Banishing bunnies and breaking out birds on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well I am happy with myself as I planned to do a project or two and I actually did them!!  I stitched a small piece of cross stitch  and finished it. I got motivated on Wednesday and banished the bunnies to their basement bins and by Thursday broke  out the birds and re-did my displays... I'll show you a couple in this post.

Every time I re-decorate I'm always hesitant as I start... with the ability to look back at what I did in years past I tell myself that I don't want to identically duplicate what I did previously... but I also suspect that I will... but then I usually don't. Now going from Easter to Spring stuff I did re- use some items... and I moved some items from one spot to another...and while I have A LOT of bunnies, I also have a good stash of birds... I actually thought I had more birds than bunnies but as I put the bunnies/Easter stuff away it is clear that the bunnies have multiplied (I mean that has to be the reason right??? My buying habits have nothing to do with it, right?  This  is where you nod your head up and down, up and down and humor me...LOL)

Since I have additional spaces to decorate with the addition of the new white shelf unit in the living room, I feel like things are spaced out a bit more... and I like the look of it.  However I am afraid that more space will result in more stuff...eventually... I do know that every time I re-decorate I start out thinking, oh I have plenty of stuff, and halfway through I wish I had more cross stitch or another quilt or another knickknack or two... which eventually leads to shopping and MORE stuff... it is a vicious cycle, I tell ya...

This time I did not change the wall quilts upstairs or downstairs... I do have 2 new quilt ideas I'm playing with for another tulip quilt... a freebie pattern from Moda with their Sewcialites SAL ... block 24 called Abundant by Robin Pickins... you can see it here.... I'm envisioning a field of yellow and pink tulips, and I have yardage of a print with yellow and pink tossed tulips that I think will make a lovely background... and there is a new pattern by Pen and Paper Patterns called Sparrows that I want to do too... you can see that pattern here... now when I first saw the pattern I thought it was cute but I'm not a fan of solids so it didn't grab my attention...but then I saw this version... click here... LOVE IT!!   I'd like to make a  wall size version of this quilt for next Spring ... 

And these two quilt patterns ...along with watching this video which you can see here... on a the yet to be released County Seat Quilts ...which you can find a pre-order page here... has got me itching to do more sewing... Now the fabrics in the County Seat Quilts book aren't my cup of tea but I can see several of these patterns done in fabrics that are my style... one quilt is just crying to be done in grunges and another would look great in those Jen Kingwell fabrics I've been collecting...now to get down stairs and sew!!

I worked on the the stocking again this week. My goal is to have the tree done by the end of the month...that may be a bit ambitious... when I get the tree done I'll take a break ... I did get the fibers I needed and after pulling out the background yarn I had already purchased I decided it is the right color after all... happy to put that decision behind me...

Okay I've rambled long enough... now to some pretty pictures... let's start on the sunroom porch... on the wall I have a vintage sampler... well maybe semi-vintage... I stitched this one 26 years ago...

It is called My Favorite Things and it is by The Drawn Thread and she still has this pattern for sale which you can see on her website ... the background is a pale pink to the mauve-y side... I don't know if I changed these colors or not but I suspect that I did as the mauve-y pink and turquoise were in my bedroom back then. There were decorative stitches ... of which I was quite fond of back then... and little gemstone hearts and that cute scissors charm... I put my boys initials at the bottom... at the time one was 10 and one was 4... now they are 36 and 30... where does the time go???

Oh if you go and look at her website I hope you have more will power than I did... I ended up purchasing a new sampler, the one called Little Birds... it has birds and an alphabet and it would look smashing right where this sampler is now... and since I change up what hangs here, maybe next year  it will grace this wall (and yes I'm totally getting ahead of myself.)

And here is the little bookcase  just below the sampler... 

on top is my latest finish... this is a portion of the chart Bobbin' Along by Not Forgotten Farms which you can see  here... 

I was enamored with the robin on the spool of thread and the scissors... so I put those two motifs together... I used a piece of 32 ct linen I dyed that had been in my stash for a while... I'm pretty sure it was Rit Apple Green but I may have added some Taupe to it... I used  DMC No. 5 perle cotton for the spool and put a real needle in the robin's beak... the little pillow is my only foray into over one...Birdhouse Alphabet by Little House Needleworks which you can see here... and I'm loving that scale... picked it up at At Home a couple of weeks ago... I thought it would be a fun piece for displays and I could not pass up that color!!!

And here's a close up of the cross stitching...

The shelf below has an another Drawn Thread oldie... this one is called For the Birds... I did this one probably 20 or more years ago too.. it is strategically place to cover the electrical box from my view when I sit in my chair... and the bottom shelf has a Target Dollarspot watering can from a couple of years ago along with other knickknacks I've gotten here and there... 

As for the living room wall quilt and tier tray... the quilt is the same as before... my Jam & Jelly version of the Fig Tree pattern ..

as for the tier tray I went with this 2 tier one from Hobby Lobby... 

I like that it has no post on the top tier so you can use bigger pieces ... a piece from Homespun Elegance and a little pillow from Pineberry Lane...  oh on the back of the couch...which I think of as a big quilt hanger... is a Stack n Whack done with Phillip Jacobs Brassica fabric... I LOVE Stack n Whack and I LOVE this quilt... now Brassica means cabbage and since I cut up the cabbages I call this my Coleslaw quilt... I love how several blocks look like roses ... this is a great print... it comes in several colorways and it still available which is surprising since I made this quilt back in 2012!!  

And I've scattered some smaller pieces of cross stitch about the room... on the TV stand... some little pillows that are snippets from  A Saviour's Praise by Kittenstitcher which you can see here... some day  I want to stitch some more snippets from this sampler... the border is to die for!!

And a couple of small pillows on my favorite yellow tier table...

Well the last 4 days in a row I have been super productive...not sure how long I can keep this up but I have plans to day to tackle one of those projects I've been putting off for months... Friday and Saturday I spent in my sewing room, almost all day... I made the back and the bindings for 2 quilts I want to send off to the long arm quilter this week... and I started a new quilt... a bed size quilt... even though I told myself that I don't need to make big quilts any more I couldn't stop myself... it is a different style for me... kinda improv... check back tomorrow... I should have a rare Monday Design Wall post ... I only have one more row to add and it will be a top... gonna finish that before I jump into the next project. I've really enjoyed the time I spent in my sewing room ... the new bookcases make the room seem bigger even though there is one more than before... don't know if it is because they are white or because they are shallower...probably both... like I said at the top of this post I have several quilt ideas I want to play with ... and I want to change up the wall quilts I have in my sewing room...they've been up for 7 years... I need a re-fresh... fingers crossed my sewing mojo stays a while...

My week ahead has  plans several dinners... looking forward to that... the weather last week and this week is nothing to talk about... there is another COLD Wednesday in the  forecast... maybe snow flurries...ugh... but it does keep me from buying annuals... which is a good thing. 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today and tomorrow I'll link up with another blog or two for Design Wall Monday... haven't done that is FOREVER!!

Hope your week ahead is a good one and that you get done whatever it is you've planned... as that's what I want for me too!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Some stitching progress on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well last week certainly flew by for me... I had an appointment or obligation out of my house every single day... and the older I get the more difficult it is for me to come home after being out and jump into a project... and I find that I don't start things because I know I won't have time to finish them. I don't know how I ended up like this as when my boys were young I was constantly jumping from one thing to another and I feel like I got waaaaaay more accomplished. Now I blame it on old age and the internet... it is way too easy to sit and look at pretty pictures or videos or read articles than to actually accomplish something... I tried to take a little break from my computer this week... and I was semi-successful. I read two books, something I haven't done for eons... one on the pandemic and how it has been handled and the second one a trashy memoir by someone I had never heard of before who purports to have been a good friend of Lucille Ball. I LOVE Lucy and was sucked in by the great pictures in the book. After reading it I think this woman (a probably B -list Broadway/Hollywood actress) made herself out to be more she was. She can certainly name drop, I will say that. Anyway it was a good distraction from other issues. 

As for crafty stuff, I spent a lot of time on the needlepoint stocking... I'll show you and front and the back so you can gauge my progress.

I need to go to the needlepoint store and pick up some more of the fiber I used for the candle glow. I only got five out of one card and there are 16 candles. Also I think I'm going to go with a more blue turquoise for the background. The aqua I purchased doesn't contrast enough for my taste.  Need to look at some other options.

The needlepoint is hard on my hands to I gave myself a break and worked on the cross stitch piece I told you about last week... Because It's Spring by From the Heart Needleart by Wendy Peatross.

I really love this piece... simple and Spring-y...now my stitching of the nest isn't exactly how I planned but it will do. As I said before I've changed all of the colors to suit this linen I painted. I'm itching to banish the bunnies and get out my bird stuff... I have a lot of bird stuff ... but I didn't have the time or the energy last week to get started. Anymore it takes me a whole day to put things away and then another day or two to put things out.  I hate to admit I'm slowing down but I am... getting old sucks.

Today we are doing a birthday party for Elliott... he will be two on Monday... the dump truck Easter basket was well received ... and today he'll be getting a companion bulldozer... and the party has construction themed plates and napkins and decorations... should be fun!!  He's very verbal and has a great memory and it definitely showing some terrible twos behavior, but I know it will pass. And the good part is I can watch him and spoil him and then go home... 

There were several beautiful weather days last week... this week seems just so-so... I would like a rainy afternoon that I can play down in my sewing room... I have several projects I'd like to get to... and I'm hoping Dan the handyman will return soon to finish up the trim work on the bookcases and cut the shims that stick out and put the shelf and trim on the water meter bump out. I want to replace the ceiling fan/light fixture ...need to do a little shopping for it... maybe this week... fingers crossed.

I've seen flats of annuals showing up at garden centers... keep telling myself it is too early to plant anything. I saw a long range forecast that has us back into the 50's... I know I should wait till mid May to be absolutely sure of no frost... don't know if I can wait that long... cooler weather is the best deterrent for me. 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... I have a couple of hours to play before the party... and I do need to wrap up the gift... now where did I stash that cute gift bag I bought weeks ago??

hope your week is fun and productive...

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Happy Easter!!

 Hello -- just popping in to wish all of you a very Happy Easter!!  Mine is quiet and peaceful ... celebrated yesterday with my family... did an Easter Egg hunt with Elliott... and gave him a themed Easter basket...

I filled a dump truck with Easter goodies... he's really into ALL construction vehicles... diggers, bulldozers, excavators, dump trucks...  it was a big hit ... and next week is his birthday and I have a companion bulldozer to go with the dump truck.

As for the last of my Easter decor... this is my back hall way... the one every one comes through...

As I remember the bunny was a Debbie Mumm pattern... it is done with Debbie Mumm fabrics, that rare collection that she did with pastels.

Here's the display in my kitchen... I really love styling this chicken wire box...

I have a nice collection of Rae Dunn Easter stuff.. 

In a couple of days I'll pack up the bunnies and the eggs  and replace them with birds... I'm ready for Spring... this week the weather has been all over the place... started off with a day in the 70's...things got gray...and then cold...and then it SNOWED... okay flurried ...and now it is back up to 70... I'm itching to  go to the garden stores... one of my favorites opened up last week... need a shopping trip there... might not buy anything yet but will scope it out. Got some ideas for new plants I want to play with. 

I spent some quality time with the needlepoint stocking this week... actually got a callus on my thumb and forefinger from pulling the needle through the canvas... and seeing some real progress... and to reward myself I took a break and started a new sampler piece (lets not talk about all the WIPs and UFOs lurking in their nicely sealed plastic bags, okay???) 

Ok - I was going to show you a picture of what I'm working on but for some reason I can not get them to load... here's a link to the chart...

https://www.etsy.com/listing/847140055/because-its-spring?ref=shop_home_active_26&sca=1

This is Because It's Spring by From the Heart Needleart by Wendy... now I changed all the flosses because I'm stitching on 32 ct I painted with Rit dyes... Lemon Yellow and Apple Green...  I'm using all DMC... I like how variegated the nest is, but I don't seem to have an overdyed like that in my stash.... soooooo, my plan is to make it tweedy using 2 different strands of DMC at the same time... 

My plan for the rest of the day is to sit out here on the sunroom porch and stitch... doing prime rib sliders for dinner... using left over prime rib from I think Christmas... the rest of the week is filling up... babysitting, haircut, appointments.... nice temperatures predicted... hope they are right... 

Hope you have a lovely Sunday and a happy and productive week ahead... I know that there are more things on my list of things I want to do than I could ever get done in one week... or two... or three... or forever...LOL

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Easter Displays on a Slow Sunday...

Hello -well where does the time go??  Easter is next Sunday... and while I knew it was coming, it still seems to have snuck up on me... I'm still working on an Easter basket for Elliott which will proceed his 2nd birthday by only a couple  of days... so I'm putting together two different present packages... a couple more items should come tomorrow... fun shopping!!

And I have several Easter displays to show you today... fair warning....LOTS of pictures... you may want to grab some liquid refreshment... LOL... sooooo,  the displays have  been up for a couple of weeks but I've been lazy about getting pictures taken... but I finally got my butt in gear yesterday... lots of stuff I've had for a while and a little bit of new stuff... I did move things around a bit... having that new shelf unit in the living room gives me more display space which is fun to play with.

Okay lets dive right in and I'll start with the new stuff...This tray of small (and some not so small) pillows is from the book Jellybean Jubilee by With Thy Needle & Thread...

I did then on 32 ct linen I dyed with Rit dye for another project  I changed my mind about ... I like the aqua -greeny tone ... looks SPRING-Y to me... I FFO'd them using fusible fleece as my interfacing and only stuffing them lightly after that... it kept them on the flat side which is what I was going for.

And I couldn't get all five of the pieces I stitched into the little tray (from Hobby Lobby) so the fifth piece went out on the sunroom porch display, along with an older piece from Blackbird Designs where I only stitched 2/3rds of the chart... 

and I ran out of the aqua green linen so Hippity Hop was stitched on yellow...and I changed all the DMC flosses and I added some flowers... I don't follow instructions well...LOL

In my living room I now have dueling display units...LOL... this is the newest one... 3 shelves of goodies...

This large piece is from WTN&T... it is called Sampler Hill ...I LOVE the tulip border and the alphabet hiding in the hill...

and I was able to display lots of knickknacks too!!

On my  large shelf unit  I have  quite the fluffle of bunnies ... I swear they reproduce when left in plastic bins...LOL....

as for the cross stitch from the top down... Spring Row by Bent Creek... I did this eons ago and now I wish I'd stitched in in brighter Spring-y colors but back then I was just using purchased linen and I rarely considered changing the floss colors... oh how I have changed!!! (and on a tangent... I just had an idea of how to brighten up this Bent Creek piece... I may take some dye and splotch it on the already finished piece... gasp... I know... risky business... but I'm liking the idea... add some pink and orange, perhaps??)

And my progression can clearly be seen in this Prairie Schooler March piece... I think the painted linen adds a nice touch to this one and I was able to stitch another piece with a kind of hidden in the hill alphabet... 

Moving down that BIG bunny on the peach-y linen makes me happy!!! I like my animals clothed...LOL... the little piece is from Blackbird Design... my foray into 40 ct with a chart from the booklet Thank You Sarah Tobias...

And at the bottom  a tiny little lady from Pineberry Lane carrying a GIANT tulip and a Lizzie Kate Spring piece on a cute wooden crate from the Dollarspot filled with tulips... I think it says SPRING pretty darn well!!

This year I hung my Fig Tree Jam & Jelly quilt here in the living room... I wanted the softer colors for a change... 

the tray has Easter Holiday Hoopla by WTN&T at the top and a scattering of bunnies from Prairie Schooler No. 178... this tray has been hanging out in my storage room for eons... I like the apple green color and the wire construction... very light and airy.... 

So have I overloaded you??  I'll save two other areas for next week... as I look around my house I probably have jumped the shark but all this stitchy stuff makes me HAPPY!!!  I'll keep the Easter stuff up for at least a week past the holiday ...then I'll put the bunnies away and get out my bird stuff... some of the cross stitch will stay out but I'll rearrange them...timing of new displays depends on my motivation... I have a couple of other projects around the house I want to tackle...

Last week I did get one of those jobs on my "list of things to do" completed... I emptied out all 5 of my window boxes... I have to drag a ladder out to reach 3 of them so it is a job... they do need to have the paint touched up as the squirrels gnawed on them again this year... grrrrrr.... the  squirrels are driving me nuts!! I can live with them raiding my bird feeders but I wish they'd leave the window boxes alone... my neighbor said they gnawed on his metal porch lights!! Is there nothing they won't chew on???

Also, I was monogamous to the Christmas stocking and worked on it every day...patting myself on the back here... and I have made progress... as I've said I'm not fond of stitching the round ornaments, so I took a break and worked on the ribbons... almost got them all done, then I'll work on the ornaments... I've told myself it I get the tree all done then I can take a break...having the tree done would be about 70% complete by my estimation... and I have several cross stitch projects I'd like to finish and even more I'd like to start. 

Well the week ahead looks quiet, but looks can be deceiving, can't they?  Not sure exactly what we are doing for Easter or for Elliott's 2nd birthday...details haven't been hammered out and there are people coming from out of town...the weather has been typically Spring... some days sunny and warm, other days gray and cold..I even saw a forecast low of 23 for next Thursday ..brrrrr.... my daffodils and hyacinths are looking good and my alliums are sprouting... it will be a while still for them...something to look forward to. 

I hope your upcoming week is filled with stuff you want to do... I have plans for some quilting... I actually got the borders on a quilt I started back in 2016... and that spurred me to start something new... we will see how that pans out...LOL

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts... no plans for today so I should have time to read... forecast is for rain so I think I'll sit out on the sunroom porch for a while... may take a nap too...

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Spring Stuff on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - oh tis Spring!!  and I'm very happy for it to make it's arrival...however, the Spring time change is another thing altogether... and if you thought that perhaps you missed my semi-annual time rant, fear not... here is comes...

So last Sunday had me dragging from the moment I forced myself out of bed an hour earlier than normal... I  thought I'd just run headlong into the change... and after a full week of this I can report... It did NOT work... I'm still dragging... I'm still looking at a clock and thinking it feels like an hour earlier ... it didn't help that most of the week was gray which matched my mood... and it was one of the busiest weeks I've had in a while... lots of running around ...very little crafty stuff accomplished... I definitely need more crafty time in my days but forcing myself up "early" (and my early is still later than most of you) just results in my needing an afternoon nap (and there was no time for that) or an after dinner dozing off in my chair which just leaves me groggy and unmotivated for hours and I accomplish squat... I DETEST the time change!!! It is nice that it stay lighter later but it would get to this point in a few weeks if we didn't do anything. I don't see where it improves life... animals and small children do not care what the clock says... and I would just ignore the clock if I didn't have to be anywhere at a certain time, but I did have places to go, people to see and appointments to keep.  And I keep wondering who does benefit from the time change?  Who makes money from this?  Years ago I figured it was the battery manufacturers as you were always admonished to change the batteries in you smoke detectors, but I haven't heard that warning in a while... I did hear a guy say that if their choices were changing the time or running through a swarm of bees in only a swim suit, he'd take the bees... I wouldn't go that far (cause I swell up when I get stung) but I wish we could get our lawmakers to pay attention and stop this nonsense... If you are lucky enough to live in a state with the good sense NOT to change the time, count your blessings.... okay... I think I got it out of my system...thanks for putting up with me... my next rant will be in the Fall since I'm an equal opportunity hater of time changes...LOL

Soooooo... how about some crafty stuff... last time I was here I was up to my eyeballs in getting the fabric  on my new shelf units and I'm happy to report I'm done !!  Now I kinda thought it was going to take me a week or two to finish... I did go through my stash and my estimation is I thinned it out by about 20 -25%... hard to be sure because I just filled large black trash bags as heavy as I thought they could take and my son hauled them out of the basement and into the car and we dropped them off at Goodwill.  At first I still loved every piece of fabric, after an hour or so there were definitely pieces that could go and after a couple of days of this I was ruthless... the end result is my stash is neatened up and I was able to get collections out of bins... my American Jane, my Momo, my Tim Holtz, etc.... and put them where I can see them. 

I didn't have to refold everything but I did end up touching practically every thing to tidy it up... I completed the task in a couple of very long days because I invited my quilty lady friends over for lunch on Wednesday of that week ...nothing like company coming to get you to clean up your house!!   It was a nice day  for a while and we sat outside on the patio but the wind picked up and we ended up sitting downstairs in the sewing room... and we realized we were sitting farther apart indoors than outdoors... oh well... we all felt pretty safe  either way.

Dan still needs to do some work on the bottom of the bookcases ... add some trim and hide the shims,  since the basement was never envisioned to be "finished" ... in 1953 I'm sure it was just a place to store stuff and do the laundry... the floors slope pretty significantly... if you drop a pencil or a round seam ripper anywhere on the perimeter of the room it will roll all the way to the low point where the drain is... right now the drain is behind the door to my laundry area... it is fun for Elliott to let little Hot Wheels cars race across the room...however I'm careful on a chair with wheels as I can go for an unexpected ride if I'm not paying attention... wheee!!!  Well I certainly got off on a tangent there, didn't I??

Here are the shelf units...  a wide shot... 6 units... each 31.5" wide and 79.5" high...

and starting on the left and moving to the right...

I put all of the same color together - starting of course with my yellows, then orange, rust, burgundy, pink, red, purple. blue, teal and green... my version of a color wheel... I did find it difficult attimes to decide just what color a fabric was... purple? burgundy?... yellow? orange?... blue? teal?...depends a lot on what color it is sitting next to.

Since I lost 4" of depth on each shelf there wasn't room to put knickknacks in front of the stacks of fabrics ...instead I've tucked things in here and there... 

 that grouping of clay pieces are little trinkets my boys made back in grade school (they had a art teacher who was into ceramics and had a kiln at their school)... they are keeping company with a health pile of precuts ...and not that is not ALL of them... more are sitting in plastic bins with yardage for background and borders and a possible pattern... I've rediscovered a bunch of projects I can't wait to get back to!! 

And this freshening up of the sewing space has this display...

I like having another space to hang a seasonal quilt and this garden of tulips (my variation of a Lori Holt) pattern makes me smile...

this tier tray with the fluffle of bunnies is a Fiesta ware piece that was a gift from my sons a couple of years ago... of course I love the yellow color!! And yes fluffle is a real word... it is the name for a group of bunnies... I love it !!

And another display has my Lizzie Kate Spring ABCs (I've done all 4 seasons and they always look good here) and an adorable Easter egg piece that was a gift from a sweet friend...thanks Barb!!

So things are looking good in the sewing space... now to find time to play down there... I know I said I was going to be monogamous to the Christmas stocking.... however... I've only picked it up a couple of days... but I am making progress... I'm showing the  front and the back, because it is a bit easier to see what I've done from the back...

I have all the BIG ornaments done... I stitched some of the ribbons... finding 3 shades of red with contrast isn't easy... and I'm plugging away on the smaller ornaments... I find it frustrating that I can't get round things to look as round as I would like... I know it is the nature of stitching on a canvas grid but I wish they were rounder... oh well, I will soldier on... I made a decision on the rug at the bottom of the tree... I'm going to eliminate it like I did on Elliott's stocking...just paint over the red border... and in the open area I'm going to add another present or two... I know I have till October 1 to complete this but I'd love it to be done before then...lets see how long I can stick with it.

I did pick back up the Prairie Schooler Garden Alphabet...  excuse the wrinkles...

only 6 more boxes to go... Prairie Schoolers are always a relaxing stitch... no decisions to be made on colors or placement...just follow the chart... I need that break from the stocking now and again.

Well after my busy busy busy week ... I had an appointment or a lunch or a dinner to go to every single day... I'm looking forward to a quiet upcoming week... babysitting a bit this afternoon as my son and daughter-in-law go look for a new sofa... and babysitting on Tuesday... dinner to celebrate a dear friend's birthday on Thursday... oh HAPPY BIRTHDAY Stephanie... and that is all that I have on my calendar... big sigh... maybe some sunny days to sit out on the sunroom porch... 

My daffodils are blooming and my hyacinths are poking up ... I have some irises blooming but at first glance I thought they were fluffy crocuses... they aren't very tall... don't know why as I'm always guilty of not planting things deep enough ... no matter...they are pretty... I got a flyer from a local nursery outlet saying they'll be open March 28...yeah!!  I do believe that garden plants will fly out the door quickly again this year... I'm not going to hesitate when I see something I want... I'm already planning my window boxes... a mix this year of vinca, angelonia, and of course petunias... I want asparagus grass as fillers and some purple fountain grass for the pots by my garage... I have a couple of places I like to shop for the Proven Winners petunias...they aren't the cheapest plants but I love the colors and I'm going to buy them as soon as I can ...now to keep myself from putting things into the ground too early... I hope I learned my lesson from last year... around here you are suppose to wait till after Mother's Day...which means mid May... but things always seem to warm up pretty well by mid April and it is sooooo hard to wait ... I did pick up about 5 bags of dahlia tubers at Costco and I ordered more from 2 different places on line back in January ...they should be arriving in about a month... 

So the world around here is brightening up ... lots of people getting a vaccine and more people out and about... plenty of mask wearing still and I will be happy when we can ditch them... I miss seeing people's faces!  I've been planning a couple of small trips with my son... I love my new car and feel confident in taking it on a road trip or two...he wants to go to a big amusement park and I'd love to visit some garden places... I hope things are improving where you are... I really want to put this all behind me as soon as possible!!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... I should have time to read blogs while Elliott naps this afternoon.. he's  bundle of energy  and quite talky ... also pretty headstrong... I find it is better to call it tenacious rather than stubborn...LOL...sounds nicer but its the same thing... he wants what he wants when he wants it....and don't we all..

Have a great week!

happy stitching-

carol fun