Not thinking too deeply on a Slow Sunday Stitching...

 Hello - another week has passed and as the Chinese saying goes "may you live in interesting times" ... ummm... maybe I'd prefer less interesting at this moment... did you know that this is an English translation of a Chinese curse?  Makes more sense that way, doesn't it?

Anyway, I've been hunkered down  ... got all the Christmas stuff put away... was proud of myself for organizing it more this year, deer in one box, Santas is another box, pink stuff all together, rather than my usual tactic of cramming things willy-nilly into my beloved plastic bins (and if you've been reading this blog for any length of time you know I LOVE plastic bins... and there is no need to think about that too deeply).  Wrapped the Christmas tree back up in the big plastic bag and returned it to the storage room under the steps... feels good to have that done...and after a brief respite from that mess, I dragged out the snowmen... and made an even bigger mess...OMG... I have sooooooooo many snowmen... lots and lots of beady little eyes watching me... and that's another thing I don't want to think about too deeply...LOL... I had a hard time getting into setting up my displays... I know to start with the biggest items, in this case the 7 cookie jars and the 3 large pieces of snowman cross stitch... I try not to put things in the same place every year, but some things will only fit in one place... and this year I had the extra display space of that new white shelf unit in the living room...I'm happy with how it is looking but I'm going to wait to show it to you till next week as I'm waiting on an impulse ebay purchase... more snowmen... I know you are shocked... LOL... but they looked so cute and I wasn't even searching for snowmen, I was looking for ice skaters... I want an ice skating pond scene... I bought a round mirror at HL... and what do you know,  I found ice skating SNOWMEN... OMG... they are a retired set of little figurines that came from Hallmark, as I understand... and do you miss Hallmark stores with nice gift and decor departments?  There use to be a great one in a strip mall that was on my way to pick up my kids from school... I would stop in almost every week and I have some wonderful pieces that I bought there... sorry another tangent... 

So where was I??  Oh yeah, my snowmen bins sat open with stuff piled on the chairs and the sofa and the floor for a couple of days till motivation arrived ... when I finally got my butt in gear it took several  hours but I got everything settled in... by my count I have 8 display areas in my little home... and yes I probably have jumped the shark... but that's another thing we aren't going to think too deeply about...oh I do LOVE my snowmen and I like that in putting up these displays, I will not touch them for 7 or 8 weeks... by March I can't stand them anymore and will be chomping at the bit to get my Spring stuff out... and I just checked ... Easter is April 4... already looking forward to it...

I will show a couple of pictures  of snowman decor today and then I'll have some for next week... in the meantime I'll share my crafty endeavors of the past 7 days...

Got a sock done...

nice and scrappy... I was going for a green sock with a bit of purple but it got more purple-y as it went along. and yes for some reason in this pic the purple is reading black... ugh... I had planned on grey heels but when I got to that point there wasn't any gray going on, so I used some purple yarn, which probably accounts for it reading as a purple sock... hmmm...another thing I don't want to think too deeply about... looking forward to the 2nd sock as I don't know how it will look... I divided up little 10 -15 gram balls of Opal sock yarn and you can never be sure that the colors will repeat when you divide them... my favorite parts are the little dotty parts... another hmmm... dotty... polka dots... I believe this is where thinking gets me in trouble... another tangent... when my youngest son was in high school he had this terrific guidance counselor... my son, being autistic, had many many challenges to deal with and this man was always helpful to the extreme... after our first meeting, I remarked how supportive he was being and he told me that he was thrilled to help a parent that gave a damn about their kid... he dealt with too many parents who just didn't...anyway, he let my son eat lunch in his quiet little office every day instead of having to deal with the 3 ring circus that was the cafeteria... we would talk on a regular basis about what could be done to help my son navigate high school, and a lot of our conversations would start with my saying "I think..." and he would tell me..."there you go thinking again, that will only get you into trouble"... and he was right a lot of the time... so that could be the basis for my not thinking too deeply about stuff... which is causing me to think deeply about not thinking deeply ... and now I'm going to take a deep breath and let it go.....

 Moving on... I did a bit of cross stitching... from Prairie Schooler No. 151 called Santas & Snowmen...

32 ct opalescent linen dyed with Rit dye... I think Evening blue... I love that the sparkly bits stay sparkly even if you dye the linen...

And this freebie from Liz Matthews by way of Country Sampler in Spring Green WI... if you subscribe to their email you can get it...

I just did this small part of the chart... 36 ct linen and I used the Sulky 12 wt thread 4014... it is one of the Blendables... I wanted to play with this... I did try it on 32 ct and didn't like the coverage... this is better, but I want to try it on 40 ct too... 

And I stitched a bit more on WTN&T Heart & Hand ... I'm not enjoying the over one legs on those sheep... most of mine look to be a bit crippled... poor sheep...

Excuse the wrinkles... I want to get this done and get back to the WTN&T Needleworker's Sampler... and I stitched a measly one more ornament on the Christmas stocking... will try to try and give it a bit more attention this coming week... no progress on the Christmas quilt I showed last week... I did sew 2 new toppers for my shelf units... the one in the living room and the one on the porch... only got one quilted... again... tune in next week and hopefully they will be completed... 

So I've been having bad thoughts about deep cleaning my house... I try to push them out of my mind by sitting down and stitching... and I'm wondering how much it  would cost to have someone come in and deep clean the bath room and the kitchen... hmmm... my son and DIL had someone come in and take care of their 3 bathrooms... need to look into that... my house isn't filthy... I do tidy up a bit each day ... okay a bit each week... but since I've been spending more time inside I see things I didn't see before... baseboards, some cobwebs, dusty fan blade... need to push these dirty thoughts out of my head...again, something I shouldn't think too deeply about... am I right?  I expect to see your heads nodding up and down ...up and down...

Well, lets circle back around to some decor, shall we? And I'm going to start downstairs in my sewing studio... I now have 2 places to decorate there and I like it...makes the space even more cheery...IMHO

This is that little yellow cabinet that use to be in the living room... I hung an Debbie Mumm quilt I made years and years ago... this snowman cookie jar was a present from my youngest son who found it at a flea market... he was so proud of himself for finding a gift he knew I'd love... just a touch of cross stitch... this is entitled  Star Shaped Snowman by Teresa Kogut ... you can see it here. 

And this small display has my Lizzie Kate Winter Alphabet  and that sparkly snowman head I got a year or so ago at Michaels on markdown... I like the retro look..

I found that as I put out my decor I wish I had a bit more winter stitching...and believe it or not (and I do) I could use a few more bottle brush type trees... I have what seems like a small forest of them but I kept thinking I wish I had another one here or there... this year I didn't buy a single bottle brush tree (okay maybe I did buy a pink one and some white ones, but no green ones) cause I thought I had enough...next year I'll pick up a few more... I use them for Christmas and for Winter so they see a lot of use... and they make me happy!   

So I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... and I'll say my prayers and keep my fingers crossed that the coming weeks aren't as eventful as the last one... between politics and the pandemic and the almost continual gray skies here in SW Ohio I had a hard time keeping a positive attitude ... I did find that fudge helped my mental state, but did nothing for my expanding waistline... but I can only deal with one thing at a time. Hope things are well with all of you... 

happy stitching-

carol fun