Trying to go with the flow on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello... well that was another week that whizzed by me... I'm here just trying to go with the flow but I'd like the speed to be a bit reduced... I'm working hard to just keep up...LOL

The weather this week was again all over the place... lovely sunny days where one could have broken out some shorts and other gray rainy spitting snow days that required a cozy coat.  But the forecast for the upcoming week looks decent... some upper 60s... just enough to tease me into thinking I could plant something... but I know I shouldn't... and what else is teasing me is the new raised bed project that got completed last week. Now this was a thankless job as about 4 cubic feet of mushroom compost had to be shoveled out of the old raised bed, moved into large tubs and when they all got filled, piled onto the patio.

Then the new raised beds were assembled (which involved about a bajillion screws and wing nuts, so glad Dan & Evan took care of it because these arthritic digits couldn't have handled it)  and then the compost was shoveled back into the new bins. 

I had thought the compost would fill 4 raised beds but I thought wrong... and actually I'm not sure where I would have put the fourth raised beds.  I have space between my house and the one next store but I just don't think there is enough sunlight...my house cast as shadow there almost all day. I may try some stuff in pots and see how that works out and if it does I can add another bin next Spring... always thinking ahead..LOL! 

So there was a lot of socializing this week which was a lot of fun but it does cut into my stitching and sewing time. However I did seem to have plenty of time to think about what I want to do in the very near future. 

Let's start with what I think is a finish... this is the Garden Samplers from Prairie Schooler I started as part of my "7 samplers for my 70th"  project which kinda fizzled... anyway this is the one I wanted to finish first and my goal at the beginning of February was it would be done by the end of February... and I think it is.

I ended up backstitching around the gate with a light gray (DMC 168)  I think it gives it a bit more dimension. I've debated backstitching around the gazebo at the top but I think it is okay. I picked up some wood at Michaels I think I can paint and use to mount this piece... a project for later in March.

And February 29th was Leap Year Day and I had said I would start the Summer Schoolhouse project by WTN&T with Judy of  The Patchwork Times and Denise of Just Quiltin'.... now I waited till the last minute to paint/dye the linen I wanted to use. Like Judy and Denise I'm going to stitch these 5 separate charts as one continuous piece... by my calculation that is a little shy of 500 stitches... on 32 ct which makes it 31" long. I had a yard of the Wichelt linen I like and couldn't decide what color to make the linen. I thought about blue, or yellow, or yellow with green splotches, or some shade of tan but kinda mottled. Well on the 29th I got out my bottles of Rit dye and started out with Tan, which has some definite green undertones that I like... and I started painted in the upper right hand corner, turned  to move something on my desk and the entire bottle of Rit Tan dye went "flowing" onto the  linen leaving a large, dark highly unattractive sploosh.. ugh ugh ugh...  ( a warning - put the darn cap back on the bottle) .... so I ran to the sink to see how much I could rinse out... it is amazing how fast  Rit dye can set on linen... much faster than my short little legs can run ... I got some of it out but not as much as I wanted ... I tried painting over it a bit with some diluted Tan but I could still see the unattractive sploosh, so I resorted to bleach... I know some of you are horrified, but it was necessary as I didn't have another piece of linen this large.  That did help pretty much but now what color to use?  I got out some Apple Green and a brand new bottle of Cocoa Brown which turns out to have a lovely peachy rosy undertone... any way,  I painted and then smushed the linen into different glass containers of assorted diluted mixtures of Tan, Apple Green and Cocoa Brown and I have to say I'm so glad I went with the flow because this linen turned out gorgeous and not at all what I ever conjured up!  

Okay I took a video of the piece of linen so you could see the entire span but I can't get it to upload here so go to my IG post which you can find here... it is the 3rd image...

Here's a look at the flosses on the fabric...

It is hard to capture, think a slightly lighter Gentle Arts Woodrose or DMC 3772... the bleached sections gave it a mottled appearance with some shadows of green and the flosses look great on it ...IMHO. At this moment I'm planning on following the layout from Kim The Contented Needleworker. with a few changes here and there. Here's a pic of her version...

 I'm starting with the end of the alphabet and working my way to the beginning as I stitch in hand and this way I won't be bunching up and handling the areas I've already stitched.  This will probably be a long term, multi-year project and I'm okay with that.  Right now I'm gung ho on it but other things are already on my radar that I want to get to soon... 

Like this one... Happy Easter! !by WTN&T...

again I went with the flow here as I was going to paint the linen with Rit Coral but I wasn't paying attention and picked up Petal Pink which I thought was too red at first but I toned it down with some Tangerine and in the end I like the more pinky color. 

And I'm on a WTN&T kick and I've had this robin pattern for  a while...its called "The Robins are Here!"... I painted the linen with Lemon Yellow and Apple Green but I haven't pulled the flosses yet and it is apropos as I've seen several robins in my yard this week!.

I have all the DMC for Blooming Tiny Town by Heart in Hand... need to decide what color I want for the linen... I already know I'm going to finish it like I did the Lizzie Kate Christmas Row... ok so I was going to insert a link to a pick of that LK piece but I can't find one anywhere... sheesh...  it will be a long 3 dimensional roll... like a Christmas cracker... 

And I want to do this oldie but goodie from Ewe & Eye & Friends... it's called Small Sampler  6th in a Series...not very descriptive, is it?

now I'm going to change a lot here... the house is going to be Classic Colorworks Queen Bee (my favorite yellow and quite a good match to the brick on my house) .. the front door with be an olive green and the roof brown... I'm be using a softer color for the alphabet and I want to graph "Home Sweet Home" for inside the cartouche  and I want to hang it right here...

that small open  space to the right of the thermostat on this sampler wall ... the petite sampler above the thermostat use to hang here, but when the new furnace was installed they put in a new thermostat and it is much smaller than the old one and there is a spot on the wall that needs to be fixed with dry wall ... so in the meantime (like 2years ago) I moved the petite sampler over to cover that spot and now I need something for the spot where it was.  I have lots of EEF samplers on this wall.. they were my gateway drug into samplers with houses and I still love ALL of the ones I've stitched!!

Oh oh I want to tell you about a very pleasant surprise  I had this week... I think we all have a unicorn chart or two we'd love to find... for a reasonable price.... for several years I've wanted to find a copy of Prairie Schooler No. 8 (circa 1985)  American Primitive...

I've searched for it for a couple of years with no luck but recently I found a copy on Ebay for the eye watering price of $49.95 plus shipping...here's a link if you want to see it ... and I came within seconds of purchasing this in a fit of exuberant late night "I deserve it " shopping.... but then I did one more Google search and  I found it on Etsy for a very reasonable $15 plus postage...well I couldn't hit BUY fast enough and it arrived in my mailbox yesterday... it is original cardstock and I've never seen a chart like this before but 3 charts, the sampler, the elephant and the donkey are on the bi-fold cardstock,  but Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam are separate piece of cardstock just stuck inside...I am over the moon with this chart... I want to stitch every one of these!!  I'm thinking of doing patriotic decor from mid-May through June and ending in early July, so I want to add more patriotic stuff... Oh, and as of when I'm typing this on Saturday there is still one of these available... here's the link to My Fantastic Attic if this is a unicorn of yours.  I can't wait to start stitching these... I know I'm going to do them all on a yellow background  like lots of my other patriotic stuff. 

I didn't have a lot of sewing time this week... Elliott was into watching youtube videos and playing upstairs but I did find a couple of minutes to finish cutting up and sewing together some blocks with Cathe Holden's Vintage Soul and the Layer Cake Loop pattern.... but I'm kinda blah on the results... now the pattern has you putting all these blocks right up next to each other like this ( I only have 6 blocks of the 36  at the moment)...

and I'm not digging it... 

So I thought about sashing them... the sashing fabric is Grunge in the Curry colorway... don't know what he coral cornerstone Grunge name is and I think if I used cornerstone it should be pink-er...

and this is a bit better....

And I thought about setting them on point...

but I'm not digging this either.  So I may do something entirely different with these fabrics... had a thought (which usually gets me in trouble) of making all the blocks and then cutting them up to make some big flying geese blocks... I purchased this pattern, Patchwork Flying Geese, from Quilty Love and I'd like to play with it... need to determine how big a quilt I could get out of these blocks... hmm... could always get another layer cake to play with... thinking of using the Curry Grunge as the constant fabric.... ohhh the flow here is picking up...LOL

Well I hope to have a bit quieter upcoming week... and some time to sit on the sunroom porch and stitch as is my plan for today... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts  and wander around there for a bit... I hope you have a great week ahead... be sure to stop by next week for semi-annual rant about the time change... hint: I HATE HATE HATE it, particularly the Spring forward one... thanks for the lovely comments and for those who have trouble commenting on Blogger I feel your pain... you can always drop me a note at cfunliu@aol.com... there are days I think about trying to update the blog and figure out the problem but in the end I have more enjoyable ways to spend my time... LOL

happy stitching-

carol fun