Many thanks to the Fat Quarter Shop for inviting me to this WONDER-ful stitch-a-long and linking to my blog! They had me at "STAR." I do have a bit of a side effect that I wasn't warned of-- the carol "WE THREE KINGS" is stuck in my head!
I'll get right to it--each week I will show my progress and offer a tip or two. For those of you who are visiting for the first time and want to know more, read on, and I will introduce myself, tell all about how I discovered FQS years ago, and how I am still an uber-fan.
So here's my cross stitch through Release 2--
And here's my advice: Do not assume those little stars are placed symmetrically or are the same color in each corner. I made a big goof by printing out one corner-- that's what you get for trying to save paper. But thankfully I studied the photo before I got too far. One mistake leads to another-- so that's why when I start a new area, I always count from TWO different places just to make sure.
And here's my quilt block:
And a quilt block tip: For those of us who have been stitching with Kimberly for years, there's a tendency to not read instructions. She, herself, admits to this! So my cutting of the reds was messed up-- you are supposed to cut four E's from each color of red, and eight F's from each. I cut 8 E's from one color and sixteen F's from the other-- WRONG! I did briefly wonder why it said in parentheses, (8 total), but charged ahead anyway. I can see on the Kimberly's Stitch Squad Facebook group some finished blocks from people who thought the same thing and just went ahead and made the block--but I am not telling them-- and the block still looks great!
A final tip: it never pays to be the first to stitch anything-- be a week behind, and LEARN from everyone else's mistakes!
Here is the link to the stitch-a-long FREE patterns on the Fat Quarter Shop website:
So now for the introduction-- I am Carol Duffy, the owner of San Francisco Stitch Co., a machine embroidery website. I started sewing my own clothes as a girl, thanks to a lifelong love of crafts and my very patient mother. I made my first quilt for my wedding-- at that time, we lived in New Jersey and at a visit to the Kutztown Fair there was a huge barn with all the Amish quilts for sale-- I was just hooked.
Once my kids were out of the toddler stage, I started quilting more, and since the tension on my old Kenmore machine was getting unmanageable, I really wanted a Bernina sewing machine. This was a big purchase for us at the time, but my ever supportive husband allowed me to bid on one on eBay. It was a 180E. In a life changing moment, he said, "What is the "E" for?" To which I replied, "I don't know, it just comes with it." I won the auction...
... and it turned out the "E" was for "Embroidery Module." From that point on, I learned how to use it, tired of available embroidery designs, bought digitizing software, learned to digitize my own, sold them on eBay, and fast forward 20 years later when I now have my own embroidery empire with customers worldwide.
As you can guess, running an international embroidery website takes a lot of fabric! In the early 2000's, I saw a Fat Quarter Shop ad in a quilting magazine for a beautiful set of Valentine Fat Quarters. I had never seen such a thing-- in the early days, there were no "collections" of fabrics that I knew of, just running from store to store to find things that matched. I instantly ordered them (some are still in my stash!) and I absolutely loved the Fat Quarter Shop website, with beautiful things falling effortlessly into your cart, great customer service, and an amazing selection.
I didn't jump on the Sew Sampler box subscription from the get go-- I have received about 80 of the 100 boxes. Just in the last year and half, I finally made an effort to use the fabric each month. I don't always make the given project. You may have seen my posts on the Sew Sampler Members Only Facebook page. Here are my 2023 finishes-- twelve monthly boxes, the four limited editions, and I did work on the BOM Pressed Flowers as well:
And here is 2024 so far--
My group on Facebook is "2024 Sew the Samplers Challenge." I'd love to have you join and see your progress as well! If you are a Sew Sampler Box addict, this blog is always full of humor and love as they come in, one by one.
Currently, I just about have my 130 diamonds made for Peach Preserves, and the Cupid Box and Liberty boxes are waiting their turn. Will I get 16 finishes this year? We shall see.
Thanks for joining me-- bookmark or subscribe for the next few weeks and you won't have to wonder if I ever finished my Star of Wonder. Heck, maybe we'll become friends and even finish together.
Love all your finishes! And once the quilting bug hits, it never leaves. And, I think machine embroidery, on it's own or combined with quilting adds another element to the FUN! XOXO Dottie
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