It is coming sooner than I think .....

Well that relaxing Thanksgiving break I've been so looking forward to was over in a flash. Now I know some of you are deep into your Christmas decorating but the most I could do today is haul out this piece.


I stitched this several years ago and I think it may have been from Prairie Schooler or Cross Eye Cricket. I love the sentiment and the heart shape of the piece. I used some gold blending filament in the ribbon so it is sparkly.



I hang this in my foyer with my creche but I don't have that stuff unpacked yet. I'll share my best Christmas stitching with you in the next month. Before I did cross stitch I did needlepoint. I have some lovely Christmas stockings that I did for my family and an adorable creche set I made back in 1985. Also I have two cute tree toppers - one is a girl angel and the other is a little boy angel holding a train -so I have lots in store to share.

Now I didn't do any shopping on Black Friday, but I did go online and on Saturday I went up to Fabric Shack and quite a few Christmas fabrics came home with me - I wonder how that happened? LOL Anyway Christmas fabric was 20% off and I got a great idea for a Christmas quilt the other day.



There is a mix of retro and modern pieces and a range of colors reds, green, a little aqua and orange. I came to the realization the other day that in my large collection of quilts I don't have a Christmas quilt for my bed. I have several wall quilts and wall hangings but nothing to tuck myself in under. Soooooooo..... I realistically know that I can't finish a quilt before Christmas since I know I won't quilt this myself. It will get large since I like generously sized quilts for my bed, but I also know that I'm gonna start anyway because I don't have anything else to do before Christmas -- ha ha ha ha ha- what a crock of crap -- I have tons to do but I really need to see part of this on my design wall. It will be a simple square surrounded by sashing. I picked up the sashing and border fabric at Fatquartershop.com 20% off sale. (Are you noticing a pattern? yeah - 20% off is my threshold for shopping - it doesn't take much - LOL!) Now most people would do a red and green and white color scheme for Christmas but I have to have my own twist on it. There will be red and green but the sashing and borders are going to be a wonderful buttery yellow with snowflakes in red, pink, green and aqua. It is going to be soooo pretty and sooooo me! I'll post an "in progress" shot later this week.

Happy stitching -
carol fun

Have a Happy Turkey Day!

Well my turkey is thawing and the stuffing is made. The pasta salad my younger son adores is chilling in the fridge and the potatoes are washed and await the oven. We're having a low keyed family day and I am looking forward to it. We'll eat around noon and then nap the afternoon away and finish the day with leftovers. My oldest son will watch football and I'll park myself in my chair and knit and stitch. Its going to be a great day.

I hope that all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! There is so much in life to be thankful for and I chose to focus on the good stuff. Gobble till you wobble, I know I will!

carol fun

The weekend got away from me .... again!

I know that is it already Monday and I don't have a lot to show for my weekend, but it was nice. There was a little knitting and a little sewing and a little shopping.
I had grand hopes of finishing my Holden shawlette -- stop laughing - I know that was totally unrealistic. In fact, I didn't even get the stockinette part finished - bummer - but I love the yarn and it is looking good so I think it will be done by this coming weekend. I plan on parking my butt in a chair after our Thanksgiving feast at noon on Thursday and knitting and napping the rest of the day away.

On the cross stitch front, I didn't finish by Beatrix Potter but I do have this piece to share. It is part quilt, part cross stitch and lots of ceramic buttons.



I did this probably 15 years ago. I have no memory where I got the pattern or the idea. The letters are stitched in DMC floss on Jobelan and over each letter is a ceramic button that corresponds to the letter.

Some were easy A for angel, B for bear, C for clown --- G is a gingerbread man, and I is an ice cream




and some were harder to come up with, J is a jack-o-lantern, N is a nut, O is an ornament, and U in a unicorn.



and the hardest to figure out was the X. It was the last button I added, a little hoop with cross stitches.



I actually handquilted this piece and I was quite proud of the little Ohio Star cornerstones. And collecting all those buttons was fun - I love a collection!

Hope that you have plenty of help getting your Thanksgiving feast together this week. I'm planning on getting as much done ahead of time as I can so I can enjoy the day too.

Happy stitching -
carol fun

One little thing leads to.....

another and another and another. It started with my latest knitting project, another 22.5 Degree shawlette done in Chirapa yarn by Mirasol Peru. I love all the colors in it but when I got to the scallops at the edge I envisioned them in a solid color, like this....


ooohhh, aaaaahhh! A lovely pea greeny, tart appley green color that I think adds just the right finish. Kinda like rick rack and I LOVE LOVE LOVE rickrack. So off I went to my LYS in search of this magical green color because my rather healthy stash of yarn doesn't contain this beauty. Here is how it looks in all its glory. Sorry no shot of it around my neck and featuring my flabby white arms. I'm the only one here right now.



When I found this green I snapped up one ball - hmmmm....Lana Gatto VIP, 80% wool and 20% cashmere. Very very soft. Well I knew that I wouldn't need an entire ball to do the edging, therefore I'd have a nice amount left over, but not enough to make another shawl. So using this incredibly brilliant logic (hey you don't need to point out the holes in this analysis big enough to drive a semi-truck through. I see them I just choose to ignore them. - LOL) Anyway I bought 2 balls, now I have about 410 yds plenty to do another shawlette, but which one? After spending an enormous amount of time on Ravelry I found this one - A Leafy Hug Shawl. Won't this be gorgeous in this yarn?? (Nod your head up and down, up and down --very good.) So here is my start on this....



I didn't get to far but it is a good start. But then I was sidetracked by a phone call from my friend Linda. She had finished her Holden Shawlette and wondered if I had finished mine. Ummmm... no, not yet. In fact I hadn't cast on and while Linda does not care one way or the other I felt an obligation (boy this stuff is really getting deep here - LOL) to start mine. So I did....



This is Pagewood Farms Denali in the Prism colorway. It is Merino Superwash and Nylon. It has a lovely drape and the purples range from plum to lilac. I think it will be lovely and I think there will be a lot of knitting in my weekend. I hope that you have time to play too.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Tempus Fugit.....

...time sure does fly,doesn't it? The weekend totally got away from me. It was almost midnight when I realized I hadn't posted a sampler for Sunday and since Sunday was pretty much Monday at that point I did the only sensible thing and went to bed. So I'm back to try again today and I have appropriately chosen this piece which strongly advises "tempus fugit".



This is a clock that hangs in my studio area. It is by Drawn Thread done in DMC floss on a linen.



I like the little girl flying the kite. Yesterday was a good day for kite flying. There is a big park not far from my house and there were several people flying HUGE kites there when I drove past. It looked like fun.

And on Saturday I spent some quality time with my Juki and got a bunch of these little pinwheely blocks together.



This is the Kitchen Sink pattern from Scrap-Basket Surprises by Kim Brackett. I love this book and saw that she has another book coming out in January. Its called Scrap-Basket Sensations. If you click on the link you can see some of the quilts in the book. I can't wait to add it to my library too.

These are all Debbie Mumm fabrics and these are a couple of my favorites.
This guy makes me smile - a happy chef - wish I had one to cook for me.


And this furry guy reminds me of Big Dude who has become quite a happy cat. He enjoys watching the birds from the comfort of our screen porch and has all the kitty treats he wants. Life is good!



Hope your week has quality crafty time - I have lots of projects I want to play with. I'm almost finished with my Beatrix Potter sampler and I'm almost finished with another 22.5 Degree Shawlette. I wound several new skeins of yarn and can't wait to cast on another little scarfy shawlette. I've got several patterns picked out on Ravelry and the allure of a new project is soooooo enticing!

Happy stitching -
carol fun

In Honor of Veterans Day

Today and every day we owe a giant debt of thanks to those who sacrificed so much for our freedom.



My father was a veteran and saw much he could never speak of. My son lost a dear dear friend in Iraq - only 20 years old. There is no way to truly repay such sacrifice but we much always remember and revere them.

Sunday stuff...

Oh I have a little of this and a little of that to show you today. First I have a sampler for Sunday.



As I remember this is a Chessie and Me and it is tiny - only 3 inches square - and if you've read this blog for any time you know that most of projects tend to get BIG. As I look at it now I marvel that I did so much of this over one thread. What was I thinking??? I suppose I could see the threads better back then. Anyway it includes some of my favorite things - a house, an alphabet and a cute kitty. Before the Big Dude sauntered into our lives we had a sweet tabby cat we called Khat. (The "h" is silent.) He was a Pavlov's dog kinda cat. He use to greet me every time I came into the house and followed me from room to room and if the doorbell rang he was the first one there. Loved that cat. And speaking of cats (isn't that a great segue? LOL)......



this is another one of my Raggedy Old Annie's primitive dolls. I found that great fur fabric and knew I had to make a kitty. Notice the kitty is wearing pajamas with cats on them and the kitty is belled for all to hear.


Isn't this a sweet face? I definitely need to make more of these dolls.

On the knitting front I want to show you my 22.5 Degree Shawlette.



I blocked it last night and it got longer and a little less dense and now it drapes nicely and I love the scalloped edge.(Ignore the flabby white arms.... I do.)



The yarn is called Amazing and it is from Lion's Brand. I used the Ruby colorway. I picked it up at Joann's in Centerville - they have the nicest yarn selection of any Joann's in the area. I wore it today an my older son told me that it looked very nice on me - made my day.

Hope your week has lots of time in it to do crafty things. Happy stitching-

carol fun

Where does the time go?

Saturday? How did it get to be Saturday already? Well the week flew by and I did get a few things finished up. That's a good feeling. It was definitely a knitty week. I got the mate made for two pairs of socks - now they're not lonely anymore - LOL!



First is this pair- the pattern is Embossed Leaves and the yarn is some I dyed myself. The base yarn is from Knitpicks and it gives a nice stitch definition.



And there is this pair - the pattern is a simple K3,P2 rib and the yarn is Blue Moon Socks That Rock. I love the wild colors and I love how it pools (yes I know that annoys most knitters but not me, I search out yarns that will pool - I'm crazy that way - LOL) The name of this colorway is Cattywampus - dontcha love that name? I just ordered two more skeins from them - Crabby McCrabbypants and Count Cluckula. I'm not sure which grabs me more the colors or the names. (Another thought - I think it would be great to have a job naming colors of paint, yarn, threads, etc. It appeals to the English major in me that I didn't pursue in college - oh well.)

In the quilting side of life, I just got this quilt out and threw it over my stitching chair.




The fabric is an older collection by Chez Moi from Moda. I found the pattern in a magazine as I remember, and I sketched it out and went home and figured out how to make it with a jelly roll.


My long arm quilter did a great job with this one. I love all over designs done in variegated threads.

Check back tomorrow and I'll show you another primitive doll I made. Little Elphaba is going to live at Stephie's house which makes me very happy. And I'll take some pics of the 22.5 Degree shawl I finished - perfect timing since we had some snow flurries last night - brrrr! I'll need a warm scarf or two or three - so much cool yarn just waiting to be knitted!

Happy stitching -

carol fun