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...
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...
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.
I enjoyed your post. The halloween quilt is really cute--I love the spider web print as the glue holding all the other prints together. I was very interested in your way of celebrating turning 70. What a great idea that your friend had and that you are also planning. You will enjoy this so much.
ReplyDeleteSo many lovely projects! I adore your Halloween quilt! And the Sunnyside Sampler needs to be on my "to stitch" list!
ReplyDeleteI love it when you post on your blog! I follow you on instagram but the blog posts are more chatty. I love to see all of your lovely needlework and quilting. I really admire your dahlias. If I ever get to retire I'm definitely having garden flowers!
ReplyDeleteYour yards are the most beautiful yards I've ever seen. You definityly have a very green thumb.
ReplyDeleteYou already know how much I love everything you do i.e. quilting, knitting, x-stitching, etc.
I swear I've become either a squirrel or humming bird - running and flying from one project to another. As long as we're having fun who cares. LOL
Lots of beautiful projects! Your flowers are gorgeous. We are in the 90's still for most of the week, and then back into the 100's by Friday. Happy stitching!
ReplyDeleteBoy, those orange cannas are giants. So delightful!
ReplyDeleteWith a BIG birthday coming up, of course you need to celebrate it in stitching style! I'm sure your family with celebrate with you too, perhaps a lovely lunch or dinner out somewhere nice and a cake as well?
ReplyDelete