Stuff I got into and other tangents on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello ... well the weather has been lovely here in SW Ohio... sunny, no humidity and temps in the upper 70's with a lovely breeze most days... cool nights so I've shut off the AC and opened all the windows... take that Duke Energy!!  Anytime I can deny them a penny it makes me happy!

The week started out making the blood pressure rise but things got better as the days passed. Remember I was annoyed that the waterworks company would only give me a window of 8 am to 4 pm?  So I was up with the chickens on Monday in case I got a an early call... and I waited and I waited and I waited and I waited some  more... and 4pm came and went with NO call and no repairman.  

On Tuesday morning I got up and after a cup of tea and my morning puzzles I was just about to call the waterworks company when my phone rang... a number I didn't recognize but I picked up (oh on Monday I picked up on several calls I didn't know thinking it might be the repairman... it wasn't ... but I was pestered to change my car insurance, I lied and said I didn't have a car... and someone wanted to buy my house, it ain't for sale... and there was a political robo call... grrrr)... ok back to the call on Tuesday morning... lo and behold it was the waterworks repairman... but it wasn't a "I'll be there in 20 minutes", no he was parked right outside my house. I informed him he was a day late and he told me he had just gotten the work order that morning.  He asked if he could come in and that the repair would take about 5 minutes. So, I'm still in my PJs but at this point I do not care... I let him in and it did only take about 5 minutes.  After he left I tried to leave a complaint with the waterworks company with little success. After being on hold for 15 minutes I left a voice message but no one has responded. I left a bad review online but I doubt it will get any more attention than the about 100 complaints that were already there. Bureaucracy at it's finest!!

So the rest of the week was an improvement... I spent a ton of time socializing... breakfast out with one group, dinner with another couple and another dinner with another couple... very enjoyable. On Friday I got my car detailed ... it looks so good and smells good.  My gift to me twice a year...

And speaking of gifts, well I've been quite generous to me this week. Along with the car detailing I broke down and purchase another sewing machine... another Juki like the one I have downstairs in my sewing room... now up to a couple of months ago I had a Juki upstairs in my craft room but it quit working... and while I do not need 2 Juki's, I WANTED another machine... and if you know me, you know what I want, I usually get.  My sainted Grandma pointed this out to me in my  early 30's when there was a house I wanted to buy but my spouse wasn't as keen on the idea... 24 hours later I got the house... I LOVED that house... it was a Tudor built in 1927... it was the grandest house I've ever owned... you can look at some pictures here from the last time it was for sale... the kitchen was completely remodeled from when I lived there... it's nice but when I lived there it had this beautiful hand painted tile that was original to the home... anyway, excuse the tangent... there are a couple here today... I'm happy with the new machine and it will let me sew a block or two here and there. I considered buying a Featherweight and a dear friend let me borrow one she has... but after I week I knew it was a cute little machine but not for me and the Juki is about the same price as what a Featherweight is going for these days.

As for sewing I got all the 4 patches sewn together for the Sandy Gervais Fall 4 patch...

now to get the rows sewn together.

And on the cross stitch scene I finished Harvest Tiny Town... I still need to add the buttons and the little charm and I know how I'm going to finish it... but that won't be till I get out the Thanksgiving decorations.

Since I finished something I started something new... another one of those adorable houses from Melisa at Pinker n Punkin Quilting.... this one is Turkey Creek Manor... here's pic of Melisa's version... and you can find all the details here in this post...

I LOVE that turkey on top of the house... the other day I looked out my front window and there was a HUGE hawk sitting on the roof of the house across the street... 

anyway here is my start... I changed the color of the house to make it a bit more on the yellow side (DMC 783 for this house )  and that has been my theme with these... this makes the 5th house I've stitched and I need one more to meet my goal of #pnpsixho)uses2024sal on IG... depending on how quickly I get this one done I might do another Thanksgiving themed one or a Christmas/ Winter one... there are plenty to chose from as Melisa is so talented and generous with her creations.

So last Sunday I decide to get out my bin of Opal sock yarn... and there is a LOT of it...

and as I pawed through the bin I decided there was a better way of organizing this stash... and it involved re-arranging a bunch of sock yarn I had on the first floor (we aren't going to talk about the other stash of yarn in the basement...NO we are NOT)...  I gathered all the solids together and didn't realize I had duplicates because they were in 2 different baskets...

and I'm tired of dragging the bin out of the closet... sooooooo I cleaned out the baskets in the living room bench and put all the Opal in there...

and I like this a lot... it is a better use of the baskets  and makes all the Opal more accessible... however I started this organzation project at 10 pm  and it took me about 2 hours to deal with the Opal and several other stashes of yarn. I found 3 or 4 shawls I've started with some lovely alpaca... need to work on them in the near future.

In the meantime I started two new socks... because starting is so much FUN! The first project is going to be the mate to this sock which I've looked at lots of time and admired but couldn't for the life of me remember which 2 Opal sock yarns I used. However, in sorting and rearranging I found 2 balls of yarn that turned out to be the ones I need for the 2nd sock...

And I like to have a "car sock" project... one I primarily knit on when I'm either waiting in the car or when I'm at lunch with friends... I found this yarn which has been in my stash for a long long long time... I'm pretty sure it is an Opal and I can't decide if it is a hand dyed or not...it came as 2 separate loosely wound cakes... I suppose it would result in 2 socks that are pretty identical in the end... either way it is knitting up really cool!!

It gives me aurora borealis vibes... and the other night we got a bit of a view of the aurora borealis here in Ohio... very very cool!

And I pulled out several skeins that I want to use for upcoming projects... I'm liking these kinda brown/beige skeins... I found some old Opal on eBay that is brown that would be great heels for a pair with these ...

And I'm in the mood for a scrappy purple sock...lots here to chose from...

On another tangent I picked up these two Christmas themed magazines the other day and I have really enjoyed reading them...

now magazines are certainly pricey these days, aren't they?  I'm a child of the 50's and I have always LOVED LOVED LOVED magazines and catalogs and luckily so did my Mom... I remember getting Woman's Day and Family Circle at the grocery store...and in the mail there was Redbook and McCalls... and as I got older I loved Seventeen  magazine, particularly the September issue which was always HUGE... and catalogs from Sears, JC Penneys, Spiegels, Montgomery Wards.  

In my 30's when I got into quilting and cross stitch there was Quilter's Newsletter Magazine and several others with names I can't remember but they all had something to do with "quilting and quilter"... and for cross stitch  Cross Stitch and Country Crafts was my favorite!!  Nowadays I don't have a subscription to a single magazine... I do pick up one now and again at the grocery  but most of the time I page through them and there isn't enough of interest to have me buy them... sigh... I realize that the internet has pretty much killed magazines... there is so much you can see just by googling... but there is still something special about the smell of the ink and the feel of turning pages... 

Okay... I think I'm all out of tangents ... for the moment... LOL... plans for next week include getting out my Halloween stuff. Nick brought up the bin with the knickknacks and a laundry basket of cross stitch pieces. I have Elliott for more time on Tuesday as he's on Fall break... I think we'll assemble a big Lego... and I have an hair appointment ... I really need  trim and my roots touched up... but there should be some quality time to sew and knit and stitch... yeah!!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and Quilting is More Fun than Housework... today is another lovely weather day, but starting tomorrow they are forecasting a 20 degree drop... a high of only 58 on Monday... works for me... gonna break out a turtleneck and wear some wool socks!! 

Hope your week ahead is happy and productive and perhaps has a tangent to two to go off on... 

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Gardening chitchat and a bit of crafty stuff on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - well it has been a busy week... got some things done but only a couple are really blogworthy... first off I have no complaints about the weather... it has been gorgeous here in SW Ohio... and that said my heart breaks for all of those affected by Hurricane Helene...  so much devastation.... and  it is obvious it will be years and years before many areas will recover, if ever. I've followed my usual routine in these situations... prayers and charitable donations... and I hope it makes some difference.  I'm always reminded of the words of Mother Teresa, "Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love."  I try to follow that philosophy.

So the nice weather had me parked out on the sunroom porch quite a bit... and I made a little progress on Heart in Hand Harvest Tiny Town...

now there is some error around that middle tree but I'm just soldiering on... 

And I've been into sock knitting lately... I finished this pair of socks...

I alternated 2 different highly patterned Opal yarns and I like how they turned out. The heels are a dark maroon color. 

And then I stumbled upon a pouch that had another pair of socks... I don't remember the name of the manufacturer.... it isn't Opal but the colors are pretty... and I was halfway done with the second sock and was able to  finish it off Saturday morning...

So now I can cast on a new pair of socks totally guilt free as I ignore the at least  half dozen pairs that are half done..... have a bunch of new Opal skeins I want to play with...

now I do not NEED any new sock yarn... but I sure LOVE new sock yarn.  I'm thinking I may do a purple pair.... or maybe a pink and yellow... to be determined.

I didn't get around to getting any of the Halloween decor out... and right now I may or may not do it... I'm very happy with the Fall stuff and I really like the Thanksgiving stuff... now I do have some cute Halloween stuff and a couple of smalls that I stitched last year and never FFO's... not sure how this will turn out but it will be okay no matter what I do. 

I did add some Fall decor to the phone niche in the hallway... the little pillow is from Blackbird Designs called Waiting for the Harvest... it was charted in all black but I added color and I made it more symmetrical.  The cute pumpkin scarecrow is from Postcard Pantry... I love their vintage looking pieces!

I got NO sewing done... but I did order some pretty backing fabric for the Sandy Gervais  4 patch quilt. Right now my plan is to finish that top by next week and that should be doable... 

And here's the gardening chitchat... as of typing this on Saturday Nick and I worked for about 90 minutes on Friday and probably 3 hours on Saturday and with Nick's help and the dump trailer from Dan we ha cleared out the beds in both the side and front yard... hallelujah!!

Here's the side yard...

Here's the front yard...

 And you can look here and to see a video  that show how much stuff was in the beds...it was a TON of stuff!  No exaggeration!

Here's is the dump trailer... and this is a thing of beauty right now. In cutting things down we didin't have to chop them up and shove them in those paper lawn waste bags which saved hour of so time and so much energy. I had Nick climb into the trailer several times and smoosh things down so we could get as much as possible in it. 

Not sure the exact length of this but it  is pretty BIG... here's how it looked when we filled it the first time...

That's a 5 or 6 foot ladder next to it for some scale... Dan's partner Evan came by and took it to the dump site and returned it about 2 hours later and we added a bunch more ... and the big portion of the work is DONE!!! I still need to go out and tidy up the beds and rake  the detritus out but that is gonna wait till Monday.  Saturday and Sunday the temps were low 80's ..probably the last 80 degree days this year... as of Monday a cold front is coming through and the next days the highs will only be in the low 70's... PERFECT weather in my book! I can't wait!!

Before Dan dropped off the dump trailer on Friday, I spent about an hour harvesting and saving marigold seeds.

This is a quart size bag and there are lots of different varieties of marigolds.  This year I just tossed down a bunch of these seeds and they took off... in fact they overwhelmed the little ones that come in a flat ... these got about 18" tall and were wild and I loved the look. Plan for next year is to forgo the ones that come in a flat and just direct sow seeds... and I'm thinking I may pass on cosmos and just go with more marigolds. The cosmos got way too tall ... the marigolds would be more medium tall ... and I think I'd like that look.

To prep for this endeavor I did go an get a cortisone shot in both of my knees on Tuesday and I will say so far I am feeling very good. I didn't take any naproxen until Saturday afternoon and I don't think I'll need it again for a while... it is a bit of a strain on my knees to stand and hack things to the ground... but I'm doing it without a lot of discomfort... and that's a win in my book!

One of my goals in cleaning out the beds was to hopefully find the glasses I lost a couple of months ago. One afternoon,  I was out there working and sweat was dripping off my face so I put my glasses on top of my head... and somewhere along the way they fell off my head. Now I tried to retrace my steps but there was no rhyme or reason as to how I was moving about .... but I'm happy to say I FOUND THEM!!!

Now they were a dirty mess but unscratched ... actually it was Nick that spotted them ... my fear was I would find them but only after I had stepped on them as they blended pretty well into the ground...they are cute and I had only had them a couple of days when I lost them... they were a spur of the moment purchase from Costco.. I get all my glasses there... the prices are great and they have some interesting frames but if you don't get them when you see them there is a chance they won't be there later.... 

So plans for the rest of this week.. I rescheduled the appointment for the waterworks company to come and inspect the meter... now it is on Monday... but I'm still annoyed as the only time frame they give you is 8am - 4pm with an "assurance" they'll call 30 minutes ahead of time... really ??? in this day and age??? how would anyone who works full time be able to do this?  You'd have to take a whole day off to accommodate them. Fingers crossed that they do come early so I don't sit around and wait for them all day and get more annoyed with each passing hour... grrrr... 

Tuesday is devoted to Elliott, Wednesday I'm doing breakfast with friends and a semi-annual doctor visit... got my bloodwork done...so HDL was high but that's the good cholesterol, right?   my A1C is up a bit too... and my glucose was just a tad about 100... so we shall see what they say... I know if I could lose a few pounds it would help but the older I get the more  firmly the fat is attached to me... it is happy with me and it doesn't want to depart...Thursday I'm taking Nick to hang out with a friend... pizza for lunch and then they want to go to a Halloween store and get some ice cream... it will be a nice outing... and Friday I'm having my car detailed... I treat myself to this about twice a year... I found a local company that comes and does all the work in your driveway... 2 to 3 young men in a van ... the bring their own water and electricity... and afterwards my car looks and smells so good. I'm not going to be hauling anymore flowers around till next Spring so it should stay clean for a while. 

Well, the days certainly seem to fly by... I'm always occupied with something but I do notice that everything takes a bit longer to accomplish... and I just have to be content with that, right? I never lack for something that entertains me... plenty of shiny stuff to play with...LOL

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today...and I think I'll veg a bit ... as of Saturday evening when I'm typing this and am POOPED!!  Every year at this time I wish I had planted a bit less, but the problem is I plant a little one day and a little another day and maybe a whole lot another day as the season goes on... and it looks so pretty... but it all needs to be cut down in a much shorter time span.  I tell myself to be a bit more restrained every season, but then if you know me, you know I never really pay close attention to what I said... sigh... and at this stage of life I doubt that is gonna change...

Hope your week ahead is productive...

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Up and down on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - well it was an up an down week for me... and I'm sure the same can be said of many of us, particularly those who've had to deal with Hurricane Helene... the pictures I've seen of the damage are heartbreaking. I follow a gal on IG... here's link to her ... she's an pediatric ER doctor who lives in the Tampa - St. Pete area... this is the 3rd time in 4 years her home has been flooded from the storm surge. I can't even imagine going through that 1 time much less 3... and therefore I will not complain about the small power outage I had... I'll mention it but I'm not complaining... it happened from about 6-12pm and we just went to bed early... we did get a LOT of rain...too late for my flowers but it should make it easier to get them out of the ground... which is on the agenda for later this week if my left knee lets me get up and down.  I have an appointment on Tuesday and I definitely need a shot of something... cortisone or gel... either one I just want some relief. 

As for things that were uplifting a joint birthday celebration... me and my dear friend Laurey (we're 10 days apart)  had us eating lunch at our favorite local spot and then going back to her house with the rest of the gang to eat this yummy cake! Oh those little brown lumps are acorns in case you didn't know...LOL

Turns out it has both buttercream and chocolate mousse in between 4 layers of chocolate cake... and it was DELICIOUS!!!

As for crafty stuff I finished the Primrose Cottage Autumn Quaker and I LOVE how it turned out...

I'm pretty sure the linen was dyed with Rit Marigold and I used Gentle Arts Autumn Leaves floss. I was surprised about  how much floss I used. It calls for 2 skeins and while I used parts of 2 leftover skeins and broke into a full one I needed every inch.  

Now I ordered this frame off of Amazon and it fits nicely ... its 6" square... but the color is all wrong... I'll need to paint this one... something a bit more "rusty". Okay in this pic it doesn't look bad but I don't like it IRL. 

And Autumn Quaker complete I reached for a new project and started Harvest Tiny Town by Heart in Hand.

I'm using the DMC conversion  and I dyed the linen with Rit Tan dye... got a slightly splooshy look which is what I wanted.... and I should have taken a pic of the linen all rolled out... next week...

As for sewing I've added a more to the Fall 4-patch project... I want to finish this in a week or so, as I'm hoping to see my long arm gal, Delinda and I want to have something to take to her. This is going to be 13 blocks wide and 17 blocks long... so approximately 52" x 68" ... a nice throw size and I have a couple of pieces of yardage on the shelves that should make a lovely back, so this will be an entirely FREE quilt!! Do NOT think deeply about that statement... as someone who has a degree in Economics I know there is no such thing as a free lunch or a free quilt but I will delude myself into thinking there is... cause it makes me HAPPY! 

One the decor scene I'll show my big display shelf unit... lots of the Fall decorations that I LOVE!! Which is clearly evidenced by the 5 sterlite bins Nick hauled upstairs for me... couldn't do it without him!

At the top I have Bent Creek's All in a Row... I think this may have been the first row design they did.  

Next we have Blackbird Designs Feast of Friendship... I stitched an alphabet into the cartouche at the bottom to make this fit my definition of a sampler... I want it to have an alphabet and a house, although in recent years I'm not as  adamant about the house part... guess I'm getting soft in my old age... sheesh

Moving down...

From left to right, we have the Autumn Alphabet by Lizzie Kate... I've done all 4 seasons of this and I still LOVE every single one!  My addition this year, the freebie  Bittersweet & Pumpkin by Pinker n Punkin Quilitng and  the little McCoy dish of smalls from Prairie Schooler #164 October...

and on the right side in the truck bed I have Jack from the Pineberry Lane pattern  Cats & Jack. 

On the shelf below I have Autumn Sampler by Barbara Ana with a plethora of pale pumpkins...

And Flower Pot Sampler by From the Heart Needleart... this one holds a memory... I stitched this during the time I had my wrist and hand in a cast... had to put it in a hoop on a stand but I was determined to find a way to stitch ... this one would be pretty in any colorway, wouldn't it?  And the little sampler  pillow is  Lizzie Kate  Autumn ABC's. 

 

Now I'd like to get out the Halloween stuff this week... but that is going to be dependent on the state of my knees and how much I can impose on Nick. Currently the plan is to clean out the garden beds at the end of the week and I can't do that without him... and I need him to tote the Halloween bins up and down the stairs so we shall see how this all progresses.  The plan is that the majority of the pumpkins stay in place and I change out the cross stitch... that plan has worked well in the last couple of years and if it ain't broke there's no need to fix it, right?

And I wanted to mention that last Saturday I attended a really fun school reunion... it was the 57th anniversary reunion of my grade school, St. Therese in Southgate, KY... there were 48 kids in the class... can you imagine 48 kids in one classroom these days?  In the first grade we were quite the wild bunch... we started out with Sister Esther but the poor thing only made it till Christmas when she was shuffled off to be the cook sister and Sister John replaced her.  The story was Sister Esther kinda had a nervous breakdown... in retrospect she was probably only in her late 20's and this was the first class she'd ever taught... they threw her in the deep end and well... it didn't work out, poor girl. 

Twenty - eight people from the class came to the reunion. Six members have passed away, so that was a pretty good turnout. We reminisced  about our favorite teacher... Sister Lawrence in the 8th grade was the one most mentioned... and without a doubt the one we all intensely disliked was Sister Ida in the 5th grade. She was tiny... under 5 ft tall, but oh my God, she was hell on wheels. I truly believe this woman was a psychopath with a hormonal condition in a Benedictine habit. She always had a bit of  facial hair issue and she would yell and whack you with a ruler without any warning. Her favorite way to torture us was to have us diagram these incredibly elaborate sentences for homework... and we would end up doing it over and over an over and over again as she determined it was not correctly diagrammed.  This went on for months until some of the parents put their foot down. One parent was an English teacher and she went and talked with Sister Ida and informed her of her errors.  To this day, I can diagram a sentence with all the participles and phrases but I'm not sure what use it ever had. 

And you may be asking why a 57th year reunion... as we've never had even one before...well the group that got together to arrange it decided that there was no better time than the present... and they were correct. Everyone there agreed we want to do it again... and a 60th year reunion is all ready in the works. 

Please excuse my tangent but I really did enjoy my trip down memory lane... and it turns out that as I was the shortest person in class 1st grade through high school... I am still the shortest person in the class. Nuns always lined you up by height and I always knew my spot...LOL

So plans for next week... like I mentioned cleaning out the garden beds and getting out the Halloween decor. Of course there will be a bit of cross stitching and some knitting (I'm into socks again) and some sewing.  I'm going to the ortho doc Tuesday morning and I'll have Elliott in the afternoon. Have a local organization coming to take away a chair I'm donating on Wednesday. Need to get a fasting blood test done and it looks like Thursday good for that. Friday my financial guy is coming for a semi-annual meeting and sometime during that day the local waterworks company is suppose to come and inspect the water meter... now this one has me annoyed as the only time frame they will give you is ANYTIME between 8 am and 4pm... WHAT the??? They will deign to call you 30 minutes prior to their arrival... grrrr... how would anyone who works be able to schedule this?  And I'm rethinking this appointment... will probably re-schedule it so I could go out to breakfast that day instead. 

I hope that your upcoming week isn't filled up with stuff you don't want to do, but with stuff you want to do... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and Quilting is More Fun than Housework today ...

happy stitching-

carol fun 

 

Itty bitty and Jellyrolls on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well I have quite a mish mash of stuff to share today... but first my perfunctory weather rant.... it has been HOT... upper 80's low 90's... this is NOT Fall... we had another week with NO rain and we are officially in a drought. Heard it is the driest September on record.... and my lawn can testify to that in a court of law... my flowers are slowly dying and right now the plan is to put them out of their misery and cut everything  back this coming week. I did hear one weather guy say we might get rain Monday and Tuesday... that would be wonderful!

So I stayed home a couple of days and lo and behold I got some stuff done!  First lets talk about the itty bitty stuff ( and yes I have Alan Jackson singing in my head)  I stitched 3 smalls from Prairie Schooler No. 164 October... and they are very itty bitty smalls... just a tad over  2" high...and I got them FFO'd!

I closed the backs with a leaf for some Fall flair!

And I love how they look in this piece of McCoy pottery which was a birthday gift from my family!  I don't think I've ever seen McCoy this color before... but it is clearly marked McCoy. 

I've got a small collection of McCoy pottery and I like to use it now and then in my displays. 

I also FFO'd the 2 little leaves I stitched from the Bent Creek Autumn Soapbox...

and I'm displaying them in this leaf dish with a cute bird on it that I picked up at Michaels a week ago... 

It goes nicely with the bird quilt on the wall and the garden fairy riding a bird and the little bird salt & pepper shakers that also came from Micheals. I do LOVE a cohesive theme!!

I'm still working on the Primrose Cottage Autumn Quaker and I dyed some fabric and pulled all the threads for the Bent Creek Autumn Soapbox but haven't started it yet... maybe this week... or maybe I'll work on Harvest Tiny Town by Heart in Hand... going to pop into Hobby Lobby for the flosses  and see if I have any fabric in my stash to stitch it on... 

And my sewing mojo paid me a visit this week, what a surprise! First off I went downstairs and took the American Jane Honeybun quilt off my design wall...it was taunting me and I couldn't take it any more...soooooo,  it is resting comfortably in a plastic bin for the moment... I'll get back to it but  Fall was calling my name and I had to respond. 

Now it also helps that yesterday was National Jelly Roll Day and I love love love to start a quilt on that day... and this time I'm playing with my Sandy Gervais fabrics as she does wonderful Fall fabrics... I started with this jelly roll, Adel in Autumn from Riley Blake... and it is sitting on my background fabric which is Moda Grunge in the color way Curry...

And here are my strips all cut and ready to go... this is a combo of the Adel in Autumn jelly roll and strips from past collections of Sandy to make this a very scrappy quilt. 

Now I'm doing the pattern Marbled Cheesecake from the book Jelly Filled by Vanessa Goertzen of Lella Boutique... I showed this a couple of weeks ago when I only had one block completed and now I have 2 vertical rows done.

Here's the pattern ...

Here's the book...

These sew up quickly and I haven't had pin anything yet... I'll need to pin when I do the vertical rows but that's okay... 

And then I got sidetracked with another Fall quilt idea... I have a ton of little pieces of Sandy Gervais fabrics left over from other Fall quilts and the majority of them are about 2.5" wide... 

so I cut a bunch of them into 2.5" squares and started to sew little 4 patches... I got the idea from a recent post from Melisa at Pinker N Punkin Quilting... she showed a cute little quilt done with 4 patches and I got to thinking I've never made a quilt with 4 patches ... but I want to....and so I did...

now my plan is to make this a throw... about 48" wide and maybe 60" long... as you can tell from that pile above I have plenty of choices... I'm making most of them with matching squares but some are mis-matched... I like mixing it up that way...

And in going through the bin with all my Sandy Gervais fabrics I found an end piece from a panel and there were these 4 cute little birds who are exactly 2.5" square... 

now that I think of it the panel was from the collection called Tranquility and that's where the bird blocks came from in the quilt on the wall... and doesn't that show how nicely Sandy Gervais' many Fall collections play together? 

My plan is to include a bird square in a 4 patch in each of the corners of this quilt... here's the first one I did...

Now I will say the Grunge fabric I'm using in this one isn't photographing well... it is a warm tan with some  splotchy gray... I think it is called Tan and if you look at it here it is a better capture of the color.  I really wish Moda put identifying numbers on the selvedge of Grunge... no matter how many times I think I'll remember the name I forget it... sometimes I have written it in the selvedge with a Sharpie but not this time. 

I'm switching back and forth between this 2 tops at the moment but I'm going to have to pick one and take the other one off the design wall eventually cause they aren't both going to fit at the same time. Both of these are nice fun simple sewing... I like that a lot...

Now plans for next week include Elliott on Tuesday and lunch with my quilty friends on Wednesday... and yard work maybe Thursday and Friday?  Not my favorite part of gardening but it has to be done... sigh....so currently the upcoming week looks relatively quiet... and that should give me time to stitch and sew... and that would make a very nice week.

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and Quilting is More Fun than Housework today... I hope that your upcoming week gives you plenty of time to stitch and sew too!

happy stitching-

carol fun