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