Stressing Myself Out!

      Now that I have completed my tiling job, I have launched myself into the 2024 sewing year complete with massive lists, a daily schedule, and competing ideas. By Day Three, I was really started to feel stressed! Back in the day, I used to work in a New York City ad agency-- creative deadlines, a hellish boss I nicknamed  "The Son of Satan," shark clients, late nights-- my most recurring dream (nightmare) is still that I'm missing the train to get home. I don't even know how I survived that life--  I am just a fragile little leaf now, by comparison!

     Stress or no stress, I did crush it this past week. Stitching Bowl Fillers were born.

   

  Zen of Thread is well on its way...

     And Heartland, the second in the Village of the Month" Set,  is coming along!

The "schedule" says these will all be out by the end of the month--

let's see if that happens, or I crack first!

    On to my guilty pleasure-- the Sew Sampler projects! As soon as I said in the last post, THE JOLLY BOX WILL NOT BE FINISHED BY THE END OF THE MONTH, I tartly replied to myself, "Well, why not?" (It has occurred to me that my present boss, myself, is the new Son of Satan.)

     So I totally threw myself into the December box that needs to get done first. Thank goodness I have stayed on script with this one-- it's sew much faster than the rabbit holes I frequently jump down. Probably just the second time this year I am actually using the Fat Quarter Shop provided pattern.

     I wasn't a big fan of this fabric or pattern-- that green!-- but I saw some finished ones on the Sew Sampler Members Only Facebook Group and they were very pretty. Photography really doesn't do things justice at times. These did come our pretty. I tried to spend about an hour at night on this and then just a half a  hour in the morning. I was working quickly, so I had some oops!

Currently, I have myself this far. Nothing quite like trying to match those star to star points is there? Just three thin borders to add, and they are already cut. 

So that will definitely be "on schedule!" It's amazing how quickly quilts come along, when you actually work on them, isn't it?

So that being almost done, I dove into the Jolly Box-- the last one for me to have the bragging rights to say I finished all the boxes in one year. I'm still in the Christmas spirit, but the clock is ticking-- I took our tree down finally. I'm pretty OCD about how I store my ornaments, so you can't blame anyone for not helping. Next year I hope to have TWO trees-- one in my new studio?? :-)

     While test stitching the bowl fillers, I cut out the entire Jolly box quilt-- it's not the provided pattern--heehee. The large scale prints in this collection lent themselves to be "wrapping paper" in one of those gift box quilts you see all the time at Christmas. I absolutely LOVE the light green print with the cookies on it. I could look up the designer of these fabrics to let you know who it is-- but the "schedule" says I have to be done with this blog post in fifteen minutes, so, sorry about that!

     Here's my "stack of gifts" all ready to go-- see the red and green ribbons in them? Next up, I need 32 bows, and sashing-- no borders on this quilt--yay. So thirty-one days hath January, right? Could I finish it in a week? Or will I crack? Quilting is such an exciting sport!

To add to the pressure, the January box came in yesterday-- and unfortunately, I love it!

     Yup, it's my idol, Lori Holt-- you don't see her cracking under the pressure of all those stitch-a-longs! That hat quilt reminds me of my grandmother-- I ordered the finishing kit which I now have to wait for-- thank heaven-- it did buy me time! One of my YouTube channels I like-- the comments were not favorable to those red X's-- everyone wanted an appliqued red flower. Well, there would be an uprising if the Sew Sampler boxes sent out an applique project-- think of that! But the graphic designer in me really loves those red x's-- they are perfect.

     It's the dreaded jelly roll, and those x's are a lot of pieces-- but I think I have a picture of my grandmother in this exact hat-- so I'd love to make it in her honor.

    Speaking of Lori Holt, and in the spirit of being productive every minute of every day, I got back to cross stitching (a little) at night. It is so hard to cross stitch with a glass of wine in one hand-- and after a day of tiling, I was deceased!

I have to admit I've lost heart for cross stitch for now-- I remember once I gave it up for 20 years. I really want to get back to those big Prairie Meadow applique blocks-- that project has been on vacation for too long. I only have two to go. Ugh-- this is the last picture I took the first week of September-- has it been that long, really?

Tonight, Mr SFO and I are going on a date-- it's on the schedule! There is a beloved chain store here in Maine, called "Marden's." It's a surplus/salvage thing with incredible prices-- we have never been. Well, the DD finally went-- and she sent me pictures...

THEY HAVE A FABRIC SECTION!

     So dear Mr. SFO is taking me out tonight-- this is just one of the simple pleasures in life that Maine has so very many of-- going out for a big night at Marden's. I will definitely share my experience, so stay tuned! Will she get lost in the fabric aisle? Will the pressure of infinite craft projects cause a breakdown? Will the Jolly box come to a jolly end? Thanks for reading and I'll let you know next time!

xox

Carol

Sew, she's at it again!

      We are over two weeks into the New Year, and I am pleased to say, the sew-jo is going strong! Lots of ideas AND progress-- as any quilter knows, ideas are plentiful-- actual sewing time, not so much. My biggest problem has been just picking one thing and working on it, instead of going in every direction.

     Let's start with embroidery... "Winterland" is a hit-- as a typical artist, my self-confidence is lacking at times. You loved it-- thank you. So I had intended to make a set of 12 (or 4 seasons, if it was a fail), so now I'm committing to twelve, and I will try my best to get them out by the first of each month. What I have in my mind is complicated little scenes-- so be patient with me! I see lots of cross stitch cottages of the month, and cottages stitched together into a village, but no villages in a small stitch area-- I think I'm a ground breaker there!

     I am still trying to find a background color that will work as well for all 12 designs and will give you a cohesive look if you stitch all twelve together in one piece. Yes, the one in the picture looks great, but it is just a "virtual" fabric, not a real one. I may just go with whatever works for that month and add some sort of border treatment to unite them. Let's see what happens.

     Sewing bowl fillers are next-- I'm taking my favorite digitized sewing machine and converting it to cross stitch which is going well. No bird for this. 

"Thread Zen" is also coming along, for my non-cross stitch customers. I'm using the acorn piece as a template--no, no squirrels on "Thread Zen." I'm really looking forward to redoing the border with a tiny sewing machine, scissors, buttons, and ribbons!

    I also finished a top using the four Chris-Mystery ornament set-- this was really fun to stitch togehter! Do you like puzzles? I'd love to hand quilt this, with just little x's in the squares.

   The center design is new-- it exactly fit a 5x7 hoop size, so I made an extra mug rug design. This is just $1.99 on the site right now-- obviously we are way out of season.

     Every year, I try to "stock up" on Christmas designs for November and December. So I have had my first Christmas finish of 2024! It's a smaller Christmas ABCs piece, for the 5x7 hoop-- the one that is available now is four 5x7 hoopings. When this releases, I will have my set of twelve 5x7 ABC cross stitches! Sets of twelve are my thing, so I snuck this in as another Block-of-the-Month over about three years. I loved doing these, but you'll have to wait till the fall-- I'm just sneak peeking it! 

    I stitched it on *YIKES* pink! I'm trying to make friends with this color-- it's one that is in the Fat Quarter Shop Sew Sampler boxes again and again, because Kimberley Jolly loves it. So I was kind of desensitized to it. I even used the dreaded Magnifico 2008 color-- "Pink Pink Pink" as you can see. I love it!

    On to the Sew Sampler Challenge 2023-- it was EPIC. 

     I'm really going out a winner-- the original idea was just to complete the 12 monthly boxes-- I'm up to 11 of those, and I also did three of the holiday boxes. The boxes come out at the end of each month, so technically I have till the end of January to finish the December box.

     I had this "meh" finish for November-- I tried to get away from the usual white backgrounds-- well, there's a reason for the white background-- it is no fail. But I congratulate myself for trying something new. I think I'm going to donate it. Donate it to someone who never knew white backgrounds were a thing, and will love it. It is one mis-rotated corner and one upside down background piece away from the longarmer.

    I have to give you a quick tip-- I hate piecing backings-- I have at least three finishes stuck at this step for months now. So I bought a matching Tula Pink 108" wide fabric for this-- no piecing, right? So my bad, I assumed it was cotton-- it is cotton SATEEN. It's soft but thin-- I honestly prefer my heavy cottons. I'm not sure if all 108s are sateen, but beware. 

     Pre-washing fabric was a trend for me last year as you can see my 108 below--  but ironing is also a pain, so I think that is not a trend in 2024. lol.

    So here I am with one last box to finish for 2023-- I'm not greatly fond of it. I thought I might just skip it. And frankly, 2024 hasn't been the fresh start I'd hoped for-- all my baggage from 2023 has found its way past January 1st. Can you relate? Why do we expect magic to happen when the ball drops? At least the sewing area of my life can begin anew, right?

     And so, I was feeling sorry for myself and lay down and scrolled Facebook-- what do you know, my name came up on the Sew Sampler Member Only page! This nicest lady had seen my montage of finishes above, and credited me with inspiring her to do her 2024 boxes! So that is way too much credit she's giving me-- but she had finished her Dulce quilt and it looked nice. So I sprang up and got started. I think I can have it by the end of January after all-- and it would make a perfect baby quilt, I'm sure. This quilt uses those fiddly foundation papers to make flying geese-- I'm not sure how I feel about them yet. A lot of flipping back and forth, people.

   

 I don't talk about this WIP much, but I have totally kept up with the monthly blocks included in the boxes as well. They are pretty on point flowers-- very different from what you usually see. That's why I ordered the kit for this.

     I'm going to add these to my Sew Sampler "montage." Only three to go.

    It made me realize how easy it is to do one block a month-- so, I may just get my Kona calendar out and begin that stitch-a-long! I did figure out that you don't need the calendar to do it-- all the patterns are free on the Robert Kaufmann website. The charm packs, of course, were wicked expensive. This is the first month's colors-- "Tropical":

     So the only detriment is that these aren't really the colors I'm channeling right now, as you can seen by the background! 

    And that brings me to two more FAILs of the month. My fabric diet didn't work. I succumbed to the Fat Quarter Shop Cupid Box after about a day of resisting. I'm glad I did, because it is now sold out. I never met a holiday I didn't like!

    And my word of the year-- SELFISH-- I have not followed that path at all. In fact, I gave most of the last two weeks to-- TILING A BATHROOM! All four walls, and a floor. Here's me, hard at work. 

     We are hardcore DIY here-- yes, I know my way around a tile saw. It's actually much easier than an embroidery machine, so you can do it, too! We have a cabin on the property-- it was actually the original structure here, down by the lake, before the main house was built. They call them "camps" up here. No water, no electric. We want a "house." For now, our DD and SIL will live there, as long as they fit in it! I'm doing it for them. 

     So I commented to the plumber, "I bet they would say we're ruining this camp." 

      And he, in his abrupt Maine accent said simply, "No one wants that anymore."

  And until the bathroom is fully finished, this is what I had to deal with for all those days,
tile after tile, out back of the cabin!

   So I think you would agree, my new word of the year that I have truly earned is:

SELFLESS!

Have a wonderful week.

xox
Carol

A History of our BOMs Part 2

      Good news... We didn't miss our tenth anniversary of BOMs as I thought! (Not to be confused with the company anniversary-- we are 21 years old this year-- started on eBay in 2003!) One of my long time customers corrected me-- her Series One Mug Rugs were filed in a "2014" folder-- she was right. I looked up the first mug rug, the snowflake, and it was designed in December of 2013-- that's what mixed me up. I have to admit I'm one of those people who never likes to be wrong-- but this time, it is wonderful! Thank you, Pam.

     And thank you, ALL, for your nice comments on Part One of this blog post! Although I hate to be wrong, I don't like to toot my own horn very much, and had some uncomfortable moments last time, pontificating on my sets. Well, I had to chuckle when one person said they couldn't wait for Part Two. I'm sure my family would not like to find out you all encouraged this behavior!

    So, let's go-- more about ME! (Machine Embroidery) When we left off, I had taken a slight breather when I moved from "thread painted sets" like the Cloud Club birds in 2018, and digitized something a little easier like the Cross Stitch of the Month designs in 2019. The fateful year of 2020 had begun-- we were all totally unaware. What to digitize next? Well, I decided to do BOTH a cross stitch and a thread painting set. And to make it further crazy, around this time I started going through the cross stitch states, because one of you thought I could do it over a period of two years. (They were right! :-)

    SERIES 7-- Cottage of the Month

Who doesn't love a cross stitch cottage? Cross stitch was back in high favor by the masses at this point. I must admit I had "Cottage Envy" looking at hand stitch designer "Cottages of the Month." I knew I had to machine embroider a set. What is the difference between hand and machine cross stitch? For one, the hand cross stitchers of today really don't want to back stitch-- on the machine, backstitch can abound! So I am not saying that one is better than the other-- no backstitching certainly gives a folksy look-- but with backstitch, you can add detail, detail, detail. I am a lover of detail, in case you hadn't noticed. I have tried to convert my designs for hand stitchers-- and I'm still trying, but who in the world would want to backstitch this? 

Would you want to backstitch this by hand? Heehee.

Anyway, in addition to a ton of back stitch, each of my cottages had a "virtue."  I made postcard versions, mug rugs, and quilt blocks of each design. I was happily writing a little note to myself on the back of the postcard versions as a kind of scrapbook of the year. Then, all of the sudden the pandemic hit...  in April, when I tried to write a note to my future self-- events just welled up in me and I unexpectedly started to cry.

Even, though I stopped writing postcards to myself that year, you have no idea how designing those cottages with all of their virtues got me through all those dark months. It's hard now to even want to recall the details of it, isn't it?

I was finally able to circle back to JOY by the end of the year. xox.

I am happy to say, this quilt is fully assembled, not finished, but fully ready for quilting-- it really speaks to my heart. When things become precious, it is sometimes had to work on them, as you are afraid to "ruin" them-- do you relate? So I'm not quite sure how to quilt it-- I don't like going on top of cross stitch. But this one I am confident will be a finish in a couple of years or so. And I will definitely be writing something about 2020 on the label.

Also Running concurrently for my non-cross stitch customers:

SERIES 8: Stitches of the Sea!

I guess I had some sort of foreknowledge we'd need a lot to work on in 2020! I always loved the shore, the sea, boats-- this series  was pure joy.

I worked both sets along each month. The Cottages were somewhat geared to the time of year, but for my watery world, it was pure whim-- whatever inspired me.

I got right through with both sets to September-- then, I became fixated on doing an OCTOPUS in OCTOBER!!! Haha-- that one really beat me up. There's nothing that makes me crazier than to see a digitized snowflake that doesn't have SIX points-- my octopus must have EIGHT arms! Okay, so one of them is mostly behind his head...

It took me until January of 2021 to release the Octopus. So that was it-- there was no "official" BOM in 2021-- I finished up the Stitches of the Sea. I'm always full of excuses-- I was initially beset with all kinds of problems-- I ran out of the backing fabric and couldn't order more during the pandemic-- wasn't able to get my preferred stabilizer, etc. etc. Of all my incomplete work, this one is the least complete. Well, let's frame it in a positive light-- it is the MOST PHOTOSHOPPED. :-) I do have little mini-quilt finished with four of the best stitch-outs I had at the end. Would I like to go back and finish it? Yes, I would. Will I? Probably not. It deserves to be.

Next up, also started in 2020, completed in 2022:

CAREFREE HIGHWAYS

I just LOVED doing these-- I always loved the states as a kid. I did one every couple of weeks for two years... that's dedication-- and I can still impress people with my knowledge of state capitals, birds, flowers,  AND mottos!

I intended to go through alphabetically, but a customer from Wyoming objected. So instead, I came up with groups of five themed states-- like "Eastern Seaboard ," "Heartland Home," and "Southern Charm. These were the last five. Turning Mount Rushmore into a 14ct Aida design was really fun. 

My finished quilt? Highly, highly confident of a finish on this one. I have all the state blocks, the fabric, and flying geese paper ready to go... AND, I even know where it is! On my bucket list for this year.

So that brings us all the way to 2022-- turning away from cross stitch and back to regular embroidery.

SERIES NINE: Birth Month Mug Rugs

I really enjoyed making these-- I found a random person I knew with a birthday for each month and sent them out. They were all received very well. I do have a set for myself-- I like to change them out each month.

My quilt blocks, however, never panned out-- we decided to move! I would have loved a scrap quilt of these-- but there are others I'd like to finish more. I'm very proud of this set--  the gems were fun to do, I had a nice format to just follow along each month, and they weren't as technically challenging as some of the other sets I had done in the past. This was one of the few sets I did a "subscription" for-- I'm not sure I would do that again, unless I got really ahead one year-- it just creates a monthly to do and a deadline that is always a creativity crusher!

SERIES TEN: Bowl Fillers

Last year was back to cross stitch-- settling in to a new home and just making a set of fun designs for décor each month. You all received this very well-- thank you so much! I intend to keep it going this year with holiday themes instead of the month, as far as I can. This month, I'm working on Sewing bowl fillers and next month will be a Valentine theme. I do need to get a picture of all of them together-- it is quite a barrel full at this point, and I know many of you kept up! I need to get my January set back out.

So here we are, ready for Series 11! It's really hard to believe. I did have fun digitizing the Winterland Village, and I do hope to have some lovely, LARGE, winter themed quilt blocks early this year. Beyond that, we will see what comes-- I'm freewheeling it a bit more than I have in the past, I guess.

Some one wrote me last year, saying that I should tell "which designers do which sets"... well, I had a moment of pride to say it is all me! I did train as a graphic designer and I did do some illustration back in the day-- it is really fun to look back and see all the different roads I travelled on-- it may seem random, but one series definitely suggests the next one, and I hope to be blessed to do this for a good long time yet.

As in any journey-- it is best shared! Seeing my customer finishes is always best and it's surprising to see the direction you take-- I am amazed when I see finishes more creative than the ones I imagined. Thank you so much for reading the history of ME and San Francisco Stitch Co., currently situated in the Western Mountains of Maine awaiting a snowstorm.   

xoxo

Carol

A History of BOMs at SFO Part One...

      I'm a hardcore nostalgia lover-- circling through all the sales in December certainly brought back years of memories! I have been doing "designs of the month" since 2013-- I guess we just missed my tenth anniversary year! Anyway, we are going to go through all ten of them (and there's even more, that weren't "official" :-) on the sale page this year-- the first of every month, each "January," "February," and so on block will be discounted-- so if you missed one, you can catch up this year-- or maybe complete your set of a past stitch-a-long-- it's a given that people drop off as the year progresses! So I thought a "guide" to what the Block of the Months are and how they developed would be fun to write.

      So this all started eleven years ago, when January rolled around and I asked for suggestions about what people wanted to stitch. One person responded simply "Mug Rugs!" I wish I could go back in time and find and give that genius a hug-- that's where it all started. 

     I had no idea what a mug rug was-- I didn't use one, still don't-- I display mine! But I figured it out and behold! a 5x7 hoop was perfect-- that's what most of us had then-- and made this little beauty for January.

Some combination of the day it was introduced, the fact that we had just completed a free stitch-a-long, and  providence- well, let me just say I uploaded it at night and when I got up in the morning, to see the sales figures, my eyes popped out of my head! I'd have to say, this was definitely the moment when I saw I was going to be able to quit my day job--- I had real business!

Of course, it then became a monthly project. In my folders, they are filed as simply January Mug Rug, February Mug Rug and so on. I had no clue that I would continue into a second year, then ten years, or that these would now be known as "Series One Mug Rugs."

SERIES ONE MUG RUGS

I still love them and have most of them- except for the lily pads, which quickly absorbed water and then sank into Triangle Pond near my house as I snapped a glamour shot-- it was either the mug rug or the camera that could be saved, that afternoon. 

I couldn't make another one-- no more of that glorious batik fabric-- and I sometimes do wonder if I made the right choice that day. The camera was replaceable-- I should have respected my artwork more than I did!

A couple of these I went on to embellish and turn into little art pieces. No, no cups of coffee on mine.

This one even won a ribbon at the Bayberry Quilter's of Cape Cod annual show:

And, you've probably seen the Featherweight Mug Rug, formerly known as the December Mug Rug, gets updated every year with a new date. To shake it up next year, I might do one with a more modern machine?

There's a story behind all of them, but let's move on-- now that my hobby business was flourishing, could Series Two be far behind? 

SERIES TWO MUG RUGS

All of the mug rugs were quilted in the hoop, but they were hand-bound. Now I know you machine embroiderers love your ITH projects, but really, there's nothing more beautiful than a fabric binding. (To advance my cause, I have a tutorial on how to do it on YouTube-- my skills were certainly perfected doing these mug rugs each month!) Anyway, somehow, part of the way through Series Two, I realized the satin stitch I was using as a design element could also be a finished edge. So by the time the "Peace" mug rug rolled around, there were two versions. And I am sorry to say, the all-in-the-hoop satin stitched edging is still far outperforming the hand bound version. But I won't judge you. xox

The time to fully finish these into art pieces evaporated with the burgeoning business model-- but I still love them all-- the July Mug Rug really speaks to my heart-- I even sketched it out as a 30" x 40" wall quilt, but have gotten no further. It will have to wait until I retire, and if I keep having this much fun with new designs, that will be never.

SERIES THREE- Baltimore Album Blocks

Heck with mug rugs- I was over it. I guess I saw that you could make them square, combine blocks, and make a quilt! The machine embroidered Baltimore Album quilt was born. I did it all for this series-- mug rugs, ITH, hand bound, quilt blocks and I was rewarded! It took a year to design the blocks, and then another few good months to set them with machine embroidered sashing and outer borders, but I won a Second Place Overall ribbon at one of the big AQS Paducah shows!

A fancy machine embroidered label for the back, of course!

(It is made with a Series Two mug rug design-- lol)

The sashing and borders:

All crystalled and ready for the show!

If you are crazy enough to want to make this, I'm sorry, you can't! The outer borders are not available for purchase-- you have no idea of the gnashing of teeth required to get them aligned-- resizing 1/2 percent, rotating 3 percent, etc. etc.

I sent it in for the show, hoping for maybe a third prize-- it is well know if you get a top prize, you get a call. I was driving at the time-- I glanced down and saw "PADUCAH, KY displayed on my phone while it rang-- I almost crashed the car! By the time I pulled over, all that was left was a message. But it was extremely gratifying to say the least-- most of all, because I think machine embroidery did not get the respect that other quilting techniques do, and I think I helped change that.

SERIES FOUR-- The Language of Flowers

Because the blocks I enjoyed most on the Baltimore quilt were flower baskets, a flower series was inevitable. I digitized from January's crocuses (that's a bit optimistic for Maine weather-- heehee) to December's crocuses. (Also a bit optimistic-- our daffodils appear in April, to be truthful.) 

So this is obviously photoshopped-- the center of the quilt exists as a fully bound finished item, (somewhere) and the outside borders are stitched (somewhere) and even the machine embroidered edging was started, and it is (somewhere.) This is a project that has just had too many interruptions for five years now, and currently, after the move, I could not really even put my hands on it. I do feel sad about this, but in my mind, I still think I will get back to it a future date-- don't we all have these precious things lurking in our closets? Then there is that gnawing feeling that our sewing days are finite. So that's all I have to say about that-- we all have these feelings, and we do all need to get our beloved projects out and we need complete them-- a New Year is a great time to plan this, isn't it?

SERIES FIVE-- The Cloud Club

On to Series Five-- just because I love birds! I got my confidence up with the realism of the flowers and decided to tackle it. I quilted little scenes in the backgrounds this time:

Everyone LOVED this series-- it actually spilled into overtime with an additional five birds-- eighteen in all.

And, the exquisite "Feather Block"-- some of my work is definitely more commercial, and some is more artistic-- but this is, in my mind, my "masterwork" design that I have ever produced in twenty years of doing this:

But, I am definitely looking at the Cloud Club with pangs-- it is not even as far along as the Flower piece, and exists as separate blocks in a box somewhere-- another photoshopped finish. I've seen many finished quilts with ribbons-- you, my customers are killing it! This year?

SERIES SIX:  Cross Stitch of the Month

So the birds spilled into a second year-- not much was ever really reaching the finished stage-- it was time for something a little easier. This was the year I knuckled down and learned a new software. Cross stitch is comparatively easy to design next to a Cloud Club bird! Off I went.

The pressure on machine embroidery prices is down, down, down-- have you noticed? And the popularity of cross stitch is up, up, up-- and these types of designs have really kept me open for business the past few years. They are basically "pixel" art-- easy to sketch, easy to digitize, and you can pretty much get them to work in one stitch out-- a Cloud Club bird can easily be three or four tries.

So there were the original monthly designs the first year, and then I went on to make the holiday "specials." There are 11 of those now, and as soon as I figure out what #12 is.. Happy Anniversary? I will offer them as a set as well. "Series 5-1/2!"

I have this photo in my files, "Marie" sent it to me-- that's all I know of Marie. Proof that mug rugs and quilt blocks are cousins! Marie-- if you are out there-- I'd love a better picture-- you are a scrap quilt GENIUS and I absolutely love what you did!

So, none of the quilts are coming along in my studio-- but yours are! So that brings me to my most favorite time of year... State Fair time-- at the end of every summer-- you send me pictures of YOUR finishes-- most of which always have ribbons. So I can lament my unfinished work, but it does not compare with seeing what YOU do with the designs-- it is honestly the best part of being here. 

So that's the first five years of Block of the Month-- I feel like I have tooted my horn too much in this post, but I hope I have inspired you to some finishing. Come back this weekend to see the last five, and find out about plans for 2024!

xox

Carol