Welcome Fall!

     Wow, where did the summer go? But, it's not over yet-- we are having gorgeous sunny days in the high 70s and beautifully cool evenings-- enough to make up for the rainy summer. Hope you all had a similar Labor Day Weekend. <3

    I always loved "Back to School," as a girl, with my new pencils and notebooks. September should be the first month of the year, in my opinion. In that spirit, let's pull our sewing machines out and get re-started!

     I've been spending some time banking Christmas sets for this year-- I probably won't release them until after Halloween, but here's a few sneak peeks! We have the Tree Farm Mug Rug:

     Like the Acorn and Carrot ones, the design is getting it's own table runner. Here are the border pieces, and then I'm making a large, plain tree applique to showcase your favorite Christmas fabric collections in the center. (I'm working from the outside in on this piece--lol.)

    I also have a fabulous, detailed reindeer in the works! Only question-- how should I use him? I can imagine eight of them circling a tree skirt, but I'm not sure I have the time and/or patience for that, so I wouldn't expect my customers to, either!

   

    I'm also working on fall, my favorite season. Every year, I try to add some more sets. Here are cross stitch decorations I'm designing-- you'll be able to stitch all five at once in a 5x7 hoop, and use either small hoops or tart tins to display them individually or as one piece in a frame.

   

    But, wait! There's more, much more machine embroidery coming, only I don't want to show too much in case I don't get to finishing it! I have SEW much going on right now-- anyone who reads this blog knows how I love every part of sewing, and my prime objective right now is to thin out and focus a bit more on fewer things.

   I've been on a bit of a buying spree this summer-- it has to stop, frankly. I couldn't resist Kitty Loves Candy, Moonbeams, (thankfully that does not start until next year) or even this little Lori Holt Quilt Seeds house. (My neighborhood is only going to have ONE house, thank God-- heehee.)

     But the biggest time suck right now is that I started the Summer Memories quilt, and I'd like to follow through on it. I have 16 baskets done, 48 to go. The HST work is a lot in this-- I hope I survive. At least I like the way these are coming out, as opposed to my next topic of discussion! 

     The next Sew Sampler box piled in right on top of Summer Memories. I'm not fond of the fabric this month, but I made a commitment to do all 12 boxes this year and don't want to give up now. We received nine fat quarters of "Day in the Life" by Echo Park-- very generous, but looks a tad like April's offering, wouldn't you say? Everybody on the Sew Sampler Facebook group loved this fabric. What am I missing?

    To get through this as quickly as possible, I considered just cutting charm squares out of it and sewing them together. But then it seemed silly to me to make a smaller precut out of nice, big pieces!

   

      I found this great pattern made for fat quarters-- it requires no extra fabric and however many fat quarters you have is how many blocks you get. It's from "Eudaimonia Studio" and the name of the pattern is Resilient, intended to look like a lotus. It's pure genius in cutting-- all fat quarters are cut the same, and then mixed-- each fabric is used in a different place in each block. A handy dandy sheet is provided to organize you.

     Here's my first block-- not thrilled with it, but it's totally a fabric thing. I do need a baby quilt in the next couple of months, so I'll see how it comes out. I think the light blues and peaches give it a baby look.  I like that it's modern looking.

    The peach fabric with the flowers I do not object to. In for a penny, in for a pound-- I might buy it for a border and backing, when I get more of a sense of how this is going to look.

     Instead of the hour I usually spend at night, I now need about two hours to work on Summer Memories and this-- it's also a lot of up and down to the ironing board. I'm considering making a little schedule for myself to try to get these things to move along better. I'm also really considering the future of my sew sampler subscription next year-- here I am again, spending time on a project I do not love. I'm really trying to think about the time that goes into all of these projects, especially when I see the latest piece of eye candy in front of me online. Blockheads Five is starting this week-- I'd love to do one, but I have SO many unstarted projects I'd rather be working on, SO many UFOs I would like to get to. Before we hit the order button, we need to think about how many hours of our life we are giving away with each new project. But let's keep it positive-- the Sew Sampler Challenge really forced me to finish up quite a few smaller things, and I've already gifted quite a few things-- that means a lot to me.

     In the hand stitch department, I got all the green sewn down on Block 10 of Prairie Meadow. There's only two more to go, unless I cave in once again and go with the king size version I have in my head-- I'd need four more blocks and sixteen half block border pieces...  for crying out loud, NOOOOOO!

     So here I am, poised for fall, and feeling very energized-- but also facing a mountain of ideas. Hope you are once again planning a little sewing with me-- let's see what we can accomplish, now that the days are shortening.

xox

Carol