Just "chick-ing" in on a Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hello all ... well I got a few things done and I'm "chick-ing" in today with my newest display... August is a perplexing month to decorate for... too late for patriotic... too early for Fall ...although I am soooo ready for Fall ... so I've decided that August will be National Chicken Month at my house!!  I know that "officially" it isn't till September but since someone somewhere arbitrarily picked September I can do the same thing in my little corner of the world...

Here is an overall pic ... just click on the pictures to view things more closely...

And this is the top...

a little family of chicks... the Welcome Summer from The Drawn Thread and Fiona... our local celebrity hippo... she's a ceramic figurine from Rookwood pottery.... below that...Pineberry Lane is well represented here... along with my latest finish from Nikyscreations called Summer Scissors Sampler... I tweaked it a little and left off the sign that said Summer so I could use it in any season... I think it looks nice as a pillow... the giant rooster was a purchase from a Hallmark shop over 15 years ago... I've used him on and off but he's languished in a storage bin for the past 6 years... I'm sure he's happy to see the light of day...

The next shelf...

showcases another large chicken which came from Hallmark, a little galvanized caddy with ScissorTail's Design Rise and Shine,  and my recent purchase of a ceramic truck from Hobby Lobby... I'm glad I got is when I did as I looked last week and there were only a few left... the truck reminds me of one my brother owned...his was more faded blue but I'm liking the turquoise ... the cross stitched piece is a nice complement, don'tcha think?  I believe I'll have to stitch more of these trucks ...they are fun! There is a giant wooden egg tucked behind the big chicken and the little "metal" chick... I got both of them back at Easter time ... I knew I'd find the right display for them... just had to have some patience...LOL

Below that ...

Goodies I've collected here and there...  some items were gifts and others came from all the usual stores... Hobby Lobby, Michael's, Joanns...by now I'm sure you've noticed the layer of straw that is on each shelf... it seemed like a good idea when I started, (and isn't that true of so many plans that go awry???)... I love how it looks but I think it will be even more insidious than Easter grass... I'll bet I'll find it in the house in February... I plan to use it for my Fall displays too... I think I'll just save the little bales and suck the rest of it up in the vacuum... as I remember now... and really it just now came to me... I think that's how I got rid of the fake snow I used for my snowmen display... oh my goodness... memory is fleeting... but on the up side, every old is new again...LOL

I did get the binding on the quilt I wanted to display... except it didn't get finished till like Thursday...

 I kinda wish I'd made it a bit longer... but all those blocks were left over from another project  before I started to assemble the quilt and I didn't want to make any more... the blocks are from Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage book and the chicken is from Cluck Cluck Sew's pattern call appropriately Chickens...

now the pattern is for a  block, but I assembled it without any of the background, turned under the seam allowances,  and then blanket stitched it to the already quilted piece... I love all those American Jane fabrics... I really want to make another quilt or two or three with them... and somehow the combo of Lori Holt pattern and American Jane fabrics is just right!

The tray has a nice collection of chicken salt and pepper shakers, most of which were gifts from friends...they are just the right scale for a tier tray...

So that's the decor for now... I'll leave it up till early September when I'll break out the bins of Fall goodies. I'm enjoying walking around Michael's and Hobby Lobby and seeing all the cool Fall stuff... so far I've only bought a few small items... which is good as I kinda running out of display space for Fall stuff... but it is my FAVORITE time of the year... love the colors and the temperatures and everything pumpkin!!!

Busy week ahead... got an electrician coming to check on a wonky light switch along with doing family dinner... I babysit Elliott... I have a guy coming to give me an estimate on some bathroom work, my son has an appointment and I'm doing dinner with the quilty ladies...and who know what else will happen! I've started 2 Fall/Halloween cross stitch pieces ... I want to put some more time in on the quilt I'm making for my son ... and I want to finish up a quilt top I started last September that is in Fall fabrics...would be nice to have it done for this Fall.  With the forecast of high temperatures and a heat index over 100 sewing in the basement may be just the thing to do...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today...always fun stuff to see there... hope you all have a good week... time is flying...how did it get to be mid August already?? My sainted Grandma told me that time goes faster the older you get... which I believe means I'm getting old... I don't want to think about it ... maybe tomorrow... hey it worked for Scarlet!



happy stitching-
carol fun

Some Additional Assembly Required on Slow Sunday Stitching ...

Hello all... another week flew past... and without checking my calendar I can hardly remember what happened... sheesh... I'm getting old... I do remember having coffee and a coke with a friend...that was good... and my son had a check-up and that went well... but other than that not much stands out...

The weather was weather... not too bad... some rain... had to do some watering... more petunias died... saw mums at Home Depot but they always want sky high prices... so I'll wait a little longer... the dahlias are full of buds and I've had to stake a bunch of them ... I've already decided I need more of the dinner plate varieties and the pompom ones...and I need more purples and white ones...and more light pink ones... yeah this is getting addicting...LOL... good thing I don't drink, smoke or do drugs... flowers and fabric and yarn and thread are waaay more socially acceptable ways to spend my time and money... they make the crazy seem almost normal...at least that's what I tell myself... it doesn't sound crazy to me at all... oh I think that is the definition of delusional, isn't it??? Don't want to know... not listening... fingers in ears... ROFL...

I did get some stitching done and I've even FFO'd ... that's fully finished an object this week... first is August from Hands on Designs A Year of Celebrations...

kept it simple ... a golden yellow burlap bow, a small silk sumflower and a little bee pin from JABCO.

And this one I've had finished for a while but forgot to share it...  Sister's Farm Fresh Eggs by Pineberry Lane...

I painted the linen and changed the colors and pinked it up a bit... I really like the chicken wire frame... I stained it with Rit dye... another burlap bow, a flower from my cardmaking stash and some leaf-y straight pin accents.

Another Pineberry Lane piece... Mrs. Maguire's Hen House...

I love this frame for its hen house shape... it was clearanced at Michael's ...and brown... I spray painted it white and removed the clip. The rickrack edging was a bit tricky... I tried dyeing it without much success as it is 100% polyester... so ended up "dyeing" it with a Copic marker...I am so glad I have a stash of crafty supplies ... they come in handy again and again.


And here is the truck from Hands On Designs Fresh Eggs Farm...

the galvanized frame is from Michael's... that polka dot burlap ribbon is from Dollar Tree ... I need to go back and get more of it... too cute... and I've accented the piece with more JABCO pins... I accidentally pulled the chicken off of the straight pin so she's stuck on with a bit of adhesive.

Already last week I knew what I was going to do with ScissorTail Designs Rise and Shine and here it is...

this little galvanized caddy came from Hobby Lobby as did the silk flowers and I again used some of my JABCO pins... aren't the chickens cute? I've been collecting these pins for a while and I'm glad I'm finally using them ... they are too cute to sit in a drawer.

I still have a couple of other things I want to FFO and then re-decorate the living room. I'm declaring August to be National Chicken month at my house...oh my goodness... I just looked it up to see if there is such a thing as National Chicken month and there is... it is September... so I'm gonna be early... for me September is when I break out my Fall stuff ... anyway... I'm  going to do the shelf unit and my tier tray with chickens ... and I have a new wall quilt that will feature a chicken... gotta get it bound and a sleeve made...so as you can tell there is some additional assembly required.

Doing dinner with the family on Monday evening and I'm babysitting Elliot on Tuesday...I want to get back down in my sewing studio this week. Yesterday my handyman was here and he knocked out a bunch of jobs I had for him... got my Christmas present rain barrel hooked up ... just need some rain now... cut down the legs on the workbench I got from a neighbor... it was in the neighbor's  basement and was probably there 50 years... it was definitely handmade for someone waaaay taller than me... now it is shorter and will make a great potting bench on my patio... it is painted a funky 50's green... I'm going to see if I can match the color as I really like it... he fixed the faucet and the doorknob in the bathroom... repaired a hole in a hollow core bi-fold closet door  (probably saved me $150)... and the best thing he did was replace all 24 light bulbs in my studio with LED bulbs... WOW... the light down there is way more white and clear... the fluorescent ones definitely had a yellow cast ... I've been wanting to change them for a while ...glad to have all these jobs done. I still have a couple of larger jobs I want him to get to but he is so busy... will have to wait a bit longer but it will be worth it. He does great work and a competent handyman who doesn't gouge you is a rare find.

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts  today... and perhaps if I get that quilt bound and the sleeve done I'll post tomorrow too. I have four more blocks to do for my son's Quilty Star quilt and I know I'm going to sew that pattern again ... besides the Christmas quilt... maybe a version with my Kaffe fabrics... or one with my American Jane stash... it is such a fun block and goes together fast. Oh, all the With Thy Needle & Thread charts I showed last week arrived... I think with was Thursday... I've already pulled some threads and dyed and painted linen for 2 of them... need to get the other stuff FFO'd and then I can dive into them... need more hours in a day... and I don't mean Daylight Saving Time... you know how I feel about that...LOL

Hope you all have a good week ...

happy stitching-
carol fun

Some porch sitting on a Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hello all -- did you have a good week? Mother Nature decided to make amends for her bad behavior and gave us a glorious week of nice temperatures and low humidity... I spent lots and lots of time sitting on my sunroom porch stitching and napping and knitting and reading and more napping... great way to spend a day.  I still had to water most evenings but I didn't come back into the house feeling like a wet dishrag... so that was good too...

One of my window boxes that was looking a little sad perked up... the other one went completely belly up... but I did find some fresh petunias to pop into the boxes at Lowe's... I was pleasantly surprised to find they had some nice looking annuals this late in the season... most places have given up on annuals and it is still too early for mums... I LOVE mums... but not this soon.

My dahlias continue to get taller and have lots of buds and a couple of blooms... this first one is a dinner plate dahlia called Bodacious... the color in real life is gorgeous... the petals are rose-y red on the front and yellow on the back...

it is about 7" wide here... I was going to show a pic of my hand next to it for comparison but my older son reminded my that I have "little gypsy hands" so I'm not sure it would help... however those little gypsy hands are helpful in getting into small spaces when needed... LOL

And this one is called New Dimension...

.

It is a fimbriated-laciniated dahlia... I have no idea what that means I just found it on the web...  I assume it describes the spiky frilly petals...it is about 6" across ... the edges are pink but the base is yellow...very pretty... and there will be more to come.

On the stitching front I got several pieces finished up... now some of these only needed a bit more time but got put aside for other projects... first up is Rise and Shine by ScissorTail Designs...

I used 32 ct linen I dyed with Rit dyes and DMC flosses... I have an idea for displaying this on a little galvanized piece I picked up a Hobby Lobby...

And then I did a snippet from Hands On Designs Fresh Eggs Farm...

again 32 ct linen ... I used Rit Evening Blue...now I changed the truck to a turquoise color to coordinate with the ceramic truck I got at Hobby Lobby (and yes I do spend too much time and money at Hobby Lobby but it is so much fun!!) ...not sure how I'm going to FFO this one.

And I have August stitched for Hands on Designs A Year of Celebrations...

You know what I'm going to say... 32 ct linen this time painted not dyed with Rit... this one has a definite hot summer sunflower vibe... and I made my picnic blanket yellow and white checked instead of the blue that was called for... if I was buying a picnic blanket you can be assured it would be yellow... not sure about the ants on this one but stitched them anyway...

And last evening I started this piece by Nikyscreations called Summer Scissors Sampler..

the colors are off here ... that grayish area is actually a light olive green and to the left it is yellow... I swear my old iPhone took way better pictures than this one... here's what the chart looks like...

I think it is a cute one ... and she has done other seasons too... shouldn't take too long to stitch and I want to get it done as there are 4 new Brenda Gervais With Thy Needle & Thread Fall/Halloween charts I want to do...

OH my goodness... I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE all of these... realistically I can probably get the first 3 done for Halloween ... that black cat may be more than I can manage ... but we will see... and if you are interested in these charts check out Kitten Stitcher... here is a link... these charts may have jumped into my cart last evening... she has reasonable shipping costs... and lots more charts I want to add to my stash... some older Sheepish Designs caught my eye too...

So there is always plenty to stitch and sew... I got a few more blocks done for my son's Quilty Stars quilt... I would have done more but the weather was so nice it was hard to leave the porch to go downstairs and sew... maybe this week the weather will force me off the porch... suppose to get more humid... but then it will be the beginning of August ... oh how did it get to be August already???  I ready somewhere last week that there were less than 100 days till Halloween... don't even want to think about Christmas yet, although my Hobby Lobby was gearing up for it big time when I was there yesterday...

I think dinner is going to be carryout tonight... I'm lazy and don't want to heat up the house to cook... got a couple of things I have to do on my agenda this week but hope to find plenty of stitching and sewing time too... I'll  link up with Kathy's Quilts and check out what everyone else got done last week... hope you have a good week ahead!!

happy stitching-
carol fun

One of these things is not like the other...

c'mon... sing it with me... you know you want to... one of these things is not like the other... one of these things just doesn't belong... (credits to Sesame Street which I obviously listened to waaaay too many times)...

This is my design wall this morning... I LOVE this block!!  It is the pattern Quilty Stars by Emily of Quilty Love and you can  get the pattern here...

I found this pattern on Instagram and there is QAL for it... I need to post to the group ... you can see all the wonderful variations of this pattern here and here too... so many many ideas ...

As you may have surmised I am making 2 different quilts using this same pattern... the blue green stars with the beige crackle background is for my younger son... he helped pick out all the fabrics  from my stash...

oh my goodness... it was a trip down memory lane for me... there is vintage Jinny Beyer, Elly Sienkiewicz, Jennifer Sampou, Pat Campbell,  Hoffman...my son is 29 years old and I think some of these fabrics are as old as he is... and how come I can remember the names of fabric designers and their fabrics from 2 decades ago, but I can't remember where I ate dinner yesterday???

Now this isn't a palette I would normally work in but I have to say it is really pretty... it has a outdoor forest-y feel... cool green trees and blue skies...  I'm going to do 4 rows of 4 with sashing and a nice border... he wants minky for the back...

I have all the star points / half square triangle units  sewn together ... I used a new to me ruler/trimmer...  Clearly Perfect Slotted Trimmers by New Leaf Stitches... you can find them here on Amazon... although I think I got mine as a Daily Deal from Missouri Star ... they have them too, right here...

I like them a lot...  you do all the trimming before you open up the HST and the dog ears are cut off too...

So that block that isn't the same... well that one is for me... I'm going to make a new Christmas quilt for my bed... same layout - 4 rows of 4 blocks... very scrappy...

I have a TON of Christmas fabrics... the pinks and aqua ones are newer additions... I want to add more blues into the mix and I even have some yellow Christmas fabrics I want to add... imagine that...LOL... says the woman who rarely met a yellow fabric she didn't like... I got the idea for a Christmas variation from this IG post...  such a great idea... but I don't think that I'll stop at 2 quilts from this pattern... I think it is a wonderful scrap quilt project and I'd love to do it in other fabric collections... maybe some Kaffe Fassett or all yellows or Fall or Halloween or Basic Grey Christmas... and I have plenty of fabrics to do any or all of those... Oh I think I've fallen down a wonderful rabbit hole... I chided myself a bit saying perhaps I don't need several variations of the same pattern... but then I remembered that I've made the Vintage Star pattern by Jen Baker  FOUR times ...

 along with a variation of my own on that pattern...

 so yeah... I'm good with making the same pattern numerous times... You can find the free Vintage Star pattern by Jeni Baker here... and I talk about my variation which used a layer cake here...

I'm not sure exactly what has sparked the return of my sewing mojo but I'm glad it has come back... I certainly enjoyed the time I spent this last weekend with my sewing machine... and I should be able to get some more productive time in this week... not too many things on the agenda...

I haven't done this for a while but I'm going to link up with a couple of blogs... Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday... Quilting is More Fund than Housework for Oh Scrap!... and Love Laugh Quilt for Making Monday...

Hope you have a great week ahead... local weather wonks have promised much nicer weather... might even be able to open the windows and turn off the AC... woo hoo... and maybe I'll venture out to the garden centers looking for those replacement petunias I want... yesterday I sewed instead of going shopping in 95 degree weather... and the sewing was a lot of fun!

happy stitching-
carol fun

My rocky relationship with Mother Nature on a Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hello all ... let me get this out of the way....Hot enough for you???  We've been sweltering for the past week or more... upper 90 degree temperatures with sky high humidity... the air you can wear... it is suppose to break today with rain this afternoon and then next week they are forecasting seasonal weather... temps in the mid  80s with lows at night in the 60's... oh that would be heaven... last night I went out to water and it was 89 degrees at 8:45 pm... ugh... now I want to believe the weather guys but last week they forecast rain for Wednesday... and it did rain Wednesday...but it also came down in buckets on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday too... none of those days had rain in the forecast on the 11:00 pm news...surprise surprise surprise... said in my best Gomer Pyle voice...

And because of this horrendous weather my flowers aren't doing well... I've lost dozens of wave petunias... some were in the ground ... some were in containers ... but they just keep dying and dying and dying... I've watered and fertilized to no avail... and then there were the Japanese beetles ... and the deer... this little guy greeted me last evening when I came out to water...

don't know where Mama was... so Mother Nature has given me scorching sun, torrential downpours, Japanese beetles, ravenous deer, squirrels and bunnies ...I'm not happy with any of these presents... I am already looking forward to Fall... cool, enjoyable, open the windows up and breathe the air... I hope Mother Nature make amends by September.

I have my fingers crossed for my dahlia bed...here is what it looked like a month ago...

and here it is today...

the zinnas in the front are still lagging, but almost all the tubers I planted have come up... and here is one of the first blooms...

so far the deer/squirrels/rabbits haven't bothered them... I sprayed for insects and I've watered and fertilized... we shall see... we shall see...

On the stitching front I did a couple more patriotic pieces... first is this little Betsy Ross... just a snippet of the Sheepish Design chart called "Betsy"...

this is the first time I did a flat finish like this with and arched top... it came out pretty good. Now when I went to stitch this I realized the chart had the wrong flag ... it was a flag with lots of stars like now...not like it would have looked back then... so I made some adjustments  and made it a Betsy Ross flag... here's a side view of this piece...

next time I may add a layer of batting to the front... I just attached the stitching to sticky board on the front and some cotton fabric to sticky board for the back, hot melt glued the pompom trim to the front and sandwiched the pieced together... I'm displaying it on a accent table in my living room...

hard to get a good pic with the sun coming in the window... and I added these cute Jim Shore birds...

the piece was called Red, White and Bluebird... got it on Amazon.

I also stitched up this freebie from Notforgotten Farm called Flagmaker...

I think this is Betsy's daughter...both pieces are stitched on 32 ct linen I painted with Rit dyes.

On Monday two quilts returned from Quilting by David and wait for it... I got the binding on BOTH of them by Wednesday... OMG... I have 2 modes for binding quilts ... it  is to either quickly get a quilt bound or wait 18 months... I'm happy I didn't wait on these... first one is Chamomile ... you can see the pattern here...

love the soft clean look of the low volumes... the sashing really makes this quilt but it does take time to get all those intersections to match... the panto is called Songbirds and here's a bit of a close up...

I love bird stuff as evidenced by the bird pillowcases I made a couple of years ago...they do coordinate nicely with the quilt.

And the second quilt is a little nine patch done in American Jane and those reproduction prints ... a friend of mine refers to the repro prints as looking like men's boxer shorts fabrics... and they kinda do...LOL

I made all those little 3" finished 9 patches years ago... I "planned" to add an applique border ... however years  and years have passed and it ain't happening... finished is better than hanging around... this one is about 55" square ... a nice throw quilt.

Getting those bindings on kick started my sewing mojo and I spent a couple of productive days down in my sewing studio... check back tomorrow for a rare Monday posting of what I'm working on...I've got 2 quilts going at the same time and a couple more ideas I can't wait to start...

Well I already dined with Elliott and his parents ... we did brunch... I might venture out and look for some petunias to replace the ones that went belly up... or I might just stay home and sew a bit more... not sure yet ...

Hope you have a productive week ahead... and a cooler one too... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts ... and then I'll check out what everyone else is doing... I'm sure to see some great projects...

happy stitching-
carol fun