Banishing bunnies and breaking out birds on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well I am happy with myself as I planned to do a project or two and I actually did them!!  I stitched a small piece of cross stitch  and finished it. I got motivated on Wednesday and banished the bunnies to their basement bins and by Thursday broke  out the birds and re-did my displays... I'll show you a couple in this post.

Every time I re-decorate I'm always hesitant as I start... with the ability to look back at what I did in years past I tell myself that I don't want to identically duplicate what I did previously... but I also suspect that I will... but then I usually don't. Now going from Easter to Spring stuff I did re- use some items... and I moved some items from one spot to another...and while I have A LOT of bunnies, I also have a good stash of birds... I actually thought I had more birds than bunnies but as I put the bunnies/Easter stuff away it is clear that the bunnies have multiplied (I mean that has to be the reason right??? My buying habits have nothing to do with it, right?  This  is where you nod your head up and down, up and down and humor me...LOL)

Since I have additional spaces to decorate with the addition of the new white shelf unit in the living room, I feel like things are spaced out a bit more... and I like the look of it.  However I am afraid that more space will result in more stuff...eventually... I do know that every time I re-decorate I start out thinking, oh I have plenty of stuff, and halfway through I wish I had more cross stitch or another quilt or another knickknack or two... which eventually leads to shopping and MORE stuff... it is a vicious cycle, I tell ya...

This time I did not change the wall quilts upstairs or downstairs... I do have 2 new quilt ideas I'm playing with for another tulip quilt... a freebie pattern from Moda with their Sewcialites SAL ... block 24 called Abundant by Robin Pickins... you can see it here.... I'm envisioning a field of yellow and pink tulips, and I have yardage of a print with yellow and pink tossed tulips that I think will make a lovely background... and there is a new pattern by Pen and Paper Patterns called Sparrows that I want to do too... you can see that pattern here... now when I first saw the pattern I thought it was cute but I'm not a fan of solids so it didn't grab my attention...but then I saw this version... click here... LOVE IT!!   I'd like to make a  wall size version of this quilt for next Spring ... 

And these two quilt patterns ...along with watching this video which you can see here... on a the yet to be released County Seat Quilts ...which you can find a pre-order page here... has got me itching to do more sewing... Now the fabrics in the County Seat Quilts book aren't my cup of tea but I can see several of these patterns done in fabrics that are my style... one quilt is just crying to be done in grunges and another would look great in those Jen Kingwell fabrics I've been collecting...now to get down stairs and sew!!

I worked on the the stocking again this week. My goal is to have the tree done by the end of the month...that may be a bit ambitious... when I get the tree done I'll take a break ... I did get the fibers I needed and after pulling out the background yarn I had already purchased I decided it is the right color after all... happy to put that decision behind me...

Okay I've rambled long enough... now to some pretty pictures... let's start on the sunroom porch... on the wall I have a vintage sampler... well maybe semi-vintage... I stitched this one 26 years ago...

It is called My Favorite Things and it is by The Drawn Thread and she still has this pattern for sale which you can see on her website ... the background is a pale pink to the mauve-y side... I don't know if I changed these colors or not but I suspect that I did as the mauve-y pink and turquoise were in my bedroom back then. There were decorative stitches ... of which I was quite fond of back then... and little gemstone hearts and that cute scissors charm... I put my boys initials at the bottom... at the time one was 10 and one was 4... now they are 36 and 30... where does the time go???

Oh if you go and look at her website I hope you have more will power than I did... I ended up purchasing a new sampler, the one called Little Birds... it has birds and an alphabet and it would look smashing right where this sampler is now... and since I change up what hangs here, maybe next year  it will grace this wall (and yes I'm totally getting ahead of myself.)

And here is the little bookcase  just below the sampler... 

on top is my latest finish... this is a portion of the chart Bobbin' Along by Not Forgotten Farms which you can see  here... 

I was enamored with the robin on the spool of thread and the scissors... so I put those two motifs together... I used a piece of 32 ct linen I dyed that had been in my stash for a while... I'm pretty sure it was Rit Apple Green but I may have added some Taupe to it... I used  DMC No. 5 perle cotton for the spool and put a real needle in the robin's beak... the little pillow is my only foray into over one...Birdhouse Alphabet by Little House Needleworks which you can see here... and I'm loving that scale... picked it up at At Home a couple of weeks ago... I thought it would be a fun piece for displays and I could not pass up that color!!!

And here's a close up of the cross stitching...

The shelf below has an another Drawn Thread oldie... this one is called For the Birds... I did this one probably 20 or more years ago too.. it is strategically place to cover the electrical box from my view when I sit in my chair... and the bottom shelf has a Target Dollarspot watering can from a couple of years ago along with other knickknacks I've gotten here and there... 

As for the living room wall quilt and tier tray... the quilt is the same as before... my Jam & Jelly version of the Fig Tree pattern ..

as for the tier tray I went with this 2 tier one from Hobby Lobby... 

I like that it has no post on the top tier so you can use bigger pieces ... a piece from Homespun Elegance and a little pillow from Pineberry Lane...  oh on the back of the couch...which I think of as a big quilt hanger... is a Stack n Whack done with Phillip Jacobs Brassica fabric... I LOVE Stack n Whack and I LOVE this quilt... now Brassica means cabbage and since I cut up the cabbages I call this my Coleslaw quilt... I love how several blocks look like roses ... this is a great print... it comes in several colorways and it still available which is surprising since I made this quilt back in 2012!!  

And I've scattered some smaller pieces of cross stitch about the room... on the TV stand... some little pillows that are snippets from  A Saviour's Praise by Kittenstitcher which you can see here... some day  I want to stitch some more snippets from this sampler... the border is to die for!!

And a couple of small pillows on my favorite yellow tier table...

Well the last 4 days in a row I have been super productive...not sure how long I can keep this up but I have plans to day to tackle one of those projects I've been putting off for months... Friday and Saturday I spent in my sewing room, almost all day... I made the back and the bindings for 2 quilts I want to send off to the long arm quilter this week... and I started a new quilt... a bed size quilt... even though I told myself that I don't need to make big quilts any more I couldn't stop myself... it is a different style for me... kinda improv... check back tomorrow... I should have a rare Monday Design Wall post ... I only have one more row to add and it will be a top... gonna finish that before I jump into the next project. I've really enjoyed the time I spent in my sewing room ... the new bookcases make the room seem bigger even though there is one more than before... don't know if it is because they are white or because they are shallower...probably both... like I said at the top of this post I have several quilt ideas I want to play with ... and I want to change up the wall quilts I have in my sewing room...they've been up for 7 years... I need a re-fresh... fingers crossed my sewing mojo stays a while...

My week ahead has  plans several dinners... looking forward to that... the weather last week and this week is nothing to talk about... there is another COLD Wednesday in the  forecast... maybe snow flurries...ugh... but it does keep me from buying annuals... which is a good thing. 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today and tomorrow I'll link up with another blog or two for Design Wall Monday... haven't done that is FOREVER!!

Hope your week ahead is a good one and that you get done whatever it is you've planned... as that's what I want for me too!

happy stitching-

carol fun