Slow stitching on Sunday

There was a bit of slow stitching almost every night last week. That's because the Reds were playing and I do enjoy "watching" the game and stitching. Okay, it is more of listening and then watching the replays. Some games were good last week, some not so much. But the stitching was always a winner.

I finished my Song of Spring by Blackbird Designs. This is from The Ladies Prim Society from Dyeing to Stitch in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I joined this club after seeing Chris at Tot Hill Farm Stitches  working on it and I love it!

Now to make it my own I changed the color of the house to Crescent Colours Queen Bee - I love that yellow. And since I'm moving to a little yellow house this just resonates with me. I changed the colors of the C and N to denote my sons and the F for my last name. I added the date 1953 which is the year my house was built, and it is my birth year - it was a very good year dontcha know! And then I replaced the big bunny with..... wait for it.... a BIG polka dot chicken!!!

The perfect finishing touch. I found this chicken already graphed for me including the polka dots in the book Sampler Workbook by Caroline Vincent. You can see it here on Amazon. Now I have to go and look for some good coupons for the framing. This sampler with a yellow house is one of several I've done (and I will do more) and I'm hoping to have a little display of samplers with yellow houses in my new home.

So with this piece done I started a new project. This one should be a quick stitch. This is Bluebird Sampler by Threadwork Primitives.

I am very impressed with the chart for this piece. It is BIG - a full 8 1/2 x 11 inch page and in color. Very easy to read. I did change the flosses to overdyes from the called for DMC. The blue is Crescent Colours Deep Blue Sea. The green is Dried Thyme, the rose is Antique Rose and the brown is Maple Syrup all by Gentle Arts.

Well the baseball game just started so I'm going park myself in my comfy chair and "watch" the game -- it is starting on a high note with a home run- yeah!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

It screamed my name

I got a call from my BFF Stephie the other day and she said she had something for me. I had no idea what it was. She had it wrapped up and when I opened the package I squealed - oh my goodness I LOVE this purse.

I have been wanting an across the body bag to carry at quilt shows and other places where I want both hands free. I have a pattern and I've been saying I was going to make one but.... well, you know the story... I just never got around to it. Stephie said when she saw this bag, it didn't call my name, it screamed it - LOL! She has very sensitive hearing don'tcha know. Bright yellow and polka dots -- a match made in heaven! Thank you Stephie!!

What is even better is about a week ago I bought myself these shoes - they are Keen brand and they are sooooo comfortable.

Now is this not a perfect pair????

I plan to be decked out with these next week at the NQA show in Columbus. If you see me say hello. I doubt there will be anyone else with the same accessories, but if there is I want to meet her.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

What's on the Needles?

I finished up a pair of big black socks for my oldest son but they aren't very photogenic. And then I started a project for me -

this is a long scarf called Strathcona and you can see the pattern here. The yarn is Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool and it feels so good. The scarf comes to a point at the center. You change the direction of the slant of the mesh stitch.

This picture captures the colors better. The mesh part is done in Citrine and the knit part is Dusty Blue. I love how they look together.

I should have this finished by the end of the weekend and then I have a Cladonia shawl I can't wait to start. I hope to have pics of it next Friday.

Well, I didn't wait long to spend my gift certificate from The Loopy Ewe. There were so many pretty yarns to choose from and I picked these beauties.

From the bottom to the top -the fallish colored yarn is Sokkusu and the colorway is Tree Frog. I do love Fall colors. The middle skein is Dream in Color Smooshy and the colorway is Dusky Aurora. And that top skein is Cascade Heritage - did you think I could pass up a good yellow yarn??? LOL - it is impossible! I don't have any definite plans for these skeins, although I'm thinking that yellow Cascade would be a lovely pair of lacy socks. I'll just have to wait and see what develops.

Have a great weekend-
happy stitching and knitting!

carol fun

Catching up

First I want to thank everyone who sent congratulations on my winning the "Pooling Sock Challenge" from the Judy L at the  Patchwork Times. I really appreciate your kind words. I have already spent the gift certificate (feign shock here) and will show some pictures of my haul later this week.

Soooo if you have wondered where I've been the past 2 weeks, and perhaps thought " oh she's busy with her new house" ...... hold that thought. The reality is the house renovation has come to a standstill as my contractor unexpectedly spent a week in the hospital. I do feel sorry for him. He was stressed before and stressed even more now. He did do an inspection of my house and pointed out several areas the painters need to come back and correct that I hadn't noticed. And there were a couple of spots I wanted touched up. He impressed me with his "the customer is always right" attitude about having things done to my satisfaction. Now if he can just catch up on the other 2 jobs I will get his undivided attention.

And the uncertainty about the house and my life in general has put me in a funk where nothing really creative has been happening... which is my excuse for not posting. I have knit a little and cross stitched a little but I've only turned on my sewing machine once in the last 2 weeks. I know if  I start a new project it will put me in a better mood, so I hope to jump into one very soon.

However a post without a picture is missing something in my view and I do have some shots of one of the quilts I recently bound. This is Marigolds. It is a Fig Tree pattern, you can see it here. And I used several Fig Tree collections.

And here is a close up of the quilting. Cass did this one in an all over floral in a soft yellow.

This is a departure from my normal screaming brights but every once in a while I like making a soft quiet quilt. And on the subject of soft colored fabric collections, I was lucky enough to win a FQ pack of the upcoming Fig Tree line, Honeysweet from Fat Quarter Shop. You can see the entire line here on Moda's website.  I entered one of their giveaways from the Spring Market. I'm thinking of using it to make this pattern called Clovers and Jam - click here to see it.

Thanks again to the friends who checked in on me because I hadn't posted. I'm fine just not chatty but feeling better. I'm spending this afternoon sitting on my screen porch enjoying this wonderful day and so far I haven't heard a single lawn mower - yeah! Peace and quiet and a little cross stitch with Big Dude lounging at my feet. A good day!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Almost off the needles and a wonderful surprise!

I've been working on this pair of socks for about a week or so. I had hoped they would be a candidate for Judy L's Pooling Sock Yarn Challenge, but early on I could tell they were going to spiral, not pool. Nevertheless, I love the colors soft blue, turquoise, olive, gold, tangerine. It makes me think of a lovely sunset over the ocean. Ok -- maybe that's the yarn fumes talking - LOL!

This is another Opal yarn called Handgefarbt Lasst Blumen sprechen. Which I think translates to Hand dyed, Let the Flowers Talk. I found it on ebay and I'm going to search for other colorways as I do love Opal yarn.

And now for the surprise... this pair of socks was chosen the winner of Judy L's Pooling Sock Yarn Challenge.

Oh my goodness I was so surprised! The elves at The Loopy Ewe picked them and Judy generously gifted me with a $25 gift certificate to The Loopy Ewe.
 
EDITED because I don't pay attention -- The gift certificate is for $50 -- insert squeal here - now I must go and drool over the yarn at The Loopy Ewe!

 I am going to have lots of fun picking out some more wonderful yarn. This is the company that sends your purchase with a message on the outside of the package,   "A Box of Fun", and it is!

These are just plain stockinette socks - 62 stitches on 2.75mm needles - my go to sock pattern. I did nothing to manipulate the yarn or the pooling - it just happened -and that is what I love about pooling sock yarn, you just never know what you are going to get.

So I'm starting the weekend on a high note here. I'm going to watch baseball and sit and stitch and knit and relax. Just the way I want to spend my time!

Hope you have a great weekend too!

Happy knitting-
carol fun

Westminster Niner for Wednesday

Over the weekend I engaged in some marathon quilt binding and now I can show off what I got finished. This is my Westminster Niner. All the fabrics are from Westminster - Kaffe Fassett, Brandon Mably, Phillip Jacobs. The pattern in a new release from Thimble Blossoms called Niner - you can see it here.

I am so HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY with this quilt! It measures about 84" square and is going to look fabulous in my new house. I'm envisioning this hanging over the back of my living room sofa.... or on my bed. Who know where it will end up. I dragged it outside for a couple of pictures this afternoon. It was very sunny and hard to get the colors exactly right.

Lounging on the lawn - looks comfy! LOL

Here is a close up of one of the "blocks"... except I didn't follow the pattern direction and instead of blocks I put it together in diagonal rows. Doing it the way I did eliminated dealing with bias edges all along the outside of the block and made it easier to assemble, in my humble opinion. Also I cut all of the outside triangle units using my Easy Cut ruler (it is an older version of the EZ Companion Angle ruler) and I had no bias edges to deal with, at all. I probably used more background fabric the way I did it, but I had lots of the lovely yellow fabric with the orange dots.

I really love the pantograph quilting pattern on this quilt. It is a large paisley in a bright orange thread and was done by Terry Finnerty of The Walking Needle. - you can see her Facebook page here. I am very happy with her work. I really feel that the quilting give the quilt a wonderful extra dimension.

Now I'd like to wash this quilt and get it nice and crinkly but that will have to wait for the weekend. On Monday my washer decided it didn't like to do big loads and has overflowed twice. The oldest Y chromosome member of this household has "repaired" it to his satisfaction, but not mine. He believes I should only do small loads and then it won't overflow. Genius idea... too bad I do the washing for 4 people who change clothes daily and create a large amount of laundry. The washer has been going non-stop on the "small" load plan. And while this may keep him from purchasing a new washer I'm sure the electric and water bill next month will increase substantially. Grrrrr.... I'll take the quilt down to my son's house over the weekend and use his washer instead.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Slow stitching on Sunday

Look! Look! Something crafty! LOL!  Along with all comparative household shopping I've been doing I've had a little time to stitch - mostly while "watching" my beloved Cincinnati Reds play baseball. I love baseball and I love it when they are winning. I've been following the Reds since I was a wee tot. My sainted Grandma use to listen to Waite Hoyt broadcast the games on WLW radio. I have fond memories of sitting outside in one of those now "retro" metal chairs that kinda bounce and talking and listening to the baseball game with her.  Life was slower.... such a nice memory.

So this is my latest cross stitch project. I know I said I was going to focus on my BBD Anniversaries of the Heart but this piece was irresistible.

It is Song of Spring by BBD (you know I LOVE them).  I saw this piece on Chris' blog Tot Hill Farm Stitches.  This is the second installment from the Ladies Prim Society hosted by the shop Dyeing to Stitch in Virginia.  I love everything about this piece - the border, the tulips, the house, the giant basket.  Of course no matter how much I love a piece I still find something I want to tweak. I've changed the color of the house to be more yellow. I used Crescent Colors Queen Bee. And I'm going to replace the giant rabbit with a couple of chickens... perhaps with polka dots. Stay tuned!

Happy stitching-
carol fun