A lot of Debbie Mumm and some misbehaving cross stitch on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - so how was your week?  I don't know why I start every week thinking "oh it's not too busy"... and then it is very busy... all I can surmise is that I lie to myself... a lot... LOL  Last week had me out of the house to attend to an appointment or a lunch or a dinner or taking someone  somewhere every single day. Usually Saturday and Sundays are calmer but as soon as I'm done writing this (on Saturday) I'm off to a birthday party for my older son... he's 41 today... and I'm 31 years older than that... sheesh. 

Anyway all that running around was tiring... so when I did get back to my comfy stitching chair not much happened... and my fatigue was both physical and mental... don't know how many of you followed Scott Adams... he first came to prominence as the creator of the Dilbert cartoon... and later developed as a best selling author of many books that offered a new way to look at one's life. I've been watching his podcast every day since Covid... 10 am sharp with a simultaneous sip ...he always provided a new view of the happenings in the world. Last May he was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. He tried several different treatments but passed away last Tuesday morning... he continued to post a video podcast every day... right up to the day he died. Although I never met him in person I felt he was  a good friend... I spent hours and hours listening to his podcasts and I've read several of his books. Right now I'm re-read "Reframe your Brain: The User Interface for Happiness and Success". Chapter 3 is particularly pertinent at this time as it deals with mental health reframes... and this one hits home:

Usual frame: Death is a tragedy. Death is the end of this person.

Reframe: The deceased has no more problems and energy can change form but it never disappears.

There's a lot to think about there... and I did a lot of thinking about it this week.

Switching gears... I am so happy that I got out my snowman decor... so much Debbie Mumm and Prairie Schooler stuff  which always makes me feel good. Starting off with the quilt on the wall...

this is my version of the Suburbs quilt by Cluck Cluck Sew ....  I call my quilt Mummvile and every house is different and every fabric is a Debbie Mumm ... it was so fun to pick out the perfect door for each house... and I love the panto that Delinda used... it's called West Wind as I recall... 

and the tier tray has the Snow Day chart from Prairie Schooler No. 177 January and lots of Debbie Mumm figurines ...

and it sits on top of another Debbie Mumm quilt... don't remember where I found that snowflake block pattern but the quilt is approaching vintage as I machine quilted it myself...and I haven't any machine quilted anything bigger than a table runner in over 10 years... 

and on the other end is a Debbie Mumm snowman cookie jar atop a stack of quilts all done in Debbie Mumm fabrics...

and there's a laundry cart full of quilts all made with Debbie Mumm fabrics ... okay there is one in there that isn't a Debbie Mumm but I needed it to fill the cart... 

On my dining table I have a tray of Prairie Schooler Snowmen sitting atop a table runner made with Debbie Mumm fabrics... 

and by now you can see how smitten I am and always have been with Debbie Mumm stuff... she was the first designer I ever fan girled ... and I have tons of her fabrics and I have a bunch of the plates she designed... and some teapots ... and knickknacks and I'm up to 4 of her cookie jars... eBay is a blessing and a curse as I can find stuff there that I wished I bought when they first came out... got in trouble this month with 2 "new" to me cookie jars... one was in the original box and in pristine shape the other came cracked with a chunk of out it and I'm still dealing with the seller... this guy put the cookie jar in a box he gerry-rigged together with packing tape... the only padding he put around the jar was a brown paper bag... that's it... no bubble wrap, no packing peanuts ... just a single brown paper bag... and when the package arrived it appeared that something had been dropped on it...so far the only suggestion for a remedy to this situation is to send back the cookie jar... but I'm suppose to package it so it arrives in the same shape I got it... which would require me to go get some bubble wrap or packing peanuts and a solid shipping box... which would take time and energy along with some cash that I don't want to expend... I countered with give me half of my payment back and we'll call it done... the breakage is in the back of the piece so I can still use it as a decoration but not a cookie jar... he's ignored me for a couple of days so it is time to poke him again. 

Anyway... I didn't get a lot of stitching done this week as I was tired and a bit down...and then my Alpha-bits piece misbehaved... I had finished the letter M last week ...halfway done... and the letter N was fine but starting with the letter O the wheels fell off... first I had a heck of a time getting the stitch count right on the letter it's symmetrical but I couldn't seem to make it symmetrical... and then I got completely annoyed with the Rhodes Hearts that are charted under the letter O... I got the first one correct but after a few, a couple. several ...no lots of tries I could not get the next heart stitched correctly or in the right place... grrrrr....

At this juncture I decided this piece is like a timed multiple choice test... and you have to move on when you don't know the answer.. 

the P went fine which gave me false hope that I was back on track.. the Q...  it isn't symmetrical and I couldn't get it to meet up ... took 5 tries, arghhh... and then there was that rather simple looking back stitched motif...  I know it is hard to see... there are 5 of them... and on closer inspection 3 have an error in them... grrrrr again... I'll go back and fix them when I'm in a better mood... moved onto the R...  good thing is I still have time to finish this... today is only the 18th... 13 days left in January and 8 letters left...

Right now I think I may replace those Rhodes hearts with some shell/mother of pearl buttons I have that are heart shaped...gotta find where I put them... 

So I put the Alpha-bit piece in time out and started a new project... this is January Prairie Schooler No. 177... 

years ago I collected every one of the Prairie Schooler months charts and wanted to stitch ALL of them... so far I've done July and November and March ... I started April but I'm not liking the linen I chose so I need to start it over some day. Here, I'm using 32 ct Opalescent Wichelt ... sparkly like snow...

not a big start but any stitch is one more than I had before... and it was a nice well behaving piece of stitching.

Now I am not going to say that next week looks calm ... cause it doesn't... it looks busy busy busy... I have 2 appointments on Monday, one to work out and another to see a surgeon about my knee... it is now bone on bone... replacement is going to be necessary and I want to do it this summer... Tuesday I taking Nick to meet a friend for lunch and afterwards I have Elliott, Wednesday my quilty lady friends are doing lunch and then coming back to my house and I'm taking a family member to dinner that evening... Thursday I have my monthly haircut and color appointment and I'm not missing that ... and Friday I'm going up to see Delinda and pick up a quilt and hopefully have something to drop off... I found all the blocks from a quilt I started last year... I packed them away with each row pinned together and labelled a color picture of what the layout was... I have no recollection of putting it away like this but I'm sure glad I did as it is an indication that there's a lot of stuff I don't remember what I planned to do with them... LOL

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today ... I hope to have a quiet day to recharge before the week kicks into high gear...I hope that your week ahead is only as busy as you want it to be!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

A bit of snowy decor on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - well it took alllllll day last Sunday... but I got the Christmas stuff put away... I'd work a little and then sit down for a bit... work a bit more... ice my knees... put some more stuff in bins... sit down and doze off ... get up and pack up more stuff... sit down again and realize I'm getting too old for this ... I'm definitely going to have to attend to my knees this year.... even a double dose of naproxen wasn't enough... I'm sooooo not looking forward to a knee replacement (maybe even both... sigh)... but I don't know how much more of I want to put up with. And I hate that it will mean that I won't be able to watch Elliott for a while... not sure when would be the best time to do this... probably during Summer vacation ... he gets out of school at the end of May. And the weather is nicer so I wouldn't have to be as concerned about getting to physical therapy...  I know who I'd like to do the surgery... he's been recommended by 3 people... 2 who had both of their knees replaced ... and a friend who is a surgical closer who works with lots of ortho guys and she highly recommended him. So tomorrow I'll  talk  with the ortho person I see (she doesn't do surgery) and get the ball rolling. 

After the Christmas stuff got put away Nick brought out the snowman stuff... it took me Monday and Tuesday to get it all put out... now I operated much the way I did on Sunday... do a little, rest a little, do a little, rest a little... but I didn't do it all day either day... didn't feel real good either Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday... not just my knees but some digestive issues... Friday had me finally feeling "normal"... I'm glad the decorating is done for a while... 1st day of Spring isn't till March 20 and Easter is April 5... I'll be wanting to see my Spring stuff by then... right now I'm spending way too much time looking at seed catalogs and dahlia tubers and pining for Spring... boy are dahlia tubers pricey this year... I looked back on this blog and last year I got a bag of 8 at Costco for $14... that's  a steal... I assume they will go up again but hopefully not as much as the online nurseries... I think I'll hold off on ordering online until I see what I can pick up at Costco. Last year I was able to find them at the end of February... 

Anyway where was I?  Oh snowman decorations... here's some of what I did... the sunroom porch...the view from my chair...

this was the first spot I did as the weather until Saturday has been wonderful... I was able to sit out there and enjoy the sun several days... we had temps in the mid 60's... in January!!! Not typical but so nice... it will be more "seasonal" this week... 10 day forecast has lots of days with high's only in the 30's... brrr... but no snow... so I'll take that...LOL...like I have a choice...sheesh...

Up top I have Snow Day  by WTN&T... this is old... I stitched it in 2012 and didn't get it framed until 2018...talk about procrastination... I couldn't find this anywhere but eBay and they wanted $65 for the chart... wow!  I'm not sure if I still have a copy of the pattern... probably not... back then I didn't think about saving patterns once they were stitched... I had no idea they'd become OOP and people would pay big bucks for them... live and learn...

middle and bottom... lots of snowmen and snow stuff and a cute house from Melisa of Pinkernpunkin Quilting... this was called Aunt Dot's Saltbox... she stitched it in pink but you know I have a thing for yellow houses... I'd love to add another wintery house to this display  and her Winter Saltbox would be a great one to stitch... and I'd change the house from blue to yellow, naturally... I love the addition of a snowman and the cardinals on these pieces... gotta get some 16 ct Aida painted....

Oh and I put some knickknacks on the window ledge on the sunroom porch... love those little felt birds... and I'm not sure why I haven't put more stuff on this ledge... I want all the decorating space I can get!!

Inside I've got my tier table full of little Hallmark snowmen... all the ones on top are from the Mitford series... got these back in 1999-2003 when they first came out... 

In the middle  of TV cabinet I have a little display of primarily Prairie Schoolers and one snowman (the one in the star) from Teresa Kogut... 

and up top on the TV cabinet ... this snowman is one Nick found for me in a thrift shop... so cute ... and the little sampler is ABC Bonhomme De Neige...

As for crafty productivity... I concentrated on the Alpha-bits Blessing Sampler and I've made great progress...this is where I was on Saturday... half way finished!

It is a nice piece to work on ... the letters are easy to stitch and then the dividing decorative bands make you pay attention... some stitches are definitely easier than others ... I want this done ASAP as I have a burning desire to stitch something "snowy"... either a snowman or a house ... now if I actually FFO'd any of the stuff I showed last week I'd have some new snowy stuff to add ... but I didn't have the energy to work on them... maybe this week... maybe...

I have a full Monday, work out early (early for me...LOL) with Anna, then an appointment with ortho, and dinner with friends. Tuesday is my day to pick up Elliott from school and spend time with him till his parents get home. Wednesday I usually take a certain family member to lunch or dinner. Thursday Nick has a dental appointment. Friday there's nothing so far. Saturday is Chris' 41th birthday... we will celebrate sometime this weekend. I already have his gift ... the newest big Lego house... he teases that he's 40 and his mommy still buys him Legoes... and I do!

I'm hoping that on Monday I can get a cortisone shot in my right knee... and see if I want to sign up to get another PRP shot in my left knee... I got some relief last time but not 6 months worth... and the other night I somehow managed to injure myself while sitting in my recliner... what?? I moved the wrong way and something got pinched inside my knee and boy did it hurt... sheesh...

I hope your upcoming week is a good one... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... Nick is making dinner for us so my plans are for some stitching and taking it easy... 

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Wandering around on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - well it has been another week where I'm not sure what day it is... or what I should be doing...but I muddled through. Stayed home on NYE as I've done for years and years...   and  2026 was ushered in by a ton of fireworks from my neighbors... as I anticipated... somehow he had some left over and fired more off on January 2 too... nothing I can do about it as they made fireworks legal in Ohio a year or so ago. 

I did fulfill my New Year's Day routine to the letter... I started with knitting a little after midnight... then after the fireworks concluded I went to bed... woke up and did some online work puzzle games... I love the Spelling Bee in the NY Times... started my Blessings Sampler. (more on that below) .. went out to a nice lunch... came home and sewed for a while... my older son stopped by for a bit ... and then I took a little nap... spent the evening knitting and stitching and watching videos on my laptop... it was a very very enjoyable day... the kind of day I'd like to repeat over and over and over and over and over and you get the idea.

So before New Year's I got a bit weary with knitting and picked back up some cross stitch. I went to look through the bag that has SNOWMEN in it and found that I had started 3 little pieces from the Prairie Schooler No.143  Button Up... one was complete... one needed just few stitches ...and the third was barely started... but I got all 3 done!

Snowman...

Cardinal...

And my favorite... Snow Angel... it reminds me of Elliott the last time we got snow...

Now to FFO them and some other little snowmen pieces I found in that bag... and perhaps I might even stitch a new snowman this season... it would also help if I got out my snowmen... but alas the motivation to put Christmas away has not yet materialized... maybe today... tomorrow... Wednesday... it will happen... I looked back at my displays in January/February last year and I do LOVE LOVE LOVE my snowmen stuff. Snowmen were my first foray into collecting stuff as an adult. It started when I was living in Modesto California... a place that doesn't really have cold... okay one year when I was there it did get below freezing for a couple of days... people went nuts... lots of outdoor sprinkler systems froze, burst and ended up icing all of the landscaping in the yards. I lived in a neighborhood of newer homes, built on a slab with the PVC plumbing coming straight up out of the ground and into the house. Being from the Midwest we realized these pipes would freeze and burst so we placed a cardboard box over them with a mechanic's utility light over the pipes and  we kept the faucet dripping in the kitchen as that sink was on an outside wall... ours was the only house in the neighborhood that didn't freeze. For days there was no PVC pipe to be found in all of Modesto... anyway... where did I wander off too ... oh yeah the lack of cold had me homesick for the Midwest and I started collecting snowmen.

As planned, I started stitching on my Blessing Sampler for 2026 Alpha-bits ... I painted the 32 ct linen with Apple Green and Aquamarine Rit Dyes... here's a look at the painted linen... this piece is 42" long...

 and decided to use DMC 501 as the floss... the color is appropriately called Dark Blue Green ... here's where I am on Saturday as I typed this...

I'm using 2 strands for the letters but some of the decorative stitches I'm doing with one strand if there is a lot of thread involved... like the Double Leviathan stitches under the C... now I know this chart was done in 2004... and that technology has improved... but if you stitch this be aware that the scale of the charts changes from page to page... in other words you couldn't make a working copy and paste them together, as they wouldn't line up. There are 3 letters to a page and when I moved from C to D I was going to paste a copy of the pages together... but the scale of the page with DEF is smaller than the scale of the page with ABC and I can already see that GHI is different scale than DEF... just a heads up.  Anyway I think this is going to be so pretty hanging out on my sunroom porch... there is this narrow little space beside the door that will be the perfect spot and it will pick up the turquoise blues and apple greens I have out there. 

As for knitting I got this pair done...

and I did start a pink pair...

this is coming out kinda Fair Isle ... I didn't expect that... and I'm not sure I'm liking the color of that heel... need to dig through my bin of solid colored yarns and see if I find something I like better...

As for sewing, I got a nice amount of those Momo hexagons sewn together... 

I've gone back and forth as to whether this should be a throw ... or a bed size quilt... or a throw... right now I'm leaning towards throw... need to get the hexagons on the design wall and see how big it is. 

I also played with some charm packs I had... now these are Chez Moi by Sentimental Studios.. and it is old... I'm thinking it came out in like 2009... anyway I found 4 of these charm packs on eBay ...

and why is it that fabric that is OOP is so alluring ... this happens to me with regularity... when the fabric is easy to obtain, I like it, and think I'll get that soon... but then some other shiny object comes along and I forget ... and by the time I do remember it is no longer available anywhere but eBay or Etsy and it costs way more... sigh... I think there might be some genetic cause of this as both my son and my grandson have fallen victim to this behavior. My son has spent the last year scouring eBay for Lego Mixels for Elliott... Elliott discovered them through old YouTube videos... they were only produced from 2014 to 2016...5 years before Elliott was born. There are 81 of the little Mixel creatures and as of Christmas Elliott is now the ecstatic owner of ALL 81... and now it appears that he's gotten into Lego Bionicles... a collection that was started in 2001 and ran through 2016... I foresee my son spending more time on eBay...  

ooops...where was I... wandered off again...Oh... I want to make something out of the stuff I already own... and I found some Grunge in my stash that has the taupe-y brown splotches along with a smudge of pink... but I only have 2 yards... 

so while I wanted to make those center parts into stars I don't have enough to do that ... and do the sashing strips and do a bit of a border ... so they will just be plain squares... 

The plan is to make 16 blocks... and boy did it take a long time to get to my point... lots of wandering off today... 

I tried to figure out how many quilts I completed last year... and it depends on your definition of completed... several were finished except for the binding ...which took a year (or more) for several of them... I think  I sewed about 7 quilts and I "finished up with the binding" on another 6... an okay year... I'll chalk it up to not being able to sew at the beginning of the year because of my fractured knee ... and a general quilting malaise the rest of the year.  I'm definitely seeing a pattern where cross stitching and knitting are occupying more of my attention than quilting... and that is okay. 

Next year I'd like to make one, maybe 3 patriotic quilt for the 250th anniversary of the United States... I have a FQ bundle of Lori Holt's Americana collection that I want to use for a bed size quilt and a layer cake of Americana that I want to do this star block using these papers...

Here's a link to a video showing how you use these... you stack up the fabrics, cut them according to the paper and then shuffle them so each star will be different... sounds like fun, and that one is going to be a throw size... Like my cross stitch I'd like to finish up some stuff I started in previous years... the Dorothy quilt with the Momo fabrics... and the Fresh As a Daisy quilt with the American Jane fabrics... and perhaps a really scrappy quilt... I haven't done one like that in a while... one where I end up pulling tons of fabrics off the shelves and out of the bins and then only cutting a small piece off...sigh... and there will be a Christmas quilt or two as I do every year. I never got around to doing one with the Fancy That Design House  Old World Yuletide  collection and I definitely want to make a quilt with these fabrics... and go back and finish up the Cathe Holden hexagon Christmas tree quilt... I know I won't run out of things I want to make... just time and motivation... it is what it is...

So first full week of 2026... starting off with taking a family member to a doctor's appointment on Monday, Elliott is back to school on Tuesday so I'll go pick him up... working out on Monday and Wednesday... dinner with a friend on Thursday... lunch with another friend on Friday...at the moment the following week looks a little calmer and we will be celebrating my older son's 41th birthday in the middle of the month... times flies swiftly, doesn't it?

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts... might be able to sit out on the sunroom porch for a while if I crank up the space heater... temperature is going to be back up into the 50's this week... woo hoo... I know we will probably pay for this in February or March but I'm happy sitting out in the sun... hope your 2026 is off to a great start!!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Contemplating stitching for 2026 on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - I hope you had a great Christmas! Mine was very nice... spent the day with family and ate waaaaay too many appetizers and sweets... lots and lots of sweets...sugared pecans, iced cookies, fudge, cinnamon rolls, toffee... and speaking of toffee, I was gifted a box of Flaherty's Irish Top Of the Evening Dark Chocolate Toffee... OMG... that stuff should come with a black box warning about how addictive it is!!!  The only thing that has kept me from not ordering another box is that they are sold out... here's a link to their website... glad I went and got that fasting blood test earlier in the week...LOL 

The weather has been decidedly NOT Christmasy ...we've had almost a week of days with temperatures in the upper 60's and the forecast for today is 70....what??? I'm not complaining... it reminds me of the Christmases I spent in California... I'd be fine if it stayed like this, but Mother Nature is returning from her Christmas break and by Tuesday the high will only be in the 20s. Not seeing any snow in the 10 day forecast so that's a good thing.  Nick and I are going to put away the Christmas inflatables today while it is nice. I have a big snowman I might put up where Henrietta the 8 ft. chicken was...

 So now it is that time of year when I need my phone to tell me what day of the week it is... and where I contemplated what I did in 2025... what I  got started  (turns out there were a lot of starts), what I finished (an okay amount), and what I want to do next year ( more than I will get done...LOL). 

I'm looking ahead to 2026... I don't make New Year's resolutions but I do try to make a little list of projects I would like to get around to... nothing set in stone ... and definitely subject to change... which if you've read this blog for any length of time you know I change my mind A LOT...LOL 

So let's start out with a Blessings Sampler for January 2026... at first I said I was going to do the Chilly Cardinals Sampler... 

I even picked up the DMC flosses for it at Hobby Lobby... and it is very cute and not a really big piece... but I changed my mind. I moved on,  thinking I'd do a patriotic sampler as I want some new pieces to display for the 250th birthday of the United States of America this July... and Scarlett House's Patriotic Alphabet seemed like a great choice as it is small ... only 79 x110 stitches... 

But I got thinking... and that always gets me into trouble... years ago Brenda of Brenda and the Serial Starter did a video showing all the beautiful samplers she had in her home... you can see that video here... and like everyone who saw it I just drooled over her collection. Brenda spoke the name of each sampler and the designer for every sampler she showed EXCEPT one... a long skinny piece tucked back in a little space that she had done years and years ago... if you watch the video you can see the sampler at the 29 minute mark... and of course THAT was the sampler that I wanted to stitch... but she didn't know anything about it and  I didn't know anything about it ... so how could I find it?  No name, no designer, no company, no nothing. I resigned myself that I would never be able to locate it and then one day out of the blue I was looking at a website that was selling a bunch of old charts from someone's stash and BAM!! there is was!!! It is called Alpha-bits by Wild Heart Designs and the price was a whopping $2!!! 

Well I immediately purchased it and I've thought about starting it several times but never got my butt in gear. It is 30 stitches wide and 585 stitches long so on 32 ct linen it will be 36.56" long...so it is a BIG BIG BIG piece....each letter is separated by a band of specialty stitches... I came to cross stitch from doing needlepoint and I LOVE all the specialty stitches so this is right up my alley...  this pic is a little better...

I ordered the Wichelt linen I like from 123Stitch and I'm going to paint it ... I'm thinking Rit Apple Green and Aquamarine ... not sure exactly what thread I'm going to use ... right now I'm contemplating 3 different ones... and my goal is to get this stitched before January 31... one letter  and one dividing band a day... here's an example of each decorative stitch diagramed...

it seems doable ( okay this may be the sugar high I'm on talking)..and having a deadline to meet should keep me motivated... fingers crossed...

Oh I googled the Alpha-Bits chart and I found it here ... for $18... which isn't a bad price as it is 12 pages  with the cover. 

I've done a Blessings Sampler for the last 2 years...  

In 2024 I stitched Prairie Schooler No. 64 The Christmas Alphabet...

In 2025 when I was laid up with a fractured knee I stitched Ninon by Jardin Prive...

I know I'm being ambitious with Alpha-Bits but I'm going for it!!  

As for the rest of the year, like last year and the year before that and the year before that, I'd like to go back and finish up some of the pieces I've started. There are 3 that stand out to me at the moment  and where they currently stand: 

1.  Summer Schoolhouse Lessons in Abecedarian by With Thy Needle and Thread... instead of individual little pillows as it was charted  I'm doing it as one long piece like that picture below. This pic does not show how gorgeous the linen is that I'm stitching on. I painted it myself and I just kept adding more and more colors as it didn't look anything like I thought it would  ... but it came out even better ... and there is no way on God's green earth that I can ever duplicate it... I might even consider this patriotic as that blank spot on the side of the blue house gets an American flag. 

2. Blackbird Designs Crowns & Shields ... I plan to stitch about 3/4th of the total design... this is a leftover from my "7 for my 70th birthday" debacle...

3.  American Sampler by Primrose Cottage... a nice new addition to my patriotic collection... can't wait to get down to the alphabet part!

Now I'm certain more "new to my stash" projects will show up, and there are plenty of other UFO's that are aging in their private little project bags. I'll NEVER run out of things to stitch... and that is a very good thing, isn't it? 

I looked back on my calendar and according to my list I finished 19 different cross stitch pieces... some tiny and some quite substantial... I also realized I started a lot of charts but I'm not going to figure out how many...it is what it is. What I also need to do is get several of these completed pieces to the framer... that's a nice goal for 2026. 

While making these cross stitch plans I did a bit more knitting ... the last 2 weeks have had a lot of sitting around waiting for others to get appointments completed... I finished this pair and gave them away as a Christmas gift...

And I finished this sock... and I have its mate pretty far along... another one where I'm alternating 2 different Opal yarns... 

 have a hankering to start another pair where I alternate 2 different yarns with a pink color palette.. because what I really need in my life is more projects... that's sarcasm...LOL

This is the entire box of little mini Opal goodies that was in my Advent calendar... I'm happy with this purchase...now to wind them into little balls and knit some super scrappy socks with them... more projects!

By my calculations I should be able to knit about 4 pairs of scrappy socks out of this box... and I really liked how they labeled each one... 

I'm resting up today... I watched Elliott on Friday and I'll have him here tomorrow. His Mom and Dad are both playing catch up at their workplaces.  Nick has a doctor appointment on Tuesday. Probably take a certain family member to lunch on New Year's Eve and afterwards I will be safely tucked into my cozy house for the evening. An individual one street over always  provides fireworks, whether the rest of the neighborhood wants them or not.  I might even put in a few stitches on my Blessings Sampler project  as it will be a little while before he exhausts his supply of fireworks.  I've got my New Year's Day activities all planned out... I will spend it engaged in all the endeavors I want to pursue throughout the year... I will cross stitch a little, I will knit a little, I will spend a little time at my sewing machine, I will nap a little  and I will go out to eat... the kind of day I could repeat over and over and over and over!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts for the final time this year...  and I send you best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2026!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Reflections of Christmas on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - big sigh here... it has been a week... I've been dealing with a family member who has physical and mental medical issues and it has been exhausting... it has required a ton of my attention and left me sad and mad... getting old isn't easy and we all deal with it differently ... and then combine that with past drama and well... you can figure it out... as I write this on Saturday I'm sitting out on my sunroom porch with the space heater running and  I'm trying to take a little  break and steel myself for the upcoming Christmas week... I'm not sure what's going to happen, but I feel like something is going to happen and it will require more attention... again, big sigh.

So let's  move on and look at my big shelf display... even I am a bit surprised by how much I crammed into 5 shelves....here's an overall view...

from the top... the Quaker Noel Row from Bent Creek... I brighten this up a bit and it wasn't until about 3 years after I stitched it I realized there is No Letter L...No L... Noel... so clever...

below is my needlepoint creche scene I stitched in 1984... the designer was Polly Carbonari ... I used a bunch of decorative stitches, perle cotton and a little glitz...I think it has stood the test of time quite well... and I never had a moment's thought where it or I would be 41 years later.

This shelf has 2 Blackbird Designs  samplers... the one with the green background is Feliz Navidad which is Nick's favorite Christmas song and the one with the light background is Merry Christmas... more classic designs that are timeless...IMHO... 

and I have The Christmas Bird by With Thy Needle & Thread... I love that it is stitched on the cocoa colored linen.

Moving down from left to right... the little deer were a Prairie Schooler freebie  I found on Pinterest years ago...

and then there is an angel from Peppermint & Holly by WTN&T and  a Pineberry Lane lady from A Sprig of Holly in front of the The 12 Days of Christmas from Prairie Schooler...

and rounding out that shelf are the Angels PS No. 42... I like that I have some Christmas pieces stitched on turquoise backgrounds ... I like the little pop of color here and there... 

Next shelf has Oh Christmas Tree from All through the Night and Up on the Housetop PS No. 25 and another Pineberry Lane lady from Merry Littles. 

And last but not least is In Santa Claus Land by WTN&T keep a small stack of Christmas quilts company...

And speaking of Christmas quilts...nice segue, huh...LOL... I'm gifting this quilt... Fat Quarter Four Patch done in the Basic Grey collection Jolly Good to my son and daughter in law... 

Here's the whole layout before it got quilted...

And here's pic after I got it bound... Delinda of The T Shirt Quilt Company did the quilting...

And here is the panto ... I think it complements this quilt so well... 

and we aren't going to delve too deeply into the fact that this quilt has been waiting for a binding since this time last year... big sigh... 

A shout out to LindaKay who left a comment last week asking where the PS snippet pillow came from... I found it... Prairie Schooler No. 135... you can see it here... I took it out of the middle of the chart. 

So I think I'm ready for the festivities of the week... we will open presents with Elliott on Christmas Eve and then Santa visits his house Christmas morning with just Mom and Dad... as for Christmas Day his parents host an open house where everyone brings appetizers and sweets ... low key and relaxed... and we all need that, don't we?

I need to finish up the pillow case for Elliott... I was going to work on it Friday night but I was too pooped and I don't want to mess it up as the fabric I got is out of print now... space robots... right up his alley...and maybe then I'll sew a little for me... all the running around last week left very little time or energy for craftyness. I did cross stitch a bit, I picked back up the American Sampler by Primrose Cottage and I knitted another sock... lately knitting has been my comfort craftyness... pretty yarn paired with minimal mental attention required... hard to believe the year is almost over... next week will be a good time to look back and see what got accomplished... more than what I remember, but less than what I wanted... to be sure. 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... I'll bet there will be some pretty Christmas stuff there.

 A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to everyone who comes and reads my ramblings every week... I hope I entertain you a bit ... and I hope that the Christmas holidays bring you peace, love and joy!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

carol fun