Turkeys and Christmas Quilts on a Slow Sunday Stitching...

Hello  - Did you all have a good week?  Get lots of stuff done?  I did get some stuff done... but not the stuff I thought I would last Sunday... the weather was "nice" at the beginning of the week... after clearing out those flower beds I spent a couple of hours Sunday planting 85 hyacinths and about 75 alliums... that's a lot of holes ... and I got a blister on the palm of my hand even though I was wearing gloves... I considered procrastinating on Monday as there were still 200 daffodils and some crocus to plant but the sun was out and my youngest son offered to help...and what a big help he was... he dug large holes for me to put in 5 - 7 daffodil bulbs so they will come up in clumps in the Spring...hopefully... it certainly speeded up the process ... and I even had the energy to get the dahlia bed cleaned out and all the tubers dug up... that took longer than I expected and filled 2 more lawn waste bags... so in total there were 14 bags sitting on the curb for pickup on Tuesday... I felt sorry for the garbage guys ... the bags were heavy and it rained overnight so they were soggy too... and from Tuesday on the weather has taken a decidedly winter-ish turn... cold, some flurries ... and the upcoming forecast is for measurable snow -about an inch - Monday into Tuesday with January temperatures ... ugh... not ready for it to be so cold so soon... lots of the trees still have their leaves... I'm not happy with an abbreviated Fall... the colors this year weren't as vibrant as years past, I assume due to the hot, dry spell we had this Summer  and really cold weather starting early is going to make the season even shorter...

Sorry for the weather rant... I'm blaming my bad mood on the time change... still not use to it.... as for crafty stuff, I did a little of this and a little of that and shiny stuff did catch my eye... I finished stitching 2 turkeys... this Prarire Schooler one just needed the border...

and this one is a freebie from Stone Street Stitchworks called Thankwool... you have to ask to join the group on Facebook and then go to the Files section for this pattern and other freebies... here's a link to the Facebook page...

I like how it looks like it was done in wool ... I have a plan for FFO-ing this (fully finished object) but didn't have the energy to get it done yet.

Instead yesterday was one of those sit in my stitching chair and watch Flosstube and gardening videos days... but while I was watching I did start a new piece... this is Little Bits of Christmas from The Drawn Thread...

I'm stitching this on a piece of 32 ct linen I had in my stash that I painted a while ago... I do love the reds and greens on the turquoise...

This chart has both a silk and a cotton thread version...  I'm using the called for Gentle Arts threads except for Cucumber... I didn't have Cucumber but the conversion was DMC 934 ... a very dark green...and I had it ... that center section has backstitching and little "berries" which I'm going to see if I have some beads I could use there... should finish a little more than 5" square... lots of pretty things in a small package...

As for sewing... I got all the strips prepped and upon my design wall for my Basic Grey Christmas version of Meet in the Middle... a free pattern you can see here....

it will be considerable narrower once it is all sewn together... about 60" wide...and I'm happy that all my Santas and Christmas trees are in the upright position... makes my OCD happy happy happy... the pattern called for a jelly roll but I used a layer cake and I'm glad I did... if you used the jelly roll for this collection - Kringle & Claus by Basic Grey  - the directional prints - Santa, Christmas Trees, Ornaments - would all be lying on their sides... not a good look IMHO...  and I probably could have finished it if another shiny quilt idea hadn't crossed my path... I have a bin of Basic Grey Christmas fabrics... lots of precuts... jelly rolls and layer cakes and charm packs ... and some are pretty "vintage"... I got to thinking about the collection called Fruitcake... here's a pic of the fabrics...

I'm thinking this collection is about 9 to 10 years old... and usually I'm not of fan of brown but I'm okay with it here... well I wanted to play with the fabric... and I have 3 charms packs ... so I paged through a couple of books I have that use charm packs and found this pattern... Snowfall from the book  by Vanessa Goertzen called Charm School...

Well I had some Basic Grey Grunge for the background ... I think this is White Paper... and had to make a block... or two...

I really like this... and for the sashing I have a piece of what I think is a Hoffman snowflake print... some of the snowflakes are pearlescent... and I think this piece of fabric is at least 15 maybe closer to 20 years old...

I remember making a jacket out of this print eons ago... I think it will make a really pretty quilt... but I'm not sure how I ended up making multiple Christmas quilts again this year... last year I did 3 ... and with one already at the long armer I'm on track to do 3 again... hey you can never have too many Christmas quilts, right??? Shake your head up and down, up and down...

With the upcoming cold and snowy weather I should have time to sew... except for the fact that I have an appointment every day this week... arghh... I hate when I do that to myself... I really like to have a day or two or three where I don't have to be anywhere... Dorothy was right... "There's no place like home, there's no place like home"...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... from the comments last week I can tell that most of you agree with me ... such smart readers I have... that this Daylight Saving Time switch is a pain in the butt... 6pm looks like midnight!!! I hate that ...  I hope that all of you have a good week ahead... I'm hoping the weather guys are wrong and we won't get much snow on Monday/Tuesday... there's always that possibility... and I really hope they are wrong about the frigid temperatures... but they probably got that part right...

Take care ... happy stitching-
carol fun

Bouncing around like a BB in a boxcar on Slow Sunday Stitching...

Hello all... well how was your week?  And what kind of weather did you get for Halloween?  Here in SW Ohio,  it wasn't as bad as those areas that got snow but it sure was miserable... temperatures in the low 30s and high winds... the kind of Halloween where  you have to wear a coat and gloves and hat under or over the costume ... it curtailed the number of trick or treaters we got significantly... I think we only got maybe 40 or 50... on a good night we would have gotten 3 to 4 times that many... I didn't buy as much candy as I figured based on the forecast we'd have a low turn out...but I still bought too much... I did take one bag back to Target ... and gave some to friend of my son... and there is still a bowl of it in the kitchen taunting me...

As for what I did this week, well like my sainted Dad use to tell me... I bounced around like a BB in a boxcar... I did a little sewing and got the borders on my Christmas Quilty Stars  and the back pieced, but it took till Tuesday to get it to the post office... and I got the Enchanted Stars top completely sewn together... now  I need a back for it...

As for cross stitch I did FFO... which stands for Fully Finished Object...a couple of pieces in my quest to "turkey-fy" the house for November...

First off is November from the Hands on Designs A Year of Celebrations...

a simple  plaid bow and some bitter sweet flower accents... what makes me smile in this display is the little blown glass pumpkin... it was an unexpected present from my youngest son ... it is right in my line of sight from my stitching chair so I can enjoy it every day!

Then I FFO'd the Prairie Schooler November...

painted a clipboard picture frame I got at Kohls and added a bow with that pretty Fall ribbon and used a metal scrapbook embellishment to finish it off...another example of why I need ALL the crafty stuff!!

After that I mounted my Lizzie Kate Autumn piece on an art caddy I picked up at the Target Dollar Spot/Bullseye's Playground last Spring...

I got 2 of these caddies back then... one was painted turquoise and I mounted the Lizzie Kate Spring on it... you can see it here... this one was unfinished wood so I painted/stained it with Apple Green Rit Dye and added some silk flowers ...

And the final piece I got done is the Lizzie Kate Thankful String...

a different kind of finish... not sure I'm totally liking it... I painted/stained this wood board with the same Apple Green Rit dye, but it came out very mottled ... in places it looks like I dropped salt on it...but I didn't... but I like the look ... however, the board just fits the stitched piece with only a smidgen of room on each end... so I futzed with it and came up with this ...  I added the wood buttons that I also dyed with Tangerine ... Rit dye is so versatile...I'll leave it like this for the month... I mounted it with foam tape so I can easily take it apart  later if I want to... oh... all the linen used in these projects was either painted or dyed with the liquid Rit dye... I used 32 ct... my favorite size for everything except the LK Thankful String... it is 28 ct.

So with that all done I re-arranged my display shelves for November...

overall I'm very happy with this... I re-used some of the Fall stuff and added the new stitched pieces along with a vintage Debbie Mumm turkey tin, a Blackbird Design piece and an old Ewe & Eye & Friends sampler and the cornicopia from Target's Dollar spot... gosh I love that place... I get into so much trouble every time they add new merchandise... I'm lucky to have a Target less than 7 minutes from my house... I've been there twice this week and got some cute new things for Christmas and Winter...  I'm still working on my 3 tier tray so stay tuned for it next week...

And after this I bounced outside ... we had freezing temperatures and my beds were looking pretty bad... the coleus was mushy and the zinnias were crispy... so I went out and worked on cleaning them out... here's the results...

12 totally overstuffed lawn waste bags... now to drag them out for the trash guys on Tuesday... I still have to deal with the dahlia bed but it shouldn't be too hard... and I need to move on to planting the bags and bags and bags and bags of bulbs waiting in the garage... maybe I can get some in this afternoon.

Not sure what I'll work on this coming week... maybe one more turkey piece ... and then onto Christmas and Winter stuff... and I'd like to get that Christmas quilt I started last week sewn together... and I'm sure that something else shiny will cross my path and I'll want to work on it too... I am NEVER at a loss for something to do... just want more time in every day...

And if you've read this blog for any time at all you know that today is the day for my semi-annual rant against Daylight Saving Time... leave the damn time alone... I heard a report that 85% of people polled agrees with me... smart people... the sun will set by 5:30 this evening...too early for me... I also read where it takes night owls longer to adjust... and I am quite the night owl... and the older I get the longer it takes for me to adjust... in this 24//7 culture we live in we don't need to "save" the daylight... we are ruled by our electrical devices, not the sun...  just leave the time alone....  crawling down off my soapbox...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today ... and later this evening...when it is pitch dark at 6pm... I'll take some time and check out what everyone else is up to this week... hope your week ahead is productive adn that you see the sun for more hours than I will... LOL

happy stitching-
carol fun

Assorted deadlines on Slow Sunday Stitching...

Hello all ... Fall is here... we've had warm afternoons and cold mornings and sunshine and rain... and I'm okay with all of that... the leaves are turning all my favorite colors... yellow, gold, orange, red... such a feast for the eyes... and since I don't have to rake the leaves (I have a great lawn care guy that will take care of them) I am enjoying the change of the season immensely...

Now I've talked about deadlines I've given myself for certain projects... have a Christmas quilt top that needs to be off to the long arm quilter the beginning of November... have the Year of Celebrations  monthly cross stitch design I want finished before November 1... and I have 300+ daffodil/hyacinth/allium bulbs to get into the ground along with cleaning out the flower beds... well I made significant progress on several of these projects...

First, my Christmas Quilty Stars is complete except for the borders... had a bit of a problem... when I went to do the sashings I whacked off a 16" piece ... which then made the resulting yardage too short to do continuous borders....arghhh!!!  I was about 20 minutes into putting the sashing on when this occurred to me... and then I promptly put a hole in one of the blocks... things weren't looking good... so I dug down deep and fixed the rip and boldly moved forward....No I didn't ... I threw the block on the ironing board, unplugged the iron, turned the lights off and went out to dinner... I came to my senses the next day and returned to the scene of the accident... okay... gonna need more fabric... and the store I purchased it from had no more... a search of the internet found me yardage at a shop in Maine... free shipping... and a plea to the owner had the fabric in the mail the next morning... it arrived at my house yesterday afternoon so I'm back in business... in the meantime I fixed the block with the hole, cut out a bajillion, okay perhaps it was more like 80 1.5" squares for the star points and assembled the top. Ta dah!!!

I LOVE how the little star cornerstones look... but they take quite a while to sew together... but I think they are worth it... here are close ups...

I'm hoping that Monday will give me time to get the borders on and sew the back together and get this to the post office... my self- imposed deadline for this project was the first week of November so I should beat it by several days... yeah me!!

And the cross stitch project ...November from the Hands on Designs A Year of Celebrations is stitched...

 32 ct linen... my pick of DMC flosses... left over painted linen from something I did last year... glad I saved it... now to get it FFO'd before Friday... I think that is very doable...yeah me again!!

I also finished the Prairie Schooler for November...

it needs to be FFO'd too... along with a couple of other pieces... like this Prairie Schooler turkey...

 He still needs legs and a border and there's another leaf too... I want to get the Halloween stuff put away next weekend and the Thanksgiving/Fall stuff rearranged... more self imposed deadlines...

As for all those flower bulbs... they are still in bags in the garage... it rained yesterday... A LOT ... so the ground should be softer... and I bought an auger that attaches to a drill to facilitate the process... I've pencilled this job in for Wednesday... maybe... depends on the weather ... it may rain some more... too early to know for sure... I'm thinking this project has a flexible deadline... you can plant bulbs late... as long as you can get them in the ground... I feel like I'm waaay behind on the yard work but I still have marigolds/zinnias/dahlias blooming ... and I just can't bring myself to yank them out of the ground yet...

And the yard work has taken a back seat to sewing at the moment...not sure what has gotten into me but I've spent a ton of time with my Juki... I finished Fall Fizz, got a  pretty back for it at my local quilt shop and put it in the mail...

I just took a quick pic of this before I boxed it up... not a great photo but you get the idea...

And I spend waaaayyy too much time looking at Instagram... but I find such cool projects... this one is called Enchanted Stars ...you can find the pattern here... and some versions of the pattern here... and it  just enchanted me... and I had a layer cake and a charm pack of Crystal Manning's Nova that has been waiting for the perfect pattern ...and I think this is it...

those stars went together quickly...  the grunge is Ginger Ale...  here's a better pic of the true color of this grunge which my current favorite yellow/gold background... it won't take much time to get this off the design wall and sewn together...

And if that wasn't enough I stumbled upon this project... its called Meet in the Middle and you can see it here...

 it is a free pattern which you can find here...  well you can do this with either a jelly roll or a layer cake... I have plenty of both... but I got to thinking that if a collection had a directional print, it would be sideways in this pattern if you used a jelly roll, but it it would be vertical if you used a layer cake... and my OCD wouldn't like little Christmas trees or Santas or ornaments on their sides... so I'm using a layer cake... Kringle & Claus from Basic Grey... which you can see here...

I've got the half the strips sewn...

and I think I have enough of a white-ish Grunge with a light green splotch in my stash...I do LOVE the Christmas collections from Basic Grey... this will make the 3rd Christmas quilt I've made using their fabrics and I have several more  vintage layer cakes and jelly rolls from Basic Grey that are waiting for their turn to escape from their plastic bins... I'm just looking for more easy patterns...

So all in all another very productive week that I hadn't anticipated... seems like when I think the week will be too busy to sew, I do find the time... and when I think a week will have a lot of sewing time it doesn't work out that way...oh well... I do know that when I spend less time online there is more time to do lots of other things... but the lure of blogs and Instagram is strong... very strong...

Okay - I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... and allow myself  a lttle screen time to see what everyone else is up to... and after that a little time with my sewing machine... already did a family brunch so there is no big dinner to fix... want to go for a walk... the sun is shining and the temperature is 60 degrees... perfect weather in my world.

Hope you all have a great week ahead... and a Happy Halloween... at this time they are forecasting miserable weather for us... darn it... rain and cold...yuck... I haven't bought any candy yet as I purchase based on the weather... with good weather I'll get tons of kids... last year it rained too... I ended up taking one of the giant bags of candy back to Costco as I knew I'd eat the whole thing if it stayed in the house... don't need that kind of temptation...

take care -
happy stitching-
carol fun

Surprising myself on a Slow Sunday Stitching...

Hello all -- another busy week past me by but I surprised myself by what I accomplished... I had a medical appointment, and a dinner engagement (oh the scallops at Trio's in Kenwood are to die for!!!)  and a birthday get together for one of my quilty lady friends, and yard work, and errands that needed to be done so I didn't expect much productivity in the crafty time but I surprised myself... I got a bunch of quilt blocks sewn together and got a cross stitch piece almost to the finish line... and while I'm patting myself on the back, I actually made dinner at home several times too... I like to eat out... my son likes to eat out... we eat out... a lot... but with the weather cooling down I feel more inclined to cook... had several tasty meals... hope to repeat the experience again this week...

But onto crafty stuff... first I have all 16 blocks sewn for my Christmas Quilty Stars... yeah me!!! Here are the 8 new ones I made ....

and here are all the blocks... I'll probably move a few around ...

and here are some close ups from this batch...

My deadline for this is that the top needs to be in the mail by Halloween... still need to make the sashing... I'm thinking stars like I did on my son's Quilty Star but with solid fussy cut centers... and I have some yardage of this pretty Christmas fabric...

I think it will be big enough...  fingers crossed...

And I got some productive cross stitching time in and my November Prairie Schooler is just about done...

need to finish up the leaves at the bottom  and fill in the turkey tail feathers and its a wrap. I'm very happy with this one...

Now onto getting November for Hands on Designs A Year of Celebrations stitched and there is a small Prairie Schooler turkey I want to add to my display this year... I enjoy taking the time to do a Thanksgiving display... a little breathing room before plunging into Christmas...

And speaking of Christmas... I'm not going to tell you how many days there are left but it is  less than 75 but more than 50... there are only 3 weeks and 6 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year... very short season... now I mentioned that I expected Brenda Gervais of With Thy Needle & Thread to come out with some Christmas charts that I wouldn't be able to resist... and she has... oh my goodness... look at these... sorry these are great pics... I couldn't get them copied from IG so these are pictures of pictures... here's a link to farmgirlloves goats IG... much clearer pictures...

must stitch this Santa!!!

and I love this snowman, although I think I'm going to eliminate the candy canes and stitch a little pine bough instead so he's more winter-y ... I don't put snowmen out till January... but I'm dying here over those checked pants...

and I love this little snowman... he looks quick to stitch...

and this piece is so pretty... I think this was a class piece at a retreat... I LOVE the cardinal  and the house...  I will NEVER EVER EVER run out of things to stitch!!!  ROFLMAO...

So this week is looking good... only have 2 days, oh wait, make that 3 days I have to be some where... I'm hoping for some rain sometime this week to soften the ground up a bit... I haven't cleaned out any of my flower beds as they are still blooming and I have a bunch of daffodil and allium and hyacinth bulbs I need to plant... the forecast is pleasantly Fall-ish... I want to enjoy it as much as possible... and I want to stitch and sew and knit as much as possible...been working on scrappy socks and have a couple of new shawl patterns I'd like to play with...

Hope you have a great week ahead... time to do what you want to do!!!   I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... I enjoy spending time seeing what everyone else is up to ...

take care-
happy stitching-
carol fun

Plugging away on this and that on Slow Sunday Stitching...

Hello all ... the furnace kicked on this morning for the first time this season... temperature got down into the 30s... and I am happy about that... weather has been lovely this last week and I've even seen a few trees starting to turn colors... it is my FAVORITE time of the year... now if we could just rid ourselves of the stupid time change in November I would be thrilled... leave Mother Nature alone... she knows what she's doing... at least I think she does...LOL

Thanks for all the kind words on my Halloween display... I am enjoying it... Barb asked what the name of the witch's hat quilt is... it is Halloween Haberdashery and you can find it here. 

So this last week only had one finish ... but it was a big one... and I just plugged away on a couple of other projects... first the finish...

This is my Quilty Stars quilt for my youngest son... got the binding on it and got it laundered... he picked out the fabrics ... some of which are quite "vintage" from my stash and selected the quilting panto and chose minkee for the back...

And here is a close up of the panto... it is called Windy Nights and was done by Quilting by David...

and here you can see it even better in the minkee back...

The pattern is called Quilty Stars and you can see it here... I LOVE this pattern... so scrap friendly and easy to assemble and it is a BIG block... 16" finished... and I want a quilt from this pattern for my bed... a Christmas quilt... so I started this one...

Eight stars... halfway there... now I'm fussy cutting some cute Christmas prints for the center of each one...here's a couple of my favorites so far...

And I was at Joanns the other day picking up rotary blades when I saw this fabric...

I think I can fussy cut several vignettes from this to include in my quilt... deadline for this is the beginning of November... I hope to have another productive sewing day this week... all the pieces are cut...except for that Charlie Brown print so they come together pretty quickly.

As for cross stitch I've been working on Prairie Schooler's November...

The linen is brighter than this picture... I have such troubles capturing the colors with my phone and I don't want to upgrade it ... and I swear my old phone took better pictures...  I love the alphabet "hidden" in the grass around the house... makes it a sampler ... and I love samplers... I did stitch a tiny bit on a sampler during Sampler September and it made me remember how much I do LOVE samplers... I need to get back to some of those I've started... I've been doing so many seasonal pieces the last year or so... and they are wonderful to decorate with... but I am running out of room which is probably a good thing as it might get me back on the sampler path.

Well it will be a busy week ahead... starting tonight... I'm going to downtown Cincinnati with my sons and daughter-in-law to see the sights of BLINK... you can read about it here... it is one of the largest light, art and projection mapping events in the US... it covers something like 30 city blocks on both sides of the Ohio River and includes the Roebling Suspension Bridge which was the prototype for the Brooklyn Bridge... my son and his wife went down last night with her mom and said it was wonderful ...but crowded... they had it 2 years ago and it was great then too... we won't get to see all of it because it is just too big for one night but I'm sure it will dazzle.. and the weather isn't too bad either... temperatures tonight in the 50's... last night was chillier...and Tuesday has my younger son and I headed to the theater to see Jersey Boys with friends... LOVE that musical...and Thursday my quilty lady friends get together for dinner and to celebrate a birthday... and I'm sure there are things I have to do the other days too...  I certainly want some time at home to sit on the porch... this is the perfect weather... Big Dude and I are chillin' out here right now... he snagged the easy chair and left me with the couch...

Well I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and then I have a little time before we go to dinner... think I'll work on the PS November piece... hope you have a productive week... and hope you get some lovely Fall weather... it makes me sooooo HAPPY!!!

happy stitching-
carol fun