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..

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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