Hello - well I kinda wandered off, didn't I? I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving. Perhaps someone brought you a LARGE pumpkin pie... LOL
I've been busy, but don't have a lot of finished stuff to show for my time... going through an extended period of "just can't focus"... My sainted Father use to say "you bounce around like a BB in a box car" ... and that describes EXACTLY the situation I find myself in... now I attribute a lot of it to some health issues which seem to take turns driving me nuts... I'm not going to bore you with details... but I could... I'll just leave it at, getting old sucks and this seems to be the year I'm really feeling it... but you didn't come to hear me dither on about my aches and pains...
So let me talk your ear off about other things... this is a long post... so maybe get a nice beverage and let me ramble on about stuff...like my decorating for November..
I know lots of people go straight from Halloween to Christmas decor, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE doing Thanksgiving stuff... I think turkeys are cute... the Fall version of chickens! And I have a nice collection of Thanksgiving themed knickknacks and cross stitch... here goes!
Small shelf display...
here's my latest FFO'd piece... the cornucopia is a snippet from Prairie Schooler No. 146 Autumn Samplers...nothing like Prairie Schooler for comfort stitching...
Below I have more Lizzie Kate, the Quaker Pumpkin from The Stitcherhood and The Flower Pot Sampler which is From the Heart Needleart.
I did a couple of tier tray displays... this has one turkey from Stone Street Stitchworks and another from Heart in Hand.
The second tier tray has a plethora of yellow pumpkins and two little pieces from Pineberry Lane.
The large display shelf unit...
it has Blackbird Design's Feast of Friendship and my newest acquisition from Hobby Lobby, that coppery turkey... who is simultaneously large and skinny... LOL ... the little turkey was a freebie but I forgot from whom... and the little pillow is BBD Waiting for Harvest... where I changed the colors and make it symmetrical... which made me happy! Below a little PS turkey, and Turkey Hill Farm from Ewe & Eye and Friends, November from Prairie Schooler and Ever So Grateful from Threadwork Primitives.
The shelf below has Fall Most of All from Calico Confectionery and a little pin pillow from Pineberry Lane and Bittersweet September from BBD.
And after basking in the glow of these displays for a month of so, I've come to the conclusion that next year I should stitch more turkey smalls... and I already bought a couple of patterns... because like chickens, you can't have too many turkeys!
So I'm happy with the two small Thanksgiving finishes but a whole lot of dithering followed. I think I've picked up a half a dozen different projects... and only one tiny piece is completely stitched ...oh wait I just noticed it's missing a stitch... drat... anyway, I'll walk you through this parade of wrinkly projects...
First thing I was working on was the Mystery Sampler from Lizzie Kate... I stayed with this one the longest but I had to put it in time out. First I kept making mistakes... counting mistakes, wrong color floss mistakes, trying to fudge stuff to cover mistakes. I'm off one or two stitches on the border... so I made it longer... but as I was stitching this something dawned on me... and yes I'm not very observant here... this ISN'T a sampler by my definition... my definition says a piece should include an alphabet ... and there isn't one here... and yet that didn't really truly occur to me for like two weeks!!! And I'm not sure I even like this piece anymore. I decided to forgo the polymer clay buttons that came with the kit... tooooo PINK... maybe some hibernation will help this one.... And I kept telling myself that I wanted to work on a sampler...
But I didn't... instead I picked up this piece, a freebie from Brenda Gervais last Christmas called Merry & Minty... and this is almost done... needs just a few details... not sure why I put it down again, but it wasn't a sampler and I was craving some sampler stitching...
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But this shiny thing popped up and I had to play with it... isn't he a cute Santa? He's a snippet from the pattern Christmas Stamps by Artmishka Crossstitch... here's a link to the pattern. There are 7 cute Santas and I'd like to stitch all of them...and I noticed I'm missing one stitch on his hat ... and I'm going to add pom pom or a bell to the end of his hat.... These are cute and without the postage stamp border and stitching them on a colored linen they don't take long, but I stopped after one because I really wanted to stitch on a sampler...
So I picked up this one Red Bird Sampler by With Thy Needle & Thread... it has Sampler right in the title... perfect, right? I love the red birds on this turquoise linen... but when I really looked at the chart there wasn't an alphabet!! And I contemplated just tossing this till I found a note I had left myself inside the pattern booklet... it said "add an alphabet at the bottom"... and I did! Well I have almost half the alphabet ... it's going to span 2 rows and there should be room for my initials and a date... happy happy happy that this is a going to be a sampler to fit my definition, buuuuutttt... then my craving turned to I want to do a Christmas sampler...
And here's where I am now... this is Christmas Joy from Barbara Ana Designs. I started this last year... maybe the year before that... anyway... I've made significant progress ... and I plan on finishing it this week as I ordered a frame from it from Amazon which should be here tomorrow... it will look great out on the sunroom porch which I'm decorating in pink and mint green and aqua with some retro touches...
I'm typing this on Saturday evening... which doesn't feel like a Saturday, but it is... It has been a very productive day today... I got my window boxes all decorated for Christmas and the winter season. I filled them will little fake pine trees and greenery and added some sparkly discs that look like giant candies and some little solar lights that look like candles... I'll take some pictures for my next post.
And I've gotten ALL my Fall decor taken down, boxed up and returned to the basement storage room!! Credit for all the toting up and down the steps goes to my younger son, Nick ... I couldn't do it without him. He's already gotten out the Christmas quilts and they are all over the living room... my last count put me at around 25 Christmas quilts... and I made 3 more this season... can you tell I LOVE Christmas stuff? Anyway tomorrow I'm going to get out the rest of the decorations, and by I, I mean Nick will bring them upstairs... I have tomorrow and Monday open and I'd like to be finished by Monday night as I'll have Elliott here on Tuesday... it will be interesting to see if he bothers the tree... he's been pretty good with my knickknacks so far... some things I let him touch and other things I tell him no... so far so good...nothing has been broken.
The older I get, the faster the months go... now some of the days seem quite long, but the months just zoom by. Only 28 days till Christmas...yikes... I do have pretty much of my shopping done, but I don't have a lot of people to shop for. I want to make some cards and some little gifts and nothing is wrapped... and I'm looking forward to Nick making fudge... he really got into it last year and it was delicious and he picked up all the ingredients last week... Right now the upcoming week looks pretty calm... I babysit Elliott on Tuesday, and on Saturday night so his mom can attend a Christmas party and his dad can go to a college football game. I'm going to try to keep busy as it gets my mind off any aches and pains. The weather's been pretty nice and we should get some rain this week... we could use a little and it is better than snow...
I hope your week is looking good... I'm looking forward to having the house done up for Christmas and having a month to really enjoy it... and I'm ruminating about crafty plans for 2023... as the last couple of weeks have shown I definitely want to stitch more samplers... I've gotten away from them in the last couple of years doing seasonal stuff. I'd like to add some smalls to each season but I want to do some "real" samplers... as for quilting... a new quilt for Nick is top of my list... and I have a Momo quilt I'd like to get back to, and I have a kit for the Tilda Embroidery Flower quilt... you can see it here... I want to do that for Spring... and I have a ton of low volume fabrics I want to play with... and some American Jane fabrics too! I know I won't run out of things to do... just need to focus!!
Well if you've made it the end ...and you need to congratulate yourself with something sweet to go with the beverage you started with... sorry I talked your ear off...
I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today and I know I'll find some time to see what everyone else is up to... always lots of inspiration!
happy stitching-
carol fun
You can talk my ear off anytime, Carol! What a wonderful post to read this morning. So many lovely things in your displays! Lovely projects you have been working on as well. Love the blue fabrics you used for some of your stitches. Where do you find your Jim Shore pieces?
ReplyDeleteCarol, as always I so enjoy your posts...lots of eye candy and inspiration! Sorry you've been having 'aging' issues and I agree that getting old sucks, but as the saying goes 'it's better than the alternative'! Enjoy your holiday decorating, can't wait to see the results!
ReplyDeleteWonderful read! I too have been having difficulty focusing the last month or so and nothing on any front is making progress. Sigh. Your movement from stitchery to stitchery sounds like me and quilts! So glad you have helpers to lug the decorations where you want them. My kids are heading to their Grandmothers to do that and help decorate today. Enjoy your week.
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful Thanksgiving decorations you've set up this year!! I can't wait to see how you do-up la casa por Navidad (I get carried away with all sorts of Christmas greetings sometimes!! hahaha)
ReplyDeleteI don't have a lot of Christmas quilts just two--I gave all the others away--(and why? you may ask--really!!) I found a lovely small Primitive-y Santa one I will set up for the New Year to work on.
[After Mom passed I just couldn't even face Christmas much--but it's been 7 years now and I am beginning to enjoy the holiday seasons once more...] See, you're not the only one who can talk someone's ear off--must be the Irish in me.. [so full of blarney].
You have done some beautiful works on your stitcheries...
I hope you enjoy the upcoming season despite the aging issues -Better to be looking down on the grass is my motto!!
Hugs, Julierose
I do love seeing your lovely displays. There are always so many treasures and tiny delights tucked away on your shelves. You made me smile with the recurring lament, I want go stitch a sampler! And you finally did, on pink and blue dyed cloth, it looks do nice and festive.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I've seen you're blog. I love it. There's so much to see. We are kindred spirits. I could so relate when you mentioned aging, and when you talked about fudging your stitches to cover your mistakes and how after two weeks you discover it's not even a sampler so it doesn't matter anyway. That could've been written by me!!!
ReplyDeleteI, too love Thanksgiving and turkeys and the pilgrim's too. They're getting harder and harder to find. Your ahead of me, I've got my decorations taken down and put in tubs but there still sitting in my living room. Hubby isn't one to rush these things
Love the inflatable guy with pie for the yard! i agree about some Thanksgiving decorations--it's my favorite holiday--it shouldn't get passed over. As usual you inspire me to decorate for the seasons-alas, I haven't managed it yet, however, I am doing a lot more cross stitch every time I see your beautiful projects I realize I've got to schedule more time for stitching. I hope your foggy thinking clears up soon so that you can 100% enjoy your family and the holidays.
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