Spring Stuff on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - oh tis Spring!!  and I'm very happy for it to make it's arrival...however, the Spring time change is another thing altogether... and if you thought that perhaps you missed my semi-annual time rant, fear not... here is comes...

So last Sunday had me dragging from the moment I forced myself out of bed an hour earlier than normal... I  thought I'd just run headlong into the change... and after a full week of this I can report... It did NOT work... I'm still dragging... I'm still looking at a clock and thinking it feels like an hour earlier ... it didn't help that most of the week was gray which matched my mood... and it was one of the busiest weeks I've had in a while... lots of running around ...very little crafty stuff accomplished... I definitely need more crafty time in my days but forcing myself up "early" (and my early is still later than most of you) just results in my needing an afternoon nap (and there was no time for that) or an after dinner dozing off in my chair which just leaves me groggy and unmotivated for hours and I accomplish squat... I DETEST the time change!!! It is nice that it stay lighter later but it would get to this point in a few weeks if we didn't do anything. I don't see where it improves life... animals and small children do not care what the clock says... and I would just ignore the clock if I didn't have to be anywhere at a certain time, but I did have places to go, people to see and appointments to keep.  And I keep wondering who does benefit from the time change?  Who makes money from this?  Years ago I figured it was the battery manufacturers as you were always admonished to change the batteries in you smoke detectors, but I haven't heard that warning in a while... I did hear a guy say that if their choices were changing the time or running through a swarm of bees in only a swim suit, he'd take the bees... I wouldn't go that far (cause I swell up when I get stung) but I wish we could get our lawmakers to pay attention and stop this nonsense... If you are lucky enough to live in a state with the good sense NOT to change the time, count your blessings.... okay... I think I got it out of my system...thanks for putting up with me... my next rant will be in the Fall since I'm an equal opportunity hater of time changes...LOL

Soooooo... how about some crafty stuff... last time I was here I was up to my eyeballs in getting the fabric  on my new shelf units and I'm happy to report I'm done !!  Now I kinda thought it was going to take me a week or two to finish... I did go through my stash and my estimation is I thinned it out by about 20 -25%... hard to be sure because I just filled large black trash bags as heavy as I thought they could take and my son hauled them out of the basement and into the car and we dropped them off at Goodwill.  At first I still loved every piece of fabric, after an hour or so there were definitely pieces that could go and after a couple of days of this I was ruthless... the end result is my stash is neatened up and I was able to get collections out of bins... my American Jane, my Momo, my Tim Holtz, etc.... and put them where I can see them. 

I didn't have to refold everything but I did end up touching practically every thing to tidy it up... I completed the task in a couple of very long days because I invited my quilty lady friends over for lunch on Wednesday of that week ...nothing like company coming to get you to clean up your house!!   It was a nice day  for a while and we sat outside on the patio but the wind picked up and we ended up sitting downstairs in the sewing room... and we realized we were sitting farther apart indoors than outdoors... oh well... we all felt pretty safe  either way.

Dan still needs to do some work on the bottom of the bookcases ... add some trim and hide the shims,  since the basement was never envisioned to be "finished" ... in 1953 I'm sure it was just a place to store stuff and do the laundry... the floors slope pretty significantly... if you drop a pencil or a round seam ripper anywhere on the perimeter of the room it will roll all the way to the low point where the drain is... right now the drain is behind the door to my laundry area... it is fun for Elliott to let little Hot Wheels cars race across the room...however I'm careful on a chair with wheels as I can go for an unexpected ride if I'm not paying attention... wheee!!!  Well I certainly got off on a tangent there, didn't I??

Here are the shelf units...  a wide shot... 6 units... each 31.5" wide and 79.5" high...

and starting on the left and moving to the right...

I put all of the same color together - starting of course with my yellows, then orange, rust, burgundy, pink, red, purple. blue, teal and green... my version of a color wheel... I did find it difficult attimes to decide just what color a fabric was... purple? burgundy?... yellow? orange?... blue? teal?...depends a lot on what color it is sitting next to.

Since I lost 4" of depth on each shelf there wasn't room to put knickknacks in front of the stacks of fabrics ...instead I've tucked things in here and there... 

 that grouping of clay pieces are little trinkets my boys made back in grade school (they had a art teacher who was into ceramics and had a kiln at their school)... they are keeping company with a health pile of precuts ...and not that is not ALL of them... more are sitting in plastic bins with yardage for background and borders and a possible pattern... I've rediscovered a bunch of projects I can't wait to get back to!! 

And this freshening up of the sewing space has this display...

I like having another space to hang a seasonal quilt and this garden of tulips (my variation of a Lori Holt) pattern makes me smile...

this tier tray with the fluffle of bunnies is a Fiesta ware piece that was a gift from my sons a couple of years ago... of course I love the yellow color!! And yes fluffle is a real word... it is the name for a group of bunnies... I love it !!

And another display has my Lizzie Kate Spring ABCs (I've done all 4 seasons and they always look good here) and an adorable Easter egg piece that was a gift from a sweet friend...thanks Barb!!

So things are looking good in the sewing space... now to find time to play down there... I know I said I was going to be monogamous to the Christmas stocking.... however... I've only picked it up a couple of days... but I am making progress... I'm showing the  front and the back, because it is a bit easier to see what I've done from the back...

I have all the BIG ornaments done... I stitched some of the ribbons... finding 3 shades of red with contrast isn't easy... and I'm plugging away on the smaller ornaments... I find it frustrating that I can't get round things to look as round as I would like... I know it is the nature of stitching on a canvas grid but I wish they were rounder... oh well, I will soldier on... I made a decision on the rug at the bottom of the tree... I'm going to eliminate it like I did on Elliott's stocking...just paint over the red border... and in the open area I'm going to add another present or two... I know I have till October 1 to complete this but I'd love it to be done before then...lets see how long I can stick with it.

I did pick back up the Prairie Schooler Garden Alphabet...  excuse the wrinkles...

only 6 more boxes to go... Prairie Schoolers are always a relaxing stitch... no decisions to be made on colors or placement...just follow the chart... I need that break from the stocking now and again.

Well after my busy busy busy week ... I had an appointment or a lunch or a dinner to go to every single day... I'm looking forward to a quiet upcoming week... babysitting a bit this afternoon as my son and daughter-in-law go look for a new sofa... and babysitting on Tuesday... dinner to celebrate a dear friend's birthday on Thursday... oh HAPPY BIRTHDAY Stephanie... and that is all that I have on my calendar... big sigh... maybe some sunny days to sit out on the sunroom porch... 

My daffodils are blooming and my hyacinths are poking up ... I have some irises blooming but at first glance I thought they were fluffy crocuses... they aren't very tall... don't know why as I'm always guilty of not planting things deep enough ... no matter...they are pretty... I got a flyer from a local nursery outlet saying they'll be open March 28...yeah!!  I do believe that garden plants will fly out the door quickly again this year... I'm not going to hesitate when I see something I want... I'm already planning my window boxes... a mix this year of vinca, angelonia, and of course petunias... I want asparagus grass as fillers and some purple fountain grass for the pots by my garage... I have a couple of places I like to shop for the Proven Winners petunias...they aren't the cheapest plants but I love the colors and I'm going to buy them as soon as I can ...now to keep myself from putting things into the ground too early... I hope I learned my lesson from last year... around here you are suppose to wait till after Mother's Day...which means mid May... but things always seem to warm up pretty well by mid April and it is sooooo hard to wait ... I did pick up about 5 bags of dahlia tubers at Costco and I ordered more from 2 different places on line back in January ...they should be arriving in about a month... 

So the world around here is brightening up ... lots of people getting a vaccine and more people out and about... plenty of mask wearing still and I will be happy when we can ditch them... I miss seeing people's faces!  I've been planning a couple of small trips with my son... I love my new car and feel confident in taking it on a road trip or two...he wants to go to a big amusement park and I'd love to visit some garden places... I hope things are improving where you are... I really want to put this all behind me as soon as possible!!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... I should have time to read blogs while Elliott naps this afternoon.. he's  bundle of energy  and quite talky ... also pretty headstrong... I find it is better to call it tenacious rather than stubborn...LOL...sounds nicer but its the same thing... he wants what he wants when he wants it....and don't we all..

Have a great week!

happy stitching-

carol fun