A lot of Debbie Mumm and some misbehaving cross stitch on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - so how was your week?  I don't know why I start every week thinking "oh it's not too busy"... and then it is very busy... all I can surmise is that I lie to myself... a lot... LOL  Last week had me out of the house to attend to an appointment or a lunch or a dinner or taking someone  somewhere every single day. Usually Saturday and Sundays are calmer but as soon as I'm done writing this (on Saturday) I'm off to a birthday party for my older son... he's 41 today... and I'm 31 years older than that... sheesh. 

Anyway all that running around was tiring... so when I did get back to my comfy stitching chair not much happened... and my fatigue was both physical and mental... don't know how many of you followed Scott Adams... he first came to prominence as the creator of the Dilbert cartoon... and later developed as a best selling author of many books that offered a new way to look at one's life. I've been watching his podcast every day since Covid... 10 am sharp with a simultaneous sip ...he always provided a new view of the happenings in the world. Last May he was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. He tried several different treatments but passed away last Tuesday morning... he continued to post a video podcast every day... right up to the day he died. Although I never met him in person I felt he was  a good friend... I spent hours and hours listening to his podcasts and I've read several of his books. Right now I'm re-read "Reframe your Brain: The User Interface for Happiness and Success". Chapter 3 is particularly pertinent at this time as it deals with mental health reframes... and this one hits home:

Usual frame: Death is a tragedy. Death is the end of this person.

Reframe: The deceased has no more problems and energy can change form but it never disappears.

There's a lot to think about there... and I did a lot of thinking about it this week.

Switching gears... I am so happy that I got out my snowman decor... so much Debbie Mumm and Prairie Schooler stuff  which always makes me feel good. Starting off with the quilt on the wall...

this is my version of the Suburbs quilt by Cluck Cluck Sew ....  I call my quilt Mummvile and every house is different and every fabric is a Debbie Mumm ... it was so fun to pick out the perfect door for each house... and I love the panto that Delinda used... it's called West Wind as I recall... 

and the tier tray has the Snow Day chart from Prairie Schooler No. 177 January and lots of Debbie Mumm figurines ...

and it sits on top of another Debbie Mumm quilt... don't remember where I found that snowflake block pattern but the quilt is approaching vintage as I machine quilted it myself...and I haven't any machine quilted anything bigger than a table runner in over 10 years... 

and on the other end is a Debbie Mumm snowman cookie jar atop a stack of quilts all done in Debbie Mumm fabrics...

and there's a laundry cart full of quilts all made with Debbie Mumm fabrics ... okay there is one in there that isn't a Debbie Mumm but I needed it to fill the cart... 

On my dining table I have a tray of Prairie Schooler Snowmen sitting atop a table runner made with Debbie Mumm fabrics... 

and by now you can see how smitten I am and always have been with Debbie Mumm stuff... she was the first designer I ever fan girled ... and I have tons of her fabrics and I have a bunch of the plates she designed... and some teapots ... and knickknacks and I'm up to 4 of her cookie jars... eBay is a blessing and a curse as I can find stuff there that I wished I bought when they first came out... got in trouble this month with 2 "new" to me cookie jars... one was in the original box and in pristine shape the other came cracked with a chunk of out it and I'm still dealing with the seller... this guy put the cookie jar in a box he gerry-rigged together with packing tape... the only padding he put around the jar was a brown paper bag... that's it... no bubble wrap, no packing peanuts ... just a single brown paper bag... and when the package arrived it appeared that something had been dropped on it...so far the only suggestion for a remedy to this situation is to send back the cookie jar... but I'm suppose to package it so it arrives in the same shape I got it... which would require me to go get some bubble wrap or packing peanuts and a solid shipping box... which would take time and energy along with some cash that I don't want to expend... I countered with give me half of my payment back and we'll call it done... the breakage is in the back of the piece so I can still use it as a decoration but not a cookie jar... he's ignored me for a couple of days so it is time to poke him again. 

Anyway... I didn't get a lot of stitching done this week as I was tired and a bit down...and then my Alpha-bits piece misbehaved... I had finished the letter M last week ...halfway done... and the letter N was fine but starting with the letter O the wheels fell off... first I had a heck of a time getting the stitch count right on the letter it's symmetrical but I couldn't seem to make it symmetrical... and then I got completely annoyed with the Rhodes Hearts that are charted under the letter O... I got the first one correct but after a few, a couple. several ...no lots of tries I could not get the next heart stitched correctly or in the right place... grrrrr....

At this juncture I decided this piece is like a timed multiple choice test... and you have to move on when you don't know the answer.. 

the P went fine which gave me false hope that I was back on track.. the Q...  it isn't symmetrical and I couldn't get it to meet up ... took 5 tries, arghhh... and then there was that rather simple looking back stitched motif...  I know it is hard to see... there are 5 of them... and on closer inspection 3 have an error in them... grrrrr again... I'll go back and fix them when I'm in a better mood... moved onto the R...  good thing is I still have time to finish this... today is only the 18th... 13 days left in January and 8 letters left...

Right now I think I may replace those Rhodes hearts with some shell/mother of pearl buttons I have that are heart shaped...gotta find where I put them... 

So I put the Alpha-bit piece in time out and started a new project... this is January Prairie Schooler No. 177... 

years ago I collected every one of the Prairie Schooler months charts and wanted to stitch ALL of them... so far I've done July and November and March ... I started April but I'm not liking the linen I chose so I need to start it over some day. Here, I'm using 32 ct Opalescent Wichelt ... sparkly like snow...

not a big start but any stitch is one more than I had before... and it was a nice well behaving piece of stitching.

Now I am not going to say that next week looks calm ... cause it doesn't... it looks busy busy busy... I have 2 appointments on Monday, one to work out and another to see a surgeon about my knee... it is now bone on bone... replacement is going to be necessary and I want to do it this summer... Tuesday I taking Nick to meet a friend for lunch and afterwards I have Elliott, Wednesday my quilty lady friends are doing lunch and then coming back to my house and I'm taking a family member to dinner that evening... Thursday I have my monthly haircut and color appointment and I'm not missing that ... and Friday I'm going up to see Delinda and pick up a quilt and hopefully have something to drop off... I found all the blocks from a quilt I started last year... I packed them away with each row pinned together and labelled a color picture of what the layout was... I have no recollection of putting it away like this but I'm sure glad I did as it is an indication that there's a lot of stuff I don't remember what I planned to do with them... LOL

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today ... I hope to have a quiet day to recharge before the week kicks into high gear...I hope that your week ahead is only as busy as you want it to be!

happy stitching-

carol fun