Lots of progress...

    This is the blog of San Francisco Stitch Co., where each week, we first complain about the weather, then lament starting the Summer Memories quilt-- let’s go!

    So after the blistering heat ended last week, it then started to rain. And rain. And rain. And rain. Maybe my biggest problem with the weather is that it doesn’t change frequently enough? I love a variety. And what we got certainly warrants complaining-- the final day of this cycle ended with Hurricane Lee and a power outage! If some of the colors in my photos this week look a sickly yellow, it's totally reflective of the sky conditions on that day. 

     Dare I say it? The following day was one of the ten best of the year. Can we please have four or five of those in a row now!

     Rain begets sewing-- I did finish eight more summer memory baskets and that makes me halfway 32 out of 64 done. (Each basket in the above photo is in a stack of 4.) That’s an accomplishment! I was really shooting for 12 finished last week-- hoping I can get 16 done this week? 

     Once the basket are done, you arrange them facing in a larger unit of four-- I was going to mix up the baskets, but now I think I will keep like baskets together. So if I need a break from basket making, I can start making some of the bigger units. There's four sashing pieces and a colored cornerstone in the middle.

    I'll have more time for Summer Memories, because the Resilient Quilt is all but wrapped up-- just waiting for border fabric which arrives today. I’m gifting it as a baby quilt.

    This was very enjoyable to make, and also makes efficient use of fat quarters with very little waste and no extra background fabric required. The pattern is "Resilient" by Eudaimonia Studio, and unfortunately I don't see that it is currently on their website for some reason.

    I am learning quite a bit from this Sew Sampler box challenge-- I guess on this one, I found out the modern aesthetic is not my favorite, although it was fun to try something different. I also continue to question "wasting time" on fabrics that you're not absolutely in love with-- though, with the price of fabric these days, I may be turning more and more to my stuffy, outdated stash.

   In the meantime, my three long arm projects arrived back-- I love them! I am up to my "ears" in binding jobs now. (Pun intended, sorry if it's corny.) 

     Hoping to get the binding strips made and attached this week-- I do have fabric for all of this. It’s slightly intimidating to cut the panel I stitched together for the pillows apart. But I need the fall vibes in my living room now! I do have a spot selected for the mod berry box in my bedroom--this house does not have a ton of wall space, so I'm looking at a hanging system that allows for easy changing out.

    To those of us who think the hardest part of a project is just getting started-- I laugh! It’s finishing that is the problem here. Nonetheless, in spite of the growing pile of stuff that needs to be FFO’d, a few new projects are on my radar.

    First, I do love Shabby Fabrics, an online quilt shop, and they are always advertising these cute folded star hot pads-- they must be a good seller for them. I finally succumbed. You buy the fabric kit, but then the pattern is a required additional purchase-- you also need these paper foundations to sew on-- one is included with the pattern. The total spend is $35 for just one pad. But I have a feeling these would make great Christmas gifts from my expansive collection Christmas fabric, so I also purchased a set of 12 additional papers. That definitely brings my dollar cost average down! 

     There’s a bunch of folding for the folded star obviously, but other than that it look pretty easy-- I’m hoping to whip my first one up this week, The kit I purchased has Deb Strain harvest fabrics-- Deb Strain is killing it lately with her collections, in my opinion. Just look at this. Now, to just get some made, lol.

    Second new project-- I really want to stitch up the little Lori Holt house I showed you a week or so ago. It’s just one block after all! I bought one, my favorite house #5, which is also little on the pricey side if you want the entire collection of 9. (Do we see a theme here with fabric shopping lately...) 

     But I’d love to make more than one out of this pattern, again for Christmas gifts-- I thought I could embroider the word HOME or maybe a town name on the bottom of it for a nice customization and make little wall hangings. I did buy the entire set of Lori Holt Prairie Fat Quarters and would have plenty to make more. So that’s the plan. I will be crushing it with beautiful gifts this holiday season if I say focused!

     In the meantime, the Sew Sampler box for September is shipping, and I also ordered the Spooky box. Hoping to continue along with my challenge to finish them all this year-- I’ve kept up through August which is amazing. I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately though. Did you see I made a set of machine embroidered labels to encourage myself to finish fall projects?

    Here's a couple things that have definitely progressed, to end on a positive note. The Prairie Meadow quilt has ten blocks... (I may or may not have bought more background fabric to make it king size...) All handstitched!

And my Pressed Flowers BOM is completely up to date. I am really moving along this year, because I stopped THINKING about projects and started DOING projects!

    Mr. SFO is in Vegas all week--- I could have gone with him, but I’m really looking forward to some extra sewing time this week, and hope to cross a few things off the master list. I’m going to do my monthly “12 hours of sewing” feature this week-- here a link to last month's day of sewing, if you want to read about sewing for an entire day!

TWELVE HOURS IN AUGUST

Have a wonderful week, whatever the weather!!

57°F Partly Cloudy

xox
Carol