Changing things around....

 Hello - I know I said that I'd be back last Monday... not sure why I thought I could get all the things finished that I had planned in 24 hours... in fact, it took all week to do what I wanted to do and everything still isn't done... but some things are ... and over all it was a very productive week...

I got off track starting last Monday... all the flower beds needed to be cleaned out as we had had a couple of frosts and one night below 32... everything was bedraggled and well... dead... so I started with the dahlia bed. Had to cut back all the stems and leaves and dig up the tubers... lots and lots of tubers... I thought at the beginning of the summer that I would label them when I dug them up... and I made a detailed chart of what was planted where... but in the end I just threw them all in a box... I really like the look where everything is mixed up and I like the surprise of not knowing what the plant will look like till it blooms... and that's all the "unknown" I want in my life these days... 

And after the dahlia bed there was the rest of the yard... OMG... you plant things here and there, this day and another day, you put seeds in this week and then another week and then another week ...little by little... but then it dies ALL AT THE SAME TIME... and you have to cut it back or dig it up and get rid of it... I don't have any place to dispose of the debris and detritus in my yard so I have to put it in those large paper yard waste bags... I filled, absolutely STUFFED FULL  20 of those bags... my garbage guy is gonna hate me tomorrow when I drag the out to the curb... 

Now the beds are cleared out and I can move on to planting bulbs... daffodils, alliums and hyacinths... bulbs the deer won't eat... not certain but my rough guess is there are about 300 daffodils and 200 alliums and a handful of hyacinths that need to be planted... my younger son is going to help dig holes and we don't have to dig a hole for every bulb... lots can be planted in a bunch, but it is gonna take some time... I'm telling myself not to over do it... I did over do it several times this week and my left knee has been screaming at me... damn getting old is not fun!!

As for crafty stuff I have a couple of quilt projects to share... first off, this is the Giant Disappearing Nine Patch I made for my younger son... about 85" square...

all homespuns that were in my stash... fabrics that I used in a quilt I sent off to college with his older brother over 15 years ago... really??? Where does the time go??  Anyway I got the idea from an Instagram post by @michelle.made.this... you can see the post here... now I've made a Disappearing Nine Patch quilt before... you sew 9 squares together and then you cut it horizontally and vertically down the middle... easy peasy... so the first block I sewed for this GIANT version I started that way... but it became very clear that this wasn't the way to assemble this quilt... when you do the GIANT version you are starting with 10" squares... when you sew 9 10" squares together you get a block that is bigger than your cutting mat... yikes... so the light bulb went on and I started with a different strategy... I first chose those squares that I didn't want to chop up... then I cut the remaining 10" squares in half so I'd have 5" x 10" pieces and for the corners I cut 5" squares... much better ... and by cutting everything ahead of time I was able to re-arrange the fabrics till I got the look I like... my only constant in this quilt was that I made all those 5" squares from assorted gold fabrics (I didn't have enough of any one gold fabric)...it gives it a little definition..Quilting by David with the Diagonal Plaid panto... he loves it and I think it is quite a handsome quilt...

This version came together is like 3 days... on a Thursday night at dinner we talked about this quilt, Nick pulled out the bins with the homespuns when we got home from dinner and chose the ones he liked, on Friday I cut out the fabrics and got all 36 blocks sewn together is a couple of hours... took Saturday off for other stuff... and then sewed the 36 blocks together on Sunday... had to wait till the wide back came on Monday to get it off to Quilting by David. 

Here is a glamour shot on my neighbor's patio...

And here it is on his bed...

However, ever since I saw this pattern I've wanted to do a version for me... actually I have at least 2  maybe 3 versions I want to do for ME... but this is my first foray... my well loved "vintage" Momo fabrics... 

I started with the Wonderland collection... so many prints there I did not want to cut up ... and added in Avant Garden, Flying Colors, Lucky Day ... I've got birds, cats, hedgehogs, scissors, butterflies and some cool scenes... I love these fabrics for their colors and their 70's vibe... my youth...LOL... every 10" block in this quilt is a different print... I did use the same blue polka dot for the 5" squares and I plan to bind it with that print... I LOVE IT!!! Sent it off to be quilted yesterday... now I want to do a version with my American Jane fabrics and perhaps a version with my Kaffe Fassett fabrics... what I LOVE about this pattern is that it is so easy and quick... the blocks only have one point of intersection and no points of intersection to match up when you sew one block to another... 

Some close-ups...

This one went out in the mail yesterday...

And since I've been spending more time in my sewing room I've been thinking of ways I want to update it... when I moved in 7 years ago I had a couple of pieces of black IKEA furniture so I went with that color scheme, but I've always wanted it to be white... and nothing was beat up or worn out but I just didn't like it ... and I decided that life is too short not to have this space as pleasing to me as possible... so I'm replacing the black furniture with white furniture and I'm adding pieces to the mix...

Here's my sewing machine area... now bookcase cubby in the front is Closetmaid... front view...and yes that is a Santa in the back ground...I'm not rushing the season I'm just too lazy to put him in the storage room... he is good company...LOL

 there are two IKEA tables pushed together and the update here are the Alex drawer units...

and this is the ironing board space... another Closetmaid cubby...notice those cute little stools?  Those are from IKEA ... $6 each... called Marius.. you can see them here... the are great as a little table and the stack... and I think they look a lot like a button...

And I am going to replace the 5 black Billy bookcases with 6 white Billy bookcases... there is just enough space to squeeze another one it... however I need to have my handyman Dan do those ... there is baseboard that will need to be cut out and they have to be L-bracketed to the wall... not a project Nick and I can handle... you can see the how the room looked and  wall of bookcases here in this IG post... 

But Nick and I tackled this project... a 4 x 4 Kallax unit from IKEA... I got the idea for this from @carolinacajuncreates ... I'm moving the TV which I rarely watch (think I'll replace it with a smaller TV that is Roku... thinking about ditching cable altogether)... that freed up this whole wall...

I LOVE this... I got lucky when I went to purchase this unit... IKEA has been out of stock of so much merchandise... you have to stalk the website and then race to the store and hope that they still have the inventory when you get there... for this unit I checked for days and days and one morning the website said they had 5 of them... I live about 12 minutes away...when I arrived there was only ONE unit left... this one... and yesterday after Nick assembled it I checked on how many bins or baskets they might have... it said there were 32 of these so we didn't rush, but we went over ... I usually stay away from IKEA on weekends and the parking lot was packed when we got there... luckily I've spent soooo much time in IKEA I know EXACTLY where this items was... instead of walking through the entire 2 floors we came in the exit and then walked against the flow of traffic to the spot on the bottom floor with this department... and there wasn't 32 baskets there were EXACTLY EIGHT... OMG... I should buy a lottery ticket!!!

Now you may be thinking why does this look like a display from Homegoods...well... it is my organization of items I like to use in my displays... risers, lanterns, candlesticks, pitchers, galvanized metal, greenery, cake stands, vases...all of these items (and more) were in big plastic bins in my storage room... I'd have to root through them every time I went looking for something and you can tell by the number of little cake stands that sometimes it was easier to just go pick up a new one rather than search for what I had... by having this display I can see what I have and it will change as I use things in my seasonal displays... some things are just pretties I've picked up here and there because they were a bargain and I loved them... I LOVE MY STUFF... and yes I have LOTS of STUFF... but my philosophy is that if it is organized you can have EVEN MORE STUFF!!!

As you know yellows and golds are my favorite colors... so I shouldn't be surprised that I have lots of yellow/gold glass ware...

and it is nice to keep my chickens out along with some of the Rae Dunn pieces I've been collecting...

and I've finally found a place to display that little turquoise chair... 

I'm putting fabric in the baskets and maybe some other decorating pieces... I think when I use the chickens in my kitchen in the Spring and Summer I'll fill in that space with the numerous watering cans I have that I couldn't squeeze in at the moment... 

I had so much fun arranging this piece... do you remember Mary Tyler Moore's BFF Rhoda?  Rhoda was a window dresser... I've always wanted to be a window dresser...LOL... that's probably why I love putting together the seasonal displays... and speaking of displays I'm working on my Thanksgiving displays... I know in light of what has gone on this year lots of people are skipping ahead to putting out Christmas but I LOVE Fall and want to hold onto those decorations a little while longer... and I have some cute turkey stuff  so check back next week... 

Today is gorgeous... almost 80 degrees ... in Ohio... in November... thank you Lord for this glorious weather... we haven't had any rain but there isn't anything I need to water... I was going to work on planting some bulbs today but the day has gotten away from me... Chris & Jenny & Elliott came over for brunch ... we got carryout... and then we went to the park for a while... they have a great fire truck climber that Elliott loves and even better, there is construction going on by the park and they left a small bulldozer and back hoe there... we got to get up close and personal with them ... you know how children have something they just love ... trains, dinosaurs, princess stuff... well Elliott's love is construction equipment, particularly back hoe kind of diggers.... we were able to fondle the tires and hug the bucket... he was quite a happy boy...

So I think I'll save the bulbs for tomorrow... Nick and I will want an early dinner since we didn't do a lunch... and I think I'll sit on the porch in the sun and cross stitch a bit... it is a good day...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts... always plenty to see there... hope you are having a good day and an even better week ahead... still rumors about lockdowns coming back here... Krogers is again limiting the number of packages of toilet paper and paper towels and some soap items... I'm in great shape in those areas and have picked up a nice selection of hand sanitizer too... I hope it doesn't come to that... I know how hard this is hitting small businesses ... don't know how much more they can stand... trying to do my part to support local places ... 

take good care of yourself...

happy stitching-

carol fun