Driving by on a Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hello there... I'm just driving by ...in my little polka dot egg car with my goggles firmly in place to say "what have you been up to?"... as usual, I've been doing a bit of this and a bit of that  and after being gone for two weeks I have some stuff to show you. First lets talk about this hilarious chick in the egg car... a friend  called me the other week and left an intriguing message that she had found something while she was shopping and it HAD to come and live at my house... and this is what she dropped off... OMG is this not HILARIOUS??? What kind of a brain conceives of such a creation??? I'd like to meet them and take them out for lunch...LOL Thanks Meredith... I just LOVE him!!!

And have you guys been as hot as we've been here in SW Ohio?  I heard that this was the hottest May on records and my utility bill certainly reflects that. Usually you get a couple of weeks in the Spring and the Fall where you don't need AC or heat and you can open the windows and enjoy the breeze...not this Spring...heck we didn't really have a Spring... I think it lasted all of 3 days...maybe. 

So I put away my "spring-y" stuff and  banished the bunnies to their plastic bins and got out my more "summer-y" decorations...heavy on the bird stuff. And I've added several new cross stitch pieces...

To begin, this is Shakespeare's Peddler's Magic Garden Sampler. I started this one back around 2016..even stitched that date  on it... adjusted it for now and "priscillified" with burlap ribbon and a cool galvanized "frame".  You can click here and see all the changes I made... color of linen, color of flosses. I'm very happy with my version of this sampler.

Next we have my current favorite stitchy lady...Mrs. Maguire from Pineberry Lane and this is Mrs. Maguire - Bee Charmer.  Another galvanized piece with some burlap, buttons and pins...you can enlarge it to see it a bit better. I'm thinking I should go back and backstitch around the bee wings... I did the bee skep in satin stitches, I like the dimension it gives the piece and of course I changed the linen color (painted it with Rit dyes) and the floss colors were changed too. I think my style for this can be categorized as "bright Primitive"...kinda an oxymoron since most Primitives are browner than I like. This makes me happy and that's all that counts.

And here is an itty bitty little gal from Pineberry Lane... I just stitched her and her giant tulip from the chart "Except this Posey from a Friend" which you can see here. I may stitch her again in one of the larger pieces.  You can't get simpler than the embellishment here ... a bow and a button. I picked up that little galvanized clip frame at Hobby Lobby...in fact all the galvanized "frames" I've used have come from Hobby Lobby.  

And speaking of Hobby Lobby, I was there last week... they already have a lovely display of FALL stuff and I saw candy canes in another section... sheesh... can't we even get through 4th of July before we start thinking of the holidays? I know people who create stuff for craft fairs need to get an early start but I'd really like to live in the moment for a while.

Here's a pic of the display shelves...

Right now I'm stitching on another Mrs. Maguire piece...this is Mrs Maguire's Garden...

I dyed this linen in a small mason jar and I LOVE how it turned out...all splotchy and blotchy... it is a lovely mottled olive green... I started with Rit Apple Green and added a touch of Golden Yellow. Again I've brightened this up and I added an apron to her dress... I saw that on IG but I don't remember who did it. Along with this one Mrs. Maguire also has a hen house ...you can see it here... which I can't wait to get to.

And another piece I can't wait to stitch is this one from Drawn Thread...

you can see this pattern and her other seasonal "welcome" pieces here... and I want to do ALL of them!!! Now they aren't real big...216 x 30... so on 32 count that will be 13.5" by 2.8"...I cut a piece of linen this morning and I'm thinking of doing a mottled yellow background... the stuff it in a mason jar technique. I pulled my threads...did a conversion from the called for silks (lovely to work with but pricey) to Gentle Arts. Have everything except the blue for the letters...grrr... now I have a little of the Presidential Blue but not sure I have enough for the whole piece. I ordered some this morning but may take a chance and get started on it. I think it will fit perfectly on the top shelf of my display rack and I can change them out as the year progresses. I LOVE the Halloween one ...and the Autumn one...and the Spring one...and well you get the idea. 

I'm having a family dinner tonight...prime rib sandwiches (left over prime rib from Easter), corn on the cob, pasta salad, chinese coleslaw, sliced avocados, blueberries, watermelon and strawberries with angel food cake for dessert. Everything is prepped and ready to go so I have a little bit of time to sit on my sunroom porch and stitch. I got a ceiling fan installed last week and I have an electrical outlet too so after dark I can sit out there as I plugged in a nice floor lamp. Now if Mother Nature would cooperate and let things cool down a bit I could open the windows. The humidity is suppose to lessen this week...and that would be excellent... it feels like July, not May... curse you Mother Nature!! I shouldn't be so hard on the old gal... my flowers are liking the  rain and the humidity...

pyramid of petunias on May 6...

Same pyramid of petunias today...

looks pretty perky!!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today ...hope you all have a great week... I have plans to plant some dahlias and stitch and maybe even sew some quilt blocks...

happy stitching-

carol fun