Halloween decor and first world problems on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - well it was a week... and other than the afternoon I spent with Elliott and dinner out with friends I don't want to repeat any of  the rest of it ... I'll leave my bellyaching to the end of this screed... however it's the reason I have very little crafty stuff to share today... and yes all my issues are first world problems that I shouldn't let get to me...

Oh but I will comment on the weather... ooh ooh ooh Fall is here.. every year I want it to start in September and every year it doesn't show up till mid-October here in SW Ohio...but right now the trees are just starting to turn and I LOVE it!! We had a couple of hot days and as I write this they are gone... not going to crack 60 today for a high.... may even get a frost tonight... brrr... I went out  and bundled up the backflow valve on my sprinkler system just in case... and I cut a bunch of the dahlia blooms and made this bouquet.... this is the largest vase I have and all of these came from just one raised bed...

front...

back..

I may go back and cut some of the darker colored blooms... I debate whether to cover up what is there or just let Mother Nature take her due... and as of this moment I'm letting Mother Nature have her way... the beds are an overgrown mess ... I have been a very inattentive gardener this year... I'm going to try harder next year...  at least I'll try to try...

Like I said crafty stuff took a backseat this week to lots of running around and aggravation... oh and did I mention that my "resting up on Sunday" was for naught... woke up Monday morning with a head full of snot and coughing like I did 20 years in a coal mine... and I know that sound as my paternal grandfather had a black lung pension....yuck yuck yuck... felt so crummy I didn't even go work out with Anna... and in the 2 years I've been working out with her, I've only cancelled one other time... I have every intention of seeing her tomorrow. 

I didn't touch any cross stitch even though there is a pile of zippered pouches sitting right by my chair... nothing talked to me ... or perhaps my head was so stuffed up I didn't hear them... I worked on the socks I need to have finished by the 28th for a birthday gift... and they should have been done... but right when I got to the point to start the heel I found a lumpy, bumpy, I don't know what I did spot, about 3" back that I could not live with...so I unraveled it and re-knit it... just got past the heel turn and I've picked up the gusset so it should be finished this week. 

The week's aggravation and a gray day of rain, did send me to the basement to sew... now there is a Christmas quilt half cut out and a bunch of pieces just sitting there waiting to be sewn together but I ignored them... and I pulled out a plastic bin of my beloved Momo fabrics... and inside was not one but TWO Momo quilts I've started and left languishing ... and what to my wondering eyes did appear was a note... a note that told me what I was going to do with one of these projects ... OMG....

so I picked the hexagon one  with the Wonderland fabrics to play with ... now the note tells me that I used the Fons & Porter 60 degree triangle ruler which  is a very important detail, as I have at least a dozen triangle rulers and I swear no two are the same angle...but the Fons & Porter ruler, circa 1986, was not in the plastic bin... argh... so I looked for it, and looked for it, and looked for it... and then I remember that I had started another hexagon quilt using a jelly roll...imagine that... abandoning one project for another... I have no shame... and it happens again and again and again...sigh... but I found the other abandoned hexagon quilt ... it is with American Jane fabrics and ta-dah there was the Fons & Porter 60 degree triangle ruler! 

So here's where I got... this about 75% of one jelly roll ... I need to see how much of the design wall the whole jelly roll fills and I'll have a better idea if I can make this fit my double bed... now I don't need another double bed sized quilt... but I'd LOVE one out of this fabric... yes I would!!!

Like the note said , I'm  going to put that blue polka dot  fabric as the "points"... notice the Fons & Porter 60 degree triangle ruler... I'm not letting it out of my sight!

and I do think I'm going to include some solid hexagons too...  Like I said, I'm not sure how big this is going to get... I have another Wonderland jelly roll I can play with...and I love this collection... so 1970's... and sewing the hexagons is comfort sewing for me... I needed it... I'm planning on giving this more attention this week. 

(insert groan... I'll get to my annoyance with this week at the end of this post,  but this is another example of how things went... I just typed 2 lovely paragraphs and they have disappeared... I'm trying to adjust my attitude and be more positive but I'm not being very successful at the moment)

As for decor... outside Nick and I put out several Halloween inflatables...and inside I'm enjoying this display... 

Up top on the left side I have some interesting knickknacks... the ghost lights up and that giant haunted house plate was a marked down bargain from Target years ago... as for the cross stitch those are both Lizzie Kate pieces...I have a lot of Lizzie Kate Halloween stuff... the tombstone one has the year 2020 stitched into it... a year I don't ever want to repeat...

Over in the side another Lizzie Kate piece... ABC's Halloween...I painted this linen and I think it is one of the best pieces I've ever painted... it is so fun to do Halloween linen as you can use so many colors... Lemon Yellow, Tangerine, Apple Green and Hyacinth are the Rit dyes I used. 

Moving down... the little witch is from the Prairie Schooler No. 188 Trick or Treat... the pumpkin is from Teresa Kogut's  Happy Halloween book  and the  pumpkin headed gal is from With Thy Needle & Thread and is called Boo to You.... and the little Nevermore pillow tucked in with the pumpkins was a freebie from Lizzie Kate...

On the other side I have a Henn pottery pumpkin basket... I love the crackle finish on this ... and below there is Creepy Crawly Alphabet by Emily Call... I used a clock as the frame for this one...  and a bat from Bent Creek  but I can't remember the pattern... it had the bat, and a kid dressed up like a pirate and a Frankenstein... how can I remember that stuff and not what I had for lunch yesterday??

Over on the dining room table I have this pumpkin...who lights up and makes a creepy sound ... sitting on a table runner made with Sandy Gervais collection called Beggar's Night... and my newest Halloween knickknacks... those two little ghosts wearing glasses...soooooo cute....Nick bought them  for me at Walgreens when he was picking up a prescription... and he queried how they could wear glasses without noses or ears....hmmmmm......

And now for the bellyaching  portion of this post... you are certainly free to leave but I need to vent... so as I said previously,  my resting up on Sunday did not leave me refreshed on Monday... it left me with a head full of snot and cough and laryngitis... yuck... I just vegged on Monday because Tuesday morning I needed to take a family member to the oral surgeon. Now they had broken a tooth about 2 weeks prior and at the time the appointment was made they were in pain. That pain has subsided and now they weren't sure they wanted the tooth removed. They talked about cancelling the appointment which I warned against, as my experience has been if you cancel, it will hurt again... and it will hurt more... and it will be even harder to get an appointment. So they reluctantly went and said they weren't going to have it pulled. But the dentist convinced them otherwise and it was extracted. I took them home and went to the grocery to pick up a few items for them. The dentist office had called in a painkiller but the insurance company took their sweet time to approve it and by the time they did I had to be across town to watch Elliott. I planned on picking up the meds after I left Elliott... which was about 7:00pm... so I drove to the pharmacy ... only to find out that the dentist had sent it to a different Walgreens about 5 miles away...so I drove there...only to find out that they closed at 6:00 pm... ARGGGHHHH.... told family member to use ibuprofen for the pain but felt guilty that I wasn't able to get the really good pain meds for them. 

Got up early next morning to be at the correct pharmacy at 9:00am... secured the meds...took them to family member who informs me that  "it doesn't hurt anymore"...sigh... run back to my house as I have an appointment with an electrician some time between 10:00 and noon... outdoor electrical outlet that runs my landscape lighting and my inflatable wasn't working... the morning passes... noon comes and goes... at 12:45pm I call to inquire about my appointment... and was told I didn't have an appointment... WHAT??? However the gal answering my call put me on hold and after a bit came back and said they don't know what happened to my appointment but they'd have an electrician out within an hour... and 20 minutes later one showed up ...a very nice young man who fixed my issue... lights and inflatables work, although another issue cropped up and the landscape lights timer is off and I'm not sure how to re-set it... need to call Adam who installed it and see if he can walk me through re-setting it ... but think I should wait till after the time change at the first of November... arrgghhh time change!!!! 

So that was M/T/W... and the cold hung on... Thursday was okay... got my hair cut and colored... I enjoy talking to my stylist ...she just came back from a 2 week trip to Japan so lots to talk about... only downside was another couple who were there getting their hair done... husband and wife... both equally annoying.. lots of loud talking and talking over each other... I engaged in knowing looks with my stylist when I left... I feel for her since they were probably going to be there another hour... 

Friday got crazy... family member calls and asks if I can tell them how to take pictures on their phone... oh this isn't going to be easy... I explain that there is an icon that says "camera"... but they don't get it ... and they tell me they need to send the pictures to a plumber....ok... this is going to require on site instruction, so Nick and I drive to their house... Nick takes the pictures and sends them to the plumber... Nick explains what he did but it did not make sense to this family member.  The issue is the handle of one of the faucets in the bathroom broke off.  The family member wants to replace just the handle... the faucet is 41 years old...I tell them that  they do not make the faucet anymore much less just the handle... they are annoyed they can't get just the handle. Plumber also tells them that they can't match the color either... that goldtone/brass color so popular in the 1980's ... so a new faucet isn't going to match the other faucet in that bathroom.  Family member is more unhappy. I explain that I see 3 options.  ONE: Do nothing... it is a double sink bathroom and there is another sink right there. TWO: Replace the one faucet and ignore it doesn't match. No one but the family member is going to see it. THREE: Get both faucets replaced. They will match each other but not the rest of the goldtone fixtures in the bathroom.   Family member is notoriously cheap so I don't think this is going to fly. Nick and  I leave...family member is unhappy and I'm annoyed that they didn't believe me when I said that the 41 year old faucet couldn't be replaced but believed it when the plumber said the same thing. 

So now it is Saturday... I haven't gotten any feedback from the family member but I will be out at their house again on Sunday to get them groceries... I'll see if they made any decision.

Next week, and I'm almost afraid to say it, looks quiet... I have Anna and Elliott and a semi-annual dental cleaning... there are so many things I want to get done around the house ... need to give my closet  and other parts of my house a cleaning and take a bunch of stuff to donate... I need to do a new inventory of my yarn... I bought a couple more skeins of Opal yarn and I have a note telling me what I already own so I don't order the same one twice but it needs to be updated... I need to clean out the craft room upstairs... it has become a dumping ground for stuff I don't want to deal with...and it needs to be dealt with... and I have file drawer for important papers to save...and right above it is a drawer I have been chucking "important" papers into for months... need to go through it... and  if we get the frost they are calling for (and I'm not sure we will ) there will be dead plants I need to clean up... and I want to stitch and knit and sew... sigh...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... sitting out here on the sunroom porch right now and I can see myself spending a lot of time out here this week as the forecast is for sunny and mild ... need to settle on a cross stitch or a knitting project so I don't waste my day scrolling on the internet while I'm out here... oh and I had a totally out of the blue thought as I set the date and time for this to publish... October 18 is my parents wedding anniversary... if they were still alive they would have be in their 90's and married for 74 years... however, neither lived past 50... and the older I get the more I miss them and my brother and my Grandma... memory can be a blessing and a curse, can't it?

 Hope your week is a good one... 

happy stitching- 

carol fun 

Tired but trying to rest up on a Slow Sunday...

Hello- well it  started out as a pretty quiet week ...  and I thought I would be able to rest up but... right now I'm tired. 

Outside of my normal stuff (workout with Anna/ hangout with Elliott) I only had one doctor's appointment and one house stuff appointment... and those went well .  The yearly dermatologist visit was quick... and like my appointment with the eye doctor the conversation was more about my knee than what I came there for. The eye doctor wanted info as her husband needs a knee replacement and the dermatologist hadn't seen a scar like mine before and wanted to know all about it. I'm quite the novelty...LOL ... 

And then on Saturday things went sideways... with no prior warning the battery in my car died... arrghh... and since I was parked in a driveway, a safe place (but not my driveway)  AAA couldn't get to me for 2 1/2 hours.... arrghh... so I waited and waited and waited and waited... and when the repair guy arrived he confirmed the battery is 4 years old and  I needed a new one... but he didn't have one that would fit my car so the best he could do was jump start me and tell me to go to a AAA service center about 5 miles away... which I did. By this time it was almost 4:00 pm...they close at 5:00 pm and aren't open on Sunday... but they came through for me, got me a new battery and got me out before they closed... I left them a sterling review... I was afraid I was going to be out of luck until Monday and then I got to thinking, Monday is a national holiday... eeek... don't know what places would be open or closed...so glad for a happy ending. 

As for the house stuff, I'm planning a purchase that requires some work in the garage... I'll tell you more when I have it finalized... oh and I got a call on Thursday asking if it would be okay for the landscapers to come on Friday...yes yes yes....  I'll show you some before and after pictures next week...they were still mulching when I had to leave this Saturday before the battery issue  and it was dark  and rainy when I got back.

Now a 3 man crew tore out everything in just a couple of hours... it is amazing how much faster they can work than one old lady with bad knees and her son. The crew was so nice. They went above and beyond. Cleaned out the window boxes, pruned and shaped up the existing boxwoods, trimmed the low branches on my sidewalk trees  and even fixed the break in my drip irrigation... and the landscape looks soooooooo gooooood!!! I did have some second thoughts about this dramatic change, but I know when Spring rolls around I will be happy not to have so much to deal with.  There is still plenty of open space I can add stuff too, but I'm going to work real hard to keep the garden beds to a minimum amount of work. I'll still be able to play with my dahlias ... and to that end I'm already scouting out more exotic varieties to add ... it is so hard to resist flowers!!

As for crafty stuff, very little got done... I worked on a sock...and then remembered there is a pair I want to give as a birthday gift the end of the month and I hadn't started the 2nd sock...working on that now...

However I did get the Halloween decor out... and it took ALL day... I'm not moving as fast as I used to...big sigh...

I started with the wall quilt... with the only spider I want in my house....

this is my version of the pattern from Pen and Paper Patterns.  All the fabrics are Basic Grey Grunge... I love the lime green polka dot...

the googly eyes are glued on  and I love how they look down...

The tier tray...

up top is a Lizzie Kate piece... 

and below 2 pumpkin headed guys... the one on the left is from Prairie Schooler Trick or Treat and the one on the right is Sprout from Notforgotten Farms... 

and I love that pumpkin stack... a friend found it for me years ago at Homegoods...you don't often see yellow jack-o-lanterns and certainly not a stack of them... they light up too!

Over on the TV cabinet I have my October Hands On Designs calendar piece... 

and on this little tier tray  I have another snippet from Prairie Schooler Trick or Treat up top... and below Halloween is  from The Drawn Thread chart A Little Bit of Halloween...

And down in the center of the TV cabinet I have my little shrine to Frank....

I had never seen the Debbie Mumm Frankenstein cookie jar until I stumbled across it one day on eBay... and I had to have him... the stitched Frank is a snippet from Bent Creek ...

Over on the tier table by my front picture window I went with a witchy theme...

Up top I have a trio of witches from the Teresa Kogut chart Happy Halloween....

 And below I have another trio from Pineberry Lane ...     

     

Every year I drag my feet to get out the Halloween stuff... since this is only the 11th of the month I think I'm doing good. I so enjoy the Fall stuff I hate to put it away... and I really look forward to my Thanksgiving stuff... Thanksgiving gets short shrift ... people just jump ahead to Christmas...I wish there was more days between Thanksgiving and Christmas...I know tomorrow October 12 is Canadian Thanksgiving, which gives more time till Christmas, but then it conflicts with the Halloween stuff...and thinking about this now, I'm pretty sure I should just be happy with the way things are here in the US... thinking gets me into trouble sometimes...LOL

Now that I'm home from the battery issue, I'm pooped... it was stressful and I've gotten up early the last 4 days this to deal with the house and the landscape stuff...nevertheless,  in between the battery issue Chris was able to come and help and we got a certain family member their weekly groceries and I changed their Dexcom... so Sunday is a free day for me....yeah!!  

Prayers for all dealing with hurricane Isaias... we are getting the remnants of it today (Sunday)... that should water in all my new plants quite nicely... and now that my drip irrigation is fixed I can run it later in the week if needed. 

The week ahead looks crazy busy... I have some place I have to be every day... Monday/Anna, Tuesday/ take family member to dentist consultation and later Elliott, Wednesday/annual check up for me  and dinner out with friends, Thursday/haircut, Friday/follow up with knee surgeon and then next Sunday a birthday party to attend... not sure what crafty stuff I'll get to... I should FFO some seasonal pieces but the mood has to move me... and it hasn't yet... 

I haven't touched my sewing machine in weeks... and while I should think about Christmas stuff I may move onto  stuff I want done by January... as I type this I'm just tired... perhaps tomorrow after hopefully a good night's sleep I'll feel more energetic. I know Annie sings the sun will come out tomorrow... but she wasn't talking about this particular tomorrow... its gonna be drab and rainy... gotta wait till Monday for that...LOL

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts... I hope your week and my week goes smoothly ...

happy stitching-

carol fun 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... 

Running around on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello -- well let's see how this plays out. I'm typing this on Saturday morning... and three times now I've tried to upload pictures... and so far ... nothing nada zip... fingers crossed they appear sometime before I hit publish... so let's start with the stuff that doesn't have pictures...

 Edited to add: the pictures did appear... it took them 3 hours to arrive but they have arrived... 

They roofers came back on Thursday to fix the gutter stuff... supervisor calls me bright and early on Thursday 7:00 AM to tell me they are coming but he doesn't know what time... ummm... that isn't real helpful... they show up at 2:00pm and they are still working at 9:00pm....but I don't know how, as the sun set at 7:15pm....now there is a outdoor spotlight over my garage door and a street light on the corner but I don't know how they could see what they were doing...and I was concerned someone would fall and get hurt... the job is supposed to be inspected on Monday... oh and they sent me the bill for the project last Monday morning... obviously not paying until the job is complete...sheesh...

Moving on to the landscape project... met with the designer, Anna, on Thursday... she had a complete drawing of the layout and all the plants labelled and pictures of them... and she really did listen to me!!

Lots of perennials for color ...but low maintenance and deer resistant... and there is still room in the design if I want to tuck a few things in later... I signed the contract and I'm hoping they can start SOON... she said they had some openings in their schedule and she'd let me know... the sooner the better as far as I'm concerned.  The yard is a total mess right now and I have no motivation to fix it... I want to see a clean slate... then some new plantings... the total reveal will be in the Spring. It will be a much more cohesive look which will shock my neighbors...LOL

Insert more annoyance at blogger... I just typed 2 paragraphs that disappeared... trying again...

Lots and lots of running around this week... the dental issues of a certain family member consumed my Monday and Tuesday and still didn't get resolved... hopefully the appointment scheduled for the middle of the month will fix it. Wednesday I went to lunch with my quilty lady friends and we celebrated mine and Laurey's birthday with this yummy treat...

There was chocolate mousse between the layer of cake... sooooo good!!

Thursday was a blur...I was in and out of the house on different errands all day long... first the landscape appointment, back to the house, then breakfast with Nick, then back to the house, a beard trim appointment for Nick, stop at the grocery and then back to the house... and out to dinner with a friend, back to the house, took Nick for ice cream and back to the house where I couldn't put my car in the garage because the roofers were still here... 

Friday was quieter... thank goodness... it rained and it was overcast  and I was pooped... I did manage to get my act together and meet some friends for dinner... we have regular every other week thing going ... that was nice. 

So now it is Saturday... the sun is shining and the weather guys are saying we've turned the corner to Fall... the 10 day forecast has no temp higher than 75 and no rain... good weather if the landscape company want to come, right??

As for crafty stuff, this week I didn't touch my sewing machine... instead I knitted and cross stitched... I finished a pair of socks...

two different yet similar Opal yarns alternated every row... the knitted mitered square project is in time out... the square I'm working on is giving me fits and something else shiny caught my eye.... I stumbled on to this while scrolling IG... you can see some finished projects of this design  here ....

and this is very intriguing... I have a nice stash of Lori Holt Chunky Thread...

And here's a good look at (what I think is) all  the colors available...you know I LOVE hexies ...and what I like about this pattern is you only have to choose 2 colors at a time... long time ago I started a granny square project with this yarn but you had to chose 4 colors for each square and it was more than my little pea brain wanted to do... so I only made one square...

I'm hoping to play with the hexie project this week...

I grabbed the  closest plastic zipper bag  that was sitting by my stitching chair and gave it a nice amount of attention... this is A Cheerful Heart by Shakespeare's Peddler...

now the cover picture  shows hardly any contrast between the linen and the berries along the side... but I'm using all the called for threads and the linen I painted... and I'm happy that you can see the berries and the line of stitches in the middle of the alphabet... there was a lot of mindless, don't have to count too much stitching and that suited me as I watched a bunch of YouTube videos.

And then this arrived in my mailbox... Halloween Celebration by Primrose Cottage... I had a heck of a time finding this pattern a week or so ago...everyone was sold out... looks like it is back is stock now...

anyway... my plan is to do several of the rows as little skinny pillows... and to that end I started one...

Isn't it cute??  This is a scrap of linen I painted a while ago... and so far I've used a different orange for each pumpkin... and I picked a different green and purple than what was called for... and since this scrap is small I'm only doing like 3/4ths of the row.  They will be nice to tuck into my displays... and speaking of displays... well this is all I've gotten done...

this is my back hallway ... the entrance everybody uses... I love the Debbie Mumm Halloween panel... and I wonder how old that is?... she started designing fabric in the early 1990's... and she is reported to have sold over 44 million yards of fabric!!! I can attest that is a true statement,  because there are yards and yards and yards and yards and yards and yards of her fabric in my basement...LOL

This upcoming week looks quiet...shhhh... I have my regular stuff, work out with Anna and pick up Elliott from school... but other than that just one appointment... dermatology... scheduled a year ago... not my favorite appointment but I'm too pale and grew up thinking baby oil was a great tanning product... so I get checked out... I'd like to get the Halloween stuff out and maybe a bit of sewing... we'll see what pans out... 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... I need to run and get groceries for a certain family member and then the afternoon is free... Nick's making meat sauce and penne for dinner... .always tasty... 

I hope your week has great weather and plenty of time to do the things you want to do!!!

happy stitching-

carol fun

Circling back around on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well it was another week when things didn't happen the way they were planned, and now me and some others are circling back around... it started right off the bat on Monday. The company who installed my new windows several years ago were coming back to replace a window that doesn't seal all the way. This was the 2nd time they were dealing with this same window... and... now they will be coming back a 3rd time because again, the window doesn't seal. Now this is through no fault of mine. They are the ones measuring and manufacturing and installing.  It is all covered by warranty so it doesn't cost me anything but I am getting a bit annoyed that they will be circling back around in 6-8 weeks. I'd like this particular window to seal tightly before the weather changes again...

And speaking of weather, the week started out very rainy but as of Friday it has been GORGEOUS!! Sunny, no humidity, high temperatures only in the 70's... I'm typing this as I'm sitting on the sunroom porch with all the windows open... this is my idea of PERFECT weather!! 

But backing up... remember how I said I'm always worried that projects around my little house tend to go awry... well that's what happened Wednesday when they came to install the new downspouts, gutters and gutter guards.  The roofing crew was under the mistaken idea that the gutter guards that were on the house were staying... they aren't... the new gutters are wider than the old gutters... but they nailed the edge shingles in such a way that the gutter crew couldn't get the old covers off... argh...so right now they are all the old gutter guards are bent up at a 90 degree angle, awaiting the roofing crew to circle back around and fix the problem... the supervisor apologized profusely and I'm on the schedule for them to come back this Thursday, weather permitting... and as of today there is rain in the forecast for Thursday... so we shall see how this plays out...

Dealing with these house issues gets me all discombobulated as I want things done but I don't have any way to make them be done... sigh... so I tried to distract myself with some knitting... I'm really liking these knitted mitered squares... and I got two completed this week and I've started a third... 

The first one I did is on the right... pretty in pink...  and the second one is on the left..

and the second gave me fits....

now I love how the colors blend... but you see those ends on the right... that is where the little skein ran out... it was a factory wound one with an Opal ball band... I didn't weigh it prior to opening it up and it is labeled 10 grams... but I suspect is was underweight...  I had some other yarn in my stash that matches pretty well but I wasn't happy with having to stop and go searching and then circling back. I will be weighing before I begin  from here on... now the skein that is a loose hank is from my Advent calendar last year and  I've knitted one square with it and there was plenty of yarn...so I'll be knitting more with these.  This is a great project for my short attention span... just about the time I'm to the end, I've gotten a bit bored with the colorway, and I look forward to starting a new one... which is what I plan on doing after I finish this post.

I hardly picked up my needle to cross stitch... maybe I'll do more this week... 

What I did do  was a lot of sewing... I finished this quilt top...

this is the Baklava pattern from the  It's Sew Emma Simply Jelly Rolls book and the fabrics are left over Ruby Star Merry Happy from the quilt top I did the week before...  I took both of the Merry Happy quilt tops up to Delinda on Thursday so I should get them back in plenty of time for Christmas giving... and I'm so proud of me... I even went ahead and made the bindings for both so I can get right to it when they return. 

Oh I added fussy cut cornerstones to the pattern... in my opinion it is easier to assemble the blocks using cornerstones instead of one looooong strip of fabric... and I also get the chance to tuck in some cute stuff like this little mushroom...

So since my design wall was empty  I rummaged through the plastic bins in the root cellar and found this project I had barely started last year around Christmas.  The fabrics are a Fancy That Design House Collection called Olde World Yuletide... 

this a GORGEOUS collection IMHO... the deep blues and the dark browns are so rich looking...  and some fabrics have a touch of gold metallic!

Well I had found another free pattern from Moonkin Stitchery... this one is called Rock Climb and it only takes a layer cake... no extra fabric needed... you can see the video here... anyway I started cutting up my layer cake and I messed it up ...big time... I had 6 pieces stacked was suppose to cut a piece 4.5" and I cut it 4"... arghh... no way to fix that... so I put it aside ... ordered another layer cake... and then Christmas came and the motivation to work on it went... but I'm really liking  it now...

there are 6 blocks here... and this is by no means where these blocks will end up at... but it's looking good.  And I got a surprise when I opened up this plastic bin... not only were there layer cakes and a note about the pattern in the bin, there was also a FQ bundle of this collection... what?? Not sure why I bought it but I do LOVE it so now I need to come up with a good pattern for it... 

Oh and if you are a fan of Fancy That Design House like I am check out the collection for next Christmas... you can see it here... it is called Twinkle & Tinsel... OMG... I want both of the panels and a FQ bundle and the tea towels... I want it ALL!!  I'll be anxiously awaiting this release in May/June 2027.

With the cooler Fall-like temperatures I'm enjoying my Fall decor...  here's the big shelf unit that I get to look at from my living room stitching chair...

Up top is a Bent Creek piece called All in a Row... and I'm in love with those little mushroom candles... picked them up last year at Micheals. Moving down the Blackbird Design's Harvest of Frienship...

 

I framed Primrose Cottage's  Autumn Quaker... 

and to the right I have 3 little pillows from Prairie Schooler No. 164  and Barbara Ana's Autumn. 

I really like this little group in of white ceramic pumpkins and Calico Confectionary's Fall Most of All.

and last but not least (and probably one of the first seasonal pieces I ever stitched) Lizzie Kate's Autumn Alphabet. 

I have plans to get the Halloween stuff out the end of this week ... not making any guarantees how the week will go. I have to call the dentist first thing Monday morning as a family member broke a tooth... hopefully I can get them an appointment quickly. I have my time to work out with Anna on Monday but if it conflicts with the dentist she's really good at working me in later in the week. Tuesday is my Elliott day... I will receive more education on numbers and Minecraft...LOL.. Wednesday I'm doing lunch with my quilty lady friends...we are celebrating my birthday and Laurey's birthday... Thursday I have a 10am appointment to meet with the gal from the landscaping company. I'd love to get this project started... and Thursday evening I'm doing my monthly dinner with another friend. Friday is suspiciously empty... I feel I've forgotten something... 

I looked ahead to see how many days till Christmas... 89 days... seems like a lot but I know it will fly by.. the days always do ... I watched an interesting post on X with a woman who was 88 years old. She talked about wanting to make them most of the time she has left on this earth... she looked to be in great physical shape, was going a trip to Turkey and described her outlook on life as frenetic... and I get it... so much I want to do, but while the spirit is willing the body doesn't always accommodate... my left knee is doing fine, but for several days this week my right ankle was hurting... I think I tweaked my Achilles tendon so I put on a compression sock and babied it... it's feeling better but it makes me mad... I seem to have no control over when body parts decide to act up ... 

Well I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts... I'm loving my time out here on the sunroom porch... forecast for the next several days is PERFECT... hope I can spend more time out here... knitting, stitching, watching the birds, napping... it's a great life... LOL

Hope your week is a great one too!!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Reflection and rambling on a Slow Sunday...

Hello-- well all in all it was a quieter, less hectic week than I've had in a while...there were a couple of things that went squirrelly but I got them worked out. I even had a day where I didn't leave the house all day!!!   Don't remember the last time that happened... but I sure enjoyed it!  This post got really looooooong ... lots of reflection and rambling... just a head's up... 

I had plans for starting some new cross stitch on my birthday but instead opted for napping  and putting a few stitches in this sampler... A Cheerful Heart by Shakespeare's Peddler... and I was perfectly happy with that decision.

I also spent some time reflecting on stuff I've done and want to do and life in general... I'll go into that later in this post... first let's talk about what  crafty stuff I did this week...

I decided to stick with the knitted mitered squares... that is portable and I like watching the striping in each square develop. Here's the one I finished this week...

there's a section in this one... crimson and gray... which gave me Ohio State vibes...LOL... and as soon as that one was done I started another square... very pink!

We had 3 days of 90 degree weather... too hot for me... so I retreated to my underground lair AKA my sewing studio and worked on not one but TWO quilt tops!! First is this one... my modified layout of the Weathered Whimsey pattern from Moonkin Stitchery using the FQ bundle of Merry Happy by Ruby Star... 

And  here are a couple of my favorite blocks ... I love the egg ornament!

This top is 80" square... I'm envisioning a quilting panto with peppermint sticks... I vaguely remember Delinda used a panto like that on a Christmas quilt I did a while ago... 

And because I had a FQ bundle and I had already cut about 99% of it into 2.5" strips I felt obligated to do something with them... yeah, yeah,  I remember I said I didn't want to make a second quilt out of this collection, but then I tell myself a  lot of things that I don't agree with later. ..LOL... sooooo... this book was sitting on my cutting table...  Simply Jelly Rolls by Sew Emma...

and as I was paging through it this pattern caught my eye...Baklava... all the patterns have food names, don't ask me why...

 anyway here's where I am so far... there will be 4 blocks across and 4 blocks down...

this one should be about 72" square... it is an easy pattern, that I can see me making again cause I got a whole lotta jelly rolls in my stash...

And I got the binding on one of the finished quilts languishing in the basement... this is the vintage Debbie Mumm Halloween panel...

Isn't this panto super?? the only kind of spiders and spiderwebs I like....LOL

Delinda .... The T-Shirt Quilt Company.... has so many cool panto designs... and while I drop my stuff off and pick them up she does a ton of mail order business too. 

As for decor here's some more of what I have scattered about the house....I took this pic across the room accidentally and I like it... it makes the room seem bigger than it is...LOL

On the wall I have one of my favorite quilts... and I truly mean that... it started with a panel of those 6 birds and I was determined to use all of them in the quilt... and I filled everything in with crazy pieced blocks  using lots of collections of Sandy Gervais' wonderful Fall fabrics... you know when people say if there was a fire or other calamity and you had to grab stuff and leave what would you take?  This quilt is the one I would want to take... birds and Fall stuff... both favorites with me!!

I got out a different tier tray stand... this one came from Target a couple of years ago... and I managed to get  quite a bit of cross stitch on it... 

Up top I have a Lizzie Kate piece from the chart Seasons...(oh I just saw you can get this pattern as PDF on 123Stitch... how cool is that?) 

... and next to it one of the Garden Fairies by Prairie Schooler... I did this on 40 ct... not sure how I saw it but it was 10 years ago... younger eyes... LOL... anyway I got the chart individually but now you can get all 5 in one chart... Prairie Schooler No. 210... Prairie Fairies...ooooh.. I love the rhyme!!

Below I have more Lizzie Kate....Lizzie Kate Autumn ABC's (and this one is also available as a PDF)... and two little leaf pillows which are snippets from the Bent Creek Autumn Soapbox pattern that I showed last week. 

Over on the TV cabinet I have this little vignette... I love this pumpkin because it is skinny so it takes up less space when I have to put it away.... and it has a bird on it!  I need to go back to Hobby Lobby and get another one of those cute wheelbarrows... I as I recall it came in orange and silver ... and I like tucking a little cross stitch pillow in them... in this case a piece from Pineberry Lane's chart Cats & Jacks,

 

Over on my tier table I have some cute scarecrow figurines that Nick bought for me and a companion piece from Cats & Jacks... and below the Lizzie Kate  Autumn String. 

The rest of this is my reflection and ramblings... you can skip if you'd like... I'm just trying to put my thoughts in order... 

I had a lovely dinner last Monday night for my birthday at Texas de Brazil...(a suggestion... go on a week night, not a weekend... way less crowded and spectacular service) ... it is one of those places where they walk around with meat and serve you at your table... the salad bar is fabulous.... and so are the desserts... I had a citrus creme brulee...so yummy... and I got to spend some quality time with my boys... the icing on the proverbial cake.  And as I contemplate my 73 trips around the sun I'm reflecting on the good things that have happened in my life and thinking about what I want to do with how ever many years more the good Lord gives me... I have no plans to toddle off this mortal coil any time soon... I hope to live as long as my grandmothers... they were in their 80s... I've already surpassed the life spans of my immediate family...my parents both passed before they were 50 and my brother was only 62... but I know I have less years before me than behind me.  The last month or so I've been concentrating on getting the house in the best shape I can. The new roof has a 45 year warranty... I have no illusions I'll be around for that but hopefully Nick will.. The furnace and AC unit are only 4 years old ... the water heater is 11 years old but I know who to call when it dies.... and I made a decision about the yard.  I want everything that is now growing (except for the tree-form hydrangea and a dogwood bush) cleared out. I want a landscape that is primarily low maintenance shrubs and perennials... something I won't have to spend a lot of time on and neither will Nick when I'm gone. To that end I talked with 2 different landscape companies... I hope to hear back from them in a week or so as to cost (this is gonna be pricey) and a new layout.  Something less crazy than what I've had in past years. 

I've thought about whether I need to curtail some of the activities in my life... and I'm ready to reduce my gardening time... I'll play with the 6 raised beds and the patio planters but that's enough. As for crafty stuff, well that is harder to figure out. Realistically I know I don't need another quilt or another sampler or another pair of socks or another knitted or crochet afghan... but I still want them... and my little house is getting stuffed... so I'm going to be doing a modified form of the Döstädning... the Swedish Death Cleaning... clearing out unnecessary belongings so your family does not have to do it later. Some people frame this as looking at an object and deciding if they bring you joy... ummm...that't not gonna work for me as almost ALL my stuff brings me joy... that's why I have it...so I'm trying to embrace another tactic... ask whether it supports the life you actually want... I can definitely let go of some decor items and some fabric and some card crafting stuff and some jewelry making stuff ...and I have some ideas where to pass it off. 

And yes I will still collect stuff but I'm working hard on if something comes into the house, something has to leave.  The plan is one room at a time... gonna start in my bedroom and go through my closet and dresser and the under the bed boxes which have more sheets in them than I will ever use. Then I think I'll work on the kitchen... I have a ton of Fiestaware... I think I have place setting for like 20 people...and my dining room table seats FOUR... do I really need 6 large platters and 8 large serving bowls... probably not. 

My goal for the  my next trip around the sun is to be more mindful of what I'm doing... I tend to bounce around like a BB in a box car (my sainted Father's description of me)...there are plenty of projects that need to be finished up and I want to give them more attention... and this may be my biggest gift to me ... I want to give myself more peace and grace... I'm the quintessential Type A... ADHD... go go go person ... which is why that 6 weeks of being confined to my house with a fractured tibial plateau was a prison sentence to me...I do find myself enjoying being home all day ... I LOVE my little house!! So  I want to spend some time sitting quietly and enjoying it... a bit of stitching or knitting or crocheting in my hand and a cup of tea on the side table... now I still want to come here every week and show a little crafty stuff and some decor... and kvetch about the weather and the time change (oh it's coming, you thought I forgot?? never!!)... so I hope you'll join me ...

Circling back... next week isn't real crazy... I need to get back home Monday after working out to let the guy in with the replacement window... that's been months in the making...Elliott will brighten my day on Tuesday...  hoping to see Delinda this week and pick up a quilt and drop off one... a monthly dinner with a sweet friend ... and take a certain family member out to dinner another night. The weather is trending in the right direction for me... highs in the 70's, lows in the 50's... turn off the AC open the windows and air the house out!!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... hope your week ahead is a good one!!

happy stitching-

carol fun