Not what I had planned.

I don't know if "things happen for a reason." I DO know that no matter how well things are planned, plans often change. No matter how badly you wanted to make something happen, if it's not meant to be, it's not gonna happen!

We are at the end of 2024. A lot has happened this year. And a lot of plans were changed.

I had planned on spending most of 2024 in Colorado, helping my mom. She is the main caregiver for my dad who was diagnosed with dementia a while back. She does have a lot of help from my brothers and sister that live close. And my dad is a veteran and gets some help from the VA.
Even with all the help, I noticed mom was very tired. She is taking care of Dad, but someone needed to take care of her! I came up with a plan that I would be that person. I planned to move into the extra room in her house and be there 24/7 for maybe 3 months and come home to TX for a visit. Continue going back and forth for as long as possible. Thankful that my Heartbeat understood that this was really on my heart to do. And I quit my job at the quilt store.

Mom knew my plans and was all for having me there, but the month before I was to move in, she allowed my nephew to occupy the room I had intended to use! Indefinitely...
I was crushed. I was upset. I didn't understand. All the plans I made....! But my nephew remained in place.

Now December is here and I'm looking back on the year. Our oldest son found that he needed to make a change in his life. Not really knowing where this change was going to take him, in March he moved in with us as a stepping stone to get to what he wants next. I hadn't had much time with him in at least 8 years as we've lived in different states. Now, living in the same house, I get to witness the person he is today and I am in awe of the man he has become. AND he is a fiber artist! Although our arts are different, having someone right here to bounce ideas back and forth is sooo fun! 
Our youngest son, came home from France at the end of summer for a month for visa requirements. And his bf flew over to meet us and visit for a week. I was so grateful for this time. It's so exciting to see the opportunities our youngest is grabbing up and the person he has chosen to share this time with! And his future is so bright! 

I also was able to go with my Heartbeat to EU for 3 weeks this year and spend my 56th birthday in Paris!! We had a blast and made plans for our next adventure. A 3-week trip definitely wouldn't have happened had my original plans for 2024 worked. Not to mention all the other little moments with friends and family that have happened all year long! I am very blessed, it's been a wonderful year.

Maybe things do happen for a reason.

And today, I am inspired to blog, after a year+ hiatus, as I am reflecting over 2024 while I stitch... realizing plans change all the time...!

I acquired a scrap stash some time ago. A quilter friend brought in boxes and boxes of fabric to the store as donations to the various groups we have. After all the bigger pieces had been scooped up by my co-workers for their groups, a lot of smaller scrap pieces were left. All these little pieces are treasures to me. I see so much potential in them. I couldn't resist bringing it all home...

However, I may be at a point of “use it or lose it” as I will most likely be doing my own de-stashing soon. So, I better use what I can before starting the de-stash.  Starting with this box that contains a lot of fabric strips that range from 3” - 1” wide. 

I’ve been wanting to piece a “stacked coins” quilt and decided that 1.5” strips are perfect for it.

I’ll admit it’s a big task. Every piece has to measured and sorted. Most strips aren't a perfect 1.5" width and must be trimmed. My box of scraps wasn’t disappearing very fast. The pile is actually getting bigger as I incorporated more strips from another box to add color.

As I was sorting, I realized I am trimming the stacked coins strips to 2.5” wide. I can add space, save time, and also use up the 2.5” strips in the box. Yes! (Plans changed #1) 

The quilt is growing. The 2.5" strips help calm the chaos of throwing every color in. However, it's still not pleasing to my senses. So, I turned it vertically and I am liking this a whole lot more. I think maybe the pattern is now "scrappy stripes" and not "Stacked Coins." (Plans changed #2) 
At this point, it measures about 54" x 20". Only about a third of the way to the size I want.  ... and I'm already getting inspiration for the next quilt...

Well, when inspiration hits, you just gotta go with it, right??
I saw a quilt on social media. It's simply half-square-triangles (hst) pieced together in a 4-patch and set on point. 
My plan with this was to use black prints for the backgrounds and red prints for the accent color. Except, when the cutting started, as long as it had red in the print, I used it. And ended up with cream color accents and even adding a tan print that didn't have any red in it. (Plans changed #3)
It's looking a bit chaotic...

I considered removing the blocks with lighter accent colors. However, this is meant to be a true Scrappy quilt! I was determined to make it work. 
Adding another accent color might do the trick - enters green. (Plans changed #4) and re-arrange the setting and placement (many many times).

Once again, I was running out of oomph - "how many more blocks do I have to make to get it to the size I want?!? This is going to take forever!" as I looked at the two projects sharing the design wall space. 
I may have despaired a little bit, "now I'm going to have two MORE unfinished projects."
I even may have lost sleep over it...

Then suddenly. In the wee hours of the morning, after rearranging the blocks one more time. My vision blurred just enough to merge the two together... "Yes! it might work!" 

The plans changed yet again... but now there's that spark of Whimsy excitement! Things are shaping up nicely. My photo doesn't show what my eyes see in person, nor the plans for the next step. I can hardly wait!

I am really liking this. But it's not finished yet and there may be another 5 changes before I feel it's done. And you know what? That's the way it goes sometimes. A person can plan things to the smallest detail, but it doesn't work out. There's no right or wrong. It's just not meant to be at this moment.
It's best to roll with it. Work with it. Enjoy the moments. Revel in the journey. Learn and absorb whatever lessons come from it. Let the plans change!

I will let my heart shine love. I will create with whimsy. I will simply love and understand that I am exactly where I'm supposed to be. 

Thanks for visiting and reading my update. I hope you enjoy your last month of 2024! I wish you peace and joy in the place you find yourself today.

(Edit to add: from the other side - my mom is doing great. At my last visit, I noticed she had more energy. She is getting more visits from her grandchildren and it seems to be replenishing her joy. Who knows if her joyful moments this year would have happened had things been the other way! Things work out the way they should! 🥰)

New obsession - creative outlet

Finally! I've had a Baby Lock Flare embroidery machine for over a year. I've really only used it to make small quilt labels for clients from the built in stitches. (And maybe only 5 labels over the last year.)

I purchased a couple of projects from Kimberbell that I made up. An in the hoop notebook cover and the Christmas Cheer that had just come out.

I made up the notebook covers. The instructions were easy to follow and it was quick work.  But you have to have the exact size note book, and I wasn't having luck finding them in the store here. I'd like to make more. I'll look online for the notebooks and I'll post pics if/when I get some more made up.

And the Christmas Cheer..... it hasn't been going so well. Because of complications with getting the machine updated when I first got it, I couldn't take the class at the store where I purchased the machine. They should have offered me a make-up class, but I wasn't going to push the issue. It threw a big damper on this project. To be honest, Christmas Cheer is too big of a project for a beginner to jump into. Even as a long time quilter, embroidery machine stitching is an entirely different category of stitching!! There is definitely a learning curve to be expected.

Recently, I had the honor of awarding a Quilt of Valor to a veteran who served in the United States Navy 1956 - 1960. The U.S. Sew of Carrollton QoV group has, in the past, ordered quilt labels from Spoonflower. I have either misplaced the last few we had or we are completely out. However, this gave me the opportunity to embroider a label.

I had to get trademark permission through Quilt of Valor to use the QoV label. It's a form on the QoVf.org website. Simply fax it or mail it to them. Then they emailed the digitized embroidery file that I needed for my machine. 

I purchased a lettering font from JuJu designs. And then used the free version of Embrilliance, 

a digitizing program. I was able to get letters much smaller than the built in fonts on the machine. You can see on my test cloth. I didn't bother with trimming threads.

left side shows the built in fonts. The top right is the .25 lettering from JuJu Designs with some resizing in Embrilliance.

JuJu Designs was having a sale. I could either buy the one font file for $9.-- or I could get 8 files for $12!! I mean, two files would be $18. What better deal than buy 2, get 4 free?!!

I ordered 2 fonts, a witch's boots and hat applique pattern,  a sunflower embroidery, 2 quilting in the hoop designs, chicken sayings (maybe for kitchen towels), and free standing lace crosses. 

I think free standing lace is a success. I really enjoyed the magic of the water soluble stabilizer melting away to reveal the final lace.  Also, part of the fun was fitting as many pieces into a single hooping as I can. Stabilizer is necessary and it is pricey.

 For free standing lace, two layers of stabilizer is needed, I intend to use every inch of it that I can!!

The little bitty ornaments are from the Christmas Cheer project. I squeezed them into the corners. And that's when realized that I am a bit limited on thread colors at this point.

For free standing lace, it's better to have matching thread for the bobbin and the top threads.

that wasn't happening with my thread stash. Plus, I ran out of white bobbin thread!

This part hurts my heart a bit. I am a believer in supporting our local family owned shops. I am a feel-it-in-my-hand kind of shopper as well. I purchased 6 spools (matching each top 1500 yds with 1 bobbin) for about $50. The spools are good sized and are going to last for a lot of projects. But that's only 3 colors. I can't afford to purchase many this way.

And so I hit Amazon. It can't be helped! I can get a 40 color box in bobbin thread and a 63(!) color box in top thread for about $43 each! I mean.... just look at all these colors!!! The spools are only half the size of the ones above, but so many more colors! I can't feel a difference in quality. They seem to stitch up the same.

 

Ok, Now that I have thread... I had intended to make more crosses in many colors. However, I want to see what else this machine can do, right? I was discussing with my Heartbeat over dinner. Telling him how limited I feel. I have to purchase patterns and can only make what is in the pattern. There is freedom to borrow elements from a pattern and stitch it on a different item. But if I want something that is a 2" circle size, I have to search the different designers to find something I might like. It's a hit and miss process, really. and more time consuming than I can do.

The machine dealer has digitizing programs... $300+. I don't even know if it's something I'd continue working with to justify getting one of these.

Well, he did some research while I was at work. What he found was Inkscape/Ink Stitch. And it's FREE!!  In just a few minutes he even designed something I could stitch up. That really hooked me! 

Now I'm learning how to digitize my own ideas!

I have a long way to go. It takes time. I'm not so familiar with computers and programs anymore. I have to watch video tutorials on slow and repeat. And of course,  I tried jumping into advanced patterns first.  Two quilt blocks so far. The one with the star is fairly simple applique with raw edges and quilting. The block under the needle is a curved pieced in the hoop applique.  I was trying to get the curvy edges to be covered with a satin stitch. My file didn't do it, so next is to figure out what/where I missed a command.

This is really amazing. I've been needing creative freedom. I feel almost unlimited. (now I'm limited by the size of my hoop. Largest stitching space i have is  6.25" x 10.25". But there's still plenty of room to grow in this area!)

Thank you for coming by and reading what I'm stitching up. I wish you happy stitching too, if that's what you do. I wish you happy creating if it's something else that you enjoy! See you soon!!

Use Your Stash Club - January 2023

Here are some photos from the January Use Your Stash workshop!

It was a full house, but we could've comfortably had 2 more participants on the tables behind me taking this photo.

Reenee was working on her 9-patch quilt from a class I taught last year.

And Pat was working on putting borders on a sample she had made for the store.

While I was going around getting a few photos, Dee was showing off her colorful socks.

I think she color coordinated her socks to her quilt blocks!

Christine experimented with Michelle McKillops sew and flip method, my fabric saver method, and came up with her own unique speed construction. 

She was testing layouts in no time.

And even went home with a couple rows sewn together!!

Shaune had a really good start too. Love the retro colors.

Kim went with red, white, and blues!

I can't wait to see the final layout.

Sarah came in a bit later. We sorted through the stash pieces she brought in and came up with a plan. She had enough time to complete two blocks. This is going to be beautiful with pinks and reds.

I definitely didn't get enough photos!!

We have planned a UFO challenge for February. Everyone brought in a project they want to finish. If they bring it in complete in February they will be entered in a drawing for a prize.

Also, if they complete their Magic Carpet quilt top by the March workshop, we will have another drawing for a prize. I'm so excited!! Thank you, quilters for your enthusiasm 💖! 

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The original pattern comes from Michelle Mckillop's instagram pictorial Magic Carpet .

The following is my fabric saving method using an Easy Angle 6" ruler.

CUTTING:

I marked my ruler with masking tape so I can easily find the lines I want to line up along the edges of the 5" square.

the 1" line on the bottom, the 3" line on the right, and the 6" line on the top.

Trim the right corner on the diagonal.

Trim the opposite corner in the same manner.

Save these triangles that are trimmed off for a different project.

Cut 1" strips for the accent strip.

I do cut these for ease of piecing by lining up the 3.5" marks on a regular ruler along the long side of the trapezoid shape. These pieces are a bit oversized and will need to be trimmed after pieced. 

For the corner triangles, I used the Easy Angle ruler and a 2.5" fabric strip.

Line the ruler so that the blacked out corner hangs over the fabric and not on it, the 2.5" line is on the opposite edge of the strip. Trim the triangle, then rotate the ruler to cut the next triangle. Again, notice the placement of the blacked out corner (that is the dog-ear that we usually trim off after piecing.)

PIECING:

Place an accent strip on the main fabric on diagonal edges so that there is an even amount of overhang on each side.

Stitch with a scant 1/4” seam. Press to the accent piece.

Trim the excess from the sides, squaring up to 5" again. (I apologize for the blurry photos. They look clearer on my phone!)

Now you have a choice of leaving the accent piece as it is and sewing the corner to complete the square. This option might give a varied accent strip for a more organic flow. The 2.5" triangle will be a bit oversized and you will have to trim to a 5" square. I didn't do this so I don't have pictures. But I wanted to mention it and you can decide whether or not to do the trimming in the next step.

To keep the accent strip size consistent, here's how to trim the width using the Easy Angle ruler.

Again I stuck a masking tape with an arrow, this time to the 3.5" line. Trim the diagonal edge.

Now complete the square by sewing the corner triangles on.

With right sides together, line up the diagonal edges and the blunt corner to a side. The other side will be overhanging.

The final step is to check that you have a 5" square. 

It will be very close to exactly 5" square. Trim the dog-ears.

let me know if you have any questions!

Thanks for stopping by!

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