Happy Mother's Day on a Slow Stitching Sunday...

Sending best wishes out to all of the Mothers today... I hope you are appreciated and pampered ... you soooo deserve it!   

I'm spending my day doing the things I love to do... stitching  a little, sewing a little and because the weather is cooperating gardening A LOT!!  Last week was pretty gray and rainy and chilly ... it kept me from planting but ti didn't stop me from shopping... pics of some of the stuff I collected at the 6 or was it 7 ...maybe 8 different garden stores I visited ...and I got a small start on the pyramid of petunias... it really needs a coat of paint too...

Lots of coleus... love all the different colors and leaf shapes...and in the background you can see our new outdoor dining set... it took Nick & I several hours to put it together but it is very nice and I know we are going to enjoy it...

And small dahlias and marigolds and cleome and salvia and cannas...

Can you tell I am a bit concerned that all the good stuff will be going quickly?  I also got some hollyhocks in gallon pots and some other perennial too... 

Plan for today is to get the window boxes done... my younger son will help me as I need to get up on a ladder to reach 3 of the 5 ...he hands the plants up to me so I don't have to constantly go up and down the ladder... and then I have 2 large pots to plant up and a couple of small ones and my raised planter ...  if I'm not too tired I'd like to get zinnias that I edge the beds with planted as it has rained a ton the last 2 days and the ground is nice and soft.  But that is probably overdoing it... Rome wasn't built in a day but I'd love to whip my yard into shape in less than 24 hours...LOL... I still have tons of daffodils that need to be cleaned out but they haven't died back enough.... and I'm thinking I'll wait till the end of the month to plant all the new dahlia tubers I bought... and since they haven't all arrived yet that is a real good strategy...

Weather here should be fine... I don't see a single low temperature below the mid 40 for 10 days out... I think we are past any chance of frost... yeah!!

On the stitching front I have a finish... Spring from Prairie Schooler Seasons #50...  

I think I have a tag shaped frame that might work for this...

And I've continued my Mother's Day tradition of starting a new cross stitch piece guilt free... I've done this for several years... I have two charts calling my name ... I painted and dyed linen for them Friday night and I LOVE both pieces... the first one is The Green Pear Band Sampler.... I sprung for the silks for this one...

I painted the linen with a combination of Golden Yellow, Pearl Gray and Tan... loving the splotchy mottled look...

and my second selection is a rather obscure chart by Blackbird Designs called A Tribute...

it is in the book entitled Women of Grace & Charm: A Quilting Tribute to the Women Who Served in WWII... I painted & dyed the linen with Apple Green... I think that monochromatic look is perfect for this piece...

Not sure which one I'm going to stitch on.... and I probably won't get a lot done as the plants are calling my name...

My sewing mojo has returned a bit... had a conversation with a friend last week about blocks that were  made in an exchange and how we hadn't done anything with them. In my case it was a Log Cabin swap done with Bonnie and Camille fabrics from back in 2017... I planned on waiting to put them together anticipating someone coming up with a dynamite setting ... but I never saw one that caught my eye, so I'm going with this layout... 

I'm sewing 4 of the individual swap blocks together with sashing and cute little fussy cut birds as cornerstones... then I'm sashing the GINORMOUS block again, with more cornerstones... and I think I'll add a piano key border out of all of the leftover 2.5" strips I have ...

... and I have enough blocks leftover to do another smaller quilt... don't know if I'll get to that right away... 

Dinner will definitely be carryout from somewhere... I don't have the patience to deal with crowds at a restaurant today... 

Next week is looking fabulous weather wise... temperatures in the 70's and 80's and no rain... although after planting all those flowers I'll be wanting a bit of rain... got another shot of cortisone in my knee and it seems to be helping... still have dental issues... going to have to have another tooth pulled... same story as before... 30 year old dental work that has somehow reached the end of its effectiveness... this one was root canaled and crowned so it ain't coming out easy... I'm doing the IV sedation again and the oral surgeon will prep this and another hole in my mouth for implants... and then there are 2 other implants that I can move ahead on too... glad I got all my house projects done as I hadn't planned on the dental expenses and if I had known I probably wouldn't have spent the money on them... but there's no changing the past and I'm glad I did  them....that raised bed is going to be so much fun to play in... and I need fun to take my mind off the dental issues... ibuprofen is my very close buddy these days. 

I'm so glad that Spring has sprung... I need it for my mental  and physical health... the world is too crazy to deal with some days... actually lots of days... but like fabric stores and cross stitch shops and Mexican restaurants I've never been unhappy playing in the dirt... cheaper than therapy and I have something to show for it...LOL

Hope you are having a marvelous Mother's Day and that the week ahead is wonderful!!!  I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts ... probably won't get time to check things out till later tonight when I'm kicked back in my stitching chair  snuggled up to my heating pad and chasing a couple of ibuprofen with some bubbly water... gosh I live such a fast paced life style....ROFL...not at all!!

Oh here is a planter my younger son got me as a Mother's Day gift... and I added the orange-y petunias... Proven Winners Dreamsicle is the color....

a self portrait in flowers!!!  I LOVE IT!!!

happy stitching-

carol fun