Looking for my "get up and go" on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello all - well there has been a bit of a change in the weather and I am loving it... bring on Fall.. cooler temperatures, pumpkin pie,  a chance to wear wool socks and shawls, pumpkin pie, chrysanthemums, pumpkin pie... you get the picture... I love having all my Fall decor out... it is my favorite season and has all my favorite colors... harvest gold, olive green, chocolate brown, burnt orange... all the colors my Mom painted our house in 1970... good memories... 

It has been a bit crazy here the last 2 weeks... things did get done, but I didn't do them... my handyman Dan was available for a couple of days and got my "to-do" list pretty much knocked out... fixed the spring on the back storm door, fixed the  dryer vent, inside and out, closed the little opening in the roof flashing where there was a bird's nest ... I didn't mind the birds but was afraid a squirrel would take up residence, painted the walls and the baseboards of my back hallway... this is where EVERYONE comes in and out of my house. When I bought the house I just assumed you'd use the front door... but it isn't near the driveway, so anyone I want to see uses the back door... and the entry is small and it has gotten nicked and scuffed and dented... a fresh coat of paint made it look brand new!! And the last thing he took care of was painting my cutting table... I bought this piece, a kitchen island when I moved in 8 years ago.. they don't make this exact one anymore ... this one, the Vadholma is pretty close...anyway it was black and since I've replaced all the rest of the black Ikea stuff with white I wanted it repainted...but not white... I had him use a gorgeous turquoise and I LOVE it!!

The paint is Behr Marquee and the color is Mammoth Mountain... it look a factory finish and is just the right pop of color!!

Along with having Dan here I also dealt with 2 other repair guys... first I was having troubles keeping my cute outdoor yard inflatables, inflated... turns out the GFCI, ground fault circuit interrupter, (aren't you impressed with my technical expertise... LOL)  keep popping on the outside outlet. Weeeelllll,, it was doing what is it suppose to do. I called an electrician and he immediately diagnosed the problem as water getting into the extension cord plugs and then it would trip the circuit ... just as it was designed to do... to keep me from burning the house down...okay maybe not that catastrophic... the solution??  Electrical tape and plastic sandwich bags... cover the connections with a plastic bag and then tape the whole thing up ... costs pennies... the solution, not the service call...but it was good advice and he was very nice and even fixed the cover on the outside outlet so it closes better. 

Then I had a guy come to resurface/reglaze the tub surround in the bath room. I've been here 8 years this month and this is the 3rd go round for this... luckily it has a warranty and this is covered... anyway small cracks have appeared in the grout lines where the glaze split... to fix this the tile had to be sanded and cleaned and then a new coating applied... nice guy... in observing him work the job is about 95% prep and 5% glazing... anyway I was told he'd be here between 8 and 9 am... and those who know me, know that I am NEVER awake that early... but I set my alarm for 7:30 and he was here at 8:15... he was efficient and had the job done by 1:30...not bad... except... he sprayed the wrong color of white on the tile... yikes!!! Now he couldn't tell it was wrong until it set up and dried a bit and he had followed the work order he had which said "regular white" which has a bit of a gray cast , but what is on the walls is "BRIGHT WHITE"... and there is a noticeable difference... sooooooo, he will be returning in 2 more weeks to do it again... they are losing money on me hand over fist.. 

Anyway the purpose of that rambling saga was to say that having people in the house curtails my getting much of anything done... when Dan is here we spend too much time talking... he's more than my handyman he has become  like family so we have to catch up on lots of stuff. In talking we think we might have a distance relative in common... my god mother and an aunt of his may be the same person... small world!!  And then after I got done with the repair guys I got a cold... which ticks me off since I'm taking Vit C, Vit D, zinc, quercetin... which are all suppose to boost your immune system... a phlegm- y cold with a sore throat and then as always happens when I get a cold, the finale is laryngitis... arghh... if you know me you know I LOVE to talk.. and I couldn't make hardly a sound for 2 days followed by a couple of days of croaking which went into the husky voice and now finally after about week I can talk again... but it made my "get up and go" relocate for about a week... so I don't have much to show...

I did work on this sampler from Blackbird Designs... it is Feliz Navidad... I'm stitching it on 36 ct linen I dyed with Rit Apple Green... I LOVE that color... I'm using all the called for flosses but I'm using 2 strands instead of the normally called for 1 strand.... I started with one strand and it was delicate but I like the boldness and the coverage of 2 strands... it looks more festive to me... 

This is the 2nd in the series of BBD Christmas samplers... I stitched the first one a couple of years ago... and I plan to stitch the other two... I have to say I'm really really really enjoying stitching a sampler again... they were my first cross stitch love and I have a few,  a couple,  several , oh who am I kidding...  a TON of samplers in my home... by my count (and I'm probably undercounting)  I've probably stitched 100 samplers...I have 75 on the walls right now... and there are a bunch of more seasonal pieces in the storage room... when I began stitching 35 years ago I could tell from my first piece I was gonna LOVE this... so to keep my obsession  in check, I told myself that I would only stitch samplers with houses and that would curtail the number of pieces... ROLFMAO... obviously that curtailed nothing... and it never will... and I broke my resolution and have lots of samplers without houses...

I was very happy that the border met ... now to stitch a bajillion little leaves and lollipop flowers... I LOVE the red cardinal and can't wait to get down to the script-y letters... 

As for quilting I started a new project... I got a kit from Sisters Quilt Shop in Chehalis WA... here's a link to their website....the kit I purchased is called Lucky Log Cabins... you can see it here... ohh, it is out of stock ... I LOVE the mix of fabrics... that cheddar and those taupes that have a reproduction feel to them...not fabrics I would ordinarily buy... anyway the kit came and I whacked the FQs into 2.5" strips and I started the pattern... 

but I didn't like how it was turning out... I was having troubles with the very first strip set... first it was too small, ripped it out and resewed it, then it was too big... arghh... so I switched gears and went with a different pattern... Log Jam  by Pieced Just Sew... you can find it here ... I paired the fabrics with my current favorite Basic Grey Grunge Elafin... and here are the blocks I've gotten sewn...

This is half of what I plan to do... easy peasy stitching and when you go to sew the blocks together you won't have to match anything except the corners block to block...

Now this is just one of 3 layouts you can do with this pattern... not sure that this will be my final choice but I'm sure I'll be happy with whichever layout I chose. 

As for Halloween decorating inside I've done nothing... just can't get motivated...and I'm seriously thinking of just moving on to my Thanksgiving stuff. However, I have a bunch of Thanksgiving cross stitch I need to get FFO'd and I'm not feeling that either... I picked up 2 quilts from my long armer and both need to be bound... I'm going to have to go out and clean out the dead annuals very soon... and I've been dragging my feet to get my kitchen cabinets cleaned out for months...  I'm sitting here thinking of stuff I should do and it is not the stuff I want to do... so even if I do get something done, I'll feel guilty that I didn't do what I should do... I drive myself nuts!!  

So for the moment I'll just spend some time with Kathy's Quilts and see what ever one else is up to... hope you are having good weather and working on stuff that makes you happy!!

happy stitching-

carol fun