Lack of focus on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - well this last week has definitely lacked focus... I have flitted from one project to another every single day.. gardening, sewing, cross stitch, needlepoint, shopping... I have engaged in all of these pursuits and haven't finished a single project in any area... so get ready to see lots of bits and pieces of this and that... LOL

The weather was more July than May... upper 80s... and I had lots of things to do in the yard... clean up of daffodils and planting a couple more flats of annuals and trying to get some seeds started... I put in two long days but I still have some 1 gallon perennials to plant... and  I haven't gotten a single new dahlia in the ground... however a bunch of dahlias that I didn't dig up last Fall have been going gangbusters... almost a foot tall... and I went through all the tubers I dug up and over-wintered to find  only about 1/3 of them survived... my plan for the end of this year is I'm not digging up a single tuber and lets see what happens... I'm even going to leave them in my raised bed... if they come back great, if they don't... well I always buy new tubers anyway... cue Doris Day... Que sera sera ... whatever will be will be... 

I do have some pretty blooms right now... my peony bush which was a gift from a neighbor looks gorgeous... blooms as big as a softball... and I love that light pink color...

And speaking of pink... this is my climbing David Austin rose... I think this is the 3rd or 4th year I've had it and it has never looked better... I forget what variety it is... oh wait ... I checked back in the blog and the name of the rose is Gertrude Jekyll and I planted it in 2017... 4 years ago... so my memory isn't totally gone...LOL

And that rose bush that got pruned by the deer... it has recovered and it looks gorgeous... it is a Proven Winner rose called At Last... 

And as for the deer ....I found  this little guy laying near my patio this morning... Mom  came back later and moved him to the back corner of my neighbor's yard... so cute... but I just know he'll grow up to eat my roses... 

As for stitching... I put a couple of evenings into the needlepoint stocking... lots  more green for the tree... and for cross stitch I did a little bit more on Flag Folk... got half of the lady done... was too tired both evenings after working in the yard to do much of anything...

On the sewing front I bounced around and around and around... I have 4 rows sewn together... the fifth row and the sashing are sitting on that step ladder ...  I got bored....

So I decided to play with an American Jane Honeybun... my friend recently finished a quilt using the pattern from a QAL last Fall... you can see her quilt here... you can see the pattern instructions here... and you can see examples of the blocks here on IG... I stitched up 5 blocks...

look closely at that bottom one... I mis-cut it and had to improvise... I added in similar fabrics from my stash...so far it is my favorite block... may do more that way...

But got sidetracked by a trip to my LQS Homegrown, Homesewn... picked up a FQ bundle of the new Riley Blake  line from Jill Howarth called Tiny Treaters... you can see all the fabrics here...and I decided to use the pattern High Tide Remix by Woodberry Way which you can see here... and I picked up a couple of tone on tone fabrics to add to the bundle.... 

The graphics for this collection are so cute and I'm intrigued by the palette... the orange is a coral-y orange... the blue is a deep turquoise ... and the gray is more blue than gray (I like that a lot...not a fan of gray) and the kicker is there is one pink fabric in the collection... I don't know if I've ever seen a pink Halloween fabric before but I like it a lot... but since there was only one pink I wanted it to show up more and I got that pink tone on tone to add some punch... the blocks are  BIG... 16" finished and I sewed up 3 in short order...

Grrr...The color is off here... go look at the link of the fabrics for a true idea of the colors... that blue is looking navy here and it actually a deep turquoise and like I said that orange is more of a coral and that pink is PINK not rose... anyway in real life that look great... should be a quick top to put together and it doesn't have borders... oh how I love a quilt without borders!!!

As for shopping... my dryer stopped working on  Tuesday... I called a repair guy who came on Wednesday and the cost to fix it was 50% of the cost of a new dryer... I don't know exactly how old the dryer is but it came with the house and nothing in the house was new when I bought it ...and the washer also came with the house and it is of an undetermined age... and neither machine matched the other although that wasn't important to me, but it just told me that one or other had bitten the dust at some time in the past... so on Thursday I went shopping for a new washer and a dryer ... I know if I only bought the dryer my luck would be that  the washer would die in about 2 more weeks. I wasn't really picky about the brand, although I prefer Maytag (that what the ancient machines in the basement were ) I just wanted something that could be delivered ASAP... turned out a Maytag washer and dryer were in stock and are to be delivered today... fingers crossed that all goes well... it won't be easy getting the old machines out and the new machines in and I worry that connecting up new equipment could go awry...old houses are not always compatible with new technology... I've found that out numerous times with this house... the machines I purchased aren't the fancy new kind ...not a lot of bells and whistles... so I hope it will work out. 

So that was my week... the upcoming week doesn't look real busy... dinner Monday night with friends... babysitting on Tuesday and that's all that's on the calendar... temperatures are suppose to be in the 70's by Wednesday... much nicer in my opinion and there is a chance of rain... we could use some rain... I've had to water every night ... so maybe I'll get some more stitching and sewing done ... I've been in a sewing mood as you can tell by my starting TWO new quilt projects... and I have two quilts back from the longarmer waiting to be bound... I never lack for things to do ... and I'm happy for that...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today as I wait for my appliance delivery... they gave me a 4 hour time window... 9:30 am till 1:30 pm... what do you want to bet I'll be up and dressed bright and early and they'll show up after lunch?  Such is life...

happy stitching-

carol fun