too! So this month, I already bought extra white background for my plan. I'm trying not to start before I finish the February box-- those were the "rules," but in my world, they were made to be broken. I may start cutting between Federal and State income taxes later this week. Isn't it a great pattern? 

     If you click below the photo, you will go to it-- the middle size will work for a jelly roll-- with some creativity. If I could do a block every couple of days, I could definitely complete it end of April, and send it on out.

Fat Quarter Shop's FREE Brick House Pattern

    So about February's box... after killing it by stitching it up in the first week I had it, I got lulled into the idea that it was "finished." So I quickly retrieved it, found batting and backing from my stash, and starting quilting it. 

    I am trying to stick to straight lines, but it started getting a little fancy, and a little tight at half inch spacing. My posture while doing it is textbook BAD-- scrunched shoulders, extended neck, etc. etc. and I have to limit myself to an hour at a time. 

     Conclusion: if I am going to keep up with the boxes, I'm going to have to enlist some long arm help! Especially if I make the brick house, I just do not want to be quilting these large things on my domestic. I'm trying for a just a 1/2 hr. a day on this, just so it does get completed-- you know, dibble dabblin' it along!

    So I am feeling a little like Ethel and Lucy working in the chocolate factory with these Sew Sampler boxes coming in. 

     

     At the same time, my Cupid Box is serious LOVE!

     I've never done a partial seams quilt before, but I did understand how to do it. I sat myself down with some graph paper, and just moving little cut pieces around on paper, I figured out a super organized way to "step" piece it together. You can see the blue gingham strips on the bottom are not sewn all the way if you don't know what I'm talking about. You complete them each time you add a new "step."

   I may even devote a large chunk of time this afternoon to just zip it up. I need to figure out when my daughter-in-law's birthday is-- it's for her.  This is my own pattern-- not the one included in the box. I may even write it up.

     Speaking of gifts, I did send out my Happy Mail quilt to a longarmer at the end of January and it's finally back! I will definitely have a nice finish this month for my FFO tab, and baby Zela will have a blankie with her name on it. <3 Just a little binding remains to get stitched down.

     I gave myself the day off yesterday, so the SPRING Bowl Fillers are a little late, but they are up this morning. I think I'm going to start Christmas designs as the summer season is always slow... Bowl Fillers designs are at the top of Santa's list this year.

     MY DAY OFF--- Who knew, but the last Sunday in Maine is MAPLE SUNDAY! We visited a few of our area's Sugar Shacks-- it is a ton of work to boil 40 gallons of sap into 1 gallon of syrup and we met entire families working together towards that goal. It is very inspirational to see grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren all working towards the same goal. In my experience, it hasn't been too often when kids want to be part of a family business. Granted, this activity is just for a couple of weeks each year, lol.

     We came back with this haul! Each syrup was better than the last, so we kept buying incrementally bigger jugs! There are going to be a lot of WAFFLES and PANCAKES in our future.

     So, I promise I'm not going to end every blog post with chickens and become a farm blog! But there is my Bea the Brahma in the center-- she has quickly made herself the center of attention and "quarterback" of the team. 

    I'm enough of a farm girl to know the ills of feeding animals by hand... i.e. when you have six horses rushing towards you for one carrot...  but not smart enough to avoid doing it. So my little monsters are now flying into my hand and roosting up my arm when I reach into their box! This won't end well when each weighs 8lbs, but they are just SO CUTE!

    Thanks for joining me... let's step boldly into the week and embrace all that it brings-- whether it is REFUND, or WRITE ANOTHER CHECK, and let's sew on!

xoxo

Carol

Spring is here!

     I didn't feel great last week, so I didn't have enough progress for a Sunday post and gave myself a couple extra days to come up with Blog show 'n tells. After a lot of wasted time Googling symptoms and trying to understand the difference between a sinus infection, long Covid, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, I am feeling a bit better this week anyway. I am now satisfied I will live to do another round of bowl fillers and here they are!

     This is the monthly series, April:

     There's also a seasonal set-- "Winter" was my first ever bowl filler set,  before I starting really enjoying designing them and decided to go monthly.

    

I also did "Autumn" last year.

     It might not be too obvious what the difference between the Seasonal and Monthly Sets are, beyond that the monthly ones are a set of twelve, and the seasons are a set of four. The seasonal ones were designed first, and I wanted something super quick to stitch, so they are more limited in color. One of the three designs in these sets will always be just a single color, and your can stitch up multiples in your own favorite colors-- like the leaf above. The Spring set will have a one-color butterfly. The seasonal sets also all have a design with the alphabet in it-- like an old fashioned sampler.

     On the other hand, the monthly sets are full color-- they include the month name, then two more designs-- I am trying to tie each set of three together with the same cute elements-- can you can see the carrot below in all three? I just think it is cute visual play. The bunny scene also has a missing carrot-- did you notice? I just love designing in these little back stories.

     So April bowl fillers were released today-- I'm shooting for the 21st-ish of every month to release the next month's set so you have time to make them. Or you can just buy them on intro price make them a year ahead-ish-- lol. I think we can all identify with that!

    The Spring set is a little late-- forgive me, but spring snuck up on me, being precious hard to find around here still yet. But this is what it looks like so far and I would hope to have it Saturday, latest.

   I still have to work out the color-- it won't be red. I'm no pastel fan, and I particularly detest pink!! Let me know your thoughts.

    The "fun" sewing is a still a little backed up here! The first Barn Sampler Star block refuses to be born. Thanks to all who commented on my Facebook design question-- A, B, or C. So, I agree the star looked more distinct when not connected to the corners, BUT THIS BLOCK IS HUGE! That's one thing you can't convey on the internet. So I think it needed the extra detail. It still isn't completely sewn together, and I have to make another one for the first month's assignment to be complete. I am getting seriously behind. I always hopefully think to myself,  "just one rainy summer day months from now and I could catch up the entire quilt." But I'm not sure the finished result here has wowed me worth all the hoopla of coloring and then stitching it.

     In the hand stitching department, I finished the two Prairie Meadow blocks that went to Florida with me.

     I now have a set of six-- halfway! The three week plan per block is working out, and I'll try sticking with it till it's done. Feeling kind of "meh" about this project, too. Some of my blocks, actually ALL of them, really have some fullness issues that need to be "quilted out." You can really see it in the sideways light I photographed them in last night. I'm thinking I should not glue them completely up at one time-- maybe start with a few shapes in the center? Anyway, these are big heavy applique shapes which is not helping. Again, HUGE blocks. This seems to be a design trend lately.

    The Love Note cross stitch free pattern from Fat Quarter shop is slowly getting filled in. This is a mindless task. I love it!! heehee. I got a lot of white done last week.

    On the back burner, the Cupid Box was halted waiting for fabric. I am not going to give names, but it took a major supplier (not FQS, I will say that much) TWO weeks to get me my extra floral fabric. In the meantime, any small business person on Etsy will get you fabric the day before yesterday. I can just imagine these people strapping three toddlers into their car right before dinner to drive 1/2 hour to the local post office and ship. The fabric has now arrived, I have the plan, and I'm hoping to git 'er done this weekend. And I think you know where I will be shopping for hard-to-find fabric from now on.

    Then, I received notice that March's Sew Sampler box shipped- YIKES. I need to get my Sunburst table runner quilted SOON.  It's been sitting idle for two weeks. Another job for the weekend.

     And last of all, here are Sugar Meadow happenings...

     Earned or not, I have, over the last few years, developed a reputation for having an occasional "freak out" moment. So after the last week of nasty surprises, when Mr. SFO announced, "There's a green plant growing out of our septic system," my heart and mind were in full freak out mode-- What the heck!!!! What now, what next?!!! On the outside, I kept my composure, to avoid accusations of freaking out.

   At the earliest possible convenience, when no one was watching, I snuck outside to survey the next expensive repair:

    Daffodils! Hurray! Spring has arrived.

     We have indeed survived out first Maine winter.

"Stonehenge" is now uncovered...

The lake is starting to melt...

    And we have some new peeps for the meadow!

 

  The chicks are beyond cute-- I offer them little treats on my hand, and one brave soul will grab a bite-- then all the others will chase it around the little pen like a football team after the quarterback on the gridiron -- never mind that there are 30 more pieces in my hand. 

I can't wait to watch my little team grow
during the warming weeks ahead.

Welcome, Spring!

xox
Carol

An Expensive Week!

    It's been a very expensive and educational week here at Sugar Meadow. Things are breaking right and left, and home insurance, car insurance, even the AAA Gold membership we have paid for over the last 30 years covers none of it, as the various bureaucracies informed us. If you have ever thought that it's all and only about sewing here in Blogland, you are mistaken. But one of the benefits of being older (there are many) is that you can shrug off bad news fairly easily-- we've done it all, haven't we? No one is hurt and we've been able to get out of trouble as quickly as we've gotten into it. And the best news-- my sewing projects were only slowed down a little!

    Back to the happy world of Blogland... this happened over the weekend!

   A Ribbon Runs Through It is a completed top... all 5,000 pieces. The requisite amount of time pinning and groveling about the concrete floor has been served... my knees loved every minute!

     If I may say so, I did a beautiful job piecing this quilt... those little squares are 1/2"! I always took the time to go back and pick out seams where my points got chopped, or sew a seam a little tighter where they missed. The finished size was supposed to be 99-1/2" x 99-1/2" and it came out exactly that. I think history will judge me very kindly as the maker of this quilt. <3

     The instructions by Lynne Wilder of Sew 'n Wild Oaks were very well written, and special thanks to Fat Quarter Shop for offering this sew-a-long. You all got me through my mom's illness and a stressful move as I secretly did a little sewing each month at night.

     I'm looking at another Lynne Wilder pattern-- The Country Charmer-- or maybe I'll finally switch over the the Barn Sampler... it looks easy now! (No, she's not standing on the quilt.)

     The quilt fits perfectly on our queen size bed-- I can only attribute that to pure luck, because I never check the size of a pattern before buying it, do you? I just go by looks-hehe. Hoping to get it sent out for quilting by the end of the month-- even if my longarm was assembled at this point in time, it wouldn't fit!

     I finished my February Sew Sampler box in four days-- it still has to be quilted. These boxes are easier to complete than I thought. I'm really looking forward to having a stack of gift pieces ready to go. With the extra time before the March box, I went back and started my Cupid Box. In addition to the monthly boxes, Fat Quarter Shop does four special boxes a year-- you don't have to subscribe, so it's a good place to jump in if you just want to try one. The pattern was a striped heart on a gray background, not my favorite, so here I am in left field again, making up a jelly roll pattern for the provided strips as I go along. I love it!

     This is as far as I got with the 20 jelly roll strips provided... I broke another promise to myself, and ordered more of the Heatherlee Chan XOXO fabric. I think my stash is getting as fusty, dusty old as I am-- I tried to add from it, but none of the colors matched, none of the patterns were fresh enough-- I had the same problem trying to add to the February box. My son's fiancé would love this-- he's a mechanic and there's red trucks and other vehicles throughout-- perfect for a late engagement gift. So that's what I heard in my head  as I pressed the order button for about six more yards.

 It has been a ton of fun, like a puzzle-- I love a puzzle, and I might even write a pattern for it on my Etsy shop. Here's what I'm working toward:

The big outside border is this beautiful watercolored floral and brings the size of the quilt to a respectable 54" x 54." I will definitely have this done by the time the July Liberty Box comes along!

In other happy news, Sugar Meadow has produced it's first maple syrup! That's our Sugar Shack in the background-- what a process to turn 40 gallons of sap into 1 gallon of syrup. 

    The artist-in-residence and her fiancé have figured it all out on their own. The kids put it the syrup up on their Etsy shop and the entire first year's estimated production is sold out-- there's a waiting list at this point!

    Finally, the meadow has a porcupine! Another cute Winter Twist animal, or a varmint that destroys acres of forest each year?

     At first, we thought he was a real cutie pie--he moves only slightly faster than a sloth and appeared to be waving at us from the trees. Even better-- he was leaving me the gift of "sewing needles" everywhere!

    Then, we noticed he ate the bark off an entire tree! Even if you only take the bark off a tree in a small ring, the tree dies-- sap can't flow up and down to nourish the new leaves. After that discovery, it then became war, as we Googled up ways of getting rid of him-- trapping, coyote urine, pepper spray... lethal force is not recommended, as then you have a spiny body to get rid of!

So far, he's made a total fool out of us.

    So that was my week. It's "Spring Forward" Sunday, but I have to confess the past few days sucked any spring I had out of me. I'm ready for some warmer weather-- but not before a few more long winter's naps.

xox

Carol

February Review

      Since I lost ten days gallivanting the East Coast, I gave myself a couple extra to close out February projects. Let's see how I did! 

On the business side, I finished three projects for the month

    Winter Twist got its fabulous swirly finishing kit! It is a thrill to look over your customer projects posted in the San Francisco Stitch Co. Facebook Group. The variety of colors chosen is amazing-- from misty winter mornings, to vibrant sun downs, and the blackest of nights. Thanks to all who made this project such fun to share. You got me through the hardest part of winter! My own project still needs a tad of quilting and then binding before it goes in the fully finished tab above. This will get done this weekend, I hope.

    Stitched with love is a new series of heart designs-- I always wanted to make 12 blocks in to heart quilt. This is the first installment, "Love to Stitch":

     I'd love to make an individual project with each design as well-- this design I made into my first project bag complete with a zipper-- something I have not done since 7th grade home economics class!

     Finally, I've always wanted to design a set of quilt labels, long after being convinced that we need to label our quilts, people! Expect more of these. The first set is themed "Love in every stitch." I want to do a "friendship" themed set this month.

     On the quilty side, I expected to have my Happy Mail quilt back by now. I turned it over to a local longarmer in January and I'm just paying her to completely finish it, including binding. When I explained I was away in Florida starting the 18th, she told me it would be done long before then. I'm back, it's March 4th, and she's not returning my emails. I'm a bit aggravated, but as my dear artist-in-residence mentioned, she could have gotten sick or anything! We don't know what is going on in people's lives. I'll probably just drop in the shop on my way to the grocery store next week and find out what's up. Little Zela is waiting for her quilt!

    My January Sew Sampler project is a fully finished object- yay! It's amazing how quickly things come together when you stop thinking about them and start actually working on them. It is happily residing on my dinner room sideboard and it looks very content there, but I may decide to gift it as Sew Sampler box finishes pile up, month by month. How is that for confidence?

    It ain't braggin' if it's true, so lookee here! I came back to find the February box waiting for me, and in just three nights, stitched it right up. If you get the boxes, I'm sure you could make the quilt in three or four nights-- the "Al Fresco" pattern is beautiful.

   I am trying to complete all of the boxes with just the included fabric and obviously I will have to go to my stash for backing. I now have three weeks to quilt and bind. I'm not really tempted to send things out now based on my Happy Mail experience. But I'd love to practice my free motion skills from the Daytona class anyway! I'm hoping to get the Cupid box project started this month and I am going to keep my promise to myself-- no buying the special Fourth of July box unless Cupid is done.

     Prairie Meadow-- last we talked about this, I was rushing to get two blocks pinned up to work on in Daytona, and yes, I did it! So I made great progress on one of them during various flight delays and evenings on the balcony for the first half of the trip. But the second half, after being at the Daytona show all day, I was way too tired for anything!

   I am one tulip and one yellow flower away from finishing my fifth block, shown here on my first flight delay en route.

    And thanks to my very special friend who neglected to bring her own hand stitching project, (she's always up-to-date on things! )"I" have the center portion of the sixth block done.

     I was burnt out on this project when I left, and I'm afraid I still am. The next six blocks seem like they will be a slog. I'm giving up on Lori's stitch to stabilizer and turn method and just using Appliquik. The reason-- I've just been somewhat unhappy with the way my inside corners are coming out and the pieces come out very heavy with the stabilizer sewn in. It's super fussy to turn these things right side out and I'm getting "dents." I'm trying hard to keep on with this-- trying to remember how much I was looking forward to doing it. Maybe just one block a month instead of every three weeks is the ticket? Why do we consign so many quilty starts to a closet? I also noticed I have too many balls up in the air right now. Read my lips!!! No. New. Projects. 

   AARTI-- the thin pink borders are on. The teal borders are left. I may even have this to show you next week. The job boss is pleased.

   I had a cross stitch finish! Lori Holt's Stitch Cards O are done. I really enjoyed making these with all of my cute Fat Quarter Shop accessories. Next time I go to Michaels, I'm going to just treat myself to a rustic framing job, no mat. It really feels like it belongs in this house with the colors, and we are still in bad need of a few things on the walls after six months of living here.

     The free Fat Quarter Shop Love Note pattern is coming along-- I'll show you Feb 1st and March 1st. 

     I took this cross stitch on vacation as well. It has ALOT of filling in. So I thought this would be a good hand stitch project for when I'm tired-- it requires no concentration, but it's a conundrum, because once I'm too tired to concentrate on stitching, I'm pretty much too tired for anything. I'm going to continue along-- it's the only cross stitch I'm allowing myself for now. Once it's done, I have a fabulous Christmas house I started in the 90s that I'd love, love, love to have on my wall this Christmas. (If you're interested, just look up the March 9, 2021 post and you can see it-- I'm happy to see I finished the border since then.) NO. NEW. CROSS STITCH. for now.

     Looking back on my January review post a month ago-- I did not complete any of the four things I wanted to get done-- 

1. A Barn Star Sampler block

2) A Ribbon Runs Through It Quilt

3) Winter Twist 

4) Two cross stitches

But why be negative? Everything has moved along beautifully! Let's just try again in March, a month with 31 glorious days! 

xoxo

Carol