Working on moving in a positive direction on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello... well I've spent the last couple of weeks recuperating from the September I don't want to remember... some days better than others but ... fingers crossed here... seem to be on a positive trajectory the last week or so.  I spent one day doing a bit of fabric cutting and sewing but that mojo left the building since then... have been doing some knitting... picked up a shawl I started last year... not done yet but closer to a finish... primarily I've been cross stitching... it is what is making me happy at the moment.

Let's start off with a finish... Autumn Sampler from Prairie Schooler... 

I am soooooo HAPPY with this piece... sorry the picture isn't great but trust me  IRL this is so pretty!! It is at the framers as we speak... hopefully get it back next week.

I stuck with my decision to skip putting out Halloween decor this year... going to move onto Thanksgiving stuff later this week... and to add a few small pieces to my display, I stitched a trio of turkeys!

From left to right ... Thanksgiving Holiday Hoopla by With Thy Needle & Thread... a tiny turkey taken from the Autumn Alphabet by Lizzie Kate... and the turkey from the chart November by Emily Call ... and yes I do plan on FFOing the 2 bigger turkeys in hoops and I want to make the little guy into a small pillow...

here's a close up of each of these cuties!

Thanksgiving Holiday Hoopla..

Autumn Alphabet tiny turkey...

November turkey...

I used left over scraps of 32 count linen I'd dyed or painted ...along with fully finishing these pieces I found a couple more  autumn-y pieces I stitched last year and didn't make into anything... maybe I'll get a couple of those completed too... maybe...

I am enjoying my Autumn displays... as I sit here in my chair I can see the centerpiece on my table... 

and the bargain roses I got at the grocery store yesterday in a vintage McCoy pottery vase...

and the top part of my big display shelf...

and it makes me happy...it brings to mind the quote by William Morris... '

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

And while lots of things in my house may not be exactly useful they are beautiful to me!!   and that concludes the deep thinking portion of this post...LOL

So with the Fall stitching concluded I moved onto Christmas... can hardly believe I'm starting this early... and even with the extra time I'm sure I won't get everything stitched that I want... to start I pulled out a piece that was a freebie from WTNT in 2020.. which is when I started it... and I pulled it out in 2021 and 2022 ... but now it is finished... or as finished as it's going to be as I left off the top border and some trees...hey it is my interpretation... LOL...

This is a 32 count opalescent linen I dyed with Rit dye... Evening Blue as I recall... I love the sparkly bits in this linen but I'm not fond of actually stitching on it... and somehow I forget that every time I dye a piece of it... as for the string of lights Santa is holding... well it gave me fits... you are suppose to do colonial knots and I forget how they differ from French knots but either way mine looked bad... really wonky and BAD... so I decided to go in a different direction ... here's a close up...

These are little gem lights I got at Hobby Lobby... they were on a display with card making supplies... they looked like this before I peeled them off...

Yes,  I might have to reapply them after I make this into a little pillow but as you can see I have replacements.

And feeling buoyed by this finish I pulled out more Christmas stitching stuff focusing on Prairie Schooler ...because as we all know Prairie Schooler makes me HAPPY!!

Here are some of my Christmas PS charts... and there are more I didn't pull out of my stash...

I honed in on the Santas  for now and snowmen for January... see even more thinking ahead... unbelievable!!

I found this guy I stitched last year... he's tiny... about 2.25" tall...

still needs something at the end of his hat... I'm thinking maybe a little bell and instead of stitching snowflakes I may go back to Hobby Lobby and get some little snowflake buttons...

He's from this chart...

and my current plan is to stitch at least 5 of these guys to put into a little tray as the centerpiece for my table this year... and I'm going to make a new table runner too... I got big  well maybe medium sized plans!!

And I'm really smitten with these angels...

I want to stitch them on a deep turquoise background instead of the black... I'd like to do the one with the dove and the one with the flower... 

Oh I just remembered I purchased some French Christmas charts .... Brodeuses Parisiennes...  you can see my selection here...  last year I bought another packet of these charts but had to pay a huge amount in postage... this time I found this shop and on lots of the charts  the postage is free... and free is for me!! Just checked the tracking and this shipped from France... I should have it the end of the week... woo hoo!

So I have plenty to keep me busy...now to keep me from mindlessly scrolling through IG... I need someone to come and take my phone from me some days...

Next week will definitely have some changes in weather for us here in SW Ohio... rainy for the next few days and when the sun returns highs only in the 50's... last week my son helped me clean out most of the flower bed in the front yard... we still have to work on the side yard and I haven't touched the raised bed with the dahlias which look pitiful... I've neglected them and we've had a couple of windy windy days that blew a bunch of them over... and I have some more alliums and daffodils I need to get into the ground... the trees right now are gorgeous... I LOVE Fall!... and I'm so lucky to live in a neighborhood that still has some old trees... trees that are 70 to 80 years old... since I've lived in this house... 10 years now... I've planted 4 trees and if there was more space in my yard I'd do more...but I've run out of space...sigh... 

I hope that everyone is doing well... trying to block out as much as possible the turmoil that is covering this world... I'm only listening to the news selectively and doing a lot of praying... so many people to pray for... 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today and I'll spend some time seeing what everyone else is up to... and I'm going to do some stitching... happy little Santas!!

happy stitching-

carol fun