Creeping into Spring on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - another couple of weeks have whizzed by me... my crafty mojo moved from crossstitch to quilting for a while .... and the weather has me all discombobulated.   The weather has been nice... very nice... and it makes me uneasy as it is waaaaaaaaaaaay too early to be this nice in SW Ohio.   Here are the daffodils on the south side of the house... in full bloom...

and I have some of those petite irises in bloom too...

and I can see my hyacinths and alliums coming up.  We've had several record high days in the low 70s... makes me want to get out there and plant stuff!!  But I know all too well that we could get a frost up to the middle of May ... and that is what?  10 weeks from now... that's a long time.... Instead I was in Costco the other day  and they had just put out the bags of dahlias... so I got a few... a couple... oh I got A LOT!!  

I got these...

and these...

and these...

and there is a 10th bag I didn't  photograph.... that makes 80 new dahlia tubers ... oh and I forgot I ordered some online too... somewhere around 40- 50 more... yikes!  I'm not sure how all the tubers in the ground fared with the really bitter cold snap we had... if it hadn't been for those couple of days this winter has so far been very mild. Fingers crossed that they come back....

As for crafty stuff I got 2 quilts done in the past 2 weeks... the first one is a hold over from last year.... this is Vanishing Time done in my beloved Momo fabrics... here's a link to the construction of the block...

now I made mine starting with a 9 patch  block of 5" squares... one with 9 lights and another with 9 darks... I went ahead and cut them into quarter square triangles so I could mix things up more.  When I got done my blocks were about 13"... but they were a bit wonky... there is lots of bias in the middle of these blocks so I trimmed them down to 12.5'.... I ended up putting 1' finished sashing in because it was a pain in the butt to get the intersection points to match... even with the cornerstones and sashing I still had to finagle the corners...but that said... I still like it. Dropped it off at Delinda's last week... staying with the theme of time I chose a panto called Clockwork... 

Then in a burst of manic energy I made this Giant Disappearing 9 Patch with my American Jane fabrics...

This is the 3rd quilt I've made with this pattern. I like it because you start with a 10" square and you can show off those special prints.  For this version I started with a treasured vintage layer cake of Potluck... probably my favorite collection of American Jane as it has the tape measure and little chick prints. I picked out my favorite ones for the 10' blocks and then cut another layer cake in half... the collection called StoryTime... so I had 5" x 10" pieces. I made the 5" "cornerstone" out of the tape measure print in the brown colorway... This quilt is around 85" square and you can make this in a couple of hours. It took me longer to lay out and rearrange the fabrics than it did to sew it together. It went off to Delinda too!

And I've been working on Nick's new quilt... have all of the HSTs made and all the rest of the pieces cut. This block is HUGE!!!  32" square... only need 4 blocks for the top and then some HST sashing...

I've got the 2nd star halfway done....I'm using the pattern Cinnamon Stars which you can see here. 

As for crossstitch I put down the Prairie Schooler 12 Days of Christmas and the Summer House Stitche Workes Fragments in Time 2022 and picked up Blackbird Designs O Joyous Day... 

Very close to finished... have to fill in those flowers at the bottom and there are a couple of rows of satin stitch.  I'm going to replace the "O Joyous Day" with some sort of little phrase... perhaps " My soul is fed by my garden"... somehow those flowers bigger than the house make me think if my house and my yard. I was looking at pictures I took last summer.... by August the house looked like it was going to be swallowed up by the flowers.

Which leads me to what I'm looking forward to getting from the upcoming Nashville Needlework Market. Brenda Gervais has some wonderful charts... .. first is these bunnies... look how dapper he is with his checked pants!

and then these robins... 

I do like my animals nattily dressed...LOL

And this sampler from Teresa Kogut is gorgeous!

Totally reminds me of my home... I may make the house a bit more yellow but those flowers are perfect.

And somehow I think I need this one too...

There should be a version to include fabric and yarn too!  ROFL!!

As for decorating I got all the snowmen decor put away yesterday and my son helped me haul out all my Easter/Spring stuff. Right now I'm surrounded by  66 qt Sterlite bins filled with quilts and knickknacks... anymore I have to keep telling myself "Rome wasn't built in a day" and " Carol, you can't do all the decorating in one day either. "   I have Sunday/Monday/Tuesday to get it done. Elliott's coming on Wednesday and while I love him to pieces I don't need his "help" with this project. 

I did do a couple of small displays for Valentine's Day....

These are the 2 new pieces I did... the top pillow is called February Basket from Cosford Rise Stitchery and 

LOVE is from Calico Confectionery. 

Been thinking... which always gets me into trouble... about life... a sweet neighbor of mine...only 4 years older than me passed away last week from cancer... so sad... and each passing month has me experiencing another ache or pain... finally got some of my dental work done, a bridge... nice to have that chewing surface back, but had pain for about 2 weeks in the tooth it's attached to... has subsided... glad of that. My arthritic left knee is acting up. Trying to hold off on another cortisone shot until its a bit closer to when I can work in the yard.  And my right hand, also arthritis, has been bugging me too... I'm falling apart a piece at a time and I'm feeling old... and I guess I am old. I'll be 70 this year...how did that happen??? Also have had a stretch of time here with money leaving faster than it is coming in... taxes, my teeth and last week I had to get a new set of tires for my car, oh, and new glasses for Nick.  I have the money but it isn't the kind of spending that brings any joy... Hope March can be a quiet and inexpensive month. 

At the moment, the week ahead looks fairly quiet... a semi-annual checkup for my son, and Elliott on Wednesday, and maybe lunch with a friend. I like the quiet weeks... last week got crazy busy and  even  with me re-scheduling  some stuff.   Things have a way of piling up when you're not looking. 

So today I'm going to sit and stitch for a while and watch some Flosstube videos and do a little decorating. Each season I try to move things around a bit but anymore lots of pieces only fit in one spot due to their size. I looked at my displays from last year and I really like what I did then... might not change much around. I do have a new piece or two of cross stitch to add... and a couple more Easter knickknacks. I wanted a new Spring wall quilt for the living room but I never got around to it.. I realize I need to start like 6 months in advance to get things done in time... may still play with the tulip quilt I wanted done... and then it could be done for next year. 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... always pretty things to see there... I hope you have a great week ahead... Spring officially arrives in 22 days... around here the trees are already budding and as I said earlier I already have  nice crop of daffodils... with a forecast of 60 and 70 degree days next week it sure feels like Spring!

happy stitching-

carol fun