Where stuff is started on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - well that week certainly got away from me... lots of things to do that kept me from being crafty but they were all fun things... I celebrated my birthday which was yesterday with birthday breakfasts and lunches and brunches and dinners... and it isn't over yet... still have some lovely engagements in the next 2 weeks because birthdays should be celebrated the ENTIRE month in which they occur... right??  Here's where you shake your head in agreement... LOL

Now the weather hasn't been as enjoyable... those 2 lovely Fall like days I was so enamored with turned into hot and dry and yuccky... we haven't had any significant rain for what seems like a month... actually it probably 3 weeks and the forecast doesn't have a drop of rain in this coming week... needless to say  everything is brown and crispy. I fear that when the leaves do turn this year they won't be very colorful ...sigh... Fall color is my favorite time of year!

I'm so ready to clear out my garden beds... I attacked my 3 raised beds and a big planter last week... filled up 10 of those yard waste bags... so happy I won't have to do that for the rest of the yard. I did go and pick up some mums... got the ones that are just budded so hopefully I'll have some longer lasting color.  And I looked at pumpkins, the smallest ones they call "pie pumpkins"...now I'm not going to make pie with them but I love to decorate my window boxes and yard with them but I don't see that happening this year...

Some history in 2021"pie" pumpkins were 99 cents a piece and I splurged and bought 50 of them... filled the entire back of my Subaru Forester and they looked so cute in my yard... here's some pics...

In 2022 they were running $1.50 each and I passed on them... last year they were $1.99 each and today they are $2.99 EACH!!!   I have a hard time believing I'm doing better than 4 years ago when something as insignificant as a pie pumpkin has tripled in price... just saying...

As for crafty stuff, there are several projects that are started... but  finishing eluded me... sigh... now those 2 cool days had me thinking of wool socks and how much I love to wear them and knit them... and while I have several pairs started I needed a NEW project to make me happy!  A friend gave me a skein of Opal sock yarn... my FAVORITE brand of sock yarn in the whole wide world... and I found a messy ball in my stash... I remember it was called Thelma and it is part of the Viridian collection... and I thought these two would be a lovely combo... and they are!

I'm alternating every other round and I'm getting the most marvelous patterns... a bit Fair Isle- ish with absolute no  manipulation on my part! 

 And while I think I have enough of Thelma to to do two socks, one can never have too much sock yarn... and I found more on Etsy at my favorite Opal vendor HandDyedSockYarn which you can find  here .  And since skeins of yarn along with fat quarters of fabrics and nuns should never travel alone, I also picked up 2 more skeins of Opal sock yarn.  I keep an inventory chart of which skeins I have primarily so I don't buy the same skein twice inadvertently ... but there are several skeins I've purchased multiples of and  I have no regrets... 

As for cross stitch I said I wanted to have some more Fall smalls... I like that rhyme...LOL... and these are definitely small... each one measures about 1.75" square... I think I'll add some fabric to the right side of each piece and make them a small rectangular pillow. 

They are 2 sections from the chart Autumn Soapbox by Bent Creek...

And I am very tempted to do this entire sampler... it could happen today if I find a piece of linen in my stash... as of typing this on Saturday I still have not decided on a birthday sampler... but this one is talking to me.   I love long narrow samplers and they fit nicely into small spaces in my house... and now I'm talking myself into this one!

I also stitched on Autumn Quaker by Primrose Cottage...oh this one is FUN!

The linen was in my stash ... it is some combo of Rit dyes... maybe Tan and Golden Yellow with a sploosh of Marigold... I got no clue... the floss is appropriately called Autumn Leaves by Gentle Arts. I have a 6" frame this should fit in ... or I may make it into a little pillow... to be determined. 

As for decorating I got it DONE  and I'm happy with what I put out... now it may not seem minimalist to you,  but for me it is!  As I was putting things out I put aside a bunch of stuff I knew I was never going to use again making a pile to donate... and when I got finished arranging everything I still had an entire bin of stuff  I hadn't used. So I went through the bin and got rid of about half of what was in there... I'm hoping when I put things away I'll be down one bin... fingers crossed. I have picked up a couple of new pieces this year. The Yankee Candle pumpkin piece that's out on the sunroom porch, and a metal trees piece and a cute leaf tray with a bird and a  "skinny" pumpkin with a bird design some of which you will see in the  following pictures ...

Here's the small shelf display...lots of cross stitch!

I've had the wagon for a while and this year I piled on some little pumpkins and behind it is the new metal trees I picked up at Hobby Lobby.

And moving to the right a white pumpkin mini- quilt ... the fabrics are Sandy Gervais and the pattern is from Lori Holt ... and the crossstitch is Autumn Welcome from The Drawn Thread.  I dyed the linen with Rit Teal and I love all the specialty stitches in this piece...

Below on the left side on the middle shelf I have Fall Most of All from Calico Confectionery  and below is the Quaker Pumpkin by The Stitcherhood ... I made it a white pumpkin on a green linen... and on the little box is Autumn by Lizzie Kate. 

Moving to the right side I have two pieces from Blackbird Design Bittersweet September and Bittersweet Lane (at one point they both were called Bittersweet September when they were club pieces from Dyeing to Stitch)  and below  the little lady is Autumn Keeper by Barbara Ana Designs. 

Over on my little 2 tier table I have some adorable scarecrows that Nick gave me and below is the Thankful String from Lizzie Kate. 

And this is the new "skinny" pumpkin with the bird on it ... another purchase from my favorite store, Hobby Lobby... and the little white wheelbarrow also came from HL... I popped in a small from Pineberry Lane  part of the Cats & Jack chart. 

As for now I'm content to enjoy what I've arranged. I'll make some changes in October for Halloween and again in November for Thanksgiving... but the bones of what I want to display are there. I will say it took longer this year than last year... a trend I'm finding every season that I decorate...and that seems to correlate to the fact that I can't deny... I'm getting old... my mind doesn't always register it but I know I walk slower and everything takes longer to do...and I know this trend is unlikely to change in the future... now last year I "celebrated" my birthday in the hospital ( my 3rd trip there in a month) so at least this one has me in my happy home... but somehow this birthday just has me feeling very old ... but old is better than dead so I just need to keep moving, right?

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... since I didn't turn on my sewing machine last week I have no quilt content to add to Quilting is more fun then Housework... I would like to get the American Jane Honeybun quilt off my wall and do something Fall-ish... next Saturday is National Jelly Roll Day... in the past I've tried to start a quilt that weekend... and then it usually takes a year or two before I get around to finishing it...LOL... but I have made a couple of lovely quilts that way. 

As with the start of every week I have grand plans to get a lot done and this week is no different... but as I stated when I started this post I still have birthday engagements to attend and I have a doctor appointment in the middle of the week... fingers crossed that next week is a week where stuff is not only started but finished too!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Appropriately moving slowly into Fall on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well I think the weather is moving toward Fall... lots of trees have their leaves turning and dropping... that heat wave 2 weeks ago probably hastened it...  I know I already have some dead leaves in my yard. And I'm tired of watering and will be fine with my flowers dying off.  I still will have to clean out the beds but the young man who mows my lawn (he's the grandson of my dear friend) has offered to bring over his dump trailer when it is time to do the work. Instead of chopping things up and putting them in a bajillion  yard waste bags I will be able to put it all the trailer and he will take it and dump it for me. This is such a gift ... Nick helps me with this chore and it will make it so much easier... I'm so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life.

 We had another string of hot days last week, but a tiny bit of rain came through on Friday and Saturday the high was only 70 degrees... woo hoo ... now that the kind of weather I LOVE... however it looks like it will only last till Tuesday and then get back into the 80's... that's normal for around here... every year when my birthday rolls around in the middle of September I hope it will be really Fall-ish, but it always seems to still be Summer-ish ... hopefully the end of the  month will be cooler.

Don't know that I can blame it on the weather, but hey it won't care if I do, but I felt kinda blah all week. Last Saturday evening I worked on my Noel Sampler for a hot minute and then on Sunday I tossed it aside for another shiny sampler... a Fall sampler... the Pumpkin & Bittersweet Sampler from Melisa at Pinker n Punkin Quilting... you can find it here... and like all of Melisa's wonderful designs it is free... she is so generous with her talent... it was a very fun stitch and ta -dah!!  I have it finished and framed!!

I found a lovely piece of  32 ct linen in my stash... my guess would be I dyed it with  Rit Dye Golden Yellow and then splooshed on some Tangerine... I used 3 different oranges - all DMC floss - 920 for the stars, 722 for the pumpkin and 900 for the berries... here's a close up of the berries... I stitched them as a small smyrna cross with just one ply of the 900.

I used DMC 869 for the branches 3011 for the pumpkin stem and the borders and 3829 for the alphabet.  I picked up the frame at my local Meijer's ... it was a taupe color and I greened it up with an Copic marker... and I really like how it came out.   That little inside gold edge really sets off the stitching... IMHO...

And I also FFO'd a piece I stitched a long long time ago... this little gal is from the Prairie Schooler No. 210 titled Prairie Fairies... I know I stitch this a long long time ago because it is on 40 ct. ...

Isn't she cute?   I'd love to stitch some of the other fairies but I'll be doing them on 32 ct.... easier for these old eyes to see. The frame was a sweet gift from a friend... I think it came from the Target Dollar Spot... it is kinda velvety and I love the color. 

So I have 2 new pieces to add to my Fall displays... but I'd like to have a couple more smalls. Nick hauled all my bins to the living room so I can start putting things out... and there are a ton of pumpkins... and some nice framed pieces... but only  a couple of smalls... so I'm going to turn my attention to remedying this situation. I have a bunch of Halloween smalls and a nice amount of Thanksgiving smalls ... don't know why I don't have more Fall ones. I found some cute pieces  I can stitch in my stash of Prairie Schoolers and Melisa has a couple I'm eyeing too. She just released another house... you can see it here... and I need to paint some Aida so I can stitch it ... so far this year I've stitched 4 of her houses and my goal is 6 for the IG challenge #pnpsixhouses2024sal...there are so many to choose from ... 

As for displays the only one I consider complete so far is this one on the sunroom porch... I did it first as I've been spending a ton of time out there...

Up top is a piece from Prairie Schooler No. 66 Autumn Samplers ... I stitched this last year as a comfort project after my September I don't want to remember... and if I say so myself, and I do... it is a beautiful piece! So nice to look at from my recliner...

and I got a new pumpkin/candle holder.... this is from Yankee Candle  and I love the color and that I can have a scented candle out there but it isn't real obvious. Here it is from the front....

and here you can see how the candle fits inside...

In the middle I have WTN&T Autumn's Acorn Gathering ... each of the squirrels is sporting a cute acorn  but I stitched them because I love animals in spiffy outfits!   And while I have a love/hate relationship with the squirrels at my bird feeders I do like the inanimate ones indoors.

On the bottom  I have an Ewe & Ewe & Friends piece called Simply 855... as I remember it is a reference to an Anchor floss but I stitched it in an overdyed ... lots packed into about 4.5" ... the alphabet is over one and I did the border in satin stitch. 

And this may be the start of a new collection... you might recall my obsession with bunnies in carrot cars?  I'd love to have a fleet of squirrels in acorn cars... LOL...

As for sewing  I did get all the American Jane Honeybun blocks done... and I got one row sewn together while Elliott was here on Tuesday... but I haven't sewn since then. 

 I mis- cut some of the sashing and fingers crossed I have enough of the yellow dot ... if not I can substitute another yellow dot for the outside sashes. I did have to square up  a bunch of the blocks... all those seams resulted in some blocks being slightly rectangular instead of square... now I could have taken the time... lots of time... and adjusted the seam allowances... instead I just whacked off the overage and called it a day. This quilt has hung around long enough. Maybe this Tuesday I'll get some time to work on it again. 

Looking ahead to the upcoming week. I want to get all my Fall decorating done so Nick can take the bins back downstairs. Elliott's coming on Tuesday, Wednesday I have a hair appointment, Thursday I'm doing dinner  with both of my sons, Friday I'm doing dinner with friends and Saturday my older son is hosting a brunch for my birthday at his house... I will be very well fed this week...LOL

Oh and last week when I talked about what sampler I was going to start for my birthday... forget about it... LOL... not sure if I will start something new or just work on some smalls... I'll do what makes me happy!! and I hope that you are doing whatever makes you happy! I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today and see all the pretty stuff posted there!

Hope you have a a great week ahead... some stitching time, some napping times, perhaps lunch/dinner with friends... all the good stuff in life!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Hot and busy and dithering on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well it has been a very HOT and busy week. We've had  6 day heat wave here in SW Ohio...

temperatures in the upper 90's along with the ubiquitious humidity and no rain until yesterday. My flowers are just kinda barely hanging in there and to be truthful I'm ready to start clearing out the garden beds. The dahlias in the raised beds were a disappointment this year. They got tall but not a lot of blooms. The dahlias planted out in the yard did better with no extra attention from me. Part of it could be I went with pompom and smaller blooms...next year I'm going back to the dinner plate varieties. They are the showiest. 

As for busy ... I had something going on every single day. Had a guy on Monday here to give me an estimate for some electrical work... turned out to be quite a pricey proposition and he was a talker... and that is saying a lot because everyone know I'm quite a talker. Had Elliott on Tuesday and I think we've got our new routine figured out. It's pretty much the same routine we had before just squeezed into less hours. Wednesday was my monthly meet up with the quilty ladies  and Thursday I was suppose to have some cross stitch friends over but I woke up feel yuccky so we re-scheduled and I rested a bit and Friday I had an appointment with an attorney for some financial matters as I write this it is Saturday and I am pooped!

Another week with minimal production... I did get the binding on the American Jane table runner ...and I swore I thought I took a picture of it down in my sewing studio but I can't find it... here's link to see a close up of the quilting that Delinda did...

and here it is on the bench in the living room... I'm very happy with how this turned out and it isn't a  UFO no more. 

And speaking of UFOs... if I can get myself motivated to go downstairs and sew I think I'm going to attend to a couple of other UFOs... and I still want to move the fabric around on the shelves ... and like lots of things I mention here, I talk a good game, but while the spirit is willing the flesh is weak... sigh 

I concentrated my stitching time on Fragments in Time 2022 and it is DONE!!

There are waaay more stitches in those 51 x 51 stitch squares that you think...the last squares just about did me in. I had a heck of a time with the border. I could see it was a diamond repeat pattern but what I didn't see was there is one extra element in the middle of each border... do you see the little bitty diamond?

Well I didn't see it for about 2 hours last Sunday and I  frogged and restitched the right side borders about 3 times.  I'm happy that I got I done by the end of August as I had hoped.

Which leads to a discussion about Sampler September and my upcoming birthday.  I still haven't decided what I want to start for my birthday... right now I'm debating between the Carriage House Samplings Quaker Stocking (that I'm not doing as a stocking but a long narrow piece) ... and those are the 3 colors of DMC I plan to use... 3809, 597 and 3820...

or Blackbird Designs  Bringing Good Cheer... as the cover says it is third in the Christmas Sampler series... the are 4 in the series and I've already stitched 2 of them... Feliz Navidad and Merry Christmas...

Now I haven't dyed any linen for either one of these... but I'm pretty sure they are both going to be a goldy tannish  color.  I still have 2 weeks to decide on that. 

But today I need to make up my mind what sampler or samplers I'm going to work on for Sampler September... I "narrowed" it down to this batch of 9 samplers... I known you've seen these before but I thought it would be better if I posted the pictures instead of having you click to the link where I last appeared here on this blog... anyway here's what I'm dithering about...

so 2 samplers are starts from my '7 for my 70th" birthday celebration that flamed out when I had diverticulitis  and C-diff...if you click on the title you can see what the full chart looks like... so  there is .Every Opening Flower by WTN&T...

 and Crowns & Shields from Blackbird Designs.

and there are  2 samplers that were started a looong time ago. in a galaxy far far away ... Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor started April 2012... that is a dozen years ago... sigh...

 and the Loose Feathers Series - For the Birds by Blackbird Designs started October 2017... it is a 9 part series and I have 1.5 parts done...  more sighing...

And there are FIVE, yep you heard that right five  BIG  samplers I have started since the beginning of the year... and not a single one is even close to being finished. I've certainly had a bad case of startitis this year...

Shall we recap? I think this is order I started them in...first, Summer Schoolhouse  Lessons in Abcedarian by WTN&T...

second, Faith Hope Love and Peace by Teresa Kogut... I got this on her Patreon, I don't think it has been released yet...

third, Pennsylvania German Stocking from Carriage House Samplings...not doing this as a stocking either, going to make it a long vertical sampler...

fourth, Red Rhapsody from Rosewood Manor... which is in NOT red at all...

and finally Noel Sampler by WTN&T... this was one of my "7 for my 70th" but I never got it started till July of this year. 

Right now I'm leaning toward the Noel Sampler... but like anything I've talked about on this blog I could change my mind in the next instance... which I often do... I'm leaning toward Noel because it would be nice to have this done for Christmas and other than the big house in the middle it looks like easy stitching. 

Somehow this accounting of what I've started this year has hit a bit different... I've always thought of the month of September in terms of new starts... when I was a kid it was the new school year and since it is my birthday month it is always the start of another trip around the sun for me... and as is evidenced by what I've just shown I sure do LOVE starting new projects... but I really do need to buckle down and finish a few of these BIG samplers. So far this year I've stitched a lot of smaller pieces and I've finished 3 samplers... the Prairie Schooler  No. 45 Garden Sampler (this is the only one I've gotten framed).

the Red Bird Sampler by WTN&T 

and the Prairie Schooler  No. 64 Christmas ABC's ..

I thought I saw a 70% off coupon for framing at Michaels in my inbox... I think I might take one of these and see if they have any frames I like. 

Well tomorrow is Labor Day and the only thing I plan on laboring about is stitching... and maybe get some sewing done... the weather is suppose to be a welcome break from the heat wave and I should take advantage of it and turn off the AC and open the windows.  I watch a bunch of the youtube videos with long range weather forecasting and they are calling for an early Fall and a colder, wetter Winter... I'm all for the Fall part, not as keen on the Winter outlook. 

And now that I look at the calendar next week is busy again... Elliott on Tuesday, a doctor appointment on both Wednesday and Thursday (what was I thinking) and I  dinner with friends on Friday.. well, that at least the dinner is  something to look forward to. 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... are you planning on doing any stitching for Sampler September?  What samplers have caught your attention?  I do love me a good alphabet... LOL...

happy stitching-

carol fun