I forgot a title...and now I can't come up with anything...

You know those weeks that are so busy you lose a day or two in your mind?  Well somehow this week has taken a different track and in all the busy-ness I can't believe it is only Wednesday. Seems like more day than that have passed. Oh well, now I'm not only getting old, I'm getting befuddled too!

I did find time to sew and now have 8 of the 16 blocks done that I want for this quilt...

Double Square Star from Missouri Star Quilt Company sewn with my well aged Curio fabric. I love the look of these stars! Now the little yellow stars in the sashing are just mocked up but I will be adding them  to the finished top. 

My plan is to have an inner border of the cream background, and perhaps a small accent border of a green . Then I'll finish it off with a wide border of the large yellow floral print seen in the upper right corner, of the top left star, in the picture below, that I whacked off in my quest to get an arty shot...I am soooo not a photographer.

There is more running around in my schedule today and while I want to sew more of these stars, I might instead work on getting a binding on the quilt I picked up from Terry my long arm quilter last weekend...or get the borders on another quilt I want to take to her when she lets me know the quilt for my brother is finished. (Boy I'm the queen of the run on sentence today...my high school English teacher Mrs. Rechtin would be so disappointed...God rest her soul.)

Anyway, I'm rambling here... it snowed yesterday...yuck...and it got cold...really cold...double yuck. But tomorrow they are predicting 40 degrees ...double yeah! Still a lot of running around for the week when all I really want to do is stay here...

I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced and be sure to check out all the wonderful projects on Lee's site.

happy stitching-

carol fun 

A little sewing activity...

Seems like the more I try to slow down life the faster it goes. The last two weeks have flown by... so many things happening...and one thing leading to another and another. I got carpet installed in my son's room which is the entire 2nd floor of my house. It was a big job, and that lead to having 5 closet doors  taken off, and the doors needing to be cut shorter and re-hung, which somehow lead to replacing 4 overhead light fixtures and purchasing a new desk for my son which needed assembly.  I'm happy that project is complete, but like all projects it ended up costing more than I planned. Oh well, that is life, isn't it?  There were some fun lunches with friends and a trip to the theater to see  a play and I got in some sewing.

First, I finished the quilt top for my brother and delivered it to Terry my long arm quilter. She promised to have it done in time for me to bind it and wash it and give it to my brother at the end of January.

The pattern is Charm Box from Fat Quarter Shop and you can see it here, and the fabrics are Chic Neutrals by Amy Ellis and some stuff from my stash.

Then I whipped up a little table topper for a chest in my living room, to replace the one I spilled red wax  all over from a tart warmer.  I got most of the wax out of it but the dye in soaked all the way through and would not budge. It isn't anything special but it does what I want it to do, which is to a add a bit of color under some of my many snowmen I have on display.

This block is a variation of an oldie but goodie, the 3 dimensional bow tie. The center square is a little pouf and it let me keep the motifs from being chopped up. Here is is doing it job of looking good with some of my snowmen collection.

And yesterday I got to play a bit more with some blocks I started last week, the Double Square Star block from Missouri Star Quilt Company. You can see the video here.

As soon as I saw this block I knew it was the one I've been saving this fabric for. This is Curio by Basic Grey and it is at least 5 years old. When I released it from its plastic storage bin captivity, I found I had purchased a creamy white Grunge fabric for the background and I have about 3 yds of border fabric...yeah...this whole quilt is going to come from my stash. I  can't believe it, I may actually keep a New Year's suggestion I made to myself. I don't remember when or if that has ever happened before...LOL!

Here are close-ups of the 2 blocks that are completely sewn together... the other 3 are still in sections.

This isn't my usual bright, in your face palette, but I also love this soft vintage vibe with its lacy patterns and typography. Isn't is wonderful how many different styles and colors of fabric are available to play with?

Of course, I had hoped to get more blocks sewn but my son and his wife were coming for dinner and I so enjoy having them over each Sunday. I got dinner on the table and everyone ate heartily. This was the last block I sewed...

I'll fix it tomorrow... or maybe Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday... there is another busy week ahead.

Hope you have some sewing time in your week!
happy stitching-
carol fun

Slow to start...

My 2016 is getting off to a slow start...I've been dithering for months about a quilt for my brother who's birthday is the end of this month. Nothing like waiting till the last minute... procrastination is my middle name (actually it is Ann). Anyway, I've considered at least a dozen patterns and started several which just didn't work. Finally jumped in and sewed and over a 3 day span and it went like this...

- began a Disappearing 9 Patch quilt with some beautiful batiks and ended up with mush
- tried to improve blocks with sashing
- got sashed mush...ugh!!
- put away batiks
- moved on to Diamond Dash by Missouri Star (you can see it here)
- cut layer cake of Amy Ellis' Chic Neutrals
- started to sew blocks
- doh!!! cut 25 blocks wrong
 - no way to fix them as I cut off and extra corner...arghh!!!
- think I forgot how to sew!
- slept on it to figure out how to salvage what was left of the layer cake
- decided to make Double Square Star pattern by Missouri Star (you can see it here)
- realized needed gray background fabric
- drove to Fabric Shack in Waynesville OH
- spent over an hour trying to find the right gray
- settle on a Kona...nice fabric
- however I have a personal bias against solids
-  prefer tone on tone fabric... but desperate!
- back to my studio and change my mind again for about the 1 millionth time
- FINALLY pick a pattern and stick with it

Ta dah... Charm Box pattern found on Jolly Jabber here.

While I used the Charm Box idea I didn't construct it the way the pattern does. I cut squares and rectangles and my OCD kicked in and I used only 2 fabrics in each block instead of 3...and I made half with dark tops and bottoms and a light middle and the other half of the blocks with light tops and bottoms and dark middles. And then I went one step further into the land of OCD and alternated these two versions every other block... it is exhausting...but I do like how it turned out... I think.  In looking at the light/dark arrangement in the picture  it seems a bit jumpy.  The rows are straight but my eye is bouncing around. Not thinking about it any more. I'm going to put the borders on and go find some minkee for a back. I want to get this to Terry, my long arm quilter ASAP.

Here are a couple of close ups of the fabrics in this Chic Neutrals collection...

I like the geometric patterns and the pops of yellow and maroon. Masculine looking for my brother but enough going on to keep me interested. I found this black/gray fabric in my stash.

It has several chunks missing but there is just enough to do the borders. This fabric is old old old... I'm pretty sure it came off of a flat fold table at Hancock's of Paducah... and I haven't been there in eons.



I'll link this post up with Patchwork Times and Freshly Pieced in an attempt to get back into the swing of things.

Did you make any New Year's resolutions? I never do as I never keep them but I am going to try to try to work out of my stash of fabric, yarn and thread as much as I possibly can. If I hadn't messed up this quilt all of it except for a minkee back would have come out of my stash. That's how I wanted to start the year...I'll try harder for the next quilt. I do have 2 in mind and I already have all the fabric to make them, perhaps I'll have less dithering with them... oh my goodness, please let me have less dithering...it is wearing me out!

happy stitching-
carol fun

Some highlights...knitting version...

Just squeezing in here under the wire... where does the time go? In looking back over 2015 I see that my knitting consisted of socks, socks and more socks... plain vanilla stockinette socks...nothing fancy but very satisfying. Some were for me and some I gave away but I enjoyed knitting all of them. Here are a couple of the pairs I did...

Blue Moon Socks that Rock yarn...Room without a Roof colorway...

Blue Moon Socks that Rock yarn...Beach Blanket Bingo colorway...

,

Blue Moon Socks that Rock yarn...Chickabiddy colorway...

You can check out Blue Moon Socks that Rock here they are always changing their inventory. Love their yarn and the names of their colorways!

Opal yarn...Bootsfart colorway...

The beginning of my newest sock knitting obsession... two different self-striping yarns where you alternate each round... a version of knitting I've seen on Instagram referred to as "ragrug" socks. Both of these yarns are Drops Fabel 903 and 911. I used the Dorothy's Spiral Sock pattern on this pair...which I did finish and give away but this is the only picture I have of them.

This pair is Drops Fabel 905 and 672 just alternating each round ...simple....LOVE the scrappy look! Did the heels in a solid gray.

Another version... my favorite so far but then isn't the last project you've done almost always your favorite?  Drops Fabel 151 and 901 and added solid plum heels. What is so mesmerizing about this knitting is you have no idea what it is going to look like...you get different striping patterns and you have no control over what colors will end up next to each... my version of living dangerously...ROFL... I am soooooo not the "living dangerously" type!

I have another pair in this series on my needles now... hope to have them finished tomorrow for my first pair of 2016... pictures then.  Oh if you are interested in the Drops Fabel yarn you can check it out here on Nordic Mart... nice yarn... good prices.

Now I did do one fancy item... the shawl I made to wear for my son's wedding. The pattern is Reverse Psychology... you can see it here on Ravelry...and the yarn is a gradient set from Kimber's Fiber Optics Paintbox Gradient...which you can check out here. If you sees something there you like don't be put off my the sold out line... email or call her... she has inventory in her brick and mortar store I just don't think she's keeping the website up to date.

This is a wonderful shawl/scarf...the pattern is well written with stitch counts for every row... oh be still my OCD...and the beads added a lovely sparkle and weight.

I am going to knit this again... I have another of Kimber's Paintbox Gradients in shade of purple... just need to look for beads that coordinate.

So it was a very good year crafty wise and otherwise....my older son got married last April and the newlyweds are very happy...and that makes me happy. I love my little house and I'm still tweaking things here and there. I have BIG plans for gardening in the Spring... my new garden wagon is going to get a work out ... life is good...

Thanks to each and every one of you who come and read my ramblings... I appreciate that you take the time to see what I'm up to. Hope that all of you have a HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY New Year!

happy stitching -
carol fun

Some highlights...cross stitch edition...

In looking over my cross stitch accomplishments for 2015 I saw that my finishes were almost exclusively Blackbird Design pieces. That shouldn't surprise you or  me as they are my favorite designer at the moment. Years ago, when I hung out at Twisted Threads,  I was big into Ewe & Eye & Friends,  and I can count at least 17 of their samplers...with houses...that I stitched. Seems like BBD is my go to replacement for EEF as I count at least 13 I've stitched of theirs on my walls. I'm just happy that designers keep turning out wonderful projects that I can't wait to stitch.

So without further ado some highlights of 2015 in cross stitch... these aren't in any particular order as I had a hard time saying I liked this one better than that one... I LOVED them all. Here is a sampling of my samplers...

This was my first finish in 2015...Rosy Morning by Blackbird Designs. I really like samplers that have this long ways rectangular shape. They are in the minority when you look at samplers. I also LOVE the big mutant birds in this one. This piece is one of the 12 offerings from the Abcedarian series. I've stitched a couple but still have most of them in my stash... maybe in 2016!

Feast of Friendship...Blackbird Designs... this is  latest thing I've finished that I have a picture of...changed the phrase "Feast of Friendship in the cartouche to an alphabet to fulfill my OCD need for most of my pieces to be samplers with houses...yeah I"m crazy that way...

Sandwiched in the middle here is the May Day Sampler by Brenda Gervais. I did this one as part of a mystery SAL with a FB group. I hand dyed the linen and love the mottled look. I ended up stitching the birds on this piece twice. The first time I stitched them I did them as they were charted as bluebirds. Then I saw my friend Marcella's version where she had stitched them as robins...sooooooo much prettier. Luckily I had done a sort of redneck finishing on the piece so I could take it apart, and restitch them and I think it was well worth the effort. And I stitched every letter of the alphabet in a different overdyed floss...more OCD...LOL!!

This one was an project from Dyeing to Stitch's Ladies Prim Club and is by BBD entitled Bittersweet Lane. LOVE that border...I think it looks like a filigree bracelet.

And last but not least Early Morning Read by Blackbird Designs. This is in the booklet called Weekend. Love the style of these letters but didn't realizes till I got almost done that there is no Z on this piece. I don't think I've ever seen a sampler that left out the Z. The finishing touch on this one is the frame. I would have never thought of this frame till Bev, framer extraordinaire at Joann's suggested it... maybe the best frame EVER!

So there were a couple of other little pieces I worked on but they all need to be framed or finished in some way. And there are two larger pieces I worked on that need attention... and of course there is new stuff I want to stitch. Just like my quilting I'm going to try to try to finish up a UFO or two before starting something new and I want to make a list of projects to try to keep me on track... if possible.

Oh how I wish there were more hours in the day to do the things I love to do. I thank the Lord and my Grandma and my Mom and my friends for introducing me to the joys of needle and thread and fabric and yarn and other crafty stuff. What a wonderful life it is!

happy stitching -
carol fun

Some highlights of 2015 ....quilting edition

Sooooo on Instagram people are posting their top or favorite 9 photos of their year. I haven't been doing Instagram that long , (you can find me at carolfun53 if you want to) but I thought I could put together a little review of what I was up to this year.    I'm going to break it into 3 posts... one for quilting, one for cross stitch and one for knitting.... that way it looks like I got a lot done...LOL!

These are my picks for my best quilts this year... the reason they are my best is because I finished them and I remembered to take pictures... yes the standards here aren't real high. Sooooo like they do on all those end of the year review shows I'm starting at 5 and working up to my number 1 to build up the suspense, dontcha know...

Number 5 - Charm Pack Cherry with Batiks

My twist on this pattern was that I added some pieces to the border strip so the design continues  to the edge here and there... thought I was being quite artsy fartsy...LOL! You can find more info on this quilt here.

Number 4- Bar Code

I got the idea for this one from Kvilstina and you can see all the info on the block and close ups of my fabric choices here.

Number 3 - Yellow and Blue Mahalo

This quilt went together in a flash. Now you have to totally lay it out before you get started but after that it is a piece of cake. I love love LOVE the fabrics in this quilt...yellow and birds... a match made in heaven for me. You and read more about it here.


Number 2- Giant Vintage Star... Anna Marie Horner version

This is the pattern I can't get enough of... I've made it 5 times and I'll make it again... you can't stop me... LOL! This maybe my favorite version...all those wonderful large scale Anna Marie Horner fabrics and that lovely gold background. You can read about where I got the pattern here.

And drum roll please...

Number 1 - Go 4 It!

This was my first foray into low volume backgrounds... it was fun...but I've been told that I pick very loud low volume prints...LOL...I buy what I like! If you go to the post on this quilt you can see my low volume prints up close and personal.   I was totally surprised when this quilt was chosen as the winner in the Scrappy category of the Blogger's Quilt Festival- Fall 2015. You can see my winnings from Moda in this post...they were extremely generous and I am very grateful. Can't wait to play with my new goodies.

In looking over my blog for 2015 I noticed several patterns...first I tend to start a quilt, I'm on fire about it, then things cool, and at this point sometimes things are removed from the design wall which is pretty much the end of it for a while as it is put in a lovely plastic bin. Now I do go back and release projects now and again but I should do more of this. I'm not making a New Year resolution, because I don't do that but I am going to really try to try to finish up some of my UFOs. Several quilts only need the borders put on them... I'm a bad bad quilter... I am extremely easily distracted by shiny new projects.  I've even made a little list of the ones I'd like to finish and a couple of quilts I'd like to do. I know shiny new things will cross my path and I'm not going to be able to resist them all but again I will try to try.

Tune in again tomorrow for  look back on my cross stitch projects.... I know ... scintillating stuff...LOL!

happy stitching-
carol fun

This and that and some other stuff on Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas holiday...we're doing our big dinner tonight...prime rib is in the oven. We did an appetizer brunch at my son and daughter-in-law's home on Christmas day and then they went to her parents house. Breaking it up makes it easier on everyone.

Well all the super secret gifts have been gifted but I forgot to take a single picture...doh!!! Hope to remedy that later this week. In the meantime I did do a little stitching on my Heartstring Samplery  "Instead of Sheep".  This may get finished before the 31th... fingers crossed. No particular reason to have it done by then, it is just nice to end the year with a finish, isn't it?

And I don't think I showed my Blackbird Designs Feast of Friendship since I brought it home from the framers.  Love that little gold filet... I think it dresses up the piece a bit. In the one I changed the phrase "Feast of Friendship" that was in the cartouche to an alphabet.  I loves me a sampler with a house and an alphabet... you add that border and giant fruit and I'm over the moon!

Did you get nice stuff for Christmas? Well I'm happier than a 5 year old kid because I got what most 5 year old kids would want for Christmas... I got a wagon!!!

A good sized yellow wagon! Now technically it is a "utility cart" but I'm calling it a wagon. I plan to use this to haul around the flowers and dirt and mulch and stuff for my yard. I don't have a big yard but it is pretty long when you have to carry heavy stuff from the back to the front. I know my younger son is thrilled about this gift too as he won't be the one toting stuff all the time.  Can't wait for Spring... I already have plans for new window boxes and new landscape bushes... too bad it looks like next week it is going to turn cold. Oh well I have a new Burpee's catalog and one from Jackson & Perkins roses so I can dream.

The other day I posted a picture of some of the Christmas cards I made... I love cards... homemade or store bought it doesn't matter. There is just something wonderful about getting a card. Now my boys are very good about getting me cards and this year I got great ones. The first one is from my younger son and it is super sparkly... hard to capture with my cheapo camera.

And inside it has a lovely message that Nick added ... touches my heart!

My older son usually buys cards with blank insides... he doesn't always go for the seasonal choice but picks cards he thinks I'll like... ones with quilt patterns are always a hit with me.

And here is the verse he wrote for me...

Oh my goodness... aren't those words music to your ears???  Only took him 30 years to figure it out...LOL!!  Yes he is sarcastic and funny and crazy and he's told me on many occasions that "crazy doesn't fall far from the crazy tree"... so I guess I have no one to blame but myself and I'm okay with that.

I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts today and Super Mom - No Cape tomorrow. Enjoy what's left of this weekend.... although it doesn't really feel like a Sunday...with the holiday on Friday I'm all discombobulated. It is a good thing my smart phone tells me what day of the week is it .

happy stitching-
carol fun