Looking for my "get up and go" on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello all - well there has been a bit of a change in the weather and I am loving it... bring on Fall.. cooler temperatures, pumpkin pie,  a chance to wear wool socks and shawls, pumpkin pie, chrysanthemums, pumpkin pie... you get the picture... I love having all my Fall decor out... it is my favorite season and has all my favorite colors... harvest gold, olive green, chocolate brown, burnt orange... all the colors my Mom painted our house in 1970... good memories... 

It has been a bit crazy here the last 2 weeks... things did get done, but I didn't do them... my handyman Dan was available for a couple of days and got my "to-do" list pretty much knocked out... fixed the spring on the back storm door, fixed the  dryer vent, inside and out, closed the little opening in the roof flashing where there was a bird's nest ... I didn't mind the birds but was afraid a squirrel would take up residence, painted the walls and the baseboards of my back hallway... this is where EVERYONE comes in and out of my house. When I bought the house I just assumed you'd use the front door... but it isn't near the driveway, so anyone I want to see uses the back door... and the entry is small and it has gotten nicked and scuffed and dented... a fresh coat of paint made it look brand new!! And the last thing he took care of was painting my cutting table... I bought this piece, a kitchen island when I moved in 8 years ago.. they don't make this exact one anymore ... this one, the Vadholma is pretty close...anyway it was black and since I've replaced all the rest of the black Ikea stuff with white I wanted it repainted...but not white... I had him use a gorgeous turquoise and I LOVE it!!

The paint is Behr Marquee and the color is Mammoth Mountain... it look a factory finish and is just the right pop of color!!

Along with having Dan here I also dealt with 2 other repair guys... first I was having troubles keeping my cute outdoor yard inflatables, inflated... turns out the GFCI, ground fault circuit interrupter, (aren't you impressed with my technical expertise... LOL)  keep popping on the outside outlet. Weeeelllll,, it was doing what is it suppose to do. I called an electrician and he immediately diagnosed the problem as water getting into the extension cord plugs and then it would trip the circuit ... just as it was designed to do... to keep me from burning the house down...okay maybe not that catastrophic... the solution??  Electrical tape and plastic sandwich bags... cover the connections with a plastic bag and then tape the whole thing up ... costs pennies... the solution, not the service call...but it was good advice and he was very nice and even fixed the cover on the outside outlet so it closes better. 

Then I had a guy come to resurface/reglaze the tub surround in the bath room. I've been here 8 years this month and this is the 3rd go round for this... luckily it has a warranty and this is covered... anyway small cracks have appeared in the grout lines where the glaze split... to fix this the tile had to be sanded and cleaned and then a new coating applied... nice guy... in observing him work the job is about 95% prep and 5% glazing... anyway I was told he'd be here between 8 and 9 am... and those who know me, know that I am NEVER awake that early... but I set my alarm for 7:30 and he was here at 8:15... he was efficient and had the job done by 1:30...not bad... except... he sprayed the wrong color of white on the tile... yikes!!! Now he couldn't tell it was wrong until it set up and dried a bit and he had followed the work order he had which said "regular white" which has a bit of a gray cast , but what is on the walls is "BRIGHT WHITE"... and there is a noticeable difference... sooooooo, he will be returning in 2 more weeks to do it again... they are losing money on me hand over fist.. 

Anyway the purpose of that rambling saga was to say that having people in the house curtails my getting much of anything done... when Dan is here we spend too much time talking... he's more than my handyman he has become  like family so we have to catch up on lots of stuff. In talking we think we might have a distance relative in common... my god mother and an aunt of his may be the same person... small world!!  And then after I got done with the repair guys I got a cold... which ticks me off since I'm taking Vit C, Vit D, zinc, quercetin... which are all suppose to boost your immune system... a phlegm- y cold with a sore throat and then as always happens when I get a cold, the finale is laryngitis... arghh... if you know me you know I LOVE to talk.. and I couldn't make hardly a sound for 2 days followed by a couple of days of croaking which went into the husky voice and now finally after about week I can talk again... but it made my "get up and go" relocate for about a week... so I don't have much to show...

I did work on this sampler from Blackbird Designs... it is Feliz Navidad... I'm stitching it on 36 ct linen I dyed with Rit Apple Green... I LOVE that color... I'm using all the called for flosses but I'm using 2 strands instead of the normally called for 1 strand.... I started with one strand and it was delicate but I like the boldness and the coverage of 2 strands... it looks more festive to me... 

This is the 2nd in the series of BBD Christmas samplers... I stitched the first one a couple of years ago... and I plan to stitch the other two... I have to say I'm really really really enjoying stitching a sampler again... they were my first cross stitch love and I have a few,  a couple,  several , oh who am I kidding...  a TON of samplers in my home... by my count (and I'm probably undercounting)  I've probably stitched 100 samplers...I have 75 on the walls right now... and there are a bunch of more seasonal pieces in the storage room... when I began stitching 35 years ago I could tell from my first piece I was gonna LOVE this... so to keep my obsession  in check, I told myself that I would only stitch samplers with houses and that would curtail the number of pieces... ROLFMAO... obviously that curtailed nothing... and it never will... and I broke my resolution and have lots of samplers without houses...

I was very happy that the border met ... now to stitch a bajillion little leaves and lollipop flowers... I LOVE the red cardinal and can't wait to get down to the script-y letters... 

As for quilting I started a new project... I got a kit from Sisters Quilt Shop in Chehalis WA... here's a link to their website....the kit I purchased is called Lucky Log Cabins... you can see it here... ohh, it is out of stock ... I LOVE the mix of fabrics... that cheddar and those taupes that have a reproduction feel to them...not fabrics I would ordinarily buy... anyway the kit came and I whacked the FQs into 2.5" strips and I started the pattern... 

but I didn't like how it was turning out... I was having troubles with the very first strip set... first it was too small, ripped it out and resewed it, then it was too big... arghh... so I switched gears and went with a different pattern... Log Jam  by Pieced Just Sew... you can find it here ... I paired the fabrics with my current favorite Basic Grey Grunge Elafin... and here are the blocks I've gotten sewn...

This is half of what I plan to do... easy peasy stitching and when you go to sew the blocks together you won't have to match anything except the corners block to block...

Now this is just one of 3 layouts you can do with this pattern... not sure that this will be my final choice but I'm sure I'll be happy with whichever layout I chose. 

As for Halloween decorating inside I've done nothing... just can't get motivated...and I'm seriously thinking of just moving on to my Thanksgiving stuff. However, I have a bunch of Thanksgiving cross stitch I need to get FFO'd and I'm not feeling that either... I picked up 2 quilts from my long armer and both need to be bound... I'm going to have to go out and clean out the dead annuals very soon... and I've been dragging my feet to get my kitchen cabinets cleaned out for months...  I'm sitting here thinking of stuff I should do and it is not the stuff I want to do... so even if I do get something done, I'll feel guilty that I didn't do what I should do... I drive myself nuts!!  

So for the moment I'll just spend some time with Kathy's Quilts and see what ever one else is up to... hope you are having good weather and working on stuff that makes you happy!!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Getting some stuff done on a Slow Sunday...

Well another couple of weeks have passed and I'm still not sure what crafty direction I want to go in... so I bounced around like a BB in a box car (my sainted Father's most accurate description of me, even as a child... and I don't seem to have outgrown it... sigh)... I did some Fall themed cross stitch... I knitted some scrappy monster socks... I sewed a Fall quilt top and I did some decorating...which is all fine and dandy but it is now Halloween and I've done nothing for Halloween inside... but I did "decorate" my house outside... pictures are included in this post... 

Let's start with pictures of stuff that I did do and then we'll talk about what I'm going to do... or what it is I think I'm going to do, which is subject to change... arghhh...

Fall themed cross stitch... everything I stitched was on 32 ct I dyed myself ... various shades of gold... tried to reproduce something I did a year ago... didn't come out the same but it is pretty... I'm in awe of people who dye for retail sales... I suppose if I actually measured stuff and kept records I could possibly duplicate a color... but that's not how I roll... LOL... it is always a surprise for me...anyway...

Give Thanks by Threadwork Primitives... I actually finished this about a month ago...forgot to post it here...

Ever so Grateful by Threadwork Primitives... I subbed in smyrna crosses for the blocks of 4 stitches... I like the texture...oops I just realized I cut off the z... trust me I stitched it...

I think I'm going to finish both of these Threadwork pieces as thin pillows... maybe with some pom pom trim...

Waiting for the Harvest by Blackbird Designs... this chart in found in the book Winds of Autumn... 

 

 I changed the colors... left off the initials... left off top border as it wouldn't line up with my crows because I stitched all 4 of them one row short... argghh...  made the piece symmetrical... again I'm thinking thin pillow that I can tuck into a display or maybe a dough bowl or basket....hmmmm....new display idea??

And I did 2 little pieces...and I do mean little... from the Pineberry Lane pattern called Cats & Jacks ... this one is Jack... I left off the top part...

And this one was called Nasturtiums... less than 2" tall on 32 ct...

And as before... small pillows... and I found 2 pieces I stitched a couple of years ago ... need to spend an afternoon or two making this stitching fully finished ....

Scrappy monster socks... I haven't done a pair like this for quite a while and oh I really really enjoy this... I made this for the IG .... #monstersockkal2021... . I think this pair is particularly ugly/pretty... all Opal yarns...

Got my Jelly Roll Whirl top DONE... I started this in 2020 for the Sew a Jelly Roll Day... got it out again this year...these are my FAVORITE colors in the whole wide world... I am a child of the 70's... avocado green, harvest gold, burnt orange, coppertone... I have vivid memories of my Mom repainting every room in the house in these colors ... I think if social media had been around back then she would have been into it too... she was quite crafty... taught me to sew ... I was doing hand work at  6 years old and by the time I was 7 she let me sew on her beloved Kenmore sewing machine... anyway here is the top...

Its about 72" square... numerous Fall collections from Sandy Gervais... background is Elafin Grunge...hard to get the colors right... fabrics are green, olive, brown, turquoise, purple and light prints... I tried to scatter the fabrics and my plan was that no 2 same fabrics could touch and no 2 of the same color family could touch... I think I succeeded ...but if you find a spot where I didn't I don't want to know about it... as I was assembling the 35 block of this quilt it occurred to me that I could have arranged the fabrics so that there would be a row of "dark" whirls and then a row of "light" whirls made just from the light prints... but since I didn't think of it until it was waaaaay too late, it didn't happen... but it might if I make this pattern again... very easy... oh here's a link to it... its a freebie... Quilt Jane's   Jelly Roll Whirl... right here... and if you go here she has lots of other freebie jelly roll patterns. 

As for decorating here is my big shelf display... I color blocked the individual shelves and I like the look... lots of BBD pieces... Feast of Friendship is one of my all time favorites... 

Feast of Friendship is one of my all time favorites... 

These two - Patchwork Pumpkin and Bittersweet September were club pieces when I stitched them... they both appear in the Winds of Autumn book... great book... 

A bit of Barbara Ana and some Lizzie Kate and lots and lots and lots of pumpkins... 

And this might be my favorite wall quilt... it started with a panel from the Sandy Gervias collection Tranquility... I wanted to use all 6 birds...filled in the extra spaces with improv pieced blocks... LOVE it!!

I did get a new tier tray..this is from Target... I like that it has no lip on the edge so you don't have to prop things up and it is tall... you can put bigger things on the bottom... 

So that's where things are... maybe today I'll work on getting out my Halloween stuff... I do not know where September went to but I assume October will fly by just as quickly and then I want to do a nice Thanksgiving display... cause I've already purchased a couple of new Jim Shore Thanksgiving pieces that I can't wait to display... and then there will be Christmas... acckkk!!!  There need to be more time to enjoy and savor all the seasonal stuff, doesn't there??

As for what I think I'm going to do next... I have started a new BBD Christmas sampler... and I have a Prairie Schooler Christmas chart I started last December... I think I'm going to move on to those pieces... and I have a Christmas quilt top I started last year too that could use some attention... and there are a couple of samplers calling my name... I found 2 BBD ones kitted up in my stash... temptation abounds... and another pair of scrappy monster socks.... and who knows what else... I really should sit down and make a list... maybe putting everything down on paper would give me some direction... or just a headache...LOL

Hope you are having a nice Fall season... we are finally getting some cooler weather. I've worked in the yard and cleared out some spent zinnias... filled about 10 yard waste bags... the yard looked bare, and the resin pumpkin idea I had hit a snag as they are still only 40% off everywhere and that's more than I wan to pay... soooooo,  I went to my local feed and garden store (the Big Lots of garden centers) and bought a few, a couple, a bunch... okay okay I bought  50 pumpkins to decorate the window boxes and the yard... I love that pumpkins don't need to be watered... I sprayed them with Repels All... here's a link... it stinks ... but it dissipates... seems to be keeping the squirrels and deer from snacking on the pumpkins... fingers crossed...and I picked up about 10 mums... they aren't bloomed out yet but should be pretty when they do and will add some color to the yard... and my son helped me get out my Halloween inflatables ...so I guess I did do some Halloween decorating...LOL

I've already had a couple of nice comments on the yard from neighbors... the kids really like it and that make me happy!!

Okay I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts and checking out the eye candy there... you take care... find something to do that makes you feel good... 

happy stitching-

carol fun 

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Many many things I want to do... and this is all IG's fault... on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - time flies... now sure what season it is... temperatures and humidity say it is still  Summer but I broke out my Fall decor anyway... I'll share a bit of what I've done today, that is if the internet cooperates and coughs up my pictures... small rant... some weeks the pictures I send from my phone show up immediately on my computer so I can put them on the blog... other days, like today, they disappear somewhere ...grrrr!!! So I'm going to start typing here and hope that eventually you can see what I'm talking about.  PS - I know you don't care but it took over 4 hours for my pictures to appear... it drives me nuts... and I know that's a short  distance...LOL

There is so many many things I want to do right now... I'm blaming it all on Instagram because no one takes any responsibility for their actions anymore, so why should I? (and yes that was a rant on the behavior of modern day society)... cross stitch, decorating, knitting, quilting... I've been sucked into many many projects because of IG... and I will be honest... what I need is more self control and less screen time...gosh being honest with myself is awful sometimes... 

Okay, let's leave that thought behind and start with the decorating... this is the small shelf display on my sunroom porch... I am still so happy that I painted it that shade of green... it seems to be perfect no matter what the season... and for now it displays pumpkins, trucks and cross stitch.

This is an old old piece from Ewe & Eye & Friend called Simply 855... I think that was the DMC or Anchor number the model was stitched in... I used some variegated floss. As I look at this piece I do think I did very good job on the this one... one over one stitching on the alphabet, an Algerian eye on the flower and the satin stitch border... there is a lot packed into a small space here.

The larger piece is Autumn Tree from Barbara Ana Designs I stitched on some linen I dyed with  Rit apple green... I think it pairs nicely will all those little green pumpkins... 

In the living room nook I have a newly finished quilt keeping company with another display... 

The quilt top is old old old ... so old that it has never appeared on this blog which means I made it over 10 years ago. The fabrics are the  Basic Grey collection  called  Urban Couture... and I think the pattern came from an Anka's Treasure booklet... somehow that thought just popped into my head... I could go downstairs and look to see if I can find the pattern, but I'm lazy. Anyway I just got this back from my long armer Delinda... she did a great job on this... and the colors are perfect for this room... taupe and yellow with touches of brick and lavender... and I made this top years before I had this house and this room color and those taupe and yellow chairs which were the starting point for decorating the whole room.  It was meant to be!!

As for the display I have my Welcome Autumn piece from The Drawn Thread, again stitched on linen I dyed... I do love all the decorative stitches on this piece... and I have another mini-quilt on that stand I re-discovered a month or so ago... I like this arrangement... I think that pumpkin is from  Pattern Basket...scrappy white pumpkin...

A small Lizzie Kate piece with that wagon full of pumpkins...that's one of my favorite Fall knickknacks...

Below more Lizzie Kate on a wood caddy from Target (probably 2 years ago and again painted with Rit dye...that stuff is great... you can use it on way more than fabric)...  and the little sampler is by Wendy Peatross of From the Heart Needleart... check out her Etsy shop here... it is called the Flower Pot Sampler and I remember stitching it when I broke my wrist ... I had to stitch in a frame on a stand versus my preferred in hand style but I still got to stitch... isn't it amazing how hand work brings back memories of years past... but I'm not sure what I had for lunch yesterday... and I still love that Longaberger pumpkin basket...another blast from the past that makes me happy!!

Downstairs I have my acorn quilt bound and hung... another great quilting job from Delinda...

I like how the leaf panto looks like the leaves are floating over the acorns...

And I have lots of acorns to display... next Fall I'd like to have a cross stitch piece to add to this vignette...something with squirrels or MORE acorns...LOL

And speaking of cross stitch...nice segue... I'm working on this piece from Threadwork Primitives called Ever so Grateful...

I think it qualifies for the IG hashtag #samplerseptember2021... and I really really really want to start this piece from Blackbird Designs Feliz Navidad...

This is my take on an arty shot with the flosses all fanned out...LOL... I dyed some linen with the Rit Apple Green again... it really is more of an olive green... maybe I'll get a couple of stitches in it today... I didn't realize till I got the chart that it is actually a reproduction of a vintage sampler, but Alma Adams added her initials so I'm going put mine in also... and I think I'll tag it in IG's #septembersamplersoiree2021 which is for reproduction samplers. 

And I've done quite a bit of knitting lately... I've completed a couple of pairs of socks which I can't show yet because they are going to be presents, but I did start a pair for me last Wednesday... scrappy monster socks...

I haven't made pair like this for a while but I was  pulled in by another  IG hashtag  #monstersockkal2021...

These are all Opal scraps... I did try a bit of helical knitting for those individual striped parts...had trouble ending those sections with out a bumpy part...need to work on that...

And I had to have this skein of yarn... Madelinetosh Fire Opal ... just doing a simple shawl... Easy goes it...you can see it here ... it is a free pattern.

And yesterday was Sew a Jelly Roll Day... and I got out the one I started last year for this event and made a few more blocks...

The pattern is Jelly Roll Whirl and you can find it here...another freebie... and I found several more Jelly Roll patterns I'd like to play with... again, temptation I'm going to blame on IG... hey they have broad shoulders...

So today I hope to do a little more cross stitching and knitting... I'm taking my son to the Ohio Renaissance Festival... I'll be waiting in the car while he strolls around with some friends... it is a lovely day so I don't mind sitting in the sun and doing handwork...and probably napping too... 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and depending on my wifi connection maybe I can look at some blogs on my phone... not a bad way to spend the day... and if I have wifi I can find more stuff in IG to get me into trouble... good trouble...LOL

Hope you have a good week ahead... at the moment I can only think of 2 things I have to do... dinner on Monday and babysitting on Tuesday....oh wait ...on Friday we are going to see the LUME exhibit in Indianapolis... I've been looking forward to that since I saw on IG...see more IG temptation...take care...

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Wrapping up Summer on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - it is Labor Day weekend... the end of Summer... the weather has gotten much nicer... cooler temps and low humidity ... I've spent several days sitting out on the sunroom porch with the windows open, stitching, reading, watching the squirrels eat out of my "squirrel resistant" bird feeder, napping... it has been wonderful... and as I close out the Summer I'm so happy that I've completed ALL the items on my "you gotta take care of this stuff, Carol" list... let me enumerate, cause it makes me feel so good...LOL

- Cleaned out and re-organized storage room, which allowed me to have Duke Energy come & inspect my meters ... I needed to give them a path to the back of the space... soooo much stuff... and not that there is less stuff now, but it has been better categorized and organized... more plastic bins!!  and you know I LOVE plastic bins...

- Go get new driver's license for me and an new ID for my son... I dragged my feet on this because I hate going to the BMV, but I was pleasantly surprised this time as Ohio has a new website where you can get in line online for an appointment... we went on a Friday afternoon and after making the appointment on my phone we drove over to the BMV office and got  right in... and the new cards came in the mail yesterday.

- Make appointments for eye exams for me and my son and go get new glasses... appointments have happened and I'm waiting to hear from Costco that the glasses are in...hmmm... seems like I should have gotten a text about them already...need to look into that after the weekend ...not doing Costco on the weekend... as my friend Darlene says "too people-y"...

- Make baby quilt for my handyman Dan's first grandbaby... sewn, quilted by Delinda, and delivered... quilt was a bit hit...yeah!

- Finish stitching the needlepoint Christmas stocking for my daughter-in-law... DONE!! Finished it up yesterday morning...and here is the proof...

I'll be taking this to the finisher next week... deadline for Christmas stuff is October 1 so I'm ahead of the game.

So what to do now??? So many things I want to do that I've been putting off. Well I thought about it for a little while and decided that one of the first things I wanted to do was start a new sampler and Bucklebury by Rosewood Manor had been calling my name... and an added bonus is it is #samplerseptember2021  on IG... I already had purchased all the DMC flosses and I had a piece of unknown linen in my stash that was on the yellow side, but not yellow enough for me... so I overpainted it with Rit Dye Golden Yellow and added some Apple Green splotches... I like it a lot!  

Here's how far I've gotten while sitting out on the sunroom porch...

There are a ton of color changes in this band... so far I've used 15 of the 18 colors called for... to me this sampler has an English garden feel to it... and you know how I love gardens!!  And I think I'd describe it as delicate and dainty... not a lot of what I do fits that description... Also I'm going to admit something kinda controversial here... although I like looking at reproduction samplers and I respect all of the work that goes into stitching a reproduction sampler, when I'm done stitching a sampler I want to be able to put my name or initials on it.  I've always loved samplers... the 2nd piece of cross stitch I ever stitched was a sampler, but I gravitate to those that may have vintage look and feel but are original. On my walls I have a lot of Ewe & Eye & Friend and Blackbird Designs... and while these designers make have taken inspiration from a vintage piece they created something new that I can stitch and put a bit of me into it. So while I love watching Flosstube videos of stitchers doing reproduction samplers I'm gonna stick with what I enjoy and everyone should stitch what makes them HAPPY!!

And being a bit mesmerized by the different samplers I saw on IG, I may start another one...oooohh I feel quite giddy about this... there is a couple of other BIG samplers I've kitted up but didn't let myself start until I had the deadline projects done... I may put a few stitches in them too!  The weather has been so nice for sitting on the porch ... don't want to waste it...

As for quilting, I got the last of these blocks sewn and this is my final layout ... I moved things around a 100 times and I suspect that this is the layout I started with... LOL  ... the pattern is High Tide Remix by Woodberry Way... you can see it here...

This is a great pattern... I swear it takes longer to cut the block out than to sew it together... I timed myself and I could sew a block up in about 6 minutes...no pins required... but now that I think of it, it probably didn't take any more than that to cut out a block (and I cut 2 at a time)... it just seemed longer cause I dithered over what fabrics to put together... This pattern uses FQ... my fabrics are Tiny Treaters by Jill Howarth ... you can see all the fabrics here... I added a hot pink tone on tone ... I want to do this pattern again... I'm thinking large scale prints... maybe Amy Butler and Anna Maria Horner ... I have FQ packs of both of their latest collections...and some Moda Grunge... I got the idea from this post on IG...

However, before I get to that I think I'll try and finish up a project or two that is already started... I dragged out a bunch of plastic bins the other day and found at least 10 UFOs that I still like... maybe I'll try to get one old project done before I start a new one... LOL... I know me and that will only last a hot minute... 

So the upcoming week looks pretty open...no appointments or plans so far... I do need to work in my yard... my window boxes are desperately need attention... time to pull out the dead vinca and petunias and move on to pumpkins... I am still considering resin pumpkins... need to go to the hardware store and find something I could use to stake them so they wouldn't blow away... the upfront outlay will be more than real pumpkins but they would pay for themselves in 3 years...and as my son reminded me there would be no rotten goop to scoop out of the boxes come November... he has a point... 

Hope you are having a lovely weekend and that your week ahead will be productive... I have high hopes for mine!   I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today and spend some time there seeing what everyone else is up to...

happy stitching..

carol fun 

Bad blogger rambles on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - yes I have been a bad blogger... no real excuse, just unmotivated... lots of little things getting me down... aches and pains (it sucks to get old) ... the world in general (and isn't there a lot to be annoyed with there?)... but today I shall try to remedy the lack of posting with a little bit of this and that... and I will ramble a bit too...  oh if you do wonder where I am some days you can always check out my IG... carolfun53... I have put some stuff up there in the last couple of weeks... it is easy since I can do it all from my phone... the blog requires uploading and downloading and it doesn't happen as quickly as on my phone and the older I get the shorter my attention span... and it wasn't that long to begin with...

So it is August... too late for patriotic, too early for Fall... but I am longing for Fall... we've had over a week of 90 degree plus temperatures...ugh...  so many flowers to keep from dying...my water bill will be ENORMOUS!!!   But I put my red white and blue back in their plastic bins and got out some chicken stuff..  Here is the big shelfie...

lots of Pineberry Lane stuff... and until I started putting this together I hadn't noticed how much of it is stitched on very similar linen... 32 ct painted with Lemon Yellow and Apple Green Rit dye... at the top is my Prairie Schooler Garden ABC... I'm going to find a permanent location for it eventually... but right now I like it as part of a seasonal display.

And here is the other shelf unit...

Now that chicken block (from one of Lori Holt's books... as I remember Farm Girl Vintage... is new ... it makes use of the stand I re-discovered when I did the patriotic display... I want to use this more... it is nice to tuck some quilting in with the cross stitch and the knickknacks...  And the Welcome Summer piece from The Drawn Thread fits nicely at the bottom... I LOVE long narrow pieces so this gives me an idea for more display arrangement...  and on the bottom shelves at bit of Stitchin' with the Housewives... and  freebie from Pinker n Punkin Quilting & Stitching... and more Pineberry Lane... can you tell I like that primitive style... but done up in lighter colors... hey, you can not go wrong with yellow... don't let anyone tell you it is a difficult color... it isn't ... it is HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!!   And the good Lord knows we need more HAPPY in life...

On the quilting front I got the baby quilt back from the long armer... Delinda at  TheTShirtQuiltCompany did this one ... love the panto with the hearts and it shows up so nice on the minky back... it has been gifted and now my deadline projects are down to 1 item... the Christmas stocking which I will finish ASAP... I stating this publicly to remind myself that the deadline to get this finished for Christmas is Oct 1... 

And I got borders on the Acorn Quilt I started last year... it is at Delinda's waiting to be quilted...

And I put together this quick top... 

the panel from Kitty Corn... a charm pack of 5" squares and a bit of yardage... this is a small quilt and it can't be any bigger than this to fit where I want to hang it... I had to cut the panel down quite a bit... otherwise half of the cute Kitty would be hidden behind the yellow chest where I want to hang it... I'm thinking a spider web panto in beige... need to get it off to be quilted. 

As for crossstitch... I picked up A Needleworker's Sampler from the framer and I'm very happy with this one...

And I got the urge to do some Fall/Thanksgiving stitching and found this piece, Give Thanks from Threadworks Primitives... 

I dyed this piece a while ago... love the gold color... if you want a color that isn't straight out of the bottle go to the Rit Dye website... here... they have color formulas that you can use to make just about any color you want... look at the drop down menu... it give you an idea of how much you will need...now I never use as much water as they recommend but it does give me an idea of the proportions I need and I wing it from there. I have another Threadwork Primitives piece I want to do that also has a Thanksgiving vibe... you can see it here... and I think I have enough of that gold fabric left to stitch this one too... fingers crossed.

As for stuff around the house I've been watering like crazy and I'm so ready for Fall... my window boxes are quite pathetic looking... I want to rip out the fading vinca and petunias and geraniums and put in some pumpkins... maybe another week or so... thinking about fake pumpkins... think if I put some sort of stake in the bottom I could secure them so they wouldn't blow away... a bigger $ outlay right now but I could use them for years to come... and hopefully I could pick up a bargain at Hobby Lobby or Micheals... ideas ideas... 

So I think the hot weather is breaking... should get some rain today...yeah... I'm mulling over what things I want to get to once I have the stocking finished... several projects that are already started, both stitching and quilting , are interesting and of course several new projects....I can't wait for Fall weather... and Fall decorating... it is my favorite time of year... I always think things will be cooler by the first of September, but  the reality is it won't get Fall- ish till probably the end of September, but I know I won't be able to wait that long to pull out my pumpkins...

Hope things are well with you... I have my up days and my down days... been praying a lot for our country and the world... glad I have my hobbies to distract me for  a while... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts ... I think I might have some time today, to spend on the sunroom porch watching the birds and the squirrels and reading some blogs... that would be a nice  way to spend a Sunday afternoon...

happy stitching -

carol fun