Busting my buttons on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well how was your week? Did you have a nice Easter?... we celebrated with a bunch of my daughter-in-law's family. Now, that week before Easter was quite busy but this last week has given me lots of opportunity to sew and stitch.... and that's exactly what I've been doing... and I'm busting my buttons here over what I've gotten accomplished... I finished not one but two quilt tops and made significant progress on a sampler and got one sampler picked up from the framer and another dropped off ...lots of creativity combined with a weather pattern that makes me hopeful about Spring... warning there are several tangents in this post... my mind just wanders off some times... actually all the time... LOL

So thinking of Spring, I'm already considering  what color combo I want in my window boxes this year... I like to change it up... last year I did peach and purple ... this year I'm thinking of pink and yellow... but it will probably end up being whatever looks prettiest at the garden center and if they have enough of what I want... there are 5 window boxes that have 12 equal divisions and I usually put 3 to 4 plants in each division... and then some greenery on the ends... I'm fond of asparagus fern... I saw them unloading some petunias at the one garden shop I like the other day when I drove past... and in looking at the blog I see that by the end of April last year I had acquired quite a few plants.  We still have a chance of frost up to May 15, but my habit is to live fast and loose (LOL) and plant stuff before then in the boxes... and I'm waiting for the sprinkler company to come and turn on the sprinklers and add more drip irrigation to my raised beds. They said they'd come and check it out and let me know what it is going to cost... in hindsight I should have had them put drip in the raised beds last year when they installed the rest of it. Brian told me they could do it but I didn't think I needed it... but I do... I love my garden but I don't like spending 45 minutes to an hour watering every night... I'm old and lazy... 

I haven't taken down my Easter stuff yet so no decor this week... I plan on banishing the bunnies and adding birds in the next week... so let's get onto the crafty stuff... as I said I finished TWO quilt tops and I dropped them off to Delinda, my long arm quilter on Friday... 

First is this easy one ... the pattern is a freebie, you can see it here, called Checkered Brick.. I used a FQ bundle of Sandy Gervais' New Beginnings... 

this is a generous sized "throw"  72" x 85" ...and it should look very nice out on my sunroom porch when it returns home.

The second top took a bit longer... but I persevered ... LOL so proud of me...this is Vivian by Kitchen Table Quilting... I love how she uses women's names for her pattern... and this one makes me think of Vivian Vance and the fact that if Elliott had been a girl he's have been named Vivian... such a pretty name... anyway I did this one with a jelly roll from One Canoe Two called Tucker Prairie...

this is a generous twin size... about 80" x 90" ... I'm thinking I might give this to my son and daughter-in-law... I think they'd like these colors and this is a bit more modern than I usually make... 

Not sure what I going to work on next... I still have a bunch of those 16 patch blocks with the Lori Holt fabrics ready to stitch up ... and I want a patriotic quilt for my bed this year... so I should get started on it... and lately I've found several other patterns I want to play with ... I will never run out of crafty stuff I want to do!!!

As for stitching... I finished Lady Liberty from Prairie Schooler No. 8 American Primitive...

and turned my attention back to the American Sampler from Primrose Cottage... here's about where I started...I had a couple of letters of the alphabet done but I didn't take a picture ...

and here is where I am now...it is getting there...

I want this done ASAP so I can have this one finished before July...

I saw this was a sort of exclusive release at the Needlework Market and knew I HAD TO HAVE IT...I'm going to do it in DMC and on a plain white 32 ct linen... and then I'm want this to have a really interesting frame... I went back to the framer that isn't always the cheapest but they do the best work  and they have a ton of great frames and a two week turnaround... the older I get the more I realize you get what you pay for... and the days of great inexpensive framing from Joann's is a thing of the past...sigh...

And on a weird tangent... do you feed the birds?  I love having my bird feeders visible from my comfy chair on the sunroom porch but until recently it has been  a constant battle with the d*mn squirrels... my DIL is also into feeding the birds and she turned me on to this bird seed...it has the hot pepper chili oil already mixed in...

I got it here from Amazon... the last couple of years I've tried coating the seed with the chili oil but it is messy and the odor is quite potent so I'm not fond of doing it myself...now the first couple of days I did see a squirrel checking things out but after a week he seems to have given up... and the bird seed has lasted 2 weeks!! I've never been able to go that long between refills... and yes it is more expensive but I'm definitely using less seed and it is less work for me... so again I'm getting what I paid for ... and I'm okay with that. 

Oh back to the crafty stuff... here is the sampler I picked up from the framer... Every Opening Flower from With Thy Needle & Thread... this was the first sampler I worked on from my " 7 for my 70th" birthday celebration that fizzled out mid- month when I ended up in the hospital on 2 different occasions. 

I like this frame as it picks up the rosey colors of the floss and it is small... anymore I'm conscious that I don't have a lot of wall space so I need to keep my samplers compact... 

Here's some close ups...

This is definitely one of my favorite samplers!!

I was thinking back on my "7 for my 70th" and I only got 3 samplers started... and I've finished 2,  Every Opening Flower and Prairie Schooler Garden Sampler ... the 3rd start was Blackbird Designs' Crowns & Shields, I do want to finish that... as one of the 7, I had also selected  the Noel Sampler from WTN&T  which I picked up and completed in 2025... there is one sampler of the 7 I picked that I've changed my mind  about, which leaves  2 others still to be started...maybe... someday... we shall see...sigh... like I said, I'll NEVER run out of crafty stuff I want to do!!

I wrote most of this post on Friday as this has been a busy weekend... is the celebration of Elliott's 7th birthday and he is so psyched for it... he has been waiting ...not patiently for a particular gift... Numberblocks set 31-40 and it has been procured ... and I have a large Lego set to give him... Saturday is a kids party at an indoor playground that reminds me of the ball pit places I took my boys to years ago... and Sunday is a family party... 

Next week's calendar has 3 dinners out with friends... Nick and I have gotten popular...LOL.. Elliott on Tuesday... I have a haircut and color next Thursday... I'm going to work out with Anna Mon/Wed...  and on Friday I have to attend to a family member's medical issue...I'm hoping to get some sewing time and the weather looks good for some sitting on the porch cross stitching time. It is suppose to warm up into the upper 70s... last week we had 2 nights of freeze warnings... sheesh... the weather in Ohio turns on a dime... 

Tune in next week and see what I get done... usually if I have a productive week it is follow by a non-productive week...sigh... but I'm hoping for the best. 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... hope your week goes just the way you want it to!

happy stitching-

carol fun