vs. How It’s Going:

As you can see spring is not very successfully asserting itself! I kept my Seasonal Affected Disorder to myself, not wanting to be a wimp among the hearty Maine regulars. It is with utmost satisfaction I note that they, themselves, are starting to complain. Late Spring! Fortunately, I live very much in my head, and this is what March looks like there:

Yes, the Sugar Meadow block of the month has released. It’s a bit euphemistic compared to the actual state of affairs around here, but I checked my photo roll and last year we had these things in March! That was my biggest accomplishment of the week– we now have a set of three and I’m hoping they get easier to digitize as time goes by!

When we last spoke, I was pretty overwhelmed and I said I was going to do ONE THING AT A TIME this week. It was no fun at all. Bopping from project to project is my happy place, but I did finish things!

First up, I finished the Bobbin Blooms quilting– I’m really happy with it. The rose and leaf background pattern I found from the Ipatchandquilt blog was really easy to do. You’d think it would be hard to get it to work in those thin, strangely shaped background areas, but if I got into trouble, I could easily run for the nearest edge, tie off and begin again.

I intend to bind this right away– binding strips are already sewed together. I am way ahead of my May baby shower deadline on that… boom!

That took a good part of the week, but next up was the Moonbeams cross stitch pillow and I have a another fabulous finish…

I made a little nine patch for the top left corner– I took the idea from the cross stitch design, and there was plenty of leftover fabric from my Moonbeams quilt kit (Fat Quarter Shop is always so generous) to add colorful borders. Why did I let this thing sit around needing 20 stitches for months?

That was my entire sewing week– the Sugar Meadow block took most of the time. These thread painted designs are intense and take multiple test stitch outs, but they are so worth it.

I did buy some things! It’s occurred to me I’m at risk for just being one of those people who buy and unbox stuff on videos for a living. After getting a SIZABLE tax refund, I bought not one, but FOUR sets of fat quarters last week. The guilt is immeasurable.

First up, I finally succumbed to Cali and Co– it is so bright and colorful. And I paid full price! One of you, my dear readers, kept pointing me to great prices after Christmas– I ignored all of your emails, waiting for what… another fifty cents off? I humbly apologize to that person and I have learned my lesson– buy stuff you like right away. The stitch-a-long Corey Yoder is doing with these fabrics is beautiful– I so hope I don’t start it!

Then, I also paid full price for Basic Grey’s Sunday Brunch. I’ve always been a huge fan and I still stalk Basic Grey scrapbook paper on eBay. I am sure I have some of their earliest collections from 2004. Then they transitioned to fabric AND scrapbook paper in 2008 and I have some collections of both! Very quickly after that, the scrapbook paper disappeared, most likely because scrapbooking was going digital– or disappearing all together, as we now have all our photos on our phones.

I have absolutely no plans for set– just gonna admire it on my shelf!

I fully intended to end the fat quarters binge at that point, but as soon as those were ordered, Fat Quarter shop had a 50% off sale on the weekend– did you see it?!

Believe me, I could have gotten a lot more. I bought “A Very Terry Christmas”– I’ve seen it before and liked it, and while I don’t know the designer, the color range and patterns in this set are really upbeat. Just gimme that Christmas teal and I’m in! This one I could definitely use for San Francisco Stitch Co. sets. And, since one of my best friends’ name is Tere, all the signs were pointing to the BUY IT NOW button.

Lastly, I got J. Wecker Frisch “All My Heart”– a Valentine set. Because, I have a little sweetheart due in a very short time now. I’ve always wanted to make another envelope quilt– I gifted the first one I made.

SO many uses, since Mr. SFO’s birthday is also Valentine’s Day. I’m so hoping there’s a fabulous panel in this group, but I don’t think there is. Maybe I should stalk Etsy for one!

So those were my guilty pleasures last week– oops– one more! If I ever feel like I’m not a productive GIANT– did you know in addition to everything I made last year, I wrote a 190-page fully photographed coffee table book?

Yes, it’s another tax refund purchase–I found a website that, with the click of a button, turned last year’s blog into a beautiful book! It was a bit pricey at $145, but I scrapbook and you have no idea how much I would have spent on photo prints and stickers and whatnot to make a year long book.

I imported my blog, and to avoid going into two or three volumes, (heehee, blab much?), I had to get the biggest 12×12 size. I picked a three column format, so all the pictures and text are nicely lined up on each page, automatically. The “chapters” are each month and had those big divider pages, and each post heading stands out in large blue text.

I really wasn’t sure at all if I was going to get decent paper, or really if the whole thing was just a scam, because when you think about it $145 is actually cheap for this. It came from Europe, via California– haha. I just wanted it, so I didn’t ask any questions!

I just picked the cover from pre-designed choices– there was an option to use one of your photos for the cover. I can’t tell you how quickly I was able to put it all together. There were not a lot of chances to customize– for someone like me, that’s a huge plus.

It’s intorealpages.com, and I know this sounds like a sales pitch, but I’m not taking any commission on this. It would be perfect if you are planning a special trip– you could blog each day and add pictures. Or, if you journal, you would have a real book at the end of the year– you don’t have to use photos. My book was top dollar, but there are smaller versions with less pages, if you blab less.

Just remind me never to use emojis again!

I may go back and do prior years of my blog, but for now, THE SPENDING IS ENDING. That’s my mantra for the time being!

As I went out into the fresh snow this morning, I “took a digger.” This is what they call a fall in these parts– quite descriptive, right? I slid down the ramp of the chicken coop in a heartbeat and hit my left hip. Fortunately, I am still young enough for my first thought to be “Did anyone see me?” and not “Call 911!” So I dusted myself and turned back around to see if my chickens were laughing at me.

No– the dear creatures!– they were just pecking away at their corn, pretending nothing happened to save my feelings. I think I’m gonna be feeling that later, but it’s nice to know if I am ever in a situation where my team is down 0-3 and I hit a grand slam home run in the ninth inning, there is no question I will be able to slide into home plate before the tag– I was a veritable torpedo!

Sooner or later, spring will win out, and in no time, I’m sure I’ll be complaining about the heat. Until then, keep sewing!

xox
Carol