Happy Easter!! on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - Happy Easter!!  I'm going to try and keep this short and sweet as you are probably busy with other stuff today... As you read this I should be preparing a prime rib roast and deviling some eggs for lunch... Nick and I are headed to Chris and Jenny's house to celebrate with Elliott and with Jenny's parents... should be a very nice day...

The weather seems to be creeping every so much closer to real Spring... I'm itching to replant my window boxes and fingers crossed this may be the week. I'm planning on doing something different than just petunias this year... I want to use that Proven Winner's Peachy Keen verbena ... but I need like 24 plants so I'll have to see if I can find that many... maybe have to do the Peachy Keen mixed with another color verbena or maybe some white or light purple petunias... I think that would be pretty and different... 

And I've come up with another outdoor project... I have a guy coming on Thursday to give me an estimate on a privacy fence... so I don't have to look at the mess in my neighbor's back yard anymore... there are 2 grills and neither has been touched in at least 2 years... and a wooden swing set that hasn't been played on either... anyway I want the privacy and I want a gate at the end to hopefully deter the deer from walking behind the house and near my raised beds... and if that works out the way I want I think I could do a raised bed of roses... particularly David Austin roses or other brands where the roses look more like peonies... English roses... I LOVE them... but so do the deer... you'd think the thorns would  deter them... but the don't. Anyway I'm excited for this... 

As for crafty stuff ... I got a couple more blocks done on the 18 patch JellyRoll quilt on Tuesday when Elliott was here... he wanted to play downstairs and it gave me time to sew... I think I need 8 or 9 more blocks and that will be enough... as for cross stitch I worked a bit on The Daily Reminder by With Thy Needle and Thread... I'll show pics of these next week.

And here is the last piece of my Easter decor... the little apple green shelf unit on the sunroom porch.. the weather was nice enough to sit out there on ... even opened the windows and let some fresh air in... 

At the top I have a new vase I bought from William Sonoma...I saw this about a month ago on someone else's blog and I told myself that was it was too stinking cute...it was pricey... and I didn't NEED it... but I WANTED it ... and then I caved in and bought it... a gift to me!! LOL... I have one of Melisa of PinkernPunkinquilting's  wonderful houses in the middle ... this one is called Tulip House...  I stitched it on 16ct Aida I painted with Apple Green Rit Dye... I love that it is a yellow house and I love the quilt on the side of the house!

In the middle is part of my collection of bunny heads... just the heads.. similar to my collection of Santa heads...just the heads... and snowmen heads...just the heads... sounds kinda gruesome but I'm going with it...LOL  I tucked in my latest FFO from With Thy Needle and Thread, Hoppy Easter... 

And on the bottom shelf... more bunny heads and I kept out the green tone on tone sampler Bower Birds by Hello from Liz Matthews and tucked in the Hippity pillow from WTNT Jellybean Jubilee... I'm happy to enjoy this display on the porch...

I think I'll banish the bunnies at the end of the week and bring out my bird stuff for May ... and then about mid June I'm going to do the patriotic stuff... I love having the different seasonal displays because I get bored looking at the same stuff all the time... I think back on my childhood and the decor stayed pretty much the same all year long except for some extra decorations at Halloween and Christmas... but I don't think I could limit myself like that anymore... so many cute things I'm happy that I own ... I'm so lucky to have the space to display them and the space to store them... 

So I hope this finds you having a lovely Easter... like I said we're headed to Chris and Jenny's at noon.. and after a big meal we'll sit and talk for a while and then I'll come home and take a nice nap... 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and talk to you next week...

happy stitching-

carol fun 

PS... by my reckoning this is a SHORT post...LOL!

That didn't go like I thought it would on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well last week flew by and lots of things didn't go like I thought they would... I had an appointment or  dinner plans every day last week... some things went better than I expected and others certainly did not. The dinner plans were better than expected... lots of great conversation and fun ... the doctor's appointments left something to be desired... the retinal specialist is a lovely woman but punctuality is not her strong suite... now I expected it to be a long appointment as they dilated my eyes and I had to do some testing but waiting for almost an hour by myself in a darkened exam room was not how I thought it would go. Luckily I did have some knitting with me to pass the time and she said my eyes were fine.... come back in a year. 

My primary care doctor appointment took a fraction of the time the retinal specialist did ... and  nothing happened. The nurse took my vitals, reviewed my meds and chatted... the doctor came in, asked the exact same questions and listened to my heart and lungs and said come back in 6 months. Took less than 5 minutes... I got more attention from the front desk receptionist. Think it's time to find a new primary. I was assigned to this doctor when my previous primary left the practice... I really like my previous primary...never felt rushed and she always asked a question or two about what was going on in my life... I'm sure it was in her notes but she'd ask about my gardening or my hobbies or my son... a personal connection... and I like that and don't think it is too much to ask ... like I said, time to find a new primary care doctor.

So to distract myself from those annoyances I did get some crafty stuff done... I worked a bit on the new WTN&T piece, A Daily Reminder.... 

Excuse the wrinkles... I really like doing those big Smyrna crosses!  Now lots of these flosses have a low contrast to the linen I'm using... gives this piece a very different look from the cover picture...I got the Crescent Colors Queen Bee floss on Friday to do the house... that will brighten this up... and  I think the outside satin stitch border will really make this piece pop... but it's going to be a while before I get to it... I plan to stitch that last so it doesn't get fuzzy from handling the piece.

The only sewing I did was making a pillowcase for Elliot's birthday party yesterday... I put Christmas gifts and birthday gifts in a pillowcase as a way to wrap up his gifts... this time I used a fabric with robots... he's into robots right now. 

Didn't get any more blocks done on the 18 patch Jelly Roll quilt.... maybe later today I'll sew up a few more. I did sit down and write down a list of projects I want to get to... bunch of quilts that need bindings ... and a bunch of precuts I've purchased... I made the list because there are 2 Kaffe Fassett jelly rolls sitting on a shelf that I bought not that long ago... and I had something specific in mind for them... and now I can't for the life of me remember what that project was. So I'm going to take some notes ... try to keep track of projects I've seen that I want to do... like a version of the Peanut Butter quilt... this is a  free pattern ... go here and then scroll down where you see Quilt Pattern.... you have to put in your email but you can get a PDF sent to you... I'm thinking yellow sashing and blue cornerstones and low volumes ... and I saw a pattern called Cheese Platter... which you can see here... and I'm thinking of using my Tilda stash and low volumes for it... and there is the Lori Holt quilt I started a month ago and the American Jane quilt that I started a year ago and it made a brief appearance a couple of weeks ago... so many shiny things that catch my eye...LOL

I got 4 Easter cross stitch pieces FFO'd... in the nick of time... this is Hoppy Easter by With Thy Needle & Thread... I finished the stitching last Easter but never got around to FFO- ing it. I stitched this on a pink linen but it isn't showing up as pink as it is in real life... 

I used chenille trim from Lady Dot Creates in the color Snow on the outside.

And I closed the slit on the back with a carrot ... I really like that touch!

I also finished the 3 Lori Holt Easter charts I stitched in March... 

I kept these simple... a little pompom trim and some floral fabric ... further down this post you'll see how I displayed them... something a little different. 

As for my Easter displays here are the 2 in my living room... first the "small" shelf unit... a nice selection of cross stitch and knickknacks and a little quilting...

Up top there is Lizzie Kate's Spring Alphabet... I love it on the pale blue linen... 

and opposite the sampler is my little tulip quilt ... this was a free pattern on the FQS blog ... start here and you can see the block... click underneath that picture and it will take you to the website where you can download the pdf for all the block in the QAL project... this was block No. 24.  I want to make a quilt with this block in the larger size someday... maybe after I get to the 4 or is it 5 other tulip quilt patterns I want to sew up...LOL

On the shelves below on the left side, I've got a flock of yellow ducks in assorted sizes... and the cross stitch bunny driving a carrot car is from the pattern Spring Parade by Lila Studio.

On the right side  the basket of tulips has a Lizzie Kate piece from the pattern Spring Smalls  and the pink bunny in the pink frame is Egg Hunt by Emily Call... and my ever growing fleet of carrot cars! 

Here's the big display... so hard to get a good picture of a large rectangular object into a square format but I try...

From the top... some old stuff and some new stuff....

Here's where I displayed the new Lori Holt Easter pieces... this is a McCoy pottery bulb planter ... a vintage pieces that I love!

Below left to right...2/3rds of a chart from Blackbird Designs called Breath of Spring...this is OOP as far as I know... and I love the foil wrapped bunnies... they look like they are real chocolate, but they aren't... which is good because I'd probably have eaten them by now...LOL

in the middle is Sampler Hill  by With Thy Needle & Thread..  I like how the alphabet is lurking in the hill and as I recall there were 100 tulips in that border. 

Moving down...Easter Rabbits from Stitchy Princess Black... I totally changed the color palette on this one... 

and  the Easter pillow is from WTN&T Jellybean Jubilee...

Wrapping up the cross stitch on this display is this tone on tone sampler called Tribute from the OOP Blackbird Designs book called Women of Grace and Charm....

and Ah Tis Spring from Notforgotten Farms with my favorite egg cup sporting bunny slippers!

I haven't finished re-doing the little bookshelf display on the sunroom porch... need to do that today and I'll post it next week...which will be a short and sweet post as it will be Easter Sunday... and how did it get here so quick?? I was focused on Elliott's birthday which was yesterday and now I need to get an Easter Basket together... I do have a couple of things but haven't gotten him a chocolate bunny yet... somewhere I saw one that was a Reese's peanut butter bunny... and he loves Reese cups... 

Weather last week was blah... couple more rainy days ... a peek of sun... one warm afternoon ... hoping for improvement this week... temperatures may be a bit warmer... perhaps a 60 degree day ... but MORE rain is predicted... Mother Nature ... it was a joke... just because I got the new sprinkler system installed doesn't mean you have to rain and rain and rain and rain. I talked to Kevin who's company installed the system and he said when I'm ready to use it he'd come and walk me through the process... the way this is going that's gonna a be a while. 

So far the only stuff on my calendar is Elliott on Tuesday and an appointment to get my teeth cleaned on Wednesday... perhaps I'll get some sewing done and maybe I'll find the motivation to do some straightening up and purging of carp in my house... I've been talking about it for weeks... and mentally I've cleaned out a closet and a chest of drawers... but in actual real life all I've done it look at the box of giant trash bags I bought... it is so much more pleasant to sit and stitch, isn't it??

Hope you have a good week ahead... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and see what's going on over there.

The birthday party festivities wore me out... gonna sit in my chair on the sunroom porch and stitch and probably take a nap too!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Betwixt and Between on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - I feel like I'm betwixt and between on so many levels... first Mother Nature can not make up her mind whether she's okay with Spring or wants one more taste of Winter. It was super rainy here in SW Ohio as it has been lots of other places too. The sprinkler project is done except for showing me how to operate it and repairing a landscape lighting fixture. Hoping to set up a time to have them show me the ropes this week and while I said in jest that my having a sprinkler system installed would result in a super rainy Spring, I didn't mean it... it was a joke... but Mother Nature took me seriously... arrghh... and she's giving us a break on the rain Monday and Tuesday (fingers crossed) but we're going to have lows in the 20's and highs only barely 50 degrees... things are budding and I hope they won't get zapped. There are 35 days till Mother's Day, which around here, is the date it's usually okay to plant stuff in the ground... I can't wait!

As for projects well I'm betwixt and between there too.... I really got into the Blackbird Designs  The Sweet Birds Sings....I got all the stitching done except for the berries... they are charted as eyelets but I'm going to do them as Smyrna crosses... 

and I want to add a cartouche with an alphabet inside at the bottom. I started to chart it on Thursday but I was tired and I put it aside... need to focus to graph it properly. I may do the letters over 1 thread so it doesn't take up a lot of space.

Here's a close up of the sweet birds...

So while I was mulling over the charting I grabbed a WIP from my chairside basket to work on... this is Every Opening Flower by With Thy Needle and Thread... it was the opening project of my 7 for my 70th birthday... before that event went up in flames... 

This was where I was at in November of last year...

And here is where it is now...

It is a beautiful sampler... I love the linen I painted for this ... I think this will be the next WIP I focus on. 

However I might get a little side tracked by two other projects that are sitting next to my chair and loudly calling for my attention. The first is a new market release also from With Thy Needle & Thread called A Daily Reminder... 

I heard that there is going to be a SAL for this starting I think today. Now I LOVE the design the way the alphabet wraps around the 3 borders  and that all the letters are done in Smyrna crosses  and that outside border of satin stitches... it has me swooning LOL... the called for linen is Arboreal by Cedar River Linen... an interesting design choice that I like... but you know me... anymore I dye or paint all my linen... and  Friday night I went to dye a piece for this chart... and I didn't have a piece of 32 ct Wichlet which I LOVE for stitching in hand... it is stiff and it stays stiff even after dyeing... I know lots of stitchers love Zweigert because it is soft... not my personal preference... so because I'm chomping at the bit for this project I dyed a piece of 32 ct Jobelan for this. I started with a dunk in  Apple Green Rit dye, and it didn't look dark enough... so I put a glug of Rit Tan in the jar ... and while this was wet I wasn't sure I liked it... but it dried I'm pretty happy with this... is is darker than I normally stitch on, but not toooo dark and I think the mottling of tan adds interest... here are both sides ...not sure which I'll use ... and IRL this is beautiful... it has a lot of depth and movement....my phone does not capture greens well and as you've seen I stitch on a lot of green linen... sigh

I was watching a Flosstube video with Brenda and Laura the other day and they talked about how they weren't fond of highly mottled linen... and since I always seem to be on the "wrong" side of the current trend I LOVE highly mottled linen ... and of course I LOVE LOVE LOVE colored linen... I always have. Long before I started dyeing and painting my own linen, while the charts would call for some shade of beige I'd find a colored linen to stitch my version on... color makes me HAPPY!! Always has... as a teen I convinced my Mom to paint my bedroom a sunny yellow... and in my first apartment where I couldn't paint the walls I bought a sunny yellow bedspread for my bed... and now in my little house there's color everywhere... every room is painted a different color... the bathroom is turquoise, my bedroom is blue, the craft room is green, the kitchen and the sewing studio are yellow... the living room is a khaki tan which makes a great background for the olive green couch and the turquoise and green rugs and the yellow furniture... well...how did I get off on that tangent...LOL

Any how... I think this looks great with the flosses...

I think my version will have a much lower contrast than the original... and I'm okay with that... I like when parts of a sampler get pale and ghosty... I  plan to make the house yellow...it calls for Classic Colorworks Peanut Brittle but I might change that to Queen Bee because that matches the brick of my house and I'll do the flowers in a pinky floss... maybe Gentle Arts Woodrose...and I just noticed there is a bunny charted inside the fenced yard... oh that is definitely gonna be a chicken instead...LOL

And then there was a market release from Teresa Kogut that I also LOVE... Coco's Garden... I'm doing this on 32ct Jobelan... for some reason I think this needs a true evenweave fabric... 

This is 32ct Jobelan... for some reason I think this needs a true evenweave fabric... I used Rit Dye Aquamarine for this one... it's hard to tell in the picture but there is a lovely mottling/crackling effect going on with the linen and I really like it!  I'm using the called for DMC flosses... oh I'm going to make the bunny white... DMC 3865... I think he'll show up better on the aquamarine... and it is totally unrealistic to think I could get this done before Easter ... but if I get a few stitches in it I can revisit it later and shoot for next Easter... which is April 5, 2026... plenty of time...LOL

As for sewing I spent some time in my studio and got more blocks done for the 18 patch Jelly Roll quilt..

.

I think I'm going to make this square... 6 blocks by 6 blocks...  I do admit that some of the fabric pairings are less than perfect but  an uglyone here or there isn't too noticeable. 

Here's a closeup of some of the blocks... I'm trying to pair busy prints with not so busy prints...

I'm still working on my Easter decor... going to redo the porch display this week.  Here's the tier table in the living room... it is in your face yellow with lots of yellow knickknacks and stitching...

These little chick pillows are from WTN&T Jellybean Jubiliee.

This piece is a Blackbird Design from the book Thank You Sarah Tobias called Pins & Tulips Pincushion... it was supposed to be a 2 sided pillow... that bottom line of alphabet would have been stitched on the back... I like it this way with the whole alphabet showing... as far as I know this is an OOP book ... I tried googling it but nothing comes up. 

Next week is busy busy busy... I have 2 doctor's appointments that were made 6 months ago... one with they retinal eye specialist and the other a check up with my primary. I have Elliott on Tuesday.  I'm doing dinner one night with a friend and I'm getting my hair cut and colored on Thursday... and once my lawn guy gets the yard re-seeded the sprinkler guy will come and explain to me how to use the system... which should be this week too!

But today I'm going to  take it easy and stitch and maybe do a little sewing... it is grey and rainy and chilly and  yucky...I'm waiting for Annie to belt out "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow"... lol

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and Quilting is More Fun than Housework ... hope your week ahead is a good one and that you have time to stitch and sew and that is isn't as soggy as it is in SW Ohio...

happy stitching-

carol fun  

Some BBD and other musings/tangents on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well it was a nice week...kinda quiet and easy going... I like that a lot. Went to dinner with friends... went to lunch with a friend... went to have a coffee with another friend... puttered around the house... my urge to purge was minimal... so far I cleaned  one pull out shelf in the kitchen... and then promptly filled it up with other stuff... need to fine tune this project... I've been reading articles which suggest setting a timer and work for say 30 minutes... that might help... we'll see.

The sprinkler guys were here almost all week... the weather has been wetter than they would like... I'm convinced that putting in this system is going to guarantee a very wet Spring and Summer this year... that will benefit all my local gardener friends... I'm taking one for the team...LOL

As of today the weather is trending warmer... but still wet... I'm soooo ready to plant stuff ... and it is still waaaaay too early to do that. Nick helped me assemble the other 2 raised beds... now to get the my lawn guy to shovel in compost... that probably won't happen till after the sprinkler guys are done... which I think will be next week... fingers crossed.

There was a lot of running around this week so productivity in the crafty areas was spotty. I told myself I was going to finish up the Teresa Kogut Faith Hope Peace & Love  chart... I fibbed... I could not put down the Blackbird Designs  The Sweet Bird Sings... this is a very enjoyable stitch...

And stitching on this had me musing about other Blackbird Designs that are UFOs... so I pulled out a couple to look over... and they are both BIG projects... one I still  LOVE  ... the other I'm just liking and rethinking my plans. .. 

First is the Loose Feathers Series titled For the Birds... this one I LOVE... I found a note in this project box saying I started this on my birthday in 2017... and it saw a little action in 2021... it needs A LOT more action...LOL

My plan is to stitch all 9 on one piece of linen... I love the linen I painted... I just wish I had cut and  painted a larger piece. I wasn't aware of a couple of other stitchers' finishes of this and they left room between each chart to add some decorative sashing that looks great. I may swap the positions of No. 7 and No. 9... there is a a decorative band on No. 9 that would line up nicely with the ones on No. 1 and No. 4....  I think that arrangement will look great too... 

Then there is Blackbird Designs Garden Club Series... circa 2015... this was supposed to be 12 separate little projects, each done on a different linen and then stitched together and framed... which to my mind would be a logistical nightmare for a framer... I'm not sure how you'd get that many different pieces of linen to lay flat and not pull at the seams... currently my plan is to frame some of these and make others into small pillows.. the design area finished 4" square so they'd be nice to stick in here and there... now that said,  the 2 I have stitched are not my favorites of the group... oh well ... one has to start somewhere.

A lot of these charts have a piece of the called for linen stuck inside... and I'm not fond of most of them... the weave is looser than I like... I can see me subbing in new linen for the ones I do end up stitching.

Here are the first two charts stitched...

I'm no stranger to BIG Blackbird Projects... here is my Anniversaries of the Heart... I worked on this on and off over a 2 year span and finishing in December of 2013... one of my favorite pieces I've ever stitched!

As for quilting I took  2 projects to Delinda to long arm... one is going to be a whole cloth quilt...white on one side and pale blue on the other side using a panto called Graffiti that I've used on another quilt and loved.  The second top I took was the American Jane Honeybun...I got all the rows put together and  sashing on all 4 sides and went to add a border... but the fabric I had wasn't big enough... so I decided that it was a sign that the quilt was  done... and I was done with it... found some cute teapot fabric in my stash to make a back... it will be a nice throw size... and I forgot to take pictures of either project before I dropped them off... oh well... 

Now to move onto other quilting stuff... like putting bindings on something from this stack of quilted tops...

lots to choose from... I'm in search of motivation... which I did not find... sigh...

Instead I cleaned off the design wall of the two projects I had up there and started a NEW quilt .. one that  wasn't anywhere on my radar until  Thursday... I was scrolling mindlessly through Instagram... something I do waaaaay tooooo much... and saw a quilt that was just completed from a QAL... this is it...

Side note... Do you join in on QAL, quilt a longs or SAL, stitch a longs?  How well do you keep up? I'm gung ho at the beginning but I've never gotten a project done within the timeframe of a QAL or SAL... motivation leaves the building before completion every time... sigh

Back to the inspiration - I like how Spring-y it looks and that it is easy to sew and it was done with a jelly roll... I have a jelly roll or two or three or four or a whole LOT of jelly rolls... here's a link to the free pattern... it is called 18 patch Jelly Roll from Material Girl Quilts....

So I went downstairs into my stash and found a two Spring-y jelly rolls ... both from Chez Moi from Moda... these are old collections...not sure exactly when they were produced but I know I bought them a looong time ago... one was priced at $35 and I doubt that is what I paid for it (for comparison jelly rolls retail for around $45 at the moment) and  one was still wrapped in plastic and it had a big red X on it... that tells me I bought this off of the marked down precuts cart that use to be in the back corner of Fabric Shack next to the cutting counter. There were always some great bargains on that cart. Fabric Shack is still in business but they never reopened the brick and mortar store after Covid... they are strictly online now and I am deeply disappointed and more than a bit miffed that they haven't reopened. It was my favorite quilt shop ... I had to drive over 30 minutes one way to get there but it was always worth it.  I asked the owners about reopening many times but they ignored my queries. They still have fabric in the building and as far as I know still pay a lease on the property. It is a family owned business that also has a home dec shop in the same town (Waynesville OH) and that shop is open. Nowadays I buy most of my fabric online because this shop is closed... and it's just not the same.  I purchase precuts and before I would shop and buy fabrics from many different collections... some days my focus would be yellows or tone on tone green or plaids or low volumes and I get a third of yard of a bunch of stuff.. sigh... I have many great memories of this store... ok... sorry for the tangent...

Anyway I found  two jelly rolls from Chez Moi... one called Sophie and the other called Lulu and they go together quite nicely...and I can tell from the tag designs that Sophie is an older collection than Lulu... 

and

 and so far I've paired up strips to make 35 blocks...

 and I've got 13 blocks made... 

this is a great project to work on when you only have a couple of minutes here or there... I've run down (well not exactly run... I'm still holding onto the banister as I don't want to fall again..LOL)  to my sewing room several times and been able to get a couple of blocks done ... very satisfying... I plan to work on it more today as the rain that started on Saturday is going to continue today and most of next week... see I told you if I had a sprinkler system installed it was going to be a rainy Spring... sheesh... 

I  looked at my calendar  and next week is filling up... I'm watching Elliott on Tuesday, first time since my fall back in December. I think I'll get the oil changed in my car on Wednesday. Taking Nick to see a friend on Thursday and hoping to see a new framer on Friday....and I should devote some time to purging more items from my house.

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and Quilting is More Fun than Housework... the plan is to stay home all day... Nick is making dinner... should have time to stitch and to sew... a great way to spend any day...hope your week has time for the fun stuff!

Oh I've had several people tell me that they can't leave a comment here... and I don't know why that is...but if you have something you want to share my email is in my profile... go to the sidebar and down below the picture of the adorable curly haired child in the frilly dress standing in her Grandma kitchen is the info you need... 

happy stitching-

carol fun