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