Get it Together!

      Spring is here!

    We are starting to have some beautiful sunny days in the high 50s as I emerge from my cocoon, feeling a little pasty-faced and weak from too many winter hours spent behind sewing machines and computers over the past few months. Every where I look outside, the melting snow is revealing projects and maintenance jobs that need to be done! My daily Mantra is "GET IT TOGETHER!" said in a bit of an angry tone to myself in my head, to combat that overwhelmed vibe.  I'm starting with an enforced hour in the garden from 2-3 every day. Once that shows some progress, there is a bit of painting to do outside, and then some more fun gardening projects with flowers.

     Last week was a tough one-- when last we spoke, I had the Safelite appointment that was supposed to be three hours, but ended up being five hours, with an additional three hours driving time. They ordered the wrong windshield-- I have the FANCY car, with the FANCY rain sensors and FANCY ice melting features. I swear I'm not a FANCY girl-- this was one of two cars on the lot in April of 2020 when I desperately needed transportation, and trust me, the second choice was even FANCIER!

    I think the service people were worried I would go ballistic-- I bet they've never had a cross-stitcher in before-- so patient-- the hours FLEW by, haha, and Release Two of the Moonbeams stitch-a-long got done in one sitting! 

     The quilt part of the stitch-a-long has four blocks this month-- they look somewhat like those red stars with the green "bone" I'll call it. They are releasing the first Friday of each month, so that gives me a little more than two weeks to git 'er done. Maybe, maybe not!

     My extreme case of taxitis is starting to go away-- it features red eyes, a sick feeling in the pit of the stomach, and sleeplessness! But not much done on the digitizing end last week. I did finish up the Veggie Seed Packs-- very cute! I want them to be stiffer that the Poppy seed packet from the Gardening Bowl Fillers came out, so I may add another finishing suggestion, which is mounting them on sticky board. And I'd love to make a little basket for them to live in-- so still some more work to do.

     I used to be a graphic designer, so these were super fun for me to draw up. I may do a flower series if the set sells well, and then maybe even herbs over the course of the summer. But it is really hard to keep your attention, people, when the weather gets nice! Hoping to get some test stitching done tomorrow.

    Springville-- I am so sorry to say-- just a little progress! Don't worry, I will GET IT TOGETHER!

      On the plus side, my leaf quilt is almost finished. Last week, I just had the blocks done. I laid them out with a printout I cutout and they looked a bit too regimented. My print out idea did not work at all-- the print was way too faded and small. I tried to do something with a more random layout by adding some extra strips here and there, but it was just turning into a mess. I ended up just laying it out on our bed.

And here's my final layout!

I am really happy with the way this came it-- it really captures the leaves on brick image I've had in my mind for 40 years! The row seems were KILLER-- lots of pinning. All that's left is a little border-- just quickly cut four long strips, you say? No-- it has to be made of 2x2 and 2x4 inch pieces! I really want to free motion this myself with swirls and leaf veins-- I'm hoping to have my longarm set back up in about 8 weeks. Yes, the sheetrock for "Quiltopia," my 600 sf space above the garage, has been ordered!

I started my March Sew Sampler box-- I'm making the "Chatterbox" quilt with the Sweetwater Vintage fabric provided.

It's cool looking, isn't it? It is quite a bit of sewing! It's basically HSTs with an additional tiny white and dark triangle sewn to each side. I have 12 fat eighths-- I can make 240 3" finished HSTs. I've actually never done a quilt that's as repetitive as this one. The Sew Sampler box came with 3" "Triangles on a Roll"... have you ever use them? They are paper piecing guides you can use to make HSTs. 

You lay two fabrics right sides together and pin the paper on top. Sew on the dotted lines, then cut on the solids.

The results are super accurate-- this is an "HST" unit-- a half square triangle for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, one of the basic blocks of the quilt world.

Only thing is, you then half to pull the papers off and trim off those little dog ears. Horrors... I am pressing seams open for this project because there's too many tiny pieces. Once I have 240 of these, I then need to sew 480  little flip and stitch corners on them. It's a good mindless activity for me at the end of the day, but I am hoping this whole thing can be done by the end of the month.

No progress on Pressed Flowers, or a heck of a lot of other projects that are lying around right now. But I'm thinking of starting a new feature on this blog-- "Quilt Kits I Didn't Buy This Week." heehee.

I really want this:

But I didn't buy it!

And I've really been wanting this for a long time:

But I haven't bought it.

And there's this-- I really want it!

It's the Fat Quarter Shop's Christmas Free Stitch-a-long--
honestly, if I get sucked in, it's not like I don't have enough Christmas fabric to make it my own.

Just think of all the savings of time I have made by not buying anything new-- I will really be able to make things happen this week!

So that's all the nonsense that's in my head this time. I hope you're encourage to GET IT TOGETHER this spring, and make all the beautiful things.

xox
Carol