Stuff I got into and other tangents on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello ... well the weather has been lovely here in SW Ohio... sunny, no humidity and temps in the upper 70's with a lovely breeze most days... cool nights so I've shut off the AC and opened all the windows... take that Duke Energy!!  Anytime I can deny them a penny it makes me happy!

The week started out making the blood pressure rise but things got better as the days passed. Remember I was annoyed that the waterworks company would only give me a window of 8 am to 4 pm?  So I was up with the chickens on Monday in case I got a an early call... and I waited and I waited and I waited and I waited some  more... and 4pm came and went with NO call and no repairman.  

On Tuesday morning I got up and after a cup of tea and my morning puzzles I was just about to call the waterworks company when my phone rang... a number I didn't recognize but I picked up (oh on Monday I picked up on several calls I didn't know thinking it might be the repairman... it wasn't ... but I was pestered to change my car insurance, I lied and said I didn't have a car... and someone wanted to buy my house, it ain't for sale... and there was a political robo call... grrrr)... ok back to the call on Tuesday morning... lo and behold it was the waterworks repairman... but it wasn't a "I'll be there in 20 minutes", no he was parked right outside my house. I informed him he was a day late and he told me he had just gotten the work order that morning.  He asked if he could come in and that the repair would take about 5 minutes. So, I'm still in my PJs but at this point I do not care... I let him in and it did only take about 5 minutes.  After he left I tried to leave a complaint with the waterworks company with little success. After being on hold for 15 minutes I left a voice message but no one has responded. I left a bad review online but I doubt it will get any more attention than the about 100 complaints that were already there. Bureaucracy at it's finest!!

So the rest of the week was an improvement... I spent a ton of time socializing... breakfast out with one group, dinner with another couple and another dinner with another couple... very enjoyable. On Friday I got my car detailed ... it looks so good and smells good.  My gift to me twice a year...

And speaking of gifts, well I've been quite generous to me this week. Along with the car detailing I broke down and purchase another sewing machine... another Juki like the one I have downstairs in my sewing room... now up to a couple of months ago I had a Juki upstairs in my craft room but it quit working... and while I do not need 2 Juki's, I WANTED another machine... and if you know me, you know what I want, I usually get.  My sainted Grandma pointed this out to me in my  early 30's when there was a house I wanted to buy but my spouse wasn't as keen on the idea... 24 hours later I got the house... I LOVED that house... it was a Tudor built in 1927... it was the grandest house I've ever owned... you can look at some pictures here from the last time it was for sale... the kitchen was completely remodeled from when I lived there... it's nice but when I lived there it had this beautiful hand painted tile that was original to the home... anyway, excuse the tangent... there are a couple here today... I'm happy with the new machine and it will let me sew a block or two here and there. I considered buying a Featherweight and a dear friend let me borrow one she has... but after I week I knew it was a cute little machine but not for me and the Juki is about the same price as what a Featherweight is going for these days.

As for sewing I got all the 4 patches sewn together for the Sandy Gervais Fall 4 patch...

now to get the rows sewn together.

And on the cross stitch scene I finished Harvest Tiny Town... I still need to add the buttons and the little charm and I know how I'm going to finish it... but that won't be till I get out the Thanksgiving decorations.

Since I finished something I started something new... another one of those adorable houses from Melisa at Pinker n Punkin Quilting.... this one is Turkey Creek Manor... here's pic of Melisa's version... and you can find all the details here in this post...

I LOVE that turkey on top of the house... the other day I looked out my front window and there was a HUGE hawk sitting on the roof of the house across the street... 

anyway here is my start... I changed the color of the house to make it a bit more on the yellow side (DMC 783 for this house )  and that has been my theme with these... this makes the 5th house I've stitched and I need one more to meet my goal of #pnpsixho)uses2024sal on IG... depending on how quickly I get this one done I might do another Thanksgiving themed one or a Christmas/ Winter one... there are plenty to chose from as Melisa is so talented and generous with her creations.

So last Sunday I decide to get out my bin of Opal sock yarn... and there is a LOT of it...

and as I pawed through the bin I decided there was a better way of organizing this stash... and it involved re-arranging a bunch of sock yarn I had on the first floor (we aren't going to talk about the other stash of yarn in the basement...NO we are NOT)...  I gathered all the solids together and didn't realize I had duplicates because they were in 2 different baskets...

and I'm tired of dragging the bin out of the closet... sooooooo I cleaned out the baskets in the living room bench and put all the Opal in there...

and I like this a lot... it is a better use of the baskets  and makes all the Opal more accessible... however I started this organzation project at 10 pm  and it took me about 2 hours to deal with the Opal and several other stashes of yarn. I found 3 or 4 shawls I've started with some lovely alpaca... need to work on them in the near future.

In the meantime I started two new socks... because starting is so much FUN! The first project is going to be the mate to this sock which I've looked at lots of time and admired but couldn't for the life of me remember which 2 Opal sock yarns I used. However, in sorting and rearranging I found 2 balls of yarn that turned out to be the ones I need for the 2nd sock...

And I like to have a "car sock" project... one I primarily knit on when I'm either waiting in the car or when I'm at lunch with friends... I found this yarn which has been in my stash for a long long long time... I'm pretty sure it is an Opal and I can't decide if it is a hand dyed or not...it came as 2 separate loosely wound cakes... I suppose it would result in 2 socks that are pretty identical in the end... either way it is knitting up really cool!!

It gives me aurora borealis vibes... and the other night we got a bit of a view of the aurora borealis here in Ohio... very very cool!

And I pulled out several skeins that I want to use for upcoming projects... I'm liking these kinda brown/beige skeins... I found some old Opal on eBay that is brown that would be great heels for a pair with these ...

And I'm in the mood for a scrappy purple sock...lots here to chose from...

On another tangent I picked up these two Christmas themed magazines the other day and I have really enjoyed reading them...

now magazines are certainly pricey these days, aren't they?  I'm a child of the 50's and I have always LOVED LOVED LOVED magazines and catalogs and luckily so did my Mom... I remember getting Woman's Day and Family Circle at the grocery store...and in the mail there was Redbook and McCalls... and as I got older I loved Seventeen  magazine, particularly the September issue which was always HUGE... and catalogs from Sears, JC Penneys, Spiegels, Montgomery Wards.  

In my 30's when I got into quilting and cross stitch there was Quilter's Newsletter Magazine and several others with names I can't remember but they all had something to do with "quilting and quilter"... and for cross stitch  Cross Stitch and Country Crafts was my favorite!!  Nowadays I don't have a subscription to a single magazine... I do pick up one now and again at the grocery  but most of the time I page through them and there isn't enough of interest to have me buy them... sigh... I realize that the internet has pretty much killed magazines... there is so much you can see just by googling... but there is still something special about the smell of the ink and the feel of turning pages... 

Okay... I think I'm all out of tangents ... for the moment... LOL... plans for next week include getting out my Halloween stuff. Nick brought up the bin with the knickknacks and a laundry basket of cross stitch pieces. I have Elliott for more time on Tuesday as he's on Fall break... I think we'll assemble a big Lego... and I have an hair appointment ... I really need  trim and my roots touched up... but there should be some quality time to sew and knit and stitch... yeah!!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and Quilting is More Fun than Housework... today is another lovely weather day, but starting tomorrow they are forecasting a 20 degree drop... a high of only 58 on Monday... works for me... gonna break out a turtleneck and wear some wool socks!! 

Hope your week ahead is happy and productive and perhaps has a tangent to two to go off on... 

happy stitching-

carol fun