Improvement & an abundance of sock yarn on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - well this will not be the 3rd week in a row that I open with whining and moaning... I have seen improvement this week with my knee... not totally pain free but much better... stopped taking the Tramadol as it made me sleepy and feel like a zombie...  and I'm only using Tylenol once or twice a day... and yesterday I walked 6000 steps!!! I think I'l  be able to do my 3 miles/7000 steps by the end of this week!!  And a less painful knee has improved my mental outlook and given me the motivation to put the Spring decor away (finally!!) and break out the red white and blue!!

Now I took my time... I spent a day just putting stuff away and then over a 2 day period I got all my patriotic stuff out... and here's a look at some of it. 

This is my favorite patriotic quilt... my own design... the background is all Ohio stars sorta joined together...don't remember where I found this eagle but he is handsome... all the fabrics are Debbie Mumm and this is so old I quilted it myself...in the ditch... it use to be wider and taller... I had to re-work it to fit into my smaller house so I took off the borders on the top and sides... and I've re-worked those leftover border pieces into table runners... oh so thrifty on my part...LOL (if you know me, you know "thrifty is not a quality I possess)... anyway I always love seeing this on the wall...

and the tier tray is decorated with the best patriotic houses from Melisa at Pinkernpunkinquilting... along with a teeny tiny Uncle Sam.

This is Freedom Saltbox...

This is Sarah Jane's 1776 Saltbox ... and she has more patriotic pretties on her blog and she generously give them away free... what a combination!

and this tiny Uncle Sam is from the Stitching with they Housewives chart called Proud to be an American...

On the back of the sofa I have one of my flag quilts (I'm up to 3 so far)... this one came from the book County Seat Quilts ....again all in Debbie Mumm fabrics... in fact ALL my patriotic quilts are in Debbie Mumm fabrics... I was a fan girl of hers from the very beginning... love her fabrics and her dishes and her knickknacks... they always make me HAPPY!!

I spent some time cruising eBay this week and was surprised how much Debbie Mumm merchandise I saw... and one piece kept calling to me and I decided it need to come to my house... it is this panel...

now back when this was first printed, I had oodles and oodles of Debbie fabric...in fact,  I bought yardage of this panel at a bargain price... and then I used it as a BACK!!  It is the back on the Eagle quilt on the wall!! But now I want to have the panel and hang it in my back hallway... and so I will... it should be here next week...

And I decorated the sunroom porch with patriotic stuff for the first time!  Not sure why I haven't done this before but I very happy I did it now...I did pick up a couple of new knickknacks for this display... I'll point them out...

It is looking quite nice, if I say so myself and I do!

Up top I have my latest FFO... Marcher of the Flag from Melisa at Pinkernpunkinquilting and  the other little lady waving a flag is from Chessie and Me, Lady Liberty... I substituted a chicken for the cat that was graphed... 

oh and the little statue of the gal waving a flag is a Debbie Mumm piece and...

 it is signed by Debbie...

 got it off of eBay a year or so ago... 

and the gal in the wagon is a snippet from Pineberry Lane Hurrah!... the wagon she's sitting in is a new knickknack I picked up at Michaels... 

Here is the bottom of the little shelf unit.... 

In the middle  I have my favorite patriotic shelf sitting, Lady Liberty, a purchase from Michaels a couple of years ago... and the little pillow is from Sew Emma's Patriotic TypeFACE ....

in retrospect I should have either changed the background color or stitched the words in a different color thread... it reads Lady Liberty -  Land of the Free -  Home of the Brave  - Red White and Blue... and that little bunting piece is a leftover from the Eagle quilt border... oh and the patriotic cow plate is a new addition... another Debbie Mumm purchase off of eBay... and I got a companion plate which is on the bottom shelf... 

who doesn't love a flag waving chicken??? and the cross stitch piece is Flag Maker  a freebie from Notforgotten Farm. 

I'm thoroughly enjoying this display from the comfort of my recliner out on the porch...

As for crafty stuff, remember when I said the 90 degree temperatures made me want to play with wool?  Well it has been upper 90's every single day this week and I've been knitting away... and shopping... how many times have I mentioned eBay so far?  I fell into it and the only way I could get out was to purchase stuff... and this time it was an abundance of sock yarn... 

I picked up these three vintage skeins of Opal Handgefarbt Pulloverwolle... manufactured circa 2010... 

They are hand dyed and they knit up with a pooling color pattern when you knit socks... like this pair I made back in 2013... 

I have high hopes that they will also pool nicely ... and if they don't I'll knit something else with them. 

And then I got this skein off of Amazon... 

and I paired it with this skein that was in my stash...

and I alternated the yarns every row and  this is how it turned out...

and I LOVE it!!  Now some people would have made changes so there wouldn't be that large swath of turquoise in the middle ... but not me... I really like it... kinda arty "negative" space... not sure that will happen when I knit the second sock but that will be okay too... my goal is to make as socks that are un-matchy ... each a unique creation...LOL... I'm crazy... but it's not the kind of crazy they can have you committed for... at least not at the moment... anyway I'm having a lot of fun knitting these as I have NO clue what it is going to look like till I get to the end. I decided to go with the lime-y green for the heels instead of  turquoise  which was my first choice... another "arty" decision on my part... 

Now this sock in all its glory is the sum total of my craftyness this week... I put a couple of stitches in that patriotic turkey but not enough to really matter. I felt like it took a couple of days to get the Tramadol out of my system and I was moving slow... and couple that with more social stuff than I anticipated ... which resulted in sitting and resting and knitting a mindless but colorful and intriguing sock...when I knit socks like this, alternating two stripe-y yarns it is like reading a book...you keep turning pages and  knitting rows cause you can't wait to see what is going to happen... I'll rewind one of these balls before I knit the next sock so there shouldn't be any repetition of pattern... another new story...LOL

I need to  dye/paint  some linen for the Primrose Cottage American Sampler I want to start on the 4th of July ... which is this coming Friday... where does the time go??? I got the fancy flosses for it and this will be my project for the SAL #america250sal on Instagram... 

Again... where does the time go?  The year is half over... someone I follow on IG who's birthday was June 25 gave her annual reminder that Christmas was exactly 6 months from that day... and in a blink of an eye it will be here ... next week is looking kinda open for me... Elliott is off with his parents to a reunion in Chicago for the week... Nick and I have plans to meet friends for dinner once or twice and I'll go work out with Anna... but no doctor or dentist appointments or unpleasant stuff... now I should take a day and either attack my messy garage or my messy storage room... but I'm not making any promises...and there is some work to be done in  the garden if the heat  breaks. We've got a forecast of a couple of rainy days and while I whined and moaned when it was such a  rainy rainy rainy Spring, right now I welcome any rain... I still have plenty to water... window boxes and pots... so even with the new sprinkler system I've been out in the yard for a considerable amount of time... and my water bill shows it... I never consider that everything I plant is gonna need water...lots of water... but they do... can't let them die after I paid for them and planted them, now can I?

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and see what pretties are posted over there... I hope you have a good week and a great 4th of July!  Fireworks are legal in Ohio now so there will be plenty going off in my neighborhood and I can usually see parts of different municipalities displays from my yard... no lack of red white and BOOM!  

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Unexpected and unhappy on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello ... well things did not go as expected last week....and like my last post, I'm going to start with the griping in hopes of ending on a brighter note.  

I went for my PRP shot on Wednesday... it took 4 tries to draw my blood for the procedure... I'm a hard stick, I know this and I try to hydrate as much as possible beforehand... which I did... but it didn't seem to help much. Veins kept rolling away... the PRP injection was like the many shots I've gotten before in my knee... not a problem.... but then things turned. I've never had any pain after a shot in my knee ... and it wasn't till I got this shot that anyone mentioned I could have pain afterwards... and I have had pain... quite a bit.  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and as I write this on Saturday.  I was told to take Tylenol which has little effect on me. I was given a prescription for Tramadol which I held off on till Friday and it has helped a bit, but hasn't totally relieved the pain and I've  had several incidents where the pain has spiked to a 9 out of 10. Spoke with the doctor and was told this could take up to a week to improve... sigh... it has curtailed my plans to get my Spring stuff put away and put out my patriotic stuff... I've only got a bit of it done and I want to get things finished before Elliott is here on Tuesday... fingers crossed that today will be more productive.

Since I haven't felt great, there's been lots of sitting in my recliner, nursing this knee and not motivated to do anything...  the Tramadol makes me sleepy so I don't have much to show today... got a bit more done on WTN&T Every Opening Flower...

Where I started from...

Where I am...

I do love this sampler!

And I stumbled upon this little piece from Needle Treasures Nook called Stars, Stripes and Feathers.

Don't think I've ever seen a patriotic turkey... but I do like turkeys and I thought he'd be a nice addition to the patriotic decor... just a small start... 

I'm using a piece of 32 ct  linen I found in my stash... it was labeled Petit Point Belfast Linen... I thought the polka dots were a fun background for a change.

I still have a bunch of other patriotic pieces I need to FFO, but I need to go to the basement to work on them and my knee does not like steps at the moment.

Friday was the first day of Summer and boom!  we jumped right into it... temperatures are soaring into the 90's... with humidity but no rain... and why is it when the temperature soars I have a sudden urge to play with wool yarn?... makes no sense... perhaps a subliminal desire for cooler weather? It is no secret that I  LOVE Fall most of all...  but I did finish this pair of socks...

I used 2 stripe-y Opal yarns ... I love how you get different patterns and you have no idea what it is going to look like until you've knit it... it is mindless and somehow exciting all at the same time... and yes I am easily amused... LOL

I did a little online shopping and this panel came in the mail... it is from the Sewing Seeds III collection from J. Wecker Frisch... I love vintage looking images...

I want to get some other prints from the collection and make a throw size quilt  out of this...  I saw some yardage here ... and this is my favorite block ... 

look in the bottom right hand corner... it says 134 & 136 Walnut Street, Cincinnati Ohio... I live in Cincinnati... I googled the address and if this is a reproduction of an advertisement for a business, it doesn't exist at that location anymore... 

I read where some people are planning on stitching 13 patriotic pieces between now and July 2026... great idea ... but I know me and there is no way that would occur... saw this meme the other day and it nicely sums up my life...

Okay that's all I got today... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts  and hopefully get something  productive or creative done today... 

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Small stuff on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - so how was your week?  For me it was one of those filled with small stuff ... only accomplished small stuff and was annoyed by small stuff... let me get the complaining out of the way so I can hopefully end this post on a positive note...

Mother Nature has annoyed me... first my pretty redbud tree lost about a third of its crown when this branch broke off... 

I thought maybe a deer pulled on it, but the young man who does my lawn work said he thinks the branch was too heavy for the trunk... he'll come and cut off the branch but the tree is going to look pretty wonky... which will annoy me... and this is the 4th tree I've had planted in this spot.. perhaps Mother Nature is trying to tell me something?  I'm obviously ignoring her... but I've decided if this tree dies... and it probably will ... I'm not putting a tree there... instead I'm going to have a flagpole installed. Several people in my neighborhood have free standing flag poles... and there is already electric out there with the landscape lighting so I could fly a flag all the time... I solution I could live with.

The day after the tree broke I looked out and the damn squirrels (who are cute but are really just rats in a nice fur coat) somehow got the baffle off of the bird feeder pole and were feasting ... Nick helped me reassemble  it and I put some super glue on the sections to make it harder for them to repeat this caper...and yet as I sit and type this there is a squirrel at the feeder... I'm trying to see how he got up there... arghhh... 

Also the deer are driving me nuts this year... so many plants that are supposedly "low deer browse" are tasty morsels... this was a coral bells/heuchera... I love that dark burgundy color ... it lasted about 3 days...

and they are eating the carp out of my limelight hydrangea tree... I'm spraying but with the on and off rain it isn't working... and to annoy me more there is rain in the forecast for most of this week... 

Okay... gonna take a deep breath and move on... I haven't yet found the motivation to get out my patriotic stuff... nor did I stitch any patriotic stuff ... but I did shop for patriotic stuff... these charts arrived this week... Patriotic Quaker and American Samplery both by Primrose Cottage...

carolinacajuncreates over on IG has shown some wonderful patriotic pieces and has suggested a SAL to celebrate the upcoming 250th birthday of the USA.. the hashtag is #america250sal ...  and it is the kind of SAL I can get into as it has a very looooong time frame...  this 4th of July and going till July 4th of 2026... and I'm thinking that American Sampler by Primrose Cottage would be a perfect piece ... I'm going to order the fancy flosses for this and I'm thinking a pale blue linen... I'll use Rit Evening Blue... would be a great  combination. In fact I actually stopped typing and went and ordered the flosses on 123Stitch... my favorite online cross stitch shop!

And I got this chart... I love the addition of the flowers under the flag... Flowers of Freedom II by Samplers and Primitives... 

I got this as I love red samplers but I've never stitched one... this one is a lovely reference book too...  Connected by the Red Thread by Soed Idee...

And I don't know how this one escaped me back when there was the Needlework Market but oh I love this... Quaker House Stocking & Sampler by Kathy Barrick...and I like how she already charted it to just be a long sampler...

I picked up the DMC for this... 

changed out the one light blue for a light teal and did 3371 instead of black and 3850 for a white... I love this palette... and this is another piece I want to dye some linen for... and I might add an alphabet on the bottom... 

And while I seriously thought about starting something new whilst  I was in my annoyance funk, instead I picked back up Every Opening Flower by With Thy Needle and Thread... this is one of those samplers that makes my heart happy! Here's where I was the last time I worked on this... that was back in April...

Here's where I am now...

Excuse the wrinkles ... I made some nice progress on this ...which is a good thing because then I saw THIS SAMPLER on IG... OH MY GOODNESS!!!!

It is called Stay True and this was the retreat piece at Amana and I  ABSOLUTELY MUST STITCH THIS!!  Now I'll have to wait a year or so till it is released which won't be easy... this sampler has EVERYTHING I love ... a great border, birds, flowers, an alphabet and that yellow brick house!!  I live in a yellow brick house... and I'd love to have a fully fenced yard and a little pond... and I can dream...LOL

I have plenty to keep me busy till this available but I will drop everything when I can get my hot little hands on it!!

Speaking of fenced yards... I'm loving the fence and as far as I can tell it is keeping the deer away... it is hard to describe but the fence protects the back side of the yard but it opens to the patio which can't be fenced... so instead I've got it barricaded off with plants ...

If you zoom in you can see the fence in the back and in the far right corner is where the roses are... I want to get something climb-y for that screen.  I've weighted it down with a rock and I can slide by and I think it is keeping the deer away... I did spray some deer repellant as a precaution and I got some blooms....

this is Cinco de Mayo... and it is lovely... the other bushes have lots of buds... and with all the rain they are getting plenty of water...now a good dose of sunshine would be helpful.

The dahlias that were in the ground are looking great and this is my first dahlia bloom of the year...

It is really tall... that window box is about 6 ft off the ground... after this first bunch of blooms I'll trim it back a bit. 

Well today is Father's Day and Nick and I will be going over to Chris house for a little celebration... next week looks quiet... just the normal stuff, dinner with friends, a workout with Anna ... and on Wednesday I'm scheduled for the PRP shot in my knee... fingers crossed and say a prayer that I get some relief from it... the last couple of weeks I'm doing a ton of icing and I've broke down and taken some sort of pain killer almost every day... I don't like doing that but I had to.

I'm hoping for a burst of energy and motivation here... not only do I want to get out the patriotic stuff but I also want to clean out my garage and the basement storage room... oh I and want to rearrange the fabric on the shelves... box up the brights I'm not using and put out the Grunge and Christmas and Halloween fabrics I do play with... I think it would be great if I had a personal assistant... I could give directions and they could execute my vision... and I'd be happy to pay someone to do this... wish I knew someone with say a high school kid who'd like to make a little cash... sigh

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today ... I hope that your week ahead is a good one... and that motivation and energy pay a visit to my house!!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Indecision, rumination and rain on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello .... how was your week?  Mine was filled with indecision and  on and off rain which combined for low productivity... I'd also like to blame it on my bum left knee which was bothersome all week... 10 more days till I can get the biologic shot... fingers crossed this will give me some relief... but I've given a lot of thought this week about knee replacement. It seems inevitable... and perhaps the beginning of 2026 would be a good time to do it.  I've been ruminating on the situation... as of August Elliott will be in 1st grade, full time school, and my babysitting will be curtailed. By November or so the garden will be cleaned out. It would be great to get the surgery and the rehab done and dusted by Spring... I'll have to see how this all plays out.

So I have very little to show you this week... well the fence project is complete... finally got the gate...

now I have no clue when they installed this. I know for a fact it wasn't there Tuesday ... and  it wasn't there Wednesday... at least I don't think it wasn't... but I went and worked out on Thursday morning at 10am and when I got back it was there!! My Ring doorbell didn't capture any movement (this is on the side of my house without a camera) so I assume they came into the yard out of range... but I am very happy to have this completed because... I went and got roses!! The last garden center I called, Burger Farms, told me on the phone they had David Austin roses... and they did, but they had a very limited amount of inventory... you could tell they had a lot more earlier in the season but I am happy with what I took home. 

This raised bed is the the very back corner of the yard...along with the gate I've blocked off access on the right side of this bed... there is still an entrance through the covered patio but so far I haven't seen any evidence of deer encroachment... and  I have an idea for blocking it if needed. Now 6 rose bushes is probably more than I should have planted in this space, so we'll see how this works out ... but right now they are making me very happy!

I wasn't able to get 6 David Austin roses, but I did get 2 and then I got 3 more that are English looking and one that was an unusual color that I loved.

I got Molineux which is yellow and Queen of Sweden which is a pale pink... and if you want to see more varieties here's their website.... 

My Queen of Sweden doesn't have any open blooms yet, but this is the Molineux...

I picked 3 roses of the Bloom- ables brand...Leonardo da Vinci which is a deep pink, Polka which is peachy and Cloud 10 which is white... Polka and Cloud 10 are climbers and I'm adding a trellis behind them.  If you want to see some more eye candy go check out their entire site... sooooo many pretty roses. 

Here are pics of my roses...

Leonardo...

Cloud 10...

Polka...

The last rose I picked is called Cinco de Mayo from Weeks Roses... the color is so hard to describe but the copy on the label agrees with me...it says "indescribable blooms of smoked lavender and rusty red- orange"...and the foliage on this one is a burgundy and green... very pretty..

My rose is full of buds but no blooms yet... check out the link above on the name ... the color is exquisite. 

Now I pick roses in the same way I pick fabrics... the color and the name influence me greatly... if there had been another yellow rose I would have bought it ... and how could I pass up a rose called Polka???

I got the roses planted on Monday and that evening I was over on YouTube and stumbled across this video...a tour of the David Austin garden... breath-taking... and I was intrigued that lots of the roses were in big pots... and while I don't have any more room in the raised beds I do have room for pots along the new fence wall... 

sooooooo I may try to get a couple more rose bushes.... and yes it is very good thing that my vices don't run to gambling and liquor and drugs... LOL...although those vices might be a less expensive than what I've spent on house and garden projects this year... yikes!

The cicadas right now are deafening... probably 3 more weeks till they are DEAD... then I can sit out on the patio.... or even pull a chair out into the sun... and admire my flowers... I can't wait... the fence and the gate add the privacy I've wanted for my yard... so happy with this addition to my home. 

As for crafty stuff... well I spent a lot of time with Annie Beez American Sampler House  and here's where I am now....

OMG that flag took forever and there is SO MUCH house!!!   I finally had to stitch on something else for a while and I went back to the Erica Michaels  God Bless America... that linen is more blue in real life... 

Remember when I started this one I said I was going to do the large version... and then after a bit of thought I said I was going to do the smaller version... well I ruminated while working on this piece and tried to decide if it done? Do  I make it into a little pillow? ...OR I put this away till next year and finish it then?... a I have a nice selection of patriotic pieces that need to be FFO...

The two spools are from Crafty Bluebonnet's Patriotic Spool Trio... and the cute flag bearer is from Pinker n Punkin Quilting...Marcher of the Flag...

Patriotic Tiny Town from Heart in Hand... 

On the left is a Threadwork Primitives Patriotic Pear and on the right is a strawberry from Prairie Schooler No. 100  American Strawberries. 

and the more I think about it (more ruminating) I think the Annie Beez piece is going on hiatus with the Erica Michaels piece and I'll pick them back up next year.  There is plenty of FFOing there to do....

If I get up the energy I'll start getting out my patriotic stuff this week... or maybe next week...and I'm still ruminating over starting another Prairie Schooler garden-y sampler... or maybe jumping ahead and working on something for Fall or Halloween... or God forbid, picking back up one of my many UFOs... just feeling a need for a change of scenery... Oh I talked myself out of the pricey OOP Blackbird Designs chart on eBay... spent some time with my BBD stash and found several other charts that are just as pretty and already paid for...  

No big plans for the upcoming week... Elliott on Tuesday... Nick has a dentist appointment on Wednesday and I have my hair appointment on Thursday... and that's enough running around for me at the moment... I'm in a stay at home mood, which should translate into getting more stuff done, but it hasn't. I'm content to sit in my recliner on the sunroom porch, watch the birds, cruise the internet and nap... I have the bulk of the garden planting done... I always end up adding some plants throughout the Summer but just one or two here or there that follow me home from the garden centers... I do need to clean out my garage... it is a mess... but the frequent rainy days have provided a nice excuse for not tackling this job yet. 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... it rained Friday night and Saturday night and is forecast to rain again today and Monday...and then we may get 3 dry days... sigh...lately we never get more than 3 or 4 dry days in a row... the rain is getting to me... so I may spend some time down in my sewing room... plenty to do there... or just veg out in my recliner on the sunroom porch and watch the rain... Hope the weather where you're at is pleasant and that you have a lovely week ahead!

happy stitching-

carol fun