Spent more time prepping food on Wednesday than I had anticipated. Thursday rolled around and I was in full klutz mode. Chopped a cup of onions for the stuffing. I hate chopping onions as I always cry... cup was sitting on counter next to sink... turned around and bumped the cup into the sink... arrgghh... luckily I had another onion I could chop.
Then I went out to the garage when I have shelves with extra canned goods, etc. to get some chicken stock for the stuffing. Picked up a box and knocked a bottle of teriyaki marinade on the floor... where it exploded all over my pajamas (hey it was still early) and my socks and sandals (cause I'm classy that way) and the garage floor... sticky sticky sticky... if I still had the outside hose connected I would have squirted it off ... but I already put the hose away for the season ... so I mopped it up the best I could. From then on that day I had someone else handle picking up stuff that I could possibly drop...like the prime rib roast...yikes it was pricier this year than last...and while I wasn't surprised I wasn't happy with the cost but it is my fault that I introduced my family to it years ago... and now the family has gotten bigger so one needs to buy a bigger roast... oh well ... it was deee-licious!!
And if you hadn't notice yet...I am quite chatty today... this is a looooog post... LOL... maybe get a cup of coffee or a nice cuppa tea...
As things stand now I have all my Fall decor back in the bins and awaiting my son to cart them back to the basement... of all the seasons the stuff I have the most of is Fall... I chalk it up to pumpkins taking up so much space. I thought I had gotten it all back into the same number of bins but then I found a bunch of stuff in the basement I had forgotten about... sigh...need to do a bit of culling... there is a bunch of stuff I haven't used in years... and when that stuff gets put away then we can start all over by bringing up the Christmas decor... which I'm looking forward to putting out. Not sure my son is looking forward to all the lugging of stuff up and down the stairs but he does like the decorations when I get done... he is a very good boy!
FYI... I had a lot of trouble uploading pictures for this post... so if you want to see some better shots of my displays go check out my Instagram account.... here's the link... I'm carolfun53.
Here are some pics of what I did have displayed...let's start with the wall quilt... this is my version of the Pumpkin quilt by Cluck Cluck Sew... I call mine Grungy Gourds as all the fabrics are Moda Grunge prints...
the tier tray has a great turkey from Stone Street Stitch Works and the little pillow in the bed of the truck is Pineberry Lane's Fruits of our Labor.
My large display has The Drawn Thread's Welcome Fall at the top... on the first shelf that dynamite goldy coppery turkey... got him last year at Hobby Lobby .. with a little pillow with a tiny turkey from Bent Creek at the base... Blackbird Designs Feast of Friendship is always front and center in the Fall for me!
next shelf down has a new finish for this year ( I think I actually stitched it 2 years ago... procrastination is my forte).... this is Gather from Pineberry Lane... just found that arched frame this year... it was white so I ended up giving it a prim paint job...started with an olive green and then did a messy brown over that... I like it being imperfect...and on the other side November from Prairie Schooler... I love how the linen came out for this piece... looks like a Fall sunset IMHO.
Bottom shelf of cross stitch has Autumn Alphabet by Lizzie Kate and Ever so Grateful by Threadwork Primitives.
Small side display has my favorite Jim Shore Thanksgiving piece... a gift from my younger son... it's called Gather and Be Grateful... in front of it is a cornucopia snippet from Prairie Schooler No. 146 and that pumpkin pillow is Waiting for the Harvest by BBD. Another new finish this season is the turkey in the hoop... it is from With Thy Needle & Thread called Holiday Hoopla Thanksgiving.... I like the little hoop finish... I got the hoop at Hobby Lobby and "painted" with an Copic marker... I have a bunch of them ...happy to use other craft supplies in my stitching.
Middle shelf has another new seasonal finish... the tiny turkey from Lizzie Kate Autumn Alphabet Sampler and a pair of BBD pieces... Bittersweet September has the alphabet and Bittersweet Lane doesn't... on the bottom is Autumn by Lizzie Kate attached to a wooden box from Target a couple of years ago... I "painted" it with Rit dye... and on the other side I have I Love Fall Most of All by Calico Confectionary.
I put together a couple of small displays too.
The one has a Prairie Schooler turkey on the top and a turkey from Emily Call Stitching on the bottom in another hoop finish...
And in the phone niche I have Ewe & Eye & Friends Turkey Hill Farms and the Autumn chart from Prairie Schooler No. 50... and below that Thankful String by Lizzie Kate...
I told you I have LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of Fall decor... its my favorite season!!
Here's a couple of close ups of the stuff I got FFO for this year... 4 new pieces... I still have some other Fall stitching that needs to be FFO'd but that is a job for another Fall... here are individual pics of my trio of turkeys and the new framed piece...
Oh and I forgot to show you the Prairie Schooler Autumn Sampler... got it back from the framer and I'm very happy with this...
And I had one very productive sewing day last week... I got the binding and sleeve sewn on a Christmas quilt, I got a sleeve sewn on another Christmas quilt and I got the binding done on this blast from the past...
This is Pickety Sticks from the Anka's Treasure book call On a Roll 2... the fabric is Blossom from Urban Chiks and this quilt was started approximately 15 years ago!! Don't know why it took so long because I really love it... I love the fabrics... I love the BIG cabbage rose print on the border and I love the panto that Delinda used on it...
Well like I said at the beginning of this epistle I'm done with Fall and ready to move onto Christmas... I have an idea for a new kinda big display I want to do... fingers crossed it works out as I envision it... I have about 9 Christmas small pillows I want to get FFO'd and every day I keep finding new small Christmas pieces I'd like to do... I may be able to get a few more done before December 25... I'm always optimistic... perhaps not realistic but definitely optimistic... LOL
I am still more in a cross stitching mood than a sewing mood and I'm just gonna roll with it. Already thinking about what I want to do next year... like I said last month I'm kinda into doing a couple of long band style samplers...and I want to get back to the 7 samplers for my 70th birthday that got left in the dust because of the September I don't want to remember. I'll never run out of stuff I want to stitch... and that's good thing,
right??
So plans for the upcoming week... get as much Christmas decor out as I can today and tomorrow... then I need to stash any open bins out on the sunroom porch and keep the door locked so Elliott can't "help" me ... goal is to have the tree up (that's an easy one as it is already decorated and waiting in the basement to be brought upstairs)... and get the yard and window boxes decorated. I got a couple of new inflatables and some stuff to put in the window boxes... I need to stop stitching and switch to FFOing for a bit... and there are some tough (LOL) decisions that need to be made as to what Christmas quilt to hang on the wall in the living room ( I have several choices) and what Christmas quilt to put on my bed (again I have several choices)... I'm quite lucky that way.. and while I have more Fall decor I definitely have more Christmas quilts than any other season. So far this year I have a new wall sized Christmas quilt and a new Christmas panel wall quilt and I have one more lap size Christmas quilt on my design wall... I think I can get it sewn together but not certain I can get it quilted by Christmas... but that's okay... I'll have a head start on next year!
If you got through all of this go reward your self with some Christmas goodies... cookies, candy, fudge... fudge is my choice... my younger son is going to make some today!
I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and sneak in a little blog reading in between decorating... hope you are having a good day and will have a great week ahead!
happy stitching-
carol fun
I love everything, Carol. Tried to pick a favorite anything and I couldn't do it If you're Autumn decor is missing next year, please remember that I don't have it LOL
ReplyDeleteI love all of your Autumn/Thanksgiving decor. You are a prolific cross-stitcher. I am amazed that you have so many Christmas quilts. Enjoy stitching whatever suits your fancy.
ReplyDeleteYou are a dynamo, Carol....how do you keep up with all of this? I need to know your secret!!! Lovely displays and stitching!!!
ReplyDeleteI always admire your wonderful displays, such fun to look at, and I'm sure you enjoy creating them too. Putting things out, and no doubt rearrzngjng them till they are just right!
ReplyDeleteCarol, every Sunday evening I check for your updates. THANKS for all your photos, which are such a feast for the eyes! (I love your rambling, too.) I love how many "littles" you display (I think I have a touch of ADHD--short attention span for longer projects--although I have a sampler in progress, and MORE THAN ONE quilt also....oh, the squirrels...). Thanks too for all the documenting you do; I love being able to know the creator and name of each piece. Looking forward to your next post, Ruth in VA
ReplyDelete