Never. Buy. Anything. Ever. Again.

   It’s been a sobering week of “unpacking.” Well, I wish I was unpacking, but honestly all I have done is bring things upstairs that were all over the downstairs. Yup, I wish I was wearing my Fitbit that tracked stairs this past week. My back tells me it's over 1,000,000 flights.

    My 600sf of shelving is already bursting at the seams, and I haven’t even touched the attic yet.

     As I moved things upstairs, I created a list of in progress quilts-- great way to do it right? It is truly astonishing the mass of unfinished work I have collected. This is not even anything that's coming down from the attic. This is the closest I have come to canceling my Sew Sampler Subscription-- I do not need a new monthly stitch-- I could already give myself a monthly quilt to make for the next thirty years! Basically, I can never buy anything again.

     On the plus side, my bedrooms are now cleared out. To finally make them mine, I really want to change the paint color and then put up some quilts. (finally) All the furniture in the house is also getting moved into its final (I hope) position. For once, I have a before and after for you!

     There is so much to do here at the moment-- we also got a second hive and picked up our bees. They just give you 10,000 of them, and one queen, in a plastic box to drive them home in your car! Look how many there are on those frames. I hope we are going to get some honey this year, but if you are considering doing this, it's worth it just for your flowers and vegetable garden-- ours are super charged with pollinators. Oh-- that’s me on the right, looking like the Michelin Man. They make a bit of a mockery of me in my suit, but I haven't gotten stung yet!

     The garden is also starting to take off-- both veggies and weeds. We are now getting some produce-- the most delicious strawberries I have ever had, broccoli rabe, and the snap peas are really starting to come. I try to “shop” the garden before I buy anything at this point. We also took out the kayaks one night-- after the hot days, the lake is irresistible.

    It’s also the High Holidays of Cake and Ice Cream-- most everyone in our family was born in the last week of June or first week of July. Each one gets a special cake. The DD is first up-- she picked a recipe with all ingredients you have to ask for in the store. There were at least 20 steps, with Sifted Ingredients, Wet Ingredients, Creamed Ingredients, and Whipped Ingredients. She is actually the master baker in the house, but I really wanted to do it for her. I did end up asking for help, which was gladly given. 

     We have company coming to celebrate the SILs 30th. Shhhh.... It’s a surprise. So, it’s a good thing all the cleaning and organizing is happening. I think all that stuff in the attic is going to be waiting. Now that I have two bedrooms freed up, I'd love a big house party!

     On the sewing front, well, it is amazing anything is getting done at all! Fourth of July bowl fillers are out. Now, look for it-- but I am going to start a free village stitch-a-long soon. You need to either read this blog or join my email to get it-- I’m not going to advertise it widely. It’s just for you-- my biggest fans! Hope to have it before the 4th.

     The Sew Sampler Box for May is coming along-- June’s has mailed. I'd love to have one done before the other arrives. I wasn’t a huge fan of this fabric or the pattern, "Clover and Dot," but I tried a jelly roll pattern, "Quadrangle." I’m at the point where the blocks are together and it’s that exciting moment for quilters when you get a first look at how your finish is going to look. And the verdict is:

MEH! 

     I picked the bright teal and orange grunge sashings to try to brighten the thing up, but it’s not contrasty enough-- maybe I should have gone with a dark blue sashing. There is this pat saying in art school-- you need to have the whitest whites and the darkest darks in every drawing. I disagree-- I mean, if you were drawing the Golden Gate Bridge rising out of the fog, there might be some white, but you'd never see black in that painting. Try things. The minute a rule comes up, break it. I learned from this quilt.

     As of this morning's writing, it does have more of the teal and orange between each block, and I'm liking it better.  It has tons of blue in it-- this awesome family we met here is expecting their first grandchild in August-- it’s a boy, so I’m thinking I’ll gift it. They are longtime homesteaders and are so ready to help with all their years of wisdom and experience. I’d also like to just get the longarm going with some simple quilting myself next month; this quilt would be a perfect start.

    I complained about 3 out 5 Sew Sampler Boxes this year being jelly rolls-- there is no advantage to using a pre-cut, if you are constantly trimming up zagged edges.  Out of frustration, this time I bit the bullet and trimmed everything down to 4-1/4” instead of 4-1/2”. It took guts-- there are no 4-1/4” rulers-- but I did it. Occasionally, you get these free patterned "washi" tapes in subscription boxes, which I have never used. This time, I marked up a little corner on the ruler to line up my cut and made no mistakes!

    The June box arrives Tuesday-- hoping to have my "Quadrangle" finish by then. Oh-- and I told you I complained about getting so many jelly rolls-- I looked at a spoiler for the new box and my punishment is now to get a “honeybun”-- 1-1/2” strips with ziggy edges. Dear God-- do I just trim the to 1-1/4" before even starting?  It’s too bad because the fabric is Fig Tree "Jelly and Jam" which is beautifully detailed with large prints that don't deserve to be cut into 1-1/2” strips. The pattern is sort of cool though. I may just do it.

     

     I swiped this from the "Crystal Heart" You Tube Channel. Crystal must live right next to the Fat Quarter Shop warehouse-- she always gets it first! I love watching her unboxing each month. She is so genuine with her opinions, and has two adorable daughters who make an appearance from time to time.

     The Valentine Quaker is a finish! If you remember, I was just about to run out of the Shrimp colored floss-- I solved this by using just two strands for a couple of the last motifs. No one will ever notice. I even had enough to sign my name. So happy I didn’t have to spend 25 cents for a new hank of floss-- it’s not so much the money-- I would have had a lot left over looking like it wanted to be used in another project of some sort!

    I've really started to enjoy the summer. It's my favorite season, even though there's more to do each day than I can even touch. There's something about just dropping into bed at night, sore, and falling into a deep sleep right away. Hope this finds you exhausted and happy as well!

xox

Carol