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 

A collection of hot air and other stuff on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - as I sit here and write this post on Saturday afternoon it is snowing... it is snowing A LOT... forecast is for 4 to 6 inches ... I hope they are wrong... they were wrong on Friday when they predicted 1 to 3 inches and we got a dusting... and to add insult to injury after the snow the temperature is going to plummet... the high tomorrow is expected to by 17 degrees with a low of zero... brrrrrr... Monday should still be cold but on Tuesday things change again and warm up and by Thursday they are predicting 50 degrees... Welcome to Ohio... if you don't like the weather just wait a bit... it WILL change...

Anyway I'm sitting in my cozy recliner watching the snow fall and I have a pot of Lemon Chicken soup with orzo simmering on the stove... that will make a lovely dinner with some sandwiches ... I have no place I need to go and I do love being home... and like so many of the past weeks I was in and out and in and out of the house a whole lot last week. Only have one little crafty thing to show which I will get to but I'm going to start off with my outdoor winter decor obsession... inflatables... now I know a lot of people do not like them... but I DO!!  They make me smile... and several of my neighbors are into them too... right across the street Angie has a huge inflatable gnome wearing a Christmas tree as a hat with a star at the top that blinks... and next to her Mimi has a Christmas tree inflatable that lights up and spins along with a small Bluey inflatable her grandkids love. Across the street from Mimi those neighbors are into Minions and the one they have out now is dressed as Santa... and then my other neighbor Bill put this out in his yard... 

OMG!! I LOVE THIS GUY!!  I looked online and found out he's 10 ft long... and he is happy!! 

And that led me to thinking about my side yard ... I had one small sad inflatable gingerbread man but he sprang a leak and just layed there on the ground... may he rest in peace... so I checked out Amazon for a replacement and  boy did I find some great gingerbread men inflatables... so I put one in my cart, and then there was a little boy and girl set they were too cute to leave behind, and then another one jumped into the cart and in the end I got 4 new inflatables... a Gingerbread gang!!

Here is the side yard at night... the cute gingerbread kids...

and I love the big headed guy and his skinny friend...

In the front yard I have a large candle, a small angel and a little gnome... 

And the star of the show... Henrietta has returned from her unfortunate accident last year when she was stabbed by some ne'er do well...  should have brushed the snow off her face but I couldn't reach it... Henrietta is a BIG girl... 8 ft tall dontcha know...

and here she is at night...

I'm hoping that my Ring doorbell will deter anyone from touching her... I got the original Henrietta from Tractor Supply last year... this year I was able to find a replacement on eBay... but for twice the price... sigh... this year's version is a Christmas present from my son and it makes me very very happy! And that is my collection of hot air for this Christmas...LOL

As for indoor decor my little tray of Merry Mini Santas is on the dining room table... they are from Prairie Schooler's No. 215...

Around the corner on the small wall ...

I bought a few new reproduction Shiny Brites ornaments for the display rack...

On the  top of the shelf unit I have a reproduction ceramic Christmas tree... I wish I knew what happened to the one my Mom made back in the late 60s... 

and on the other side J'Arrive by Tournicoton with some little reproduction Gurley candle choir girls... I remember my Mom having some of these too...

Below I have my Santa head mug collection... I have a couple more that wouldn't fit here... I think I'm up to 14... I'd love to have more but I don't know where I could display them... gotta think about that... I've tucked in some little cross stitched Santas... I'd like to add more... a project for next year... 

At the bottom I have The Drawn Thread's Little Bits of Christmas and a little pillow that's a snippet from another Prairie Schooler but I don't remember which one...

And the bigger pillow is from With Thy Needle & Thread, The Best Time of the Year. 

I don't want to leave out the prettiest wreath I've ever made....

I made this back in 2017 and it has held up beautifully... I store it in one of those large round plastic wreath boxes ... I followed a video on how to make one that you can see here... when we were cleaning out the storage area under the steps I found a bunch of ornaments I bought to make another one of these... and I might just do that this year... we shall see. 

As for crafty stuff I am sticking to my pronouncement of doing what I want when I want to do it and I've been knitting socks... it is mindless and right now that's all I'm up for... I finished the second sock and now this pair is done...

and I started another pair ... this one is a mix of purple and turquoise and that one ball has a tiny bit of yellow and lime green in it...

the perfect project for today when I can sit here and look out the window, watch the snow fall and try to keep count of how many times the salt truck has blown past my house... he is really booking it... in the time I've taken to write this post he's buzzed past 3 times...  I will say my local little town does a good job on snow... 

So plans for next week... I have to take a family member for a medical appointment on Monday and a dentist appointment on Thursday... Tuesday I'll hang out with Elliott for a while... it is his last week of school this year... Wednesday and Friday look quiet... but somehow I'm sure something will come up... I might do a little sewing this week... I do need to make a pillow case for Elliott's Christmas gift... I always put his big gift in a pillow case ... this year it is a large Lego set... and I'd like to get that Momo quilt I started back in January of 2024 finished ... and there are plenty of UFOs I could also play with... I'm thinking of what I want to work on in 2026 but as is my behavior, NO New Year's resolutions will be made... just some positive thoughts for stuff I'd like to play with. 

Hope your week ahead is a good one... I think I'm done with my Christmas shopping, just have to wrap some stuff up... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... I'm sure there are posts with plenty of craftyness to read about there...

happy stitching-

carol fun