Last Design Wall Monday for 2012

Just like the rest of the year this last day of 2012 is flying by. This is the status of my design wall for 12/31/12....more than half way but not quite finished.

This is my Marigolds quilt - pattern and fabrics all from Fig Tree Quilts. I'm very happy with how this is coming together.I have big plans for this top to be finished by next Monday so I can give it to my long arm quilter, Cass, at our quilt guild meeting.

This is a close-up of where 4 blocks come together to form the marigold.

It took me a while to wrap my head around this but I got it now. I had plans for getting more of this quilt top sewn together but last evening instead of sewing I went to see this guy-

What a fun evening! I've seen Peter Noone in concert several times and he always does a great show. For an hour or so I go back in time to those teenage years when I loved all the British groups. And speaking of going back in time, while I was in line waiting for the concert to start I ran into 4 people I went to high school with. Now that may not seem like much of a coincidence to you but take into consideration that my high school had less than 200 students in 4 grades (there were less than 50 in my graduating class) and the concert was over 60 miles from my hometown at a casino that is pretty much in the middle of no where. Interesting? Well it sure made my day.

For my recap of what I got quilted this year I surprised myself. I totally finished 15 quilts - 11 full to queen sized ones and 4 Schnibbles. And of these 15 quilts, 8 of them featured some sort of star block. It was definitely a stellar year - LOL!! I have 2 quilts that are finished except for the binding and I have 2 quilts out at the quilter. Cass who does the wonderful long arm quilting on my quilts deserves a lot of credit for making me productive. I love to piece and while I could quilt my stuff I don't want to. I wouldn't have a fraction of these tops complete without her.

So I will close out 2012 very nicely and if I get the bindings on the 2 quilts that are languishing in the basket in the corner I'll have a great start on 2013. See it is a good thing to have unfinished projects at the end of one year so you can start the new year on a winning note - at least that is the story I'm telling myself LOL!

If you are going to be out and about tonight, be careful. I plan to ring in the New Year with my butt in my stitching chair either knitting or cross stitching, either way I'll be happy!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Some some snow day stitching on Sunday

Oh my it is a beautiful sun-shiny day here in Ohio. It is only 29 degrees and everything is covered with a 5" blanket of snow. And the road crews have been busy, even my cul-de-sac which is off of another cul-de-sac is snow free. We've had 2 snow events since Christmas and that makes more snow that we've seen in the last 2 years combined. I'm ok with it at the moment, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we don't have to deal with any yuckky road conditions the rest of the winter.(Yes I am totally delusional. I know there will be problems. I live in a city of hills, big steep hills that get covered in snow and ice. Bad driving conditions are inevitable I just chose to ignore it for this moment.)

So on the day after Christmas when we got our first snow fall I unearthed this gem - Snow Day by With thy Needle & Thread.

Another sampler with a GIANT figure towering over everything. I LOVE that! I also excavated this piece of linen from my stash. I don't have any idea what it is other than it is 30 ct. and it is hand-dyed and is a lovely light olive-y brown-y color. All the flosses came out of my stash - DMC and a bit of Weeks for his nose. I'm thinking of adding a alphabet line at the bottom and making this a sampler. I'm planning on adding this to my winter display along with my finished Lizzie Kate Winter Alphabet (you can see it here) and my finished Boughs of Holly which is another WTN&T piece (which can be seen here). I got a great coupon in the mail the other day for Micheal's framing - 60% off plus an additional $10 off and Joann's will honor this coupon. Should be a very reasonable price.

On Friday I talked about how I reviewed by knitting accomplishments for 2012 and today I can speak to my cross stitch finishes. According to my tally I completed 15 cross stitch projects. Six of which - 40% - were Blackbird Designs. I'm seeing a definite bias - LOL! Now I also looked back and saw that I planned on finishing this...

BBD Anniversaries of the Heart. I'm almost halfway done, sort of, kinda. I haven't done any personalization on this yet. (some of these are kinda fuzzy - sorry!)



I do know that I will put my oldest son's birth date in this block for January.

And my youngest son's birth date will go in this block for April - love those tulips.

This block is for August. I need to get both my Mom's and my Grandma's birth dates in here.

And this one is September, my birth month. I have added the chicken (it was graphed for a dog) and the house is yellow, so I have done some personalization here. The real incriminating information (year of birth) will follow -LOL!

So I have completed a lovely number of samplers and started a few a couple several quite a lot more pieces to be finished some time in the future. I'm not putting any deadlines out there - not gonna do it! And there is a bulging stash of other LARGE samplers that have been started. Perhaps one of them will get lucky and get finished in 2013. You never know, stranger things have happened... like buying a multi-million dollar lottery ticket. Oh that would be nice!

So on this New Year's Eve eve my wish for you and for me is lots of crafty time in 2013!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Thoughts about what has been on and off my needles in 2012

I know I'm not the only one who gets their week all out of whack when there is a holiday, and if I am the... only one humor me. I will say the holiday break has given me time to sit and think. Well honestly, what gave me time to sit and think was the fact that my internet has been incredibly spotty. Without my online diversions... Pinterest, Raverly, Ebay, a bajillion blogs...I decided to figure out what I have knitted over the last 12 months. I was pleasantly surprised at my output. I have completed 17 pairs of socks - 3 of which were the humongous ones for my son which should count as 1.5 pairs but I won't argue with myself... although I could...I'm good at it -LOL! And I have knitted 4 shawls, however only 1 of them has gotten blocked. Now some of the pairs of socks were partially knit in previous years but they were completed in 2012. I still have a collection of mateless socks which are waiting to be paired up in some coming year, so I figure the total pair number is a wash.

As for this week I finished the last pair I'll get to in 2012, my lovely yellow Carolina socks - you can find the free pattern here.

I will do another pair with this pattern, and make an adjustment in the K3tog part. I think it would be easier to K2tog and then slip 1 over. You'd get the same result although it might look different than the K3tog version, but I don't think so... and I have waaaay over thought this.

I started another pair of plain stockinette socks. These are Regia Design Line "Garden Effects" in the Herb Garden colorway.

I love the colors - eggplant, paprika, teal, olive green and a chartreuse-y green.

A week ago heyitskarla whose blog is These are a Few of my Shinest Things left me a comment about what were the wire frames I showed with my socks. Unfortunately didn't have any way for me to respond to her comments so I thought I'd talk about it here. These are wire sock blockers.

I have NO intention to EVER block a pair of socks. I only purchased them so I could take better pictures of my socks. I like how they let you show the pattern the way it would look on your foot and it is easier to take pictures this way then on my feet with my pale and pasty calves blinding you.

I like taking the time at the end of the year to reflect on what I have accomplished. However I have no intentions of making any New Year's resolutions about what I will get done in 2013. I'm no good at resolutions. However I have decided that this year before I buy new yarn I should first "shop the stash". I have a lovely selection of yarns I have purchased that are now malingering in plastic bins in my storage room. I'm going to free a few and let them see the light of day. Now I didn't say I wasn't going to buy any yarn next year (although it would be possible) cause that is just crazy talk! But I'm going to try to be a bit more judicious in my purchases... at least I'll try to try- LOL!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Some seasonal stitching for a slow Sunday

Just in the nick of time I got this little gem picked up from Joann's framing - Merry Christmas from Blackbird Designs.

I am again blown away  by the work of Bev and Joyce. The frame is a great complement to the stitching. I love how the platinum gold-y finish is such a wonderful match to the linen. This sampler is a petite 8" by 11" and with the great coupon only cost me $23 to frame. Beautiful and a bargain!

Well I'm hoping to stay home the next couple of days. On Christmas Eve our family tradition is a meal of appetizers. My menu includes sweet and sour meatballs, teriyaki chicken on skewers, toasted ravioli, little quiches  and greek turnovers (gotta love Costco) and some cold boiled shrimp along with the obligatory cheese dip with veggies and crackers. I'm starting my cooking tomorrow morning and prepping dishes for Christmas day too. And I'm planning a well deserved nap Christmas afternoon. Our weather forecast right now calls for  4 inches of snow on Wednesday - maybe more. We haven't had a big snow fall in a long time and the timing is good since my son doesn't have to go back to work till Friday. I have a feeling we will have plenty of leftovers to keep us happy if we get snowed in... but usually the streets are passable in about 24 hours. I'd be happy to stay inside but others in the house get cabin fever very quickly.

I hope that you have a safe and wonderful holiday.....

from the Polka Dot Chicken!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Christmas Joy!

Last year, or maybe it was the year before, I had a giveaway of 5"squares of Christmas fabrics. And now that I think of it I did a giveaway like this twice, which covers the amount of time it took me to finish my version. Anyway Heather K. won those first squares. She is a young mother with 3 boys and limited time, but she found a way to put her squares together for this holiday season.

I love her fresh modern design. She appliqued JOY in the center and it makes my heart joyous to look at this wonderful quilt! Great job, Heather!!

And here is another of her creations that makes me smile too -- her youngest, Gus, who is celebrating his first Christmas.

Isn't he a cutie? Merry Christmas to Heather and her brood and all of you too!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Off and on the needles

Well this week has seen me bouncing around from one project to another like "a BB in a box car" as my sainted Dad would say. Focus has never been my strong suit. At lunch about 2 weeks ago, my friend Stephie was working on one of those ruffly scarves and it motivated me to dig out the yarn she gave me last year at Christmas (yeah I'm speedy like that) and knit one up for me.

I only did it 5 stitches wide and it came out real looooooooonngggg - about 6 feet.

I love the colors - like a fiesta - orange, hot pick, turquoise and of course yellow!

And when I went looking for that scarf yarn I came across this unfinished pair of socks. And they are yellow - imagine that- LOL! I have no idea why I put them away. I even had the second sock started.

I don't know what the yarn is. All I remember is that my friend Laurey dyed it for me at a LYS a couple of summers ago. I love the color!

The pattern is called Carolina, Last Queen of Naples - okay, that's a mouthful. It is free and you can find it here. It is an easy pattern to remember - row 1 has some yarnovers and K3tog but the other rows are just knit or purl. I saw this pair that I like a lot. I hope I can figure out what Crazy Zauberball she used.

Well I still have stuff to finish up for Christmas. There is grocery shopping and I am continuing to have issues with the demon tree....yes more lights have gone out!! This tree is going to have a date with a wire cutter before it is returned to its box in the storage room.


Happy stitching-
carol fun

Not much happening....

Not much happened here over the last couple of days....

Both of my boys were under the weather, and the funk I found myself in, after learning of the events in Newtown, CT didn't put me a very productive mood. As a mother I can't imagine the pain the parents of the slain children are feeling. All I can offer is my prayers.

Like Big Dude I spent a lot of time vegging and a little time stitching. I got my first installment of the Little House Needleworks Santa's Village in the mail about a week ago. I was too late to sign up for the stitching blog that is showcasing people's progress, so I'll just be showing mine here.

After a 3 store search for DMC 321 Christmas Red, I was finally able to start. Here's what I have so far.

Now I am doing this on 28 ct. evenweave. The color is Glass Blue. This is from my fantastically good purchase (75% off) when a local shop cleared out all its cross stitch merchandise. On this larger count, my houses will be about 5 1/4" high by 6 1/4" wide. I'm going to do them side by side on this one piece of evenweave.

Here you can see the area to be stitched rolled up on the right. This piece of linen is about 65" long. I could never have afforded a piece this large if it hadn't been for my good fortune at their clearance sale. At first I thought I would have this framed, and I was going to start saving my pennies dollars now. But after further thinking I hit on what I believe is a great idea.... I'm going to use this long band of cross stitch as the focal band in a another Christmas quilt! It will be a lap/twin size quilt. This band of cute little Santa houses will run width wise and I'm going to do some very simple pieced blocks above and below the stitching in Christmas fabrics. If I keep up with the releases (and I saw on the internet that the next house is ready to go) and I start sewing the pieced blocks in say July, I should have a top together before the next holiday season rolls around. Keep your fingers crossed - oh wait if you do that you can't stitch- never mind!

As for the demon Christmas tree, DH being an engineer, was certain he could make those burnt out lights work. After about 5 hours of labor and some un-Christmas-y language, he gave up and put on extra strings as I had suggested. It looks nice. Just need to finish adding all the ornaments.

So are you ready for Christmas??? If you are I don't want to know. I'm almost done. All the stuff I ordered online better show up in time. The delivery dates I was given should work out fine. There are always a few last minute goodies I pick up but otherwise things are manageable. I don't think there is going to be a lot of crafty stuff finished between now and next Tuesday, but I'm hoping for a dramatic increase in craftiness starting on December 26th.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Blogworthy???

So what have I been up to this week???? Nothing blogworthy. I managed to cram all the Fall decorations I want to keep from 3 LARGE plastic storage bins to 2 LARGE plastic storage bins.... a 33% reduction in stuff. Satisfying, but not blogworthy. I've been helping my son get ready for his semester exams. Glad to help him but nothing you can take a picture of.

And then the UPS guy rang my doorbell and brought me this!! Blogworthy stuff! My order of Pam Kitty Love fabrics from Fat Quarter Shop. Such loveliness!

I selected 3 FQ packs and the buttery dotty yellow at the top (that blends into my cutting mat) is going to be the border for this quilt.

I'm going to make the Vanilla Cakes version in the lower right corner... so I'll have pretty Kitty Cakes! Oh that doesn't sound right... perhaps I need to rethink the name, but it will be pretty.

After cramming the Fall decorations into the bins I dragged out the Christmas decorations and began to disperse them throughout the house. Got the Nativity scene and the little Christmas tree in the foyer. Got the stockings hung on the mantle. And then I turned my attention to what I am now referring to as the demon tree.

Do you see that LARGE black unlit section in the middle??? It started with one strand out and now has gone to 2 strands out and I found several bulbs burnt out on the top part too! This tree is 3 years old. The only year it totally worked was the year I bought it. If one more strand goes out, and we all know it will, I'm going to cut off all the pre-lit lights and just put lights on myself. I will never buy another tree like this. Putting the lights on is my least favorite part, so purchasing this tree was going to free me of that task... forever and ever and ever and ever. At least that was my delusional thinking. Only 3 years old and I'm right back to the task I paid big bucks to avoid. Marsha at Everybody Loves Clark is having the same issues and is planning to send her annoying un-lit pre-lit tree out for the trash after Christmas. Mine may be joining hers.

Sooooooo I have plans this for the weekend to turn on my sewing machine and to get the demon tree decorated. I picked up another strand of lights today at Walmart. It was the only package of multi-colored ones in the store. All that were left were packages of all blue or all green, no white or multi. And they were out of extension cords and the heavy duty double stick foam tape I use to attach the stocking holders to the mantle. I guess tomorrow will include a trip to Target.

Hope your holiday preparations are going more smoothly than I might house. Off to empty the dryer and perhaps sit down and knit a bit.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Very slow stitching on Sunday

The cross stitching in the last week has been very slow. In fact all the crafty stuff this week has been moving on a glacier pace. I haven't even turned on my sewing machine. So sad.... I do hope for some productive crafty time this week.

So I stitched myself a couple of tree trunks, two ponies and a headless armless woman.

I want to add an alphabet along the bottom of this piece. I have lots of books that have graphed alphabets some where in my storage room. Now I need motivation to go searching.

On the decorating front I haven't made much progress either. I did do some cleaning in preparation but I'm awaiting some muscle to get down my boxes of decorations. I put out less Fall decorations than I have in the past and I'm thinking I'll be downsizing my Christmas decorations too. I'm just in that kind of mood this year. I'm putting out my favorite stuff but not ALL my stuff. And I'm good with that.

Have a great week - hopefully next week will be more productive than the last one!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Off and on the needles for another week

Another week and another sock has been knitted, making this a finished pair.

The yarn is Lorna's Laces In the Wind. I think I got this at The Loopy Ewe but its not on their site at the moment. These socks feel great... I finished them last night and I'm wearing them today.

And to again reward myself for finishing a pair of socks I cast on another pair. This time it is that new Jarbo Mini Ragg I got at Knit On in Newport Kentucky.

I cast on 60 stitches and I'm doing a K3 P2 ribbed leg. I can't wait to get into the lime-y green and hot pink parts of this yarn.

And speaking of finishing things up, Cindy of Tops to Treasures sent me this.... very funny!

Well it is a rainy day here and they are calling for a rainy weekend. Perhaps staying inside will get more of my Christmas decorating done. I gave up on trying to fix the burned out lights on the tree. I'm just going to throw another strand on in that section. I know if a bulb is missing the whole strand goes out but I didn't find any missing bulbs. And pulling each one out and replacing it with a bulb I knew worked only succeeded in making my fingers sore. I figure I spent over almost 2 hours on this and I'd like to have that time back to spend more productively on, oh I don't know... quilting, knitting, cross stitching, sleeping... something worthwhile.

Hope you have a lovely weekend!
Happy stitching-
carol fun

Christmas is slowly creeping into my house

I am a procrastinator extraordinaire... the only reason I get crafty stuff done is that I'm avoiding cooking, cleaning and laundry. Really - that is the way it is. I don't fret about getting out my Christmas decorations right after Thanksgiving because I know it will be mid-January before I take them down, so there is no rush.

However, I decided to jump into the fray and get a few things out. I started with this new additon to my bedroom... Carol's Christmas quilt!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! All of that wonderful Christmas-y busyness sashed and bordered in buttery yellow goodness. It is perfect for this room. Even my bed linens coordinate - LOL (You knew the sheets would be yellow right?)

Santa is front and center and waves to me as I enter or leave.

And you can see the great job Cass did on the quilting. She used a Christmas tree design that tessellates in a variegated green thread. Just perfect!

I had a lot of comments on the back fabric at the guild meeting Monday night. I think there may only have been 2 bolts of this fabric in all of Cincinnati and between me and my friend Stephie, I believe we got it all!

I decided I should change out the wreaths on my front doors. And you are seeing this correctly my front doors are mostly glass - who thought that was a great security idea? Sheesh.

These wreaths have been redone numerous times and they are getting a bit shabby but they'll do for another year. Maybe I'll be able to get this colorful ornament wreath (click here) I saw at Pier 1 today, on sale later in the season... I hope so. I thought about buying it for my son's front door but decided it may be a bit too wild for the boy. I'm sure he'll thank me for passing it up.

Now onto other decorating. My DH got out the prelit Christmas tree I bought about 3 years ago. I love the idea of not having to put the lights on it every year. Well, right now it has 2 swaths where there are NO lights lit... grrrrr!!! I need to work up the patience to see if I can fix it... and maybe a glass of Christmas cheer. Yeah, that would definitely help.

Hope your decorating is going well.
Happy stitching-
carol fun

Big Stars for Nick on Design Wall Monday

It got too big for my design wall, so here again is a picture of my latest quilt top on the floor of my foyer - Big Stars for Nick! Oh Nick and I are both happy with this one. It finished 82" square which should be a generous size for his bed.

It was my idea to add the little black stars. Those speckles are a metallic gold.

This giant star pattern from Missouri Star Quilt Co. - you can see the video here - is quick and fun. I did two of these this month and I know I'm going to make this pattern again some time.

And stitching up this one was a trip down memory lane. I only used a tenth of the fabrics I used in my Debbie Mumm version but there were certainly a lot of familiar manufacturer and designer names on the selvedges. VIP, Hoffman, Makover, Jinny Beyer, Nancy Crow, Mary Ellen Hopkins and I tossed in some Debbie Mumm blacks.

The black is Debbie Mumm and the red is a Hoffman...

The red is a Hoffman and the black is a Jinny Beyer...

The red is a Mary Ellen Hopkins and  the black is another Debbie Mumm.

I have the top, the back and the batting all bundled into a tote bag to take to the guild meeting tonight to give to Cass for her to quilt. I'm thinking an allover pattern of stars and loops.

And I got the binding on my Christmas quilt late last night. I'm taking it for show and tell this evening - my favorite part of our meetings. I'll take some pictures of it on my bed tomorrow.

Hope you have a great week. I have big plans to start getting my Christmas decorations out, but first I need to figure out how to re-arrange the family room to fit the tree in. An extra recliner got added to this room and it is wall to wall furniture.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Slow Stitching on Sunday

I was able to collect my latest finish from Joann's this week....

...Sarah's Carol's Garden by With Thy Needle & Thread. Again Bev and Joyce have made me a happy stitcher. The frame is very shiny and its hard to get good picture. It is lovely olive-y green and I added that little gold filet edge which I think dresses it up.

I didn't get much done on the Barbara Ana Designs "Remember Me", so I didn't take any pictures. Hopefully tonight will have some quality stitching time.

I've been perusing other blogs and stitchers are already plotting their strategy for next year. Several people are doing Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year and I have a couple of Scarlet Letter samplers somewhere in my stash. Of course there are the numerous already started large leftover samplers in my WIP basket and the other day I got caught up in the Little House Needleworks Santa Village SAL. I'm planning on stitching these up on one piece of linen - one looooooonnnngg piece of linen - all 12 houses lined up next to each other. I got notification that my order was mailed from the Strawberry Sampler - thanks Catherine!

And I'm thinking of doing some other Christmas-y stitching. I have the BBD Christmas Garden sampler all kitted and ready to go. And today I saw the BBD Winter Wonderland on Brenda's blog and it is calling my name - LOUDLY! I've already found it and a thread pack online. I think you can tell it is inevitable that it will be coming to my house very soon - LOL! So a Christmas-y theme for 2013 and perhaps a finish of one of my large leftover samplers. That should keep my plenty busy.

So do you have any stitching plans for next year? Now by no means is this plan carved in stone, heck it could change before this evening is over, but I do enjoy entertaining the notion that I have a plan, when in fact I kinda wander from one project to another. (sort of like that run-on sentence) My dear Dad use to say that I bounced around like a BB in a box car - yeah, he knew me - LOL!

Have a great week - happy stitching!
carol fun