Twelve Hours in May-- Part TWO

    3pm So there I was, a good eight hours into my twelve hours of sewing day. Three quilts were readied for long arm, but outside, it looked the world was ending. I had just sent this picture to my sister in Florida, and then I started to make a video for her as the rain came on.

    First, the huge 40 foot pine trees across the meadow started to sway like a stalks of grass--and just that fast, the other side of the meadow disappeared in rain and steam. Our driveway turns into a river, heading down to the lake. We have a metal roof-- so the sound track to this event is just as crazy. I wonder if my baby chickens are still there, after the wind blast. I don't think I've ever witnessed the sky open up so fully and so fast.

     Next up-- new green leaves start flying  everywhere. It reminds me of a tornado when you see all the pieces of roof flying everywhere, but thankfully at a smaller scale. I would not have been surprised at this point if flying monkeys flashed past the windows!

     Then it starts to hail. The entire front of out house is floor to ceiling windows, so imagine 10,000 crazed fourth graders throwing marbles at a pane of glass-- at this point, I retreated from the windows, because I believe the entire front of my house is about to blow open.

    Just about a minute has passed-- I’m getting it all on film! For once, once, once-- I had the camera rolling and I don't want to miss a second. So I step right back up to the window--lol. As quickly as the burst began, it starts to let up. Wow, I am shaken though! The rain is still pretty heavy-- it's transfixing. I stand and watch for about another 20 minutes. Amazingly we keep power, but the internet goes out, so my poor sister is left wondering what happened to me, and I feel very alone.

     After about 20 minutes, the rain is slow enough for me to go outside to discover the fate of my poor chickies-- and see if our cabin is still there. The chicks look a bit freaked out, but luckily they had a little area under a ramp to hide in. As I walk down to the cabin, I almost slipped and fell in the mud-- Whew! Lucky I caught myself. I would have been laying there until midnight tomorrow before being discovered. The cabin is fine-- I don’t see any trees down. The entire world is wallpapered in green leaves.

    My weather event is over. Earlier, I was feeling a little guilt after my king size Reese's treat and had decided to forgo the peanut butter cookies I was going to make. Forget that! I almost died.  It’s amazing how quickly I segued into cookie making after a near death experience. Why not?  Then I lay down for an hour and took a nap. What an afternoon.

    4pm When I woke up, I decided a walk up to the mailbox will be just the thing to restart the day. I know there are a couple of happy mails waiting! The mailbox is still there-- hee, hee.

    Last fall, my trigger finger got the best of me again, and I signed up for Fig Tree Fabric's quarterly subscription box. I am never disappointed with Joanna Figueroa's patterns or collections, and the subscription sells out fast. I had to act fast! It's a bit expensive,  but my first box is a heavy one.

     I sort through-- probably a good value for the $90 price of admission, except I already have the chalk pen, and a couple bottles of that "Flatter" ironing spray hanging around the house. I do like the fabric and the pattern, though-- unlike the Sew Sampler boxes, everything is included to make the top and binding-- I'll only need a backing fabric when it's finished.

     Tea cups are a great theme for me--someday when things quiet down around here, I'll take you on a tour of my vintage teacup cabinet from two British grandmothers. The fabric teacups are made with the new "Jelly and Jam" collection charm packs. It looks a bit labor intensive and I know I'll be putting it away for now. Maybe over the winter.

    I do like this cute panel of quilt and jam labels.

     And there's a magnet I quite like. I have a bit of a collection of these now from the various subscription boxes and a few more I purchased. I guess I could say they are a collection if they were all "collected" in one place! (sigh.)

   My Fat Quarter Shop Spooky and Sweet fabric kit also arrived. Yet, another trigger purchase from months ago. I do love Halloween! Unfortunately, it looks like a pile of grayness.

    I didn't realize the background of this project was gray-- so I checked the sneak peek photo on Fat Quarter Shop's website, and it is. I guess white ghosts on a white background wouldn't have much impact, would they? The back of the package is more promising. It's very colorful, all solids.  

     This is the Fat Quarter Shop's free yearly Halloween Stitch-a-long-- it starts in June. They moved it up this year, I guess so we'd all have more time to make it. I'm not going to be in the "spirit" or have the time for this until the fall. And I'd much rather see the finished piece before I commit-- mysteries are not for me. I'm a "skip ahead to the last page of the book" girl.

4:30pm It is now getting later and I want to salvage my sewing day-- there's four hours left before I make my twelve hour goal.  Next on the list is another backing-- no thanks! It's a Christmas quilt and I still have plenty of time before that would be needed.  I decide to pick the most fun project on my list next-- after all, I'm ALIVE!

     At the moment, the most attractive job is a new start, of course. It’s the Bobbin Blooms Sew Sampler box-- it needs to be cut-- a nice change from all the long seam sewing. 

   I used to be a cut a little/sew a little person-- since starting the big Sew Sampler Challenge, I've seen the light and hack up an entire quilt at one time. It's time consuming-- it takes me an hour and a half to do it. I don't have a big cutting table available right now, so it's a struggle working on the corner of our kitchen table. But I do enjoy cutting these days. Note how carefully those ginghams and stripes are cut-- no crooked lines for me!

     4:30pm Then it's on to my favorite part of making a quilt-- sewing up the blocks. I get all of the units together, and even a couple of the flowers in the next two hours or so.

Bonus Embroidery! While I sew, I frequently have an embroidery machine running-- here's two stitch outs I basically worked along during the day. This one you have to wait for until Christmas... it's a super-quick- two color cross stitch.

     This one is already released-- our fifth design in the Village series. I really need to make a project with one of these-- someone on Facebook commented they wanted ideas on how to use them. I'd love to get one of the Fat Quarter Shop's mounting boards, add the fabrics they are always showing, and a cute bow-- then change them out each month with magnets. I am so looking forward to decorating the new space. Mr. SFO frowns on too much decoration, but Quiltopia is going to be all mine. <3.

7:00 pm. Pooped! There's no need for dinner-- I'm still full of cookies. If this was a diet blog, I'd give you this advice-- if you are going to have a big blowout treat-- an ice cream sundae-- cake and ice cream-- a sleeve of Oreos-- just count it as a meal and skip lunch or dinner. It'll save quite a few calories. xox.

     But this is a sewing blog--I estimate I've gotten a full twelve hours of time in today. Three quilts ready for longarm, one new start and two embroidery stitch outs. Realistically, I'd need a whole week of these day to finish my list. Tomorrow, I'll probably be too tired to do anything, heehee!

     It's time to hit the showers, but I can't seem to say goodbye to my day-- I settled in for a good few hours of a new cross stitch in front of my TV.

     Thanks so much for sharing my day-- I'd love to hear if you've ever devoted an entire day to sewing... comment below! For now, it's back to working on my new studio-- the spackling ain't exactly crack-a-lackaling. :-( The first thing I'm gonna do when the DD and SIL get home from South Carolina this weekend is hand them a sanding pad!

xox

Carol