Showing off my Spring Decor before Summer arrives ... on Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hello - well I know that summer doesn't officially begin until June 20 but it sure felt like it here the last couple of days... I've been forced to water twice a day... not fun... but so far everything looks like it is hanging in there... the petunias in the window boxes have filled in nicely... the marigolds still look a little scant though... I tried to buy another flat to add to the bed, but my regular garden centers were already out of them... and out of a lot of other stuff... did waaay more people get into gardening this year?  I may try to visit a few other places later today... I've recovered from my binge gardening session of last week and ready for another smaller round... a few more perennials and put in some more zinnia seeds...

As for crafty stuff, I stitched a small patriotic piece...

this is a section of Summer in Baltimore by With Thy Needle & Thread... I think I'll finish it as a small pillow to add to my tier tray...  on 32 ct it is about 4" square...I'm hoping to get another couple of small patriotic pieces stitched in the next couple of weeks... I'm planning on getting out all my red white and blue around the middle of June...

But before I do I'll show you the big shelf display I've done for Spring...

I was able to pick up my Vintage Birds by Jeanette Douglas Desgins from the framer yesterday... they did a nice job... here's a close up...

and an even closer close up of the frame...

I like the faux fillet inside edge...when I picked this one up I dropped off Faith of the Heart... should get it back in about 2 weeks...

As for the other pieces on the shelf unit...

The parrot is a Blackbird Design called Welcome, dear August ... August refers to a grandchild of either Alma or Barb, not the month... I substituted the work Hope... it is from the book In Friendship's Way ... you can see it here.

Other side of that shelf continues my bird theme with Barbara Ana's Funky Bird...you can find the pattern here.

On the next shelf I have Blackbird Designs Pins & Tulips Pincushion from the book Thank You Sarah Tobias... as far as I know this book is OOP... sorry...

And I couldn't put away Ah Tis Spring by Notforgotten Farms... I just love that bunny in the big blue dress! You can find the chart here...

Below that I have Garden Friends from the newest BBD book Sewing Club and Delivering Posies from Homespun Elegance...

 you can never have too many pieces with birds... IMHO... LOL!!

I worked a bit more on my 2 x 4 quilt...

need about 30 more blocks... I think I'm going to call this one Hand Selected because I've carefully chosen the combination of fabrics in each block..

I worked yesterday to get the last 30 yellows cut out and I picked up fabric for a back for this one... can't wait to get it done and off to Quilting by David... I think it is going to look great on my bed...

Oh in the comments last week someone asked about doing this quilt with 2.5" strips... yes there is a pattern for it... Cluck Cluck Sew did it and you can find it here.   I'm using the pattern from  Film in the Fridge which you can see here.  Both are easy and I can see another quilt like this in my future...  Wanda from Exuberant Color is playing with the idea using Kaffe fabrics and I like it a lot... you can see her blog post here.

Also there was a question about my blog header... what pattern were those chickens?  Okay I made that quilt at least 12 years ago... as I recall the chicken was from Country Threads... I think it was in one of their books... there was also a request to show the whole quilt... I'll try to dig it out of storage ... I'm waiting for a cooler day to root around in my attic... I also want to find a pineapple quilt I did that wall all in yellows... I realized the other day that I've made at probably a half dozen quilts using just yellow ... I do remember that the first one I did was for a guild challenge when I lived in Modesto California... that was 30 years ago... where does the time go???  The quilt I made was bed sized... Ohio Star blocks (I was so homesick) in a zig zag streak of lightening setting that I hand quilted... I want to dig that one out too... maybe I can do a post on just yellow quilts... Yellow has been my favorite color my whole life... as a child I was so happy when I convinced my Mom to paint my bedroom yellow... and in my first apartment I got my Dad to paint my bedroom yellow and had a yellow bedspread and a yellow carpet... oh it was really YELLOW...LOL

So this coming week has a couple of things on the agenda... babysitting on Tuesday and on Wednesday I'm having a cataract that has grown back zapped with a laser... I saw the surgeon last week... it isn't as involved a procedure as having cataract surgery... they don't put you out and you can drive yourself home... say a prayer and wish me luck... it will be nice to have clear vision in both eyes again.

Well I hope that the week ahead is a good one for all of you... we are suppose to have cooler weather by the end of next week... after we deal with remnants of the tropical storm down South moving through... I'm all for cooler temperatures... 90 is too hot for June... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and then go read some blogs... no big plans for today and I like it ... a lot.

take care-
happy stitching-
carol fun