Plenty of planting and binge binding on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - well the rainy days dominated my week... but I feel I made the best of it, trying to be productive outside when there was no rain and trying to be productive inside when it was raining... it seems like we only go a day or two without rain and then it comes right back....current forecast for this week is pretty similar to last week...  there was no rain yesterday and today/Mon/Tues have no precipitation predicted but Wed/Thurs/Fri and Thursday look soggy... sigh... my petunias are drowning... I've gone out and tried to empty out any water that I can from them but one has already checked out... I'll look for a replacement this week... 

And speaking of flowers Sunday and Monday of last week had plenty of planting... the weather was ideal... not hot and a nice breeze and I took advantage of that... by my estimate I dug over 150 holes of various sizes... lots were small that I dug with a trowel but there was a substantial number of larger holes too... I planted a ton of perennials to replace those that didn't make it through the winter... I stumbled on a sale at Lowe's ... 2 to 2.5 qt perennials are regularly $8.98 a piece ... they were on sale 2 for $10... wow... now that's a bargain... I got poppies, daisies, pestamon, coreopsis, echinacea, lavender and I don't remember what else... I planted about 5 flats of those little zinnias and a bunch of salvia and a couple of dozen cleome ...and I planted several bags of dahlias and some gladioli and I planted a bunch of seeds too... right now everything looks kinda sparse, and I know it will improve, but all that blank space has me itching to add more... I'm an overplanter... LOL... Mother Nature is keeping me in check by raining and curtailing my outdoor activities... 

Here are some pretty spots in the yard...

I intersperse pots with the planting that I put in the ground....give it a bit more height and interest IMHO...

Also outdoors I got a call on Wednesday morning asking if they could come and install my long awaited fence on Thursday... of course I said yes... they were scheduled to be here at 9 am... but I was anxious and got up at 7am... which was a good idea because they showed up at 8am!  Glad I was dressed... now they put in 36 feet of 8 foot tall vinyl fencing and they prepped the opening for the gate, but they didn't install the gate... argh... not sure if it wasn't put on the truck or if it wasn't ordered... they left about 1pm and without telling me anything. I called the fence company and they weren't sure what happened but said they'd be back on Friday to finish the job... except it poured down rain all day Friday ... and I haven't gotten a call about the job... need to contact them bright and early tomorrow...

Here's what the fence looks like... I really really  like it!  It totally blocks the view of the junk in the neighbors back yard and it's too tall for the deer to jump...

 

and here's where the gate should go... I put that screen up to temporarily keep out the deer...

and once the gate is in I want to plant roses in the raised bed that is in the farthest  corner ... if I can find roses I want. Early on I could have ordered David Austin roses online... but at this time they only have 2 of the 6 varieties that I want. I checked out 3 garden centers that said they had them, but they didn't... I have one more to check out, they told me on the phone they had them... they are about a 25 minute drive from her...hope I can find what I want...

On the days I couldn't get outside I escaped to my underground lair... my basement sewing studio... and there was a pile of quilts that needed to be trimmed and bound... I have ignored this pile for quite a while...

turns out there were 10 quilts languishing... 9 needed bindings and one needs a sleeve sewn down... and I jumped in and got 4 of them bound in a one day binge sewing session.  

First I did this one... a flag quilt I made with vintage Debbie Mumm's last June...

I want to hang this on the back of the couch... I know it is a bit hard to see but  I really like the panto and the thread on this one... red, white and blue...

Next was this behemoth... 86 inches square... Bonnie & Camille log cabin blocks from a swap that started in 2017... and it took till 2022 for me to get it assembled and quilted... and now it is 2025 and it is bound...

I fussy cut the little bird print for the cornerstones...

Delinda did a pretty feathery panto on this one... 

I'm going to use this one outside on the sunroom porch to cover my stitching chair... it will go nicely with the turquoise carpet.

Now I  really liked this swap because you HAD to use Bonnie & Camille fabrics so you knew you were getting good quality... and the blocks were oversized so you could trim them down and make them uniform... and while I was wrestling this quilt through my machine I remembered there were blocks left over from this swap...and I had made a top with them... where did I put the top?  Well I found it hibernating in its plastic bin and not only was top in the bin so was the back  I made and the binding... OMG... this is all  ready to go to Delinda to be quilted... glad it didn't suffocate over the last 3 years...LOL

Next I moved onto the most recent quilt I've gotten quilted... this American Jane Honeybun quilt...

I love this panto... it is called Knit One Purl Two...

 and I love the multi colored thread it is quilted with... I think the variegated thread adds a nice extra touch to a quilt and I pick it a lot... I used a red/white/blue thread on the DM Flag quilt....and I used a very Spring-y one on this quilt...

This is from the Kim Brackett book Scrap-Basket Sensations and the pattern was called Flowers for Nana's Girl... but while I was piecing the blocks the song "Build me up Buttercup" kept running through my head... one of my favorite songs from back in the 70's... so I'm calling it the Buttercup quilt ... every block is a different tone on tone yellow and some are 20 years old... several old Hoffmans that I loved... and the green is a Pat Campbell Fossil Fern... remember when that was popular?  I started this quilt in 2011 so this one is 14 years in the making... never never give up...LOL!

I've been wanting a Spring-y yet not tulip-y quilt for the living room for a couple of years... so I'm pleased that I  finally got this done... 

if you enlarge the picture you can see the thread is yellow/orange/lt green... complements the blocks so well. 

On the back of the couch is an oldie but goodie... 

I sewed this one is 2010 as part of a QAL with Amanda Jane Nyberg of Crazy Mom Quilts...according to my blog there are 362 different yellow prints in this quilt... here's how it looked when I had it on my bed...

Oh back to the wall quilt ... the tier tray has a theme of birds and bees... 

up top are two little pillows with birds from Blackbird Designs... I forget which book... they were finished as heart shaped pillows in the book... 

oh a tangent here... I got out my stash of BBD books looking for the pattern and had a lovely trip down memory lane... sooooo many pretty BBD patterns... and then a bunch of OOP BBDs popped up on my computer from eBay...how does that happen??? Anyway I have several patterns that are going for big bucks on eBay but I have no interest in selling them... BUT a pattern popped up that I do wish I had... and it is very pricey... so I clicked Add it to Wishlist and what usually happens  is the seller will make you a counter offer for a bit off the listing price... and this seller did... and it is still pricey buuuuuuttt.... I've been debating with myself for the last 2 days about whether I should splurge and get it... I would stitch it... and yes I could turn around and then re-sell it again... but I wouldn't... decisions, decisions... I can afford it but I've never spent that kind of money on a pattern before... and the good Lord knows I've spent more than the price of this chart on flowers just last week at the garden center... can you tell I'm getting closer to talking myself into this??

okay, back to our regular programming.... and below is Bees Knees from Notforgotten Farm.. ain't he cute?

My current plan is to keep up the Spring stuff about 2 more weeks and then get out the patriotic stuff. Hopefully I'll have this piece done by then... this is American Sampler House by Annie Beez and I "painted" the house yellow instead of white... because I can...

this was  a good piece to stitch on this week as it was mindless...and because of the holiday on Monday I was discombobulated all week as to what day it was... I had Elliott on Tuesday but it felt like a Monday... and then Wednesday disappeared on me... Thursday felt like Friday and Friday like Saturday... and now as I type this it is Saturday again... so maybe I'm back on track... 

 I want to work out in the yard a bit... just have a couple more things to plant... and I need to figure out how to turn on the drip irrigation... the grass is doing fine right now...oh I forgot to mention the cicadas are back... arghhh... and when I was out there a bit ago the are so NOISY... it is like living in a sci-fi movie... they don't bite or sting but they are the ugliest things and BIG... and right now they are all over my patio ... they won't totally disappear until July... so another couple of weeks... 

And while my knee didn't bother me last week with two intense days of planting right now it is screaming and all I'm doing is sitting in my chair... I'm scheduled for the biologic shot on the 18th... I can't wait... I hope it gives me relief...

So next week,  more rain... Elliott on Tuesday  and pest control guy on Wednesday... needs to spray for ants... nothing else on my calendar so far but I'm sure it will fill up... it always does... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and Quilting is More Fun than Housework today...

Hope you have a week filled with the stuff you want to do!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Putzing along on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well another week where plans for productivity did not entirely materialize... I'd like to say the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak, but the reality is the spirit wasn't really feeling like working... sigh... I got in about 2.5 days of gardening... the weather went from unseasonably warm to unseasonably cool with a hefty dose of windy... not conducive to my efforts. I got the front side (Matson Ave) cleaned out of dying daffodils and alliums... and I got some perennials and some little zinnias and some seeds planted on the Gail Drive side of the house... better than nothing, but plenty more to do... just putzing along at a snail's pace... sigh

As for crafty stuff I dithered and putzed between 2 cross stitch pieces.... I made progress on the LHN Farmer's Market ABC's... excuse the wrinkles...

isn't the little gal cute??  Her hair is a bit more red than charted and her eyes are a bit farther apart than graphed... I may have to do a bit of ocular surgery on them. 

And the realization that this is Memorial Day weekend had me jumping into the patriotic stitching I want to do.... I started God Bless America by Erica Michaels on a white 32 ct linen... and I found it exceedingly boring to stitch on... I had one word done "Bless" and I decided to paint the whole piece of linen a pale blue... I used Rit Dye Evening Blue... and I like it sooooo much better!! 

Then I went on to make other changes ... I like the design but there are 3 shades of blue... DMC 3780, Weeks Blue Suede and Weeks Fathom... and honestly the difference in color is barely perceptible in my eye... and there is entirely too much blue for my taste... so I'm adding in more red... Ruby Slippers by Classic Colorworks to be exact... I'm made the capital letters red and I'm using Ruby Slippers instead of Weeks Brick for the flag... much more cheerful and true to life IMHO.... now painting the fabric blue necessitated stitching in the white stripes, they are left unstitched if you use a white linen... and that is more stitching but I'm okay with it... and I'm loving the look of this now... fun fact:  the stripes on the flag will amount to almost 1000 stitches... whew... 

also I started this project with the plan of doing the large version of the chart and I'm now planning on doing the shorter version of it... I'm really liking the addition of buttons to that final band... and I'm  just not feeling the larger version at the moment.

As for decor here is the porch display... small and very green... 

Up top is one of the samplers from  Prairie Schooler No. 45 Garden Samplers   and  Tulip House from Pinker n Punkin ... the Prairie Schooler piece is the only sampler I completed from my ill-fated 7 samplers for my 70th birthday... sigh... I do love this piece and it looking at the chart I'd like to stitch the other 2 samplers... there is just something about a Prairie Schooler piece that makes my heart happy!!

And you can't overlook my giant bird cookie jar... a friend snapped this up at Homegoods for me a couple of years ago... such a fun piece!

On the middle shelf I have Bobbin' Along by Notforgotten Farms ... the pattern calls for this to be a drum but  I've never done that  kind  of finish so I went with this display... I used perle cotton for the thread on the spool and there is a real needle at the end of the thread ... and I kept out  Bower Birds by Liz Matthews from my Easter display... 

On the bottom shelf is Brite Birds by Kathy Barrick... I got the pattern here  and it is my understanding that this was a freebie...

And on the wall I have the Little House Needleworks Spring ABCs...

I'm seeing a lot of people moving on to putting out their patriotic displays starting this Memorial Day... that is wonderful but I am not there yet... I'm thinking mid June I'll bust out my plethora of patriotic pieces... got several things I need to FFO from last year and I picked up another cute Uncle Sam pattern this week...  Parade Sammy by Calico Confectionery...

I'd love to have dough bowl of little Uncle Sams... a goal for future years... 

Well last week filled up quickly... Tues/Wed/Thurs were a blur... Monday and Friday were marginally productive... not sure about this coming week... Tuesday is Elliott and Wednesday Nick has a doctor's appointment but that's all I'm sure about right now... I'm certain more things will happen... 

Hope you are enjoying the Memorial Day weekend... we're staying close to home ... will be able to watch the local parade from the end of my street and be very grateful for the sacrifices made by so many brave men and women to protect our freedom. Land of the free because of the Brave!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today and leave you with my favorite garden display at the moment...a plethora of petunias!!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

it's all about timing on a Slow Sunday...

Hello ... another week that filled up fast... I read an article that said as you age you should stay social for your mental and physical health... LOL... at this rate I'll live to be 200 years old.... oh ... I hope not... anyway I did something social every day except Friday and even that day was chatty as I worked out in the yard all day and several people stopped to talk about the garden which was fun.

Now the timing of stuff last week was tricky... it seemed that every time I had the availability to work in the yard it was raining... and when I was occupied with other stuff the weather was perfect for getting outside... but in the end I did get some stuff done around the yard... 

I planted about 75 marigolds ...after I cleaned out most of the daffodil debris... I like the planting part, the cleaning out part, not so much... but you have to clean up before you can get in there and plant... and so  I spent hours cleaning out the beds on the Matson Ave side of the house... the Gail Drive side of the house still needs attention.... lots and lots of attention... and I need to constantly remind myself that Rome wasn't built in a day and there is no way I alone can get everything done in a day... sigh...

Since I wasn't able to work in the yard as much as I wanted I satisfied by gardening urges by going to garden centers... and I came home with these...

lots of those little zinnias I like to edge the beds with and other assorted annuals... and I picked up several perennials... which were pretty but pricey... the cheapest I got was $10 ... and I remember when I could get them for less than $7...  those were the days, my friends...

I'm writing this on Saturday and it is good that I need to do this as I am quite achy from my Herculean efforts on Friday... I worked in the yard from about 1pm till 7pm with a break for a snack and dinner... and I really wanted to do more but the body had had enough!!! The spirit still wants to get out there now and  do some more planting, but the body says what are you thinking???  Ice that knee and take a couple of Aleve and maybe a nap... I believe I shall obey the body... LOL

As for crafty stuff I did get a little stitching done... I got the windows and the alphabet in for American Sampler House...

now to start filling in the side... I'm saving that for an evening when I watch a movie.

And I made some nice progress on Farmer's Market ABCs by Little House Needleworks...

I'm stitching on 32 ct linen I painted with Lemon Yellow and Apple Green Rit dyes and I'm using just DMC... these are fun to do because there is a nice balance between letters and motifs.... I've done all the samplers in this series... the 4 seasons and the first one which was Needlework ABCs...you can see it here...  I love that they are narrow and long and fit in several small spots in my house... this one is branching out  bit in subject matter... and I'm kinda hoping for more that are focused on say Christmas or Halloween ... that would be fun!

As for a bit of decor ... here's my tall shelf display... the theme here is birds and Spring... 

At the top I have the Sunnyside Sampler from The Drawn Thread... this one makes me want to stitch some of the other designs she has that are in this long horizontal orientation...

Next shelf has 2 pieces from Blackbird Designs (and doesn't it make a lot of sense that Blackbird Designs would have lots of charts with birds??... I do love BBDs)  ... the one on the pedestal is... I don't remember... it is a BBD and I spent about an half an hour searching my blog for the name of this piece and I just can't find it...  and the one below is Welcome dear August from the book In Friendship's Way... this was a sort of birth commemoration  for a grandchild of Alma's or Barb's ... I forget which... I substituted the word Hope for August.  I love that it has a bird and FOUR different borders!

In the middle I have For the Birds by The Drawn Thread... I did this one years and years ago... and then to the right I have 2 vintage bird figurines ... I don't know the maker... these were Christmas gifts from my older son and I love them!

Moving down more cross stitch...Ah 'Tis Spring by Notforgotten Farms, Sampler Hill by With Thy Needle & Thread and Hollyhocks Were Always There from the BBD Sewing Club book...

in looking at these pieces now I'm not sure they all needed the addition of ribbon and bows... I may make some alterations on them in the future... a little less frou frou...

Bottom shelf has a vignette with a pretty turquoise plate and some Marjolein Bastin tins and a little bird pillow that I got off of Pinterest years ago and have no clue who's design it was...

and here's a close up of Ninon by Jardin Prive... this was my Blessings Sampler this year and I decided to finish it by putting it in a hoop that I painted ... 

and the other piece is Funky Bird by Barbara Ana Designs.

Plans for next week include more garden work and I really want to get down into my sewing studio... I haven't touched my machine in weeks and the quilts that need to be bound are piling up and up... as I type this there are no doctor or dentist appointments on my calendar for this week... Elliott will be here on Tuesday and I'm meeting a friend for our monthly dinner date on Wednesday and I'm going to work out with Anna my personal trainer at least once this week... I will say working in the yard on Friday  was definitely an upper body workout... I pulled up sooooo many daffodils... perhaps I'll get some nice muscle tone...LOL...

Weather forecast still has rain predicted for several days ... I do think I'll call my sprinkler guy and have him come over and tell me how to use the drip irrigation... the lawn is looking fine...no need to use those sprinklers yet... fence installation is still a week or two or three away... and while I know it is Spring I feel like I'm behind and it is Summer... which it isn't... Summer solstice isn't till June 20th... don't know why I'm rushing it...  

Hope your upcoming week is a good one.. I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today...  I have tickets to see the Neil Diamond play A Beautiful Noise this afternoon... looking forward to it... Sweet Caroline (a link for your earworm enjoyment)   is one of my favorite songs and I can't imagine it won't be included... bum, bum, bum... when my older son went off to college at Purdue he came home knowing the lyrics to Sweet Caroline and I was surprised...turned out they play it at Purdue football games... and who doesn't love at least one song from Neil Diamond?

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Happy Mother's Day!

 Hello - well it was one of those weeks where I wondered, what happened to my week??? I had 3 medical appointments  and I juggled a plumbing guy, a paint removal guy and a fence guy... not literally, but figuratively LOL...things were busy.  The plumber put a new faucet in the bathroom, the paint removal guy got the years old paint overspray around my window boxes removed, and the fence guy is finally getting me an installation date for the fence ... but that only happened after I was informed that the receipt I got when I charged the downpayment for the fence wasn't an approval... I had put in the CC code incorrectly and while it said it was a receipt I didn't notice where it said "not approved"... sheesh... you'd think if the charge didn't go through they'd send a notice of that, not a receipt which leads one to believe that you paid... argghh.. now still on my agenda is getting the windows washed on the outside and the blinds cleaned on the inside and the porch/front door landing done.  So I've been keeping other people busy... as for me... well I got a few things done.

Let's start outside... as of Sunday we've had three whole days with NO rain... I don't remember the last time that happened. Do you recall that new sprinkler system I had put in?  I have yet to have the occasion to turn it on... maybe this week?  I did get some stuff planted up...

First the display of petunias... I'm LOVIN' this...

There are 20 different varieties of petunias here and I think all but 2 are Proven Winners... gosh there are some gorgeous varieties  available these days. I have fond memories of planting petunias with my Grandma and my 2 Great Aunts... but back in those olden days the only colors were white, pink, red and purple.. and we planted all of those colors together. 

I got this big planter filled in... starting with the flowers up front, I'm really into that purply-orange osteospermum... or African Daisy... this variety by Proven Winner is called Bright Lights... and I tucked in some Persian Shield (that the purple leaf stuff) and  some lime-y green coleus... and some other stuff I forget what they are called.... 

I put this planting arrangement together...a cordyline, some PW petunias, some coleus and that caladium in the middle... love it!  Behind this is a grass plant that usually gets about 6 ft tall and will make a nice background for it.

I have several other big pots I'm working on but I splurged on two of these for next to the garage... 

I wanted something already in full bloom and I just plopped the whole shebang  into the larger pots... I need to save the pot these petunias are in and use them in the future to plant the bigger ones instead of filling the bigger ones with dirt... less messy. 

And here's what is waiting for me...

I keep reminding myself Rome wasn't built in a day and I'm not going to get this all planted up in a day... but I want to!!   However at the moment my left knee is not cooperating... one of my medical appointment was to the ortho doctor and we agreed to do the PRP,  platelet rich plasma shot... but I can't get it till in June as they are already booked up for this month... sigh... trying my best to avoid knee replacement surgery as long as I possibly can. 

As for crafty stuff  I did get all the block sewn for the 18 patch Jelly Roll quilt...

but I didn't get them sewn together yet... nor did I get the binding on the yellow quilt I want to hang on the living room wall.... but as Scarlett declared,  tomorrow is another day or maybe next week... LOL

I got a little stitching done... I was distracted all week by other stuff and spent too much time doom scrolling... but I managed to finish The Robins are Here! by WTN&T. Don't they look dapper?

And I finished the stitching on Pinkernpunkinquilting's Marcher of the Flag.... another freebie from the incredibly generous Melisa!

This was a leftover piece of  Aida I had painted for another project...  and I love how the yellow is in just the right spot to highlight the flag...  now to get these pieces FFO'd!

When I was thinking ahead about things I wanted to stitch last week I totally blanked on Mother's Day... I have a tradition of starting a new project on Mother's Day totally guilt free... and I looked back to what I started last year and it is still languishing... sigh... and while I could work on this again, after all this is my tradition and my rules... it just isn't talking to me... but this one is....Little House Needleworks Farmer's Market ABC's...

This is one I'd love to have for  this  summer... I've done all the other ones in the series and they are a quick fun stitch... 

Oh I got some framing done.... and it looks awesome!  I used a new to me framer Lisa of L&M Framing. She is local to me in the Greater Cincinnati area and I dropped these off to her but she does oodles of mail order business... here's her website and you can see lots of stuff she's framed... and here's her Instagram... I wasn't able to get out to pick up the finished framing so I had her mail it to me and damn that girl can pack ... both pieces arrived in perfect shape..

First is Red Bird Sampler by With Thy Needle & Thread.... now I stitched this on linen I dyed with Aquamarine dye and I added the alphabet at the bottom because my definition of a sampler is that it has to have an alphabet!! This was is very apropos to show for Mother's Day... my initials are in the body of the piece next to those pots of flowers ... and my Mom's, PF and my Grandma's, CW are on the bottom. 

And this is Fragments in Time 2022 from Summer House Stitche Works... this is one of those pieces that is released as 8 little cardstock charts and then the border is a freebie on her website... I dyed this linen  with some concoction of Rit dyes and stitched it with a DMC conversion... I love this one so much that it makes me want to start another version ... 

I did the one from 2014...

and I have the charts for  at least 2 other years... tempting, tempting...

Oh Lisa has lots of finished projects she's done on her website but she is taking a summer break... spending time at some family property... and won't be back till in September or so... keep that in mind... I'm definitely going to have several things to send to her when she returns.

So the plan for today is to have brunch at my older son's house ... he orders the great spread from a local restaurant that does these yummy meals... there's a breakfast casserole and some bacon with a sugar glaze and fruit and yogurt and bagels and lox and other stuff I forgot... it comes prepped ... you just have to pop some stuff into the oven ... he's done this the last couple of years and it makes it easy on his wife and the mother of his child and for me and my DIL's Mom... 

This afternoon I'll probably putz in the yard...those flats of flowers aren't gonna plant themselves... and I'll do a little stitching ... and Nick already prepped a little Mexican chicken dinner for us yesterday that he'll pop in the oven... maybe we'll go down to the local soft serve ice cream place too... they have orange Dole Whip this week... one of my favs...

While I was cleaning a couple of weeks ago I came across some evening bags of my Mom's that I had saved... I  let go of them as I have no occasion to use them but before I did I opened them and found some jewelry and this little pin that flooded me with memories...

My brother and I pooled our money one Mother's Day and purchased this little flower pot pin for my Mom from Marsue's Gift Shop in the Newport Shopping Center in Newport KY... I don't remember exactly what year but I'm thinking I was about 12 so that would make it 1965... it obviously meant a lot to my Mom that she saved it ... it wasn't expensive (cause we didn't have much money) but it was a heartfelt gift and memory.  Right now I have it propped up on my dresser so I see I every day... I miss my Mom and my Grandma... my Mom has been gone for 45 years ... she was only 47 when she passed... and my Grandma left this earth 33 years ago in her 84th year... they both  loved sewing and crafty stuff and gardening and made me the person I am today... and on this Mother's Day I say special prayers for them and hope that I've made them proud and that my children will remember me with the same love I have for these 2 wonderful women.... 

and with that I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and Quilting is More Fun than Housework... and I hope that you have a wonderful Mother's Day and make some memories!

happy stitching-

carol fun