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