It’s been a much quieter week here on the Meadow, thank goodness! August has passed us by and it’s now fall. We have delicious temperatures in the mid 70s for the next two weeks– but still not a lot of rain. I was going to take you down to the lake for the loons and lotuses in the Year on Sugar Meadow block, but it’s looking really dire. Look at our poor dock– it’s usually out straight! We haven’t had any significant rain in about two months. I was afraid to swim in the lake because of the yucky bottom, but now I see it’s a lot deeper than I thought it was. Another benefit– the bugs around here have totally disappeared.

I have been treating Carefree Highways as my full-time job this past week. In my working years, I would have killed to get a whole day of sewing, let alone a week. After a long, daily commute, it was dinner, then bed, then get up to do it all again. On the weekend, it was laundry and grocery shopping. Now that I can pretty much make my own schedule and don’t have to leave the house, I always wondered– could I get sick of sewing? The answer this week is a resounding YES!

You may have seen my post on social media last week where I only had one row to go… a day or so after that, I pulled Carefree Highways across the finish line. (The center part at least.) Sewing rows together is my least favorite part of quilting. I sewed it in halves to keep it as manageable as possible, but eventually the process became like cow wrangling– onto the sewing table, under the needle, sliding off my ironing board… you know.

Not only is Carefree Highways big, it is heavy. All that embroidery stabilizer adds up. I was tempted to weigh it just for fun, but since that involves me getting on the scale, it’s not happening. 🙂 I backstitched at the beginning and ending of every row to hold the seams together, but every time I lift it, they are cracking apart more and more. I noticed it when I tried to measure the sides to add the borders– the edges were becoming like an accordion. I had to take the time to do a “victory lap”– that’s where you sew around the outside at a 1/8” seam line to stabilize the edges. Later today, I’m going to have to move furniture around to lay it flat and I’m hoping to get Mr. SFO to help me measure with his good old Stanley measuring tape– I’ve held the end of that tape for him enough times over the years!

In the meantime, I’m beavering away at the borders– another high point of the process, is to see this full size– did I mention it is big? The bottom border says “1776-2026” and will be embroidered today. Mr. SFO said, “It’s big.”

Batting has arrived– it’s also big, but I refuse to iron it, so it’s just relaxing in bed for a few days– what I’d really like to be doing!

And my 108” backing– I also refuse to piece together a huge backing. It’s looking like the digitally printed type — are all 108’s digital? So I’m hoping it doesn’t get those needle marks on it. The stars aren’t bright white, but I’m past the point of perfection on this already.

The goal was to have the whole quilt on the longarm today, September 1, but I’m not ready. Loading may be a multi-day process anyway! This by far is the biggest thing I’ve ever quilted, so while it will be nice to have it tamed and rolled all neatly on the bars, it will take some doing. So that’s my sick of sewing story. This would be a great point to stick it in a drawer, but I’m counting on me to have a piece in that New England show, so I’ll soldier on for now. In the back of my mind, there’s a vague willingness to skip the show and give myself more time, I have to admit.

This is the other thing I have spent a SICK amount of time on this past week– my Holly Horse stocking! This was slightly more fun–part of that time may or may not have been at the pool at my sister’s apartment building. But just look!

Both of these two projects are a testament to “monogamous” stitching– focusing on one project at a time has really brought them along. In my heart, though, this is just not the way I do things, and I have to admit I’m really not looking forward to this week’s stitching.

On the happier side, I treated myself to a couple of quilty things for my birthday! I must really be a Lori Holt fanatic– I bought this cute binder even after my scrapbooking plans for the year crashed and burned. And these cute quilt information pages to put in it. It may suffice for me to just own this and look at it, as opposed to filling it in. After all the hours in a day on Carefree Highways, I’m not tempted to document it!

I purchased two of the Americana stars at a LQS a few weeks ago–they are beautful– this is rumored to be Lori’s best selling “quiltseeds” pattern. The other two were sold out at this shop. So I had #1 and #3– well, it says COLLECT ALL 4– so I followed instructions! Note that it doesn’t say STITCH ALL 4… so again, I will be content to just own and admire them for now.

Finally, my favorite daughter gave me a Lori Holt fat quarter bundle! It is the “Bee Ginghams”.

The opportunities for cross stitch finishing in any color abound here, and for mixing these fabrics in with Lori’s other collections of which I am bountifully provided at this point. What quilt couldn’t use a bit of gingham goodness? Out of curiosity, I asked on the All Things Lori Holt Facebook group if anyone had made a quilt JUST with this collection. Well, what do you know, they did– and they looked great! She actually released more than one pattern with just this set. Don’t worry– I have no plans to start any of these, at present!

So it’s September 1st! Time to get serious about life again. Thank you for all of you kind and funny comments on my last post– I do read and re-read all of them. Someone even sent me a picture of a scorpion they found in their house! And I actually GAINED some subscribers, believe it or not, so welcome to you all.

I’m hitting it hard today– making a list of all I want to accomplish this week and I intend to tackle it head on. Fall is such a wonderful time to start your life over. 🙂

xox
Carol