Happy 4th of July weekend on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - How was your 4th of July?  Mine was great... lots of fireworks in my neighborhood... just went outside and stood on my porch and enjoyed them... and then I came inside and watched the festivities from Washington DC on my TV... OMG... what a FANTASTIC fireworks show!!!  I loved the pyrotechnics and all the songs that were sung. Our military has some fabulously talented musicians.  I particularly liked when they sang Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" and my favorite Neil Diamond song, "Sweet Caroline".  I'm so grateful to be an American... on my father's side I'm only 2nd generation. My grandparents came from Italy as children and they were so proud to be Americans. My spouse is a legal immigrant to this country... came from Taiwan in 1976... so my kids are only 1st generation ... and we all are thankful that we've been blessed to live in the USA with all the opportunities we've been afforded. 

So to kick off this post I want to show you my big shelf display... I really love how this looks!

At the very top I have Welcome Summer by The Drawn Thread.  I think this looks so good on the yellow linen.. those colors just pop!  And I love that Uncle Sam shelf sitter... got him at Micheals a couple of years ago.

Moving down I have 2 pieces I just stitched for this year....  a portion of God Bless America by Erica Micheals and  American Sampler by Primrose Cottage...and in front of them one of several patriotic pieces from Jim Shore... I love his stuff ... along with my Debbie Mumm patriotic stuff!

To the right I have Libby by Heart in Hand... she's mounted on a cheese grater.. an idea I got from Priscilla a long time ago... one of my most unique display formats.

And speaking of a unique display format I have Grand Olde Flag from With Thy Needle & Thread on a cookbook stand I picked up at Target... I painted it blue  to cover up the printing that was on the stand...

 

In the middle I have Flag Folk by Notforgotten Farm ... when I painted this linen I had to idea it would come out so good... I love how the yellow lights up the piece...

And to the right I have Hurrah! from Pineberry Lane... this is the whole chart and I stitched the little flag waving lady a second time as a little pillow... I like her enthusiasm ! And another patriotic piece from Jim Shore and the little Statute of Liberty is a salt & pepper shaker from Cracker Barrel... a 99cent bargain. 

The shelf below has plenty of patriotic passion... let start with the Blackbird Design piece on the pedestal, that is Summer Song... it is in the book Souvenirs of Summer... it was OOP for a while but got reprinted in 2024... I saw someone on eBay selling what I assume was an original printing for  $50!!... be careful... a bunch of old BBD charts have been reprinted and they are the same as the originals.

And the sampler with the star is a freebie from Samplers & Santas called Liberty Star... you can find it  here... along with several other great freebies... and the eagle on the circle disc is a portion of Summer in Baltimore by WTN&T, 

In the center is July from Prairie Schooler.. as I recall this is the first patriotic chart I stitched... and it certainly got the ball rolling...LOL... every year when I get out my patriotic stuff I'm surprised by how many pieces I've stitched for the 4th of July...

And last but not least... Star Spangled by WTN&T...and yet another patriotic piece from Jim Shore..

Right now my plan is to leave the patriotic stuff out till the 3rd week in July... and then I'll get out  my chicken/Summer stuff which will hold me over till September when not matter what the temperature I'll be getting out the Fall stuff.

And speaking of temperature...what a smooth transition...LOL... it has been HOT here in SW Ohio... over 90 degrees and mostly over 95 degrees every day for the last week... it is supposed to "break" Sunday... highs only in the 80's...  I'm glad I have my sprinklers and my drip irrigation, but I've still had to go out and supplement the watering... the window boxes aren't on the drip and I have a bunch of pots that need watering pretty regularly... I've been going out in the evening every other day to give everything a drink... and I come back in the house soaked to the skin in sweat... not my favorite activity... oh I found this meme that sums up gardening nicely...

The truth hurts...LOL

As for crafty stuff well I wasn't as productive as last week... and a week like that probably won't happen again any time soon... but I did get some stuff done... I wanted to play with the new Opal yarn I got a week or so ago... so I wound a smaller ball from 2 of the skeins and started a new sock...

but it became apparent to me that this combination of sock yarns was going to have too much repetition for my taste...  I was about 3" down and it was already repeating... and I realized this is because both of these yarns came from the same collection... Lieblingsplatz... it means favorite place... and they are dyed in the same sequence...here's a video about how Opal yarn is made... you can  change the language in the closed caption section to English but just watching is pretty explanatory... I also wasn't real thrilled with the patterning... a phrase I haven't heard for a while came to mind... "clown barf"... yeah, yuck...  so I frogged the sock back to the cuff and found another skein from an older Opal collection but with similar colors and started again... here's where I am now... more stripey... I like that... 

I'm using  Knitpicks Stroll yarn in the colorway Patina for the heels and I think I'll use it for the toes too.  I am getting repetition but it is just now showing up so I can live with that. For the second sock I'll rewind one of the balls so there should be a similar but different pattern.  Sock knitting is perfect for when I want to veg out and scroll on the internet... and the week had a significant amount of vegging.

I spent a little time cross stitching... here's where the Bent Creek Autumn Soapbox was last week...

and here is where it is now...and this is a better pic of the true color of the linen... 

you can see I haven't touched that big pumpkin... maybe I'll put some stitches in it this week. 

As I already said it was HOT here this week... so I spent a considerable amount of time in my basement sewing spot ... where it is cooler... and I got all the blocks done for the pattern Marbled Cheesecake from the book Jelly Filled by Vanessa Goertzen...

The background fabric is Grunge in the colorway Curry and all the other fabrics are from several different Fall collections by Sandy Gervais... some are Riley Blakes and others are from when she was with Moda... they all play nicely together. I got a wide back for this coming in the mail next week so it will be ready to take up to Delinda... and speaking of stuff to take to Delinda... I found this panel... also by Sandy Gervais from her latest Fall collection called Bountiful... excuse the wrinkles...

I LOVE the vintage look of this and I don't remember ever seeing a panel for Thanksgiving... so many people jump right from Halloween to Christmas decorating that Thanksgiving gets lost in the shuffle... this will fit nicely on the door in the living room and go great with my turkey and Thanksgiving decor. 

So what's on the agenda this week... working out on Monday, Elliott on Tuesday and a pre-op appointment on Friday for my knee surgery... so there should be some time for sewing and knitting and stitching... I'm still mulling over my choices of what I want to work on after my surgery... I'm optimistic that I won't be laid up much more than 2 weeks. I keep seeing videos on FB from my surgeon who shows patients in his office only a week out from surgery being able to bend and straighten their knee, several walking without a cane and all reporting minimal pain...fingers crossed that is my experience too. 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts... I have a quiet day planned ... don't have to do the grocery shopping for a certain family member this week and Nick has penne and meat sauce on the menu for dinner... very tasty! I'm hoping we get some rain this week... there is some forecast for almost every day but it is a small amount, but I'll take it... 

Hope that your  week and my week have lots of  productive hours doing crafty stuff!

happy stitching-

carol fun