Changing things up on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - where do the days go?  I swear someone stole a day from me somewhere in the middle of the week., but somehow I can recall that I did do something every day ... so I guess they didn't steal any...LOL

I'm happy that I got some things on my "to-do" list done but I'm not sure exactly how I accomplished that as there was still a lot of running here and there...Monday had me helping a family member with groceries and their glucose monitor... Tuesday I took Nick to get a haircut and   I hung out with Elliott but only for a couple of hours as he is going to a day camp this week...Wednesday I finally attacked the seasonal decor and put away the birds and got out the patriotic stuff... oh and there was a spur of the moment dinner with my older son and that was nice... Thursday a friend and  I went to see Delinda... she only had one of my quilts done but I dropped off the Too Ra Loo Ra Irish chain I showed last week... and I fixed the mistakes before I took it to her.

Friday got real crazy as the sprinkler guys finally showed up... it was only at 9:00 am... I was still in my PJs... (no one told me they were coming) and they got the irrigation in the raised beds... I had about given up on them... and in hindsight, seeing how they put in the irrigation... it is  emitters that spray in a circle... I could have gone ahead and planted up my dahlias... darn. 

In the afternoon on Friday, Nick and I went to a food truck festival with friends... it was hot but there was a lovely breeze and the food was soooo good... got a lobster roll and a warm peach cobbler with cinnamon ice cream... sooooo yummy... and we sat and talked and ate and had such a nice time... on the way home Nick said it was a great Summer memory... and it was!!

So after picking up some more soil for the raised beds, on Saturday morning,  I attacked planting them up  fortified with electrolyte water and Flaherty's English toffee... don't judge, LOL... I got all 5 raised beds planted up with 160 dahlia tubers!!! They are planted very close together as I'm following the lead of a guy I saw on IG that plants his this way. They seem to need less staking so I'm going to try it out.   Now I purchased about 190 ... but there are always some duds and I still have about a dozen left unplanted, so it worked out well. I also checked on the tubers I "saved" last year... actually all I did was dig them up and toss them into  giant Costco buckets. I intended all winter to take them to the basement furnace room which would have been warmer than the unheated garage, but I never got around to it... and to my surprise, when I looked into the buckets quite a few of them survived and have put out a new sprout...and if they survived that neglect they should do great when I get them into the ground. Which leads to the change I'm making in the yard.

Right now all the gardening is giving me fits. The deer have been absolutely voracious... remember when Nick helped me plant all those 1 gallon perennials?  Well except for the coreopsis and the lavender the deer have eaten EVERY single plant and in some cases even pulled them out of the ground!!!  I sprayed some nasty smelling stuff on everything the other day but we have rain in the forecast every day next week so,  I'm not sure if that will be effective very long... and I planted about 8 striped cannas which normally do well for me but they all look awful... I haven't seen much activity with the seeds I spread... and the marigolds are not taking off either... the only thing looking good are the dahlias in the ground I planted a couple of years ago,  the petunias in the window boxes, and the cleome and the nepeta I planted... I am seriously considering streamlining the whole front yard... lots of nepeta up front, cleome in the middle and dahlias in the back... so the more dahlia tubers I have the better this will be. The dahlias I plant in the yard seem to do just fine and I know the deer and the rabbits don't bother them. I know it is only June, but I feel like I'm losing  the battle with the garden this year...sigh...  also the rose bushes I got last year aren't doing well either... I may throw in the towel on them, and then I could open up the patio as there wouldn't be any tasty treats for the deer to munch on in the back... I'm thinking this is another change I should make...change can be good, right?

And for more change, my knee replacement has been re-scheduled  to the end of July.  I forgot to factor in the 4th of July holiday and that messed up the rehab and if needed, more pain meds... and that my older son, who will be my transportation, has out of town guests coming right after the 4th... so pushing it back is easier logistically for everyone concerned... 

Well lets move on, shall we...  I changed my seasonal decor and here's some of the patriotic stuff I got out... let's start out on the sunroom porch which is where I'm writing this post from... the sun is shining and the fan is going and the chair is comfy... I LOVE it out on the sunroom porch!

The little shelf unit is chock full of patriotic goodies...

Up top, left to right my treasured autographed patriotic Debbie Mumm angel and Marcher of the Flag from Melisa at Pinkernpunkinquilting and the other little flag waving gal is from Chessie and Me's Lady Liberty... Chessie always includes a cat in her pieces but I subbed in a chicken... my bit of personalization, dontcha know...and in the wagon I have another Lady Liberty and an Uncle Sam from With Thy Needles and Thread's book Red, White and Bloom.  

Here's a look at the middle and bottom of the shelf unit...

Lots of knickknacks... the patriotic cow and chicken plates are vintage Debbie Mumm...  and my favorite Lady Liberty shelf sitter is keeping a cute Lady Liberty pillow company... the chart is from SewEmma's Patriotic TypeFACE... someday I want to do the other little pillows in this pattern...there is an Uncle Sam and an eagle...and on the bottom shelf I have Flagmaker which is a freebie from Notforgotten Farm  and a cute chicken I made eons ago from patriotic Debbie Mumm fabric... the bunting piece is also Debbie Mumm and if you've been here any time at all you know my undying devotion to Debbie Mumm... fabrics and plates and teapots and cookie jars and fabrics... I LOVE ALL OF THEM... in fact I just bought a vintage Debbie Mumm cookie jar off of eBay last week... it is a Halloween one and I have never seen it before... I'll show it in a week or two as I'm thinking of moving on to Fall and Halloween stitching... trying to get ahead... LOL

Back to the patriotic decor... this is the 2 shelves in the middle section of my TV cabinet... 

The theme here is patriotic transportation... in the red,white and blue tricycle I have Colonel Sammy... he's another patriotic freebie from Notforgotten Farms...and the little Liberty pillow was from Lizzie Kate...and on the bottom I got the Prairie Schooler No. 8 American Primitive Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam FFO'd... I thought about pillows but they are pretty big - 4" x 6" so I went with a double frame instead...

The frame was white plastic and I think I put about 5 coats of paint on it but it still keeps chipping off...oh well... 

Getting the birds put away and the patriotic stuff  out was a lot of work... I couldn't do it without Nick toting stuff up and down the stairs...but I felt so good getting this checked off my to do list... and I did get my sewing room straightened up a bit... not totally... but enough to motivate me to do some sewing... and I reassessed a couple of projects and some change is involved here too... remember those 16 patch blocks I was sewing with the fusible web backing and the American Jane fabrics?  Well the original plan was to make  bed sized quilt of them and my calculations were I would need 121 blocks... that's A LOTTA blocks... so I've decided to go with a different plan... I still need 121 blocks but half of them are going to be plain blocks ...  I don't have enough of the Riley Blake Pin Drop fabric (even though I bought yards and yards of it)... I can't find the multi colorway anywhere... I assume it is OOP... but the Riley Blake Blossom fabric in a rainbow colorway will work nicely...

 

I think this is a change for the better... and less sewing will be involved... so far I have 40 16 patch blocks (I sewed 10 more after I took this picture)... so I'm over halfway finished...yeah me!!

And less sewing of the 16 patch project means I can play with some other projects... in straightening up I unearthed a Debbie Mumm 9 patch project I'd like to get back to... not sure how big I planned on it to be...I need to count how many blocks I've sewn and how many are cut out and go from there... I have more blocks than in this picture ...

 and I found some large hexagons of Debbie Mumm that I cut out...

again,  not sure how big  I planned to make it... probably thought I'd make it bed sized but I'm trying to curtail those thoughts... lap size is okay...lap size is okay...lap size is okay...  that's my new mantra as quilts seem to get away from me...  it would be good to work on both of these Debbie Mumm projects pretty much at the same time as all my Debbie's are in plastic bins ... and I will have to lug all of them out of the root cellar closet ... who am I kidding, Nick will have to lug them out of the root cellar closet... he's such a good kid... but then I'd be able to see all the stuff I have. In my old house I had enough shelf space that I could keep them out all the time, but I have half as much square footage now... and that's okay... another change that worked out well...

As for cross stitch, I've decided that I'm done stitching patriotic stuff... I'm happy with what I've gotten finished ... and I looked through my many many many WIPs and decided to stitch on one of the projects I started for my "7 for my 70th birthday"... Blackbird Designs Crowns & Shields....I'm only doing about 3/4ths of the chart so it will fit in a certain spot ... here's where I am now...

I'm doing this in a monochromatic colorway... DMC 829, 830, 831, 832, 833, 834... and I'm contemplating who's initials I'll put in the 6 cartouches... there are several possibilities... and this is nice easy stitching...in pawing through my stash of wips,  there is also a Halloween piece that caught my eye and a Thanksgiving piece that is kitted up but still needs linen... it would be good to get a jump on my Fall stitching as  the days do fly by, don't they?

Soooo next week... like I said, forecast is for some rain Sunday through Friday...I'm chomping at the bit to get the rest of the dahlias in the ground and the rain  may curtail that activity ... but it opens up time for sewing....it shouldn't take too long to do another 20 of the 16 patch blocks but I don't have the alternate block fabric yet... and once I get it I'll probably want a break from that project... soooo right now the Debbie Mumm projects are top of my list...but it could also change... LOL... always something changing, right?? I don't have a lot on my calendar, working out on Monday, Elliott on Tuesday and a haircut on Thursday... I keep telling myself that I should block out an entire week and make no plans and stay home... but I never follow through with that because something always calls me out of the house...usually eating out... one of my favorite things to do...LOL

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... after I get the grocery shopping done for a certain family member I should have the rest of the day free...Nick's making penne and meat sauce for dinner... a favorite meal of ours ... and I think I'll go out and stitch on the sunroom porch and watch the birds.

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Not what I planned on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - well that week didn't go as I planned... not at all... it started out nicely on Sunday and Monday and I got some sewing done... and Tuesday is always nice with Elliot... but the rest of the week was a mess... Wednesday had me going to a physical therapy appointment that I thought would just be a conversation about training and scheduling and turned into a full blown work out session... I was pooped after that...

And then came Thursday... and it was a disaster. Family member fell and was complaining of back pain that they said was a 10... went to the ER... when we walked in I knew I was going to be there a looooooooooong time... as I looked around the lobby I saw lots of people who had been taken back for some triage, but then returned to the lobby... tell tale signs were the tabs/leads from a EKG and the connections that a blood draw and/or IV had been started... my first impression was correct. I struck up a conversation here and there and everyone I spoke with had been there 3-4 hours... yikes. I heard rumors that the hospital was full... no beds available... and it wasn't a rumor. Finally got called back after sitting 5 hours in the lobby but never got inside an ER exam room. The entire evaluation was conducted in a hallway in front of the nurses station... and we weren't the only ones there... young women in a bed right next to us was getting an IV and her mom was sitting on the end of the gurney.  Family member did get x-rays... nothing broken, no concussion... that was good news... sent home with a lidocaine patch and some ibuprofen... total elapsed time ... 7 hours.  And since the hospital had no beds there were people in the ER exam rooms who had been there over 40 hours!! ... when we left there was a hallway of old women in wheelchairs waiting to be seen and someone was trying to sleep on the floor...and this was one of the highest rated hospitals in the area.  It looked like a 3rd world country and this is the hospital I normally go to ... not sure I'll be coming back.

Needless to say I was exhausted on Friday and had a splitting headache... and I don't get headaches very often... and now it is Saturday and I'm still not feeling great... achy and tired... and as you've surmised I did not get much crafty stuff done this week. I started another small patriotic piece...an Uncle Sam... but I have made several errors and I put it in time out... I did finish knitting a sock while sitting in the ER lobby...I need to cast on its mate... 

And here's what I did get done... my Too Ra Loo quilt top ... pattern here from Jen Belnap....

And drat!!! there is not one, not 2 but THREE  four-patches turned the wrong way!!! I will fix them but I'm not going to pin it back up and take another picture... I've done all the ladder climbing  today that I want too... I made this bigger than the pattern... it is about 88" square... and when I started out the low volumes were quiet... but they got louder and louder as I went on... and it is quite busy busy busy... but I'm okay with that ... I like having a lot to look at in a quilt and lots of the fabrics talk to me...

Like the spools of thread and in the upper right hand corner there is a print with the names of lots of trees.... I love trees... I had 5 of them planted in my yard and I'd plant more if I had more room... luckily the neighbors have some nice trees too... there is a 70 year old oak across the street... sorry tangent...

And the chickens and those cute little smiling snails and the pink polka dots...

And some lobsters... I'm really craving a lobster roll... not an easy thing to find here in the landlocked Midwest...

And this Lori Holt quilt of pattern pieces... reminds me of my Mom sewing clothes for me... and dragonflies...

And do you remember dot-to-dot books... I loved them as a child... need to find some for Elliott... and another sewing related print from Lori Holt...

And vintage cars...my dear brother who's been gone 7 years now, had several of these kinds of cars... in fact when he passed he had a pole barn building filled with vintage cars... I miss him a lot... 

And another thing I miss is going to a BIG fabric store and shopping for novelty prints... since Covid it hasn't been the same... Fabric Shack in Waynesville OH was my FAVORITE store... and it is still in business but just as an online retailer...although recently they are allowing you to come and pick up fabric orders in person... I'm hoping they may go back to being a brick and mortar store ... now I have no problem buying fabric online but it is NOT the same as walking the aisles and fondling bolts ... it just isn't...

And I've got this wide back for it...

Now I just need for Delinda to say she has my other quilts finished and I can run up to her place and pick up and drop off.  And I need to clean up and straighten up my sewing studio...

A scrappy quilt like this one makes a mess but there are a whole lot of other project bits and pieces strewn around... and if I tidy up the cutting table and around the sewing machines, my cleaning lady always vacuums the space when she comes... that is so nice... she's just supposed to do the bathrooms and the kitchen but a clean floor in my sewing area always makes me happy!

No decorating was done... and I  attempted to FFO 2 pieces of patriotic stitching...and neither is totally finished...sigh... maybe this upcoming week will be more productive...maybe... I have an appointment of some sort M/T/W/F... and I had to cancel an appointment last week that I need to re-schedule...not sure when I'll fit it in as I really really really would like Thursday to stay appointment free and maybe I can start re-decorating... 

Weather wise we got a lot of rain last week... total for May was over 6"... not a record but a lot of wet stuff...my sod is looking good but the petunias in the window boxes need to dry out... I want to fertilize them but the don't need anymore water right now... and I'm itching to get my dahlias planted in the raised beds...however I haven't heard back from the sprinkler people and I assume they'd like to put the drip lines in without my having a bajillion dahlia tubers already planted... I'll bug them again Monday...

So Sunday plans are lunch with our dear friends and I may putz in the yard a bit... there are always weeds to pull and the marigolds I planted didn't get off to a great start... I still have a tray or two that I could plant... and there will definitely be a nap on the sunroom porch... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts...always pretty stuff to see there...

Hope your week ... and my week... are good ones!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

So much to I want to do on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello  - well my week didn't have nearly as many engagements in it as last week but there was still so much I wanted to do... clean out the garden beds, plant more perennials, scatter some seeds, put away the bird decor, get out the patriotic stuff, fully finish the patriotic stuff I've stitched in the last year, finish up the patriotic piece I started last week, work on the quilt top on my design wall, water the sod 3 times a day so it doesn't die this time and assorted other stuff.

Needless to say I did NOT get all of this done... in fact I got just a few things done and then spent the rest of the week feeling guilty about what I didn't get to... I need to keep reminding myself, Rome wasn't built in a day... and the deadlines I set for myself are almost always overly optimistic... I am my own worst critic ... and anymore this old body isn't built for speed... 

My knee, which shall be replaced July 1, decided that I wasn't paying nearly enough attention to it over the weekend... I want to blame the flare up on the weather... it was rainy... but there is probably more to it than that. On Monday I broke down and took a Tramadol ... and as soon as I did I remembered why I don't take them... they do alleviate the pain but they make me a lethargic lump...the day was a total bust for any productivity...  Tuesday I spent time with Elliott and didn't want to be lethargic so I switched back to naproxen... it's okay... but not great... by Wednesday I was itching to get out and do the yard work but it rained almost all day... which was probably God looking out for me as I did rest my knee... 

Then Thursday dawned... a perfect day to work in the yard!!  Temperature was only about 70, overcast skies, a nice breeze and the ground was soft and squishy from all the rain... soooooo Nick and I spent ALL day working in the yard... I got the dead daffodils and alliums cleaned out of the beds and then Nick dug lots and lots and lots of holes for me... by my calculation we planted 20 cleome, 6 echinacea, 3 tickseed, 4 nepeta, 2 lavender, a bee balm, a trumpet vine, a canna,  2 speedwell, 36 dahlia tubers and a bunch of seeds... there are still more seeds I want to get in... and there will probably be another perennial or two that follows me home... but for the most part I think the yard is done...  I've planted less than what I've done in past years as I'm reminding myself things will spread... and last year things got a bit out of hand... in the Spring I hate to see bare spots so I tend to over plant... trying to rein that in... and  what I've planted should be able to take care of itself as long as it gets watered and I have the drip irrigation and the sprinklers... while I hope to be pretty mobile  by August, I know that I won't be able to play in the yard in July with the new knee... so fingers crossed  what we got planted will flourish. The Old Farmer's Almanac is calling for above average temperatures and below average rainfall with lots of humidity... which seems to be the case every year anymore... sigh... 

And Friday...well it wasn't just my knee that was hurting ... I hurt ALL over...so much stretching and bending ... arrrgh... and I ended up watching Elliott in the morning for 2 hours while his Mom attended a funeral visitation, then I took another family member to lunch, went to Costco, Kroger and the local deli, picked up a prescription at Walgreens and finally came home and took a nap... I deserved it!!!

I got NOTHING done decor wise... I wanted my patriotic stuff up for Memorial Day but it didn't happen... it is at the top of my list for this upcoming week... right after I get all of this stuff FFO'd...

From left to right and top to bottom -  Patriotic Tiny Town by Heart in Hand...the two spools are from Crafty Bluebonnet Designs... the one on the left is Patriotic Pear  from Threadwork Primitives ...the one on the right is a strawberry from Prairie Schooler American Strawberries 

but wait there's more...

From left to right and top to bottom - Liberty House from Heart in Hand... this was a little kit I bought years ago ... as far as I can tell it is OOP.  God Bless America is from Erica Micheals, the flag is done in smyrna crosses on a piece of Aida and the big yellow house ( the house is white on the chart) is American Sampler House from Annie Beez. 

Oh... and this pair ...

Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam from Prairie Schooler No. 8 American Primitive.  

I had no idea I've stitched this much patriotic in the last year or so... my FFO work is cut out for me... gotta buckle down... 

At least this piece is done... I picked up the American Sampler by Primrose Cottage from the framer... and I LOVE it!! There is a little metallic silver edge on the bevel of the frame... IRL it looks soooo good!

And just before I wrote this post I put the last stitch into  the Bent Creek Patriotic Row ...yeah finished!!

I want to get this to the framer on Tuesday...

 Backing up here... on last Wednesday, when it was rainy, I did get some sewing done and now have half of the blocks for the Hush Too-Ra-Loo quilt top done...

the blue is Thatched by Robin Pickens in the colorway Cornflower... it is a blue with a lavender undertone... periwinkle blue... and I love it... as for the low volumes...well the volume got turned up. I started with lots of nice quiet prints... but it was boring... so I cut out some of my more vocal "low" volume prints... chickens and birds and lobsters and umbrellas and other novelties... I LOVE novelty prints... LOVE LOVE LOVE them... and a busy busy busy quilt will make me HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY! 

The blocks are BIG... they finish 18" square...and I already have a pretty wide back in my stash for the back of it... and I think Delinda will have the 2 quilts I dropped off to her a couple of weeks ago finished very soon... it would be great if this was together so when I got pick them up I could drop this off... there is a chance I can do it... I should have some time on Sunday and Monday... fingers crossed I can get it done. OOOOOHH... and as I was proofing this post I just saw where the block in the upper right hand corner has a boo boo... I will take care of that...LOL

I've also been pondering what I might be able to do while I recover from my knee surgery.  I have plenty of UFOs both cross stitch and quilting and I think I should turn my attention to them. Cross stitching should be a good activity while I keep my leg propped up and I think I will be able to sew ... I have 2 Juki sewing machines which are my favorites for piecing ... one upstairs in my craft room and one downstairs in my basement sewing studio... I assume I won't be fond of going up and down the stairs but I could toddle into the craft room... I'm going to bring up several of the UFOs... they are waiting  to be released from their plastic bins  and perhaps  they will see the light of the sewing machine in July... 

And I don't know about you but somehow this July is a culmination event for me and the US... the 250th birthday of our great nation!  I remember all the celebrations back in 1976 and I loved all of it!  Stitching up so many patriotic pieces this last year has put me in a great mood for all the festivities!!  I'm going to decorate the sunroom porch, my living room, the back hallway and the kitchen... I think I have enough knickknacks and cross stitch to deck everything out ...

And the timing is great for me to have the patriotic stuff out and take a break from deadlines... I need to be semi-realistic in that I have to slow down and recuperate from the knee surgery... there will be physical therapy and exercises to do ... and I'm pretty good about that stuff... guilt and the desire to keep myself going drives me ... I keep watching videos the surgeon I'm going to posts on FB... lots of people my age coming in a week or two after surgery without a cane or a walker and they say they are taking minimal pain meds... just over the counter stuff... I'm thinking this is one of those situations where I need to "manifest" what I want to happen... a speedy recovery with minimal pain... that's the ticket!! 

So I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... I think I need to attend to a certain family member's grocery order but then the day is mine... and on Monday I'm going to go work out but nothing else is on the agenda... I should spend my time either working on those quilt blocks or FFO-ing stuff... however a nap on the porch is always soooooo nice!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Gardening and Birds and Stitching on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - remember last week when I said the upcoming week was going to be busy?  Well I underestimated how busy it was going to be... there were the engagements I had on my calendar and then there were a bunch more things that came up that had to be attended to... right now!!  Looking ahead I think (fingers and toes crossed) that this week is going to be less hectic. 

Nick continued to be a BIG  BIG help to me getting stuff done in the yard... we didn't get to the window boxes until Monday ... we put in lots and lots of petunias... pink, lavender and yellow... I have high hopes for them. Then on Thursday, I was sitting out on the porch thinking "I should call the garden center and see if they have any sod available today"  and the next thing I knew a guy from the garden center called me and said, "If you want sod you need to get up here right now, as we only  have a limited amount and it is going fast."  I thanked him for calling me, got dressed and Nick and I drove up there (about 15 minutes) and snagged the last 10 rolls of sod they had that day. Then we went home and we watered the ground and the back of the sod and Nick cut it with a shovel and he got all 10 rolls (they were 24" x 36" so each one is 6 sq ft) placed in the yard.

It was fortuitous that the day before Brian from the sprinkler company came and turned on the sprinklers... and we've been watering the bejesus out of the sod ... this is my 2nd time to do this and the 1st time I let the sod get dry and it died... luckily I only had about 4 rolls put down ... we pulled them up and replaced them... I hope this time I can keep it growing. As I write this on Saturday it is raining... yeah!!!... but the forecast has upper 80 degree temps for the next 3 days... yuck... the sprinklers will be going non-stop... and I still have more I want to plant, but first I need to clean out the front beds of dead daffodils... there is always something to do in the yard during the summer ... but for the most part (exclude the cleaning out the beds) I like working in the yard... and all the neighbors enjoy the flowers.

So you may surmise from that saga that I did not get a lot of crafty stuff done, and you would be 100% correct. I did put some stitches (actually very few) in Bobby by Kathy Barrick...

then I turned my attention back to The Red Bird Sampler by Three Sheep Studios as it was sooooo close to being done...

and now it is.

And then something shiny caught my eye... a patriotic piece that carolinacajuncreates on IG was working on... you can see it here... I have done a couple of those long samplers from Bent Creek and I realized I had this pattern in my stash... Patriotic Row...

so I pulled out a piece of linen that I had dyed and selected the flosses I like (I think I changed every color except one) and got to work on it... here's where I am after one evening of stitching...

As of now I think this will be my last patriotic piece for the year... I want to get out my patriotic stuff by Memorial Day, as I plan to keep it up till probably the end of July... and I need to dedicate a chunk of time for finishing the pieces I already stitched.

In the meantime I will enjoy the birds for another week or so... here's the big display shelf... 

At the top I have Bent Creek's Spring Row Sampler... below from left to right I have 2 Blackbird Designs featuring birds... the one on the pedestal I can't remember the name of, the one below with the parrot looking bird is from the book in Friendship's Way and is called August (as I recall it was in honor of a grandchild's birth, and the square on in the middle is from The Drawn Thread called For the Birds. 

Moving down I have a grouping of blue themed samplers... from left to right again...from the BBD Abecedarian Loose Feathers collection this is Forget Me Not...

In the middle Lizzie Kate's Spring Alphabet...

and on the right side from Cedar Hill Designs  the Country Flower Sampler that waited for 13 years to be framed...sheesh...

And at the bottom I have Notforgotten Farms Ah Tis Spring, a little lady holding a giant tulip from Pineberry Lane, and two more bird pieces from BBD that I can't remember the name of... but in the book they were done as heart shaped pillows...  

and last but not least BBD Hollyhocks from the book Sewing Club. I got to thinking and I do believe that there is some kind of bird in almost all of the Blackbird Design pieces... which  would make sense since the word bird appears in their company name... and it makes me happy because I LOVE birds!!

On a side note, I got 2 new bird feeders for Mother's Day from a company called Roamwild... here is a link to their website...

these are the feeders and I do believe that they are actually squirrel proof! I've watched the squirrels try to access the feeders from top and from the bottom and in each try they were unsuccessful!!! YEAH!! and the little perches are set so that only light birds can sit on them... little songbirds... not those greedy grackles ... so far I'm very impressed...and my bird seed is lasting a lot longer

Another side note, I got some emails and chatted with some other people about the Jiffy Knee TKR technique I talked about last week... and I did  even more research.., and I'm going to have it done this way. Right now it is scheduled for July 1. I went and got a CT scan of my knee on Friday so they can fabricate the implant. I'm still working out with my trainer ... she moved from just down the street to about 25 minutes from my house... so I've gone from working out 30 minutes twice a week to 45 minutes once a week. And I'm using a recumbent bike at a pretty good resistance several times a week. I want to be as strong as I can before the surgery. Wish me luck!

So I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today...  I may get out and work in the yard a bit today... my knee can only take a little and then I need to rest it... looking forward to not worrying and babying this knee... hope your week ahead is a good one!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Lots of flowers on a Slow Sunday...

Hello and Happy Mother's Day!!  By the time you read this I will have indulged in a Mother's Day brunch at my oldest son's house and if the weather holds, my younger son will be helping me plant up my window boxes... see the pretty petunias I got... pink, lavender and yellow... a nice color scheme for this Summer.

I didn't get a lot of crafty stuff done this week... and I just realized it has been at least 2 weeks since I even turned on my sewing machine... sigh... but I have been busy with flowers... buying them and planting them... I've visited several garden centers... some I've been to multiple times... the fear of missing out on the good stuff  is very real!  LOL

Fingers crossed the threat of frost is behind me and I started with my shelf of petunias... and as I'm a big fan of indoor decorating, I'm also a big fan of outdoor decorating... and my plan for the petunias is color blocked shelves... yellow, orange, pink, purple...  here's how it is starting out... make the pics bigger for a closer view... 

I was surprised that I found five different shades of orange petunias ... and to celebrate that find I got some new orange pots for them... they are shinier than I thought but I do love the look! By my count there are 21 different varieties of petunias on the shelves... some pots got 2 different varieties stuffed into them... and I haven't decided if that is the final spot for that big pot of yellow petunias but I couldn't leave them at the garden center... I just couldn't...

Then I moved onto playing coleus... there are sooooo many varieties of coleus... from limey green to coppery red to burgundy and purple and I want one of everything!! Here's the ones I did bring home...

and there were at least that many different varieties I left behind. 

I always do a big pot of coleus in my front yard ... and again I play with the colors of the plants like I play with fabric ... and in this case I started with the limey green and then gradated with the ones that are green and red and ended up on the other side with the ones that are all red... 

After that I played with the area on my patio that fences it off from the yard... and this year I'm trying out a peachy-pinky vibe...

that large petunia on the left is such a pretty color...  I forget what the name of the spiky plant is but I tucked in some peachy coleus at the base... and in the tall planter I have Peachy Keen lantana with a coppery coleus in the middle and basil in the back... underneath the planter I put limey green coleus and some rosy pinky petunias... to the left that pink/green/cream striped plant is a cordyline ... and on the end (which got cut off )  some peachy dahlias and peachy osteospermum.  Like I said... outdoor decorating!

By my count I've potted up 75 4" pots and on Saturday Nick helped me plant about 20 1 gallon plants... cannas, foxglove, guara and some new stuff  I've forgotten the name of... however I still need to clean out the beds of the fading daffodils ... and then Nick helped me plant about 3 and a half flats of marigolds totally lining the beds... I think that works out to be about 120 individual little plants... Nick dug the holes and  put in some fertilizer and I put the marigold in and tamped it down... we ended up spending about 4 and 1/2 hours working and we were both pooped. In the past I've planted little tithonia flowers, but the garden center I usually get them out didn't have any... and it is the one garden center I drag my feet to go there as the parking is atrocious ... one trip to that one is all I have the patience for. We shall see how the marigolds work out...fingers crossed...

I haven't started planting the dahlia tubers ... I think the ground is still too cold and I'm waiting for the sprinkler company to come and put in the drip irrigation in the beds before I plant stuff... they are coming on Wednesday to turn back on the sprinklers and drip that I have now but I don't know if they are going to do the new stuff ... I'm happy to wait a couple of weeks as I have plenty of other yard work to do. 

Now I did stitch some more on The Red Bird Sampler by 3 Sheep Studio but not until I had to frog a whole lot of red... the chart calls for DMC 814 and 815 ... but there is very little contrast between them  and if you look at the picture the wings are definitely a brighter red... in fact I think there is an error because I frogged the 815 and replaced it with 816 and now it looks like the picture... here's where I was...

here's where I am...

And I am going to start Bobby by Kathy Barrick some time today...  here are the flosses and the linen I'm going to use... 

Next week is super busy... I have at least one  and sometimes two appointment every day ... and sometimes I think I should try to do more things in one day to free up another, but I'm always afraid that I will be late for the 2nd appointment if I do that... so I don't... 

And speaking of appointments... I spent Friday with a new orthopedic surgeon talking about a total knee replacement (TKR)... I've watched a ton of videos about TKR and while I definitely need it in my left knee (and probably in my right knee too but we aren't going to think about that right now) and last week I found out about a different procedure for the surgery ... it has been in practice for about 20 years but I never heard of it before.... so if it is new to me, it might be new to you and a lot of us are getting to the stage of having to replace different joints. The procedure is called Jiffy Knee (and yes my boomer brain immediately thinks of Jiffy Pop Popcorn)... here's a link to the website... jiffyknee.com... 

Instead of cutting the quadricep muscle and the tendons, this procedure moves them aside to do the joint replacement... it is less invasive and results in reduced post-operative pain, decreased swelling, and speedier recovery times. Patients are up and back to driving in 10 -14 days! And  the surgeon says I should be able to get back to my garden within a month!  Now I did a ton of research on this technique... a deep dive into AI with Grok... I found out about the technique and the background on my surgeon... as with any surgery there are still the issues of possible infection or blood clots but it isn't any more prevalent than traditional TKR. They also use this technique for hip  and shoulder replacement. 

As you can surmise I am seriously thinking about using this technique ... I could have the surgery on July 1 at a hospital that is less than 5 minutes from my home and right around the corner from my older son's house. I had myself pretty much convinced about the Jiffy Knee, and then had breakfast with a friend who's husband is a retired doctor (urology), and he's in the process of having a TKR and he didn't support the Jiffy technique... which has me internally debating my choice.  I'm going to discuss it with my older son as he is a very logical thinker... the idea of less pain and quicker recovery is at the forefront of what I want.  We'll talk more about this when the time gets closer but I'll definitely be asking for your prayers and positive thoughts... I'm not looking forward to it but it needs to be done. 

So I hope you are having a nice day and that the rest of your week is a good one too ... I will link up with Kathy's Quilts... and like I said I want to stitch a little and get the window boxes planted up... there is still a lot of cleanup I need to do in the yard... and lots of stitching and sewing I want to do... but Rome wasn't built in a day, right?  

happy stitching-

carol fun