Death by Gardening on a Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hello.. well I almost  did myself in with the gardening this week... I'm not dead but serious damage may have been done to my knees and  hamstrings... lots and lots and lots of bending over... naproxen is my friend... LOL... the weather has been wonderful... 70's... low humidity... nice breeze... and on Friday I went to 3 garden centers and came home with  a bunch of new stuff... and I already had old stuff that needed to be planted... by my count I planted 25 1 gallon perennials... 115 dahlia tubers...  175 little annuals, impatiens, begonias, coleus, zinnias... 42 wave petunias ...  a few different small perennials and assorted seeds... I tied up the fading daffodils and cut back the alliums that were spent... I am pooped... but very very happy!!!   My yard is looking good.... here a a few pictures... more for my benefit than yours as I like to document what things looked like when I first planted and how they grow over the summer...

The window boxes are filling in...not a lot of petunia blooms yet but the plants are fuller...

My favorite pot so far... orange petunias, a Prince Tut papyrus, some little orange daisy like thing (I forget what its called) and some variegated ivy...   I did 2 like this flanking my garage...

Another pot... some Proven Winners petunias and Diamond Frost euphorbia... hope it takes the heat that I know will come...

A view of the bed on the side of the house... I put lots of new perennials in ... seems like a bunch I planted last year didn't come back...

My newest garden whimsey... it is a GIANT ceramic ball of yarn... needs GIANT knitting needles...LOL

And a look at the pyramid of petunias... not bad ... a couple of pots are lagging... don't know why as they are almost all Proven Winners in the same kind of pots...

And the most unusual plant in my garden... a Globemaster Allium... this is about 10'' across... a late bloomer... I think I got this at Costco... need more next year...

As for crafty stuff... well I've been pretty tired when I've come in from the garden... I did finish Faith of the Heart...

Why is it that you never see that loose bit of thread on the piece until you post the picture???
I was going to take it to get framed but I'm waiting for the shop to finish with the Jeanette Douglas Designs Vintage Birds... hopefully this week...

I picked back up the Garden Alphabet No. 61 by Prairie Schooler... just about halfway...

Did get a few more blocks done on my 2 X 4 quilt....  30 complete ...need 50 more...

Elliott "helped" in arranging the blocks... such a good boy...

Busy week ahead... 2 doctor's appointment that should have happened during the quarantine... semi-annual check ups... babysitting on Tuesday... probably lunch out with friends a day or two... sounds good.

My son and daughter-in-law are working on getting moved into their new house... the sofa and love seat they bought last week came Friday and the TV is coming this week... no date yet on the dining room table... Dan the Handyman made good progress on the painting and some carpentry ... still have more painting and some plumbing repair...

I've been able to go out to eat and that has made me happy... planned on going to Hobby Lobby last week but ended up at garden centers... maybe this week... I don't need anything... just want to see new stuff...

Hope you have a good week ahead... things are beginning to feel more normal... hope it stays that way... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts ... should have some time to read blogs today... gonna sit on my sunroom porch with all the windows open and enjoy this wonderful weather... take good care of yourselves... all of you are in my prayers... too many are still home incarcerated and the protests/riots of the last week aren't helping anyone ... don't know what people think they will accomplish by destroying someone else's property... Do unto others and you would have them do unto you... it ain't hard to understand... that's my rant for this week...

happy stitching-
carol fun

A bit of normal on a Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hello again... another week has passed me by... it was rainy ... very rainy... but things improved a bit on Friday and Saturday...and I think I see some light at the end of this quarantine tunnel... thank you Lord... on Monday I was able to get a haircut and get my roots touched up... OMG... what a difference that made in my outlook... my head feels lighter and I am so much happier since my gray is covered ... I know a lot of you have let yours grow out... but I think giving it almost 8 weeks was good trial run to see if I'd like it... and I didn't...it made me feel older...  and  part of this whole quarantine thing that has me highly annoyed at being called old... I'm 66... I know I'm no spring polka dot chicken but you do not need to tell me daily that old people, people over 65 should stay home... I still have a valid driver's license and while I love my house, there are places to go and people to see and shopping to do!!

And since some restrictions have been eased I was able to go out an eat... in a restaurant... Thursday, Friday and Saturday... and I went out every darn day... and twice on Friday... it was so nice not to cook or have to clean up... went to independent neighborhood places that were as happy to see me as I was happy to see them... they were all doing a good job of mask/gloves/social distancing and I figure they've been disinfecting the place for the last 8 weeks... probably can't get much cleaner...it is all a little bit of normal and I truly appreciate it.

On the crafty front, I sewed together all the rectangles of the Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements fabrics and the Dried Herb Grunge....

just waiting for the backing fabric to arrive and then it is off to Quilting by David.

I moved from that project back to my American Jane Simple Pleasures top... I have it about 75% done... lots and lots of different American Jane fabric collections... each 49 patch block has no duplicates within the block...

all it needs is four more of the 49 patch blocks and five 9 patch blocks... no border required... I did get one more 49 patch block done but then a squirrel popped up and I had to start this new quilt...

This is the 2 x 4 Quilt using the tutorial from Film in the Fridge that you can find here... I have thought about this one for a while but couldn't settle on a color scheme... but then I saw this quilt... click here... on Instagram... Oh my goodness... why did this not occur to me??  Yellows... all YELLOWS... and paired with low volumes.... YES YES YES!!!

Now I have plenty of yellows ...and yes that is an understatement...LOL ... I'm going to make 80 different blocks so it will fit on my double bed... and I want 80 different low volumes... I have a nice stash but made a trip to my LQS  Homegrown Homesewn on Friday and picked up some more... they celebrate FQ Friday... buy 10 FQs and they are $2.50 each versus $3.50 each... a no brainer... .

I want to mix in some yellows that are gold... I'm particularly fond of that color right now... and I'm going to use some of my novelty fabrics too... this is one of those projects that will have me taking 100's of fabrics off my shelves... pondering if they make the cut... cutting out the 4 rectangles needed and then tossing them on the floor to be re-folded at a later date... messy messy messy... but somehow so satisfying...

Lately I've been enjoying more sewing mojo... my basement sewing room has been the perfect temperature ... not too hot or too cold... and the rainy days were perfect for sewing... I made a list of quilts that I'd like to work on... came up with about 6 new projects ...and there are at least that many UFO's that I could revisit... I like this feeling... it feels ...normal...

On the cross stitch front I am sooooo close to finishing Faith of the Heart by Brenda Gervais of With Thy Needle & Thread...

just have the vine-y part at the bottom and the date to add...  FYI... I am not happy with the color of the linen in any of the pics I'm showing today... I can not get my phone to show the true colors... ugh... however my son said there is a new iPhone coming out with a better camera than what I have but in the smaller size phone that I like... I'll be looking into it.... as for this piece, I plan on taking this one to the framer too... I'd like to display it all year long... my criteria anymore is, if it is a seasonal piece I'll FFO it myself ... but if it is  a long term display I'll take to be professtionally framed... I've got that BBD sampler I want to get back to... Blackbird Designs O Joyous Day...

about 2/3's finished... I may pick this one back up next week... but I really need to get back to Elliott's Christmas stocking... I just couldn't bring myself to work on it during the quarantine... I don't know about you but most of my special stitching has memories attached to them... I can remember where I was and what I was doing when I worked on them... I don't want my negative memories attached to Elliott's stocking... my attitude is getting better now that I can get out and about... and maybe the needlepoint shop has reopened... I need wool for the background...

Well  I've been busy babysitting Elliott while my son and daugther in law get things moved into their new house... and I've been acting at the general contractor for projects at their new house... my handyman Dan has been done a bunch of jobs there... removed shower doors, fixed a leaky faucet, painted the basement (quite a big space), put up a chair rail in the bedroom and painted the room, replaced a toilet, taken off a closet door, changed doorknobs...  and there are several other jobs he hasn't gotten to yet... they have a moving date of June 15... I'm pretty sure Dan will have everything done by then... and after that he can move onto some jobs at their old house ... we are planning to have my younger son who lives with me now, to move into their old house... it is just 2 blocks away ... we are testing if my younger son (who is Aspergers...high functioning autistic) will be able to live on his own... if it works out, that will be great... if it doesn't we can make other arrangements for his future... but the old house could use a little work too... thank goodness Dan is so handy... other than complicated electrical work he can pretty much do it all... guys like that are hard to find and I thank God I met him 6 years ago... my house would not be in the nice shape it is in without him.

So I'm babysitting Elliott this afternoon so his parents can go shopping ... some furniture stores have opened ... but not IKEA... they are shopping for a couch... hopefully they will find one and won't have to wait too long for delivery... I think dinner will be a carryout from somewhere... maybe Carraba's... when they get settled in I'm making a prime rib dinner for all of us... we need to celebrate!

I hope that the coming week sees more of you released from your home incarceration... yeah... I'm still not totally over it, can you tell?? I feel so sorry for those of you in states with governors who don't want to open things back up... I understand the health issues but the economic issues are affecting people's health too... worry about how you are going to take care of your family or your business can be as deadly as this virus... sorry... small rant again this week.

Not a lot on the agenda next week... a day of babysitting and the quilty gals want to get together for lunch before one of our bunch goes to her summer home in Wisconsin... the first week of June will be a busy one... semi-annual visit with my primary care doctor and semi-annual visit with the Cincinnati Eye Institute... I've noticed lately that my left eye is getting blurry... last time I was there they said that my cataract was growing back ... I hope I can get that corrected soon... it doesn't bother me too much when I'm stitching but when I'm driving it is more apparent... I found myself squinting my left eye closed ... I look like a pirate but things are clearer... there's always something, isn't there?

Okay... I'm off to link this up with Kathy's Quilts... hope I can read some blogs while Elliott naps...
hope things are looking up where ever you are...take care...

happy stitching-
carol fun

A little of this and a little of that... on a Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hello... well a post 2 weeks in a row... I can hardly believe it... how do the days fly by and drag at the same time???  Things here in Ohio are opening up... retail was allowed to resume business... some did and some are still waiting... restaurants with outdoor seating started serving meals on Friday... next Friday you can get a meal indoors... I can't wait... we've done a lot of carry out but somehow carryout of a nice breakfast just didn't sit right... so I think our first meal out will be to the breakfast place we like... my son and I go on weekdays...usually late morning and it is never crowded... there was always plenty of social distancing and I'm pretty sure it will be that way for  a while.

The highlight of my week was going shopping!!! To start off I went to several garden centers... Mother Nature froze a bunch of the stuff I put in the ground... that will teach me to rush the season... my window boxes came out of the frost/freeze okay but I had to cover them several nights... the stuff I "unplanted" and put in the garage made it... but the lantana and some of the marigolds didn't... I was able to get more marigolds but haven't found the lantana... forgot where I originally bought it... oh well there are other places to check out... I did pick up a few more petunias and here how the pyramid looks this week....

already more blooms than last week... yeah... glad I kept them in the garage...


I was almost giddy returning to my "happy places"... Joanns, Michaels and my mecca Hobby Lobby... spent some money at each ones... mostly silk flowers... my displays needed a bit of a re-fresh... and got some bargain picture frames too... I like having a stash of frames...and I picked up a vase and some cute gnomes... at little of this and a little of that... it was so nice... I saw hints that Homegoods/TJ Maxx/Marshalls will be opening soon... I expect it next week... now if IKEA would reopen that would be wonderful. My son and daughter-in-law need some furniture to move into their new house... they aren't fond of sitting on the floor... need a couple of couches and some rugs  and other odds and ends... and I miss walking around IKEA... I'm not much on exercise that makes you sweat a lot but I do walk a lot every day... over 10,000 steps per day on average... when the weather is too cold or too hot a walk around IKEA gives you lots of steps and lots of stuff to look at... I avoid weekends but during the week it isn't real crowded... I just want things to get back to what they were... who knew you could have nostalgia for 8 weeks ago???

As for sewing... remember last week when I was a VERY GOOD GIRL and made a quilt top all with fabric I already owned??  Well the exact opposite scenario happen this week... first I purchased a pack of Tim Holtz FQ... you can see close up of it here...I LOVE all the vintage-y prints... don't want to cut them up too much... here are a couple of my favorites.... I love the old ledger sheets...

and this one... vintage pattern illustrations... swoon...

and large scale florals with typography... love that too!

and oh those birds!!! I like this one so much I ordered yardage for the back of the quilt...

And you can see they have some vertical direction... so I decided to do another quilt where I just cut 5" x 10" rectangles ... that should show off the prints ... but it needs some quiet spaces.... Grunge to the rescue... but what color of Grunge?   I have  yardage of of a concrete gray which I auditioned...

its okay and it does coordinates well with The Dude... but gray is not a color I'm real fond of ... I know it has it's place and I know that the young modern quilting set loves it...and do we need to point out that I am not young?  No I don't think we do... soooooo.... definitely want Grunge, just not gray... and life gave me an opening on Friday so I was off to my local quilt store Homegrown, Homesewn... it is always a treat to go there and Friday was no exception...they have a great selection of tone on tones and carry ALL of the Grunges... I'm partial to the yellows... don't need to tell you that... and greens are a very close second... I decided on this olive green... it is called Dried Herb...

yes yes yes... I like this a lot... just going to make a throw sized quilt ... and I'm hoping to have enough left over from the FQs to make a second throw with this collection... maybe a 2 x 4 quilt like this...

there are some coordinating tone on tone fabrics for the Tim Holtz collection... should be a nice combo... oh right now there are so many quilts and cross stitch projects I want to do... need more time!!! And I'm not sure why I'm entranced by rectangular blocks lately but I am... they are easy to sew together and just a little bit different from  squares... make me feel almost "arty"... LOL

Maybe I should call this project the Bad Girl Quilt as every piece is new fabric... but it makes me HAPPY so I don't feel bad at all...

It is hard to get a straight on pic of this ... it fills my design wall and I can only get back so far... the color is a bit off here... the green isn't that dark...

It is a wonder that I go this cut out and on  the design wall at all... as I was accompanied by this little guy...

He was quite busy emptying every basket and container he could get his hands on...

I'll have to clean up later but it was worth the trade off to get this one cut out and on the wall...


On the cross stitch front I worked on Faith of the Heart ...

got a decent amount of stitching done... 123 Stitch was quick with their delivery and I got the floss I needed either Wed or Thurs... that's a week from Utah to Ohio...not bad... and then I was watching a Flosstube video and I don't remember who's it was but she showed a Sheepish Design chart that I thought was OOP ... she had bought it from Shakespeare's Peddler/Kittenstitcher... here's her website... great stuff, good customer service, only $3 shipping... anyway I was intrigued and went to see what Kittenstitcher had... oh my goodness... I found 3 charts that I've always wanted but thought they were OOP but they aren't!!!   ... Sheepish Designs Exemplarys...

Alpha Bird... Letter A through  J...

Alpha Menagerie... Letter K through R...

Alpha Sheep... Letter S through Z...

Now I somehow though that there were more than 3 parts to this ... and I want to do them as one LOOOONG piece... it will be 140 stitches wide and 408 stitches long... on 32 ct that would make it 25 1/2" long... on 36 ct it would be about 22 5/8" long... 40 count would be about 20 3/8" long... 32 ct would require 2 strands of floss... 36 and 40 only one... right now I'm leaning toward 36 ct... I have a piece of linen I could paint/dye that is long enough... the thread key has NPI silks, DMC and Anchor... I have a bit of a stash of Anchor... I use to stitch with that when I did a lot of Ewe & Eye & Friends when The Twisted Thread was still open... it was the BEST cross stitch shop EVER... spent a lot of time there in the 90's... miss the shop and the people who were there...anyway I'm going to stitch a little swatch... one ply Anchor over 2 threads 36 count and see if I like the coverage...

As for the Jeanette Douglas Vintage Birds piece I took it to the local framer... found a lovely frame...narrow with a tortoise shell finish and a faux filet edge... the lady working there was so happy to have a customer... obviously 8 weeks with no business is devastating... she almost cried when I said I'd pay in advance (I always do)... she gave me a discount and said it would be 2 weeks or less... can't wait to get it back... I want to put it in my seasonal display but afterwards I'm adding it to the sampler wall in my upstairs craft room... (my hallway also has 2 sampler walls but it is narrow and hard to photograph)... anyway here's how the wall looks ....

I've wanted to add more samplers to it...  I may take them down and come up with a less symmetrical layout so I can easily add more ... put them closer together... oooohhh...more space...more samplers... I LOVE that idea... never too many samplers!!!

So I'm feeling more positive now that I can see an end to the lockdown... I know things won't be exactly like they were but at least there are some places to go ... and the weather is definitely more Spring-y... from freezing last week to 80's this coming week... a great improvement... however there is a lot of rain... good for the stuff I have planted but there is more I want to get in the ground ... last year it was the beginning of June before I got my dahlias in and it looks like that its not going to be much earlier this year... and the removal of the overgrown boxwoods has left more planting space... I want more perennials... but I want them for bargain prices... I'll have to stalk the local feed and garden place... the Big Lots of garden centers... you never know what you'll find... the price will be good but they may not have as many as you want ... and you can count on the parking being a nightmare...that has kept me away last week... again you have to avoid weekends but even during the week every time I drove by was crazy... maybe tomorrow... I'll drive past twice on my way to and from my HAIRCUT appointment ... OMG... I sooooo need a haircut and my roots touched up... I have considered letting my hair go gray on several occasions...and thought perhaps this would be the time to do it ... but then I remembered ... I'm not a redhead who is going gray.... I'm a brunette who's going gray... and I LOVE my red hair... I've been coloring my hair since my 20's ... some of my first memories of my Mom are hanging over a stationary tub in the basement coloring her hair... red... its a family tradition...LOL

Well I've rambled on longer than I thought I would... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts... always an enjoyable way to spend some time on Sunday... the week ahead is looking good... haircut on Monday, babysitting on Tuesday, some errands on Wednesday...nothing so far for Thursday... restaurants re-open on Friday...yeah!!!

Hope you are having a good week... for all of you that are in states that are still locked down I'll offer up an extra prayer that you get released soon... I won't do a political rant here but I think you know where I'm coming from... choices... people should have the freedom to make their own choices...

happy stitching-
carol fun

Mother Nature's Misbehaving on a Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hello .. and Happy Mother's Day to all of you!!  Mine is a quiet one today... celebrated yesterday with my son and daughter in law and grandson ... yummy dinner from Carrabas and a gift card to a wonderful garden center...which I will enjoy spending as Mother Nature has been a pain in the patootie these last couple of days... I know that around here the official date for the last frost is Mother's Day/May 15 but for the past 10 years at least I've had flowers in the ground by the end of April and had no problems... not this year... I spent Friday night covering all the stuff in my window boxes with sheets, carrying all the petunias in pots into the garage, moving the planters I could lift into the garage and  "un-planting" a bunch of stuff that I had in pots that I couldn't lift... forecast is looking up from here ... highs in the 70's ...hmmm... just checked and Monday and Tuesday have lows around 35... ugh... don't want to have to re-locate everything again...

Here is the same window box I showed last week... all tucked into a polka dotted sheet...

The stuff in the boxes fared well... but I think I lost the lantana I put in the ground and some marigolds... glad I hadn't put any zinnia seeds in yet... I'll wait till at least the end of the week for that...

As for crafty stuff  I got a little done here and there... I sewed all the blocks together for The Good Girl quilt... you can find the pattern on this page...

and here is one of the pieced blocks...those squares were left over from my Chamomile quilt of last summer... which you can see here... sorry that last week I forgot to put in the link... oh and here is a link to the pattern...

and made a back from this fabric...which has been aging in a bin for a loooooong time...

and as every piece came out of my stash, I was a VERY Good girl!!

As for stitching I started this piece May 1... not doing Stitch Maynia... just stitching... excuse the wrinkles...

this is Faith of the Heart by Brenda Gervais of With Thy Needle and Thread...

the saying on this one speaks to my heart... and I love the GIANT birds flanking the house... the linen is a 32 ct I painted with Rit Apple Green and Turquoise... and while I thought I had diluted the dyes pretty much so they would be very light, they dried more intense than I wanted, soooooooo.... I turned the linen over and I'm stitching on what I thought would be the back... that worked out nicely...what isn't working out is the thread... I had most of the called for threads... and I made a couple of substitutions... but I running out of 2 of the colors I chose... I put an order in to 123 Stitch... hopefully by the end of next week I'll have them. Every company seems to be running behind in filling orders...and I understand... more demand and less staff... I need to practice patience... which isn't my strong suite...

And on the Covid front... well things are looking up a bit... last Monday my quilty lady friends came over to do lunch while social distancing... we all sat out on my driveway and talked and had lunch and show and tell and there was even a bit of hair trimming too...it was so nice to get together... the weather was lovely and none of us noticed till the end of the day that we all got a bit of sunburn... back of necks, tops of arms... definitely loaded up on Vitamin D...

Ohio is opening things back up... retail is this coming week... restaurants can do open air dining May 15 and inside seating May 21... hair salons are opening too... I have an appointment for a cut and color on the 18th... yeah... I need to find out when Hobby Lobby will be open... I didn't find anything in my framing stash to FFO my Vintage Bird piece... I need a square frame at least 10" x10"... or an rectangular one is that same range... or  I could take this one to the framer... hmmm.... I'll be the little shop not far from me might be open this week... wouldn't hurt to give them some business...

Well next week doesn't have much on the calendar... pretty much like the last 6, 7, 8 weeks... I'm babysitting Elliott on Tuesday... fun but exhausting... and I want to spend some time on my sunroom porch... my handyman finally got it painted for me... small space about 7' x 10'... lots of windows ... but lots of edges to be cut in and the brick sucked up almost 2 gallons of paint... took waaay longer to paint than either one of use anticipated .... but boy does it look great....

I love how clean it looks ... I wavered on painting it because this is what use to be the outside of my house before I had the porch enclosed... I decided that no one is ever going to take the windows and door out and make it an open air porch again so I might as well have it made over to my liking...I spend lots of hours out there... in the nice weather I can open the windows...when it is a colder I have a space heater than warms it up ... it is so nice to sit in the sun with no bug issues...and I think the 17 year cicadas are due for a return visit... looked it up... suppose to be 2021 but some of them always come early...

Well I'll be sitting out here on the porch for a little while... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and read some blogs... the Dude is perched on the back of the couch watching the world and the birds... I've had some pretty birds visit lately... some cute little red house finches and a cardinal or two... there is only one feeder the doves can sort of perch on... which is good... they are relegated to eating off the ground... otherwise they hog the feeders...

I hope you have a lovely Mother's Day... take good care of yourself... and...

happy stitching-
carol fun

Tis' May... on a Slow Sunday Stitching...

Hello all - well the tooth extraction went well... thank you Lord for IV sedation... I didn't feel anything and don't rmember anything and don't want to think about how that bruise on my neck happened (oh I know how it happened but I'm not thinking about it)... didn't touch the Vicodin... an ice pack and ibuprofen got me through... thanks for all the paryers and positive thoughts ... they were needed and appreciated...

So now it is May... and I do not want this to be a repeat of April... I always think February is the longest month of the year because of the cold weather but April was at least 473 days long because of the quarantine... ugh... things are opening back up a bit here in Ohio... my favorite quilt shop, Homegrown Homesewn, will be open limited hours and limited numbers of shoppers in the store starting Tuesday ... the garden centers are all open which is great as the weather has brightened up too.. well at least it was bright Friday and Saturday... I conducted my annual pilgrimage to several places... got geraniums, and petunias, and coleus, and petunias, and marigolds, and petunias, and lantana, and petunias, and snapdragons... and some petunias...

I've put 90 marigolds in the ground and got the window boxes cleaned out and planted up... this year my color scheme is a pretty pink-y rose geranium with purple, white and purple and white striped petunias... I picked these colors because there wasn't a lot of wave petunias to be found... so I went with what I could get... I'm also afraid that some of what I thought were white petunias are going to turn out to be red... they weren't well labeled... and if a red one does sprout it will be removed... yes I am heartless...

Here's one of the 5 window boxes....

Ignore the spots where the damn squirrels have gnawed on the boxes... my handyman has an idea for putting a metal corner edge on the boxes.. hopefully it will break them of this habit...

And here is my pyramid of petunias... lots of different varieties...

I know it is a little sparse now ...and there are still 2 empty pots ... and I know these pictures are a bit boring but in a month I'll be happy to see how much they've grown,

As to crafty stuff... I banished the bunnies and brought out the birds... I'm still working on a couple of displays as I have stitching I need to FFO (fully finish object) and without my mecca of Hobby Lobby I am lacking in framing material....(my hope is HL will re-open around the 12th... fingers crossed... and for a rant... if I can do to the grocery and the garden centers why can't I go to HL?? I wear a mask and keep my distance and HL has LOTS of stuff that is ESSENTIAL for mental health... taking a deep breath now)....

So here is the quilt wall/tier tray display...

Here's the tier tray...

I kept is pretty monochromatic ... light turquoise with a touch of light green... all the cross stitch pieces are older ones but I still love them... and the quilt is one of my favorite Stack n Whacks... that petunia fabric is a Phillip Jacobs design... did I ever tell you how much I LOVE petunias??  yeah I think I did, LOL... (and that inside border isn't black it is a very dark purple ... darn camera)

And this little vignette sits on my yellow cabinet...

I found that picture stand in my stash (had a markdown sticker on it from Micheals... originally $30/now $9... not bad... instead of pictures I tied on some paper pennants I made years ago with a bird theme... and the little pillows are from the sampler A Saviour's Praise. by Kittenstitcher...I just stitched pieces of the fabulous border... I want to do more of these...

the larger piece is from Pineberry Lane... Tansy Yarrow Rue... I brightened it up ... linen and thread... I like the primitive style but don't like too much brown in those pieces... I also like the finishing on this piece... that giant wooden tag is a fun piece... wish I remember where I got it...

And I liked that Pineberry Lane piece so much that I stitched part of it a second time as a little pillow... and the hedgehog is a Prairie Schooler piece... I like that beaded edge... takes forever to do ... but I like it a lot!

As for the pieces I showed last time I wandered in here... here is the Tulips piece by Blackbird Design...

And here is Garden Friends from the Sewing Club book...

oh I am really really happy with this... the frame was in my stash in the basement ... there was a clip on it and I took that off ... love the weathered look of it... added a french wired silk ribbon rose that perfectly matched the colors of this piece... serendipity that was 30 years in the making... the backstory... I sewed the ribbon rose 30 years ago when I lived in Modesto California... there was the little gift shop that had the most beautiful bits and bobs... I bought yardage of several different ribbons and made the roses to embellish things... this was in a bag in my craft supplies... so happy happy happy I saved it and found it...


I'll show you the full shelf display when I get this piece FFO'd...

This is Vintage Birds by Jeanette Douglas Designs... it is very pretty... love the peacock...
however,  instead of doing the called for Algerian eye stitches  I did a Rhodes mound ...

because I DO NO DO eyelets... I like the raised texture it gives the peacocks' tail...

On the quilting front, I got 2 tops sent off to Quilting by David and one of them showed up on his feed this morning... I let him pick the quilting panto and I really like it! You can see it here...

And I played with a new pattern... it is called The Good Girl quilt by Meander  + Make and you can see it here...  I changed it a bit to make use of a pile of 3.5" low volume squares I had left over from the Chamomile quilt I made last summer ... you can see that one here...

And here is my version of The Good Girl quilt...

ALL of these fabrics came from my stash so I've been a VERY good girl indeed.. I may sew some of this together today... or work on the American Jane project... need 6 more 49 patch blocks and 10 9 patches... or maybe FFO some cross stitch pieces... or sit and cross stitch on the porch... decisions decisions...

Glad I did my gardening Friday and Saturday... today has been stormy... thunder and lightening... but tomorrow is forecast to be sunny and mid 60's which is good because I've planned an get together of my quilty lady friends... there are 5 of us, so that puts us well under the 10 person gathering limit put forth by the governor... and we will sit 6 feet apart on my driveway which is something like 16 ft wide and almost 35 feet long... everyone is bringing their lunch and something sweet to share...the newest message is Stay Safe Ohio... some businesses are opening up and from the people I saw out and about on Friday and Saturday people are on the move... I did see a lot of masks ... but not everyone... and people were trying to keep their distance... I think it is a good thing to do... we aren't going to acquire any immunity sitting on our couches... just my opinion...

I have lots more gardening to do... Phase 2 and 3 include putting down some flower seeds and then planting the 200 plus dahlia tubers I have... the soil needs to warm up a bit for the dahilas and I think the seeds would benefit from that too... but I am antsy to get them in... along with all the flower boxes I potted up 3 large planters and a big planter box and put in those 90+ marigolds .... love all the color...


Soooooo... I shall link up with Kathy's Quilts... spend a little time looking at what everyone else is doing and then figure out what I'm going to do on this rainy Sunday afternoon... lots of projects to chose from... I hope that you are healthy and happy and that things will be opening up where you are soon... I know some states have draconian stay at home orders that are crushing the economy and people's mental health... I could rant more but you get my drift...

happy stitching-
carol fun