Inspired, but lacking time!

      The creative sap has started flowing again, but spring activities have reduced the available time! I am really enjoying watching what comes up in my meadow in the first spring here. There are dozens of daffodils in every color-- that all need to be divided-- haha. I guess we can blame karma on that one-- all the flowers badly needed dividing in my house I left. 

     Absolutely every bush on this property needs trimming-- we closed on the house in July, and nothing got done last year as we weren't fully moved in until October. It's a job I don't mind-- so far the blueberries and the roses are heavily cut back, and I will just work my way around the yard with the clippers and work away with the rest. As in my sewing, my dibble dabble approach carries into everything I do!

    This week is going to rain, so here's what I'm working on-- and not working on-- but I'm really hoping to crush it this week. Writing down goals each day really helps. 

    Zen of Sewing: almost ready for a first stitch out! I say with pride, on mostly everything I digitize, I can get it to sew well the first time. The Zen sewing machine is going to take 2 or 3 stitch outs to get it  to work. It's super dense and I really want it to work for my 5x7 hoop people. I also really want to make it into a quilt block. I can totally imagine it as the center of a medallion quilt surrounded by colorful flying geese and star blocks... and hearts-- because we love to sew!

     So you can see there's a little bit of an empty space to the left of the thread spool-- I would never let an empty place go unfilled! So there's this upcoming:

     I know from recent polling, half of you will be for this development and half against-- so I may make it where you can just omit certain color changes if you don't want a bird. At least it isn't a chicken, people!

     Charm Pack Baskets: Next up, I was looking for something easy to digitize and I found it. Those of you who know me well, know that the "charm pack" is my favorite precut-- so gather yours! I got this pack of "Bee Plaids" in a Sew Sampler box quite a few months ago-- they have been begging me to make them into little baskets ever since. 

I already have three sets in the "Charm Pack" series.

     Apparently, my customers aren't as enthralled with charm packs as I am-- or maybe you don't prefer applique, because these never sold well. I am soldiering on anyway. I just can't force myself to design for commercial success-- it always has to come from my heart. So I will never be a millionaire-- but I'm happy!

    A charm square is 5" x 5"-- and it's challenging to try to design something with no waste. So if you cut it this way:

    Then you can make the basket shape with two pieces and have one left over for a fun half-triangle square border. Plus, it's going to be a one-color stitch out, so you can easily make multiples for a large project. There. Have I sold you yet? I'm going to be digitizing, then stitching these all week-- 42 squares in a charm pack!

   

 In the fully finished column: My Sunburst Table Runner. I had a little trip this week with Mr. SFO to Boston and put the last stitch in it on the road-- this is hotel carpet. This is no travel blog, because not one picture of the city was taken! In my defense, I did not spend the entire time in a room sewing away. Adding to my FFO tab for the month of April.

      I finished hand stitching #7 of the Prairie Meadow quilt this morning. I starched and ironed it a couple of times during the process, and it definitely lays a little flatter. I'm barreling into the prep for #8 today. I. AM. DETERMINED.

     

Then my April subscription box came in-- EGADS! It's pastels...

     Judging by my stash, I don't live my life in pastels-- no one should, but maybe this is the Easter table runner I've never had? I'm am totally embracing it. The featured collection is "Sweet Acres" by Beverly McCollough who is very well loved in fabric design circles. 

    The accompanying pattern has really big flowers and really small flowers, so the Goldilocks in me started Googling for the one that is "just right." I found one I really like -- Lori Holt (again) has a free "Calico Star Flower" block on her blog (link below) that is 8" finished. I was going to applique the circle centers like she did, but I have enough handwork right now, and I don't think they need it for my purposes.

     I have two done so far-- they take about 1-1/2 hours each with cutting and sewing, but are easy to do. 

   

 I am challenging myself to use just the fabric in the boxes--- that means, no added background fabric-- but I can already see this is going to be a big mishmash if all nine blocks I'm planning for are just sewn together. So I am buying sashing-- I'm going with this fabric that's part of the collection.

     As every gardener knows, you're not supposed to plant your flowers all in a row, so I am going to experiment with uneven widths for the sashing- also, as a quilter, maybe I'm getting tired of sewing in rows-- heaven knows, I complain enough about it. First, I thought I could just add a random width sashing to the right and bottom of each block, but then nothing will fit together obviously. So then I got my handy graph paper out and did somewhat of a layout--

    You can see the flower blocks, and the red outlines show the rectangle pieces needed to connect them. All I have to do is count the squares and add my 1/2" seam allowance to cut each piece. I highly recommend graph paper to help facilitate any cockamamie idea you have for a quilt. I'm also clearly over-confident in my ability to step-piece-- we'll see what happens.

    To further complicate, the black outline represents the oval shape I would like to cut this into when it's done. I really think round shapes are totally overlooked in the quilt pattern world-- most likely because you would have the expense of printing a huge pattern for cutting it-- that's my guess. 

    So that's the plan for the April Sew Sampler box-- I hope you stick around to see how this adventure ends.

    This week, I was lamenting my Barn Star Sampler-- only one block done, when I'm supposed to have eight. Since I got behind so very fast though, it stands to reason I will have more time to catch up. This week has five rainy days, thus five chances to get it rolling again.

    That's my week! I leave you with this adorable painting a friend posted on Facebook:

Now go stitch yourself into something beautiful this week!

xoxo

Carol

     Lori Holt Calico Star Flower Block

Charm Pack Embroidery Designs

Zen Embroidery Designs