Zoned out on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - well as I expected this week wasn't nearly as productive as the last one... but it was certainly busy busy busy for me. When I wrote last week's post I thought I was going to pick up my quilts at Delinda on Friday but that got moved to Monday and Monday was already stacked and  packed... I left the house at 11:00 am and I didn't get back home till 7:00 pm... I worked out, had lunch, drove 30 minutes to pick up and drop off quilts, drove 30 minutes back, came home and picked up Nick but never left my car, drove 30 minutes in a different direction to have a lovely dinner with friends, drove back home ... collapsed into my comfy chair and zoned out... 

Tuesday is my day to hang with Elliott... always a good day but I come home pooped... collapsed into my comfy chair and zoned out... 

Wednesday I finally got some energy and banished the bunnies to their plastic bins, but it took waaaaay longer than I anticipated... and yet everything any more, takes more time than I anticipate... I think it is called getting old... sigh... I'd work on collecting the bunnies and some of the cross stitch and a knickknack here and a knickknack there and knickknack everywhere...and then I'd take a break and put my feet up in my comfy chair... and it was tough getting back to the task at hand... so it took all day Wednesday to get the bunnies buttoned up in their bins and then I collapsed back into  my comfy chair and zoned out...

Thursday I was determined to get out my Spring and bird decor... the weather was glorious this week... more like Summer than Spring but all that sunshine has been so nice... and Nick was a big help bringing up the bins from the basement and bringing down some bins with quilts from the 2nd floor... and I put in several hours of futzing until I had to leave for my hair appointment... and then after that I popped into one of my favorite garden centers for the first time this year... I didn't get any flowers because I'm not being fooled by Mother Nature... she gave us a week of lovely weather but as I write this on Saturday it is raining and the forecast has lows in the 30's for the next couple of nights... however I did get this...

yes that is a rather rotund metal chicken... she's about 18" high and when you touch her she bounces... insert squeal... I could NOT leave her behind as there was only one more like her... and I suspect there were more of her but they already found their new homes... I'm not sure exactly where I'm going to place her... right now I'm thinking of putting her at the bottom of the front porch steps... my Ring doorbell has a good view of that spot in case anyone gets the idea of kidnapping my chicken... she needs a name... hmmm... I'll have to give it some thought...

Friday started with attending to a family members glucose monitor... it needed changing... then I took them to lunch, came home and finally got all the rest of the Spring decor out... it is heavy on birds... and I know that isn't everyone's cup of tea but I LOVE birds... and I may have as many birds as I have bunnies... LOL... but I got everything pretty much out and then I collapsed into my comfy chair and zoned out... 

Let me show you some of what I did... every time I change the seasonal stuff I'm always hesitant to start ... I don't want it to look exactly like it did the year before but some items only fit in one spot in my little house... but once I get into it I really enjoy trying out new arrangements and I'm happy with how it has all turned out... here's a little display in my TV cabinet... 

I went with a turquoise/blue theme here... my thought is that having the same colors keeps it more cohesive... the little bird pillow was a pattern I found on Pinterest years ago... the HOPE pillow was a freebie during Covid from Liz Matthews... below I have 2 giant birds I got at Hobby Lobby and the Bluebird Sampler from Threadwork Primitives... now I stitched this in 2013 and I just framed it YESTERDAY... good things come to those who wait, right??  It just barely fits into this frame and I considered painting it blue but I think the wood tone looks nice ... but I still may paint it... here's a close up ... I stitched the C and the N in blue to represent my sons Chris and Nick and the F in pink for my last name... 

Out on the sunroom porch I went with a green and white color scheme...the sunroom porch is only 7ft across and 10ft long so it is hard to get baaaack to get a wide shot ... this is the best  I could do...

The shelf unit...

Up top is the Alphabet Hill by With Thy Needle & Thread... one of my favorite samplers as I LOVE that tulip border...

In the middle I have my abbreviated version of Liz Matthews Bower Birds... I like the tone on tone look with the dyed linen and floss being almost the same color...

On the bottom shelf I have Brite Birds by Kathy Barrick ... as I remember it was a freebie I found on Pinterest...and I did the tone on tone thing again with this piece...

and last but not last a pear from Annie Beez... I want to make more of these...

On the wall I moved the Alphabits sampler from the other side of the doorway ... I like how it brings in more green tones to the display... 

I have a couple of cross stitch pieces I need to FFO and I want to include them in my other displays... stay tuned and see if I git 'er done. My plan is to leave up this Spring stuff till early to mid- June and then break out all the patriotic stuff... and speaking of patriotic stuff I did get a little  time in on Primrose Cottage American Sampler... where it was...

where it is... and the color on both of these pictures is off... need to get a good pic in daylight...

I had hoped to have it finished by now but the decorating took up most of my time ... and I also got distracted by this... Bit of Honey by Notforgotten Farm...

she is the companion to this guy... Bee's Knees by Notforgotten Farm..

I found a scrap of linen in my stash that I think came from the same piece I stitched Bee's Knees on... it is tiny ... barely 3.5" x 4.5"... but she will fit ... but I'm not sure if she'll be as tall as her buddy...  I can see she's going to have a very scant seam allowance.  Here's where I am at the moment...

I've got Bee's Knees in my tier tray and I want to add her ASAP... 

 As for quilting I somehow squeezed in sewing up  one block and slapping up 2 more blocks on my design wall ... 

The pattern is Hush Too-ra-loo by Jan Belnap...

I'm using lots of low volume prints and the blue is Thatched by Robin Pickens in the colorway Cornflower... go here to see a better capture of the color... it is a blue with a lavender undertone... periwinkle blue ... I bought about 5 yds of this a couple of years ago and I've been saving it for the right project and I think this is the right one!  The blocks are BIG... they finish 18" ... so to make a quilt for my double bed I need 16... I have all the blue fabric cut out and all of the low volumes for the smaller squares... I still need to get the larger squares and the sashing cut... now at first I was only going to use quiet low volumes, but my stash is full of noisy low volumes... lots of novelty prints... and it will make a busy top ... which will make me HAPPY! 

I have no business working on this quilt... I have at least 4 quilts that are waiting for binding and I really should get started on the patriotic quilt I want for my bed... I'm going to use Lori Holt's Americana collection, and a print from  Riley Blake's Blossom collection in the colorway Uncle Sam... and the freebie pattern from FQS called Jelly Roll Relish... and while I want to get it started this week I'm not sure that is gonna happen... there is something on my calendar every day this week from working out, to hanging with Elliott, to lunch the quilty ladies, to a medical appointment, to a semi-annual meeting with my financial guy... we shall see how things play out...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts... after attending to a family member's grocery shopping I should have some me time... might go downstairs and start on the patriotic quilt... might go out on the sunroom porch and stitch... and might collapse in my comfy chair, zone out and take a nap... 

happy stitching-

carol fun