This greeting is a bit early, but a big crowd is expected here and preparations have commenced! Since we live in the middle of nowhere, company will stay for a multiple of overnights, too. I have five breakfasts, four lunches, and three dinners to plan, along with a big feast! But I can’t wait to hold my grandbaby, eat too many rich foods, and force people to craft with me in Quiltopia. I’m calling these days of getting ready the “Throes of Thanksgiving!”

It’s a real shame to interrupt the blog, just when it was getting good! I’ve had so many finishes lately.

HoHoHo! just needs a set of plain black borders and I’m calling it quits. I decided it doesn’t need the fancy star border I was planning to add some more of the cute fabrics in this collection. Instead, I’m going to chop them all up and make Christmas stockings. I signed up for a day of sewing in early December at my LQS again– to treat myself after all the hard work this week– we’ll see how many I can get done.

Here’s a close-up of my sleigh– I souped it up a bit from the pattern. I am mocked in this household for buying patterns and then not following them. But this one was FREE! (Fat Quarter Shop.)

I’m already starting a list of projects for next year, and I’d love to make the matching cross stitch piece to this quilt which looks easy compared to the two pieces I am currently struggling with. (It’s also free at Fat Quarter Shop.) Sometimes I’ve been tempted to digitize and stitch some of the cute patterns offered out there on my machine! And I’ve kind of wondered why some of the top designers haven’t figured it out yet– but I’m sure they can get testers to hand stitch them for free.

Not one to be left behind, I have been dabbling in AI to try to help me make new designs! I’ve been wanting to digitize cross stitch stockings– I know a lot of you are looking for this, but it’s not that easy to make something full size. There are hoop size restrictions and there are also going to be registration problems if you try to cover a large area. Nonetheless, I thought I could give myself a leg up if AI helped me with the design. Here are the prompts and what I got.

“Design a cross stitch look stocking based on a large partridge and a pear tree motif in the center and the rest of the Twelve Days of Christmas pictured smaller.” (It got a bit stuck on the number 9– I’m proud it used backstitch, though! 🙂

“Create a cross stitch look Christmas stocking with Santa and his sleigh in the sky over a quaint and snowy New England Village.”

“Design 12 miniature cross stitch stockings based on the Twelve Days of Christmas. The stitch count will be 45 x 64.”

It’s honestly somewhat impressive to get these things spit out in very few minutes– but it does take minutes, not seconds, which surprised me. Since we’ve been coached that AI is going to take a lot of electricity, I imagine my local power plant starting to smoke while I am doing this, so I keep it to a minimum.

But overall, is this even a good start compared to what I could come up with on my own? I don’t think so– they are so flat and lifeless! Even if I wanted to use bits ‘n pieces, it would take more time to rework those than to start from scratch. What do you think? Frankly, I am convinced AI is a scam that won’t even be close to doing what they promise. You always need to brush up the job– there’s a tiny disclaimer at the bottom of every result that says, “ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info.” This idea of double-checking AI already has a name in the corporate world– it’s called “Work Slop.” Time will tell if I’m right, but for now, there are no worries about AI taking over my embroidery job!

Despite the time lost fooling around with ChatGPT, the Sugar Meadow block will be done early this month! I decided our meadow needed a mouse- haha– the meadow (and my garage!) is crawling with them–I did find pretty asparagus leaves, the remainder of my Black-eyed Susans, and some unknown grain under the snow.

I just have to (make all the conversions) (update instructions) (double check the color chart)(zip up the file) (load to the website) and (advertise) in case you wonder why these take so long. You’ll be stitching mousey after your food coma on Thursday, and then I’m going right into the December block. And here it is!

Just December is left and I haven’t used any pine tree leaves yet– I also found these amazing tiny berries, and the chickadees visit our bird feeder in any month, so inspiration abounds.

I’ll be glad to close out this series– it’s been very challenging– and move on to some fabulous floral borders which will sell well whether you make this quilt or not. It is going to be gorgeous, and I’m hoping it will be worthy of a round of quilt shows in 2027.

On the hand stitch front, the Summer Sampler has now become the stitch I love to hate! I don’t know why I started it this year. I remember being afraid I would lose or stain “The Appalling Cross Stitch” while traveling but wanted to work on something on a couple of flights I had back in June, so I grabbed it on my way out the door.

I keep trying to find an off ramp, but one section just flows into another. The section with the silverware over the basket nearly caused blindness. I’m shelving it after Thanksgiving, even if I must ask Mr. SFO to take it away from me and hide it. I’m not sure when it will come out again– maybe next summer I’ll be feeling it. Or maybe some random person will pick it up again after purchasing it at a garage sale in 50 years. Anything can happen with this crazy crafter!

The Appalling Cross Stitch is the one I want to finish by Christmas. It’s not like I’ve been neglecting it! Originally, it was supposed to be separate Christmas ornaments, but I turned it into a wall piece and designed a little border for between the blocks– I keep messing the border up! But I’m looking forward to finishing the last two designs– one is Christmas owls and one is gift boxes, I believe. It’s a totally different type of stitching experience than the summer one, as you can see.

So that’s everything– feel sorry for me, because it’s now cleaning and cooking for a couple of days and as much Excedrin Migraine as I need to keep my back from hurting! Here is my newly organized spice drawer: (I found about a gallon of almond extract.)

I sound like such an old curmudgeon– my back hurts when I sew, too, but you don’t hear me complaining about it, after all.

Honestly, spending time with my family is one thing I might rather do than sew.

Have a wonderful holiday!