Wonderful Quilts......

that I didn't make, but I wish I did! I'm feeling better and got myself together and went to my quilt guild meeting last evening. These two wonderful quilts were made by my friends, Linda and Laurey, and they graciously agreed to let me show them off here.

The first quilt was done by Linda,isn't the embroidery lovely? I know this was a pattern but I forgot to ask Linda the particulars.


I love this banner's vintage quality.


And these guys are quite a scary bunch -well maybe not too scary.


This cute quilt was done by Laurey. Aren't these doggies adorable?


Each doghouse has different items quilted in it -- do you see the bone over this furry guy?


And I love the patch around this one's eye.


So many cute quilts so little time! I hope to get some quilting time in this week. I've been working on the BBD Anniversaries of the Heart piece and I started a lace scarf. I had some yummy orange Malabrigo yarn in my stash and found an easy pattern on Ravelry. I want a looooooonnnnggg scarf and I'm going to knit until I run out of yarn. It should take a little while since there are 470 yds in this skein. I hope my interest lasts as long as the yarn.

Happy stitching....

carol fun

I can't think.....

of an interesting title for this. Actually I'm not thinking well at all. Okay I'm gonna whine here a little... I feel achy and my throat is scratchy and my eyes are watery. I'm hoping that resting up will make me feel better tomorrow - that and some vitamin C. I do have a sampler to show for Sunday, it is my newly framed BBD Home is Where My Heart Blooms.



I love how it stitched up. Thanks Myra for swapping me for this graph. I have wanted to do this sampler for so long and I am so happy on how it turned out. I've very pleased with this frame too.. the very outside edge is black, then there is the wide rusty burl center and the tiny inside edge has a gold finish.



When I got this home I noticed several things about this that totally escaped me when I was stitching. First, there is no alphabet on this piece - huh? is it still sampler if it doesn't have an alphabet? And when I looked closely I saw that the flower on the lower left isn't identical to the flower on the lower right. I would have checked the graph to see if it is charted this way or if this is my error, but I don't have it anymore. I was contacted by Nancy W (no blog) and she purchased it from me for the amount I swapped Myra for. I am very happy with this arrangement. I'm glad to see that someone else who loved this piece will also get a chance to stitch. The moral of this story is that you have nothing to lose by approaching a stitcher who has finished a piece and asking nicely if they are willing to swap or sell the graph. I think you'll find that you won't have to pay those outrageous prieces that are being asked for on ebay. Excuse the rant, I understand supply and demand but it still bothers me when I see an OOP graph selling for 4 or 5 or even 6 times more than it was originally priced at. I am happy to let a graph move on once I'm done with it.

Hope your week is happy and productive. I hope to feel more energetic tomorrow. I want to take some pics of my Fall quilts that I put out. It is nice to have a change of deocr and I love fall colors.

And thank you to everyone who left such lovely commments last week. I really appreciate them and I meant to send you all a little email but while the spirit was willing the achy body was weak. Hope you understand.

Happy stitching...

carol fun

I'm detecting a theme.....

My birthday was about 2 weeks ago and I am truly blessed to have wonderful friends who showered me with goodies, but I am detecting a theme and it tickles me no end!

First there is this card.....


It is huge! When I first saw it in the envelope I thought it was a record album. You remember record albums, don't you? Yep, I know you do! Anyway I loved everything about it... it is yellow, it has a chicken and it has polka dots- a trifecta of wonderfulness! Then you open it up and.....



it plays the Chicken Dance song! OMG!! I live in an area with a strong German heritage and around here every weekend in September and October there is an Oktoberfest celebration somewhere and I don't think I've ever been to a wedding around here when this song isn't played. You can't help but smile when you hear it.
And there were presents too.....



This yellow polka dot chicken fabric is from Linda. I love it and can't believe I didn't have it in my stash. I'm thinking I'll make a mesh tote bag with this. And the yarn is from Cathy and Stephie. It is gorgeous! Its called Summer Sunset and has tones of yellow, peach and beige and it is a mix of alpaca,silk and cashmere- soooo soft. I'm thinking this should be a little shawl or scarf. And then there is this gift from Laurey.....



isn't he adorable? Another cute dotted chicken to add to my collection. He's sitting here on my Charming Chatter quilt. When you touch him he bobs up and down, his legs are on a spring. The furniture he is sitting on has a big honking computer printer on the other end and every time you print something out he bobs -- cute cute cute!

So I am one lucky lucky woman to have such great friends who find the perfect presents. Thank you Thank you Thank you!! Oh and ALL of these wonderful gifts were packaged in polka dot bags!!! I love it!

Happy stitching....

carol fun

A Sampler for Sunday

Ok - I know that Sunday is just about over but I want to see if I can get this posted and then I'll feel like I accomplished something today. I find satisfaction in little accomplishments - and some days they are very little - LOL! This Sampler is The Red Reindeer by Birds of a Feather.



I have no idea when I finished this but I do love all the little motifs. The little girl and the tulip are 2 of my favorites. And I love this frame too - definitely one of my best selections -if I say so myself and I do!



I tried to do a little more fall decorating.



This little quilt hangs over my cutting table. Can you tell it is a window? Since I sew in the basement and there is only one window which is no where near my cutting table I let myself gaze through this one.(Yes I know this is delusional but it makes me happy.) This quilt is all Debbie Mumm fabrics and it is one of her patterns too. Debbie Mumm was my first designer crush - I loved her style and still do. I have quite a stash of DM fabrics. I haven't sewed with them for a while but I don't want to part with them yet. I think I have a few more DM quilts in me. I have a stack of quilts I've made just using her fabrics. Several of them are of the "charm" variety in that I used a different piece of DM fabric for each block. There is an "Eye Spy" quilt, and a calendar girl quilt (one girl for each month), and one with a big eagle. I need to take some pictures and share them with you. I'll make a note to myself and I'll surely get around to it - someday. So many plans so little time - you know what I mean?

It was noticeably cooler today and we are suppose to get some rain tomorrow - oh do we need rain. I hope it rains all day. I want to plant some more tulip/daffodil bulbs but the ground is like concrete. A nice soaking rain would make this a lot easier.

Hope your week is productive - heck I hope my week is productive-

Happy stitching -

carol fun

Looks like Fall......

...inside the house! Well today the temperature hit 90 again not exactly fallish, but tomorrow is suppose to be cooler. I am soooo ready for Fall. This is my mantle in the family room, the polka dot chicken quilt has been replaced with a polka dot pumpkin quilt.(I told you I REALLY LIKE polka dots, remember?)

This quilt is from a Sandy Gervais panel and all I did was outline different elements. Not fancy but I'm happy with it. And here is a full view of my pumpkin populated mantle...

I like mercury glass pumpkins. I have 2 medium sized ones on the mantle....

and then there is this jumbo one on top of the television. All of these pumpkins have jack-o-lantern faces on the back side. I'll turn them around and put up my witchy quilt for Halloween.

And then there is this sweet little scarecrow. My youngest son gave me this last evening - a sweet present from a sweet boy.


On the cross stitch front I did get quite a bit done on the No.3 house of the Anniversaries of the Heart series.

I haven't decided on the personalization for this one either. I may go ahead and do the little verse that is stitched over one thread. I'm afraid if I put all the over one stitching off till the end that I'll never finish. I really don't enjoy stitching over one thread but there is no way around it with the BBD pieces.

I stopped at my local cross stitch shop today and picked up some more flosses and a couple of little graphs. I want to add some cross stitched accent pieces to my Fall displays. So many fun things to do, so little time!

Happy stitching -
carol fun

Can I get a do over on the weekend?

I'd like to rewind the weekend and do it over again - and get something accomplished! Drama on Friday evening, spilled over to Saturday and left me tired and unmotivated. I spent a lot of time sitting in my barcalounger "watching" college football - that is my son was watching and I listened. I did get some stitching done on my BBD Anniversaries of the Heart piece. I'll show some pictures this week. I am enjoying stitching this. My mood lately is better suited to cross stitch where I don't have to make any decisions, than to quilting where there are more choices. I don't want to deal with choices at the moment since so many other things in life are uncertain. Basically, I don't want to think too hard and cross stitch doesn't make me think - put this stitch in this space with this floss. I like that - A LOT!!

I'm a day late and at least a dollar short on my Sampler for Sunday.



This piece is a Ewe & Eye & Friend and as I remember it is called An Angel for us All. It was done as rememberance piece for Polly Klaas. A young girl who was abducted, molested and killed by a pedophile in California. Such a sad sad story.



I love the verse on this piece and the angel button, and it has those spiderweb roses I love to make.

I did get a little retail therapy in on Friday in Columbus. I went to a yarn shop with my niece and picked up two more skeins of yarn.



The Ty-Dy skein is totally not my usual colors but I thought it would be a good choice for a change of pace. The Opal yarn is light pink and blue - also not my normal selection but I LOVE Opal yarn, particularly the ones with thick and thin stripes and little checky patterns. Opal yarn knits up nicely and washes and wears with no special attention. I have knit several pairs of Opal socks and want to do lots more. I'm still in my one sock mode so I dont' have any finished pairs to show. At last count I'm up to about 10 single socks - sad state of affairs. I need to find the motivation to finish up a couple of these mateless soles.

On the cross stitch front I wanted to show you this great kit I got from my sons for my birthday last week.



I had seen it online at 123stitch.com and loved it but thought it was too expensive. My son, bless his heart, ordered it and I can't wait to start it. Again it is a BIG project - 20 X 16 inches. It is a Eva Rosentand design. I will enjoy stitching this since it is primarily one color. The linen and the floss are all included in the kit and the graphs are nice and big. Easy on the eyes.

And here is a parting shot of Big Boy in his natural state.



He is comfy on my son's bed. He seems to spend the majority of his day in this state. Oh to be a pampered house cat! Maybe in my next life!

Happy stitching -
carol fun

I didn't know.....

that September is National Chicken Month! OMG, how could I let a momentous celebration like this pass by without some fanfare!(insert trumpets) I was made aware of this special month designation by my niece. (thank you, Angela!) Obviously I need a staff of minions to help me out here.(yes I know I'm hallucinating - there will be no staff of minions and if there were I'd get them to clean bathrooms and do laundry - LOL!)

Well this little flock is the beginning of a wall quilt for my kitchen. I found these guys on the front cover of Quiltmania magazine volume no. 76 (it was a couple of months ago).



My plan was to make a dozen of these cute chickens with the Mary Engelbreit fabric "Attitude Girls" since I think they have lots of attitude. However, I was distracted by other projects, much in the way chickens are easily let astray. I need to get back to them soon.

On the cross stitch front I've been working on the BBD Anniversaries of the Heart series. This is #4 The Pink House and it is almost finished. I love the unique borders. They really frames it so nicely. I'm holding off on the personlization until I see all of them. I thought about putting my boys birtdays on the houses of the corresponding months, but my youngest has an April birthday and after seeing this very PINK house, he doesn't think it is the house for him. I'm sure we'll figure something out.



When this humongous project is finished it will measure about 28 X 18 inches. You know I like big projects - big quilts and big cross stitch. I think I'm compensating for my own lack of stature - LOL! However what I lack in height I more than make up in width. Lets not go there, okay?

Well I need to go off to bed. I have to be up at the butt crack of dawn - 5am - to go with my brother to Columbus for a bunch of medical tests and procedures. Not a lot of fun for him and a long day for both of us. I'm bringing 2 sock projects with me to keep me occupied since I'm not good at waiting. And why is it when you know you can't stay home and play with your fabric and thread that you REALLY REALLY want to? A perpetual quandary for me -- when I have the motivation, I don't have the time and vice versa. I'm glad the weekend is right around the corner.

Happy stitching!

carol fun