Switching gears on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello all ... did you miss me last week?  Things got crazy busy on Saturday and Sunday and I didn't feel like I had anything blogworthy to post, so I took a break... and I'm back today with lots and lots of decor pictures and  my BIG stocking project that has now reached the "finishable" stage... woo hoo!!!  Weather here has been nice... last week we had 3 days that were PERFECT in my book ... temps in the 70's, no humidity and a wonderful breeze... I opened all the windows and turned off the AC and snatched a few dollars out of Duke Energy's pocket... I'm sure they'll get it back as it is going back to the upper 80's and 90's this week... but it was lovely while it lasted. 

So first I'm going to start off with the only crafty thing I've worked on for weeks... the Christmas stocking for my daughter-in-law, Jenny... this is the seventh stocking that I have stitched in my life... and I do consider these stocking to be lifetime achievements... LOL... ta dah!!!

I have everything below that swag garland stitched except for adding some thin gold thread I need to add to make those little gold spots look like a garland on the tree.  I need to graph Jenny's name and I'm going to stitch it in a gold metallic thread... I think it will look great... and then I'll fill in the background at the top... another couple of days of work but I'm taking a break...my hands are sore ... cross stitch is way easier on my hands and I'm chomping at the bit to get back to  it... not sure what I'm going to do first but I am going to spend my entire Sunday afternoon sitting on the sunroom porch stitching... my idea of a perfect Sunday!!

As for switching gears I have had a lot of time to ruminate over what I need to get done around the house and what crafty projects I want to work on. First I have got to take a day and clean out, straighten up and re-organize my big storage room where my furnace and gas meter are... why??? Because Duke sent a letter saying they need to get in and check the gas meter... they did this a couple of years ago too... I know it is for safety ... they said you could call or get online and make an appointment and I planned to do that after I got the space more tidy so the guy could reach the meter without difficulty... but on Friday a Duke employee knocked on my door and asked if he could do the job then... ummmm....no... he was fine with my refusal ... this is the kick in the pants I need to get that job taken care of... maybe Wednesday or Thursday of this week.

And I need to do some clean up of my file drawers ... I keep tossing stuff in a pile on my desk...need to sort it and get rid of some stuff... I'm going paperless on everything I can so hopefully once I clean it up it will be easier in the future...

And back during the lockdown I said I was going to clean out my kitchen cabinets... I got one done... never got to any of the other ones... and now even the one I did still could use to be tidied up... maybe in 2 weeks...

As for crafty stuff... I have 2 quilt tops that need backs and I'd like to make bindings before I send them to be quilted... there is a Halloween quilt languishing on my design wall... and several other projects laying about in various stages of assembly ... but before I get to the WIPs I need to make a baby quilt for my handyman Dan's daughter... it is his first grandchild and I want to do something nice... I already know what I want to make and the colors... yellow and pink ...turns out the mom to be loves yellow too and it is going to be a little girl... 

As for cross stitch, I'm going to put out my 4th of July stuff and in August I'll do chickens but as for stitching I'm going to move ahead to Fall and Halloween and Christmas... I've decided I need to make a schedule where I work ahead at least 2 months on seasonal stitching... we'll see how that works out as I'm always full of optimistic plans but  implementation is often lacking... 

And I want to get back to some of the many many samplers I've started... when I re-organized my cross stitch stuff at the beginning of the year I was surprised at how many UFOs I had that were unfinished samplers... pieces from Drawn Thread and With Thy  Needle and Thread and Blackbird  Designs... so many pretty pieces... 

So you can see that I did A LOT of ruminating while I've been focused on the stocking... daydreaming... I think it motivated me to push on and get things done. Enough of this rambling... onto some pretty pictures...

I haven't gotten out my 4th of July stuff yet ... I wanted to enjoy some of my more summer-y stitching... lots of Pineberry Lane gals... I knew I liked them but was surprised that I've stitched 5 good sized pieces and a little pillow all with Pineberry Lane gals...

First, the drawer unit ...on top the big piece is The Magic Garden Sampler by Shakespeare's Peddler ... I started this piece in 2010 but didn't complete it till 2018... I changed almost all the colors in it ... I thought the flowers on the side looked like daylilies but didn't know why they had been stitched in black... turns out the designer, Theresa Vennette, said the piece was inspired after watching the Tim Burton movie version of Alice in Wonderland... now it is a bit more understandable but I still like that I made it more realistic garden-y... I think this is the first piece of linen I ever dyed ... the little bird is Delivering Posies by Homespun Elegance...

underneath is Sister's Farm Fresh Eggs by Pineberry Lane and lots of yellow glassware and decor... you can never have too much yellow!! Oh and I changed out the knobs on the drawers... 50% off at Hobby Lobby... I think I'll do this for other displays too... only cost me like $4... 

As for the shelf unit... 

From the top.. on the all is the Blackbird Design Mystery Sampler... I did that in 2010 and it is still one of my favorite pieces... it hangs on that wall almost all year round... on the top shelf is my newest finish... Prairie Schooler No. 61 Garden Alphabet... I started that back in March of 2020 during the lockdown... I thought if I stitched a block a day I could have it done in a month... and I could have finished it in that time frame if I had actually stitched a block a day... happy I got it done this year... 

This is Pineberry Lane's  Mrs. Maguire's Garden  and the birds are from Blackbird Designs...

Some Debbie Mumm teapots ... I just realized the other day that I've had them for probably 20 years and another Pineberry Lane's Mrs. Maguire Bee Charmer...

And even more  and more Pineberry Lane...Mrs. Maguire's Hen House...it appears that me and Mrs. Maguire have a thing going on... I do love her...LOL

That bottom one is Tansy Yarrow Rue... 

I'll be bringing a couple of these gals back in August when I do my chicken display... and I'm happy they are out now... I like doing seasonal displays but sometimes I want to spend more time with my stuff... you know I LOVE my stuff... an aside... all the Pineberry Lane charts I linked to can be bought as PDF downloads... I LOVE instant gratification, don't you??

My yard is looking great right now... the window boxes are full and the beds are exploding... a lot of perennials came back ... and I've planted a ton of zinna and cosmos seeds... I tried to upload a video I took but no luck... but I'll leave you with a pic of my pyramid of petunias... lots of color which is exactly how I like it...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts... I'm planning a relaxing afternoon stitching and reading blogs and watching videos... and maybe a nice nap too... I hope you have a lovely Sunday afternoon and a great week ahead...

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Fear and Focus on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello there... hmmm... last week I bemoaned all the dark dreary rainy days we had (and I know some of you would love to see some rain in your part of the world... sorry).. but we got even more of it ... it rained every single day ... kinda like Florida... but without the sun... I haven't watered my garden in over a week!! I can't remember when that has EVER happened before... things are looking pretty good out there... fingers crossed that the 6 BIG petunias... Proven Winners Super Vista... I planted didn't get drowned... and even with all the rain and gloom I did get by first dahlia blooms of the year...

These are all from plants I did NOT dig up last year... which has me thinking that I'm not digging up any dahlias this year... which will probably mean we get a cold cold winter and they will all die... oh well gardening is always a game of chance... Aren't these pretty?

I had several goals I set for myself last week and I did meet some of them... I got two quilts bound and ...this is the big patch quilt with Basic Grey Curio collection and Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements collection...now on my bed...

And a companion to it... Double Star pattern from MSQS done in Basic Grey Curio... on my comfy chair in my bedroom... 

As for stitching... I didn't touch the Flag Folk piece but I went to town on the needlepoint Christmas stocking...now this is the result of FEAR... I wanted to get all the dark green on the tree done... and I DID... and then I looked at the stocking and couldn't decide if I was a third of the way done or half way done... since this is June and I started this on New Year's Day I felt like I need to be more than half way done at this point... sooooooooo.... I totally focused on the stocking... by my calculations I spent at least 5 hours on the stocking  each day ...M/T/W/Th/F/S  ... so about 30 hours of work this week... and here's where it is now... front...

back...

Now mind you,  that 30 hours of work had me finishing a small corner of the dark green on the tree  and the candles on the right side... the background on the right  side down to the base of the tree and started on the toe section.... Oh in looking at this I felt I had gotten SO MUCH done, and I guess I have since this is 16 count and I've done hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of stitches... but I also feel like I should have even more to show for 30 plus hours of work... argh.... anyway, my goal for next week is to FOCUS on the packages and the bottom section ... I want to get it to the point that I can look at it and say okay, you can finish this is another week or so. That would probably mean I have to have everything below that upper garland complete... so at least 2 more FULL weeks of work...  It doesn't have to be done till the end of September but I want to get it done before then. 

I'm resigned to the fact that I won't have any new cross stitch for 4th of July... I'm going to stay on the stocking and then move onto Fall, Halloween and Christmas... there just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do!!

And while I was doing all that stitching I spent a lot of time watching/listening to Flosstube videos... I particularly enjoy The Saltbox Stitcher... you can find her here... along with cross stitch she is also a quilter and has a long arm quilting business... well the video I watched had a parade of unframed but finished cross stitch pieces and unquilted but not finished quilt tops... one of her unframed pieces was one she couldn't identify the designer.... but I could... it was the first sampler I ever did... it is by Polly Carbonari and I stitched this back in 1986/87 or so... 

it is stitched on aida with DMC 930... I altered the pattern a bit... at the time my family only numbered 3... I left out the little girl who was charted and added in a dog... and I backstitched the windows and door on the house to resemble the little Tudor we lived in... the aida has turned a cream versus the white I stitched it on... we all age, don't we?   An aside... this is the FIRST crosstitch piece I ever showed on my blog... Sunday May 23, 2010.... 

And in as Saltbox Stitcher showed her quilt tops I thought of a bin of tops I have ...and haven't seen the light of day for eons... well one of them caught my eye... the fabrics in this top are PERFECT for my living room... (this is showing more intense and  brighter and  more blue than in person...those outer blocks are  lavender ...  very pretty)...

now I almost never use brown in a quilt but it works here and goes nicely with the taupe (Relaxed Khaki by Sherwin Williams) in the living room. This collection is by Basic Grey and is called Urban Couture... and this top has to be over 11 years old because I've never put a picture of it on my blog before... and I can't imagine I would have finished this and not posted it... I'm impressed  at the way that I did those setting triangles ... I really like how it continues the pattern into the border... now to find a back for this and send it off to be quilted... 

So despite my running around all week... I had an appointment or obligation every single day last week that took me out of the house... I was productive... goals for this week include getting a back together for that Urban Couture quilt and getting the back together for the American Jane quilt I said I was going to do last week... and more needlepoint stitching... I definitely need to get out and do some weeding ... there is this weed that looks pretty as it starts to grow... kinda like a marigold ... but it isn't and I'm constantly battling with it... I try to plant lots of other stuff ... perennials and annuals... to choke it out but as all weeds are it is quite tenacious... 

I'm not committing to anything else at the moment... although I might sneak in some sewing time... several projects that only need a bit of time to be finished... can think of 2 Fall type quilts and one Halloween... going to try to get ahead ...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... and I should have some time to sit on my sunroom porch and soak up a little sun (I hope hope hope) and read some blogs while I stitch...I hope you have a great week ahead... 

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Messages and Memories in the fabrics on a Slow Sunday....

 Hello -well another week went poof!!!  Sitting here trying to remember what I did... why is recalling what you had for lunch yesterday harder than remembering where you were when you purchased a certain fabric or looking a piece of fabric and having memories flood back?? Anyway, what I do remember of last week was several dark, dreary, rainy days where I moved about as fast as a slug... no energy or motivation... only upside was I didn't have to water my garden and everything is green and getting bigger... I am appreciative for that but I am tired of gray and rain... unfortunately (notice how I go back and forth... back and forth... good and bad... positive and negative... I'm caught in a catch 22) ... oh back to unfortunately the forecast for the upcoming week has more rain in it... fingers crossed that Cincinnati will be like Camelot and the rain won't fall till after sundown and then I won't have to water... trying to finish on an up note...LOL

I didn't get much sewing or stitching done... I'm again dealing with a sore finger... this time I accidentally cut the top of the middle finger on my left hand with a rotary cutter... and this is the finger I use on the bottom side of my stitching when I hold it in hand and I kinda bounce the needle off of it... it gets calloused and sore sometimes but slicing it made if very tender and the scab kept breaking open (ooooh too much info)... anyway that curtailed my needlepointing and my cross stitch... so I sat and vegged... mushrooms were more productive than me. 

However to brighten my mood I decided to make some decor changes ... I banished some (but not all ) of the birds to their plastic storage bins and got out some garden and bee stuff... and I got out lot of yellow  accents... as I have LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of yellow accent knickknacks...I began by hanging a fresh quilt over the back of the couch and another one on the wall in the living room... and that got me remembering things as I looked at the fabrics in the quilts... here's my starting point...

And a close up of the quilt on the couch... I made this as the result of a QAL with Crazy Mom Quilts -Amanda Jean Nyberg ... and here is a link to the QAL which happened back in 2010 and I think I finished up in 2011.... mine got waaaay bigger than her's... there are 362 different yellow prints in this baby...  a true charm quilt... here's a link to the quilt spread out and you can see all the yummy yellows!

And looking at them I see messages and memories ...a sweet little polka dot chicken is right in the center, how apropos...

that little Italian chef pays homage to my ethnic heritage... 

and this block has my initials as a hidden message... it is an old old old Nancy Wolff print... you can see the car in the top right hand spot... that is for the letter C... and the F is right below... aren't I clever??? I was very proud of that square... 

and all those dotty and sunny yellow prints always make me HAPPY!!

Then onto the wall quilt... this one I made last year and the pattern was called Good Girl Quilt which you can see here...and I was a GOOD girl... all the fabrics in this one came from my stash... but I didn't follow the pattern exactly ... my dimensions are slightly different as I was using up squares left over from a low volume quilt I made in a previous year, but the design idea is the same... 

now I picked out lots of fabrics that have good memories for me... lots of birds...

and this one reminds me of my love of cross stitch....

and this one ... cars... reminds me of my brother who passed away over 3 years ago... like I said there are messages and memories in the fabrics, aren't there???

These pops of yellow, along with the other decorating I did improved my mood... oh here is the little tier tray... 

the yellow house was already in my decorating stash but I don't have any memory of where I got it... fabric has memories, sometimes plain old stuff doesn't... oh well.... all the stitching is snippets from Pineberry Lane pieces... I love Pineberry Lane... 

Got lots of plans for the upcoming week... I have 2 quilts I want to get bound and washed ... I have a quilt back I want to get sewn together and off to the long armer... I think if I push I can get all of the green on the tree on the needlepoint stocking stitched... and I think I can get some more stitches into the cross stitch piece from Notforgotten Farms Flag Folks... also I have lunch plans one day, and a doctor's appointment another day, and an appointment for my son another day... a semi-full week... 

As for this slow Sunday I might pull out a Blackbird Design piece as it is Blackbird Weekend as declared by Brenda and The Serial Starter.. do you watch their Flosstube channel?... here's a link... even though I'm not into reproduction samplers as much as they are I always enjoy seeing what they are doing and they too have a love of With Thy Needle & Thread and Blackbird Design piece... as they say "BUY ALL the Blackbird stuff"... and I try to comply...LOL... the sunroom porch should be a nice place to hang out today... a bit hot but sunny at least till the afternoon when the rain is forecast (not exactly Camelot but maybe I won't have to water)... 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts... I know I'll spend some time reading blogs... dinner is already planned... a pork roast and some asparagus and parmesan noodles and a salad... my younger son has decided he like to cook dinner and I am very HAPPY to let him do it ... he does a good job ... and as my sainted Grandma use to say "any meal I don't have to cook is a good meal"... 

Hope your week ahead is a good one...

happy stitching-

carol fun