Are you up for some sledding on a Slow Sunday Stitching...

Hello all - thanks for stopping by again this week to see what kind of trouble I've gotten into... I do appreciate your reading about my projects as I prattle on and on and on... I'm really good at prattling... its a gift dontcha know...LOL Well this week I got a little bit done in several areas... quilting and stitching and knitting... and I got my Christmas tree up!!!  I always drag my feet when it comes to the tree ...why?  Lights... I don't like putting on lights. Now this little tree is pre-lit but I added a string with Hallmark Light and Motion ornaments and 2 strings of the old fashioned bubble lights...I really like the way they look, but I don't like futzing with them to get them semi-upright ... some lean no matter what you do...

Sorry for the glare... it didn't occur to me to close the blinds... You may think that the Dude is guarding the tree... don't be fooled...he's waiting to eat the icicle  tinsel....grrr... we've had several staring contests where he hopes I'll look away...but I don't... I suppose I shouldn't use it but I LOVE it... it is what we put on the tree when I was a child...back in the dark ages. I've seen trees with lots of ribbon and the garland tinsel and while they are lovely they just don't do it for me.

Anyway onto other stuff I've gotten accomplished... lets start with the quilting... I got the binding on my Christmas Weave quilt...here's a glamour shot on the sunporch...

and here is one of my son holding it up for me...

the colors are truer on the sunporch... the sashing is a lovely vintage-y gold grunge called Ginger Ale... it has splotches of olive and I really like it... this is my adaptation of the Villa Rose pattern called Rodeo... you can see it here... I substituted 4 patches for some of the smaller squares and oriented mine vertically. It was a quick quilt with a layer cake and some charm squares. The fabrics are Basic Grey Jovial and Juniper Berry...both older Christmas collections... I love Basic Grey's style and their Christmas collections are my favorites. I have a nice stash and occasionally I actually make a quilt with them... here's an oldie but goodie using Basic Grey on my couch right now...

This collection was called Aspen Frost... love the ornaments and the softness of the reds and the greens,...oh, sorry for wandering off there... back to the quilt at hand...

Here's a close up of the quilting on my Christmas Weave ... the pattern is called Poinsettia ... you can see a great pic of the quilting here on David's IG account...

I have one more to bind and hope to get it done this week. Last night I finished up this one and finished cutting out another Christmas quilt that I'm not getting done this year. I had it almost all cut out and knew if I didn't finish up and write myself notes about what I did and plan to do, I'd never make heads or tails of it next time I pulled out the bin... one of the biggest lies I tell myself is "I'll remember"... and I don't ... notes are a very very good thing...


And last week I said I wanted to do some small stitching ....and I did... and as much small stitching as I did I probably could have gotten half of the Lizzie Kate Christmas ABC's done...oh well... first I pulled out the Pineberry Lane pattern Merry Little Stitches... there are 3 charts in this pack and I did two... first  the one called Deck the Halls... you can check out their e-patterns here... I really like that you can buy the chart and download and print it out... love that instant gratification!!

I stitched her on a scrap of 32 ct I painted with Rit Dye - Aquamarine... I changed her hat... it was a Santa hat and added a band of red at the bottom of her dress... the holly tree looks like one of those that they hang upside down to me... need to get her FFO 'd and into my Christmas display.

And then I stitched A Right Jolly Old Elf...

now he's not totally done... there is some black at the bottom and some stitches at the top that I'm going to try to make little stars that needs to be added. I think he'll look good in my 3 tier tray.

And then I went sledding... not literally... I stitched some Lizzie Kate designs for those adorable little sled ornaments...

I totally forgot that I had these sleds... I found a bunch that I had squirrelled away ... these 3 came from two different charts  - Snowy Sleds and Sled Dudes... they are quick to stitch up on the perforated paper. I haven't done stitching on perforated paper for a while and at first  I couldn't remember how I did it... I started in on the full 8.5 x 11" sheet and it was obvious that wasn't going to work... too bulky... and I knew it didn't want to cut a real small piece as that would be hard to hold onto ... so I did this...

I cut a strip about 3" high the width of the sheet... I started stitching on the right hand side which leaves me an unstitched area to hold on to.  I'm going to do more of these ... there are several more LK charts with patterns to fit the sleds... I NEED ALL of THEM...LOL!!

So the weather last week was definitely wool sock weather... cold and gray...ugh... I HATE the gray days... I can take the cold ... pretty much... but I do like it to be sunny. I'm a Goldilocks when it comes to weather... I want it not too cold, not too hot, just right... say 65 to 70 degrees and sunny.  I got another pair of scrappy Opal socks completed...

I'm not sure how many different skeins I pulled from... at least 10 ... blues, some hot pink and some green ...along with some dotty bits... I LOVE the dotty bits!!!


Friday did give us some sun and temps in the low 40's... I cranked up the little space heater and sat on the sunporch to knit and watch the birds... except there was a floor show of squirrels instead... the Dude was as entranced as I was...

they got quite cozy sitting on the window box...

but after a short while the Dude got bored...

I can't blame him ... it was nice to snooze a bit sitting in the sun. Today has been sunny and they are promising more tomorrow... I hope to get out there again and enjoy it.

Still have some Christmas tasks to do before the holiday... want to bake some cookies, not that I need them, but I do like to eat them. Sugar really should be a major food group... along with chocolate and pasta and bread and butter... that would be a great food pyramid. We are having a family dinner tonight which will include several of those items... spaghetti and meatballs, salad, fruit, garlic toast ...and those yummy little eclairs from the freezer section of Krogers... two bites of bliss...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and check out what every one else is doing for a bit before dinner... meatballs are cooking... the sun is almost set... I HATE HATE HATE how early it gets dark... the other night I was out and thought "wow, you never go out this late at night anymore Carol"... it was 5:50 pm... sheesh... still time to catch an early bird special...

Hope you have a good week... we have a few social engagements but no appointments... and I'd like it to stay that way. Just want to sit in my chair and stitch or knit or sit in front of my sewing machine... that's the life!!

happy stitching-
carol fun

Let the decorating commence on Slow Sunday Stitching...

Where does the day go??? Where did the week go??? They blew by as quickly as the winds that are whipping around my sunporch this minute. It was a gloriously sunny day up to about 20 minutes ago...now the skies are darkening and the wind has really picked up... they predicted 30 to 40 mph gusts and I believe it... it is actually whistling as it tosses the leaves all over the yard. All the 65 year old oaks in the neighborhood hold on to their leaves as long as possible... it means raking them goes on and on, but I do love the trees.

Last week was very very busy but very very productive... there were doctors appointments, a play  and a movie to see, meals out with friends, major reorganizing of storage rooms and Christmas decorations were released from their plastic bins.

I'm not sure what got into me last week. but again, I had the urge to straighten up and clean out stuff and I attacked the two storage areas which are at opposite ends of my basement. One is a smaller space under the steps and the other is a larger room where the furnace and some furniture reside. I had stored my decor items under the steps but after 5 years they had out grown the space and I realized they would fit much better if I moved them to the furnace room and took some smaller stuff from the furnace room and moved them under the steps. But this required emptying a bunch of stuff from BOTH spaces... which I did... and parked it in the middle of the floor of my sewing studio. I should have taken a picture with it all piled up but honestly it was so overwhelming I'm glad I didn't... I don't need any visual evidence to haunt me... my memory will suffice.  It took quite a few hours but I am so happy with the results. Now all the bins are easily accessed ...and labeled... and while I did get rid of some stuff there is room for more...that is probably NOT a good thing... trying to live small... but it ain't working...LOL

The end result is I got a lot of stuff displayed and I will share it with you... hopefully you want to see it and it will definitely help me next year when I haul it all out again. It took longer this year to arrange as the shelf display is larger and that called for a new configuration...and I had a new spot on the sunporch that was begging for some Christmas cheer.

Let me begin... the "new" display unit... lots of Santas and crossstitch  and quilts and houses and trees...

Starting at the top is the Bent Creek  Quaker Noel Sampler and the Tournicoton J'Arrive...

I didn't realize until about  6 months after I had stitched the Bent Creek piece that there is NO "L" in the sampler... get it NOEL...NO L... I brightened this one up as it was all stitched in one color... and I still love the Santa and the crazy reindeer that I finished last year.

On this shelf Santas are keeping my little prim Christmas ladies company... I'm working on another lady from Pineberry Lane who will hopefully join them before the season is over... so much to stitch ... so little time...

And on this shelf I'm displaying my new finished and "priscillafied" In Santa Claus Land by With Thy Needle & Thread...

and here is a close up ...

Out on the sunporch I added some Christmas spirit too...

Some old stuff like the polka dot trees and some new stuff like the white houses  and the Believe sign from the Target's Dollar Spot... except they don't call it the Dollar Spot anymore, now it is Bullseye's Playground ... which then justifies items being more than a dollar... but I'm okay with that...the houses and the sign were  $3 each...not too expensive... and I just picked up those little retro pixies today from Michaels. I went to pick up a styrofoam wreath for another crafty project and found that Christmas decor was 50% off and since it was after 3pm I had a coupon for another 25% off your entire purchase... couldn't pass up that deal.

And I got ONE quilt bound this week ... and it turned out fabulous if I say so myself...and I do!!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the big guy in the red suit... David of Quilting by David did a fantastic job on the quilting... if you enlarge the picture you can see the curls ... and here is a close up of the 3 tier tray...

It is pretty much like last year...I'd like to add some more cross stitch pieces to this ... we will see what the week ahead brings. Oh, remember when I said I was going to get the Lizzie Kate Christmas ABC's done... not sure that's gonna happen... I'm more in the mood for small pieces and once I got all my stuff out I'm not sure where I'll display it... and that doesn't motivate me to get it done... smalls are good because you can tuck them in here and there... I like that!

So that what I've got for today... I'm going to do a little decorating in the kitchen... I always do a gingerbread man theme there and perhaps a bit of Christmas in my sewing studio... again we'll have to wait and see. I still have 2 more quilts to bind and I have two more Christmas quilts projects I want to play with. One is the Jingle Jangle quilt... I have it all cut out...and I found an older Sandy Gervais Christmas layer cake that I want to stitch up...it isn't totally Christmas, more winter-y and it is non-traditional colors... some turquoise along with green and a brick red and a peach... I think it would look great out on the sunporch for winter. I have high hopes that there will be some sunny days I can sit out there this winter. I got a little space heater and there is a ceiling fan and the Dude has said he'd join me and keep an eye on the bird feeders. Now all we need is sun... I don't mind the cold but I HATE the gray days.

And to wrap up this magnum opus I have pictures of my displays lit up... got a deal on little snowflake lights to jazz up the shelf display and fairy light for the BIG Santa...

Very festive!!!

I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts ... and then spending time looking at what everyone else is up to... I still need to get the tree up too  ... I thought I'd get it done today but it is still in its box so probably not gonna happen. But it is only December 2... there is still time to get into lots of other stuff... and I probably will...

Hope you have a great week...mine looks less busy and I'm happy for that ... still have one more closet I want to attack while the organize and pitch it spirit still has a hold on me... I know this feeling will pass and who knows how long it will be before it returns... probably years... LOL

happy stitching-
carol fun

So today is Sunday... a Slow Stitching Sunday...right????

Well this is now the third day in a row I thought it was Sunday... Friday seemed like Sunday and Saturday seemed like Sunday... good thing my phone tells me what day it is... Thanksgiving got me all discombobulated... but I'm back on track... at least I think I am.

Even though I didn't have the actual meal at my house there was shopping and prepping and cooking that needed to be done for the feast... and it was quite a feast. We all went to my DIL's parents home... they did turkey and lots of sides and I brought prime rib and sides... we had mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole and stuffing and couscous salad and pasta salad and green beans and cranberry sauce and rolls and pie... and we were all in a food coma from 2pm on... it was a great day!!

For Black Friday I continued my tradition of staying away from any retail establishment... instead I cleaned out the mums in my window boxes and cleaned out my garage... it looks sooooo much better... I'd show pictures but I think most of you know what trash cans and leaf bags and garden tools and extra paint and other assorted items that are" too good to get rid of but you don't want them in your house" look like.

I did get a little bit of crafty stuff done this week... and several thinks are almost finished... not completely done but close, very close...

I finished that sock I showed  before and got past the heel of the mate to it, so it is almost a pair...

I almost completed the WTN&T In Santa Claus Land cross stitch...

I ran out of the CC Eggshell to finish that last hill. Now I know I bought TWO extra skeins of that color as I didn't think I'd have enough to finish, but I can't find them anywhere... so I ordered another one which means they will show up some time next week.

My biggest project was a re-do  of my windows boxes for winter. For several years I've been unhappy with how sad they look empty all Winter... they have petunias for Spring and Summer and mums and pumpkins for Fall but nothing for Winter. I've looked a a bajillion pics of window boxes on Pinterest and Instagram and knew what I wanted but didn't want to spend a bajillion dollars. Fresh evergreens are lovely but pricey and they dry out before Winter is over... sooooooo... I came up with this solution... faux trees and evergreens and berries... I almost stayed under my budget and I'm hoping I can re-use all this stuff again. Now usually I don't like "artificial" flowers but in this case I'll make an exception.

Let's start with a close up of one of the boxes...

I started wit adorable little fir trees... got them at Target... needed to hit two Targets and since I needed so many .... 36 to do all 5 window boxes... I got 5 evergreen garlands at Michael's and bought  27 berry picks and another 30 evergreen picks...  Luckily everything was on sale at least 50 -70% off, I really like how it looks and from the sidewalk or the street it looks pretty realistic. Now my window boxes will be happy and full all  Winter.

And to overload you with pictures as this is the biggest accomplishment of my week... here is the Living room window...

And here is the two boxes on the side of the house with two of my inflatables... I think the gingerbread man is cute and I have a hippopotamus because I adore that song "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas"... only a hippopotamus will do...

And for your enjoyment here is the original video from that song sung by Gayle Peevey...

Now it will be an earworm for the entire holiday season...LOL


I've got lots planned for the upcoming week. David of Quilting by David  sent back my Fat Quarter Cubes quilt with the Heather Ross Sugarplum fabric and it looks fabulous...and yesterday he emailed that he finished the other 2 quilts I had sent him and put them in the mail... that means I have THREE Christmas quilts to bind... good thing I'll do them all by machine.   If you want to see pics of the quilting you can look here and here.   He does great work. I'll be sending more tops his way after the first of the year.

I also have an appointment or two every day this upcoming week... how did life get so busy??? I'm 65....I'm suppose to be retired with nothing to do... well I don't really want a life with nothing to do but I would like to stay home a bit more... some fun stuff is in store... tickets to the theater and a movie... and some stuff that needs to be done... doctor's appointment and meet with the tree trimmers for the  65 year old oak in my son's yard.

My goal is to get the Fall decorations returned to their plastic bins and break out all the Christmas stuff.  I'm hoping that having all those new Christmas quilts in the house will be motivating. I want to hang the Ho Ho Ho Santa one on the wall in the living room... he just so cute.

And speaking of cute ... here is the Dude ... I went to put the new pillowcases on and he was breaking in the Christmas quilt on my bed (the only decorating I've done so far)... it had just been washed and I guess all that good smelling, warm crinkly-ness was irresistible...  he did deign to re-locate to the couch in the living room so I could get the pillowcases on ... this quilt always makes me smile as lots of Santas keep me warm.

My first indoor Christmas decorating... so much more to do...

So off to get dinner started... we are having prime rib sliders with the leftover from Thanksgiving... should be tasty...I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts ... and checking out what everyone else is up to... hope you have a great week ahead.

happy stitching-
carol fun

I have no idea what got into me on Slow Sunday Stitching...

It was a cold gray week, there was no sun to speak of all of last week... there was a bit of an ice storm which did quite the number on several of the old trees in the neighborhood and even some snow...ugh... too early for snow in any shape or form or measurement!!!

If it is sunny I want to sit in the sunroom and cross stitch or read or knit... and if it is gray I'm not terribly motivated to get things done... but last week was different. I do not know what got into me but I retreated to my basement sewing room and dove into making a quilt...and not just one quilt but TWO quilt tops. I don't think that has ever happened before. Now they were both on the small side... 60" x 70" but they were both complete by Saturday night... including the backs.

But before I get to the new quilt tops I made let me share with you a pic of the quilt top I showed last week... the Fat Quarter Cubes quilt done in the Heather Ross Sugarplum collection.

Isn't this quilting pattern yummy??? It is called Peppermint Palace and features candy canes and peppermints which ties in wonderfully with the fabrics in this quilt that  features peppermints. The quilting was done by Quilting by David and you can see his website here ...and his Instagram account here. I am very happy with his work and the two tops I finished this week are already in the mail to him.  I really like seeing the quilts on his IG feed because you can get a nice sense of the scale of the pantos. 

So onto my quilty productivity... first I put together this top I'm calling Christmas Weave...

I used two different Basic Grey Christmas collections... Juniper Berry for the large blocks and Jovial for the smaller blocks... both collections have been maturing in a plastic bin in my basement for a while. The "weave" part is a Grunge called Ginger Ale or New Ginger ...can't remember which for sure. It is a muted gold with a splash of a verdigris green... I really like it and will be using it again...

here's a close up of some of the piecing...

I really like the forest print with the squirrel and the deer with cardinal perched in his antlers... I had to do some creative sewing with the smaller blocks ...those 4 patches have minuscule seam allowance ...good thing this isn't a quilt that will get a lot of wear and tear. I had cut up an entire charm pack of the Jovial for some other project and I really wanted to pair it with the Juniper Berry... and I made it work... this quilt is based on the pattern Rodeo by Villa Rosa Designs which you can see here.  My finished blocks are smaller and I rotated the layout... it is very quick to sew up even when you do add more work by making 4 patches with minuscule seams... I will make this pattern again some day.

And then this happened Friday/Saturday...I went downstairs with the intention of making blocks for this quilt... Jingle Jangle by Seamed to Be... you can get the pattern here on Craftsy. 

Sorry for the quality of this pic... it is screenshot as I couldn't figure out how to cut and paste it on this new Chromebook...gotta figure more stuff out... anyway I think this is a cute Christmas quilt... the plan was to use the strips from the Moda Santa kit to piece the HO HO HO's and use the green grunge from the Basic Grey Meraki collection as the background... this is  pic of the Santa panel kit...

I purchased the kit knowing there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that I would ever made all those log cabins... particularly when a bunch of them would be covered up by the big guy... so I was happy to find another project for the strips... I began this project by cutting ALL of the background for 12 blocks and 2 sets of strips for the HOs... well I was 2 HOs into the Jingle Jangle quilt when I got to thinking about the Santa panel... and thinking ALWAYS gets me into trouble... what if I combined the HO HO HOs with the Santa panel... I had a chunk of the grunge background that I hadn't  chopped to bits and pinned it to my design wall ... and then I added Santa and HO and well here's where it all ended up...

The background looks pretty much like a solid piece of fabric but there are seams for the HO HO HOs and that section was sewn to the bottom section. I think between the printed pattern of the grunge and the all over curly-q panto I picked for the quilting it will appear seamless... now I didn't cut off as much of the big guy as Moda did but part of him will get obscured by my 3 tier tray when I hang him on my living room wall ...so I made  adjustments for that.  Here's a close up of a HO...

That print with Santa's face on it is my favorite in the collection... and that minty green background is perfect ...IMHO...LOL   Now I do still plan on making the Jingle Jangle quilt. I went back to Homegrown Homesewn quilt store and scarfed up every yard of the Meraki Green they had on the bolt. Don't know if I will get it all done before Christmas but I should be able to assemble the blocks ...might as well sew up all those background pieces I already cut.

So that's what I did last week... I don't ever remember having such a productive week. Now I will say these tops were easy piecing for the most part...we won't talk about machine appliqueing that giant Santa head... the prep on him was a bear but mostly because I haven't done any machine applique for quite a while and didn't remember which fusible I like better... I bought Wonder Under...turns out I like Heat n Bond better... hopefully won't make that mistake again...

As for cross stitching I did get some more snow done on the WTN&T In Santa Claus land piece ... but you don't need to look at more white stitches... boring... and I almost got another scrappy sock done... these are all Opal sock yarns...

Just needs the toe... and then I can cast on a mate...Oh I wanted to say thanks to Anne L. who left me a comment telling me about WoolWarehouse in the UK... you can see their website here... they have a lovely selection of Opal yarns and I'm convinced that there are Opal collections that are only released in  the EU as I haven't seen them on any US websites...well I went and ordered 5 skeins of yarn from WoolWarehouse... and I don't know how they do it but they were way less money than I pay for Opal in the US...  each skein cost me around $8. 75... there was  shipping  was around $9.75 total for each skein... I've been paying $15 and up for a skein ... now I did have to wait about 10 days for delivery but it isn't like I don't have any yarn to knit so that wasn't a problem... I got several skeins with lots of  green and a cool purple one too...

This entire purchase for 5  100 gram skeins of yarn was $48.79... a very worthwhile purchase for me!!! Lots and lots of hours of enjoyment... can't wait to play!!

So are you ready for Thanksgiving??? It sure came up fast... I'm going to Costco tomorrow to get the meat for the prime rib dinner and Krogers on Tuesday for the other stuff...that will leave me Wednesday to prep and Thursday morning to cook as we are doing dinner at 1pm... should be very nice. 

I will be linking up with Kathy's Quilts today... but before I leave you I'll share a pic of the Dude surveying his kingdom... he's perched on top of a chair in the living room as it was too cold to be outside in the sunroom porch ... he misses it as much as I do... every morning he trots to the front door in anticipation of me letting him out there but it didn't happen... maybe a day or two this coming week will be sunny... I certainly hope so!

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with good food and good company!!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Rambling on and on and on and a seasonal rant on Slow Sunday Stitching...

Let me start this post by thanking all of the veterans who have served  so selflessly to protect this great nation and other nations of the world. This is the land of the free because of the brave and I am so grateful to all those who have been in the military. My dear departed Dad and all of his brothers and several of his cousins all served in the same unit at the end of WWII. They never spoke much about what they saw in Germany, and I never asked. I wish I knew more about their service but I know they all served honorably and I am proud of them. Thank you Veterans!!!

So I'm back for another Sunday update... it was a busy busy busy week... there was some appointment or obligation every day that took me out of the house. I hope to stay put more this week... at least on this Wednesday I know I'll be home... I set up an appointment for my HVAC guy to come and look at the furnace. It has gotten a work out already as it is COLD here in southwest Ohio...remember that beautiful tree full of yellow leaves I showed last week... and here it is this week...

the leaves are GONE GONE GONE...I don't remember it happening that quickly in the past but the low temps we've had couldn't have helped. I'm sad to see the colors disappear.

So to keep up my spirits I put together a really quick Christmas  quilt top...

The pattern is a free one from Fat Quarter Shop called Fat Quarter Cubes and you can find it here... I made mine smaller than the pattern but it still came out over 80" square... so much for keeping my quilts smaller.  I used the Sugarplum collection from Heather Ross which you can see here.  Now this fabric, particularly the reds are way brighter in real life than these pictures show...think tomato-y orange red of the 50s'... I've been taking pictures with my iPhone and haven't been happy with the capture of colors... so I had been tweaking them a bit on my laptop before I posted them... but then I dropped my laptop on the floor....ugh...now the laptop still works just fine except for the screen ... the colors are all messed up ...everything is hot pink and lime green ...kinda like a bad Pucci print from the 70's... so I'm using my back up little Chromebook to do this post and so far I haven't found an easy to use and free program to tweak the colors... 

Here are some close ups of the cute mice and peppermints in this collection...

I  really like this collection for its polka dots and those cute mice and the plaid and the yellow peppermint print... that one is my favorite.... I got enough of it to do the sashing and the back... and I shipped the top out on Thursday to Quilting by David ... can't wait to get it back!

And I FINALLY finished binding  the quilt for my son... 

It is a very generous sized quilt for his bed and I backed it with minkee... Quilting by David did the quilting and my son picked this panto called Kindling... he liked the flame look...

and  he says the quilt is wonderful to sleep under... it has a bit of heft to it and he likes that.  I'm glad I've gotten this guilt project off my list of things I should do. He waited patiently and has decided that all quilts I make for him from now on need to be backed with minkee.... I can do that!!

On the knitting front I finished the second sock to the one I showed last week, got all the ends woven in and even wore the socks this week...

The heels and toes are showing up kinda black but in real life they are a dark olive green... I love that I got lots of little dotty stripes in this pair...

I cast on another sock using more of my little Opal minis... this scrappy knitting is a lot of fun!!

As to cross stitch, not a lot got accomplished... I put in a couple of stitches on In Santa Claus Land by WTN&T...snow snow and more snow...

I WILL finish this before Christmas...

And I picked back up the Lizzie Kate Christmas ABC that I started back during StitchMaynia... got a few more words and motifs done...

I am happy with how this looks on this painted fabric...but I wish I could remember why I thought it had to be stitched on 36 count... not having fun seeing the holes ... 32 or 28 count are my favorites. I WANT to have this one done by Christmas too...and there is the Silver Creek Sampler's Christmas List which you can see here...  I would LIKE to have this one stitched this year but I don't think it is going to happen... but it will be stitched for next year....that is my solemn vow...OMG are you laughing out loud... I never make promises to get stuff like this completed as it usually means it will take a decade for me to get it done... but I do LOVE the piece so maybe I will hold myself to my promises... and I'll call it a promise not a resolution of any kind cause I don't make resolutions... I just break them...LOL

Well last week I didn't get in my semi-annual rant about the time change...probably because I posted early and the full effect hadn't hit me yet... but after  a full week my vehement hate of Daylight Saving Time continues unabated.... JUST LEAVE THE TIME ALONE!!!  Yes it will get dark early as the season progresses. Being pitch black at 5:30 is down right depressing... I know there are those of you who love it being lighter earlier... I am NOT a morning person...never have been, never will be... I've trained my friends not to call me before 10am... I'm almost human at that hour... so the light in the morning isn't anything I will ever willingly participate in. I'm the person who only wants afternoon appointments at the doctors or for service calls... you can have all the time slots before noon... my internal clock has me up till 2am or 3am and then in bed till around 9 or 9:30am... I consider those civilized hours and now that I no longer have to take kids to school and I'm officially a senior citizen (got my new Medicare card in my wallet) I'm not ever getting up early again if I can help it. Okay...thanks for letting me get that out of my system. I really shouldn't get my blood pressure up like that, now should I?  LOL

So this week I'm going to make a concerted effort to stay home and stitch and maybe start another Christmas quilt top. Plans have been made for Thanksgiving and while I will be cooking prime rib and pasta salad and stuffing, the celebration will take place at my daughter-in-law's parents' home... no extra house cleaning for me. 

Our family Sunday dinners have been in flux lately for a very good reason... my dear daughter-in-law is pregnant and has been suffering from lots of nausea... I feel so sorry for her... so we have been doing dinner out as she never knows how she will feel till the last minute... which is fine...there are lots of nice restaurants in the city and we still get time to get together and talk.  This golden child ...the first grandchild on either side of the family ... is due in April. I was told not to make anything yet but that admonishment was useless as I already have several quilt tops I made years ago in anticipation of my then yet to be conceived grandchild making an arrival.  Just need to decide which ones to get quilted first...and then there will be a sweater or two ... and some booties ...and probably a dozen cute hats to be knitted. If this child has a head which takes after his father (my son) no standard baby hat will fit... custom will be the only solution. My son had a large noggin as a baby and still has a large noggin...as a child he loved hats which proved to be a problem as most just kinda perched on top of his head. One year for Halloween he wanted to be Indiana Jones... we had an old leather jacket and a whip but he wanted a fedora... the only one that would fit was a man's size 7 5/8... I got in in at the JC Penney's in Modesto CA...  he was 7 years old... my son often teases me that I suffer from "puny head syndrome"... that somehow his large head is the normal standard... I don't think it is but my puny head hasn't come up with any definitive reasoning to the contrary... LOL

As I wrap up this rambling post,  I will link up with Kathy's Quilts, and  I shall leave you with a pic of Big Dude inspecting that latest pair of scrappy socks...

it is good thing I have his supervision for all my projects to keep me in line... LOL ... hope you  have a great week ahead!

happy stitching-
carol fun