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