New charts and a bit of stitching on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello... how was your week?  I don't know where I got the idea that being retired would give me all the time in the world to do what I want to do... because it doesn't!  Last week was a blur and some productive activities did occur... but I didn't do them.   I've been putting off the inevitable replacement of the central AC for my house... it is pushing 18 years and I've had it looked on a couple of occasions and knew it was running on borrowed time. And we've already had some very hot days and it is only May...  I don't want to think what July and August will bring ... so I bit the bullet and had a new AC installed... and perhaps it is just wishful thinking but the house seems noticeably cooler... and after weeks of waiting for Dan my handyman, he had  some time to give me and he got several projects taken care of... along with those things happening, throw in watching Elliott and an afternoon with friends and I was pooped with little to show for the time... oh well. 

The weather has been a pendulum... hot one day, rainy the next... it has cut back on my watering a bit but I find the weatherman predictions about rain to be as spotty as the showers we got... days that I thought were going to be a wash out, turned out not bad at all... and other days I thought would be lovely turned out waaay too hot... 

Now I started last Sunday off with a bang... went shopping for plants... I DON'T NEED ANYMORE PLANTS... but that's never stopped me....really gardening is just a continuation of decorating for me... I decorate inside, I decorate outside... I love making displays of stitching and quilts and knickknacks inside ... and outside it is all kinds of plants.   Anyway I hit 3 of my favorite plant places on Sunday and somehow came home with 24 2.5 qt plants... and yes these plants use to be in gallon pots, but to keep the prices down a bit they are smaller plants... for basically the same price... but I got some lovely stuff... lavender and blanket flowers and tickseed and other stuff I can't remember. Shopping is FUN!!  Planting on the other hand when it is 86 degrees with 95% humidity is quite exhausting... but I got everything in the ground ... yeah me!!  That day of activity was followed up with a round or two of ibuprofen and sitting on my butt. I had a nice conversation with my dear friend in Florida and said I wasn't going to buy anymore plants... she quipped "I don't believe you"... and you know what?  I don't believe me either... LOL

I got very little sewing done this week as Elliott had no interest in going to the basement to play... I gifted him a new transformer robot that was waaaay too complicated but it kept him entertained for a long time trying to figure out how to totally transform it from a robot to a plane...

I did get a bit of stitching done... I finished up the flag strawberry from Prairie Schooler American Strawberries...

and I started this one... more flags!

Then I decided I needed to do another house from Melisa at Pinker 'n Punkin so I started Sarah Jane's 1776 Saltbox.... you can find the chart here...

as with the other 2 I've done this year I made this one a yellow house too... this one closely resembles the color  of the brick on my house... this is on 16 ct Aida I painted with Rit Evening Blue dye...  these are such fun to stitch... comfort stitching like Prairie Schoolers.

It was a very good week for new charts sneaking in the house... now I think we all can agree that stitching cross stitch charts and collecting cross stitch charts are two separate and equally enjoyable hobbies... and I LOVE both of them!!  I ordered a bunch of stuff from The Shakespeare's Peddler...aka Kittenstitcher and was not disappointed... first I got 3 new charts from With Thy Needle & Thread...

Grand Old Flag II - great little smalls ....

Summer's Swan... I think I'm going to leave off the flag and use it in my Spring and bird displays...

The Coleus and the Pear...I love the format of this one... was going to order all the flosses but in looking more closely I have concerns about how much contrast there is between Crescent Colors Poblano Pear and Weeks Dove... in the pic they look turquoise but the Weeks Dove in my stash is kinda gray... may have to do my own conversion on these. 

and then I went down a rabbit hole of older charts, specifically stockings from Carriage House Samplings and Kathy Barrick, and these beauties appeared...

The Embroideress Stocking

The Quaker Stocking

The Sampler Stocking

Truth & Virtue Stocking

Pennsylvania German Stocking

Now I'm not going to stitch any of these as a stocking ... I'm going to re-arrange the design, move the stuff in the toe over underneath the rest of the chart and make them a looooong narrow sampler ... or I'm going to ignore the toe part of the chart... and I'm itching to start one ... or two ... or more of these... which I have no business doing as that would make the third or fourth or fifth BIG project I've started this year... you can see my feeble starts on Teresa Kogut's Faith Hope Love and Peace  here... and WTNT Summer Schoolhouse  here...  I'm a very good starter... finishing is another skill set I need to work on... 

So which to start first?? I'm really leaning toward the Pennsylvania  German Stocking... lots of funky birds and Lemoyne stars and I fell in love with the color of the linen... in the chart pic it is a beautiful soft dusty turquoise and it only uses 4 flosses... and rather than dye my own fabric I thought I'd splurge and buy this linen... so I googled it and what a surprise... the called for linen is Green Slate from Lakeside Linen and in real life it isn't turquoise at all... it is a very deep olive green... comparable to DMC 934... here's screen shot I took...

well that's going to give this an entirely different look... and I'm undecided which way to go... I know I can duplicate the dark olive green ... the turquoise would be a bit more experimenting... but I think that no matter what I am going to paint or dye the linen myself. 

I'm trying to get up the energy to put my Spring stuff away and get out my patriotic stuff... a couple of weeks ago I thought I'd do this before Memorial Day but it hasn't happened... maybe later this week... I don't like to have my bins of stuff out when Elliott is here... too much temptation  to "help"... LOL

Do you have any plans for Memorial Day?  We've got a forecast for rain on an off so I'll be happy to stay inside....looks like some cooler temps next week... I'm good with that... only appointment so far on my calendar is for a hair cut and get my roots touched up... I'm sure the week will fill up but I'd be very happy to have a couple of quiet days at home. 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... gonna read a bunch of blogs and then watch a bunch of YouTube videos and stitch or maybe go to the basement and sew a bit...and reflect on how lucky I am to live in the US ...the land of the free because of the sacrifice of the brave...

happy stitching-

carol fun