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 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
Yay another post from you! Woohoo! LOL Your little guy is adorable and oh so busy.
ReplyDeleteDarlene
Great projects and quilts. Sounds like you have been having some great shopping! I don't think our Hobby Lobby or Joann's are open yet.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteGreat projects to keep you busy...your little guy looks so happy! Have a great day!
Your plant pyramid is beautiful. I will be trying to shop at a local garden center early tomorrow in order to avoid any crowds. I live on Long Island so nothing except essential stores are open and then masks are required. I wear gloves too. I don't plan on doing anything but essential shopping for the rest of the summer unless a store is mostly empty. I like the cross-stitch that you are working on. All of your projects are very pretty. How wonderful that you found those charts that you had wanted.
ReplyDeleteWhat an adorable little shopping companion you had. Your petunia ladder looks great! Sorry you had a freeze. My sister in Lawrenceburg IN said she had to haul stuff in her garage too. I'm not sure we are ever going to be set free. The name I give our governor is King Jay. My hair is totally out of control and drives me crazy. We might be able to go to salons in June, he is not sure! Those fun store oar totally out of the question. That is such a pretty piece you are stitching. I'm not a gray person either. I like the colors you have chosen. Have a fun week, I am a bit envious!
ReplyDeleteI stumbled onto your blog and really enjoyed it! We are kindred spirits in that I love Tim Holtz and grunze, particularly the one you picked. Also, I share the excitement of all those shops opening up here in Charleston. Luckily all the craft shops did curb side pickups, but all my craft and quilting classes were cancelled, so I learned to design, cut and piece, but not how to pick batting and put my quilt together.
ReplyDeletePlus my daughter moved from Atlanta to Connecticut to live in a 1796 Saltbox and wants samplers authentic to the period to put on her walls. She has no clue how long Cross Stitch takes! I had given it up when I lost patience in my old age!!!
Would you please share where you found the needlework that says “God Finds a Low Branch for the Bird thst cannot Fly?”
Your little guy seems to love fabrics as well.Great that you are out and about again. I too love walking around IKEA. One always gets lot of walking exercise at this shop. Love the fabric in your new quilt. Wonderful you were able to find the cross stitch samplers you wanted. They will be beautiful additions to your sampler wall. Love that bright and colourful pyramid oozing with summery cheer.
ReplyDeleteWow where do I start... Your pyramid looks awesome with all it's color and I had to laugh when I saw the little guy in front of the fabric bin. I could just see it all flying out. I too love to use grunge. The gray was okay with those cool vintage rectangles but that Dried Herb was perfect I think. It made the prints pop out.
ReplyDeleteHair.. I need mine done too but I'm debating on just letting it go natural which I have determined is white. LOL. Just not sure I'm ready for that change. LOL Enjoy your blog.