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:

Star of Wonder FREE Patterns

www.sanfranciscostitchco.com

   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.