Many many things I want to do... and this is all IG's fault... on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - time flies... now sure what season it is... temperatures and humidity say it is still  Summer but I broke out my Fall decor anyway... I'll share a bit of what I've done today, that is if the internet cooperates and coughs up my pictures... small rant... some weeks the pictures I send from my phone show up immediately on my computer so I can put them on the blog... other days, like today, they disappear somewhere ...grrrr!!! So I'm going to start typing here and hope that eventually you can see what I'm talking about.  PS - I know you don't care but it took over 4 hours for my pictures to appear... it drives me nuts... and I know that's a short  distance...LOL

There is so many many things I want to do right now... I'm blaming it all on Instagram because no one takes any responsibility for their actions anymore, so why should I? (and yes that was a rant on the behavior of modern day society)... cross stitch, decorating, knitting, quilting... I've been sucked into many many projects because of IG... and I will be honest... what I need is more self control and less screen time...gosh being honest with myself is awful sometimes... 

Okay, let's leave that thought behind and start with the decorating... this is the small shelf display on my sunroom porch... I am still so happy that I painted it that shade of green... it seems to be perfect no matter what the season... and for now it displays pumpkins, trucks and cross stitch.

This is an old old piece from Ewe & Eye & Friend called Simply 855... I think that was the DMC or Anchor number the model was stitched in... I used some variegated floss. As I look at this piece I do think I did very good job on the this one... one over one stitching on the alphabet, an Algerian eye on the flower and the satin stitch border... there is a lot packed into a small space here.

The larger piece is Autumn Tree from Barbara Ana Designs I stitched on some linen I dyed with  Rit apple green... I think it pairs nicely will all those little green pumpkins... 

In the living room nook I have a newly finished quilt keeping company with another display... 

The quilt top is old old old ... so old that it has never appeared on this blog which means I made it over 10 years ago. The fabrics are the  Basic Grey collection  called  Urban Couture... and I think the pattern came from an Anka's Treasure booklet... somehow that thought just popped into my head... I could go downstairs and look to see if I can find the pattern, but I'm lazy. Anyway I just got this back from my long armer Delinda... she did a great job on this... and the colors are perfect for this room... taupe and yellow with touches of brick and lavender... and I made this top years before I had this house and this room color and those taupe and yellow chairs which were the starting point for decorating the whole room.  It was meant to be!!

As for the display I have my Welcome Autumn piece from The Drawn Thread, again stitched on linen I dyed... I do love all the decorative stitches on this piece... and I have another mini-quilt on that stand I re-discovered a month or so ago... I like this arrangement... I think that pumpkin is from  Pattern Basket...scrappy white pumpkin...

A small Lizzie Kate piece with that wagon full of pumpkins...that's one of my favorite Fall knickknacks...

Below more Lizzie Kate on a wood caddy from Target (probably 2 years ago and again painted with Rit dye...that stuff is great... you can use it on way more than fabric)...  and the little sampler is by Wendy Peatross of From the Heart Needleart... check out her Etsy shop here... it is called the Flower Pot Sampler and I remember stitching it when I broke my wrist ... I had to stitch in a frame on a stand versus my preferred in hand style but I still got to stitch... isn't it amazing how hand work brings back memories of years past... but I'm not sure what I had for lunch yesterday... and I still love that Longaberger pumpkin basket...another blast from the past that makes me happy!!

Downstairs I have my acorn quilt bound and hung... another great quilting job from Delinda...

I like how the leaf panto looks like the leaves are floating over the acorns...

And I have lots of acorns to display... next Fall I'd like to have a cross stitch piece to add to this vignette...something with squirrels or MORE acorns...LOL

And speaking of cross stitch...nice segue... I'm working on this piece from Threadwork Primitives called Ever so Grateful...

I think it qualifies for the IG hashtag #samplerseptember2021... and I really really really want to start this piece from Blackbird Designs Feliz Navidad...

This is my take on an arty shot with the flosses all fanned out...LOL... I dyed some linen with the Rit Apple Green again... it really is more of an olive green... maybe I'll get a couple of stitches in it today... I didn't realize till I got the chart that it is actually a reproduction of a vintage sampler, but Alma Adams added her initials so I'm going put mine in also... and I think I'll tag it in IG's #septembersamplersoiree2021 which is for reproduction samplers. 

And I've done quite a bit of knitting lately... I've completed a couple of pairs of socks which I can't show yet because they are going to be presents, but I did start a pair for me last Wednesday... scrappy monster socks...

I haven't made pair like this for a while but I was  pulled in by another  IG hashtag  #monstersockkal2021...

These are all Opal scraps... I did try a bit of helical knitting for those individual striped parts...had trouble ending those sections with out a bumpy part...need to work on that...

And I had to have this skein of yarn... Madelinetosh Fire Opal ... just doing a simple shawl... Easy goes it...you can see it here ... it is a free pattern.

And yesterday was Sew a Jelly Roll Day... and I got out the one I started last year for this event and made a few more blocks...

The pattern is Jelly Roll Whirl and you can find it here...another freebie... and I found several more Jelly Roll patterns I'd like to play with... again, temptation I'm going to blame on IG... hey they have broad shoulders...

So today I hope to do a little more cross stitching and knitting... I'm taking my son to the Ohio Renaissance Festival... I'll be waiting in the car while he strolls around with some friends... it is a lovely day so I don't mind sitting in the sun and doing handwork...and probably napping too... 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and depending on my wifi connection maybe I can look at some blogs on my phone... not a bad way to spend the day... and if I have wifi I can find more stuff in IG to get me into trouble... good trouble...LOL

Hope you have a good week ahead... at the moment I can only think of 2 things I have to do... dinner on Monday and babysitting on Tuesday....oh wait ...on Friday we are going to see the LUME exhibit in Indianapolis... I've been looking forward to that since I saw on IG...see more IG temptation...take care...

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Wrapping up Summer on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - it is Labor Day weekend... the end of Summer... the weather has gotten much nicer... cooler temps and low humidity ... I've spent several days sitting out on the sunroom porch with the windows open, stitching, reading, watching the squirrels eat out of my "squirrel resistant" bird feeder, napping... it has been wonderful... and as I close out the Summer I'm so happy that I've completed ALL the items on my "you gotta take care of this stuff, Carol" list... let me enumerate, cause it makes me feel so good...LOL

- Cleaned out and re-organized storage room, which allowed me to have Duke Energy come & inspect my meters ... I needed to give them a path to the back of the space... soooo much stuff... and not that there is less stuff now, but it has been better categorized and organized... more plastic bins!!  and you know I LOVE plastic bins...

- Go get new driver's license for me and an new ID for my son... I dragged my feet on this because I hate going to the BMV, but I was pleasantly surprised this time as Ohio has a new website where you can get in line online for an appointment... we went on a Friday afternoon and after making the appointment on my phone we drove over to the BMV office and got  right in... and the new cards came in the mail yesterday.

- Make appointments for eye exams for me and my son and go get new glasses... appointments have happened and I'm waiting to hear from Costco that the glasses are in...hmmm... seems like I should have gotten a text about them already...need to look into that after the weekend ...not doing Costco on the weekend... as my friend Darlene says "too people-y"...

- Make baby quilt for my handyman Dan's first grandbaby... sewn, quilted by Delinda, and delivered... quilt was a bit hit...yeah!

- Finish stitching the needlepoint Christmas stocking for my daughter-in-law... DONE!! Finished it up yesterday morning...and here is the proof...

I'll be taking this to the finisher next week... deadline for Christmas stuff is October 1 so I'm ahead of the game.

So what to do now??? So many things I want to do that I've been putting off. Well I thought about it for a little while and decided that one of the first things I wanted to do was start a new sampler and Bucklebury by Rosewood Manor had been calling my name... and an added bonus is it is #samplerseptember2021  on IG... I already had purchased all the DMC flosses and I had a piece of unknown linen in my stash that was on the yellow side, but not yellow enough for me... so I overpainted it with Rit Dye Golden Yellow and added some Apple Green splotches... I like it a lot!  

Here's how far I've gotten while sitting out on the sunroom porch...

There are a ton of color changes in this band... so far I've used 15 of the 18 colors called for... to me this sampler has an English garden feel to it... and you know how I love gardens!!  And I think I'd describe it as delicate and dainty... not a lot of what I do fits that description... Also I'm going to admit something kinda controversial here... although I like looking at reproduction samplers and I respect all of the work that goes into stitching a reproduction sampler, when I'm done stitching a sampler I want to be able to put my name or initials on it.  I've always loved samplers... the 2nd piece of cross stitch I ever stitched was a sampler, but I gravitate to those that may have vintage look and feel but are original. On my walls I have a lot of Ewe & Eye & Friend and Blackbird Designs... and while these designers make have taken inspiration from a vintage piece they created something new that I can stitch and put a bit of me into it. So while I love watching Flosstube videos of stitchers doing reproduction samplers I'm gonna stick with what I enjoy and everyone should stitch what makes them HAPPY!!

And being a bit mesmerized by the different samplers I saw on IG, I may start another one...oooohh I feel quite giddy about this... there is a couple of other BIG samplers I've kitted up but didn't let myself start until I had the deadline projects done... I may put a few stitches in them too!  The weather has been so nice for sitting on the porch ... don't want to waste it...

As for quilting, I got the last of these blocks sewn and this is my final layout ... I moved things around a 100 times and I suspect that this is the layout I started with... LOL  ... the pattern is High Tide Remix by Woodberry Way... you can see it here...

This is a great pattern... I swear it takes longer to cut the block out than to sew it together... I timed myself and I could sew a block up in about 6 minutes...no pins required... but now that I think of it, it probably didn't take any more than that to cut out a block (and I cut 2 at a time)... it just seemed longer cause I dithered over what fabrics to put together... This pattern uses FQ... my fabrics are Tiny Treaters by Jill Howarth ... you can see all the fabrics here... I added a hot pink tone on tone ... I want to do this pattern again... I'm thinking large scale prints... maybe Amy Butler and Anna Maria Horner ... I have FQ packs of both of their latest collections...and some Moda Grunge... I got the idea from this post on IG...

However, before I get to that I think I'll try and finish up a project or two that is already started... I dragged out a bunch of plastic bins the other day and found at least 10 UFOs that I still like... maybe I'll try to get one old project done before I start a new one... LOL... I know me and that will only last a hot minute... 

So the upcoming week looks pretty open...no appointments or plans so far... I do need to work in my yard... my window boxes are desperately need attention... time to pull out the dead vinca and petunias and move on to pumpkins... I am still considering resin pumpkins... need to go to the hardware store and find something I could use to stake them so they wouldn't blow away... the upfront outlay will be more than real pumpkins but they would pay for themselves in 3 years...and as my son reminded me there would be no rotten goop to scoop out of the boxes come November... he has a point... 

Hope you are having a lovely weekend and that your week ahead will be productive... I have high hopes for mine!   I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today and spend some time there seeing what everyone else is up to...

happy stitching..

carol fun