New Year but same old me on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - well we are into 2023 and things are pretty much the same around here. We did have a spell of wonderful weather... temps in the 60s, positively Spring-y... so  nice... perhaps Mother Nature's apology for trying to freeze us to death two weeks prior?   But now we are back to "normal"... the temperature isn't so bad but waaaaay too many gray days... I NEED to see the sun!!!

And that will conclude my weather rant for today... 

I started out the New Year following a tradition I've had for years... I spent the day doing stuff I want to do all year... so I crossstitched, I sewed some quilt blocks, I knitted, I did some online shopping and I went out to eat... it was a positively perfect day I'd like to repeat 364 more times!!

As for what I've been doing... well I got all the Christmas stuff put away and it took a while as I did some major purging. I was motivated to clean out several closets too as I had some minor house damage from that "bomb cyclone". Took a giant load to donate and helped my son sort out at lot of his stuff... turns out he's a bit of an accidental hoarder. We discovered 5 pairs of brand new sneakers and 4 pairs of brand new slippers...now this was totally unintentional as he had put the items in a closet and forgotten he had them. He won't need any new footwear for a while. And the cleaning out and reorganizing lead to donations at the local library and more space in the house... good things!

I've been working on this shawl ... the pattern is Be Simple Variation... free here on Ravelry.  The yarn is Uneek Fingering from Urth  Yarns... I love this yarn and have bought it in several colorways... and if I knew which colorway this is I'd tell you but I lost the ball band .... sheesh...  The changing colors keep me motivated to keep knitting... don't know if you can see it, but I'm  looking forward to getting to that purple swath...

I got the Prairie Schooler 12 Days of Christmas started... 

I outlined stitched several blocks and then got to work on this one... all it needs is legs and some leaves... then I'm going to drop down and do the block underneath. Since I stitch in hand I like to work from the right to the left so I'm only holding the unstitched parts.

I want to do one to two blocks a month so it can be framed in November.... I think that's  very doable... but we shall see, won't we?

I've also been stitching seasonal smalls and got some finished yesterday...these two are both from the Prairie Schooler No. 134...

I added them to two other Prairie Schooler snowmen had already stitched...

and now I have a "melt" of snowmen!  Did you know that is the collective name for a group of snowmen?  I just learned this the other day... but luckily these guys won't ever melt!

I have a love/hate relationship with this linen... it is 32 ct opalescent that I dyed... love the sparkly snowy look but it is hard to stitch on... my needle catches on those sparkly bits as they are a plastic thread... but it is worth the effort overall...

My Prairie Schooler kick continued,  and I did this snowman too... I forget which leaflet he came from... I think one that had  Santas  and snowmen...

And I did  these pieces from the With Thy Needle and Thread book The Snow Ball...

Gluing on that pompom trim wasn't fun... I thought it would look like little snowballs... but it kept getting wobbly... so I'm not totally happy with the finish but it is done for now... 

This little display is tucked into the telephone niche in the hallway... it is original to the house and I love it!!  My contractor want to tear it out and drywall the spot... glad I didn't let him do it. This is right between the bathroom and my bedroom so I go by it numerous times a day. All the cute snowman knickknacks were a gift from a dear friend... the designer is Johanna Parker... I love the pastel colors and vintage vibe!

I was able to sew the Bright Ornament blocks into rows last Tuesday when Elliott was here... my thanks go out to Legos and Paw Patrol for keeping him occupied...LOL.. I'll take another picture when it is all together... might get that done today...

My biggest accomplishment, other than the tossing of stuff and re-organzing, was I got out all my snowman decor... and as you know there are a LOT of snowmen!!

Here's the porch... I didn't purposely try to make it primarily monochromatic, but I like it!

I'm thinking this display could use a small crossstitched  piece tucked in on those lower shelves....hmmmm...

And I like the Momo quilts out there...

And I have Momo in my bedroom too..

I do LOVE LOVE LOVE Momo, but the older stuff... with the 70's vibe. Her last couple of collections have been too pastel for my taste. Glad I have a nice stash of her fabrics in the colorways and prints I like.

So plans for the rest of the month include stitching another block on the 12 Days of Christmas,  getting that ornament quilt off to Delinda to be quilted and starting a new quilt... and it isn't one that was on my list of quilts I wanted to sew this year, but it's an old idea that has returned and it demand attention...NOW!!  

I've got a bit more purging to do and have a dental appointment for some bridge work, my finance guy is coming by for  a semi-annual review, lunch plans with the girls,  and my oldest son's 38 birthday (how did he get so old?? Actually the correct question is how did I get so old??)

 Also hoping to wrap up a  house issues...

Have had Dan the handyman here several days fixing some stuff up and putting in a new door from my breezeway to the garage. The door that is there is just a wood slab, and I suspect is it original to the house which makes it 70 years old. It has been swelling and warping and it is so hard to get open I'm afraid that I won't be able to close it...yikes... so Dan and I went to Home Depot and bought a new metal insulated door...  he hung it and  has to come back tomorrow to finish up the framing and put in the lock ... it still needs to be painted... but the weather needs to be warmer for that... 

And if you stuck with me through that ramble, reward yourself with some chocolate!

So I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts  today and spend some time seeing what others are up to... I've got plenty to keep me busy but always looking to see what is new and different to play with!

happy stitching-

carol fun