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