Blue skies, nothing but blue skies!

      I am in a high good humor, way too happy for a person who suffered another foot of snow and another twelve hour power out this past week! Why, you ask? Because celestial and earthly events have turned in our favor and conspired to afford Northern New England the best view in the country of our coming eclipse. (Fingers crossed.)

    I even was inspired to stitch up an embroidery design with the shortest shelf life I have ever done. I'm sure you had to have seen it, because I have made sure it is constantly before your eyes for the last few days!

     Of course, its value is over on April 9th-- but I'm happy to say it has sold well and dragged in a few unsuspecting new customers.

      So, I don't really want to be that annoying person prattling on like this is the first time the moon has ever slipped in front of the sun. To encourage those of you not in the path of TOTALITY, chances are you're going to get a bit of a spectacle in North America wherever you are-- it will get dark. I read that Boston, a good two hours drive from here, will reach 95% of full eclipse, so it's bound to be true that a really wide area beyond that strip they keep showing is going to have some darkness. So even if you were too frugal to buy the $5 glasses or the $1.99 aforementioned mug rug, be sure to head out between about 12:00pm and 4:00pm tomorrow with a colander.

     I'm going to post a few pictures mid-week for those of you interested. The kids are going to make a YouTube video a little later-- they have a drone, go-pro, and artistic abilities all ready to make a really nice short film. I will let you know when that goes live-- probably later in the week. I'm sure you'll be sick of hearing about the eclipse by then, if you aren't already.

     I had a good sewing week as well. I absolutely FORCED myself to finish the last 9 smaller leaf blocks of my Kim Diehl jelly roll project. this is going to be a nice size of about 55" x 55." I'm way into overtime on this-- it was supposed to be March's project. Almost there and I do feel it was worth the time, effort, and force.

     I didn't update this picture with all of the blocks yet-- its a 5x5 layout-- but when I do, I'm taking the picture and cutting it out with scissors to "play" with my block arrangement. This will be so much easier than repeatedly bending over to move blocks, or sliding around the floor on my butt! I do not have a design wall right now, and I've never needed one as badly.

    It occurred to me there is something very wrong with stitching a fall piece in spring when it looks like winter outside. But on I go!

    For digitizing last week, besides my Eclipse Mug Rug, the next Village of the Month is coming along. It's a tulip theme-- may be getting old for you, but tulips are still years away for me. I did throw some bulbs into the vegetable garden, poor things.

     Then, I'm working on a set of six cross stitch "seed packets"-- I may even make a little ITH basket to put your seed packs in for display, and to fondly look at for encouragement, when life dumps snow on you.

     For regular embroidery, I'm making a wall hanging that says BLOOM. This is a sister piece to the ones that say LOVE, HOPE, HOME, etc. So I need a saying for the sashing about spring or blooming or what not. Let me know if you can think of one.

    The O's get replaced with a couple of pretty wreaths-- I really love how the stylized flowers are coming out, and the set might be worth it just for the wreaths-- I hope you think so, too. To misquote Dickens, I am honoring Spring in my heart, and trying to keep it all the year, with embroidery projects, at least.

    What are the chances of finishing all three things this week? I'll be honest-- 0%! The big T-X deadline looms-- my heart is with every small business person struggling with Schedule C this week. I do three sets of taxes for family-- it is so hard to have it IN MY FACE how they are all struggling right now-- and still we owe more. Enough about that, or my blue skies are gonna cloud up and rain! Time to count our blessings, I guess.

    And thank goodness for the humor that this house runs on-- Mr. SFO is currently calling me "Betty Davis."

     We are fans of Turner Classic Movies and discovered one from 1940 called "The Letter." Betty is the star, as you can guess, and plays a murderess-- that is plainly revealed. The question is-- is she pure evil, or was it self-defense? We got sucked right in-- THEN-- at various stressful and inappropriate times during the investigation-- she pulled out CROCHET to work on! You can bet, I was riveted. As the story moves forward, she had more and more of a maniacal look on her face as she pulled that piece out of her project bag. So all I will say is-- in the last scene, if she had just kept crocheting instead of walking out into the courtyard, all would have ended well. Let that be a lesson to all of us-- just KEEP STITCHIN!

    Mr. SFO loves to point out factually incorrect things in movies with buildings. His favorite is when people hop up into air conditioning vents to escape the bad guys-- you may have also realized an A/C vent would never be big enough or support the weight! I was so proud to be able to point out to him that over the course of Betty's troubles, about two weeks, she would have never been able to go from a few crocheted squares into a nice throw size. Turns out that Bette Davis really knitted, though, and frequently did so between "takes"! 

     So here's my final progress for the week-- whether or not my face is maniacal when I pick it up-- well, you'd have to ask Mr. SFO. But when I pick it up, he keeps saying, "Hello, Betty!"

     Fat Quarter Shop did "Release 2" of the the Make-a-Wish Moonbeams piece on Friday-- that means more cross stich and four more quilt blocks. It's a busy week for me, with the eclipse and I also have a THREE-HOUR appointment in Augusta (an hour and a half drive) this week-- are hand stitchers the only ones who take long waits in stride? Yup, my windshield has an awful crack and I will be happily stitching away all that time.

    Have yourself a wonderful week--
whatever comes, clear skies or gray, let's just stitch our way through!

xox

Carol