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