Lost and Lazy on a Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hello all ... yes I haven't been here for a while... have I been off on some exotic adventure... is the groecery store exotic??? cause that's all I got... mostly I've been lazy where posting is concerned. I have put some stuff up on Instagram... you can always check me out there...  https://www.instagram.com/carolfun53/...   I've been involved in a bunch of different house and garden projects. My son and his family got moved into their new home, but not until I ended up being  the general contractor getting things painted and fixed up before hand... and then after they moved into the new place, I've been doing the same job for their old house so they can get it fixed up and put on the market... I don't mind doing it, but it takes time... and I've been busy in my yard... lucked into a great deal on some 1 gallon perennials ... $3.49 each... from a very reputable local greenhouse... obviously mis-marked at the local Kroger's store... I ended up buying 36 of them...

and I'd already planted about 25 other 1 gallon perennials and I bought a couple at the garden outlet  and another 8 or so the other day at the hardware store ... so more than 70 plants have been added this year... and right now it is looking good... hope they can hang in there...

That massive leafy thing on the left is a volunteer pumpkin... I should probably get it out of there as it has covered some yarrow, and a dahlia and a small boxwood... but it is the most prolific grower in my garden... the seed must have come from the pumpkins I had in the window boxes last Fall...

Lots of stuff in these 2 bed included 2 cabbages there in the back... again this may be a mistake as they are getting huge... I've never grown them before and had no idea those little bitty seedlings would get so ginormous...

Mother Nature has turned up the thermostat to broil for the next 2 weeks... temperatures in the 90s ... only saving grace is humidity isn't too bad, but I'm watering twice a day...petunias are already looking a bit bedraggled...

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and yes there is another monster pumpkin plant in the front yard... I trimmed it back a bit as it had grown out of the bed and into the lawn and my lawn guy would have mowed it over... I've never had any luck before growing veggies so I'm shocked at how these have taken off...


On the crafty front I have gotten some stuff done... told myself I didn't need any new patriotic, but then I NEVER  really listen to myself...

I stitched up this sampler from Blackbird Designs... Stars and Stripes, Schoolgirl Sampler Series .... chart dated 2003...

a piece of unidentified 32 ct yellow linen I splashed with diluted Rit dyes in Scarlet and Royal blue.  That frame/stand has been in my stash for a couple of years... saw Priscilla put a Prairie Schooler monthly chart on it... got it marked down at Hobby Lobby and have been saving it for the right project... I think this vignette is looking good.

I also stitched a snippet of With Thy Needle & Thread's Summer in Baltimore...

it is finished as a flat disk... 32 ct linen I painted... and the tier tray is looking good, if I so say myself ... and I do...LOL

That top piece is a freebie from Notforgotten Farm...

I finally got my large shelf display put together the day before the 4th...

The only new piece here was a partial stitch of another With Thy Needle & Thread... this is Where Liberty Dwells... I left off the words at the bottom of the chart...

I sewed up a couple of flag blocks to make a table runner... you can see the free pattern  from Diary of a Quilter,  here....

I have more cut out to make a quilt... all vintage Debbie Mumm fabrics... hope to get to it before July is over... will be late for this year but ahead for next year... I have 3 quilts waiting downstairs, to have bindings attached, and two more that will be returning from Quilting by David soon that will also need bindings... I have a bed size top almost done... and I foolishly started a SAL for another bed size quilt ... that is definitely languishing... and I want to refresh my quilting studio... replacing the table with black tops, with tables with with tops, replacing 5 black IKEA Billy bookcases with 6 white IKEA Billy bookcases... I've been wanting to do it for a while but has been a low on the list of things  I've wanted my handyman, Dan, to get to... once he gets done with my son's old house (in a week or two) he may have time... then then I checked IKEA and the bookcases are out of stock...grrrr....who knows when all this stuff will get done...and while it may seem like I'm not lazy I sure feel lazy... maybe it is the heat...maybe it is my disgust over all that is happening in the world...not gonna mix my politics with my crafty stuff... I dislike seeing it on IG... I just want to see pretty stuff and buy pretty things... I don't need to know any philosophical  background as it isn't a deciding factor in my purchase, never has been... I want to make pretty things to escape reality... just my opinion and yes I realize what I just did... sorry... 

Anyway... I'm gonna sit on the sunroom porch and veg ... maybe watch a flosstube video or listen to some music videos and stitch a bit and nap... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and see what everyone else is up to... not too much on the agenda next week... a followup for my eye... got that cataract zapped ... easy peasy... shouldn't have been concerned... vision is so much better... will spend lots of time watering my plants and will probably have to break down and water the grass... I hate to water the grass as way too much water ends up on the sidewalk and I always get drenched setting up the sprinklers... maybe some day I'll have my yard outfitted with sprinklers...ooooohhhh... that's an idea I need to think more about... 

Hope you are having a good week... 4th of July here was unbelieveable... since all the local municipalities cancelled their public fireworks shows, it appears that every private citizen in my town bought their own pyrotechnics... and set them off continously for about 2 hours last night... honestly I have never in my 66 years seen so many fireworks at the same time... it was deafening ... and surprising as setting off fireworks other than sparklers, snakes and snaps is illegal in the state of Ohio... not many people seemed to be concerned with that detail... I think a lot of people bought fireworks and thought they were the only people on the block who did so... surprise... everyone on the block did it... sheesh...I did feel sorry for those people with skittish pets and those suffering from PTSD... it was not a good situation... wonder what Labor Day will bring...hmmm...

take care...happy stitching-

carol fun 

Showing off my Spring Decor before Summer arrives ... on Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hello - well I know that summer doesn't officially begin until June 20 but it sure felt like it here the last couple of days... I've been forced to water twice a day... not fun... but so far everything looks like it is hanging in there... the petunias in the window boxes have filled in nicely... the marigolds still look a little scant though... I tried to buy another flat to add to the bed, but my regular garden centers were already out of them... and out of a lot of other stuff... did waaay more people get into gardening this year?  I may try to visit a few other places later today... I've recovered from my binge gardening session of last week and ready for another smaller round... a few more perennials and put in some more zinnia seeds...

As for crafty stuff, I stitched a small patriotic piece...

this is a section of Summer in Baltimore by With Thy Needle & Thread... I think I'll finish it as a small pillow to add to my tier tray...  on 32 ct it is about 4" square...I'm hoping to get another couple of small patriotic pieces stitched in the next couple of weeks... I'm planning on getting out all my red white and blue around the middle of June...

But before I do I'll show you the big shelf display I've done for Spring...

I was able to pick up my Vintage Birds by Jeanette Douglas Desgins from the framer yesterday... they did a nice job... here's a close up...

and an even closer close up of the frame...

I like the faux fillet inside edge...when I picked this one up I dropped off Faith of the Heart... should get it back in about 2 weeks...

As for the other pieces on the shelf unit...

The parrot is a Blackbird Design called Welcome, dear August ... August refers to a grandchild of either Alma or Barb, not the month... I substituted the work Hope... it is from the book In Friendship's Way ... you can see it here.

Other side of that shelf continues my bird theme with Barbara Ana's Funky Bird...you can find the pattern here.

On the next shelf I have Blackbird Designs Pins & Tulips Pincushion from the book Thank You Sarah Tobias... as far as I know this book is OOP... sorry...

And I couldn't put away Ah Tis Spring by Notforgotten Farms... I just love that bunny in the big blue dress! You can find the chart here...

Below that I have Garden Friends from the newest BBD book Sewing Club and Delivering Posies from Homespun Elegance...

 you can never have too many pieces with birds... IMHO... LOL!!

I worked a bit more on my 2 x 4 quilt...

need about 30 more blocks... I think I'm going to call this one Hand Selected because I've carefully chosen the combination of fabrics in each block..

I worked yesterday to get the last 30 yellows cut out and I picked up fabric for a back for this one... can't wait to get it done and off to Quilting by David... I think it is going to look great on my bed...

Oh in the comments last week someone asked about doing this quilt with 2.5" strips... yes there is a pattern for it... Cluck Cluck Sew did it and you can find it here.   I'm using the pattern from  Film in the Fridge which you can see here.  Both are easy and I can see another quilt like this in my future...  Wanda from Exuberant Color is playing with the idea using Kaffe fabrics and I like it a lot... you can see her blog post here.

Also there was a question about my blog header... what pattern were those chickens?  Okay I made that quilt at least 12 years ago... as I recall the chicken was from Country Threads... I think it was in one of their books... there was also a request to show the whole quilt... I'll try to dig it out of storage ... I'm waiting for a cooler day to root around in my attic... I also want to find a pineapple quilt I did that wall all in yellows... I realized the other day that I've made at probably a half dozen quilts using just yellow ... I do remember that the first one I did was for a guild challenge when I lived in Modesto California... that was 30 years ago... where does the time go???  The quilt I made was bed sized... Ohio Star blocks (I was so homesick) in a zig zag streak of lightening setting that I hand quilted... I want to dig that one out too... maybe I can do a post on just yellow quilts... Yellow has been my favorite color my whole life... as a child I was so happy when I convinced my Mom to paint my bedroom yellow... and in my first apartment I got my Dad to paint my bedroom yellow and had a yellow bedspread and a yellow carpet... oh it was really YELLOW...LOL

So this coming week has a couple of things on the agenda... babysitting on Tuesday and on Wednesday I'm having a cataract that has grown back zapped with a laser... I saw the surgeon last week... it isn't as involved a procedure as having cataract surgery... they don't put you out and you can drive yourself home... say a prayer and wish me luck... it will be nice to have clear vision in both eyes again.

Well I hope that the week ahead is a good one for all of you... we are suppose to have cooler weather by the end of next week... after we deal with remnants of the tropical storm down South moving through... I'm all for cooler temperatures... 90 is too hot for June... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and then go read some blogs... no big plans for today and I like it ... a lot.

take care-
happy stitching-
carol fun

Death by Gardening on a Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hello.. well I almost  did myself in with the gardening this week... I'm not dead but serious damage may have been done to my knees and  hamstrings... lots and lots and lots of bending over... naproxen is my friend... LOL... the weather has been wonderful... 70's... low humidity... nice breeze... and on Friday I went to 3 garden centers and came home with  a bunch of new stuff... and I already had old stuff that needed to be planted... by my count I planted 25 1 gallon perennials... 115 dahlia tubers...  175 little annuals, impatiens, begonias, coleus, zinnias... 42 wave petunias ...  a few different small perennials and assorted seeds... I tied up the fading daffodils and cut back the alliums that were spent... I am pooped... but very very happy!!!   My yard is looking good.... here a a few pictures... more for my benefit than yours as I like to document what things looked like when I first planted and how they grow over the summer...

The window boxes are filling in...not a lot of petunia blooms yet but the plants are fuller...

My favorite pot so far... orange petunias, a Prince Tut papyrus, some little orange daisy like thing (I forget what its called) and some variegated ivy...   I did 2 like this flanking my garage...

Another pot... some Proven Winners petunias and Diamond Frost euphorbia... hope it takes the heat that I know will come...

A view of the bed on the side of the house... I put lots of new perennials in ... seems like a bunch I planted last year didn't come back...

My newest garden whimsey... it is a GIANT ceramic ball of yarn... needs GIANT knitting needles...LOL

And a look at the pyramid of petunias... not bad ... a couple of pots are lagging... don't know why as they are almost all Proven Winners in the same kind of pots...

And the most unusual plant in my garden... a Globemaster Allium... this is about 10'' across... a late bloomer... I think I got this at Costco... need more next year...

As for crafty stuff... well I've been pretty tired when I've come in from the garden... I did finish Faith of the Heart...

Why is it that you never see that loose bit of thread on the piece until you post the picture???
I was going to take it to get framed but I'm waiting for the shop to finish with the Jeanette Douglas Designs Vintage Birds... hopefully this week...

I picked back up the Garden Alphabet No. 61 by Prairie Schooler... just about halfway...

Did get a few more blocks done on my 2 X 4 quilt....  30 complete ...need 50 more...

Elliott "helped" in arranging the blocks... such a good boy...

Busy week ahead... 2 doctor's appointment that should have happened during the quarantine... semi-annual check ups... babysitting on Tuesday... probably lunch out with friends a day or two... sounds good.

My son and daughter-in-law are working on getting moved into their new house... the sofa and love seat they bought last week came Friday and the TV is coming this week... no date yet on the dining room table... Dan the Handyman made good progress on the painting and some carpentry ... still have more painting and some plumbing repair...

I've been able to go out to eat and that has made me happy... planned on going to Hobby Lobby last week but ended up at garden centers... maybe this week... I don't need anything... just want to see new stuff...

Hope you have a good week ahead... things are beginning to feel more normal... hope it stays that way... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts ... should have some time to read blogs today... gonna sit on my sunroom porch with all the windows open and enjoy this wonderful weather... take good care of yourselves... all of you are in my prayers... too many are still home incarcerated and the protests/riots of the last week aren't helping anyone ... don't know what people think they will accomplish by destroying someone else's property... Do unto others and you would have them do unto you... it ain't hard to understand... that's my rant for this week...

happy stitching-
carol fun

A bit of normal on a Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hello again... another week has passed me by... it was rainy ... very rainy... but things improved a bit on Friday and Saturday...and I think I see some light at the end of this quarantine tunnel... thank you Lord... on Monday I was able to get a haircut and get my roots touched up... OMG... what a difference that made in my outlook... my head feels lighter and I am so much happier since my gray is covered ... I know a lot of you have let yours grow out... but I think giving it almost 8 weeks was good trial run to see if I'd like it... and I didn't...it made me feel older...  and  part of this whole quarantine thing that has me highly annoyed at being called old... I'm 66... I know I'm no spring polka dot chicken but you do not need to tell me daily that old people, people over 65 should stay home... I still have a valid driver's license and while I love my house, there are places to go and people to see and shopping to do!!

And since some restrictions have been eased I was able to go out an eat... in a restaurant... Thursday, Friday and Saturday... and I went out every darn day... and twice on Friday... it was so nice not to cook or have to clean up... went to independent neighborhood places that were as happy to see me as I was happy to see them... they were all doing a good job of mask/gloves/social distancing and I figure they've been disinfecting the place for the last 8 weeks... probably can't get much cleaner...it is all a little bit of normal and I truly appreciate it.

On the crafty front, I sewed together all the rectangles of the Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements fabrics and the Dried Herb Grunge....

just waiting for the backing fabric to arrive and then it is off to Quilting by David.

I moved from that project back to my American Jane Simple Pleasures top... I have it about 75% done... lots and lots of different American Jane fabric collections... each 49 patch block has no duplicates within the block...

all it needs is four more of the 49 patch blocks and five 9 patch blocks... no border required... I did get one more 49 patch block done but then a squirrel popped up and I had to start this new quilt...

This is the 2 x 4 Quilt using the tutorial from Film in the Fridge that you can find here... I have thought about this one for a while but couldn't settle on a color scheme... but then I saw this quilt... click here... on Instagram... Oh my goodness... why did this not occur to me??  Yellows... all YELLOWS... and paired with low volumes.... YES YES YES!!!

Now I have plenty of yellows ...and yes that is an understatement...LOL ... I'm going to make 80 different blocks so it will fit on my double bed... and I want 80 different low volumes... I have a nice stash but made a trip to my LQS  Homegrown Homesewn on Friday and picked up some more... they celebrate FQ Friday... buy 10 FQs and they are $2.50 each versus $3.50 each... a no brainer... .

I want to mix in some yellows that are gold... I'm particularly fond of that color right now... and I'm going to use some of my novelty fabrics too... this is one of those projects that will have me taking 100's of fabrics off my shelves... pondering if they make the cut... cutting out the 4 rectangles needed and then tossing them on the floor to be re-folded at a later date... messy messy messy... but somehow so satisfying...

Lately I've been enjoying more sewing mojo... my basement sewing room has been the perfect temperature ... not too hot or too cold... and the rainy days were perfect for sewing... I made a list of quilts that I'd like to work on... came up with about 6 new projects ...and there are at least that many UFO's that I could revisit... I like this feeling... it feels ...normal...

On the cross stitch front I am sooooo close to finishing Faith of the Heart by Brenda Gervais of With Thy Needle & Thread...

just have the vine-y part at the bottom and the date to add...  FYI... I am not happy with the color of the linen in any of the pics I'm showing today... I can not get my phone to show the true colors... ugh... however my son said there is a new iPhone coming out with a better camera than what I have but in the smaller size phone that I like... I'll be looking into it.... as for this piece, I plan on taking this one to the framer too... I'd like to display it all year long... my criteria anymore is, if it is a seasonal piece I'll FFO it myself ... but if it is  a long term display I'll take to be professtionally framed... I've got that BBD sampler I want to get back to... Blackbird Designs O Joyous Day...

about 2/3's finished... I may pick this one back up next week... but I really need to get back to Elliott's Christmas stocking... I just couldn't bring myself to work on it during the quarantine... I don't know about you but most of my special stitching has memories attached to them... I can remember where I was and what I was doing when I worked on them... I don't want my negative memories attached to Elliott's stocking... my attitude is getting better now that I can get out and about... and maybe the needlepoint shop has reopened... I need wool for the background...

Well  I've been busy babysitting Elliott while my son and daugther in law get things moved into their new house... and I've been acting at the general contractor for projects at their new house... my handyman Dan has been done a bunch of jobs there... removed shower doors, fixed a leaky faucet, painted the basement (quite a big space), put up a chair rail in the bedroom and painted the room, replaced a toilet, taken off a closet door, changed doorknobs...  and there are several other jobs he hasn't gotten to yet... they have a moving date of June 15... I'm pretty sure Dan will have everything done by then... and after that he can move onto some jobs at their old house ... we are planning to have my younger son who lives with me now, to move into their old house... it is just 2 blocks away ... we are testing if my younger son (who is Aspergers...high functioning autistic) will be able to live on his own... if it works out, that will be great... if it doesn't we can make other arrangements for his future... but the old house could use a little work too... thank goodness Dan is so handy... other than complicated electrical work he can pretty much do it all... guys like that are hard to find and I thank God I met him 6 years ago... my house would not be in the nice shape it is in without him.

So I'm babysitting Elliott this afternoon so his parents can go shopping ... some furniture stores have opened ... but not IKEA... they are shopping for a couch... hopefully they will find one and won't have to wait too long for delivery... I think dinner will be a carryout from somewhere... maybe Carraba's... when they get settled in I'm making a prime rib dinner for all of us... we need to celebrate!

I hope that the coming week sees more of you released from your home incarceration... yeah... I'm still not totally over it, can you tell?? I feel so sorry for those of you in states with governors who don't want to open things back up... I understand the health issues but the economic issues are affecting people's health too... worry about how you are going to take care of your family or your business can be as deadly as this virus... sorry... small rant again this week.

Not a lot on the agenda next week... a day of babysitting and the quilty gals want to get together for lunch before one of our bunch goes to her summer home in Wisconsin... the first week of June will be a busy one... semi-annual visit with my primary care doctor and semi-annual visit with the Cincinnati Eye Institute... I've noticed lately that my left eye is getting blurry... last time I was there they said that my cataract was growing back ... I hope I can get that corrected soon... it doesn't bother me too much when I'm stitching but when I'm driving it is more apparent... I found myself squinting my left eye closed ... I look like a pirate but things are clearer... there's always something, isn't there?

Okay... I'm off to link this up with Kathy's Quilts... hope I can read some blogs while Elliott naps...
hope things are looking up where ever you are...take care...

happy stitching-
carol fun

A little of this and a little of that... on a Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hello... well a post 2 weeks in a row... I can hardly believe it... how do the days fly by and drag at the same time???  Things here in Ohio are opening up... retail was allowed to resume business... some did and some are still waiting... restaurants with outdoor seating started serving meals on Friday... next Friday you can get a meal indoors... I can't wait... we've done a lot of carry out but somehow carryout of a nice breakfast just didn't sit right... so I think our first meal out will be to the breakfast place we like... my son and I go on weekdays...usually late morning and it is never crowded... there was always plenty of social distancing and I'm pretty sure it will be that way for  a while.

The highlight of my week was going shopping!!! To start off I went to several garden centers... Mother Nature froze a bunch of the stuff I put in the ground... that will teach me to rush the season... my window boxes came out of the frost/freeze okay but I had to cover them several nights... the stuff I "unplanted" and put in the garage made it... but the lantana and some of the marigolds didn't... I was able to get more marigolds but haven't found the lantana... forgot where I originally bought it... oh well there are other places to check out... I did pick up a few more petunias and here how the pyramid looks this week....

already more blooms than last week... yeah... glad I kept them in the garage...


I was almost giddy returning to my "happy places"... Joanns, Michaels and my mecca Hobby Lobby... spent some money at each ones... mostly silk flowers... my displays needed a bit of a re-fresh... and got some bargain picture frames too... I like having a stash of frames...and I picked up a vase and some cute gnomes... at little of this and a little of that... it was so nice... I saw hints that Homegoods/TJ Maxx/Marshalls will be opening soon... I expect it next week... now if IKEA would reopen that would be wonderful. My son and daughter-in-law need some furniture to move into their new house... they aren't fond of sitting on the floor... need a couple of couches and some rugs  and other odds and ends... and I miss walking around IKEA... I'm not much on exercise that makes you sweat a lot but I do walk a lot every day... over 10,000 steps per day on average... when the weather is too cold or too hot a walk around IKEA gives you lots of steps and lots of stuff to look at... I avoid weekends but during the week it isn't real crowded... I just want things to get back to what they were... who knew you could have nostalgia for 8 weeks ago???

As for sewing... remember last week when I was a VERY GOOD GIRL and made a quilt top all with fabric I already owned??  Well the exact opposite scenario happen this week... first I purchased a pack of Tim Holtz FQ... you can see close up of it here...I LOVE all the vintage-y prints... don't want to cut them up too much... here are a couple of my favorites.... I love the old ledger sheets...

and this one... vintage pattern illustrations... swoon...

and large scale florals with typography... love that too!

and oh those birds!!! I like this one so much I ordered yardage for the back of the quilt...

And you can see they have some vertical direction... so I decided to do another quilt where I just cut 5" x 10" rectangles ... that should show off the prints ... but it needs some quiet spaces.... Grunge to the rescue... but what color of Grunge?   I have  yardage of of a concrete gray which I auditioned...

its okay and it does coordinates well with The Dude... but gray is not a color I'm real fond of ... I know it has it's place and I know that the young modern quilting set loves it...and do we need to point out that I am not young?  No I don't think we do... soooooo.... definitely want Grunge, just not gray... and life gave me an opening on Friday so I was off to my local quilt store Homegrown, Homesewn... it is always a treat to go there and Friday was no exception...they have a great selection of tone on tones and carry ALL of the Grunges... I'm partial to the yellows... don't need to tell you that... and greens are a very close second... I decided on this olive green... it is called Dried Herb...

yes yes yes... I like this a lot... just going to make a throw sized quilt ... and I'm hoping to have enough left over from the FQs to make a second throw with this collection... maybe a 2 x 4 quilt like this...

there are some coordinating tone on tone fabrics for the Tim Holtz collection... should be a nice combo... oh right now there are so many quilts and cross stitch projects I want to do... need more time!!! And I'm not sure why I'm entranced by rectangular blocks lately but I am... they are easy to sew together and just a little bit different from  squares... make me feel almost "arty"... LOL

Maybe I should call this project the Bad Girl Quilt as every piece is new fabric... but it makes me HAPPY so I don't feel bad at all...

It is hard to get a straight on pic of this ... it fills my design wall and I can only get back so far... the color is a bit off here... the green isn't that dark...

It is a wonder that I go this cut out and on  the design wall at all... as I was accompanied by this little guy...

He was quite busy emptying every basket and container he could get his hands on...

I'll have to clean up later but it was worth the trade off to get this one cut out and on the wall...


On the cross stitch front I worked on Faith of the Heart ...

got a decent amount of stitching done... 123 Stitch was quick with their delivery and I got the floss I needed either Wed or Thurs... that's a week from Utah to Ohio...not bad... and then I was watching a Flosstube video and I don't remember who's it was but she showed a Sheepish Design chart that I thought was OOP ... she had bought it from Shakespeare's Peddler/Kittenstitcher... here's her website... great stuff, good customer service, only $3 shipping... anyway I was intrigued and went to see what Kittenstitcher had... oh my goodness... I found 3 charts that I've always wanted but thought they were OOP but they aren't!!!   ... Sheepish Designs Exemplarys...

Alpha Bird... Letter A through  J...

Alpha Menagerie... Letter K through R...

Alpha Sheep... Letter S through Z...

Now I somehow though that there were more than 3 parts to this ... and I want to do them as one LOOOONG piece... it will be 140 stitches wide and 408 stitches long... on 32 ct that would make it 25 1/2" long... on 36 ct it would be about 22 5/8" long... 40 count would be about 20 3/8" long... 32 ct would require 2 strands of floss... 36 and 40 only one... right now I'm leaning toward 36 ct... I have a piece of linen I could paint/dye that is long enough... the thread key has NPI silks, DMC and Anchor... I have a bit of a stash of Anchor... I use to stitch with that when I did a lot of Ewe & Eye & Friends when The Twisted Thread was still open... it was the BEST cross stitch shop EVER... spent a lot of time there in the 90's... miss the shop and the people who were there...anyway I'm going to stitch a little swatch... one ply Anchor over 2 threads 36 count and see if I like the coverage...

As for the Jeanette Douglas Vintage Birds piece I took it to the local framer... found a lovely frame...narrow with a tortoise shell finish and a faux filet edge... the lady working there was so happy to have a customer... obviously 8 weeks with no business is devastating... she almost cried when I said I'd pay in advance (I always do)... she gave me a discount and said it would be 2 weeks or less... can't wait to get it back... I want to put it in my seasonal display but afterwards I'm adding it to the sampler wall in my upstairs craft room... (my hallway also has 2 sampler walls but it is narrow and hard to photograph)... anyway here's how the wall looks ....

I've wanted to add more samplers to it...  I may take them down and come up with a less symmetrical layout so I can easily add more ... put them closer together... oooohhh...more space...more samplers... I LOVE that idea... never too many samplers!!!

So I'm feeling more positive now that I can see an end to the lockdown... I know things won't be exactly like they were but at least there are some places to go ... and the weather is definitely more Spring-y... from freezing last week to 80's this coming week... a great improvement... however there is a lot of rain... good for the stuff I have planted but there is more I want to get in the ground ... last year it was the beginning of June before I got my dahlias in and it looks like that its not going to be much earlier this year... and the removal of the overgrown boxwoods has left more planting space... I want more perennials... but I want them for bargain prices... I'll have to stalk the local feed and garden place... the Big Lots of garden centers... you never know what you'll find... the price will be good but they may not have as many as you want ... and you can count on the parking being a nightmare...that has kept me away last week... again you have to avoid weekends but even during the week every time I drove by was crazy... maybe tomorrow... I'll drive past twice on my way to and from my HAIRCUT appointment ... OMG... I sooooo need a haircut and my roots touched up... I have considered letting my hair go gray on several occasions...and thought perhaps this would be the time to do it ... but then I remembered ... I'm not a redhead who is going gray.... I'm a brunette who's going gray... and I LOVE my red hair... I've been coloring my hair since my 20's ... some of my first memories of my Mom are hanging over a stationary tub in the basement coloring her hair... red... its a family tradition...LOL

Well I've rambled on longer than I thought I would... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts... always an enjoyable way to spend some time on Sunday... the week ahead is looking good... haircut on Monday, babysitting on Tuesday, some errands on Wednesday...nothing so far for Thursday... restaurants re-open on Friday...yeah!!!

Hope you are having a good week... for all of you that are in states that are still locked down I'll offer up an extra prayer that you get released soon... I won't do a political rant here but I think you know where I'm coming from... choices... people should have the freedom to make their own choices...

happy stitching-
carol fun