Sunday, June 11, 2023

What to do?... what to do?... on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello all ... I planned on posting last week but while the spirit was willing, the flesh said, naaah... I've been putzing with lots of different things because I can't make up my mind and settle on  anything.  Mentioned this to 2 friends and they each are having a similar time... what do I want to do?  So many projects I could do... do I start something new?... always fun... do I continue to work on one of many projects sitting right next to my stitching chair.?.. or do I work on something the was started quite a while ago and left hanging? Well I did a little of each...because I CAN'T make up my mind.

I'm very happy that Nick's quilt is off to Delinda to be longarmed... I can work on any project I want... I have some cool J. Wecker Frisch Halloween fabrics sitting on my cutting table... I have this current collection, The Queen of We'en... and an older collection that goes great with it.  Thinking of simple blocks with purple sashing....hmmmm...

and I tracked down the background yardage I want for the Tulip Market pattern from Coriander Quilts. I wanted this print with the little yellow tulips from Corey Yoder's Pepper & Flax collection which was out several years ago. Gonna make all the tulips scrappy tone on tone yellows similar to this one...

Won't this be fabulous on my bed next Spring?  That's my dream, LOL. 

Then I ventured into my root cellar/quilt fabric closet where I have numerous UFO projects housed in plastic bins... thought about the one with the Basic Grey Mon Ami fabrics and the Lantern pattern by Amy Ellis... love that green Grunge...last time this one saw the light of day was 2016... thank goodness those plastic bins keep everything clean and fresh!  LOL

and then this box pretty much fell on my head... I took it as a sign ... it is the Scratch quilt from the Book Schnibbles Times 2  and the fabric is  Sew and Sew by Chloe's Closet ... another UFO from 2016... obviously I was a great starter back in '16... not much of a finisher....anyway I had a lot of this one already assembled. I had 3 of the 4 strips with the 4 patches done and the 4th was all pinned in order ready to sew. The Roman Coin strips were pretty much all cut and sewn into groups of 8 or 9... and I love the sherbet-y color and all the vintage looking sewing prints of this collection!

Soooo Tuesday when I was babysitting Elliot he wanted to play in the basement and that gave me a lot of time to sew... the TV I had mounted on the wall is paying big dividends... he had his trucks and Legos all over the floor and watched Paw Patrol and GoGoDinos and something with a robot called Blaze... not sure all the details but it kept him happy while I played with this quilt. 


It will get a border of that yellow fabric on all four sides... I  thought about making it smaller but I have everything cut out and in the box there is even fabric for the back... this glorious vintage collage sewing print... I LOVE IT!!


Now this piece looks like swiss cheese because I fussy cut different Roman coin pieces from it... I have yardage to make the back with. It was nice to sew in the basement when the temp outside was pushing 90... too hot for the beginning of June...IMHO.


As for crossstitch... I got the Ewe & Eye & Friends Primitive Lady off to the framer. Told myself I should return to the Drawn Thread Sunnyside piece... and I did for a little bit...


since I last showed this I got the cat and part of that tree done... a meager amount of stitching...oh well...but then I wandered off and picked up 1889 Alphabets by Needlework Press... started this one last year and then just let it languish ...and now it is done!  I changed the flosses around... switched the red and turquoise..


and  added my name and this year's date.  Had planned on displaying this on a spool.. but you'd only see part of it... so I think I'm going to have it framed instead.  It is 27" long but only about 4" high.  When Prim Lady is ready I could take this one in... 

And  then I stumbled on the #redwhiteandjune  hashtag on Instagram and thought why not work on a new small or two for July... so I did... this one is  from a new pattern from Sew Emma called Patriotic TypeFace... isn't she cute!

I want to do Uncle Sam that is in the pattern too... 32 ct linen dyed with Rit Lemon Yellow. 

Which led me to pawing through a bag of patriotic patterns and I found this piece started... it is from Sheepish Designs called Eagle...

now it is  suppose to be a bigger sampler ... and when I started I planned and doing the whole thing... but I changed my mind and stopped with the alphabet and eagle and some stars... it will make a nice pillow. 

While cutting down the Eagle piece I still wanted to do the little flag waving girl at the bottom... so I did.



 I still had more scraps of that yellow linen so I did this freebie from Lizzie Kate I found on Pinterest...  remember Pinterest? 


 I use to spend hours and hours and hours there... then I got sucked into Instagram where I spend way too much time scrolling and scrolling and scrolling... trying to curtail my screen time ans spend it more productively with stitching... I need some parental controls... LOL. And I will need to be productive and get these little pieces FFO'd. 


As I alluded to earlier we've been having some hot weather... and NO RAIN... my water meter is running like a slot machine to keep up.  The marigolds and the little zinnas are having a hard time getting started. So far the petunias are hanging in there with twice a day watering... the dahlias are showing signs of life and I got my first bloom last week... 



this one was in the ground and got no special attention... love the color but have no clue what the name of it is.  The squirrels/bunnies/deer are still a problem... some geraniums and petunias got snacked on... been spraying with repellents on a regular basis. Have some buds on my hydrangea and rose bushes and if I don't spray they will be eaten... grrrr... had a brief rain shower last Tuesday  and a forecast of some rain today, fingers crossed...  we haven't had any substantial rain in over 3 weeks!!! My grass is crispy... and I hate to water the lawn... 

I've been dragging my feet to re-fresh my decor... decided to just change out a couple of cross stitch pieces and leave it alone till maybe next week ... think I'll break out my patriotic stuff a bit earlier than I normally do. Then in August I'll do garden stuff and chickens... that's the plan at the moment. 

I have been enjoying time out on the sunroom porch... even with the hot temps there has been a little breeze and I run the fan too. I can sit and watch videos on my laptop and stitch and watch the birds.  I resorted to dousing my bird seed with Cole's Flaming Hot Squirrel Sauce again and it has worked wonders. Instead of filling up the feeders almost every other day, I've gone almost a week. No chipmunks eating the pricey safflower seed and I've only seen one squirrel at the feeder... he obviously a salsa lover... stupid squirrel!!

Quiet week coming up... Elliott and his parents are on vacation in Minnesota.  May go check out the local Homerama Urban Edition and the new immersive Monet show next week.  The Monet exhibit is like the Van Gogh one my kids took me too in Indy a year or so ago. I LOVED it, so I'm betting this will be lovely too and it has the added benefit of being in downtown Cincinnati, instead of an 3 hr round trip away. I think I might make reservations at a nice restaurant downtown  to cap off the day.  A little excitement but not too much... perfect for my tastes. 

Hope things are well with you... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts... gonna stitch a little and maybe go out to dinner... nothing definite yet. 


happy stitching-

carol fun