----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello everyone... I have declared that SPRING has officially arrived... at least in my house... Mother Nature is trying to cooperate with my agenda today... it is sunny and 50... however the winds are fierce... blowing around the sunroom porch as I sit here and type... it certainly whistles, but I'm believing it is blowing in better weather. And the sun is definitely appreciated to brighten my mood about the time change... which I HATE ABHOR DETEST... I'll keep my rant short this time... it all boils down to the same thing... quit playing with the clock... it will get lighter longer ... as it has done since the dawn of time... we could all wait a couple of weeks and have it occur naturally, instead of forcing it and screwing up everybody's body clock and sleep schedule. And now I'll shut up about it... but I won't be happy about it...and you can't make me... LOL
So to implement my declaration of SPRING I banished the snowmen to their plastic bins for another year and broke out my new decor... bunnies... lots and lots and lots of bunnies... and some chicks... and lots of yellow... the happiest color in the world, dontcha know?? So I spent most of my Saturday decorating my home... and true to my dear Father's description of me that I "bounce around like a BB in a boxcar" I bounced from space to space to space, back to the space I was working on 10 minutes ago, and then to another space. I wear a Fitbit and I recorded 7500 steps ...and I never left the confines of my living room... maybe decorating can be an Olympic sport??
Lots of pictures... first the display shelf unit ... now after I putzed and putzed and putzed with these shelves I sat in my chair and gazed upon my handiwork and the thought crept into my pea brain that perhaps I had jumped the shark and done too much... so I slept on that thought and pondered removing some items... and then I thought naaay... it makes me happy to see all that lovely stitching and do-dads... I've determined I am the anti-thesis of Marie Kondo... there is just so many things in life that spark joy for me... can't be a minimalist.
The shelves...
oh my goodness... a bunny bonaza!! Lets start at the top... One of my newest Spring cross stitch pieces the Lizzie Kate Spring String...
I stitched this on 28 ct. evenweave that I painted with Lemon Yellow and Tangerine Rit dyes... I used DMC floss and changed the colors to suit me... it is a lot more turquoise than the chart. Moving down to the next shelf... another Lizzie Kate pattern ... Spring Smalls...
This time it is 32 ct linen and again I turquoise-ed it up... the box is from the Dollar Spot at Target or as it is now called Bullseye's Playground... it has a handle that it hard to see in this pic and it measures about 8" long and 4" deep and 6" tall with that wire mesh insert. It is called an "Art Caddy" and it was in the section with kid stuff. They had it in 3 colors, bright blue, a natural wood tone and this turquoise... it was $3... I bought this one and the natural wood tone one... I think I'll stain it olive green for a Autumn display... the turquoise should work fine for the other 3 seasons. All those tulips were from Micheals... 2 bunches, $2 each and the stiff ribbon accent is from Walmart... it has a little clip on the end.
Also on that shelf is my bunny in the big blue dress that I stitched last year... the chart is Ah tis Spring! by Not Forgotten Farms...
and isn't that little bunny sitting on the polka dot egg cute? Picked him up at Cracker Barrel... I love their gift shop... cute stuff I don't see elsewhere. And flanking the LK Spring piece is a flock of chicks and a bunny cookie jar I got at Kroger's last year and an egg cup wearing bunny slippers... I have a small collection of egg cups with feet... I think they are hilarious!!
Moving down another shelf is my Sampler Hill by With Thy Needle & Thread... with its' 98 tulip border... I do love a good border... now I had this framed previously and when I got it back I did not like it... and I stewed about it and finally just took it out of the frame and stuck it in my needs to be FFO'd box... I do love this sampler and it is so SPRING-Y ... so I decided to finish it myself and Priscilla-fied it... I'm much happier with it now...
some greenery and a burlap ribbon and a covered button all mounted on a wood frame from Hobby Lobby... and yes more egg cups have feet...
On that same shelf we have a bunch of decor... some old and some new...
That bunny cake came from Hobby Lobby years ago... I use to have a boy version but it got broken... the frolicking bunnies are a salt and pepper set I got at Homegoods this year... I saw them on someone's shopping video on youtube and immediately coveted them. I went to my Homegoods the same day and they had one set of them which I scooped up and headed to the cash register with... last Fall there was another cute themed salt and pepper set I liked... I looked around a bit more and as I went back to the display another lady grabbed them ... wasn't going to let that happen again.
And on the shelf beneath I have a bit more cross stitch and decor... the stitching is 2/3 of a chart by Blackbird Designs and that easel came from Micheals..
And on a side note I think you can see in this picture my major improvement to the shelf unit which is a making decorating so much easier... do you see the "glass" on top of the wire shelf? It is plexiglass that I got cut at Lowe's to fit the shelves... each shelf in this piece is the same width but a different depth... and trying to get stuff to stay where I wanted it was often difficult because of widely spaced wires.... when I first put them on the piece they looked like glass to me and it is so nice to work with. Best idea I've had in a long time! Not my original idea... I saw that they had done the same thing at Micheals on some of their display pieces and I copied from them.
Anyway on the left side of this shelf is some decor I've had for years... a giant bunny head and a pretty dish with mercury glass carrots and a peek at the stack of quilts below...oh and that little chick I showed last week.
I know... there is a LOT of stuff here... but I LOVE my stuff... I love that I can display it and enjoy it ... Marie Kondo doesn't have any clue what joy all this stuff sparks in me!!
And if that wasn't enough ... like those infomercials...wait wait, there's more... a new 3 tier tray and a new display with new cross stitch... ta dah!!
I just purchased this tray yesterday at Hobby Lobby... I like that the sides aren't high so you don't need to prop stuff up to display them... it has a turned wooden center and the edges of the trays are copper... I had seen this the day before and went home and thought about it ... decided I wanted it... went back and it wasn't where I saw it the day before...accckkk... someone beat me to it... I looked around a bit and found it wedged into another display ... I might not have even noticed if that is where it had been in the first place ... perhaps someone tucked it there for safe keeping for me... at least that's what I want to believe...LOL
Here's the top of the tray...
The tulip holding bunny is old but the cross stitch is new... the Bunnies chart from Prairie Schooler... I just finished this as a little pillow... no extra trim or fabric... and I love that crinkly paper that I filled the trays with... it is Easter "grass" from Walmart ... I had some in green but wanted yellow and was floored when I went there and they had TWO shades of yellow... that never happens... usually when I want an item in yellow I'm lucky if I can find one choice ...
Moving down to the other levels we have a trio of adorable bunnies from Walmart ( FYI Walmart has some very nice seasonal decor for a good price... I think I paid under $3 a piece for them... I hadn't thought of shopping for decor items there until I started watching Auntie Coo coo's videos on youtube... she loves Walmart and does a great job showing what they have and what the prices are)
And on the bottom tier I stuck the other two PS bunnies into a galvanized mini-tub ... they make a cute couple, dontcha think? So that is the majority of my SPRING decor... but not all of it... I'll show a few other things next week. I still want to make a new table runner for my dining table and a topper for the shelf unit on the sunroom porch... and I'm thinking about painting that shelf unit... I like the look of it but not the dark wood... it shows all the dust.. still mulling over what color to paint it... I'm leaning towards either a dusty turquoise or perhaps a muted yellow or a green... something not too lime-y ... perhaps a bit of olive green... decisions decisions... need to go to check out paint...
So did you enjoy seeing all the new stuff that came out at the Nashville Market? I know I did and I jumped into ordering right away... here's my haul...
Starting in the front and from left to right, I got the first portion of the Square Dance series by Heart in Hand... very cute monthly designs only 40 stitches square... and I got a plethora of With Thy Needle & Thread charts...but not all I want... I tried to be good... I'd like to do the Easter Holiday Hoopla piece... a bunny holding tulips is right up my alley ... and instead of "framing" it with a hoop I picked up a fluted galvanized round tin at Michaels which should work if I stitch it on 32 ct... stay tuned... the back row is the 3 Blackbird Design books that were released and a beautiful sampler from Kitten Stitcher/Shakespeare's Peddler, "A Saviour's Praise"...now I don't know if I'll ever stitch this one but I had to own it... the border is spectacular ...you can see it here.
And since I've mostly forgone my semi-annual rant on Daylight Saving Time I shall put in a bit of a whine about the Ooh - La - La book by BBD... it does have several pieces I would like to stitch in it... but it also includes 2 charts for pieces I have already stitched. One is called "Le Poulet"... you can see my piece here. I stitched it back in 2015... it was a stand alone pattern... a pattern that I had somehow bought twice ...and now have bought a third time...sheesh... and the other piece is called "A Bit of Spring" in this book... when I stitched it back in 2015 it was in a book called Weekend which had a lot of quilt patterns and a bit of cross stitch... then the pattern was called "Early Morning Read". You can read my post about it here. I would still have bought the book even with the repeated patterns but I don't remember ever seeing them do that before and they don't mention anywhere that the book includes previously published patterns.
I ordered these patterns from 2 different places... some came from Fat Quarter Shop ... they have started selling cross stitch patterns and had those BBD books available right away... they have free shipping with an $80 order... the other patterns came from Kitten Stitcher's site Shakespeare's Peddler... she offers a flat $3 shipping charge. I normally shop with 123 Stitch and I still will... my past experience is that 123 Stitch has been slow to get in new charts particularly those from With Thy Needle & Thread so that's why I went elsewhere...and less than 12 hours later 123 Stitch posted that they had those same patterns. I assume they've realized how competitive the cross stitch market is getting. There are a bunch of little independent on-line sellers these days and Fat Quarter Shop is big player in the online market. As with any competition the customer should come out on top with this... I know I'll look around more next time I order. No one site has everything you want, so I have "to let my fingers do the walking" ... do you remember when that was a catch phrase for using the telephone book? Gawd I'm getting old...LOL
Well that was quite the magnum opus wasn't it? Don't have any dinner plans as we went out for breakfast this morning as a family... son and DIL are going to her parents for dinner this evening... it is her birthday tomorrow. I was none too happy to get up early this morning ... and it seemed even earlier with the time change...but the omelet was tasty and I'm hoping that getting me up early today will ease me into the time change...now I just have to avoid taking a nap... and Big Dude isn't setting a good example here...
I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... have lots of plans for the week for stitching and sewing... hope that your week is full of stitching time!
happy stitching-
carol fun
You sure have fun with your decorating! I am looking forward to more spring like weather... we are still in our winter coats here although the snow is disappearing.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more about the uselessness of daylight savings! I always enjoy seeing your decorating vignettes.
ReplyDeleteCarol, I'm worn out just reading this...but lots of great ideas and lovely displays. I saw Savior's Praise in person and that border is fabulous!!! Thanks for a fun filled post!
ReplyDeleteI love all of your decorations and stitching!!! I agree with you, more is better and brings such joy! Like my Christmas decorations, you can never have too many!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt was such fun to look through your post today. All the bunnies and all that yellow is just plain 'happy.'
ReplyDeleteRe: "let your fingers do the walking." I remember writing letters with a dictionary within reach for help spelling words I was not sure of. Gawd - I'm getting old, too. :)
What a fun post to read and view this AM! I love your new tiered tray and it looks fabulous all decorated for spring. Your shelf unit looks great and what a great idea to have plexi-glass cut for the shelves. Your new purchases look good; I haven't pulled the buy trigger on those BBD books because I wanted to know if they included repeats.
ReplyDeleteI am another who is not a fan of the time change. Pick one or the other and leave the clocks alone.
Enjoy your week!
It takes me a long time to get used to a time change too. Love all of your decorations - very festive! There have been several books out lately (best of kind of books, I think they are called Big Book of . . . Quilts) that have repeated patterns of things that have been published in the past. I guess it is good to revive them but not for people who bought the original stand-alone patterns.
ReplyDeleteWell, Carol, we really must get together some time. We agree on so many things. I hate the time change and WA is about to do away with with standard time. That's great, but if I am the only one in my family one hour ahead (I am already 2 or 3 hours ahead), that will make me 4 hours earlier than you guys in Cincinnati and 3 hours ahead of my sweet grand children in Alabama. I just can't win, I say let's just do it all over the country!!!! I love your decorating!!! I have a good friend that watches way too much HGTV. She is always quoting one of their stars. Now she is on that minimalist kick!! I hate it when all my retired friends start talking about downsizing, I just bought a new bunny today to add to my already full bunny collection!! No downsizing for me! Thanks to your wonderful stitching, I bought the PS pattern Bunnies. I love the ones you have been doing. Well, this is enough for a comment. I really need to email you! Hope spring is in your neck of the woods!!
ReplyDeleteWow, That's a lot of decorations! But it looks very festive and fun! The time change took me totally by surprise this year. It rained so much the two weeks before, who knew when the sun came up? oh well, Happy Spring!
ReplyDelete