Retrospective ramblings...

So another year comes to a close...and looking back I did accomplish quite a bit but for the entire year I felt as if I wasn't making much progress on anything. If I had to apply a word to 2021 for me I'd chose malaise... "a general feeling of discomfort, illness, or uneasiness whose exact cause is difficult to identify."  I spend waaaaay too much time on the internet... so many many many things interest me... quilting, cross stitch, knitting, crafty stuff, politics, the economy, covid, etc etc etc... hours fly by as I end up down a rabbit hole... I learn a lot but I'm always annoyed with myself that I didn't spend the time more productively and I'd have something tangible to show.  

All year I've wanted to plan a vacation, but I've hesitated because of everything that is happening... and I'm tired of not being optimistic about the future... That said, my son and I ARE going to do another trip to DisneyWorld in 2022...maybe Spring to see the Flower & Garden Festival or the Food & Wine Festival... I try to pick times with lower crowds... and don't think Disney isn't for adults... OMG... the landscaping everywhere is so pretty, and we ate our way through Epcot the last time we went... and had a bunch of wonderful meals at several of the resorts ... and walked my feet off!!

As for this blog... well I had more posts in 2021 than in 2020... and I think that I will continue to post here but probably not more than twice a month. If you want to see what I'm doing check me out on Instagram... carolfun53   ... I posted  almost every day in December (don't get use to that)... a parade of my Christmas quilts... and while I can write more here, my posts on IG are quite chatty too... to be honest, it is easier to post on IG and I get more engagement... but the blog is a repository of sooooo much of what I've done and it is more easily searchable... a sort of diary of my life since 2010... and life has changed a lot since then, hasn't it?

Okay so you didn't come here for my angst, so I'll step away from the ramblings and show you some pretty pictures... caveat:  some of these pictures are not as clear as I would like them to be... don't know what happens between when I send them from my phone to my laptop... I've been working on this post for 2 days... still waiting for the pictures I sent myself on Wednesday, but the pictures I sent this morning already popped up in my inbox... I DO NOT UNDERSTAND this... but for better pics of anything I posted here go check out my Instagram @carolfun53. 

Here's what my house looked like in December... very festive if I say so myself... I didn't get a lot of new cross stitch or new knickknacks but I do love what I have. 

As for crafty stuff my major project was the needlepoint Christmas stocking for my daughter in law, Jenny...

and I think it came out beautiful!... I meant to get a picture of all 3 of their stockings on their mantle but I forgot... 

As for crossstitch I'm going to start with the first piece I finished in 2021...put the last stitches in it in January... took it to the framer right after that... and only got it back this month... a symbol of the frustrations that sum up 2021... when I took it in I picked out this frame, but it was backordered forever, so I returned to the shop and picked out another frame... and it was backordered forever...and  in the end this is the original frame I picked out.

I do LOVE this piece... Heart & Hand by With Thy Needle & Thread.

I dyed the linen and I wish I knew what I did as I love the color... but all my dyeing is done by the seat of my pants. I have great respect for commercial dyers who can replicate a color... it ain't easy.

And I LOVE this piece from With Thy Needle & Thread... A Needleworker's Sampler... 

I painted this linen and replaced the little dog with a spool of thread. I am planning on re-doing the sampler wall in my crafty room... move things closer together so I can get more pieces up. 

And there was the Prairie Schooler Garden Alphabet No. 61... 

I started this during the lockdown in 2020...my plan was to stitch a block a day... didn't happen... took till June 2021 to finish... 

There were a couple of patriotic pieces... Flag Folk by Not Forgotten Farm...

and Hurrah from Pineberry Lane...

I brighten both of these up from the prim colors with linen I painted.

And Twas the Night before Christmas by Prairie Schooler... 

oh I do love Prairie Schooler... a comfort stitch every time!!

As for quilting I looked back and I did about a dozen quilts... not all are totally finished ... there is a stack of quilts (one or two from 2020) waiting for binding.. gonna try to knock some out early 2022. 

For some unknown reason I have been quite productive the last 2 weeks and I've made two throw sized quilts from my vintage Debbie Mumm fabrics... first one I'm calling Mummville as ALL the fabrics are from Debbie...

The pattern is Suburbs by Cluck Cluck Sew and you and find it here.  The quilting was done by Delinda at The T-Shirt Quilting company and you can find her here.  She does all the t-shirt memory quilt stuff and great pantos and custom quilting.   I'm able to drop off and pick up from her but she does lots of quilts through mail order. She's a real pleasure to work with. I've been very happy with everything she's done for me this year. 

And this one I'm calling Very Charming Stars... my version of the freebie pattern Charming Stars which you can find here. 

I started with a 6" square vs. 5" charm square and increased the size of my star points to 3.5" cut and used the connector corner technique. Like the previous quilt ALL Debbie Mumm fabrics... some of these are at least 25 years old... pieces from some of her first collections through the ones she did for Joann's ... I do like the older ones better but there weren't as many novelty prints as I thought so I used what I had. TWO entire FREE quilts... and I have a third one cut out... simple 9 patches... and I'm working on the design for a bed quilt for my son using my Debbies too.. 

As I went back through the multitude of pictures on my phone I really enjoyed looking at those of my gardens... aka the 2 front yards of my house. Since I live on the corner I have 2 front yards and no back yard to speak of... which when I moved here I thought would be an issue... but it isn't. I love having everything on display outside and it turns out that my neighbors love it too... here's is the front yard on the Gail Drive side...

and the front yard on the Matson Ave side... 

and some of my dahlias living up to their "dinnerplate" moniker...

and my pyramid of petunias looking pretty!

I have plans for the yard this coming year... I'm having outdoor lighting put in instead of the solar lights that are dependent on the whims of Mother Nature... and I'm having the raised bed where I plant lots of dahlias redone... going to be bricks and pavers... more permanent, as the plastic sides are bowing and coming loose. It will look fabulous, I'm sure!!

I don't do New Year's resolutions... but I do like to think about what I want to do in the upcoming year.  Since in the last 2 weeks I've sewn 2 and worked on another 2 quilts from my stash, well, I'm going to try to work more out of my stash.  I have so many many many pretty fabrics... American Jane, Anna Maria Horner, Tilda, Momo, Bonnie & Camille... just to name a few... and plenty of quilt ideas... oh I'm sure there will be temptation through out the year (I gave into temptation yesterday and ordered this quilt kit... see here ... and the FQ bundle of the collection Christmas Joys by Lindsay Wilkes for Riley Blake... it won't come till June or July... so I can do Christmas in July!)  And I looked ahead to see what Moda has coming down the pike and there is a new Basic Grey Christmas collection, Peppermint Bark,   I MUST have IT!! ...you can see it here on page 62.  And American Jane has a new collection this year, I always get at least a layer cake of her stuff. 

And I have the same plans for cross stitch... so many many many charts I already have.  I want to finish up some pieces I've started, maybe even work on one of the multi- piece Blackbird Designs Loose Feathers series ... I have 2 of those series started... and I'm sure the designers will tempt me with new stuff. Brenda Gervais at With Thy Needle & Thread blows me away... and I have a ton of her charts already. An abundance of riches!!

So I need to keep myself off the computer and spend more time with my needles & threads & fabrics & yarn (and while I haven't shown any pics I've knitted about a dozen pairs of socks this year and one lonely shawl, which needs to be blocked).  

I so hope that 2022 is better for everyone than 2020 and 2021... I know realistically we are off to a rough start... but I'll keep the prayers coming that we turn a corner on all of this very soon. I'm going to contact the nice travel agent I worked with last time to put together a vacation... and I'm hoping for some quilt shows in 2022. I miss walking around and shopping at the vendors... oh, the quilts are nice too, but it is always the vendors first for me...LOL... and I'm going to stitch and sew and knit ... and probably eat more chocolate than I should but a day without chocolate is a day that wasn't worth getting out of bed!

Thank you to all you sweet people who read my ramblings and leave comments... and I know that leaving comments can be tricky at times... I put all the blame on Blogger... I will move into 2022 with  my fingers crossed for brighter days for ALL of us!!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Wandering Back on a Slow Sunday....

Yesterday I posted that I had a problem and that I couldn't upload any pictures to my blog... and without pictures, well, just isn't the same... I spent hours and hours last night... when I could have been crossstitching!!!! grrrrr!!!... trying to fix the problem... I deleted cookies and cache (not that I have a clue what they are)... I searched a ton of websites looking for  a solution... I updated... I shut it down... I restarted it... and NOTHING worked... and it appears that it wasn't MY problem at all... it was BLOGGER's problem... Juliana left me a comment that she had gone to several blogs and they were reporting the same issue... Thank you Juliana... it would have been nice of Blogger to send out some message about the problem... Since I ended up deleting so many things I had to reinstall stuff and re-do passwords... I HATE doing that stuff...  but I am HAPPY that for whatever reason things are working again ... so on with what I had planned on saying....

EDITED TO ADD... I think I know why the text is appearing in white boxes... originally when I couldn't post pictures I saved all the text in another spot and then just cut and pasted them back in...since I have spent hours and hours and hours on this post I am not going to try to re-type and fix it... arghhh...hopefully things will  be better next time I'm post... sorry!

Well I hope that you all had a nice November... mine was up and down, up and down... I did attempt to post a time or two but one weekend I was sick...yuck...and one I was lazy... and one I was doing an early Thanksgiving meal where my oven decided to die...and another one I was lazy... yep... lazy wins...  I have lots of things I want to do but the motivation is in short supply... not sure why...I'm hoping that the Christmas season gives me a boost of energy.

So are you getting ready for Christmas?? I had my son drag all my bins up to the living room and I have gotten some things decorated but a good portion is still strewn about the room.... my goal is to get 'er dun and get things put away by tomorrow... fingers crossed. 

I did get some crafty stuff done... I'll start with the biggest finish... my daughter-in-law's Christmas stocking..

I'm very pleased with the finishing on this one... and NO I didn't do it... it is well worth paying someone to expertly put this together... now everyone has a stocking... that was the 7th one I've done ... over a 35 year span... pretty good if I say so myself and I do!! LOL

And I got TWO Christmas quilts done and quilted by Delinda at The T-Shirt Company...link here... Instagram here... 

First is one of those LARGE Disappearing 9 Patch quilts ...  idea from @michelle.make.this......fabric are a collection from Maywood Studios called All the Trimmings... 

 LOVE the panto... it is called Christmas Cookies... there's a gingerbread boy  and a Christmas tree and a Santa .... too stinking cute!!

Next is a quilt using the Picket Fence pattern from Busy Hands Quilts... you can see it here... this is the 2nd quilt I've made with this pattern... it is GREAT for layer cakes... pick your favorite squares out for the middle and then cut up the remaining ones...  fabric is an old collection from Basic Grey called Evergreen... oh why didn't I buy more of this???

The panto is lovely snowflakes with goes so nicely with that sashing fabric... which is also OLD... at least 25 years old... a pearlescent snowflake print from Jennifer Sampou by P&B Textiles...now I did buy yardage of this fabric... I made a really pretty jacket with it eons ago and I used it in another Christmas quilt with Basic Grey fabric a year or so ago...  but I still wish I had MORE....

I've been doing a bit of cross stitching... I completed the Prairie Schooler Twas the Night Before Christmas...

need to get this FFO'd pronto!!

And I've been working on Christmas Joy from Barbara Ana Designs...

I LOVE how this one looks on the pink and teal...  and that pink is much lighter...IRL...I'm decorating the porch in a pink and teal palette... I think it is fun but I don't want a whole house of it ...I'd love to get this finished and out on the porch before Christmas... 

And I've been knitting...lots and lots of socks... because they are mindless... but I can't show them yet because they are going to be presents... check back later...

So have you been out to the stores to shop?  I did a lot of online shopping...no Black Friday crowds for me... but I did pop into Target the other day and it made me feel good about what I've gotten accomplished... several toys for Elliott... because the shelves in the toy department and in the Christmas area were about 80% empty... gonna be a Blue Christmas for a  bunch of people...so sad. 

Oh I decorated the outside of the house... a bunch of inflatables and I fluffed up the window boxes... the greenery is fake...little Christmas trees I bought 2 or 3 years ago... got the peppermint candies from At Home and the polka dot candy canes came from Wally world... I added  twigs that I picked up off the ground when I took Elliott to the park to play... I came home and spray painted them white... and I spray painted a bunch of the dried allium heads I saved from my yard too... feeling very thrifty and Martha Stewart-y here...LOL

Side of the house...

A bit of a close up of the window boxes...

Also side of the house, next to the gingerbread guys...

Front of the house...

I got the sweetest card in the mail the other week...  here's what it said...

"Whether we walk or drive by your home we enjoy your lovely flowers and decor. Each season you gift the neighborhood with a beautiful display.  Thank you for bringing this sad and weary world a truly joyful bright spot!  God bless you."

Now the hand writing was a beautiful cursive so I'm thinking it was from a woman... there was no name on the card or the envelope... it was addressed to the Gardener at 7800 Gail Drive... I'm blown away that someone would take the time to do this... and it makes me think that I should do it for other people... several homes in my neighborhood really work to make their yards look great... since I got the window boxes for my house 3 neighbors around me got window boxes too... so I think I rubbed off on them... I LOVE my neighborhood... I know so many people by name and they stop and talk when I'm working in the yard. It makes life soooo nice!!!

Well as you can imagine, this brought tears to my eyes and  oh my goodness how this touched my heart... I grow the flowers to make me happy but it is nice to know that others are enjoying them too ... and my crazy inflatables and other garden ditzies... well, maybe ALL the neighbors don't think I'm nuts...

No big plans for today except a bit more decorating and a bit of cross stitching... next week is a busy but not as busy as last week ...had 2 repair people here... one has to come back again this week to actually fix the oven as the part was not in stock...ugh... and I had the bathroom tile re-glazed AGAIN... they were here about 4-5 weeks ago to repair it where it had cracked...under warranty so no cost to me... except they used the wrong color white...it should have been Bright White, instead is was just White...which has a definite gray cast to it... again under warranty and the repair guy is really nice but had to take everything out of the bathroom again and can't use the shower for 24 hours... inconvenient... on the up side my son had an outing with a friend on Wednesday and I have dinner plans on Thursday ... and I got a haircut appointment this week too... which I need... badly...

A little reminder... when I'm not posting here I'm probably posting something on Instagram... here's  where I am  @carolfun53... you don't have to have an IG account to look at stuff on IG... this month I'm trying to post a Christmas quilt every day... turns out I have enough to do that... today I'll do my 5th post for a Christmas quilt parade... if you go to my profile you can see what I've posted up to this point ... and there are more to come!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... hope you all have a great week ahead!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

I have a problem....

 I know what you are thinking?  Where have you been?  I've been here... just one weekend I was sick, and another I was lazy, and  another I had a big Thanksgiving dinner to put together and another I was lazy... I had the desire to post but not the motivation... and now I'm having trouble with Blogger or my laptop... I don't know which ... but I can't load pictures ... I've tried to figure it out but have had no luck...  I've spent hours trying to figure it out... I've deleted cache... made sure I had the most recent update... shut it down... started it up and it just won't load any pictures...  I've looked a a million websites and googled the problem a trillion different ways.... at least that is what it seems like... in the meantime... you can follow what I'm doing over on Instagram... I'm carolfun53...here's a link... right now I'm doing a daily post of a Christmas quilt  because it turns out I have that many Christmas quilts... you don't have to have an Instagram account to view IG... so feel free to come and look at what I'm doing...

If I can figure out how to fix this problem I'll be back... but a blog without pictures just doesn't cut it with me....fingers crossed.    

Till later...

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Where I don't listen to a darn thing I tell myself on a Slow Sunday...

 Well Happy Halloween everyone!!  Remember when I said I didn't think I was going to put out my Halloween decorations... oh.. that turned out quite differently... my sweet friend Barb, left me a comment that some people just switch out Fall decor for Halloween decor instead of re-doing the whole display... GENIUS!! Why have I NEVER thought of this before??? I have some pumpkins in my displays that have faces that were turned around, easy to switch that... and taking the Fall cross stitch pieces out and replacing them with my Halloween cross stitch pieces was easy peasy. Then I sprinkled the smalls here and there... added some glizty spiders and some witches hats and I re-did my displays in about 90 minutes!!  And it turns out that LOTS of people do it this way... start with a Fall base in September, switch out stuff for October, and then return the Fall stuff and add some turkeys for November... perfect strategy!!!  So here are the pics of my  Halloween decor... let me inundate you with pictures...LOL!!

The big shelf unit... I didn't move a single pumpkin... just worked around them...

And the smaller shelf unit... now here I did completely re-do the top ... I have several large pieces that just won't fit anywhere else  but it went together quickly... and on the shelves below I just popped in some spiders and witch's hats and a bit of cross stitch...

Doing it this way was so quick ... and it re- enforces that smalls are the way to go... easy to find a place to tuck them in... 

Oh here is the tier tray... again just switched out Fall for Halloween...and isn't that stack of pumpkins adorable??? My dear friend Stephie got that for me for my birthday... she was cruising the aisles of Homegoods and said she immediately popped it into her cart as it had my name written all over it...and it even lights up... I LOVE IT!!! Thanks Stephie!!!

 and  the biggest job was to take down the Fall bird quilt and put up the giant spider... I had to press the creases out from where it had been folded... but I have a new strategy I've been using with quilts I hang on the wall... Instead of folding them I've been wrapping them around one of those foam pool noodles to store them... I picked up several at the end of this summer... my tip of the day...LOL

As for sewing I got all the blocks done for my Log Jam quilt, and I posted 3 design variations on IG (which you can see here )  and asked people what their favorite was... all the while telling them that their choices were not binding on me... pretty magnanimous aren't I?  LOL ... anyway I went with the layout I showed before... Why?  Two reasons...one, this one seemed the calmest of the layouts ... and two, there are waaaaaay less seams to match. Several people like the zigzag setting ... and it is quite striking... but it would require me to match a seam every 2" across every row... too much work for me... I want my sewing to be easy!!! 

As I was sewing the rows together I kept wondering what these fabrics reminded me of... because they were talking to me ( and you have to be very very quiet to hear them...LOL)... and then it hit me , "Old Gold and Black"... the colors of my older son's alma mater, Purdue... Boiler Up!!!... and with a bit of that orange in there I remembered how the campus looked in the Fall, soooo I named it "West Lafayette in October" since Purdue is located in West Lafayette, IN... can't wait for Delinda of The T-Shirt Quilt Company to work her magic on this one....

I do like the pattern which is Log Jam which you can find here from Pieced Just Sew,  and will make it again... maybe with scrappy low volumes for the lights and other scrappy stuff for the darks... 

The weather here has been all over the place... some lovely gorgeous Fall days and some ugly rainy ones... I took advantage of the nice day on Wednesday to clean out some of my flower beds... and OMG did I suffer from it... I have arthritis in my left knee and I've gotten a couple of cortisone shots in it... and it hasn't been bothering me, until I spent about 90 minutes pulling up dead flowers... I'm no where near done but I had to stop as I could hardly hobble back into the house  for my ice pack and a couple of ibuprofen...  sheesh... getting old sucks!!! Hopefully since I've rested it for a couple of days I can get back out there again this week... not only do I have stuff to pull out but I have bulbs to be planted... daffodils and some more alliums... they were so pretty last spring and I got lots of compliments on them... it makes me happy when people stop and tell me how much they like what I do with the yard... twice when I was out there cleaning the beds on Wednesday someone stopped and thanked me for what I do... wow... that really touches my heart... 

So the weather should be pretty good for the trick or treaters tonight... I got 2 GIANT bags of candy at Costco... in good weather we can get more than 100 kids.... I know that the majority of them don't live in the neighborhood because I know the area well, but it is a great place to trick or treat... the streets are mostly flat, there are sidewalks on both sides of the street, it is nicely lit and the houses are close together... you can cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time... it is fun to see the little ones dressed up and in recent years lots of adults that accompany the kids are dressing up too. 

Hope you have fun with Halloween... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and see what everyone else has been up to... and I'll leave you with the BEST Halloween wreath of all time!!! I say that because it was the most labor intensive wreath I've ever made... and I LOVE IT!!

happy stitching  and make sure you get to eat some of the good candy... I'm keeping the Almond Joys and Mounds for ME!!

carol fun