A bit of this and a bit of that on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello -- well I knew last week was going to be busy and it certainly was... lunch and a trip to see Delinda to pick up quilts and drop off tops filled up Monday... Tuesdays are dedicated to Elliott... Wednesday my quilty friends got together for lunch and the back to my house to eat pie  (Marie Callendar Key Lime Pie...very yummy) and chitchat and then Nick & I met with some friends for dinner after that... it was Thursday before I felt I had any time to be crafty... and happily the last couple of days have been crafty.

Let's see where to start... okay let's revisit the bow tie blocks... I was looking at other bow tie quilts and realized I like this layout much more than the one I had on the wall...

this one will have to be a even number of blocks in both directions... my plan right now is 8 x 8 so 64 different blocks... and I have 32 done....however this layout doesn't lend itself to incorporating the little bow ties... so I'm gonna make a separate small quilt of little bow ties... have no idea how many  at the moment.

Here they are set straight... and yes the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle is my fav!

And here is the circle layout... I'm liking it here too...

Some of these little ones are the same as the larger bow ties ... and some have came from my scrap bin...

I got this at Hobby Lobby years ago and I love it! 

As for the Tilda spool blocks... I got background fabric and spool ends fabric cut but didn't get any more sewn... should be a good project for Tuesday when Elliott is playing with the Legos.

I did get the binding put on  these 2 quilts which was satisfying... this is the Kaffe Spools... I'm really into the greens right now...

and here is the Carrie Bloomston panel that I bought back in 2015... it's finally seeing the light of day as it graces my back hallway...

I'm really liking this format of doing a panel for the back hallway... there is no work on my part other than a binding and a sleeve... I like that...LOL... I've been on a hunt for other panels... I'd like one for Fall and Halloween... most are printed 40-ish inches wide... I have to be able to cut them down to 32" as that is all the space between the light switch and the back door jam... I've seen a couple of Halloween one but so far they are all too spooky for my taste... I'll keep looking. 

As for cross stitch... well I didn't get far on my Mother's Day start... I was treated to a lovely brunch along with my daughter-in-law and her mother and her grandmother... quite a spread... French toast,cinnamon rolls, bagels, quiche, an egg bake with sausage, bacon, fruit, yogurt and a cheese pocket... my favorite coffee cake... think a  BIG cheese danish, heavy on the cheese filling... turns out it is Elliott's favorite too! Oh where was I ... anyway I sat around for a couple of hours talking with everyone and when I came home I took a nap... didn't pick up my needle to late in the evening and this is all I have to show...

oh well... any stitch is one more than I had before... and I'm really liking this palette of colors... I have another sampler in my stash that I'm looking for a different group of colors than what it is charted for and this may be it... gotta go look at it again...

Now I did get the Double Eagle Sampler from Prairie Schooler American Primitives done... this is much brighter yellow in real life but the lighting was awful when I took this pic... not sure how I'm gonna FFO it...

happy with this... and that lead me down the path of wanting to do some more patriotic stuff as I'd like to change to that decor around the end of the month ...which will be hear very soon... I'm thinking  I should stick with some smalls and with that in mind I started this ... 

it is from Prairie Schooler No. 100 American Strawberries... I've never done a strawberry before but it shouldn't be too hard to finish... and on another tangent... if you are looking for older Prairie Schooler charts you will find prices are all over the place... when I googled this one to find a link I found this chart listed for as much as $49.95 on an ebay listing to $7 for a cardstock copy... which is the link I used. And I saw the other day where some other older ones are being re-released for about $12 a chart... I'm okay with that. 

On the gardening front I didn't do much... spread some seeds which seem to be sprouting and got a few more annuals in the ground... think I'll pot up a what I've got left but between being busy and the rain... it rained T/W/F/S  my motivation to plant did not align with the weather... but I did get my first open dahlia bloom... It think this is the earliest I've ever had a dahlia bloom!  This one is planted right by the foundation of the house under a window box... pretty protected from the elements... and I have several other dahlias that are just going gangbusters... tall and full and getting buds... can't wait for the blooms!

However I did get some new flowers for Mother's Day... glass flowers to display in my garden... here they are out of the box...  they are glass plates and bowls that have been glued together to form flowers...

they were gifts from Chris, Nick and Elliott... I wasn't expecting 3 but I do love them. And here's where I displayed them...this one matches the flowers I had already planted int his pot... the petunia is a PW called Coraline... 

and I'm going to  add some purple flowers to this pot... I have to remember what garden place I saw the purple Angelonia... I have some cannas planted toward the back of the pot ...fingers crossed they grow as this pot needs something tall in the back. 

and this one is keeping company with one I bought for myself earlier this year...

fancy schmancy aren't they? I love knickknacks ... both indoors and outdoors!

As for indoor decor, I did freshen up a bit...not a totally re-do but I changed out the yellow quilts for green ones...

and changed the table runner on my dining room table and went with some different silk flowers... it isn't a lot but it makes me happy to see other stuff I've stitched.

Here's a look at my large display...

on top is the  Sunnyside  Sampler by The Drawn Thread...

below is Garden Friends from the BBD book Sewing Club and Funky Bird from Barbara Ana Designs... got the plates this year from Hobby Lobby... I like the shape and the floral designs.

below that is a couple of snippets from  the border of Shakespeare's Peddler  A Saviour's Praise...  the Spring  chart from the book Seasons of the Heart by With Thy Needle & Thread and another BBD piece that I can't remember the name of...

and on the bottom I couldn't put away the bunny from Not Forgotten Farm... I just love an animal that's all dressed up ... and keeping the quilts company my favorite bird cookie jar...

Oh and here is a small vignette with Spring From Prairie Schooler  No. 50 Prairie Seasons... 

This is the last one of the set that I've completed... I do love stitching Prairie Schoolers!

I'm going to concentrate on patriotic stitching this week... I always feel like I'm chasing the holidays where stitching is concerned....I have a bag full of patriotic charts and there are a couple of things in it that are partially done... maybe I can get them finished... but there are also a couple of new charts I downloaded the other day I'd like to do... they are small which is good... and I'd like to do one of Melisa's (Pinker'nPunkinQuilting)  patriotic houses... there is just sooooo much good stuff out there!

Well looking at the calendar I see there is Elliott and 2 appointments... hmmm... one of those I might re-schedule... lately I just want to stay home as much as I can... I've got so much here that keeps me entertained... and it makes me happy!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and with Quilting is More Fun than Housework... they motivate me to waste less time on the internet and to have something to show for my time... hope you have  time this week to do what you want to do!!

happy stitching-

carol fun