Happy Mother's Day on this Slow Sunday...

 Hello - Happy Mother's Day to all of you lovely ladies!  I hope that you get to spend the day exactly as you wish. I'll be going to my older son's home... he coordinates the event with a brunch spread from a local restaurant so that his wife and mother of their child, and her mother and her grandmother and me can enjoy the day... it will be lovely...

And afterwards I intend to come home and plop myself in my comfy chair out on the sunroom porch and stitch on my selection for my guilt free Mother's Day start...which until about 10 pm last night I thought was going to be this piece... Live Simply by With Thy Needle & Thread...

And I will get to it... but I was watching Flosstube videos as I was sewing last night and this chart popped onto the TV and I HAD TO HAVE IT! Well my first Google search for it had it at 123 Stitch, my fav online store, but then I found it as a PDF from the designer, which you can see here...

 it is stitched  all in DMC which I have... and I found this piece of bluey-greeny linen in my stash... now I'll only have an 1" margin on 2 sides but I can make that work... this one just struck a chord in my heart. Lately I've had lots of cardinals at my bird feeders which I watch while I sit in my chair on the sunroom porch... and when I see them I think of my departed family members and say a prayer for them... for the male cardinals I think of my Dad and my brother, James... for the females I think of my Mom and my Grandma... I saw a video on IG yesterday and the lady was asked what she wanted for Mother's Day and she replied, "I'd like one more hour with my Mom"... oh my, oh my goodness... wouldn't that be WONDERFUL??  So I'm gonna stitch on the fancy schmancy redbird and think of my loved ones.... 

Okay ... a change of mood...Didn't get as much cross stitching done this week as I had hoped... made some progress on the Double Eagle Sampler from Prairie Schooler No. 8 American Primitive...

I have every intention to finish this up before the week is over. 

Did get a bit of sewing done... finished this top which I'm taking to Delinda for quilting tomorrow...

I am very happy with how this turned out...although I might  re-do those side borders and make them a bit shorter... they went on really easy but  I didn't expect that much waviness. Anyway I'm  proud of myself for fulfilling my objective of doing something with all the Tilda fabrics I have... The spool block is from the Sew Emma Book Simply Jelly Rolls. This is a charm quilt in that every piece in the spools is a different fabric. I think I did a pretty good job in getting  a gradation in each spool... here's some close ups of the blocks...

And since I had my Tilda stash strewn all over my sewing room  I got an idea for another quilt project using this same spool blocks... but this time I'm going to use the layout for the Biscuit quilt which used this block. here's how that looks...

But instead of doing strips in the center I'm just going to use one piece of fabric... it is a great opportunity to show off some of the larger prints... I'm going to do this one with a Grunge background in the Chiffon colorway as I have about 5 yds in my stash (I really like this color... LOL) ... the plan is to make it big enough for my full size bed.  Here are some of the fabrics I cut and I'm going to pay attention and have the fabrics for the  vertical and the horizontal spools be orientated in the  right direction... there's a bit of an optical illusion in the pic below ... it looks like the spool is yellow and the background is the taupe... but in fact it will be just the opposite... hopefully by next week I'll have more blocks made and you'll see what it more clearly... it will definitely read as a yellow quilt... my fav!!

And I played around with the bow tie blocks and did a unit made up of 4 smaller sized bow ties... I picked these fabrics from bits in my scrap bin ...

I like the one with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles... both of my boys were fans of that show and now Elliott likes it too. Who would have thought it would be a classic?  I can still sing the theme song as I've heard it a million times...LOL

I'm going to add more units like this to the quilt... making the little ones is fun but I don't want to commit to an entire quilt of 4" bow tie blocks... at least not at the moment... but it could happen... some day... 

More gardening was done... more pain was inflicted...thanks goodness for ibuprofen...  Things are shaping up and I'm feeling good about how much has been accomplished.... last Sunday Nick helped me plant over 100 little zinnias... and we did about 25 cleome and I want to get more of them... we did  about 8 one gallon perennials and an assortment of dahlias and other bulbs and tubers I picked up at Costco and bought online... now I will say that I was disappointed in some of the tubers I bought online and at Costco... I ordered stuff early in January because of FOMO... and I got delivery like in the beginning of April which was waaay too early to plant dahlias... and  when I went to plant them several had no discernible eyes, so I doubt they will grow... and lately I've been getting tons of emails that all the companies I ordered from still had stock and the prices are reduced and you get delivery in a couple of days... so I succumbed and ordered some more tubers.... and now I'm thinking next year I should just wait to order... I'm not real picky about specific varieties as there are so many I like... at the beginning I was big into the dinner plate ones but now I'm a bit fonder of the pompom varieties... oh well live and learn. 

Speaking of dahlias... the ones I left in the ground seem to overwinter very well... lots of them are over a foot and half tall and this one has several buds and will be my first bloom of the season... probably by mid week. I don't think I've ever had dahlias bloom this early. 

I'm still battling with the squirrels... resorted to putting cayenne pepper in my window boxes which will hopefully deter the little varmints from digging up the geraniums... the boxes are just starting to fill out...

and then I spotted this guy in my neighbors back yard... watched him hop over their chain link fence effortlessly...

so I proceeded to spray the nasty smelling deer repellent on anything I thought they might feast on... 

Nick helped me attack a big issue in my garden... I've had this grass plant for years... it has gotten HUGE... I referred to it as Cousin It and thought it was cute... but this year about 2/3 of it decided to die... so from the driveway side it looks okay, but from the yard it looks bad... I came up with the idea of placing a tall pot there to divert your attention... and it is working well as you can see below... however before I could stage it there the dead parts needed to be dug up and it was one hell of a job... I could not have done it without  Nick... luckily the day we attacked it the ground was super soft from all the rain we had and the temperature was a breezy 60 degrees...  we added some top soil to fill up the resulting hole and here is the pot...

and a close up of what I planted... I think the purples contrast nicely with the green grass plant ... and isn't the little guy adorable? I got him last year when the garden center marked him down 20%...

I got the  pot locally at Natorp's Outlet... it was the only one they had like this, it's resin and I was told they weren't getting in any more like it ...however it was gray... not my color, but no problem... I have spray paint... and I'm happy that it  now coordinates with my other brown pots. 

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Next week is busy... going to see Delinda on Monday,  spend the day with Elliott on Tuesday and my quilty lady friends are coming on Wednesday... we are hoping to sit out on my covered patio and have lunch there if the weather cooperates... forecast at the moment  varies depending on what website you look at... one has 72 degrees and an 8% chance of rain... I like that one... but another has 68 degrees with a 50% chance of rain... guess will have to wait till that morning to make a decision.  Last Tuesday there were tornadoes not too far north of me... scary stuff... and I've become a weather junkie... I watch a lot of guys on Youtube who do forecasts for the US going out a week or so... they are predicting an active weather pattern for the Spring and Summer... and then I found guys who do storm chasing... I find it very interesting and it since they live stream you feel like you are in the car with them... kinda like someone taking you for a drive... LOL... I like that as in real life, I'm almost always the driver, and its nice to have someone else do the driving ,now and then....I can watch/listen and stitch... which I couldn't do if I was actually in the car... and yes this is crazy old lady territory... but I'm fine with that.

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today and with Quilting is more fun than housework,  to share my quilting projects... I hope that today and every day is a good one for all of you!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Death by gardening on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello...  lots of gardening talk today... well I haven't actually killed myself but I've inflicted some pain in my pursuit of getting my gardens shaped up... It has been HOT... over 80 degrees... and that has curtailed when I should go out and work ... and for the most part I've heeded that warning... I did plant up 2 of my 3 raised beds on Wednesday as I was able to retreat to the shade under my patio awning and sit at the table and have a cold drink... and I was quite happy with myself... I planted about 60 dahlia tubers and edged the beds with marigolds... then on Thursday I went out to admire my accomplishment and found this... direct your eyes to the upper left corner by the solar light... that tuber shouldn't be on top of the soil...argghhh

the damn squirrels or maybe the chipmunks had dug up a bunch of tubers... I didn't think to take a pic until I had most of them replanted... so how to deter the furry little varmints??   I remembered I had a roll of netting you can put on plants to keep the birds away... so I cut some and stretched it out and anchored it with the stakes I use when I put inflatables in the yard... now I'm not sure if I'll have to cut this away as the dahlias get larger but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

And this morning I looked out on my window boxes and found several places where some varmint had dug holes and relocated several of the geraniums and petunias.... arggghhh!!!   I replanted them and sprayed some repellent... it's too late to put this kind of screening in the boxes as the plants are getting pretty established ... need to look online for other ways to deter them... sigh...

I did go to the garden center with the fancy petunias... lots and lots of Proven Winner varieties ... and they did not disappoint.... here is my etagere of petunias...sounds classy doesn't it?  LOL... I used to have a pyramid  style plant stand, but there are more varieties I want than will fit on that stand, so I moved on to this last year... got the shelf unit, oops excuse me, etagere at Hobby Lobby... the shelves fold up so it is easy to store over the winter. I do LOVE petunias ... I have fond memories of planting them with my Grandma and my two great aunts, Lucy and Kate ... and  in my crazy mind, petunias are the fat quarters of the gardening world... you can't just get one, they have to travel in pairs or groups... so that's how I got to this  current display...

on that top shelf I have PW Latte...  I'm not a big fan of brown ...nor do I drink coffee/latte... but I love the brown veining in this petunia...

and I have a new to me PW Silverberry, it is the palest pink... so pretty.

then there is this purple speckly one... I see tiny yellow polka dots!   The tag says it is called Cherry Sky Burgundy  and it  is from a company called Selecta..  I liked this one so much I sprang for a bigger plant...

and then there is this mutant beauty...it is from Danziger and is in their Amazonas line... the name is Plum Cockatoo... there was only 1 left when I was shopping last Monday so I know I'm not the only person smitten with this one!

and I always pick up a Queen of Hearts... I got it at Walmart... and the petunia in the back is PW Pink Lemonade... some of the blooms are pink, some are yellow and some are both... 

now I included links so you can see the flowers more clearly but I got all of my locally.  And you can see that I've arranged the plants by color ... so I get to decorate outside with flowers!!  I'm having an issue again this year with some animal knocking the little plants off the etagere at night... don't know if it a deer or a squirrel... last couple of nights I pushed them further back on the shelves and sprayed some varmint repellent... that stuff stinks!! But I don't like going out in the morning and finding broken pots... 

I only got 2 small sections cleared of daffodils ... and I've reconsidered my plan of attack... it was backbreaking work and I really should let them die back more... sooooooo for the rest of them I'm just going to chop off a bit of the leaves... just enough to make room to plant stuff around them... and then I'll deal with the  dead parts later. Because  I'm not seeing as much growth as I would like to see,  I purchased 4 new Pretoria cannas... you can see them here...  I tucked the pots in among the alliums... and I'll give it a bit more time to see  where I need to plant these.  

And Thursday evening after it cooled down a bit from 87 degrees I went out and planted up 4 large pots and got carried away and planted 60 marigolds... omg... dug 60 holes, sprinkled fertilizer in 60 holes, put marigold in 60 holes... and paid the price for it on Friday... my hands hurt, my back hurt , my knees hurt... trying to learn from this experience and I'm getting Nick to help me plant the little zinnias... there are way more than 60 of those. As for my FOMO, I'm glad I got stuff when I got it... the garden centers still seem to be lagging in getting in more inventory. I've found fancy stuff, but the run of the mill things like pompom marigolds and salvia and coleus are still in short supply.  I haven't even thought about perennials ... my plan for now it to put I more dahlias. Of all the stuff that I left in the ground they've done the best... most are already a foot and a half high and one plant has buds on it!! Right now I consider them the "perfect" plant... the deer don't bother them, they overwinter nicely and give me lots of showy flowers.  I ordered some more tubers last week and I'm just going to plant them randomly through the beds... 

As for stitching, there hasn't been a lot this week. Several nights I was just too pooped to pick up a needle. I did stitch a tiny bit more on the Teresa Kogut Faith, Hope, Piece and Love, that I got off of Patreon,... (side tangent... I think when Teresa releases this to the public it will have a slightly different title as she already has a chart called Faith, Hope, Peace, Love  you can see it here.)   However,  I wasn't feeling it so I picked up Prairie Schooler  American Primitive... this was my unicorn chart...  it is book No. 8 published in 1985 (that's 39 years ago!)... there are 5 patterns and I LOVE ALL OF THEM!! 

 I started with Double Eagle Sampler... 

32 ct linen dyed with Lemon Yellow Rit dye... I'm doing the BIG letters in smyrna crosses... gives it a bit of dimension...and stitching Prairie Schooler is always comfort stitching. 

And it just occurred to me that next Sunday is Mother's Day... and I have a tradition that on Mother's Day I start a new sampler guilt free as my gift to myself... but I want to have it all kitted up and ready to go. Soooo I started perusing my stash... and that lead me to trying to sort some charts and file them... and then I fell into the drawer of long ago started  and still unfinished projects and after a couple of hours, I decided several of them are never going to get finished. I salvaged some of the linen and pulled out the flosses and tossed the rest... made space for new charts that are started but  not finished...lather, rinse, repeat. At the moment I've narrowed my Mother's Day start down to 2 charts that are already kitted up and ready to go ... and 2 that aren't... and I still have time to change my mind... again and again and again... I have an embarrassment of riches... so many cool charts I want to stitch!

I didn't get much quilting/sewing done... I did hem 4 pairs of pants for my older son... however, the bow ties are increasing...I'm cutting 4 at a time and stitching them up...

these two are cute... the chickens are from American Jane and the mice are from Heather Ross. 

and I had a thought about making some smaller bow ties too.. maybe making a block of 4 small ones here and there... need to work out the math... 

As for decorating, this is my display out on the porch... I'm spending as much time as possible out there... 

on the wall is the Spring ABC's by Little House Needleworks... I stitched every season of this series and love all of them.... this one is stitched on my go to 32 ct and I dyed it with a concoction of Lemon Yellow and Coral... the resulting color is kinda cantaloupe... that little screen behind it was from Darice Crafts... don't know if they make it anymore... it was unfinished wood and  I "stained" it with Aquamarine Rit dye... I've been able to paint/stain a lot of wooden items with Rit Dyes... 

on the top of the little apple Green shelf unit is Sampler Hill  by With Thy Needle & Thread... as I recall there are like 99 tulips in the border... 

next is The Magic Garden by Shakespeare's Peddler and the little pillow is Birdhouse Alphabet by Little House Needlework...

now I  I think The Magic Garden is the first piece I dyed linen for... and then I changed almost all the colors in the pattern... and I'm very happy with my interpretation of this chart... as for the little pillow, I stitched this on 28ct over 1 thread... I like the look but don't enjoy the process. 

At the bottom I have a piece from  Spring Smalls by Lizzie Kate... I mounted that on a little box I got at Target years ago. 

 All in all it is a nice display for me to enjoy when I spending time on my sunroom porch... which is the BEST room in my house!! I'm so glad I enclosed the porch... best home improvement project I have done!  I'm sitting out here as I type this ... I can watch the birds and enjoy the breeze ... very peaceful... and it  is going to rain any minute ...I'm writing this on Saturday... looks like rain on an off all  day ... I think I'll postpone gardening  today, the humidity is horrible....  but the  ground will be soft for planting on Sunday... 

So far it looks like a quiet week ahead... Elliott on Tuesday and dinner with friends once or twice... no other engagements... should have time to work in the garden and maybe stitch a bit more. That would be very nice.

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today...Hope your week ahead is one filled with time to do the stuff you want to do! Now to keep myself from wasting time on the internet and pacing myself on the garden work ... lately ibuprofen is my best friend...LOL

happy stitching -

carol fun