Looking for Tranquility on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well last week was jam packed...an appointment or engagement every day...and while none of them took up the entire day, by the time I got home I was pooped and not very motivated to get stuff done... so I didn't. Still dealing with family members health issues and saying prayers that things resolve themselves... and I'll admit to being anxious about the upcoming election... so I decided to look for some tranquility... and it turns out,  it was both a literal and a figurative search... 

Trying to stay off social media to improve my mental health and be more tranquil... BUT I spent a lot of time online shopping which may have dented my finances... oh well... 

How it started... I was making my bed Monday morning and thinking I LOVE this Fall quilt with Sandy Gervais fabrics...

BUT it has been on my bed since September 1 and wouldn't it be nice to have another bed size Fall quilt with Sandy Gervais fabrics? ... of course it would!

It has to be simple, and I want it to show off the fabrics and what popped into my head was the quilts I've made with the GIANT Disappearing 9 Patch pattern done with layer cakes.  So far I've made 3 of them.... 

However, the first  didn't use a layer cake. This one I made for Nick with woven plaids left over from a quilt I made for his brother, Chris, when he went off to college... when asked, Chris will reply that his favorite color is plaid.. I know it makes no sense but we just go with it.... this is Nick's quilt.

Next I made myself one using a hoarded layer cake of my favorite collection from American Jane, Potluck... I love that I didn't have to cut up those chickens and tape measure prints....

Then I made one with another hoarded layer cake of my favorite collection from Momo, Wonderland... I love the prints with the scissors and the birds...

And now I want to make this quilt with a layer cake of my favorite Fall collection from Sandy Gervais... as far as I can tell it was printed in 2008 and I've used up most of what I had from the collection in other quilts  like my Fall bird quilt...

and this table runner...

and the quilt that is on my bed right now.

The collection is called...wait for it... Tranquility... so I went online searching to see if I could find any fabric from this 16 year old line ... and lo and behold I did!!!  I found a layer cake of Tranquility and Hello Fall (I have no clue when that one was printed) from the same seller on eBay and she only wanted $39 each for them, which I pretty sure was the going price when they first came out... so that was a deal...I know Tranquility is an old old collection because Moda now uses the style of the label on the Hello Fall layer cake for all their packaging. 

But before I found Tranquility I also saw a newer Fall collection ...Sandy Gervais  has moved from Moda to Riley Blake and this one is called Fall's in Town... and it jumped into my cart...LOL... you can see it here. As of typing this on Saturday it hasn't hit my mailbox...

Then while I was trying to research the print date of Tranquility I found ANOTHER seller with a layer cake of it, again at a reasonable price... so I bought it too... for someone who is trying to use up at least a fraction of the fabric she has in her stash, I am not doing a very good job... deep sigh ... I just can't resist some of the older collections ... there were just SO GOOD!   and they make me HAPPY!!  They are cheaper than mental health therapy and I have something to show for my money ... right? right?

Soooo with my new/old goodies I went to my sewing studio (the basement) and started laying out  a Sandy Gervais Fall GIANT Disappearing Nine Patch... and so far I'm LOVING it !! I need to cut some more of the 5' x 10" pieces and I'm hoping the second Tranquility layer cake I purchase comes on Monday. I'm also using some fabrics from the Adel in Autumn  and the Hello Fall collections and stuff in my stash that I have no clue what collection they were from. 

Have half of a top tentatively arranged here... definitely want to see the other layer cakes I ordered as I'd like to add more of the teal and more oranges and use as many different fabrics as I can.  Now even though I can probably get this sewn together pretty quickly, I know that it will take Delinda a couple of weeks to get it quilted, so it isn't going to grace my bed this year... but I also got to thinking about a Christmas quilt with the GIANT Disappearing 9 Patch done with my stash of Basic Grey Christmas collections... I have 4 layer cakes here, 2 of Peppermint Bark  and 1 each of Winter Village and BerryMerry ... I also have a good size bin of partially used FQs from the Jolly Good collection so I have a lot of fabric to work with... 

Perhaps I should play with these first as there is a chance I could get it sewn and quilted before Christmas... decisions, decisions....a quilt dilemma... and to add to my dithering I just saw a video from FQS that gave me another idea for the layer cakes... you can see it here. They did this with fat quarters but I think it could be adapted to layer cakes. 

Meanwhile, I only got a a little stitching done on  WTNT Every Opening Flower...

Those flowers have lots of stitches in them...I  love Brenda Gervais' cross stitch style and her newest Christmas patterns popped into my mailbox yesterday...

And I've seen a couple of new releases from other designers that are Christmasy  and  they are enticing me to move on to Santa stitching... one can never have too much Christmas decor in my opinion. 

The upcoming week looks much quieter than last week, but you never know what will happen... right now I just have Elliott on Tuesday and a meeting with a lawyer/financial guy to hash out some issues on Friday... should have lots of time to sew and stitch... fingers crossed.

The weather has been lovely... temps in the 70's and sunny... we did have a bit of rain on Halloween evening, of course. But we still had a decent amount of trick or treaters. I got  2 BIG bags of candy at Costco and we went through all of one and half of the other. I wasn't paying close attention when I bought the candy, and  was disappointed that there were no Almond Joys or Mounds in either bag... was reduced to eating Twix... such a sacrifice...LOL... weather pattern should continue next week and it is having repercussions for my garden beds. Remember I cleaned them all out in September, and we've have virtually no rain for weeks and weeks... however my dahlias that I cut back to the ground have somehow decided that it is March, not November and they are growing again...ackk!! They are up about 10 to 12 inches... I'm going to have to cut them back again before I can get Dan to mulch which he usually does for me in November. A good hard freeze would make the job easier but we haven't even had a bit of frost yet... Mother Nature is annoying me... 

And another issue that is annoying me is the semi-annual time change...did you think I forgot??  Fall back one hour starting this morning... and while this is easier to deal with than the Spring forward one I still HATE it!!! Leave the clock alone... I've signed petitions to stop the time changing but like so much of the federal government no progress has been made on the issue. Many tell me to just roll with it... and I should... that would make me more tranquil... but it ain't happening to this old gal...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today and with Quilting is More Fun than Housework... hope your week ahead is a good one... and that you find tranquility too in this crazy world. 

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Counting issues and a lack of direction on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - hope you all had a good week... mine had some  unexpected events but everything got worked out so far... took care of Elliot several days as my daughter-in-law's family is experiencing medical issues with differing degrees of severity... they are in my thoughts and prayers as they are facing some difficult times.

The weather has been lovely ... sunny, temps in the 60's and 70's... doesn't sound like I have anything to complain about... but I always find something...  we could really use some rain... it sprinkled on Friday ... we need a nice day of gentle rain. Forecast if for maybe some precipitation on Thursday... which  is Halloween... hope it doesn't rain from 6 -8 pm.  Last several years have been crappy weather on Halloween night... cold  or rain or both... yuck... I'm not buying my candy till Wednesday when I have a better handle on the weather. A good night will bring me lots and lots and lots of trick or treaters... my neighborhood is great for it... sidewalks on both sides of the street and houses close together... it is fun to see the little ones in costume and there are always some adults who are quite imaginative with their outfits too. 

As for me... I got  a little crafty stuff done and I'm happy with my Halloween decor, but looking forward to bringing out my Thanksgiving stuff. Hopefully I'll be motivated next weekend. 

So, I finished stitching Harvest Tiny Town and didn't know what I wanted to do next... I'm lacking direction... I wasn't feeling a new start so thought I'd be virtuous and picked up a WIP sampler... as there are plenty of them in my stash. The Noel Sampler by WTN&T  was sitting my by chair and I was happy to work on it... for a while... according to my notes I started this July 1 for Christmas in July stitching ... it was originally one of my "7 for my 70th" extravaganza that went down in flames... well last week I got the BIG house outlined and the little copse of trees and a start on the alphabet... not bad... but, but, but and this is a big BUT... something is off...  

to start  the trees are 2 stitches too close to the house and about 2 stitches lower than the should be ...  they don't line up with the bottom of the house...

I can shorten the tree trunks and I can live with the distance between the trees and the house... however I counted everything below the trees off of the trees which are in the wrong spot... BUT somehow the bottom of the crown that I counted off from the trees,  lines up with the border ... and the letter K is counted off of the crown and is just fine... and the J is lining up with the K but it is two stitches too far down from the house.... ARGGHHH... so I'm okay in one direction but not the other and I'm not sure how to fudge it because there is no way on God's green earth I'm relocating the house, which does line up with the top border... and I vaguely remember that when I got the border done I'm off a stitch down at the bottom...and oh carp... I just counted the house and I can see I made an error on the placement of the windows... there should be 5 stitches between the top and bottom windows ... I only have 4 so the house is one stitch short ... I could fix that by adding a row at the bottom and making the door longer ... but I think I'm still one stitch off ... the more I think about this and the more I try to FIX it the more confused I get... 

Deep breath, deep breath... so I'll add a row to the bottom of the house ... and I'll shorten the trees and then I'll get the letters to line up with the side borders... I think that will get me sort of back on track... but this has  drained me of my mojo for it... and its going back into it's plastic storage bag for the moment.... sigh... 

I moved on and  I picked up another leftover from the "7 for my 70th" ... also from With they Needle & Thread... Every Opening Flower... I think this one is BEAUTIFUL... only worked on it Saturday but did add some leaves to the GIANT pot of flowers in the bottom right corner... 

Now I  should be thinking ahead for what I want to do for Christmas stitching... and it should probably be on the small side... I'm waiting on some new patterns from WTN&T... noticing a trend here?  I'm definitely on a WTN&T kick... oh you can see the 4 new patterns here... scroll down to Featured Products...  perhaps one of the angels would fit into this frame I picked up the other day at Home Goods...

I wandered into the store with the idea that I NEED NOTHING for Christmas... and I strolled out with the bell  picture frame, another gingerbread guy cookie jar, a gingerbread rug for the kitchen and a snowflake rug for the back hallway... telling myself you gotta start early as the good stuff won't be there after Thanksgiving... 

I would like to check out the Christmas decor at Micheals as I saw a couple of YouTube videos and there was some cute stuff  I want to see in person...perhaps that kind of shopping would help me focus on Christmas stitching... perhaps... but I'm not betting on it ...LOL.. I'm just in a bit of a funk... I know what I should be doing...making some choices and getting prepped for December... but I'm dragging my feet... I tell myself there is plenty of time till Christmas, but the reality is there are 59 days from today...  sigh... I'll think about this later...

Let's look at stuff I have done... as for the Halloween decor... I got 4 little pillows FFO'd  for a dining room table display... and I made a new runner for the table too! These little gals and the pumpkin are from the Teresa Kogut's Happy Halloween book... 

And here they are in the little tray...

I finish these little pillows with a slit up the back, so this time I covered it up with a witch hat!

The table runner is a disappearing 9 Patch done with Sandy Gervais Beggar's Night collection.

I'm very happy with how it all  looks on the table. 

The tray is from Walmart... you can find it here... this is the 3rd one I bought... I've got it in white and blue ... it is the perfect scale for my table and easy to pick up and move when we eat there. 

I've got a couple of small vignettes on the TV cabinet...first is October from Hands on Designs "A Year of Celebrations"... 

on the other end is a mini tier tray with lots of cross stitch... 

Trick or Treat and the pumpkin headed gal and the skeleton cat are snippets from Prairie Schooler No. 188 Trick or Treat  and the Halloween on the bottom is from The Drawn Thread's Little Bits of Halloween.

In the middle section of the TV cabinet  my giant mercury glass pumpkin and two smalls from Pineberry Lane's Fancey Blackett's Little Fancies.  

On the the big display ...

Here a bit closer of the top...

and the bottom...

from the top... Bent Creek's Spooky Row ...

moving down from left to right... Matilda  Hornbuckle  from  Not Forgotten Farms..

 and Prairie Schooler No. 188 Trick or Treat... I think this my favorite Halloween piece!

Next shelf has Boo to You from WTN& T and the little Spooky pillow is from Lizzie Kate... I think it was a freebie but I can't find it now... 

 and on the other side is  and in the truck bed another  small from Pineberry Lane, Three Little Witches.  

Finishing up with another pumpkin headed lady from WTN&T Tricks & Treats...

and  from Notforgotten Farms Halloween Queen...

I  wasn't aware of my obvious affinity for pumpkin headed ladies ...who knew?  LOL

So plans for next week... gotta get my teeth cleaned on Monday and Nick and I are having dinner with friends, Elliott on Tuesday, a dermatology appointment on Wednesday to get some spots on my face zapped, going to a Halloween parade at Elliot's kindergarten on Thursday and hopefully will have lots of trick or  treaters that evening... that's a pretty full week... I want to work in some stitching and some sewing... I've been trying to do a couple of blocks a day at my upstairs machine and I have a Christmas quilt I want to do... lap sized ... one layer cake... easy pattern I've done before... Still trying to motivate myself for more cleaning out and rearranging... gonna take more energy than I have at the moment... such is life... 

Hope you have a good night for Trick or Treat...unfortunately the time change I detest will be next Sunday... a rant will ensue as it always does...  I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... have a birthday lunch to attend today and then my plans are to return to my stitching chair on the porch... 

happy stitching-

carol fun  

Getting Halloweenie on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - as I type this on Saturday afternoon it is a glorious Fall day! Sunny, low 70s and the trees are starting to put on a show... I was afraid with the lack of rain we've had for the past 2 months that we wouldn't have a pretty Fall but I think Mother Nature is gonna come through ... I LOVE all those Fall colors... they have me remembering my home in the 70s... my Mom was fearless with a paintbrush... harvest gold, avocado green, coppertone brown... they all graced our home...and I loved them then and I love them now!

I had high hopes to get a lot of stuff done last week... but then I always have hope I'll get everything done I want to do... and I am delusional...LOL... the week flew by ... there was something going on every day so I'm happy that today and tomorrow are a bit of a break... only plans are for dinner Sunday night at a new restaurant in town... Texas de Brazil... one of those places where the keep coming to your table with meat and they have a fabulous salad bar... my boys definitely get their money's worth and I know I'll waddle away stuffed.

As for what I did do... well I got the Halloween decor out... Nick was a big help ... I can not do it without him... my first dilemma was how to arrange the 2 x 4 Halloween quilt on the couch... here it is on all it's glory...

There are 90 different Halloween fabrics in this quilt and if I say so myself... and I DO... I think I did a great job getting an ombre effect... 

Here are some of my favorite blocks...

Now I posted this on IG with a poll as to which way was liked better ... 

Showing the bright side...

Showing the dark side...

and the vote was 75% bright to 25% dark... and I do like the bright side a lot... but then my friend Laurey has another suggestion... why not drape the quilt over the entire couch... and I like this a lot! Now the dark side faces my stitching chair and the bright side is over the back ... and yes the blocks are upside down on the back which does bother my crafty OCD but if you just concentrate on the colors it looks really good!

Here's how it looks right now... and yes there are too many pillows... gonna rectify that...

I'm gonna live with this for a couple of days...

I got the spider quilt up on the wall... I love the big googly eyes...

and it looks like he's checking out the pumpkin and the witches hats mini quilt.

Here's the tier tray... the cross stitch at the top is a Lizzie Kate piece and I think I might be able to squeeze in another small... gotta get some stuff FFO'd.

Across the room is the small shelf display... and if I say so myself and I do... I think the Halloween colored linen I painted really makes the stitching sparkle!

On the top from left to right... some great ceramic pieces and a little Lizzie Kate tombstone... stitched this during covid which I fervently wished would die in 2020...

On the right I have Lizzie Kate ABC's Halloween... don't remember where I got the "EEK" sign but I love it with the eyeball salt & pepper shakers... a tip... salt & pepper shakers make great small additions to displays... I found a lot of cute ones at Cracker Barrel for $1 a piece however the eyeballs came from somewhere else...anyhow...

Below on the left side a Creepy Crawly Alphabet by Emily Call ... I "framed" this in a clock piece where I ditched the clock face and inserted the stitching... and the small framed piece is on the orange linen I think is Lizzie Kate.. on the bottom shelf .. the witch is a snippet from Prairie Schooler and the bat is from Heart in Hand Halloween Parade... (the only place I could find this was on eBay... perhaps OOP) in the center I did a homage to Edgar Allen Poe... got a raven and Nevermore is from Lizzie Kate and some flickering candles)... 

On the right side... big pumpkin basket from Henn Pottery (remember home parties? Longaberger and Henn Pottery were big in my neighborhood) ... and below a grouping of Frankies... aka Frankensteins... the cross stitch is from the Heart in Hand Halloween Parade chart and I think the only thing I've bought this year for Halloween, those Mr. & Mrs. Frankenstein salt & pepper shakers ...you can find them here. 

Of course I had to get out my Gourdy Guys wreath... and yes it took quite a few hours for this one and it always makes me smile...

And my largest Halloween cross stitch piece... Lizzie Kate Boo Club... this was released as separate cards ... I think there might have been 12 but this was all I could fit on the linen I painted as I miscounted how long it should be... it's plenty big enough and wouldn't have fit here if it was any longer... 

I'll have more Halloween decor next week... stay tuned!

As for stitching, I got a little done... I finished Turkey Creek Manor by Pinker n Punkin...

going to FFO this as a little pillow with some chenille trim.

And I stumbled upon this little piece that was almost complete... January from Prairie Schooler No. 13 A Prairie Year... I have plans to stitch all 12 of these. I'm using a 16 ct Aida in Wren... like the color, don't like how soft it is... gonna spray starch each one before  I stitch them... jumped ahead and put some stitches in the turkey for November.

And since I got my Halloween stuff out I'm in the mood for more Halloween ... was perusing 123 Stitch and found these 3 Halloween Prairie Schoolers I did not have... so  I've added them to my growing Prairie Schooler collection...so many Prairie Schoolers to love!

The only thing I used my sewing machine for was hemming some pants for Nick, but the most important sewing I did this week was re-attaching the pink pompom on this squishmallow for Elliott... he was very grateful that I could fix this lovey!

So plans for next week... Elliott on Tuesday and birthday lunch celebration with the quilty ladies on Wednesday... which should leave plenty of time for some stitching and sewing and some tidying up that is sorely needed... we shall see how that pans out... 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today...will spend some time checking out the postings there... 

I hope you are having some nice Fall weather where your are... as Anne Shirley of Green Gables said "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."

happy stitching-

carol fun