Mid -summer malaise on a Slow Sunday ...

 Hello - so how is your summer going?  We have alternated blazing hot days with lots and lots and lots of humid rainy days... ugh... I do appreciate that I haven't had to water my garden for over a week, but there has been so much rain that some of my plants have died from it... soggy soggy soil... I went today and was able to find some more wave petunias to replace those that didn't make it and I may go back and pick up another couple of pots for some other spots. I was happy to find petunias this late in the season... I found 2 garden centers who still have a nice selection of plants ... perhaps a bit of shopping will perk me up and lessen my malaise and laziness. 

I had only one appointment last week and thought I'd get a lot done... and I did have several nice outings... burgers with one friend, lunch and shopping with another friend and an Italian food festival down by the Ohio River with other friends... all wonderful times... but by the time I got home I was too tired to do any of the crafty stuff I had planned to do... since I'm giving myself a break from the stocking I wanted to get a bunch of cross stitching done... and I did finish stitching this piece... Hurrah from Pineberry Lane...

it still needs to be FFO'd...my selection of threads ... DMC.. brightened it up a bit... linen is more yellow than shows here.

And I picked up this WIP, A Needleworker's Sampler by With Thy Needle and Thread...

When I started again last week I had half of that house done and some of the motifs at the top... I've got the border roughed in... flowers and leaves to come... and almost all of the alphabet... I can't wait to get to the verse... All my scattering moments are taken up with my needle... LOVE it!!  Now I painted the fabric with Apple green and Tan Rit Dye... so it is slightly grungy...  In real life there is a lot of  green in the linen... I did change the dress on the gal in the middle to my favorite yellow, Crescent Colors Queen Bee and I have plans to replace the 3 dogs in this design with spools of thread which will also be yellow. I'm using the called for threads, overdyed cottons, mostly Weeks and some Valdani... but I'm not sure I really like them... several of the Weeks are so similar in color they could almost be the same thing... Putty, Sage, Olive... you could swap them for each other... so there is little difference when they are stitched ... I wish now that I had subbed DMC... then those shades would be more distinct... and I'm totally over Valdani threads... the 3 this piece called for could easily be DMC colors... the longer I stitch... and I've been stitching for over 35 years the more I LOVE LOVE LOVE DMC!!!  Sorry for the rant... 

I'm just in one of those funks at the moment... I still have guilt projects I need to get to, but I want to do what I want to do and those are not the projects that are calling my name... but I know I need to get them done... And I have some Fall and Christmas projects that I want to get started on... the holidays will be here before I know it... 

And speaking of holidays... I'll show you some of my patriotic decor for 4th of July... I'm leaving this display up till the end of the month... 

Here is the big shelf unit...

My newest finish is Flag Folk from Notforgotten Farm... I LOVE how this turned out...

 I like the prim design look but not as keen on the mostly brown and faded colors ... so this is on 32 ct linen painted with Lemon Yellow and Evening Blue Rit Dye... having that light spot in the middle was a fluke... I didn't know that was where it was going to end up... but I think it is perfect placement for this piece!

Up top I have my Summer Welcome by The Drawn Thread and below and to the right of Flag Folk,  I have my Prairie Schooler July... oh I wish I had more of these monthly pieces stitched... that make me happy!!! 

Oh a side note, check out this IG post here from  the_offroad._stitcher ... I love how she stitched just the pictorial part of the monthly Prairie Schooler pieces...  I think I'd like to do that for some of the months...

Next I have Libby from Heart in Hand ... I love this finish on the giant grater...

And next to her, two smaller pieces... the lady with the BIG chicken is part of a needlebook design from Chessie & Me and the patriotic bird is Summer Song from Blackbird Designs. 

And to wrap this up, who doesn't love a man in uniform?... Liberty by Birds of a Feather and freebie from Notforgotten Farms... 

Now I have one more patriotic display to share but I want to FFO that Hurrah piece before I share it... fingers crossed for next week... 

And next week does have a bit of running around already scheduled in it... so I don't know how much of anything I will get done... right now I'm going to park my butt out on the sunroom porch, watch the birds at my feeders, read some blogs at Kathy's Quilts. and stitch a bit.

happy stitching-

carol fun