Things seen and unseen on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - well just as I expected last week was busy busy busy... I spent a lot of time waiting around for people to show up for appointments and none of them came on the day or the time I had written down...am I losing it?  or was this just a bunch of random stuff?

Dealing with the sprinklers and drip irrigation that I want for the yard, one guy came an hour early, another didn't show up on the day I expected, but texted the next day at the time we agreed on for the day before. But it was pouring down rain, so that got rescheduled for the following day... and he ended up being early too. And setting up the appointment for the"inspection of my HVAC, required me to call in between 7:30 and 8:30 am to find out when guy would arrive... I called (and if you know me I'm not a morning person so this was a pain in the butt for me to do)...he also arrived early and then it turned out that he didn't even need to come into the house so I'm not sure why it made any difference what time or day he came at all... and my personal trainer was sick so that appointment got cancelled.  A week of thinking stuff was going to happen on a certain time and day and none of it ended up that way... sheesh. 

Anymore if I know I have an appointment I'm not likely to start a task I don't think I'll have time to finish... so I spent a lot of the waiting around time doing nothing. I'm hoping this week will be better. Dan the handyman is coming today... but I bet he'll be late because the damn time changed last night... oh don't think I'll miss my semi-annual rant on the time change... we'll revisit this later.  On my calendar for this week is my cleaning lady, the gym with my trainer, Anna and dinner with friends on Monday...  physical therapy appointments for Tuesday and Thursday and a lunch on Wednesday with friends for the birthday of one of the group... cake and ice cream to follow at my house and I'm looking forward to that!!

So what did I accomplish this week. Well when last we met I said I was going to start a new tulip quilt... but I didn't ... instead I remembered some other flower blocks I started back in...let me check.. 2020... and while they briefly escaped from their plastic bag last July, I haven't touched this project for 5 years... I had 9 blocks completed and 1 more cut out... originally I was going to make this a bed size quilt...LOL... that idea has died... it is going to be a throw ... and right now I'm going with this layout... 3 blocks across and 4 blocks down... 

Setting the blocks on point and adding the plain blocks certainly pumps up the dimensions. I sewed up 1 more block and I have the last 2 cut out... instead of doing them mono-chromatic I'm making them super scrappy like this one...

I'm thinking maybe a narrow border and then a larger floral border... gotta see what I have yardage of in my American Jane stash. Oh the pattern for the block is called Fresh As a Daisy byt Pen and Paper Patterns and you can see it here...

As for cross stitch, I was able to to finish Vibrant Flowers by Kathy Barrick. 

notice I personalized it a bit...

 made the lady's eyes blue and her hair more red and I made it curly.. like a certain gardener I know ...LOL  

Then I was scrolling through IG and saw that someone had finished the Lizzie Kate Mystery sampler, Things Unseen.  I started this in 2014... bought it as a kit with the linen and the threads...  it came in 3 sections...and as far as I can tell the last time it saw the light of day was November of 2022... and as of today, it is almost done!

All I have left to do is to fill in every other space in the bottom border and sew on some pretty mother of pearl button to that basket of flowers! I'm not sure what has gotten into me... I keep thinking I want to start new projects but I'm getting pulled into projects that have been started years and years and years ago and are still hanging around... not sure why I'm compelled to tie up these loose ends... but I shall go with the flow at the moment. 

As I type this on Saturday evening I think I can finish this tonight... tomorrow at the latest.... Then, I do think I'm going to do a couple of small Easter pieces... I found an Easter Bunny I stitched last year that needs to be FFO'd and when I'm in that mood I like to do more than one piece... the ones I have in mind will only finish about 2" square. After that,  I'm going to pick back up one of my many many many WIPs.

 I pared down my list of stuff I wanted from the Needlework Market... ended up concentrating on the Brenda Gervais stuff and the Blackbird Design booklets and that long sampler from Little House Needlework. Had to buy from 2 different sellers as I couldn't find one who had everything I wanted. I expect I should get stuff in a week or so and that may be the impetus for a new start. 

As for decorating, I contemplated putting away the snowmen, but that's all I did... contemplate. It was still cold Thursday and Friday so I wasn't feeling "Springy"... Perhaps the end of this week will be a good time to return them to their plastic bins. However longing for Spring... and as I sat out on my undecorated sunroom porch I knew I had to do something to it... so I did... I changed out the quilts... 

I love the green Grunges in these quilts and the fabrics are vintage Momo but in a very Spring-y color palette. 

And then, I decorated the little apple green shelf unit... 

now this is a bit of a change for me as the cross stitch is secondary to all the pottery. I love 50's vintage pottery, particularly McCoy and Shawnee and I'm very fond of the greens and yellows of that era... and I really like how this turned out.

On the top, I have my Prairie Schooler March Daffodils Book No. 146.... which I think goes nicely with the lamb and that McCoy vase. I also think the silk daffodils are a nice addition. The pin pillow with the daffodil is Hello Spring from Sub Rosa. 

Middle shelf has three pieces of McCoy pottery... and two little pieces of cross stitch.. in the double tulip piece is Alphabet Birdhouse by Little House Needleworks and little girl is  freebie from Pineberry Lane called Wee Crowned Maiden which you can find here. Oh and I got that little bow tie quilt quilted... makes a nice accent to all this green and yellow... IMHO...

Bottom shelf had a cool McCoy pottery bowl, a pear from Annie Beez pattern Spring Green Pears.. and my version of Liz Matthews Bower Birds. 

If you enlarge the pics you can see the details better... I took some close ups but for some reason they haven't uploaded to my computer and it is late and I want to wrap this up. 

I usually do the porch in all bunny heads for Easter,  but I might leave this up another week or so and then bring the bunnies out here. The weather is suppose to improve dramatically... saw a forecast with 70's for T/W/Th/F... and I saw a robin eating a worm on my front lawn... a sure sign that the weather will improve, right??

And a tiny crocus popped through the mulch...

And the daffodils and hyacinths are about 6" tall... Spring is coming... it's coming... 

Ok - here's the time change rant... you can skip it if you want, but I think I make some pretty good points... if I say so myself ... and I do...

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I have been ranting about this for years and years and years and years... in the past I've said pick one and stick with it. Now I know exactly which one we should stick with and that is Standard Time... now I know a bunch of you will say  you want more hours of sunlight in the evening, but it turns out that Standard Time is better for our circadian rhythm. The brain has a master clock that's set by the exposure to sunlight and darkness. Morning light resets the rhythm. By evening, levels of the hormone melatonin begin to surge, triggering drowsiness... and who doesn't  need some help in falling asleep? 

Too much light in the evening (that "extra" hour from DST) delays that surge and the cycle gets out of sync. It also affects our heart rate, blood pressure, stress and metabolism...does that sound like a good thing? 

Right after the clock shifts in March, there's a spike in workplace accidents, road accidents and medical errors due to sleep deprivation and cognitive impairment, as reported by experts at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine... see I'm not the only one who thinks changing the time is not good for us. Be careful out there!!

A Gallup poll just last week said 54% of the US would prefer Standard Time. 

Now there are suggestions of how to adjust... like moving your meal times and bed times up 15- 20 minutes earlier starting the week before... but it's too late for that now... another suggestion is to go outside in the morning this week. The weather should cooperate here in my neck of the woods and when it is nice I like to sit on my sunroom porch in the morning and do my word puzzles. 

I'm not sure if this time change will ever stop... I'm definitely for Standard Time, but even Daylight Saving Time all the time would be better than this twice a year farce where we think we are getting more daylight. 

When told the reason for Daylight Saving Time the old Indian said, "Only the government would believe you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and have a longer blanket". 

I agree with the old Indian... 

Hope your week ahead is a good one... and that you adjust to the time change... Arizona and Hawaii don't have this problem... we should be like them!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and Quilting is Better than Housework...

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Over socialized and under productive on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello... well last week turned out to be waaaaay busier than I expected... guess I was making up for the weeks I lost, cause I was quite the social butterfly... and I really enjoyed myself... was out to lunch or dinner or both Mon/Wed/Thurs/Friday... ate at a favorite hangout in town 3 times last week... turns out I'm not the only one who likes the food and atmosphere... was over at my older son's house twice to help them with some stuff... spent an evening with Elliott telling me all about optical illusions and these almost vintage Legos he loves called Mixels... you can find lots of info here... they were manufactured back in 2014  and came in little bags... Elliott discovered them on YouTube and is TOTALLY entranced... there are 81 of these creatures and his Daddy has acquired about 40 of them on eBay... Elliott knows ALL 81 of their names (which are odd made up ones) and has a life goal (remember he's 5) of collecting ALL of them... Daddy is trying to oblige and it is ALL Mixel conversation ALL of the time ... LOL   He's so serious about them and wants to tell me every detail of how they combine and what their "powers" are... I find it fascinating and confusing... I can't keep them all straight but I chalk that up to the fact that my 71 year old brain is already filled with other clutter... 

We had a spell of false Spring and that has been lovely too... now this weekend has been back to Winter... but I have high hopes for more sunny days in the upper 50s next week... fingers crossed that the weather guys aren't lying to me.

After a phone call, a text message and 2 emails I got the mobility company to come and take away the ramp and the lift chair... yeah!!!  And then I was able to put the porch back together and I've sat out there several times and enjoyed the sun. OH I am soooo happy to have my porch back... sat out there in the sun all afternoon yesterday and it was wonderful!!! However, I'm not digging the lack of decor out there... too late to put out snowmen... my plan right now is to get them back in their plastic bins at the end of this week... and too early for Easter bunnies... but right now have a plan to bring up a little Spring stuff ... nature abhors a vacuum and I abhor an undecorated room... LOL

Well all my socializing left me tired and I'm also blaming it on the physical therapy... I haven't had a lot of pain but boy  I was pooped several evenings ... still need to work on building up my stamina....productivity has been lacking ...  got a bit of stitching in on  Vibrant Flowers... but I still have that dress to tackle...

I thought about putting this down and working on something else ... but I plodded on... I do want to stitch a couple of smalls for Easter... got a couple of ideas... need to look for some yellow linen in my stash.

I did get a bit of sewing done... finished the American Jane Spool quilt...

this is only 45" x 55" and I'm going to hang it over my cutting table. Freshening up some decor in the house here and there... saw some drapes I may want for my bedroom... it's been 11 years and some things could be updated. 

And then there were little bow tie blocks left over this quilt....

and they were sitting by my sewing machine and they started talking to me... soooo I sewed 16 into a little mini quilt top... just gonna do some straight line machine quilting on this... 

and another half dozen into a little mug rug... 

I'm particularly fond of the block the with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle... good memories of my boys loving that show... 

I didn't get any more done on the projects I had on my design wall last week... and I did find a new to me quilt pattern that has me intrigued... Tulip & Vine by A Quilting Life... you can find it as a PDF download here and it's on sale... 

I almost bought the kit for this but after looking at it closely I can not bring myself to make gray tulips... I could probably do blue ones, but not gray... so I decided I want to make this with my American Jane fabrics... red, yellow, orange and pink tulips... I LOVE tulips but don't plant them because they are just a dessert buffet for the deer... so instead I made tulip quilts.... 

like this one....

and this one... 

and this mini one... 

I'm chomping at the bit for Spring to arrive!! I figure I have 4 more weeks before the big garden outlet store re-opens ... and then probably 2 to 3 weeks after that before they are fully stocked... and the caveat that I really shouldn't put any annuals in the ground till after Mother's Day which is May 11 this year... 

I'm walking better every day so I shouldn't have any trouble working in the yard... and speaking of the yard, I'm pursuing my plan to have sprinklers and a drip irrigation system installed. I got one estimate last week, another guy is scheduled to come on Tuesday of this week and I'm playing telephone tag with a 3rd guy... I'd like 3 good estimates before I pick a contractor... and then after that I need to work on the  front porch project... and then I have a plan for permanent Christmas lights... gonna be busy outside my house this Summer.... 

Well last week got busy all on its own...  and this week is already stacked and packed... Monday I have a session with the personal trainer at her gym instead of her coming to my house... more equipment there to play with.. luckily she's only 2 blocks from my house and then in the afternoon I have a semi-annual eye appointment... now I never know for sure how long that one will take... sometimes they just do a modified exam and you're in and out in about an hour... other times it is a full production with them dialating your eyes and doing a bunch of tests and you need to pack and lunch and spend the day... sheesh... Tuesday I have the sprinkler guy coming in the morning and physical therapy in the afternoon... Wednesday I get my hair cut and colored... Thursday more physical therapy and I'm suppose to get my teeth cleaned but I think I'll push that back a week or two... 

Friday I have to have the AC unit that was installed back in like May inspected... I had to have this done for the furnace I had installed 2 years ago....  I think this is a county requirement but it is totally useless from what I can see. One guy comes and does an electrical "inspection" which consisted of looking at the electrical panel from about 5 feet away... he then put a 2 part sticker on the furnace. It took him longer to walk from my front door to the basement than it did for him to "inspect" it. Then a different guy has to come and he looks at the HVAC unit and he tears off the bottom part of the sticker and leaves... again it takes longer to walk from the front door to the basement than to do the "inspection".   Now I forgot about this "requirement" after the HVAC unit was installed. I was reminded by the company that installed it back in November...then you have to call the local municipality to get this show started... they just sent me a letter last week saying I need to get this done in the next 30 days... WT???  It took you 3 months to get back to me but I have to do it in 30 days??? Anyway I don't know exactly when this guy is coming... I have to call into their office between 7:30 and 8:30 and on Friday morning and then they'll give me a 1 hour window... how do people who work deal with this?? I'm retired but if you worked and didn't live close to home how could you rush back to let this guy in?? Needless to say I do not understand why this needs to be done as I had it installed by a reputable company with 30 years of experience... the cost of these "inspections" is rolled into the price of the unit but I swear this is some sort of kickback... I think this whole process needs to be reviewed... can you tell this annoys me? Sorry for the rant...

Oh I saw a couple more things I may have to get at the Needlework Market coming up the end of the week... Blackbird Designs a booklet that is a MUST BUY for me... Sweet Bird Sings...  that needle roll with the birds... ooooohhh... I saw this about a year ago when it was the class project at a retreat and I've been wanting it ever since... 

This is a pic of the original... I think it is charted in a softer palette... and I'd like to add an alphabet at the bottom... 

And this new release from Little House Needlework called Farmer's Market... 

If you enlarge the pic you can see there is a chicken at the bottom by the X... I'm sure I can make it polka dotted... LOL I've done the other 5 charts in this series... there are the 4 seasons and one that is needle work themed... I love all of them... and this one is no exception. Need to look at my wish list and put in some pre-orders.

Okay I'm going to link up with Kathy's Quilts and Quilting is More Fun than Housework... hope your upcoming week is a good one... I'm hoping for more productivity but it may be just hoping...

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Scattered surprises on a Slow Sunday

 Hello - well that was an interesting week... lots of things happened that I didn't expect... starting with last Sunday when I woke up to 2 inches of SNOW... what the??? Saturday my phone sounded off constantly about a Flash Flood warning as it rained all day... but NEVER was the word SNOW mentioned... NEVER... I knew it was going to get colder ... and it did.. but the weather guys certainly messed up on this one... I've gotten to be a weather junkie in my old age... hey, not a lot goes on in my world... and I have TWO weather apps on my phone that I look at numerous times a day... NEITHER one said anything about 2 inches of SNOW... you'd think that might be something people would want to know about, wouldn't you?

Anyway we stayed home all day on Sunday... I ventured downstairs and sewed a bit...I put a new light strip on my Juki... WOW this is bright!!! and I like it! I have plenty of projects that are WIPs but first I wanted to play with that Lori Holt tablerunner block I mentioned last week... I broke open a bunch of Lori Holt pre-cuts I've been collecting... a layer cake, some charm packs and even a fat quarter pack of backgrounds... and I made these blocks... and surprise I like them A LOT!!

Here's a link to the tablerunner and you can see where I added some connector corners to the "Petals" making the "flowers" more roundy... my blocks came out 10" finished and if I set them straight with a little sashing I would need 64 blocks for a bed size quilt (and no need to remind me that I said I didn't need to make anymore bed size quilts... I don't NEED to but I WANT to)...

but if set them on point (which I'm liking a lot) and make the sashing between the blocks about 2" finished I'd need less blocks... although I haven't figured out exactly what that number is....

now I'm using a variety of Lori Holt backgrounds here and I have a bunch of FQs that would be great for setting triangles for the sides... and maybe a small scrappy border that blends in... and I already have that 108" wide backing I showed last week... oh I like this idea... so far I've been cutting one block out at a time... I pick 2 different charm squares for the petals and a background fabric and then I'm cutting all the centers from a layer cake of Lori Holt Bee cross stitch collection. Lots of different fabrics, very scrappy. 

Then I turned my attention to the American Jane quilt with the honeybun blocks that has been waiting around to be finished for a while... and here's where I left it... along with other stuff on my design wall...

There are 2 more rows and then borders... a throw size ... surprised that I kept it that small...LOL

And then I played with the American Jane spool blocks I started back in July...

Close up of a couple of the blocks and the cornerstones... 

this is going to hang above my cutting table so the dimensions are about 50 something inches wide and about  45" tall... I used my treasured tape measure fabric as the cornerstones and  I'm going to bind it with some of that same fabric ...I have been hoarding this for quite some time... oh I wish they'd reprint this one... 

 and all of these project were surprises because I thought my sewing mojo had left the building... LOL.. I spent a lot more time this week on sewing than I did on cross stitch and that hasn't happened for quite some time. 

I had my last appointment with the orthopedic doctor on Monday... he was pleased with my recovery and released me to do out-patient physical therapy which I started on Tuesday... while in his office I mentioned that in the past I'd been getting steroid shots in my knees for my arthritis and that any pain I was having seemed to be more  from arthritis than the  fracture... he asked if I'd like to get shots today... would I??  I'd love to get a little relief so that was a good surprise!  And my knees are feeling a bit better... 

On Tuesday I did my first PT and I went again on Thursday... the surprise from this was not so much that my knees hurt the next day, but how tired I was the next day... both Wednesday and particularly Friday I was a total slug... need to work on my stamina.

As for cross stitch, I think I'm calling this one done... Bower Birds by Liz Matthews...

I could add in 3 more thistles but I'm not feeling it...

And I could have picked up Quaker Samplings... but I wasn't feeling it either...

So instead I picked up this piece... Vibrant Flowers from Kathy Barrick... 

Big dress to fill in and lots of little flower motifs... will be cute in my Spring or Summer  display... and I'm itching to start something new... maybe something small for Easter... I think I'll start packing the snowmen away late next week ... I'm ready for some new decor... I'll start with Easter and by the time it rolls around I'll be ready to move onto Spring with birds... and I'm happy that I'm pretty sure I can do all the decorating without help... well except for Nick moving the boxes up and down the stairs...

Oh and I had another nice surprise... the  power recliner I ordered from Amazon came... Nick and Chris assembled it for me ... and I LOVE IT!!!  It is a good size for me.... the arms aren't too high... and I love the chenille-y upholstery...

now several friends commented on how I was going to keep it clean... and I will be careful... and I'm going to Scotchguard it... it is very cozy to nap in... and I did quite a bit of napping Wednesday and Friday... which surprised me... but in a good way.

I called to have the rental power chair and the ramp removed ... took an email, a phone call and a text message to get a response which was "we'll get back with you"... sigh... hopefully this week. I sent out some emails to get estimates on a deck/landing for by the front door... when the weather improves ... and fingers crossed the next 10 days are looking promising... I'm hoping we've turned the corner and Spring will arrive soon... officially 25 days till Spring... 

Oh and another surprise... a GOOD one... I popped into Costco and they had the bags of dahlia tubers!!! I've checked back on the blog and the first time I bought them there were a dozen in a bag for $10... they are up to 8 in a bag for $14 but that is still a steal... I got a few, a couple, a whole LOTTA bags...

By my calculations I got 80 dahlias, 9 elephant ears and 100 gladiolus... I read where you are suppose to plant the gladiolus sequentially... plant a bunch one week, then come back the following week and plant some more and then do that again... Glads only bloom once so if you do it that way you'll have a stream of flowers... I'm going to try that... and I saw a couple more YouTube gardening videos and I have to go check out Home Depot and Lowe's and Walmart as I saw goodies each store had that I want to check out... and I have to break the news to my lawn and landscape guy that I want him to assemble the 2 raised beds that are in the garage... I bought them last year so I could get all the raised beds to match... didn't want to miss out and my OCD needs them to be matching... I know it isn't a job he's gonna love but he'll do it... two more bed would put them almost out to the side walk but they will get so much more sun. I think I'll plant the back 2 beds with more shade loving stuff or maybe some veggies that I can cover to keep the local wildlife at bay. And out of the blue (another surprise) I got a bid for the sprinkler/irrigation system I'm interested in.  I first contacted this company back in November... and I contacted 2 other companies too but I haven't heard back from them... guess I'll try some other places. 

Next week looks kinda quiet... PT Tues/Thurs, dinner with friends on Monday and my cleaning lady on Tuesday... weather doesn't look too cold... couple of days flirt with upper 50s... which should preclude any snow... but one can never be sure... I hope to surprise myself and get some more sewing done... perhaps get a binding on one of the half dozen finished quilts that are waiting for me.

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts  and Quilting is More Fun than Housework since I have some sewing to show... 

Here's hoping the we all have a productive week... and a nice surprise or two!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Moving along on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - so how was your week?  Mine was nice... things are moving along... I didn't get a lot of crafty stuff done but I did get out and about several days which made me very happy. Now I can maneuver with a cane from the house to the car and into a restaurant fairly well. I went into Krogers and hung onto a cart for stability and did the same thing another day at Hobby Lobby. I haven't worked up enough stamina to walk around a store with just a cane so far... but I believe I'll get to that point. It has only been 3 1/2 weeks since I was able to put my left foot on the ground... and I've progressed from a walker to a rollator to a cane... final goal is to walk like I did before the fall... I go back to the ortho guy on Monday and have an appointment with the outpatient physical therapist on Tuesday. Have a scrip for 6 weeks of PT twice a week... have high hopes that at the end of that I will be walking without any assistance. 

Trying to get my house back into order... lots of stuff got moved around when the ramp got installed and I got the lift chair ... the chair is LARGE and while it is super comfortable I don't like the look or the upholstery... it has a definite man-cave vibe and it is  faux leather,not my cup of tea... I always thought I didn't want a recliner in my living room, but I've changed my mind. I've ordered one in a creamy linen-y upholstery that should come Monday... and when it comes I'm calling the mobility business that did the rental for the lift chair and the ramp and having them come collect their stuff. Then I can get the living room and the porch back in order... which will make me HAPPY!. 

As for crafty stuff, things moved along there too... this is where I got on the Quaker Samplings piece...

All of the alphabet and the 2nd big Quaker element on the bottom... and these are some of the best captures of the mottling and color of this linen that I've been able to get... IRL it is still a little pinkier/rosy..

Some close ups...

I ordered more of the Vintage Lace floss and of the 4 skeins  I got, 2 will work well with what I have and that might be enough to finish this... I still have 1 skein of the original floss so I can kinda blend and mix the old with the new. My plan is to do all the elements in the perimeter and work my way to the big element in the middle... which if I need to can be stitched with the floss that doesn't have much pink in it. 

And while I was waiting for the Vintage Lace floss to arrive, I pulled out another project that only used one color of thread... this is Bower Birds by Liz Matthews....  here's the chart...

and here's where I am...

And it was my lucky day on Friday to take pictures because this is also a great capture of the color and motting of this linen that I dyed... a yellowy Springy green!

Here's one where I pumped up the contrast so you can see the stitching better... because the contrast is low between the floss (Cosmo 8016) and the linen there are ghosty areas and that's what I wanted!

I started this back in April of 2020... I pulled it out in February of 2022 and I know I worked on it one time in 2023... and it has languished since then. I picked up this piece because it is soooo close to being finished and it will look good when I get out all my bird stuff this Spring... but it has given me fits... first it is 40 count... I can do 40 count but I don't like doing it... it is hard to see and doing this as basically tone on tone low contrast it requires concentration... I LOVE the look but it is work... the Cosmo thread I'm using has a multitude of  lovely different shades of green. 

Now along with it being 40 count my counting is off... and it just kept getting worse. I decided that I would shorten the piece and leave off the bottom 3 sets of leaves... there are plenty already... and I started with the thistle on the right hand side... and I got the whole motif stitched when I realized it is off by 2 stitches...which impacts all the rest of the thistles so I'm scaling back the number I'm going to stitch... at least that is the current plan. I have one more on the left and then I might go back and add in another one or two IF I can squeeze them in... we shall see... 

Some more fabric snuck into the house... this is a 108" wide back from Lori Holt... 

I have a plan for a quilt I want to use this with... a scrappy Lori Holt pattern that I saw as a kit... the kit is called Pretty Petals and you can see it here... but I don't want to buy the kit, I'd be happy to just buy the pattern but that's not the way it is being released...  I envision this bed size... so I'm going to wing it... I'm pretty sure I know what  size to make the block... stay tuned.

I'm still waiting on other fabric I ordered the beginning of the month... the post office seems quite slow at the moment.

Oh I did get this new chart... it kept the floss I ordered from 123Stitch, company on the trip from Texas to Ohio... this is A Winter's Day by Crocette a gogo...

and I'm going to stitch it on this piece of linen I dyed with Rit Sage dye....

now I left this sit for quite a while... because I got sidetracked and forgot about it... but I'm glad I did... I LOVE how it turned out... and the piece calls for just  DMC ... 

I wasn't going to start anything but I really wanna put some stitches in this... I know I won't get if finished this season, which is fine... I need to put a reminder in my calendar to pick this back up in say October so it will be done for next January... just a couple stitches won't hurt, right?? ...  and then back to Bower Birds which I definitely think is only a day away from a finish and Quaker Samplings... which is still a ways from the finish line... and I perhaps I'll pull out a small Spring piece... I'm thinking I'll  pull out my Spring and Easter decor the 2nd week of March... 

I saw more offerings for the Needlework Market next month... so far I had 3 charts on my "Wanna Buy" list... however that number more than doubled this week... oh well...  I like American White by October House ... you can see it here... and of the 7 new charts from With Thy Needle & Thread I want 6 of them... which you can see here...  now I know I don't have to buy them right away... but since I can't decide which one I want to do first I may have to ...LOL... I chalk it up to the fear of missing out... FOMO is real...

And speaking of FOMO I've been stalking Costco since last Sunday for the bags of dahlia tubers and other plants that they sell every year. I've seen several YouTube videos where people are showing their haul of dahlias and I can't wait to get my hands on them... I've been to my Costco twice and called once on the phone Kand they still aren't in... I checked back on the blog (another reason I have this blog and record such mundane things) and in the past I've bought them the end of February - the beginning of March... so I probably have another week to wait... but that won't stop me from calling or perhaps making another trip. 

I'm soooo ready for Spring but Mother Nature is NOT cooperating here... weather forecast for  the upcoming week has highs in the twenties and lows in the single digits... brrrrrrr... but at least I don't see any snow... I got the seeds I ordered in the mail so I have a nice stash ... and since Costco has me waiting I may check out the garden sections of Lowe's and Home Depot... one never knows what goodies one will find...LOL

Like I said my plans for next week are ortho on Monday and PT on Tuesday and there will probably be another day of PT too... other than that no firm plans... might venture downstairs and sew ... there's a American Jane quilt that I think is close to being done... I'm in the mood to get something finished... and there are about 5 quilts waiting for a binding... that might be the ticket for a finish... we shall see...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... Nick making some pasta stuff for dinner and we may stay put all day... Chris is suppose to come and get some stuff out of my garage and house but that depends on how he and Elliott and Jenny feel... they were all sick last week... different variations of the flu... I love them but they can keep their germs at their house... 

Hope you're week is a good one...

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Lots of "P" words on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello ... well it was another very good week...the weather was pretty nice ...got some sunny days, temperature even hit 60 one afternoon... did more physical therapy and walked with a cane!  Now I'm slow... I have to remind myself heel toe, heel toe, bend your knee... but I've managed to get out of the house and into the car and get into a restaurant with only that assistance... Lots of "P" words have filled my week and this one is patience... something  I don't have a lot of but it is painfully obvious that I need to be patient with my recovery. 

Friday I even ventured into a store... I haven't been inside a retail establishment almost 2 months!!  Nick and I went to Walmart... primarily for me to pick up some goodies for a Valentine package for Elliott. And I got everything I wanted... a candy heart filled with Reese's peanut butter cups (his fav), a cute little robot stuffie, a card, a gift bag and some tissue paper... and then I stumbled into (not literally) a HUGE display of seeds. I had gotten a bunch of seeds at this same Walmart location last year, but the display this year was 3 times what they had before... and I was like a kid in a candy store with an unlimited allowance... I ended up picking out 10,  20,  no 32 packages of seeds!!!

All flower varieties... zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, cleome, and some little offbeat flowers... and when I got back to the car I remembered that I had put in a pretty good size order to Burpees seeds on line last week... oh well you can't have too many seeds... just like you can't have too much yarn, or fabric or cross stitch stuff... it's true... LOL... because it makes you happy!!  I considered it a present to me!! Another "P" word...

And speaking of "P" words and other goodies... I had plenty of packages of "presents" to me and from me this week... I'm very generous, dontcha know...LOL... first off these 3 skeins of Opal yarn arrived...

love the colors... Springy... and I'm ready for Spring, aren't you??

Later these 2 jelly rolls presented themselves... this is the new Kaffe x Morris collection...

and here's the description ... I just cut and pasted it ...

When the genius of colour meets the father of the Arts & Crafts movement, we all take a collective moment and joyously relish in the glorious brilliance. Introducing Kaffe Fassett X Morris & Co, 32 thoughtfully curated William Morris designs, marvelously re-coloured through the masterful lens of Kaffe Fassett. This collection features much-loved and iconic designs that speak to William Morris’ fascination and love for nature as well as designs that were inspired by medieval textiles, papers, and more. The timelessness and intriguing scale of these gorgeously alive designs are mood-lifting in Kaffe’s fresh spring colours. Together, this passionate combination speaks to the vision of Kaffe Fassett and William Morris, both desiring lovely, beautifully crafted spaces in everyone’s homes and lives

well someone certainly has a way with words, don't they??

and here's a screenshot to see all the fabrics...

I think I'm going to play with the Maggie Pearl pattern with these along with some Grunge... I got my jelly rolls here at Quilt in a Day and this is the best price I've seen, and the shipping was super speedy!

And I gifted myself even more fabric but it hasn't arrived yet... more goodies to show next week...stay tuned!

Now onto procrastination and perseverance........ ta dah!! I finished Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor... over a decade in the making...

I purchased this chart and the Valdani threads at the International Quilt Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio in April of 2012... I started it about a week later and worked on about a half a dozen times in 2012 according to the blog... and then I procrastinated and  it languished in a Ziploc bag till late last year... and 3 weeks ago I persevered to complete it!! I can't wait to get this framed but I'm a little anxious by how much it is going to cost... this is a big one... about 11" x 17"... and I think it needs a nice substantial frame... I'm thinking of taking it to Micheals... they have filled my email with promotions about their framing and I don't think this is a hard piece to frame as there is no hard outside border... I'll look into this next week if the weather permits ... there is a nasty rumor being spread by weather guys that we could get some more snow...yuck..

So I was feeling quite proud (another "P" word) of myself for getting this finished and I'm still in the mood to complete some of my many many many WIPs... also I wanted to work on a piece that only used ONE color of thread... there were a bajillion thread changes in Quaker Diamonds... some motifs that were only a couple of stitches used 3 different threads!  I had forgotten about this piece until my friend Holly showed me her copy of the pattern and said she wanted to stitch it... she has great taste in charts!  

This is Quaker Samplings by Ellen Chester... 

Here's where it was when I last touched it January of 2021... and yes this is an absolutely crappy pic... this linen is so hard to capture... I know it looks like a blood stained rag but IRL it is a muted winey browny pinky color... 

And here it is now... okay...  and this is the best pic I've ever taken of this piece... it shows the mottling and it is a bit more pinky IRL but this isn't a bad photo... I know... trust me bro... I wouldn't be stitching it if it wasn't pretty... 

I dyed this myself and according to something I wrote on the blog back in 2021, I used Rit dye in the color Wine... the thread is a variegated one from Gentle Arts called Vintage Lace... you can see it here. ... it is pinky and creamy... I think when I started this I was avoiding using the real PINK portions of the floss but now I want to include them... and I'm going to complete the alphabet before I stitch any more motifs due to my floss panic which I'll get into in a paragraph or two.. (gosh I'm super chatty today... didn't plan on it but it just happens...LOL) 

As I talked about last week, I did grab 4 WIPs and place them in arm's reach of my stitching chair ..3 are ones that just use one color of thread... and 2 are Quaker-y...  I'm sensing a theme... anyway this is perfect stitching for the moment... I love the Quaker motifs and the arrangement of the alphabet... and it would feel good to get another WIP completed...

Edited to add: I had a late night panic attack... as I was stitching I realized I've gone through almost a complete skein of floss ... and I don't think I'm a quarter of the way done, but I only bought 3 skeins... which is what the chart called for ... IF and the is a very big IF you were using 1 ply ... and I'm NOT... I'm using 2 ply... arghhh... so I actually need twice as much floss ... and I am concerned that whatever I get now will NOT be an exact match for what I purchased 4 years ago... so I ordered 4 more skeins on 123 Stitch and I'm going to do the entire alphabet with what I have and then see where I might have to play games if the new floss isn't a good match... take this as a reminder to read ALL the instructions ...pay attention to the count of the linen and how many ply are being used... I've made this same mistake before...and I obviously haven't learned from it... sheesh...

And another tangent ... WIPs... how many do you have?  do you really want to know how many you have? Personally I'm not sure how many I possess. Some charts I would consider to be a WIP... some I think I'll never get back to and I should just get rid of them. I have gotten rid of projects before and I have to say I don't remember exactly what they were except for one.. and I was NEVER gonna finish it. Since I'm still spending a lot of time sitting in my chair I've been watching Flosstube videos like crazy and lots and lots of people post WIP parades to start off the year...and they have lots and lots and lots and lots of WIPs... at the low end I've seen 25 to 30... at the high end I've seen over 50... and one person I watched, purposely started over 40 WIPs last year... yikes... I think if I was counting (which I'm not) I have around 30 I would like to get back to... and there are probably a dozen or so that are partially or totally kitted that I haven't gotten to yet... and embarrassment of riches!

I saw a few sneak peeks of charts being released for Nashville Market in March...  and up until  Saturday morning nothing has tempted me ... and then I saw the Teresa Kogut releases... OMG OMG OMG... she has a slew of new charts and there are several I NEED... LOL... now it wouldn't hurt me to just concentrate on the stuff I've already started and the stuff that is already in my stash... BUT it wouldn't hurt to get something... as new is always FUN... as evidenced by the many "presents"  I've given myself this week...LOL... And since I don't want you to miss out on the FUN, check out the new Nashville Market release here... this site, Lindy Stitches, is a good one... you can pre-orders as things appear and they will combine orders and consolidate the shipping charges... last year they got out their Market orders in a week which was speedy. 

Next week has me wrapping up my in home physical therapy and I'm already scheduled to start more physical therapy at the ortho clinic on February 18th... 6 weeks, twice a week... oh joy... but I know I need it . I've been doing my exercises every day and for the last several days I've walked 2500 steps... which is ONE mile... I use to do THREE miles every day, so I have a ways to go... my cleaning lady is coming by and we have dinner plans with friends... if it snows I'll stay put, I'm not going to take a chance and fall again... it has taken too much perseverance to get to this point and I'm in need of a refill of patience....

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... and later I'll catch a bit of the SuperBowl... see if there are any good commercials... and keep my eye on the upcoming week's weather... I saw that snowflake emoji on 3 different days of the forecast for the week... we are just at the point where the last batch of snow has melted  and I'm not interested in doing this again...I even saw some daffodils poking up in my yard... I think we are about 40 days out till official Spring but it can't come too early for me!

Hope your week is a good one in every way!!

happy stitching-

carol fun