Chilling on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - well that was another busy week... lots of running around and taking care of Elliott... first he was a bit under the weather with  classic gastrointestinal issues... and then he shared it with his parents... who didn't bounce back as quickly... I watched him a couple of days and afterwards wiped down everything with Lysol and Clorox wipes whilst dosing myself with multi-vitamins and extra C and D... I do not want this bug. Trying not to overreact and just chill... not always easy... 

While he was here I did get a little more done on the Momo Dorothy quilt... 

sewing 2" finished squares together is possible if he's engaged in playing and watching videos. Getting a TV for my sewing room was a very very good investment...LOL

Here's a couple of close up of the fabrics... lots of directional ones and so far I've got them all right side up which makes my OCD happy!

And a bit of playing with the fluff kept him occupied...

I'm enjoying the easy sewing of squares and picking out 2 fabrics that "go together"... my goal is not to duplicate any pairing and to keep the same fabric from "touching"... so far so good... I had a thought the other day that I might start a little 9 patch project that I saw on IG... people making really little blocks... some finishing 1.5"... contemplated doing some but a more manageable 3" finished... and then a brief moment of lucidity took hold and I convinced myself I did NOT need to engage in this... IG is so seductive...  I need to keep working on this one as the fabrics are strewn all over my cutting table.  I also had a thought that this COULD be a smaller quilt... but then I noted that I've already cut up all the big squares so I might as well continue on this path... just gonna chill with it...

On the cross stitch front I put in about 10 more stitches on Pinkernpunkin - A Cold Winter's Day...sheesh... this project is so chill, it is cold... 

all I need  is to finish adding all the snow and  snowflakes... and I could have it done except I was distracted by another shiny object...

I was reading The Patchwork Times blog and Judy was talking about a Blessings sampler... the context was you start a sampler on January 1, it should be at least 100 stitches in one dimension and you finish it by January 31. Oh... I like the sound of that... and I could certainly use as many blessings as I can get . Well I didn't read this till Jan. 3 but I figured I go for it... I knew what I wanted to stitch and I had the linen already dyed and the flosses purchased.... my choice is Prairie Schooler No. 64 Christmas Alphabet. 

I decided to go with the floss conversion used by Lori Holt which you can find here... it is a bit brighter than the charted colors and I think it look good my Apple Green  by Rit linen. It is hard to capture this color but think a light DMC 470...

Now I did change the greens... the outline of the blocks is DMC 470 and the darker green is DMC 3345.  I thought this would be a good choice of project because I could easily gauge how far along I am ... and so far so good.  I took this pic on Jan 11 and was up to date at that point. There are 27 blocks... and 31 days in January which leaves a couple of days for catch up. Fingers crossed this should be completed on or maybe even before January 31.

And reading The Patchwork Times lead me down another path. Judy was talking about a Leap Year project which would start on Leap Year Day... and she was considering doing  Summer Schoolhouse - Lessons in Abcedarian from With Thy Needle & Thread... it is a 4 part series.  Well I have all the charts and the flosses... I bought them when they first came out but I never started them because they were to be done 1 over 1 on 28 count... I don't like doing over one no matter what the count... and after these charts had been out for a while I saw version where the 4 charts were done as one long band sampler... now configuration I like very very much... and Judy was planning on doing it this way... sooo I dug out my charts and I'm going to mock up this configuration... you can see it here... I'll be doing it on 32 ct and it will be pretty long... right now I think it will be 31" long... and while this is no where on my list of samplers I want to do in 2024, now I WANT to do this one!!

As for some winter decor, I am enjoying my snowmen. We haven't had any accumulating snow yet and I'm perfectly fine with that...however the temperatures are definitely chilly, actually a bit more than chilly... down right COLD...  highs this week at most 20 degrees and the nights are single digits... brrrrr... didn't see a single day forecast for over a week where we get above freezing...  I shutter to think what my gas bill will be next month... the older I get the more I want warm weather over cold weather... I'll complain about the electric bill and my water bill in July but  I'm just not a fan of cold weather anymore... except where indoor non-melting snowmen are concerned.... then I LOVE snowmen!!  Quite the dichotomy isn't it???

Anyway,  here's are some of the small vignettes around my house ... to start, the  dining table display...

and yes this bears a striking resemblance  to my Christmas table display... but there are slight differences... first the tray is the same style from Walmart but this time it is blue... the white trees were a hold over but the Prairie Schooler Santas have been replaced with snowman... also Prairie Schooler... and I'm liking the pompom snowballs. The table runner is some vintage Debbie Mumm and I believe Debbie Mumm and Prairie Schooler are a match made in heaven!!

On the living room wall I have my Mummville quilt... every house is a different combination of door and house color... and HOA nightmare... the pattern is Suburbs by Cluck Cluck Sew...

these fabrics are all at least 20 to 25 years old... and I still love them. Debbie Mumm was my first designer crush... I posted this on IG a year or so ago and Debbie Mumm  left me a sweet comment... I was gobsmacked... and pleased as punch. Delinda of The T-Shirt Quilt Company did the quilting and I think that windy panto is perfect. 

The tier tray has Snowy Day from Prairie Schooler No. 177  called January... and all the little snowmen are Debbie Mumm items as is that snowman cookie jar sitting atop a stack of Debbie Mumm quilts...

and there are more Debbie Mumm quilts in my laundry cart I keep in the corner of the living room...

and the TV cabinet has a nice display... Prairie Schooler Winter from the chart Prairie Seasons No. 50... and below the appropriately named Star Shaped Snowman by Teresa Kogut and another snowman from Prairie Schooler. 

On my door I have Stu Snowman, another Teresa Kogut design...notice to the right of his smiling face the letters  STU... coincidence?  I don't think so... LOL... I mounted him on a wooden sled I painted... did this one years ago and still love him. 

And the phone niche in the hallway... the cross stitch is from the book Snow Ball by With Thy Needle & Thread... the cute snowmen  and teapot is a Johanna Parker ... and the pastel bottle brush trees ( you may have to zoom in to see them) were picked up at Dollar Tree last week... pale pink, mint green and turquoise... they are part of their Easter decor ... I may have to go back and get more... love them! ... and on the phone book shelf is a Lizzie Kate Snowy String. 

I 'll have more winter decor for the next time I post... I still want to FFO a couple of items to add to the displays. 

Next week is chock full of stuff to do... brunch on Monday to celebrate my oldest son's 39th birthday... what the heck???  How did he get so old? Oh yeah, I got old too... Tuesday I spend with Elliott... Wednesday I have lunch scheduled with my quilty lady friends and Wednesday is my son's actual birthday and we are doing dinner that night... so far nothing on Thursday and I'd like to keep it that way...and Friday I have a medical appointment... what happened to the leisurely retired life I thought I had? 

Hopefully all of these engagements will still leave me stitching time... I really want to keep the Blessings project on track... I want a blessed 2024 for all of us... filled with happiness and good health!!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... oh and I'm patting myself on the back ... 2 weeks into '24 and 2 posts... I probably can't keep up this breakneck pace (ROFLMAO) but I'll try... hope you have a great week.. I watch the weather forecasts for the US and see lots of white stuff falling all over the place... I'm already longing for Spring... 

one last thing... I've had several people tell me they can't seem to leave a comment, and I don't know how to fix that ...but if you want to drop me a comment feel free to send an email to cfunliu@aol.com... 

happy stitching-

carol fun