I was determined to swing hard last week and I did… despite battling the knowledge that any moment, we would get a call to make a very special trip.

Before that happened, most of my time was spent on the Year on Sugar Meadow May block. I am always complaining about one thing or another these days, so after really looking hard for inspiration coming out of winter, I am now overwhelmed with ideas. Maybe next year we’ll just do “Summer on Sugar Meadow!”

The bird feeder has attracted goldfinches, blue jays, grosbeaks and more. My hummingbird feeder/Mother’s Day gift has quite a few customers– you can see the difference in their sizes, which is how I can tell there’s more than one. The loons are making a racket on the lake at night, but not as much as Woody the woodpecker’s jackhammering behind the house.

On the flower side of things– the ostrich ferns are unrolling, wild violets dot the forest, and the “bedwetters” are wetting the flower beds amongst a multitude of others. That’s what they call these tiny gems around here– I started calling them “Wetbedders” by mistake, and now I can’t say it the right way.

After taking all that in, then sketching and digitizing, the interruption happened, but here it is:

It takes quite a while to get to this point, but I’m back now and hooping up for a first test stitch out this morning, and it should move quickly.

On the sewing front, I realized next year is the nation’s 250th anniversary! It’s a sign to finish up Carefree Highways.
Why would you leave things in this state of affairs after digitizing and stitching 50 states over two years?

I spent some quality time last week trimming up my state blocks and getting most of the 49 required stripe blocks made– a cinch! The Fat Quarter Shop has a 5-1/2″ creative grids ruler that made trimming a breeze.

Many times, we don’t finish a project because we’ve fallen out of love– but I will never NOT like these designs.

If you want to join me in making this for the United States “Semiquincentennial” next year, there’s a free quilt pattern on the website and a checklist to keep you motivated HERE.

The blocks are still on sale and since I lost a couple of days this week, I’m going to keep the sale going for a few more days.

I stayed on schedule with my Moonbeams quilting– one block a day. No regrets, just forward progress, please!

I’m over the halfway point, and to get this done in time for the wedding at the end of June, I will make it my full-time job, if necessary.

Would I use a dark thread, again? Probably not, but it’s hard to pick one thread color per quilt and I didn’t want to start using “all the colors.” I realized too late that I have INVISIBLE thread, but that’s also a learning curve I don’t need right now. Can you imagine setting tension for something that’s INVISIBLE?

It’s undeniably pretty in spite of all my missteps, right?!

On the Christmas stocking front, I have blazed through page one of the Holly Horse pattern. It’s amazing what happens when you are a “monogamous” cross stitcher!

You can see that my gold circle is still awaiting the floss I ordered three weeks ago. The supplier assured me they “might” get it out last week and that turned out to be true– if you recognize this way of saying “might not” from your own past experience. I’m not sure how long I will allow this situation to continue, but certainly not past the 60 days most credit cards allow to contest it. Lesson learned– check eBay shop reviews before ordering!

In the meantime, I’ve decided to start backstitching this page, so all of that is not left for the end. I do love backstitch– this pattern has every shape outlined, but at least it’s all in the same color. I will show you how horsey’s head and leaves come into focus with the outlining when I finish it. I really love the look, so I won’t complain.

It only took a month to get to this point, which is a sizzling pace for me– and it’s a good thing! The owner of this stocking has arrived. I’m sure that even my most sloppy reader of this post knows I had an interruption this week! And for further suspense, here’s a goofy photo I took as a mini-submarine passed us on the highway, on the way to meet our new granddaughter. I’m a firm believer in “signs,” but what would this mean as you drove to meet your first grandchild?! (She’ll join the Navy?– haha)

The incomparable HARLOW JEANNETTE is here– a touching nod to my own mother, Jeannette, who we lost two years ago. She spelled it with “two N’s and two T’s,” which I could almost hear her saying as I cried my eyes out.

This is the only picture I took the whole time– I will have to beg others for more– being so wrapped up in those little lips, the tiny eyebrows, and that head of black hair. She is absolutely perfect, as every other baby is, out of the thousands of babies born, in their grandmother’s eyes.

After we left the hospital, Mr. SFO and I went for a walk along the Cape Cod Canal, one of our old haunts, and we saw the stork leaving for yet another delivery. It was just another magic moment in a two-day whirlwind visit, that is one of many I intend to make over the summer.

xox
Carol