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