Keep it positive!

      So just after congratulating myself on how much I got done this first half of the year, I decided to make a spreadsheet to track my Sew Sampler Box projects and filled it in.   

    Yikes! I saw I have a lot of FFOing to do before the first half of the year is closed out! It made me realize how subjective ideas of productivity and success are-- I went from feeling smug to humble PDQ. The exact same situation was perceived in two separate ways. It shows the importance of staying positive.

     How can we stay positive? By sewing, of course! And I did that for almost 3/4 of a rainy day last week. I really enjoyed myself and moved a few things on the spreadsheet along, too!

    Here is my Mod Flower Box, now retitled the Mod Berry Box since it reminds me of blueberries and raspberries. It still has one super wide navy border to add.

     I used the Fat 1/8ths as the pattern said-- there was a lot of waste, so I used more for the colorful border. So happy with the curves and the mitered corners I was able to do-- I haven't done any of that in quite some time. I'm a bit stuck again, because my math lately has been horrendous, and I need more navy to complete the last thick border.

        Here's a little tip for you, if you're piecing together a large scale print for a long border. I cut four two-inch strips and just sewed them together randomly, and I got this, which is a bit jarring:

     So I realized if I had just more selectively picked the ends to sew together, I could have avoided that-- I did unpick, and got this:

     Not perfect, but better-- if you press seams like this open as well, it really helps hide the joint. Look at the bottom border on my original picture of the project, and you'll see my four separate pieces really aren't noticeable.

    I was worried about falling behind on the Pressed Flower BOM-- instead of thinking about it for eight hours, I sewed for two and caught myself up with Block 3.

     

I do have the fourth block pattern-- this flower isn't my favorite, but they all can't be!

     I was lucky enough to get the kit-- it sold out really fast. So they (Fat Quarter Shop) already sent out the finishing pattern. What do you think of it? To me, it looks like it needs a few more pieces-- heehee. We'll see what happens.

    The July Sew Sampler box is in hand-- I wish they would rename the boxes a month ahead-- I get my boxes on the 27th of each month, and it seems like you then have four days to sew it to be on time-- why can't it just be the August box? More mind games to play with myself, always feeling behind!

    I am now sucked into the "Summer Memories" quilt-- the stitch along is long gone, but July's box fabric is red, white, and blue, and of course, I wasn't thrilled with either of the patterns provided. 

    So the Summer Memories quilt depends on this pink/light blue color scheme to bring it together-- but this collection has navys, reds, and grays as well. So I am just going to potter along making basket blocks of my own color choices and see where it goes. I doubt I will get anywhere near the 64 blocks this quilt has-- but I did the math and I could get 28 baskets. 

     This is my first attempt-- I can get two identical baskets out of two of the 5" x 10" strips provided. I don't have the book, but I know how to make a basket block-- judging from the overall dimensions of the quilt, my baskets are a little bigger-- 8" blocks. So I might only need 36 baskets to get a really big quilt. I'll probably just succumb and buy the book at some point-- it has really pretty cross stitch in it and even more quilts.

     I gave myself the time off to see the Maine Quilt Show-- it was fabulous. Here is the Best in Show by Pat Delaney. It is impeccable. I will show some more pictures in the next post-- not a lot of machine embroidery, but some.

    All these things are helping distract me from the fact we have a wedding in less than two weeks now. I'm having constant "talks" with myself to keep myself positive in this area as well. There are many things that can go wrong at a wedding, and believe me, I've thought of them all. When you have the faith to plan an outdoor wedding as my DD is, first of all, the weather could go badly. But then have it on the top of a mountain that is known for the most extreme weather on the planet. Will hairspray hold in 50mph winds? Is it possible to put a wedding gown on in a public bathroom stall? Will someone drive off a cliff? Was I this nervous before my own wedding? These are the thoughts that rob me of sleep at 3am these days. Stay tuned and thanks for listening. 

xox

Carol

The Endless Summer Sails On!

     We are fully enjoying the best of summer these days... beautiful temperatures, exploding gardens, and, of course, plenty of sewing time!

     The August Bowl fillers have released-- I have a customer always asking for watermelons-- well, the time was ripe!

     I'd love to make some sort of long, quilty tablerunner out of that watermelon-- cross stitch and quilt blocks go hand in hand and we see some designers doing both-- they are both based on grids. But there's too many ideas around here and not enough time-- not enough room! for all of them.

     Today, I'm stitching out SUMMER ABCs. So this series has not been a blockbuster for us, but there is a dedicated following and I love doing them-- having always loved word puzzles.

     I've been working towards a set of twelve-- quietly designing for the months over the past two years or so-- and I have 11. Here is the way I organized them.

     January--WINTER. February--LOVE. March-- LUCK. April- SPRING. May-- SEWING.June-- SUMMER.  July-- PATRIOTIC. August-- SCHOOL. September-- AUTUMN. October--HALLOWEEN November-- THANKSGIVING December-- CHRISTMAS (to come-- there's already a LARGE one, but I'd love to make a quick, one hooping version).

     I keep wanting to make a pillow, by adding a tiny themed quilt block and fabric print, but for now, that idea is sleeping with my water melon table runner! Sets sell so well with a project idea, but the time, the time! I now see that EASTER is missing-- oops-- but honestly, we have had sets of thirteen before, too.

     So that's the machine embroidery department... for sewing, I am dib-dabbling my Mod Flower Box along. I have never dib-dabbled a project along this slowly... I stitch a few curves, press. Ponder the next colors, cut a few pieces, iron, stitch, oops, rip out, and repeat... but it's slowly coming together.

   I just layed this out on my design floor for the first time to take this blog photo-- WOW! Who wouldn't be happy with that! (I chuckle as I re-read that-- it's a bit of a hot mess, unassembled-  heehee-- maybe I'm the only one with vision!) 

     So I keep having an argument with myself over these Sew Sampler boxes-- why use fabric in colors I usually don't pick and probably wouldn't have purchased in the first place instead of spending my precious quilting time using my favorite Grunge colors over and over that I love and I know will work? So this is why... you challenge yourself to try something different and end up with something NEW instead of just making safe choices. No risk/no rewards in quilting or in life, either.

    That orange fabric included with the set was a total outlier-- I NEVER would have picked something like that-- but I forced myself to use it and it really adds some wow factor don't you think? 

    Just to repeat--this is Robin Picken's Mod Flower Box pattern-- highly, highly recommend-- if you can get around the curves (pun intended) there really aren't that many pieces, and it has big, modern impact for a wall hanging. A charm pack would be perfect for this-- all 5" pieces-- it did say fat eighths and they do work, but I have a lot of waste. I HATE scraps-- I really don't need new projects suggesting themselves, but at the same time, I hate to throw out. Gonna just throw them in with my stash.

     The next box has already arrived-- hoping to quickly finish the Flower Box and dive in. I am halfway through the Sew Sampler challenge to make all 12 boxes in one year, so I have six done and two additional Cupid and Liberty boxes. It's been a fabulous half year. When I get minute this week, I'm going to add the missing Liberty and June box checklists, and also a yearly checklist for us all-- I think checking off some boxes will give me a real mid-year mental boost... PHEW!

     In the meantime, this has happened...

     and this...

     and this...

    It is hard to believe I used a bush out there to gauge how much snow we had... and that sooner than we know it, the fall will be here. I am totally accepting of that fact-- I think rather than having a favorite season or month, I do love the glory of one changing to the next.

     One stitch a time, things are really coming together this year.

xoxo

Carol

Crashing and burning...

     I predicted this in January, but having a sense of omniscience is of no comfort now that I have arrived!

     I've been working less and less on more and more projects, until nothing is getting done on everything in my life! It's a crash and burn. My Sew Sampler boxes are all in various states of completion, except the desired "finished" state. I'm simultaneously working on Christmas and Summer designs for San Fran, once again proving the maxim, "you can't ride two horses with one A**."  Every part of Sugar Meadow is now under construction. And, did I mention, the DD is getting married in three weeks?

     Things are a bit teetery--but I'm happy and I still haven't missed a weekly blog post!

     I do have some baby steps to show, a sneak Christmas peek, and even a little sewing tip this week. 

     The Lori Holt block nine is done except for one circle. A metaphor of some kind? I think so. Let's hope I remember to stitch it on before this thing is quilted and bound.

    I still have five Sew Sampler flimsies to be quilted-- just can't find a minute to go to the post office and ship them out. Backings take time to get sewn together, as it turns out-- have you noticed?

   I'm about one week away from getting another subscription box in the mail, and precious little has gotten done on the last one. I decided to go with the Mod Flower Box pattern by Robin Pickens-- thanks for your input! I haven't sewn curves in a long time, so it seemed like something new and I'm almost there on the leaves. These are BIG leaves-- 9" blocks. Once again, I find myself dimensionally challenged-- this looked like a nice size wall quilt in the picture, maybe 30" x 30"-- but now I realize it's more like a 50" x 50" throw size.

     The curves are going well-- I'd love to be making videos of some of these techniques-- not as an expert-- but more of a "Sewing with Dummies" type of series-- more of a comedy-- LOL. Until the sewing room construction moves along, my YouTube channel is just a dream.

    If you make four of these "wall" size pieces, you have a quilt-- that has to be one HUGE quilt! I do have some nice wall space in this house, and it will certainly be an impactful piece. The DD has mentioned how well it would go in the cabin-- LOL-- she's obsessed with SAGE lately.
     The pattern has the different fabrics scrambled together like the one on the left above, but I think I like this plain arrangement better:

    I should let you think I'm a genius for know exactly what HSTs and curved blocks to make to get this to work out-- but it just happened! :-)

    Gonna press on, and not open the July box until it's done. Next up, is a HUGE boxy flower I'm using the pinks I was given. We'll see if I can snail that along this week.

     Here is the start of the August bowl fillers. I love August. It's summer. It's my birthday. I'm adding a picnic basket to the set this time. It's going to be great.

     I did simultaneously work up this cute Christmas fiber art piece. So I'm still calling these things "mug rugs," but I realized it's to the point I would not use this under a staining liquid or solid of any kind. "Tree Farm Mini Quilt"? "Zen Tree Farm"? or just "Tree Farm"? What is its name? "Christmas Decor"?

    Whatever it is, it isn't releasing until much later in the year, but here's a little tip--

   My mind has been very busy right now-- too busy to add a large enough backing to this-- haha-- as I sadly found out after trimming and flipping it over.

     Instead of the usual 2-1/2" binding strip, I cut a super wide 3-1/2" one. Everything else I did the normal way. The front of the piece had the usual 1/4" strip showing, but when I flipped the binding strip to the back, the extra covered up the mistake perfectly.

    So if you ever have a little missing backing on the corner of a tablerunner or even a large quilt, it stands to reason that you could cut a binding strip of any size-- even a huge one, and it would turn around to the back and cover up quite a bit. So proud I saved it!

     

   So that's it-- that's been my busy world. The next three or four weeks promise to get progressively crazier. Stay tuned-- it should be fun to watch! I'm dreaming of September, with lots and lots of time in the sewing room.

xox

Carol

A Beautiful Week!

      I was planning on NOT having anything to report this past week-- but we just had a wonderful family & friend filled time, it seemed a shame not to record it. AND some sewing even got done, in the morning, at night, and even on one blistering hot day.

      Our son turned 30 and brought his "gang" up for the week. So, history has not yet recorded the chapter of whether or not I become a "real" grandmother, but I can firmly state I have kids in my life that I love so very much, and I am perfectly satisfied. Here we all are-- well, I'm taking the picture, enjoying the official birthday party.

     And the last party cake of this establishment's party season:
A cheesecake with 30 candles... it looks like the DS got a sunburn from them!

     The rain obligingly stopped and the week was filled with fishing, ATV riding, kayaking, screen doors slamming, fireworks, swimming, hiking, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, our first Maine Bean Dinner and more. Those are the only two pictures I got, the whole week!

     To add to the joy, we found this:

     My DD commented that the chickens are such pets now, we will be really surprised when we finally get an egg. And yes, we were!

     On the sewing side, I blew through my ninth hand appliqued Prairie Meadow block-- I had a chuckle when I realized this was technically #1 of the stitch-a-long. There's just eight circles to add.

     I have two completed flags from my Liberty Box. Fat Quarter Shop gives ample fabric for any of their kits and I've often thought you could probably make two! I decided to test this theory, and by just cutting more efficiently and adding seven navy rectangles, I did it. I got the extras by ordering backing fabric from the Sweetwater "Stateside" collection for both pieces, and just got a little extra. 

     

     My Sew Sampler box challenge this year is going great-- Jan, Feb, and Cupid are completely finished, March needs binding, but April, two pieces from May, and now two Liberty flags all need quilting. I was going to just straight line quilt the flags, but let's get real-- I just don't have time. So I'm getting a massive order out to my fabulous long arm quilter this week. 

     Then the Kitty Loves Candy Halloween kit came in-- these Poppie Cotton fabrics did not disappoint!

    I'd love to start this fun quilt right away, but I'm promising myself to finish the fabulous Basic Grey bats quilt I started like three years ago-- I have half of it done. The problem is, one is in the hand, and the other is in the bush-- (in a moving box somewhere.) Promises, promises!

    Basic Grey is well overdue for a Halloween collection-- thank goodness! I have four Halloween full size quilts in various stages and have no willpower right now.

     Then, just to do something different, I made a feed bag tote! In Maine, they are a super pain about bringing your shopping bags-- I believe it is state law that you have to pay for bags. And believe me, you will be looked upon as a naïve fool in the checkout line if you pay 3 extra cents for a bag. So then, because they are such nice people here, they do you a favor make them extremely heavy so as to save you 4 or 6 cents. I love this state!

     This way, I will be excited about my shopping bags and not forget them, and also I will be judged a total genius in the checkout line for my thriftiness and talent. Let's see what happens!

What happened to the Fourth of July bowl fillers?

Apparently, you were all out having the best week of your lives as well, so no one seemed to notice! They fell by the wayside as soon as I knew company was coming... but they were glorious!

    I definitely need to stop over-promising, and now you'll have to wait till next year... sorry! On the business side, it makes sense for me to stock up new Christmas sets for the rest of the summer.

   So that was my week-- I think my idea of the best week of the year has now permanently changed from Christmas through New Years to Fourth of July week. 

     It has been my life maxim-- clean the house AFTER the company leaves, not before! So the weather has obligingly turned back to rain this Monday morning, while I restore order and ponder my amazing family. I hope wherever your find yourself, you're living the life as well!

xox

Carol

Happy Fourth... taking a break!

     We just got word that my son and his gang of three-- fiance, stepson, stepson's friend-- will be spending the Fourth of July week with us! We are so happy to see them all and are really looking forward to it. Hopefully the rain stops. Yep, still raining here and there’s not much for kids to do inside. It’s going to be a lot of cooking-- my ace in the hole is the artist in residence who is better in the kitchen than I am by a long shot. And another birthday party... our son is turning 30-- can you believe it?-- I can’t. I have a thirty year old son!

    There’s still a little stitching to talk about from the past week, but I will be in full recovery mode next week, so don't expect much! I have a nice set of six Star Spangled Ornaments to show for the Red, White, and June SAL. I am hoping to get them fully finished this week-- I’m probably kidding myself! I will display them all July, even if they are a little late. Thanks for not noticing one of my star points on the cottage is wonky!

     I would like to make the little truck from Stitching with the Housewives later this summer, and I did buy the Classic Colorworks floss and a piece of cloth. Most of their designs are stitched on black-- no thanks!-- but this blue I picked might not work with the truck color.

     I just about have two Liberty box quilts made. The Fat Quarter Shop is well known for the excessive fabric they give you, if you order a kit. I needed a few extra dark blue rectangles, so what I did was order a little extra of a navy backing fabric. Some people on social media made the blue star with red stripes and some even did the white star on a blue field with the red stripes which is the way it “should be.” But I’m really liking this quirky interpretation and I'm LOVING the fact that I finally made a kit exactly as it was supposed to be!

     That is certainly not going to be true of the June Sew Sampler box-- I’m completely ditching the provided pattern and making the Mod Flower Box by Robin Pickens. It will be nice to try a few curves for a change-- she used mostly solids, but after looking at the Sunnyside fabric, I think it could work. I picked out a solid navy for the background, and even the navy prints in the lower right could work, since there's so many flowers in them.

   

     I am going to have to go into my stodgy, old fashioned stash and find a few more greens. Robin Pickens used so many different greens in her leaves, I don’t think it will matter that I won’t have any exact matches. I’m itching to start this-- won’t be happening this week!

   

     I have a stack of stuff now waiting for quilting. I am finally going to send out my crazy “Meadow Floor” table runner, and “Let’s Pop Some Corn” table runners and pillow-- I finished the tops months ago, and would love to have them in the fall. My two Liberty Box flags are getting straight line quilting at home, and then the “Apple Cobbler” from last month and the mini table runner will also get done at home-- I’ll keep it simple. Those four things represent hours of work. I’m the journey of a thousand miles girl, though, so a half hour each night will get it rolling. Not gonna happen this week-- do you see a theme here!

     Finally, I succumbed to two more quilt kits-- both Halloween! I am a sucker for it. This is “Witch's Delight” from Poppie Cotton-- I’ve been admiring their fabrics for a long time, and face it-- this has the chickens, the kitties, the barn AND the witch-- heehee. Perfect for me!

   Then my friend, knowing I love Halloween, pointed out the “Spooky Shelfie.” Aren't friends, great! I tried to resist, but when I explored a new quilt shop near Bangor, it got right in my face at the front door and I knew it was meant to be. Of course, these will both be on beds October 1st. LOL.

   I starting prepping my ninth Prairie Meadow block and am even mildly enthusiastic again. So happy I didn’t put it away for years!

   So, this was a post more about future than current work, although I remain exceedingly hopeful I’ll be able to sneak away this week for a few minutes here and there to put a few stitches in. I kind of realized last spring how important sewing is to my sanity-- let’s all take those minutes we need, without any guilt.

Happy Fourth of July!

xox

Carol