Futzing about, fiddling around, and figuring things out on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello ... anybody still here?  It has been several weeks since I posted and as I sit down to write this I'm not sure what I have to share is blogworthy, but it's what I got. I've been futzing about and fiddling around with lots of different things, finding it hard to figure out just what it is I want to do. I certainly have a wide variety of choices... but after a brief period of infatuation the thrill fades ... and from talking with some other friends they've been experiencing this same situation. Is it the summertime blues brought on by the heat?  Maybe...high temperatures are everywhere and here in SW Ohio we also got a dose of high humidity to go along with the 90 degree day... the air you can wear... the only consolation is the rain has helped reduce my water bill as I haven't had to go out and hydrate the gardens... thanks for that Mother Nature... now can you do something about the Japanese beetles?  yeah... I didn't think so.  

And speaking of my gardens, everything is quite lush right now... I'm to that period of summer where it appears that the flowers are overtaking the house... and again I may have jumped the shark where plants are concerned... but as with any addiction more is more... I'm already thinking about next summer and bought some seeds for things I haven't planted before... and I'm trying to collect seeds from what I do have... and I got an email yesterday that soon some places will allow you to pre-order dahlia.... oh my goodness ... I can't resist dahlias... in the past I've been over the moon for the dinner plate varieties, but lately I'm smitten with the pompom ones... this is my new favorite.... LOVE the color and the petal formation...

and a gardening friend turned me on to collarette ones...  here's examples of those... I need some of those next year. 

If you want to get a feel for the scope of my gardens... my house is a corner lot so I have 2 front yards... here are two links to videos I made... I can't for the life of me get them to download to the blog so here they are on IG...

Side yard...

Front yard...

Even though these didn't get a lot of likes IG tells me they were viewed over a thousand times... that's boggles my mind!!

As for creative ventures... still doing a  lot of crossstitch, a little quilting and a bit of knitting... because every 90 degree day needs some handknit wool socks... right? 

I finished Sunnyside Sampler by The Drawn Thread...

I got 1889 Alphabet back from the framer...

And I've made some more progress on Remember Me by Teresa Kogut...

As for the knitting... I finished on pair of socks and started another pair with yarn from a company I haven't heard of before, Jubilee Rellana Flotte sock yarn... you can see the listing  here.   This is a great business for sock yarn. I've ordered from them many many times... always high quality yarn and super fast shipping!

Here's my skeins ... 

and the sock I've started...

On the quilting front, I got the binding completely on  2 quilts and one more just needs the binding sewn down on the front.  I tried to finish up the Scratch quilt, but it the thrill is gone... so it will be returned to it's plastic bin... and in it's place I worked on this Halloween 2 x 4 quilt... this is the freebie pattern tutorial from Film in the Fridge which you can see here... I've made this pattern before with every block a different yellow and a different background... and I think I may want a Christmas version of this too!  I was very happy to finish this last evening... 

now I cut most of the fabrics out over a year ago... each block is a different Halloween print.... 90 blocks in total. It is easy mindless sewing which I'm able to do while watching Elliott... he's got toys down here in my sewing studio and with the 90 degree temps outside the basement is the coolest spot in the house. 

Some of my favorite blocks... I'm using the same spiderweb fabric in each block...

As you can see it starts with light greens, then moves on to yellow-y oranges and orange, fade to purple and finish up with black. and ..I found a perfect back for this in my stash... some 108" wide yellow-y orange ... can't wait to get this to Delinda to have her quilt it.

Those are the things I've been futzing and fiddling with and then there is the BIG project I've been trying to figure out... sooooo I have a birthday coming up in about 6 weeks...one of those BIG ones with a zero as the second digit... and I want to do something special... something BIG... and a friend of mine posted on IG what she did for her BIG birthday, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the idea. Okay... the BIG  birthday number is 70.... how in the h*ll did I get to be this old??? Anyway the birthday gift she gave to herself was the permission to start SEVEN new samplers ... one for each decade... We need to play with and enjoy all the lovely charts and threads and fabrics we have... we ain't getting any younger... and I'm not the only one who'd buying charts like I'm immortal... now her strategy was to start a new sampler and work on it for 4 days... 4 x 7 = 28 days... and there are 30 days in September so I have a little cushion.  So I went through my voluminous stash of patterns and decided on 7 samplers...  I think this is the final cut but it is still subject to change until September. I have some big projects and some smaller ones... I thought that would be a good idea... a bit of a palate cleanser as the month progresses... and all but one of these are from my favorite designers... I've determined what dimensions to cut each piece of linen... I'll be doing all of them on 32 count and I'll be dyeing or painting all the linen... that's my project for August.  I already gathered all the flosses I need except for 2 overdyeds... some of these were partially kitted up and  aging like fine wine ... 

And you can see Marsha's birthday sampler starts here and here. 

So here are my choices in no particular order and I haven't decided what order I will actually stitch them in... maybe I just blindly choice a bag every 4 days and surprise myself!!

1. Red Bird Fraktur by With Thy Needle & Thread... I bought all the flosses for this when it first came out and they were in the bag with the chart. I might make the birds a little redder... the floss is a rust Valdani... and I think the linen will be a pale green with some yellow splotches.

2. Little Red Hen by Blackbird Designs (this chart is in the book Comfort Inn)... this is going to use only one floss... Calico Kitty by Classic Colorworks. I have a piece of a rosy beige linen labelled Cameo Pink but I may add some pinky splotches to it. 

3. Every Opening Flower by With Thy Needle & Thread... for this one I'm thinking a tan linen with splotches of turquoise to play up the turquoise bird and house.

4. Noel Sampler from With Thy Needle & Thread... a nod to Christmas... I'm thinking a mottled pale green to contrast with the red house. 

5. Strawberry Garden from Blackbird Design... oh this one has been in my stash FOREVER... my friend Marcella stitched it a year or two ago and it is gorgeous... I'm thinking pale green linen for this one too.

6. Manon's Garden by Mojo Stitches... a new to me designer... got this  here on Etsy... I like the bits and pieces and the four different borders... my choice  for this one is a pale turquoise linen.

7. Garden Samplers by Prairie Schooler... I could NOT leave out Prairie Schooler... perfect comfort stitching... I've done other PS sampler like this as I love the format... going to do pale green and yellow linen. 

I'm doing that one on the far left...

Now I have no illusions on what the timeframe will be to finish all of these... but it will be easy to pick them back up when I'm in the mood for a change as they will be kitted up and started and those decisions will be done with. 

As for decorating, I put away the patriotic stuff and got out my chickens... I'll show pictures next time as this post is already getting long in the tooth. 

August doesn't look too busy at the moment... as I remember 2 doctor's appointments... one for me and one for Nick as we had to find a new primary care physician... the one we saw left the practice because of health issues... I'm sad as we've seen her for years, I really like here,  and I'm concerned about her ... she's only mid 40s and the last 2 times we saw her I suspected something was wrong... she'd taken a couple of bad falls and was having trouble walking... not sure the cause but it can't be good... I keep her in my prayers... I'm hoping the heat subsides a little... no more 90's would be good. I'm dealing with some household projects... got a new ceiling fan installed in Nick's room... Dan the handyman put it up but I had to get an electrician to straighten out the wiring... picked up a new bathroom faucet and hand held shower... Dan can replace these but I need a plumber to deal with the tub drain... I finally got tired of having a sore back every morning and broke down and bought a new mattress set... should be here next Saturday... my aching back will be soooo happy!!

And yes that was probably more info on my life than you needed but as I've said before this has become a diary of my life... 

I hope things are going well in your life...  the seasons and the years race by...I've been thinking a lot about that lately... my parents both died young... my Mom was 47, my Dad 52... my only sibling died at 63... both of my grandmothers lived into their 80's... I'm hoping to emulate them... fingers crossed. So let's seize the day and do some fun stuff!!  Even though I'm buying crafty stuff like I'm immortal, I'm well aware that I'm not!!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and see what other trouble I can get into...

happy stitching-

carol fun 

A Plethora of Patriotic on a Slow Sunday...

Well the days fly by don't they?  Half a year gone... poof!   And while some days are quite productive, other days are a bust... so many things I want to do and so many distractions. Social media...  Instagram, YouTube, blogs,  the internet in general... a blessing and a curse.  I keep finding new things I want to do and I'm wasting time looking at stuff rather than doing stuff... the last couple of weeks have seen some finishes, but not as much as I had hoped... but then realistically I never get as much done as I want to... because I want to do it ALL!! 

And then there is the weather... not sure why it affects me more the older I get but gray and rainy day do not help my mood... and as I write this on Saturday  it is gray and very rainy...and it is forecast to continue this weather pattern for several days...now I  know my lawn and flowers will appreciate the water... and my water bill will particularly impacted... which I could use... as last month I totally spazzed out and let a hose run for 24 hours... which my bill reflected... acckkk!! 

So lets try to move past that and  start out with some stuff that got done... Spoiler alert... there are several tangents... my focus here is fuzzy... anyway...  I got all of my patriotic cross stitch FFO'd... in fact I even did one more piece that I didn't show last time I was here... a group shot...

and some close-ups.

This is Star Spangled Spectacular by With Thy Needle & Thread... I stitched this on 32 ct linen I painted with very diluted Rit Dyes in Lemon Yellow and Evening Blue. I lucked out and found this frame at Hobby Lobby 50% off and it is a perfect fit and color. 

This snippet of Eagle from  Sheepish Design got a pillow finish with some red tinsel trim.

And the little lady, also from the Eagle chart  got a vintage looking button . 

Lady Liberty from It's Sew Emma got a bit of pompom trim. 

And here's how they look  scattered  in among my displays...

Stars & Stripes from Blackbird Designs...the eagle is a snippet from WTN&T Summer in Baltimore, Betsy Ross is  another snippet from the Sheepish Designs chart called Betsy. 

Some vintage Longaberger , a Debbie Mumm plate and my recent WTN&T finish Star Spangled Spectacular.

I refer to this couple as Ole and Lena... they are another WTN&T pattern called Farmyard Parade and Flagmaker  a freebie from Not Forgotten Farms. 

This is my big display shelf unit and it is really stacked and packed. 

At the top..

at the tippy top the Welcome Summer from The Drawn Thread... a tangent here... I realized the other day that I've done this one Winter and Fall but not Spring... I need to rectify that situation before March 2024... I'll put that on my to- do list...LOL

Moving down... Flag Folk by Not Forgotten Farm, a partial stitch  of Liberty Dwells from With Thy Needle & Thread and July from Prairie Schooler... I'm still in love with that little Uncle Sam shelf sitter I picked up last year at Michaels...another tangent... I've seen very little knickknack stuff lately that is catching my eye... perhaps this is a good thing as I do have A LOT of knickknacks... I love Jim Shore stuff and actually talked myself out of a new little patriotic piece he has because... gasp... I walked around and couldn't figure out where I would put it... 

Okay back to the shelves... on the platform with the house is a freebie, Liberty Star from Samplers & Santas,  below in the truck is a piece from WTN&T  Red, White and Bloom, the pillow from Eagle by Sheepish Designs. In the middle Grand Olde Flag by WTN&T and on the grater Libby by Heart in Hand. 

Another tangent... the other day I went looking for a WTN&T chart I'd seen on IG... I thought I had it but it turns out I don't... but that's not the story... I have a TON of WTN&T patterns and I separated out the ones I've stitched... and I have stitched a TON of them...  no matter how much I stitch I always think I haven't done that much... but I guess I really have... last time I counted I have somewhere around 80 samplers hanging on my walls... and I live in a small house...surrounded by the stuff I love... aren't I lucky? and a bit crazy?  LOL

Bottom shelf... the little soldiers, another chart called Liberty by Birds of a Feather and Uncle Sam  with his flag waving gal from Red, White & Bloom by WTN&T and Hurrah from Pineberry Lane. 

But wait, like that Ginsu knife informercial,  there's more... 

I really like this arrangement of smalls in my TV cabinet.

That little gal from Eagle is tucked in with the bicycles and that's Colonel Sammy in the basket, a freebie from Not Forgotten Farms and below some Lizzie Kate... 

Looking across the room some patriotic quilts...

The tier tray...

A piece from The Drawn Thread who's name escapes me, oh wait, found it, it's called Free and Brave,  a snippet from Hurrah and the new Lady Liberty from It's Sew Emma.   Another cute shelf sitter... you don't see too much Lady Liberty stuff and I do like it... and a bit of Jim Shore...who I also like... a lot! To be honest, I'm not thrilled with this tier tray... but I'm also not motivated to do much more at the moment... 

I had hoped to get the Sunnyside Sampler done... close but no cigar... but in my defense I did a lot of patriotic stitching and I picked up the Remember Me Sampler by Teresa Kogut.  I started Sunnyside back in February. It is 63 stitches high and 315 stitches wide... on 32 ct that makes it ....  Definitely a BIG project. 

I have one house and one section of over one still to do... and while I tell myself that is a day's worth of stitching, that's a lie... those houses had have a lot of detail and stitching... new goal is to finish by the end of this week so I can start something new... or maybe pick up something that's already started... what a novel concept... LOL

Oh here's a pic of Primitive Lady by Ewe & Eye & Friends all framed ...

I really like this frame... which is a very good thing as it was a pricey one... I misheard the amount and didn't realize until after I they swiped my credit card how much this was... not going into details but in the future I will pay closer attention. Lesson learned. 

Well  I was planning on adding some quilt pictures but the weather outside isn't cooperating for some glamour shots, so I'll wait till my next post... I think I've  already overstimulated you enough.

Planning a on quiet 4th of July on my part... some burgers on the grill and corn on the cob and watermelon an a cold salad or too. I anticipate that the neighborhood fireworks could be quite long and loud because as of this year they are legal in Ohio... and they were plenty long and loud even when they weren't. 

After the rain lets up I'll go out and check the garden. I've gotten some dahlia blooms from tubers I put in the ground... here's a couple ...

 The yard dahlias are looking good... and so far they are one of the few things I can count on not being eaten... the deer this year are ravenous... they've pruned my hydrangeas and my window box petunias.  

And I got a new little guy in my life...

 He's about 2 ft tall... right now he's sporting petunias as a hair do but I have plans for other styles... maybe some wild grass or succulents... he's gonna be fun to have around... 

I've got nothing big planned for the upcoming month... a semi-annual eye doctor appointment... I'll be hoping for a cloudy day as they will dilate my eyes... I did break down and get a steroid shot in my right thumb  a couple of days ago... so far, its better than it was but still have some occasional pain... but at least I'm not icing it while trying to cross stitch...that's a good thing. 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... I really appreciate those who still coordinate compilations of blogs...  my plan for today and as many days as I can is to sit on the sunroom porch, watch the birds and stitch, stitch stitch...

Hope your 4th of July is SPECTACULAR!!

happy stitching-

carol fun