Less drama means more craftyness on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well last week was for the most part, better than the 2 weeks previous... Monday had a rough start... took family member to 2 medical appointments... now said family member needs to take the meds prescribed and eat... something they weren't doing before... as of now they seem to be following the doctor's orders and on Wednesday appeared improved... hope this continues...

As there was less drama and trauma this week I actually had a couple of afternoons to indulge in crafty stuff... which made me happy!  I'm still in a patriotic groove where cross stitch is concerned...

I finished Heart in Hand Liberty House... a petite patriotic sampler...Fat

and I stitched up this little flag... it measures 2" high by 3" wide... 

it is on a piece of 18 ct Aida I found in my stash... I like the color but oh it was so soft... I don't like soft fabrics for stitching... anyway I think it turned out  well... as you can tell I like doing smyrna crosses... which is a good thing as there are 247 Smyrna crosses in this little piece!

Then on Wednesday I turned my attention to another patriotic chart that I love...Prairie Schooler No. 8  American Primitive... this was a unicorn chart for me for many years... the copyright is 1985... which means it is the same age as my older son... 41 years old... sheesh... where does the time go??  I stitched the Double Eagle Sampler from this chart back in '24. 

And I always planned to stitch all the other pieces from this chart... so I dyed up some linen with Evening Blue Rit dye and grabbed my favorite patriotic DMC flosses and got to work... here's how far I am on Uncle Sam...

I outlined his hair and jacket so now I can stitch and watch the Olympics at the same time... after he's down I want to do Lady Liberty and then the donkey and the elephant... I love how timeless Prairie Schooler designs are... and how comforting they are to stitch.

Friday I worked out early with Anna, came home and ate lunch and went down to my sewing room... haven't done that in eons... I wanted to sew up the first block in the FQS's Sewcialites 3 QAL... you can read all about it here... the plan is to release one block every Friday from now till the middle of August. You can make the blocks 3" or 6" or 9"... I'm doing the 9" size ... and I'm going to make it scrappy with Lori Holt fabrics... here's my first block...

I haven't made an Ohio Star block in a long long long time... but I think it came out pretty good... and it will be fun to use a lot of different fabrics in this quilt. I have a sizeable stash of Lori Holt fabrics so I'll have lots of variety. I like using a lot of her more "novelty" prints... in this block I fussy cut the little typewriters in the center and paired them with the little yellow tulip print... yellow tulips are my favorite flower... unfortunately they are also a favorite snack of the deer in my neighborhood so I don't grow them... I just like to sew with them and buy them at the grocery store... LOL

Well the Sewcialites block went together fairly quickly and I looked around my messy sewing studio and decided I should work on a project that was already started... and had been hanging around for quite a while... I started this in 2020... the pattern is Fresh As a Daisy... you can find it here... and then it languished in a plastic bin when it briefly saw the light of day in 2024 only to return to hibernation... and then re-emerged again about this time last year... and now I'm calling it done! When I started this I planned on making it big enough to fit my full size bed... my plans have been downsized and now it is going to be a lovely throw size quilt...

I really like those setting triangles being a different fabric... it makes a nice frame for the blocks IMHO... here's a couple of close up of the blocks... 

some daisies are monochromatic and some are scrappy ... there are so many American Jane fabrics that I love! I found fabric for a border on this site, American Jane, which is run by Sandy Klop's husband. They have a lot of inventory of older collections Sandy designed... I hope to get these blocks sewn together this weekend... cause next week is gonna be busy, busy, BUSY...

I have  at least one appointment to attend to every day next week... some days have multiple things going on... I'm tired just thinking about it... last week had some lovely weather... but it was a faux Spring... and I knew it...we all knew it... things changed yesterday and while there were 50's on Friday, as of Sunday we are back to typical winter weather... temps in the 30's... but there is hope on the horizon that by the end of the week we will see 50 again... the first day of Spring isn't till March 20...got a couple of weeks to go... I popped into Costco last week and one location did have a small rack of dahlias... but they were pretty picked over... I was only able to find 3 varieties I wanted. The lady at the front desk said more are coming and she was correct... this is what greeted me at Costco on Saturday...

four GIANT racks of flora and fauna goodness... there were elephant ears, caladiums,  begonias, astilbe, peonies, calla lilies, cannas,  asiatic lilies and my favorite DAHLIAS!!! I got there about noon and I will be that these were just put out that morning... oh I had so much fun... Nick looked all over the racks and I think we got 2 bags of every variety of dahlias that they put out...and some elephant ears and cannas... 26 bags in total... Nick called my cart the Mother Lode...LOL

I am so HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!! I know I have to wait till mid to late May to plant them but they are now sitting on the shelves in my garage, waiting more patiently than me, for their time to shine!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... need to go grocery shopping and hit the pharmacy for the family member ... and then I hope by the time I get back home I won't be worn out so maybe I can sew or stitch a bit... hope your week is just how you like it!!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Some patriotic puttering on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well the last week wasn't as dramatic and traumatic as the previous one... but it had had its moments.  A lot of my physical and mental energy has been channelled to help the family member in need... and it is frustrating... said family member expresses that they don't want to be a burden... but in the current situation they are a burden and a worry... and at the moment my son and I don't see a way to change things and said family member is unwilling to change things ... but we know they will change... and we are just waiting with a knot in our stomach.... sigh...

Well at least the weather has improved... we are having a "faux" Spring... sunny days with temps in the 50's and even 60's... I will enjoy them as I know it will only last about a week and then Winter will return from wherever it was... it ain't done with us yet.

Needless to say from my reading my first paragraph you have surmised that I haven't done a lot of crafty stuff this week... I did finish that final band on the Erica Michaels God Bless America...

this is as big as it is going to get. Not sure if I put buttons in each of those open motifs... I think I have a gold star button that I'd like to put in the middle and that may be how I complete it... gotta find the button...

And I could have picked back up Primrose Cottage American Sampler... but I didn't ... instead I whacked off the linen that was at the bottom of God Bless America and I started this sampler.... Liberty House by Heart in Hand...

now this was a small kit ... there are some cute little triangular buttons to put in that space under q and r and above the w...

 I ditched the linen that was in the kit and substituted DMC for the called for flosses.... I like it on the blue linen better than the beige that was included. This little kit has been aging and maturing in my stash for a looooooong time... the inventory sticker on the kit is dated May of 2002... I purchased it at Twisted Threads in Maderia/Cincinnati Ohio and that shop has been out of business for a looooong time... it was and still is my favorite cross stitch shop... was so  sad to see it close.  Anyway just have to fill in the windows and the flag and add those little triangular buttons and it is done.

I've gotten a bunch of emails this week showing the new stuff coming out at the Needlework Market the beginning of March... lots of wonderful patriotic pieces and samplers that I like... so far I've got a list with charts from Teresa Kogut, Theresa Venette/Kitten Stitcher and Brenda Gervais/With Thy Needle and Thread... and I've been reminding myself that I don't have to purchase all of them right away... they will be available for quite a while... but it certainly is fun to get them as soon as they are released... patience is not a virtue I possess a lot of ... 

Did you have a nice Valentine's Day?  With the happenings of the last 2 weeks I did not get out my Valentine's decorations... just wasn't feeling it... but I did get a lovely Valentine card from Elliott... he calls me Grandma Carol...

and some lovely flowers from my boys...

and I treated myself to a box of that toffee that I got at Christmas from a friend... it was delicious!!

As for next week... 2 doctor appointments for the family member... and an appointment for me to get my teeth cleaned... and hopefully I can work in 2 sessions with Anna... good for my physical and mental health. 

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

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Some whining on a Slow Sunday...

Hello- well this is going to be short on craftyness and long on whining... just so you know. 

It has been a heck of a week... it started last Sunday afternoon when a family member (who I have a very complicated relationship with) suffered a medical emergency that came exceedingly close to being a fatality. They were taken to the hospital by the EMTs and stayed a couple of days... but not nearly long enough in my humble opinion. They were sent home with a new medical device which is supposed to  help the situation but in fact is causing an immense amount of frustration and anxiety.  And while I am no doctor, nor did I stay in a Holiday Inn Express anytime recently, I feel the pharmaceutical regime they were sent home with isn't adequate. I would bet big bucks that when I take this family member back to their primary on the 16th there will be a significant change in the dosages. 

Add to this it snowed twice this week... the first event had every school in the area closing ... and the snow turned out to be a big nothing burger...not the 3 to 5 inches that was predicted but only about an inch of the white stuff and it melted on contact with the road.  Elliott did enjoy his snow day ... he told his mother that it was okay because he taught himself at home... and he did ... he spent the day playing with his numberblocks and watching videos which explained negative numbers and prime numbers... remember... he's 6... the other day I watched videos with him for funnsies that talked about fractions.... my head hurt... LOL... and the he came home from school last week  mad at his teacher. We assumed he had been disciplined for some improper behavior but his beef was his teacher wouldn't teach him more about negative numbers... I don't think that math level appears anywhere in the state mandated first grade curriculum. 

The second snow was not nice... and I ended up out in it trying to take the aforementioned family member to a doctors appointment. It took me twice as long to get to their house than normal and the doctor's office was another 20 minutes away if it was a good day... as it wasn't critical to do this office visits, I decided the appointment could be rescheduled.  I haven't had to drive in weather like that for a long long long time... but I quickly remembered how much I dislike driving in that kind of weather. 

Needless to say the entire week has left me physically and emotionally exhausted. Oh and did I mention that my favorite heating pad, the one that wraps around your neck and shoulders that would have been immensely helpful dealing with all the knotted muscles in my neck die?  And I can't find an identical one anywhere on the web?   That was the topper to my week... sigh... and sigh again. 

So,  I only picked up my needle once or twice and the extent of what I got stitched are the two little bands under the words "Land that I Love"... this is God Bless America by Erica Michaels...

I want to add the wider band that has the buttons to the bottom... you can see that tiny start on the right hand side. 

Well the sun is shining today even though it is bitterly cold... we haven't gotten about freezing in over a week. However there is a forecast of mid -forties for Tuesday... oh I hope that's right... the snow has turned to concrete and the piles I see in parking lots aren't going to melt till April the way things are going. 

I'm going to help said family member with some grocery shopping today and then try to relax a bit... have plans to meet friends for dinner on Monday evening. Don't want to skip my workouts with Anna on Monday or Wednesday... so far there is nothing else on my calendar for the week but I'm sure something will come up. 

I did go and read a bunch of blogs this week as that was all I was mentally capable of... saw several people working on Blackbird Designs and I'm getting a hankering to pick back up one of my many many Blackbird Designs WIPs ... that maybe the change of pace I need.

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts with my puny productivity today ... there's always inspiration there which makes me smile... I hope your week ahead is without drama... calm, peaceful, serene... taking deep breaths now...

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Snow issues and stitching on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well we are surviving the snowmaggedon... well as humans we are ... as garden chickens maybe not so much...LOL... 

We got about 10 inches....Dan and his crew came Monday afternoon and cleared my driveway and the sidewalks... I didn't leave the house till Tuesday ... my day to pick up Elliott from school and hang out with him ... his school district closed for only one day... lots of other districts were closed for 3 or more days... my son only got one day off of work but he and Elliott thoroughly enjoyed the time off.

I had big plans for piles of productivity... they did not materialize... there is something about the presence of snow that makes me sleepy ... and crave carbs... so I did a prodigious amount of napping broken only by the need to seek out brownies and cheese danishes...sigh

There were plumbing issues on Tues/Wed... my kitchen faucet is on an outside wall and as I've mentioned before there is no insulation in the walls of my 1953 home... just brick over cinder block... had I realized the implications of this when I was renovating the house 11 years ago I would have had the contractor install insulation in the kitchen walls... but that ship has sailed... so I've been keeping the water dripping and that has kept the water running... BUT... the water in the drain froze and the sink would not drain... arghh... called my favorite plumber but they were swamped with work so they referred me to another local plumber... the plumber who had cleared this same drain of gunk 2 years ago... (and this is one of the reasons I talk about everyday stuff on this blog... I was able to go back and figure out that it was 2 years ago I had a problem with this same drain)... anyway by the time the plumber got here on Wednesday the drain had thawed... he told me to run more than a drip and to keep the water hot... (my water heater is turned up on high so that's not an issue)... so far everything is running and draining... so along with the astronomical gas bill I'll be getting next month,  my water bill will be hefty too... but I figure that is better than dealing with frozen pipes. 

oh sorry I wandered off there... as for crafty productivity I concentrated on cross stitching as it is easier to doze off with a needle in one's hand versus falling asleep at one's sewing machine... I contemplated starting something new but that would have required me to extract my butt from my comfy stitching chair and find some linen and flosses... instead I picked back up a couple of patriotic pieces I started last year... and I FINISHED one!!!

This is American Sampler House by Annie Beez....

now I made the house yellow instead of the white it was charted in ... and I left off the border on the right hand side as I wasn't going to have enough fabric on that side .... an error in counting made at the very beginning... I have a frame coming from Amazon tomorrow that I think will be perfect for this piece.

After completing that project I turned my attention to American Sampler by Primrose Cottage... 

that house took a while to fill in... I'll do the windows in a bit but I really want to move down and start some of the alphabet... 

I circled back to the 2026 Blessing sampler... Alpha-bits by Wild-Heart Designs and settled on doing the hearts below the O in simple cross stitch... the heart shaped buttons I had were too big, as were the heart shaped beads I ordered....I'm good with this ... now to get my butt in gear and get this to the framer... 

Here's how I decorated the little telephone nook in the hallway... some stitchery from WTN&T Snowball booklet... knickknacks from Johanna Parker ... and the Snowy String from Lizzie Kate.

On one hand it seems like January has been 1000 days long ...on the other hand it has blown by and February is here... I want to get out my Valentine's day stuff ... there isn't a lot but it looks pretty on the TV cabinet.. a task for today... I'll get Nick to bring up what I need. 

Forecast for the next 10 days only has one day getting above freezing... brrrrr... not a lot on my calendar which is fine with me... I was going to get another of the PRP, plasma rich/stem cell shots in my left knee... but, and here's where my dithering about life on this blog helped me out again, I read what I wrote when I got the shot before... they had a devil of a time even getting my blood (I'm a hard stick) and for over a week after the shot my knee hurt worse than before and you can't use NSAIDs  for 6 weeks afterwards... Tylenol doesn't cut it for me... I need ibuprofen or naproxen...and right now I've got the pain under control with them...I'll just tough it out this way until I can get my knee replaced which right now I'm planning on doing in July.

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... I hope that wherever you are the weather is to your liking... I have had my fill of snow and freezing temperatures but I doubt my feelings have any effect on Mother Nature... 

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Pondering planting and productivity on a SNOWY Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well as I sit here on Saturday morning I swear I can hear the shark theme from Jaws playing somewhere... Snowmaggedon is imminent here in southwest Ohio... I know by the time you read this many many many of you will have been impacted by this winter storm and I hope that you are okay. Right now we are forecast to get a foot ... or maybe a bit more... of the white death... arghhh... I'll be fine... I have no where I need to go till mid-week and even that isn't vital... I have plenty of food in the fridge and plenty of projects to work on... I just worry about all the people who have to go out in this mess and the people in areas of the US that just don't normally  have to deal with  this kind of weather... I've lived all over the US and spent several winters in NE Pennsylvania... that was wicked weather... at this moment I'd bet big bucks that no school in this area will be open on Monday and lots won't open for days... and many businesses won't be open early in the week either... and while I'm already hoping that the snow that hasn't even fallen, melts quickly, the long range forecast is for frigid temperatures for at least a week more... sigh...

It is no wonder that I've spent lots of time pondering what I want to plant in my garden this year?  I've been looking online at lots of places that sell dahlia tubers ... but I haven't ordered any... yet... I'm chomping at the bit to see what Costco is going to get in. I've seen 2 YouTube videos where people have already seen the dahlia tubers in their store but they were on the west coast... I checked the blog and last year they didn't show up in Ohio till late February.  My plan for my raised beds this year will require LOTS and LOTS of tubers... I found this guy...   dahliamandrew    ... WOW... go look at the videos on his IG... he plants his tubers 6" apart versus the 12" to 18" I've always been told about... my raised beds are 3' wide and 6' long... right now I'm thinking of doing 3 long rows in each bed and putting at least a dozen tubers in each row... so 36 tubers per raised bed... and I have 4 beds  where I want to do this... so that's 144 tubers ... now I did dig up what I planted last year so some of them may be viable for this year... and I'll still need some more tubers to plant in the other parts of the yard... because you can never have too many flowers... or too much fabric... or yarn... or floss... or linen... or charts... or... well you get the picture.

 Speaking of floss and linen and charts... I'm calling my Blessings Sampler Alphabits finished!!

It measures 34" in length...  Here's some closer pics...

I went back and fixed my errors under the Q and I did find the heart shaped shell buttons I thought about putting under the O... but they are too big... so I ordered some smaller beads that should come on Wednesday... not sure what I'm going to work on next... I got out my bag of patriotic charts the other day as an IG post of a beautiful  Teresa Kogut piece was posted and I couldn't remember if I had the chart or not... update... I did have it... it is a whole book called Hello America and the pic I saw was of the cover piece... and check out 123Stitch... there are lots of cute patriotic charts from Teresa... 

And I saw where someone else finished stitching this one by WTN&T... Liberty House... it has been in my stash for a looooong time... 

I'm pondering how to spend my time here at home the next couple of days in the most productive way possible... do I finish up some projects that have been languishing?... or do I start something new?... what I don't want to do is fritter my time away watching videos online and doom scrolling IG... which will probably happen...here and there... sigh

As for snowman decor which is so appropriate this week... here's my small shelf display...

Up top I have this gorgeous snowman cookie jar that Nick found for me in a thrift shop and the Lizzie Kate's Winter Alphabet. 

And to the left is a cute little sled shelf filled with more snowmen...

Below there is a little cross stitch and my collection of snowman heads... just the head...LOL

In the middle is The Drawn Thread's Welcome Winter... and mine looks totally different from the model since I stitched it on that turquoise linen... 

And I have a little snowman from WTN&T...Holiday Hoopla... I like him in the little tin frame.. I left off the stocking cap he had on the chart and added some snowflakes as I like my snowmen wintery not Christmasy...

On the other side I have Alfred by Heart in Hand... he's cute and my Dad's middle name was Alfred...

That bottom shelf could definitely use some cross stitch pieces... perhaps I could use my time this week to FFO a couple of the snowmen I have already stitched up... that would be productive...

Good thing I got my running around done last week... the ortho doc confirmed I need a total knee replacement for my left knee...I'll do that this summer... trying  to coordinate with Chris and the vacations they have planned... they  want to do a Florida trip this year... they were supposed to do it over a year ago but it got cancelled when Chris started his current job as a county magistrate... I'm thinking July would be a good time to do the surgery as my garden will all be planted by then and with the drip irrigation and the sprinklers there isn't as much to deal with.

So I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... and I'll say a prayer for all of you who are in the grips of this snowstorm... I hope you are safe and warm inside with a nice project to work on...and remember there are 53 days till the Vernal Equinox... gotta be hopeful.. 

happy stitching-

carol fun 

A lot of Debbie Mumm and some misbehaving cross stitch on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - so how was your week?  I don't know why I start every week thinking "oh it's not too busy"... and then it is very busy... all I can surmise is that I lie to myself... a lot... LOL  Last week had me out of the house to attend to an appointment or a lunch or a dinner or taking someone  somewhere every single day. Usually Saturday and Sundays are calmer but as soon as I'm done writing this (on Saturday) I'm off to a birthday party for my older son... he's 41 today... and I'm 31 years older than that... sheesh. 

Anyway all that running around was tiring... so when I did get back to my comfy stitching chair not much happened... and my fatigue was both physical and mental... don't know how many of you followed Scott Adams... he first came to prominence as the creator of the Dilbert cartoon... and later developed as a best selling author of many books that offered a new way to look at one's life. I've been watching his podcast every day since Covid... 10 am sharp with a simultaneous sip ...he always provided a new view of the happenings in the world. Last May he was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. He tried several different treatments but passed away last Tuesday morning... he continued to post a video podcast every day... right up to the day he died. Although I never met him in person I felt he was  a good friend... I spent hours and hours listening to his podcasts and I've read several of his books. Right now I'm re-read "Reframe your Brain: The User Interface for Happiness and Success". Chapter 3 is particularly pertinent at this time as it deals with mental health reframes... and this one hits home:

Usual frame: Death is a tragedy. Death is the end of this person.

Reframe: The deceased has no more problems and energy can change form but it never disappears.

There's a lot to think about there... and I did a lot of thinking about it this week.

Switching gears... I am so happy that I got out my snowman decor... so much Debbie Mumm and Prairie Schooler stuff  which always makes me feel good. Starting off with the quilt on the wall...

this is my version of the Suburbs quilt by Cluck Cluck Sew ....  I call my quilt Mummvile and every house is different and every fabric is a Debbie Mumm ... it was so fun to pick out the perfect door for each house... and I love the panto that Delinda used... it's called West Wind as I recall... 

and the tier tray has the Snow Day chart from Prairie Schooler No. 177 January and lots of Debbie Mumm figurines ...

and it sits on top of another Debbie Mumm quilt... don't remember where I found that snowflake block pattern but the quilt is approaching vintage as I machine quilted it myself...and I haven't any machine quilted anything bigger than a table runner in over 10 years... 

and on the other end is a Debbie Mumm snowman cookie jar atop a stack of quilts all done in Debbie Mumm fabrics...

and there's a laundry cart full of quilts all made with Debbie Mumm fabrics ... okay there is one in there that isn't a Debbie Mumm but I needed it to fill the cart... 

On my dining table I have a tray of Prairie Schooler Snowmen sitting atop a table runner made with Debbie Mumm fabrics... 

and by now you can see how smitten I am and always have been with Debbie Mumm stuff... she was the first designer I ever fan girled ... and I have tons of her fabrics and I have a bunch of the plates she designed... and some teapots ... and knickknacks and I'm up to 4 of her cookie jars... eBay is a blessing and a curse as I can find stuff there that I wished I bought when they first came out... got in trouble this month with 2 "new" to me cookie jars... one was in the original box and in pristine shape the other came cracked with a chunk of out it and I'm still dealing with the seller... this guy put the cookie jar in a box he gerry-rigged together with packing tape... the only padding he put around the jar was a brown paper bag... that's it... no bubble wrap, no packing peanuts ... just a single brown paper bag... and when the package arrived it appeared that something had been dropped on it...so far the only suggestion for a remedy to this situation is to send back the cookie jar... but I'm suppose to package it so it arrives in the same shape I got it... which would require me to go get some bubble wrap or packing peanuts and a solid shipping box... which would take time and energy along with some cash that I don't want to expend... I countered with give me half of my payment back and we'll call it done... the breakage is in the back of the piece so I can still use it as a decoration but not a cookie jar... he's ignored me for a couple of days so it is time to poke him again. 

Anyway... I didn't get a lot of stitching done this week as I was tired and a bit down...and then my Alpha-bits piece misbehaved... I had finished the letter M last week ...halfway done... and the letter N was fine but starting with the letter O the wheels fell off... first I had a heck of a time getting the stitch count right on the letter it's symmetrical but I couldn't seem to make it symmetrical... and then I got completely annoyed with the Rhodes Hearts that are charted under the letter O... I got the first one correct but after a few, a couple. several ...no lots of tries I could not get the next heart stitched correctly or in the right place... grrrrr....

At this juncture I decided this piece is like a timed multiple choice test... and you have to move on when you don't know the answer.. 

the P went fine which gave me false hope that I was back on track.. the Q...  it isn't symmetrical and I couldn't get it to meet up ... took 5 tries, arghhh... and then there was that rather simple looking back stitched motif...  I know it is hard to see... there are 5 of them... and on closer inspection 3 have an error in them... grrrrr again... I'll go back and fix them when I'm in a better mood... moved onto the R...  good thing is I still have time to finish this... today is only the 18th... 13 days left in January and 8 letters left...

Right now I think I may replace those Rhodes hearts with some shell/mother of pearl buttons I have that are heart shaped...gotta find where I put them... 

So I put the Alpha-bit piece in time out and started a new project... this is January Prairie Schooler No. 177... 

years ago I collected every one of the Prairie Schooler months charts and wanted to stitch ALL of them... so far I've done July and November and March ... I started April but I'm not liking the linen I chose so I need to start it over some day. Here, I'm using 32 ct Opalescent Wichelt ... sparkly like snow...

not a big start but any stitch is one more than I had before... and it was a nice well behaving piece of stitching.

Now I am not going to say that next week looks calm ... cause it doesn't... it looks busy busy busy... I have 2 appointments on Monday, one to work out and another to see a surgeon about my knee... it is now bone on bone... replacement is going to be necessary and I want to do it this summer... Tuesday I taking Nick to meet a friend for lunch and afterwards I have Elliott, Wednesday my quilty lady friends are doing lunch and then coming back to my house and I'm taking a family member to dinner that evening... Thursday I have my monthly haircut and color appointment and I'm not missing that ... and Friday I'm going up to see Delinda and pick up a quilt and hopefully have something to drop off... I found all the blocks from a quilt I started last year... I packed them away with each row pinned together and labelled a color picture of what the layout was... I have no recollection of putting it away like this but I'm sure glad I did as it is an indication that there's a lot of stuff I don't remember what I planned to do with them... LOL

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today ... I hope to have a quiet day to recharge before the week kicks into high gear...I hope that your week ahead is only as busy as you want it to be!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

A bit of snowy decor on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - well it took alllllll day last Sunday... but I got the Christmas stuff put away... I'd work a little and then sit down for a bit... work a bit more... ice my knees... put some more stuff in bins... sit down and doze off ... get up and pack up more stuff... sit down again and realize I'm getting too old for this ... I'm definitely going to have to attend to my knees this year.... even a double dose of naproxen wasn't enough... I'm sooooo not looking forward to a knee replacement (maybe even both... sigh)... but I don't know how much more of I want to put up with. And I hate that it will mean that I won't be able to watch Elliott for a while... not sure when would be the best time to do this... probably during Summer vacation ... he gets out of school at the end of May. And the weather is nicer so I wouldn't have to be as concerned about getting to physical therapy...  I know who I'd like to do the surgery... he's been recommended by 3 people... 2 who had both of their knees replaced ... and a friend who is a surgical closer who works with lots of ortho guys and she highly recommended him. So tomorrow I'll  talk  with the ortho person I see (she doesn't do surgery) and get the ball rolling. 

After the Christmas stuff got put away Nick brought out the snowman stuff... it took me Monday and Tuesday to get it all put out... now I operated much the way I did on Sunday... do a little, rest a little, do a little, rest a little... but I didn't do it all day either day... didn't feel real good either Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday... not just my knees but some digestive issues... Friday had me finally feeling "normal"... I'm glad the decorating is done for a while... 1st day of Spring isn't till March 20 and Easter is April 5... I'll be wanting to see my Spring stuff by then... right now I'm spending way too much time looking at seed catalogs and dahlia tubers and pining for Spring... boy are dahlia tubers pricey this year... I looked back on this blog and last year I got a bag of 8 at Costco for $14... that's  a steal... I assume they will go up again but hopefully not as much as the online nurseries... I think I'll hold off on ordering online until I see what I can pick up at Costco. Last year I was able to find them at the end of February... 

Anyway where was I?  Oh snowman decorations... here's some of what I did... the sunroom porch...the view from my chair...

this was the first spot I did as the weather until Saturday has been wonderful... I was able to sit out there and enjoy the sun several days... we had temps in the mid 60's... in January!!! Not typical but so nice... it will be more "seasonal" this week... 10 day forecast has lots of days with high's only in the 30's... brrr... but no snow... so I'll take that...LOL...like I have a choice...sheesh...

Up top I have Snow Day  by WTN&T... this is old... I stitched it in 2012 and didn't get it framed until 2018...talk about procrastination... I couldn't find this anywhere but eBay and they wanted $65 for the chart... wow!  I'm not sure if I still have a copy of the pattern... probably not... back then I didn't think about saving patterns once they were stitched... I had no idea they'd become OOP and people would pay big bucks for them... live and learn...

middle and bottom... lots of snowmen and snow stuff and a cute house from Melisa of Pinkernpunkin Quilting... this was called Aunt Dot's Saltbox... she stitched it in pink but you know I have a thing for yellow houses... I'd love to add another wintery house to this display  and her Winter Saltbox would be a great one to stitch... and I'd change the house from blue to yellow, naturally... I love the addition of a snowman and the cardinals on these pieces... gotta get some 16 ct Aida painted....

Oh and I put some knickknacks on the window ledge on the sunroom porch... love those little felt birds... and I'm not sure why I haven't put more stuff on this ledge... I want all the decorating space I can get!!

Inside I've got my tier table full of little Hallmark snowmen... all the ones on top are from the Mitford series... got these back in 1999-2003 when they first came out... 

In the middle  of TV cabinet I have a little display of primarily Prairie Schoolers and one snowman (the one in the star) from Teresa Kogut... 

and up top on the TV cabinet ... this snowman is one Nick found for me in a thrift shop... so cute ... and the little sampler is ABC Bonhomme De Neige...

As for crafty productivity... I concentrated on the Alpha-bits Blessing Sampler and I've made great progress...this is where I was on Saturday... half way finished!

It is a nice piece to work on ... the letters are easy to stitch and then the dividing decorative bands make you pay attention... some stitches are definitely easier than others ... I want this done ASAP as I have a burning desire to stitch something "snowy"... either a snowman or a house ... now if I actually FFO'd any of the stuff I showed last week I'd have some new snowy stuff to add ... but I didn't have the energy to work on them... maybe this week... maybe...

I have a full Monday, work out early (early for me...LOL) with Anna, then an appointment with ortho, and dinner with friends. Tuesday is my day to pick up Elliott from school and spend time with him till his parents get home. Wednesday I usually take a certain family member to lunch or dinner. Thursday Nick has a dental appointment. Friday there's nothing so far. Saturday is Chris' 41th birthday... we will celebrate sometime this weekend. I already have his gift ... the newest big Lego house... he teases that he's 40 and his mommy still buys him Legoes... and I do!

I'm hoping that on Monday I can get a cortisone shot in my right knee... and see if I want to sign up to get another PRP shot in my left knee... I got some relief last time but not 6 months worth... and the other night I somehow managed to injure myself while sitting in my recliner... what?? I moved the wrong way and something got pinched inside my knee and boy did it hurt... sheesh...

I hope your upcoming week is a good one... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... Nick is making dinner for us so my plans are for some stitching and taking it easy... 

happy stitching-

carol fun