Wandering Back on a Slow Sunday....

Yesterday I posted that I had a problem and that I couldn't upload any pictures to my blog... and without pictures, well, just isn't the same... I spent hours and hours last night... when I could have been crossstitching!!!! grrrrr!!!... trying to fix the problem... I deleted cookies and cache (not that I have a clue what they are)... I searched a ton of websites looking for  a solution... I updated... I shut it down... I restarted it... and NOTHING worked... and it appears that it wasn't MY problem at all... it was BLOGGER's problem... Juliana left me a comment that she had gone to several blogs and they were reporting the same issue... Thank you Juliana... it would have been nice of Blogger to send out some message about the problem... Since I ended up deleting so many things I had to reinstall stuff and re-do passwords... I HATE doing that stuff...  but I am HAPPY that for whatever reason things are working again ... so on with what I had planned on saying....

EDITED TO ADD... I think I know why the text is appearing in white boxes... originally when I couldn't post pictures I saved all the text in another spot and then just cut and pasted them back in...since I have spent hours and hours and hours on this post I am not going to try to re-type and fix it... arghhh...hopefully things will  be better next time I'm post... sorry!

Well I hope that you all had a nice November... mine was up and down, up and down... I did attempt to post a time or two but one weekend I was sick...yuck...and one I was lazy... and one I was doing an early Thanksgiving meal where my oven decided to die...and another one I was lazy... yep... lazy wins...  I have lots of things I want to do but the motivation is in short supply... not sure why...I'm hoping that the Christmas season gives me a boost of energy.

So are you getting ready for Christmas?? I had my son drag all my bins up to the living room and I have gotten some things decorated but a good portion is still strewn about the room.... my goal is to get 'er dun and get things put away by tomorrow... fingers crossed. 

I did get some crafty stuff done... I'll start with the biggest finish... my daughter-in-law's Christmas stocking..

I'm very pleased with the finishing on this one... and NO I didn't do it... it is well worth paying someone to expertly put this together... now everyone has a stocking... that was the 7th one I've done ... over a 35 year span... pretty good if I say so myself and I do!! LOL

And I got TWO Christmas quilts done and quilted by Delinda at The T-Shirt Company...link here... Instagram here... 

First is one of those LARGE Disappearing 9 Patch quilts ...  idea from @michelle.make.this......fabric are a collection from Maywood Studios called All the Trimmings... 

 LOVE the panto... it is called Christmas Cookies... there's a gingerbread boy  and a Christmas tree and a Santa .... too stinking cute!!

Next is a quilt using the Picket Fence pattern from Busy Hands Quilts... you can see it here... this is the 2nd quilt I've made with this pattern... it is GREAT for layer cakes... pick your favorite squares out for the middle and then cut up the remaining ones...  fabric is an old collection from Basic Grey called Evergreen... oh why didn't I buy more of this???

The panto is lovely snowflakes with goes so nicely with that sashing fabric... which is also OLD... at least 25 years old... a pearlescent snowflake print from Jennifer Sampou by P&B Textiles...now I did buy yardage of this fabric... I made a really pretty jacket with it eons ago and I used it in another Christmas quilt with Basic Grey fabric a year or so ago...  but I still wish I had MORE....

I've been doing a bit of cross stitching... I completed the Prairie Schooler Twas the Night Before Christmas...

need to get this FFO'd pronto!!

And I've been working on Christmas Joy from Barbara Ana Designs...

I LOVE how this one looks on the pink and teal...  and that pink is much lighter...IRL...I'm decorating the porch in a pink and teal palette... I think it is fun but I don't want a whole house of it ...I'd love to get this finished and out on the porch before Christmas... 

And I've been knitting...lots and lots of socks... because they are mindless... but I can't show them yet because they are going to be presents... check back later...

So have you been out to the stores to shop?  I did a lot of online shopping...no Black Friday crowds for me... but I did pop into Target the other day and it made me feel good about what I've gotten accomplished... several toys for Elliott... because the shelves in the toy department and in the Christmas area were about 80% empty... gonna be a Blue Christmas for a  bunch of people...so sad. 

Oh I decorated the outside of the house... a bunch of inflatables and I fluffed up the window boxes... the greenery is fake...little Christmas trees I bought 2 or 3 years ago... got the peppermint candies from At Home and the polka dot candy canes came from Wally world... I added  twigs that I picked up off the ground when I took Elliott to the park to play... I came home and spray painted them white... and I spray painted a bunch of the dried allium heads I saved from my yard too... feeling very thrifty and Martha Stewart-y here...LOL

Side of the house...

A bit of a close up of the window boxes...

Also side of the house, next to the gingerbread guys...

Front of the house...

I got the sweetest card in the mail the other week...  here's what it said...

"Whether we walk or drive by your home we enjoy your lovely flowers and decor. Each season you gift the neighborhood with a beautiful display.  Thank you for bringing this sad and weary world a truly joyful bright spot!  God bless you."

Now the hand writing was a beautiful cursive so I'm thinking it was from a woman... there was no name on the card or the envelope... it was addressed to the Gardener at 7800 Gail Drive... I'm blown away that someone would take the time to do this... and it makes me think that I should do it for other people... several homes in my neighborhood really work to make their yards look great... since I got the window boxes for my house 3 neighbors around me got window boxes too... so I think I rubbed off on them... I LOVE my neighborhood... I know so many people by name and they stop and talk when I'm working in the yard. It makes life soooo nice!!!

Well as you can imagine, this brought tears to my eyes and  oh my goodness how this touched my heart... I grow the flowers to make me happy but it is nice to know that others are enjoying them too ... and my crazy inflatables and other garden ditzies... well, maybe ALL the neighbors don't think I'm nuts...

No big plans for today except a bit more decorating and a bit of cross stitching... next week is a busy but not as busy as last week ...had 2 repair people here... one has to come back again this week to actually fix the oven as the part was not in stock...ugh... and I had the bathroom tile re-glazed AGAIN... they were here about 4-5 weeks ago to repair it where it had cracked...under warranty so no cost to me... except they used the wrong color white...it should have been Bright White, instead is was just White...which has a definite gray cast to it... again under warranty and the repair guy is really nice but had to take everything out of the bathroom again and can't use the shower for 24 hours... inconvenient... on the up side my son had an outing with a friend on Wednesday and I have dinner plans on Thursday ... and I got a haircut appointment this week too... which I need... badly...

A little reminder... when I'm not posting here I'm probably posting something on Instagram... here's  where I am  @carolfun53... you don't have to have an IG account to look at stuff on IG... this month I'm trying to post a Christmas quilt every day... turns out I have enough to do that... today I'll do my 5th post for a Christmas quilt parade... if you go to my profile you can see what I've posted up to this point ... and there are more to come!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... hope you all have a great week ahead!

happy stitching-

carol fun