Stringing along at end the year...

Well this is a rare occurrence... two posts back to back... has hardly happened in over a year... probably won't happen again for a while but one can hope... at least I'm hoping that my quilting mojo has returned and I will be making posts on Monday to show what I've accomplished.

Now, there are other things I should be doing (aren't there always other things I should be doing?  don't answer that...LOL) but I my eye caught the shiny squirrel of the Moda String Along ... you can read the email post here...and they showed some very interesting vintage string quilts... and this one grabbed me instantly...

this is from the book  Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts by Mary Elizabeth Kinch and Biz Storms... and while that yellow sashing and border are kryptonite to me it was the big  blocks made from small pieces  that intrigued me.

Now I have some scraps such as this bag ...

and then there are my scrap bins...

So I have plenty of fabric to play with... in case you are wondering the wire bin unit came from Hobby Lobby a couple of years ago and I have seen similar units from time to time there.

 Now I didn't have the book when I started so I'm using my own proportions for my version of this quilt... I'm going to have 3 rows of 3 blocks ...the blocks are going to finish 15.5 " square and I've cut the sashing to finish 7.5" ...

I started making slabs of "fabric"... they are of different widths but are all 16" long...

and yes they are every bit as bright... if not brighter... in real life...lots of bits and bobs left over from other quilts... polka dots, stripes, plaids and novelties.... I LOVE LOVE LOVE novelty fabrics...

here's a close-up of a couple of slabs... of course it has to have some polka dot chickens...

and there are some cool pigs...

and Michelangelo from TMNT peeked in...

and multi-colored cats waving at a passing yellow submarine...

lots of memories including this mechanic's tools piece that is from the first quilt I made for my brother who loved and washed it to pieces...

and here is my first complete block with sashing mocked up around it...

this doesn't capture the true color of this Moda Grunge ...it is called Pool and it is more to the green aqua side than this shows... I've played with filters but I just can't get it right under artificial light and it is raining  cats and dogs right now so taking it outside is not an option...

Anyway the turquoise cools down the hot colors that I like so much. I love the gold on the inspiration quilt but I knew that so many of my scraps are yellow and orange that it wouldn't work for me... so the plan is 9 total blocks... I'm starting with one wide slab and adding a second narrower slab and then calculating how much width I still need to make a 16" square ... this is so much FUN FUN FUN... I haven't enjoyed a project like this for quite a while... I'm making a humongous mess and adding in the novelty fabrics is bringing back lots of memories.  In the end it will be a bit of an eye spy quilt which will hopefully entertain my "to be born in 2019" grandchild when they get a bit older.   In the mean time it is entertaining me!

I'll be playing with this  during the week but I do need to shift gears and work on a baby quilt for a shower for this yet to be born grandchild... I found some adorable fabrics I bought years ago in anticipation of this event and I think I've settled on a very simple sawtooth star block so it shows off the fabrics... I'll show you all a picture after the shower which is the beginning of February. I need to sew it up now so I get it to the quilter and get it back in time. 

Today I'll link up with Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday...and Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!... and Love Laugh Quilt for Making Monday...

Also you can follow the hashtag #modastringalong on Instagram to see what everyone else is up to with this project... lots of cool ideas for using up strings and scraps...and you don't have to have an Instagram account to look at Instagram... I have a love/hate relationship with IG... I LOVE looking at all the creative stuff there and get lots of ideas for things I want to do... and I HATE how much time I can waste there looking at all the creative stuff  there where I get lots of ideas for things I want to do...LOL

As we close out 2018 and welcome 2019 I hope each and every one of you  has  wonderful year ahead filled with joy! Thanks so much for coming to read the ramblings on this blog... I hope I can entertain you with my craziness...I know is leaves my friends and family shaking their heads but as my son has told me on numerous occasions ...you are crazy, but it isn't the kind of crazy we can have you committed for....yet.... its that last part that has me worried...LOL

happy stitching-

carol fun 

A Slow Sunday Stitching Where I Look Both Ways Before Crossing into 2019...

Hello everyone... I hope you had a very nice Christmas....mine was lovely and low key... got some nice gifts and ate some yummy food. My big gift from my family was a new rain barrel for my garden. Hopefully this will save me a few bucks on my water bill as I take care of my garden this summer... the gift came with this card attached...on the stockings are the initials of our cats... D for Dude, S for Scout and I for Ig...

and inside my son penned this message... he does all his cards the same way with a little poem that starts with the "roses are red" format... for Christmas he switched to poinsettias...

Wadsworth has nothing on him...LOL... can't wait for my handyman to install the barrel...

The week was nice... got to sit out in the sunroom porch a couple of days... took my cross stitch out with me but fell asleep and took a nap most of the time... oh well, it was quite enjoyable.

I made a bit of progress on my Silver Creek Samplers "My Christmas List"...

Last week...

This week...

Got the car done, except it is missing its hubcaps... must of left it parked in a bad neighborhood... and got the Christmas lights done except for the highlights ... stitched two more words... that it the quick part. I'll put some time in on this tonight. PBS is repeating Downton Abbey, that is great stitch watching.

And I started the next month in the Hands on Design "A Year of Celebrations"... this is February...

This is a scrap of 32 ct I painted a while ago...again I changed the floss colors...I'm using 3847, 3848, and 3849 turquoises ...my chocolates are 632 because Micheals didn't have the called for color and I wasn't going to visit any retail locations on the 24th or the 26th... I have to fill in the hearts and the stamp but I'm going to use a light pink instead of white. These are so much FUN FUN FUN... I've been wanting to do a monthly series for a while and I even stitched one or two of the Lizzie Kate ones but I lost interest. These are simply adorable and I have the perfect way to display them.

I came across this "frame" at Target...

It has a wedge profile and was a light gray... here's the tag on the back of it...

now I think I paid $12 for it which is above my normal $10 limit for a frame but I knew it was perfect and I would use it all year round... I chalk painted it white as that will be a better background for my stitching and I have lots of white furniture in my home... I went and mounted the January piece and "priscillafied" it... ta dah!!!

I found this sparkly polka dot ribbon in my stash... and it covered everything it touched in glitter...but it is still quite sparkly. The background mat is a piece of Basic Grey Grunge in the Pool colorway... perfect for January and February piece... March will see a change but I'll use it again for other months I'm sure.

And I got a final pair of socks in for 2018...

I used two different skeins of Opal sock yarn alternating every other round... for the cuffs and the heels I just used one of the yarns instead of a contrasting color. I like them a lot... I wear a lot of that gold color and the olives and dusty purples go well with it. Mindless knitting but not knowing what new patterns will emerge keep my needles clicking away.

So I looked back through the blog for 2018 and it was exceedingly clear that 2018 was a GIANT cross stitch year for me... by my count...and we know math isn't my strong point but I think I'm pretty accurate here... I completed 30 pieces of cross stitch... some were quite small like the sleds...

but some were pretty big like Needle and Thread from With Thy Needle & Thread...

This was my favorite finish from this year... even after stitching all that yellow in that BIG skirt... she hangs on the wall behind my sewing machine in my upstairs craft room and I LOVE her!!

As for knitting I believe knitted 3 shawls... but only one got blocked...need to remedy that situation... and about  9 pairs of socks... may be more a pair or two more or less on the sock count but I'm too lazy to figure it out right now... I am fairly certain that they were all plain vanilla socks and overwhelmingly scrappy. 

On the quilting front it was a bit meager...my by count I finished around 9 quilt projects and several were small wall hangings or table toppers....and the bulk of my production came in November when I finished 3 Christmas quilts... I'm still not sure what got into me, but I like this forward motion.

Other productive projects I completed were cleaning out both the storage rooms in the basement and tidying up the garage... I cleaned out my clothes closet and I've re-organized all my floss... I am feeling very good about all those projects...

So on to 2019... what shall I do, what shall I do????  Now if you've been here any length of time you know I don't do resolutions... I do vague affirmations of what I am going to try to try to do...  I definitely want to quilt a bit more and I can already see signs of it... check back tomorrow ... gasp... I know when  was the last time I posted 2 days in a row?  Don't answer that...LOL... I am working on a new scrappy quilt with the #modastringalong...  I haven't posted anything on IG yet but I plan on doing that tomorrow too... and I have to do a baby quilt this month for my daughter in law... there is a baby shower for her the beginning of February... I think I've made a decision on the fabric and maybe the pattern. Also I told my younger son I'd do another quilt for him. I've been looking at my WIPs and I'd like to finish a couple of them and there are plenty of new quilts I want to start... the plan is to do easy stuff with pre-cuts... working on the scrap project has re-energized me to sew...

As for cross stitch... my plan is to  get all of the Hands On Design "A Year of Celebrations" finished before the month starts... I'm doing well with this right now and January is complete and February is in the home stretch... I want to do a bunch of small chicken pieces and have a display of them in either June or August... it will probably be August... I still have  two Welcome pieces by The Drawn Thread on my list of things I want to stitch... Winter and Spring and perhaps even Halloween... we shall see... and I do know that Brenda Gervais of With thy Needle & Thread will tempt me with something new... right now top of my list is the giant snowman head "All Bundled Up"...you can see it here... the size of that snowman's noggin rivals the BIG skirt I did last year...LOL

I can be absolutely certain that there will be MORE scrappy socks... I NEVER leave home without a sock project and I am totally smitten with scrappy socks... either the two different yarn that alternate every other round or the blocks of different yarns... there are more ends to take care of with the blocks of different yarns but they are so pretty ... and I can't resist pretty yarn...and fabric...and floss...and chocolate...and you get the picture...

So I'm looking forward to a happy 2019... my first grandchild should make an appearance late April/early May which will be wonderful... my older son got a new job which started about 2 weeks ago and he is much happier ... less hours and stress, more compensation and the icing on the cake... an indoor garage parking space goes with the position... perfect timing with winter weather right around the corner.

On New Year's Day I will indulge in all the activities that I wish to repeat incessantly throughout 2019... I shall cross stitch a bit, knit a bit, sew a bit, sit on my sunroom porch a bit and have dinner with my family... I read somewhere that you should engage in the activities on January 1 that you want to enjoy the rest of the year...sounds like the perfect plan for a great new year... I hope that yours is going to be wonderful wonderful wonderful... (oh I just heard Lawrence Welk in my head...LOL)

Today I shall link up with Kathy's Quilts... check back tomorrow and I'll share my lastest quilting endeavor... it is very scrappy and colorful...

Have a HAPPY HAPPY 2019!!!

happy stitching-
carol fun

I think I'm ready on Slow Sunday Stitching...

Are you ready for Christmas?  I think I'm ready... at least I'm operating under the delusion that I've got my act together... presents are bought and will be "wrapped" tonight... that consists of stuffing them into fabric pillowcases I made years ago attaching name tags which I am recycling again... I'm not "green"... I'm LAZY and this is the easiest way I know to "wrap"... a pic from about 2 years ago...

On Christmas eve I think the plan is to go to Union Terminal and see the train display and then grab a bite of dinner with my older son and daughter-in-law... Christmas Day we do an appetizer/brunch at their house and open presents... they will go to her parents house for dinner and my younger son and I will do a simple shrimp scampi and linguine meal. I picked up a small shrimp ring and those little roll up sandwiches at Costco today for the brunch... and I made a bunch of cookies last week, so I can take those too...and I plan on a ham/egg/cheese/biscuit bake too... we will have plenty to eat.

The week flew past again ... got too many gray days but I did get to sit out on the porch twice... I LOVE LOVE LOVE my sun porch... best money I've spent on this house... suppose to have a bit of warmer weather the end of the week... I saw a forecast temp of 59 for Friday so I should be able to sit out there... it is so cozy and the Dude keeps me company.

Well I did get a some crafty stuff done and that always makes me feel good ... to start, I got the binding on my Fat Quarter Cube quilt with the Heather Ross Sugarplum fabric... you can find the free pattern by clicking on this link...

Turns out it is large enough for my double bed... I'm going to see if I can track down some of the polka dots to make pillowcases... I love having pillowcases that coordinate with the quilt... I don't usually put the matelasse sham pillows on the bed anymore ... just pillowcases is a bit more relaxed and I like that..

I took the time to cut the binding fabric... that wonderful plaid... on the bias ... took a bit longer but it does look nice...

The color is off a bit but you can see the binding and the quilting pattern on the back nicely... the panto is called Peppermint Palace and it was done by Quilting by David... another wonderful quilt.

Here's my feeble attempt at a styled "glamour" shot on the porch...

I'm always in awe of the arty pictures posted on IG... just don't have  seem to have the touch for it...oh well... I am happy that I did 3 new Christmas quilts this year... and I realized that these 3 make up about 50% of all the quilts I did...not a big year for quilting for me... definitely spent way more time cross stitching...

And evidence of that is that I started and finished the first piece from the Hands On Design "A Year of Celebrations"...

Here is my version of January...

Now I stitched this on a scrap of 32 count linen I painted with Rit Aquamarine dye... I changed almost all of the flosses... Cathy Habermann designed these monthly pieces using GA and Weeks and she gives you the conversions for DMC... I started there and went off on my own tangent... I'm big into the turquoise 3847/3848/3849 color family .... I also stitched the word January in 3848 instead of the called for 310... I didn't like the high contrast of the black... and the scarf at the top I did in satin stitches instead of cross stitches... I like the added dimension. I have a little standing frame I picked up at Target that I want to use to display these monthly pieces... it is a light gray and I think I may paint it white ... I'll think about that when I get this guy mounted and "priscillafied"... can't wait to get going on February. 

And I did a little Santa Sunday stitching on "My Christmas List" piece by Silver Creek Samplers...

I'd like to finish that string of lights today and get the car that goes underneath that tree started... should be doable.

So the rest of today should be pretty quiet... don't have big dinner to fix ... and the gift "wrapping" shouldn't take more than 30 minutes... I just checked the TV schedule and found some cool shows on Walt Disney and Mary Poppins, and one on Bob Hope, and another on Bing Crosby... should make for great background viewing while I stitch.

I hope you are  have all your holiday preparations well in hand... don't think I can take it as easy as the Dude here....

but I shall try... I'll be linking up again with Kathy's Quilts... and settling into my chair to stitch ...and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!!

happy stitching-

carol fun

Getting stuff done on Slow Sunday Stitching...

Hello  again... another week, another update where I try to figure out what I did and what I didn't like about the weather... do we sense a theme??? Well I did get a lot of things done, so that is good... and I vaguely remember a sunny day or two...so that's good too... I am sitting here looking out my living room window a a gray gray gray day...yuck... but the temperature is in the upper 40's so I'll take comfort in that.

In case you didn't know...only 9 days till Christmas... time to start running around like a polka dot chicken with its head cut off....aaarrrhhhhh..... actually things aren't too out of control here. I still need to make a trip to the dreaded mall...planning on that tomorrow...for a couple of things I couldn't track down on the internet... and there are some gift cards to pick up ... and there is still the wrapping... which entails me stuffing presents into fabric sacks ...something I've done for years... some people commended me for being "green"... green has nothing ot do with it... I'm lazy and this is the easiest way to do it...LOL

So lets start with the project that was guilting me the most... Christmas cards... now I don't send many but I do make them myself...a task that I seriously questioned this year... it would be waaaaay easier to purchase cards and for what I spent on the ones I made probably waaaay cheaper too .... but I made them anyway!!!

Here are the most of them... I forgot to take pics until some were already in envelopes... no two are identical...but a couple are very similar... that happens when you are working with a scrappy bunch of papers and embellishments... gotta go with the flow... most of the images are vintage/mid-century modern... I used papers from Carta Bella and some October Afternoon... gosh I miss October Afternoon...loved their vintage images but they aren't in business anymore... anyway  these have the look of a trendy Christmas around 1958... my childhood memories...

Sorry for the lighting... I took these pics around 1am... not ideal... but being a night owl that 's when I wrapped this project up.... put them in the mail yesterday so I can check that off my list of things to do...yeah!!

And not only was some stitching done this week but there was also some finishing... again I have no idea what has gotten into me... I have been very productive lately in several areas... hope I can continue in this way...we'll see...


So here's what I did...first we have from Pineberry Lane's Merry Little Stitches,  Deck the Halls sporting a more subdued hat than the chart...

And from that same Merry Little Stitches here is A Right Jolly Old Elf...

And along with the Christmas-y pieces I stitched and finished a new snowman in anticipation of the my Winter display... this guy is from Prairie Schooler No. 202 Evergreen... simple pillow finish with some sparkly turquoise rick rack trim...

And while the finishing mood had a hold of me I got out this snowman Alfred from Heart In Hand and sewed him into a little pillow with some plaid ribbon embellishment...

And the last piece I did was Snowy String by Lizzie Kate... I stitched this back in February but didn't get around to finishing it...

This one is quite large.. 13" in length... I filled it entirely with walnut shells... has a nice heft to it...

It was very satisfying to get these pieces FFO's ... and I feel virtuous in that they are winter pieces and they are ready to go... now I want to start The Drawn Thread Winter Welcome... I've already done Summer and Fall and I want to do Spring and Halloween in 2019...  here's a pic of Winter...

I 've been dragging my feet to get the flosses together as I need to do a conversion .. this is all charted in silks ...which are lovely...but pricey... I do wish she'd include a DMC conversion with these charts. They are so pretty and look so nice on my display shelf... The letters are charted in an Emerald Blue Dinky Dyes... I will look for a nice overdyed for them and maybe the reds for the house and the cardinal... that will take a little time...

So what is left to do... well there is still one Christmas quilt that needs a binding... and I found a whole bunch of unbreakable ornaments that I had planned to make a wreath with about 4 years ago... I may do the wreath... and I am definitely going to switch to Winter stitching... after today... today I'm going to do some Santa Sunday Stitching ala Priscilla... I wasn't happy with the linen I was stitching Silver Creek Samplers  My Christmas List...

So I started over on a piece of 32 ct linen that I don't remember the name of ... it is mottled but printed not dyed... I think it will be a nice subtle background that won't over shadow the stitching... I LOVE LOVE LOVE this piece and I WILL have it done for Christmas 2019... I plan on stitching on it every Sunday... so far I have this much done...

and there is a loooonnnnggg way to go...

The rest of the day should be quiet... doing dinner with my son and DIL on Monday instead of Sunday... however  the rest of the week has stuff planned for every day... so I want to enjoy today as much as possible.

I will link up with Kathy's Quilts and check out what's going on over there... lots of people getting things done for Christmas... hope that you have things under control at your house...

happy stitching-
carol fun

Are you up for some sledding on a Slow Sunday Stitching...

Hello all - thanks for stopping by again this week to see what kind of trouble I've gotten into... I do appreciate your reading about my projects as I prattle on and on and on... I'm really good at prattling... its a gift dontcha know...LOL Well this week I got a little bit done in several areas... quilting and stitching and knitting... and I got my Christmas tree up!!!  I always drag my feet when it comes to the tree ...why?  Lights... I don't like putting on lights. Now this little tree is pre-lit but I added a string with Hallmark Light and Motion ornaments and 2 strings of the old fashioned bubble lights...I really like the way they look, but I don't like futzing with them to get them semi-upright ... some lean no matter what you do...

Sorry for the glare... it didn't occur to me to close the blinds... You may think that the Dude is guarding the tree... don't be fooled...he's waiting to eat the icicle  tinsel....grrr... we've had several staring contests where he hopes I'll look away...but I don't... I suppose I shouldn't use it but I LOVE it... it is what we put on the tree when I was a child...back in the dark ages. I've seen trees with lots of ribbon and the garland tinsel and while they are lovely they just don't do it for me.

Anyway onto other stuff I've gotten accomplished... lets start with the quilting... I got the binding on my Christmas Weave quilt...here's a glamour shot on the sunporch...

and here is one of my son holding it up for me...

the colors are truer on the sunporch... the sashing is a lovely vintage-y gold grunge called Ginger Ale... it has splotches of olive and I really like it... this is my adaptation of the Villa Rose pattern called Rodeo... you can see it here... I substituted 4 patches for some of the smaller squares and oriented mine vertically. It was a quick quilt with a layer cake and some charm squares. The fabrics are Basic Grey Jovial and Juniper Berry...both older Christmas collections... I love Basic Grey's style and their Christmas collections are my favorites. I have a nice stash and occasionally I actually make a quilt with them... here's an oldie but goodie using Basic Grey on my couch right now...

This collection was called Aspen Frost... love the ornaments and the softness of the reds and the greens,...oh, sorry for wandering off there... back to the quilt at hand...

Here's a close up of the quilting on my Christmas Weave ... the pattern is called Poinsettia ... you can see a great pic of the quilting here on David's IG account...

I have one more to bind and hope to get it done this week. Last night I finished up this one and finished cutting out another Christmas quilt that I'm not getting done this year. I had it almost all cut out and knew if I didn't finish up and write myself notes about what I did and plan to do, I'd never make heads or tails of it next time I pulled out the bin... one of the biggest lies I tell myself is "I'll remember"... and I don't ... notes are a very very good thing...


And last week I said I wanted to do some small stitching ....and I did... and as much small stitching as I did I probably could have gotten half of the Lizzie Kate Christmas ABC's done...oh well... first I pulled out the Pineberry Lane pattern Merry Little Stitches... there are 3 charts in this pack and I did two... first  the one called Deck the Halls... you can check out their e-patterns here... I really like that you can buy the chart and download and print it out... love that instant gratification!!

I stitched her on a scrap of 32 ct I painted with Rit Dye - Aquamarine... I changed her hat... it was a Santa hat and added a band of red at the bottom of her dress... the holly tree looks like one of those that they hang upside down to me... need to get her FFO 'd and into my Christmas display.

And then I stitched A Right Jolly Old Elf...

now he's not totally done... there is some black at the bottom and some stitches at the top that I'm going to try to make little stars that needs to be added. I think he'll look good in my 3 tier tray.

And then I went sledding... not literally... I stitched some Lizzie Kate designs for those adorable little sled ornaments...

I totally forgot that I had these sleds... I found a bunch that I had squirrelled away ... these 3 came from two different charts  - Snowy Sleds and Sled Dudes... they are quick to stitch up on the perforated paper. I haven't done stitching on perforated paper for a while and at first  I couldn't remember how I did it... I started in on the full 8.5 x 11" sheet and it was obvious that wasn't going to work... too bulky... and I knew it didn't want to cut a real small piece as that would be hard to hold onto ... so I did this...

I cut a strip about 3" high the width of the sheet... I started stitching on the right hand side which leaves me an unstitched area to hold on to.  I'm going to do more of these ... there are several more LK charts with patterns to fit the sleds... I NEED ALL of THEM...LOL!!

So the weather last week was definitely wool sock weather... cold and gray...ugh... I HATE the gray days... I can take the cold ... pretty much... but I do like it to be sunny. I'm a Goldilocks when it comes to weather... I want it not too cold, not too hot, just right... say 65 to 70 degrees and sunny.  I got another pair of scrappy Opal socks completed...

I'm not sure how many different skeins I pulled from... at least 10 ... blues, some hot pink and some green ...along with some dotty bits... I LOVE the dotty bits!!!


Friday did give us some sun and temps in the low 40's... I cranked up the little space heater and sat on the sunporch to knit and watch the birds... except there was a floor show of squirrels instead... the Dude was as entranced as I was...

they got quite cozy sitting on the window box...

but after a short while the Dude got bored...

I can't blame him ... it was nice to snooze a bit sitting in the sun. Today has been sunny and they are promising more tomorrow... I hope to get out there again and enjoy it.

Still have some Christmas tasks to do before the holiday... want to bake some cookies, not that I need them, but I do like to eat them. Sugar really should be a major food group... along with chocolate and pasta and bread and butter... that would be a great food pyramid. We are having a family dinner tonight which will include several of those items... spaghetti and meatballs, salad, fruit, garlic toast ...and those yummy little eclairs from the freezer section of Krogers... two bites of bliss...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and check out what every one else is doing for a bit before dinner... meatballs are cooking... the sun is almost set... I HATE HATE HATE how early it gets dark... the other night I was out and thought "wow, you never go out this late at night anymore Carol"... it was 5:50 pm... sheesh... still time to catch an early bird special...

Hope you have a good week... we have a few social engagements but no appointments... and I'd like it to stay that way. Just want to sit in my chair and stitch or knit or sit in front of my sewing machine... that's the life!!

happy stitching-
carol fun