A little of this and a little of that on a Slow Sunday Stitching...

 Hello - well I had every intention of posting here last week but life intervened... I got sick last Friday... the erpping, messed up bowels,  achy all over kinda sick...and it hung on ... Friday, Saturday, Sunday and even a bit Monday... I willed myself to feel better by Tuesday since that's my day to watch Elliott ... and I felt okay ... not great... not energetic ... but he wasn't a problem... he kept himself occupied with a Phillips head screwdriver,  un- anssembling several toys and the extension table on my Janome sewing machine... nothing was irrevocably damaged and I put most of the stuff back together so he can take it apart again this Tuesday. 

I did have a couple of productive spells in the last couple of weeks to offset the days where I got absolutely accomplished... so let's talk about some things I did do...

I got a couple of new Fall -ish cross stitch pieces done and I got some Fall decorating done too.  I started out on the porch... the weather's been nice and I LOVE sitting out there, stitching and watching the birds at my feeders and napping... its a great spot for napping...LOL

I have a squirrel theme out here this year...that large tree on the green linen is an older piece by Barbara Ana Designs... and the newest cross stitch  is these adorable squirrels from Brenda Gervais... Autumn's Acorn Gathering... I stitched them on 32 ct that I painted with Lemon Yellow, Tangerine and Apple Green Rit dyes.  I love that these critters are dressed up ... that necktie kills me!

Another piece I got totally finished is this one from Calico Confectionery called Fall Most of All... you can see it here.... I love the colors in this piece and the sentiment... I DO love Fall most of all!!

I dyed this linen too and I think it is the first time I did a fairly neutral piece... don't know why it hadn't occurred to me before... mostly I think about dyeing a painting linen as a way to get more colorful stuff, but this works great for this piece... and I got creative with the frame too... this was in my stash of frames... yes along with a stash of fabric, yarn, thread, linen, floss I have a stash of frames... mostly I pick them up when they are marked down and this had a sticker saying $4.25.... it looked like this before I painted it...

It is a lot brighter in real life... kinda screaming yellow... and it was very slick and shiny... I probably should have sanded a bit before I started... and as I began I thought it was going to need a couple of coats of paint... but then I twisted my foam paint brush as I was laying on the paint and ooooooohhhh.... I like this!

More of it got covered than I anticipated... but I still like the end results.  I'm going to use this piece in my large shelf display.

In the living room I went with my Pumpkins quilt from Cluck Cluck Sew on the wall and my latest Fall quilt, Jelly Roll Whirl... 

I LOVE all my Fall decor ...and I have a TON of Fall stuff... you can see a little video I did of what how the decorating process started here... now for all of you who are thinking I do this all on my own, think again... I could not do it without the help of my younger son, Nick, hauling stuff up and down the steps... I store all the decor items in the basement and the quilts on the second floor, so everything has to be moved up and down... I guess I could do it on my own, but I'd have to half unload every bin, get it up or down the stairs and then go back for the other half... and it would take FOREVER... and that is just the logistics of the process... it takes me a day or two or three to get everything arranged... I work for a while ... then I sit and admire what I've done... then I end up moving things around ... and the process repeats  itself till my knees scream "enough"... I'm always amazed how many steps I take when decorating... I can walk a mile and never leave my living room!

I'll show you more of what I've done in my next post...

As for quilting I finally got all the blocks together on this quilt...

The pattern is French Vanilla from the book Perfect 10 Quilts, and the fabrics are from the collection Cheer & Merriment by Fancy That Designs.  I love the palette of this collection... the muted reds, the aqua, the deep teal, olive green and that brassy gold fabric... LOVE IT!! I bought a FQ pack so I have enough to make a second quilt with this line... and I will!!   Now I will admit that using the gold fabric with the snowflakes does make this a busy quilt... maybe too busy... but I'm re-defining busy to mean "sparkly".... very  very SPARKLY!!!    I still need to get the borders on it... my goal for today.

As for the gardening... well feeling puny and  not watering stuff for about 5 days took a toll on several spots... I ended up tearing out ALL the marigolds... I think this is the earliest I've ever done that... and I cleaned out the short zinnias around the bases of my 4 trees.. I'm okay with it... it gave me a head start on the clean up  I'll have to do with the whole yard... there is still a METRIC TON of vegetation that will have to be pulled up and stuffed in lawn waste bags ... as it is I filled about 7 so far. 

Luckily the dahlias hung on for me... I did have lot of spent blooms I needed to cut ...and the wind and the deer broke a couple of my really tall plants... insert frowny face... but I do still have some gorgeous blooms...

I love how showy dahlias are and how they come into their prime in late summer when other flowers are getting a bit faded... this year they have bloomed every where I planted them. Now I really should have pinched and staked them better... I'll work on that next year... and the garden centers are full of chrysanthemums .... and I also LOVE mums!   I picked up a couple and I'm going to go back today for a couple more... this first one is a color I have never seen before... the tag called it apricot but it is truly a beige color... and it was so pretty I bought 2 big plants....

And my lady pot that my son gifted me for Mother's Day  got a new do....

and the pyramid is sporting one pot of  petunias and a couple of mums...

Well I hope that you are feeling fine... I have high hopes for this upcoming week... want to get some stitching and some sewing and some knitting and some gardening  into my week. and they all look like possibilities at the moment.   I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and check out what everyone else it up to... doing a dim sum lunch with my family today... and then I want to hit Joanns and see if I can find a wide back for that French Vanilla quilt and I'll be driving past one of my favorite garden centers so I think I'll stop and pick up a couple more mums...  why do I think after all of that I'm going to need a nap??  More big plans...LOL

happy stitching-

carol fun \

 

Squirrels on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello ... Hope you are all doing well... things here are ... squirrelly... literally and figuratively... LOL.. 

Oh I had lots of plans to sew but that didn't materialize. In the last 3 weeks, 2 of my 3 sewing machines have decided they've had enough of me and quit working. Now in their defense they are both at least 25 years old and have seen a LOT of sewing.  When the first machine, #1 of my beloved Jukis started with a glitchy foot pedal I was able to baby it for a while. But then it stopped working all together. It is currently at the repair shop but they are projecting 6 weeks out before I can get it back... I do hope they can fix it but I have some doubts. 

So I switched to my back up Juki... which is even older than my #1 Juki... and after a few days it no longer wants to pick up the bobbin thread... arrgghh... I'm not in the mood to take another machine to be repaired... so I switched to my 3rd machine... an older Janome... and it works fine ... but it isn't a Juki... it is slooooooooow....and every time I go to back stitch my right hand instinctively reaches for the lever on the right side of the machine... and it isn't there... 

What to do? What to do?  I know this is a first world problem... I'm blessed to own so many sewing machines... don't judge... I come from a family that believes having 3 cars is no where near enough vehicles for even one person... when my brother passed he owned over 45 cars... and sewing machines are waaay cheaper than cars...LOL ... So to remedy my situation I went online and purchased a brand new Juki!! 

Oh and along with dealing with getting a new machine, Dan my handyman was finally done with a year long renovation project he's been doing and had time to come and take care of a few things for me. He repainted the bathroom... I think this is the 4th time its been painted in 9 years due to repairs being made to the ceiling & tile work... and yes I have no idea what that has to do with sewing machines... but getting back to where I was headed, I decided I wanted a TV in my basement sewing studio (oh I do like the word studio... sounds so fancy...LOL)... and Dan installed it yesterday... its one of those new fangled ones that picks up all my streaming channels...here's the view from my chair...

Ordered it late on Tuesday and it arrived on Friday... got it all set up ... and I have a quilt all cut out and ready to go.. but it isn't any of one of the projects I spoke of 3 weeks ago... a shiny "squirrel" of a Halloween project caught my eye... 2 x 4 blocks done is Halloween fabrics, of which I have a LOT... Here's a couple of blocks ...

you can find the pattern here, a free tutorial by Film in the Fridge... I've made this pattern before using ALL yellows... its on my bed as I type this... I really like this version as the pieces and blocks are bigger and you have more space to show off novelty prints... some of my favorite fabrics. 

As for other squirrely things going on here... I've been spending lots of time watering the garden... I was given a Deer Park Beautification Award again this year by my little town... so I feel obligated to keep things looking nice... click here to see a video I made walking around the yard... but it is that time of year when it is getting harder. Petunias have said adios as are some zinnas... the small low ones are getting crispy and the tall ones have powdery mildew...sigh...  And while I'm watering I'm looking at all these plants and thinking...you are all gonna die and I'm going to have to clean out all these beds... arghhh... and I will need to do it as soon as I can, because I have 2 outdoor projects... some additional landscape lighting and having the shutters repainted  that can't be done till the beds are cleaned up... 

The dahlias are looking good.. hopefully they'll hang in there through September. I'm cutting several every day and bringing them inside to enjoy.

On the decorating scene...well it's too late for patriotic and too early for Fall... so I'm doing one of my favorite fill ins.... CHICKENS!!!   Here's some pics of what I've done... definite American Jane/Lori Holt vibes in the quilts... I do like the mix of AJ fabrics with Lori Holt patterns. 

The featured wall quilt and tier tray...

The tier tray...

A cute tin toy... the chicken peck and spin...

and a toy rubber chicken from the Target Dollar spot... I couldn't resist the party hat and polka dot sweater...

The large display shelves...

Lots of Pineberry Lane and some getting to be vintage Debbie Mumm ceramic ware. 

The small display shelves... 

 And I tucked in cut fresh flowers from my garden  in those pretty little yellow vases!

The new cross stitch additions are:

The Queen's Garden by The Scarlet House... I really love the little bees and the pompom trim

A freebie from Pinker n Punkin Quilting & Stitching called Summer Chicks,.. you can see it here.  

And check out her postage stamp Autumn SAL... you can see it here... soooo cute... I wanna stitch this too!!

And more from the cross stitch front there is an actual squirrel... this one from WTN&T Autumn's Acorn Gathering...

I'm almost done with him and I have fabric painted for his partner.

I did finish one square from Fragments in Time by Summer House Stitche Workes...excuse the wrinkles... not going to try to take another pic as I'm having difficulties getting these to post as it is.... grrr...

and there's a small start on the second one. I'll be ignoring this for a while till I get the Fall stuff stitched... trying to set aside maybe one evening a week to concentrate on sampler stitching so I can finish up this one and some others I've started. 

Well as I'm writing this on Saturday afternoon we've just had a glorious rain storm... came down in buckets... more on the radar so probably no watering for Sunday either... yeah!! I do enjoy sitting on my sunroom porch when it is raining... very peaceful... and the Lord knows I can use a little more peace... current events have not contributed to a sense of calm, now have they?

Anyway... the week ahead looks pleasant. Dinner with friends on Monday night... watching Elliott on Tuesday... he's all into coming to Grandma's house... every Tuesday he's sitting on their front stoop waiting for me to come and get him. I think having the TV downstairs will be nice for him too... I may get a bit more sewing done ... win-win... 

Well I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts... always pretty things to see there. I hope things are well in your world and that you have time to stitch and quilt and knit and crochet and do all the FUN stuff... 

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Additions for the "to do" list on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello... where does the time go??  My sainted Grandma told me time goes quicker the older you get... damn she was right... and yet the faster it goes, the slower I seem to be moving.  So many many things I want to do... I have quite a lengthy "to do" list... but some days I just can't get together the energy and the motivation to do them. Somehow sitting on the porch and watching the birds at my feeders while nodding off for a nap has been a regular activity lately. 

I've done a little sewing... got this top together... 

the fabrics are a couple of collections from Urban Chiks and the border is Deer Christmas... deer... on yellow... simply irresistble! 

And can I mention that I really like taking a picture of this top in front of my shelf units... the lighting is better in this spot... gotta figure out a way to put up some sort of clothesline that I could clip a top to. Here I used big Clover binding clips and attached them to the top... they held really well... it was up there for several days and never came loose. I'm thinking that Ikea has a wire clothesline set up that might work....hmmmm... need to go shopping and then figure out how Dan the handyman could mount it... I'll put that on my "to do." list .. oh sorry for that tangent....

Anyway,  I even got the binding made for it while watching Elliott ... I got him a toy tool box... with a hammer, screwdriver, wrench and "working" drill... kept him busy all day...

I think I've said this before but there is a engineer inside that child desperately trying to get out.

Now I have 2 more Christmas quilts in the works and another one popped up on my radar a week ago... Letter to Santa QAL... here's a link to the info... you make a couple of words a week... I haven't started yet but I did decide I want to use turquoise blue,  Pool Grunge, for the background and use red, green, pink and white fabrics for the words... not going to make it as big as the example... I think a throw size would be good... and another project for the "to do" list... 

I've been doing a bit of cross stitch... I finished this piece that I started last year...The Queen's Garden by The Scarlett House.

I LOVE that green background... its more  vivid IRL... and I'm adding my spin on the bees were charted...they were BIG FAT bees... done over 1 thread... not my kind of stitching... so I thought about getting some buttons that looked like bees... and in my search I stumbled on these adorable little polymer clay slices...

look closely... the have little smiley faces!! 

 Here's a link to the etsy shop I got them at... I'm going to glue them on after I get this FFO'd... I'm thinking of doing a little pillow... with some chenille trim... cause I bought a boatload of chenille trim... 

Since I finished the stitching on that one, I picked back up Fall Most of All by Calico Confectionery... you can find the pattern here.   I LOVE the colors on this and I do LOVE FALL MOST OF ALL... 

This is warmer IRL...  I may have miscounted on that basket... but I ain't froggin it... I just need to count off the bottom band from the border instead. Hope to finish it this week..

Meanwhile, the other afternoon while sitting on the porch, nodding off now and again, and wandering around the internet I stumbled upon this year's edition of Fragments of Time by Summer House Stitch Workes... It is called the Susquehanna Valley Sampler... I lived in the Susquehanna Valley for 3 years in the early 1980... and I HAD TO HAVE this!!! 

Okay, let me back up a bit so this makes more sense... back in 2016  I stitched the 2015 edition .... here's my completed sampler...

There are 8 separate charts... and  a complimentary chart is provided on Barbara's website for the border and the dividing bands.  The linen I used on this has a definite yellowy orangey glow and according to what I wrote back in '16 I did this on 36 ct Edinburgh... hmmm... looking at it I thought it was 32 ct... probably because I used 2 strands over two threads... 36 ct isn't my usual choice... hmmmm... another tangent I wandered off to..

Here are the 6 charts that are currently available... the last two are being released at the Fall Needlework Expo...

And what made me HAVE TO HAVE the 2022 version is the border and dividing bands... do you see the alphabet running through the center???  I LOVE IT!!  

Here's a link to the complimentary border chart. I ordered the called for linen, 32 ct Straw by Weeks and the called for flosses... they should get here Monday... I may overdye the linen to add my touch to it or dye something else... gotta see it before I can decide. I'm itching to start this even though I have plenty of other samplers languishing in plastic project bags I should attend to first... but I won't...  I love the horizontal orientation of this sampler  and having 8 separate sections makes me feel like I'm accomplishing a lot more as I go along... and yes that is all a figment of my imagination but it makes me happy!! And add another project for the "to do" list.... see how it keeps growing???

Oh and I did one more small patriotic piece before I packed everything away...

Colonel Sammy by Notforgotten Farms... a freebie... go to her blog  here., and scroll back to May 10 ... 32 ct Lemon Yellow Rit dye... brightened up the flosses and added chenille trim... it was nice to use one of the dozen or so color I have... made me feel virtuous...LOL

Now I am taking care of all the flowers in the yard... because... well ... I paid for it, I planted it, I weeded it and I need to water it so it doesn't die... and while I'm watering I contemplate how did there get to be sooooooo many flowers???  Right now my house looks like it is going to be swallowed up by the flowers....

Looking at the side of the house from the driveway which is the view I see most often...

Moving around just a bit and stepping back for the wide shot...

Continuing around the house... corner view... see how I have 2 front yards....

Now to the address front yard...

Stepping back for  a wider shot...

See what I mean???  I've come to the conclusion that I have jumped the shark... there may be ... just may be... too many flowers... but there's nothing I can do about it now... maybe next year I won't plant as many thing.... ROFLMAO... who am I kidding?  If there is a pretty plant at the garden center... or a blank spot in my garden beds... I'll be spending money on plants.  The zinnias are doing great right now... saw this butterfly enjoying one...

and the marigolds which were slow to start are busting out of the bed...

The dahlias are just beginning to put on a show... here's a couple of my favs so far ...

but lots of plants haven't bloomed yet... more surprises to come!

Mother Nature has given me high temps for days on end and then a couple of days of rain here and there and as I'm writing this on Saturday she's on her best behavior... low 80's and more importantly low humidity... Forecast of some rain overnight which would mean I could skip watering ... yeah!!! 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts... lots to see there... next week is looking good ... no appointments... I like being home when it is my choice... Don't tell me what I SHOULD DO, cause I'm not gonna want to do it!!  I could go off on a righteous rant about the media circus on Dr. Birx's revelations about the "vaccines" but I should keep my BP down... so instead I'll go eat some chocolate...

Hope everything is going well in your little part of the world... I'll be here trying to get some of things on my list done... and thinking of things to add to it...

happy stitching-

carol fun