The "I need to slow down and stay home" Stitching Sunday...

Oh my goodness... the last week and a half/two weeks or so have involved waaaay too much running around... and I have no one to blame but me as I scheduled too much into too few hours. I am making a concerted effort this week to stay home...except for the meeting I'm going to on Monday morning... and maybe lunch afterwards... and then this needs to stop!

Anyway I did get some stitching time in and it was nice to play with needle and thread. First off I'm just about done with Stu Snowman by Teresa Kogut.

It wasn't until I was giving him a press that I noticed that the letters of the alphabet to the right of his neck spell out his name "STU"...I wonder if he got his name because of the placement of the letters or is this just coincidence... either way I'm very partial to Stu... he's a big boy! He measures over 9" tall on 36 count linen. Now, all that is left to stitch is his feet and about 8 rows of solid white under his feet. I thought he would be a good project to take with me tomorrow when I go to the Queen City Sampler Guild's stitch in meeting. I could talk and stitch without fear of messing up.

And speaking of messing up... here is my newest start...Fragments in Time by Summer House Stitch Worke.

I am stitching this on the same 36 count Edinburgh linen I stitched the Stu on... I really like it... and I'm stitching the 8 little charts as one sampler. You can see how they all look together on Barbara's Facebook page by clicking here. She has provided a complimentary graph for the border which you can see here if you scroll down to the pictures from 2015.

Now on first viewing  the graph  my take was it was a simple repeating pattern which I could stitch while binge watching old episodes of Downton Abbey and crying my eyes out.... why does that happen??? I know who is going to die and yet I still get all weepy...oh well... I do LOVE Downton Abbey. Anyway there is a repeat to the border but there are several places where it deviates ...one needs to pay attention...and I did a pretty good job of it except when I started that colorful vertical dividing band. If you enlarge the picture you can see that I stitched 3 brown stitches between the motifs... there are only suppose to be TWO brown stitches... arghh!!! I thought everything was fine last night when I went to bed but when I picked it up this morning and started to work on the first little chart in that upper right corner I found out what I had done wrong. Frogging will be the first order of stitching today. I take comfort in realizing my mistake before stitched the other vertical bands.

So tonight I shall stitch again while watching more Downton Abbey. I hate to see the series come to an end. I saw a spoiler on a British site the other day but it was a happy ending for one of the characters I love so it was okay. I find Downton to be like a book in that you want to know how things turn out ...but you don't want it to be over. I purchased all the DVDs and I even have this current season sitting on my desk...still  wrapped in cellophane...and I can't bring myself to open it and watch the end...not yet...it will come soon enough.

So I'm going to link up with Kathy's Quilts today and Super Mom - No Cape tomorrow and I hope to get back to posting more here on my blog. I've been involved on Facebook and Instagram, for the past couple of days, in  a challenge to post 7 pieces of needlework...one a day for a week.  You can check then out here and here.

Hope you have a lovely Sunday...
happy stitching-
carol fun

Sliding into Saturday...

Wow... where did last week go???  I caught a cold on Monday, was miserable on Tuesday, but rallied by Wednesday and actually got some cleaning done around the house by Thursday. Friday was spent running errands and well now it is Saturday. I'm having family over tomorrow for dinner to celebrate my brother's birthday.  I'll be prepping lasagna and baked ziti later today but for the moment I can stop and show you how the quilt I made for his present turned out.

The pattern is Charm Box and I WILL be making this one again... and the fabric line was Chic Neutrals by Amy Ellis along with some stuff from my stash.  On a side note.. isn't this railing wonderful?  It is on a small porch on my next door neighbor's house and she said I could use it any time I want to take pictures... love it!

Here's a  close up of the quilting... Terry Finnerty did a great job on it. I put gray minkee on the back to it should be nice and cuddly. My brother informed me that the quilt I made for him 6 years ago has gotten extensive use... like every day for the past 6 years. And he has washed it frequently, so it well loved but well worn, This quilt will replace that one and I want to get another one together so he has a spare. I'm going to let him chose a top from the couple, several, heck, a whole LOT of tops I have waiting to be quilted.

Right now the sun is streaming through my living room windows and the temperature is rising... suppose to hit 50... woo hoo!  Not typical Ohio winter weather... we will pay for this next month I am sure. Big Dude is keeping me company... he's napping right by my chair...

Now my home is filled with quilts and pillows, so where does he rest his head? On a giant ziploc bag filled with yarn... it must be comfy.

hope you are having a great weekend!
happy stitching-
carol fun

Some seasonal stitching for Sunday...

First a little rant on the weatherr..for all of you digging out from Snowzilla you have my deepest sympathy...here the big snow event that was hyped for a week turned out to be a bust for most of my area. Some places about an hour south of Cincinnati got about 6" but here in the city it wasn't even enough to shovel. My son swept it off the driveway in about 2 minutes... I am not complaining. Saturday was a lovely sunny day, and today is looking the same, and tomorrow there is high of 40 predicted ...yeah... come on Spring!!! I know I'm being totally delusional as we still have February to get through but an mild winter and early Spring would be fine with me.

And with that rambling behind me let me show you the seasonal stitching I've been up to....

isn't he adorable??? His name is Stu Snowman and he was designed by Teresa Kogut. Here's what he'll look like in all his glory.

I found him in a Etsy shop but he's gone now. I wasn't looking for a snowman sampler but when I saw his smiling face and his big old noggin I could not resist. The dime is my picture is to give you some scale idea... his noggin is 2 1/4" wide on 36 count Edinburgh Sand linen. I changed all of the flosses except for the hat. I used what I had in my stash and I'm happy with my choices. Anchor 275 for his body, DMC 422 for the outline, DMC 921 for his nose, and I'm doing the alphabet in Cosmo Seasons 8037 a variegated floss. He'll be 11" tall when complete. Don't tell my older son this but the big guy reminds me a bit of him... sweet ...with a big head... it s family trait.

Now once I stitched the outline this is like coloring book work. No counting and all I have to do is stay inside the lines... lovely stitching to sit inside and enjoy the sunshine streaming through my front picture window. I love this view...

Can't wait for that tree across the street to have leaves again.

And I finished "Instead of Sheep"...yeah!

Now it needs to be taken to the framer...I'll put that on my list of things to do next week. As for today the Dude and I are going to sit and stitch... well I'm gonna stitch and he's gonna do what a Dude does best...

`

Hope your Sunday has some stitching and some sunshine and some snoozing in it!

carol fun

oh... I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts today and Super Mom - No Cape on Monday. Go check them out!

Off the needles...

I'm sitting here waiting for the snow to commence... we are suppose to get a couple of inches but so far I've only seen a flake or two. Hey if they are wrong it won't make me unhappy. I don't like driving it it and I'm too old to go sledding, so no snow would be fine.

Now I have been knitting and I have 2 pairs of socks finished... both of these pairs use the same recipe of alternating 2 patterning yarns every row. I LOVE how you have no idea what you are going to get. LOL...this is as dangerous as I get in life... the excitement of unexpected yarn patterning...oh I'm such a thrill seeker! Woo - hoo!

All the yarns used in these pairs comes from Nordic Mart... you can check them out here.  Great yarns, great prices. The first pair used Drops Fabel 340 (turquoise) and  Pix 108 Techno by Universal  and the heels are Drops Fabel 109 (cerise).

This pair used Drops Fabel 330 (purple) and Pix 106 Succulent by Universal  and the heels are Drops Fabel 112 (apple green).

I have plenty of of the Pix yarns left over and I plan on knitting them with a different solid/tonal yarn and they will look completely different. I really enjoy knitting just plain stockinette socks... mindless ...soothing...meditative... and totally doable when you are talking or watching TV. I was always a big fan of self-patterning yarns and knitting with 2 at a time has opened up a whole new world of possibilities. No two socks will ever be alike... I LOVE that!

So I'm off to paw through my stash and see what other combinations I can come up with.

happy knitting... stay warm!

carol fun

A post purely for my own enjoyment...

Like I said yesterday...it snowed... which is a nice complement to my indoor snowman decor. I've been collecting snowmen since 1990... the year we moved to Modesto California ...and there was no snow...anywhere. I was homesick for Ohio and they made me happy. Now lots of you have seen all this stuff before... although there is something new at the end. And this post is purely for my own enjoyment and information as next year when I drag this stuff out I'll be able to remember what I put where.

Good view of the living room...quilts...tree with snowman ornaments... disembodied snowmen heads..3 tier galvanized tray (more detail on this at the end of the post.

My snowman laden book case...

Love these Jim Shore snow ladies and the Lizzie Kate Winter Alphabet...one of my favorite samplers!

Overflow snowman display... ones I didn't find anywhere else to put... looks a bit skimpy...oh goodie I can collect more...LOL!

My FAVORITE piece of furniture in my house... 2 tier table I picked up for $15 at a thrift store in Greensburg, Indiana...I spent 3 times that much for the paint and glaze but I LOVE it. Millions...okay maybe not millions... of beady eyed little snowmen...most from Hallmark. Picked up that vase of tulips at Krogers, they are suppose to bloom yellow and red. Fingers crossed.

And finally the new piece I added ... a 3 tier galvanized tray decorated for winter. I feel in love with this tray on Priscillas blog...check her out here.

I lucked out with the greenery. I hit Micheals and all their Christmas stuff was 80% off. I scored those icy berries and the greenery for pennies...okay, truthfully a few bucks...but I saved like $62 on the purchase...kaching!

So I hope you enjoyed this tour of winter decor. If you didn't that's okay too. I've just saved myself hours of trying to figure out what I put where next year.

Stay warm...
carol fun

Working on Wednesday...

We got our first significant snow of year today. It made the morning commute a nightmare for lots of people but I didn't have to go out till the afternoon and by that time the streets weren't bad. And I had time today to sew...ta dah!!

 

Sixteen Double Square Star blocks with little sawtooth star cornerstones... I am very happy with these!  Then I want to add a couple of little borders and then a large border of that large floral on the yellow background. I think it will be a very pretty quilt when I get it done. The pattern is from Missouri Star and you can see the video here. While the fabric an older collection, Curio by Basic Grey... I love the vintage look of these fabrics...larger florals...typography...little lacy prints... very feminine. Not my usual fabric choice but fun to work with...

I want to get the rows sewn together, so I can share the top with my friends at dinner tomorrow night. Show and Tell is always fun!

Well tomorrow has it's fair share of running around and the weather forecast for Friday ranges from Snowmaggedon to a dusting to maybe rain... hope they make up their mind by tomorrow night so I can plan my Friday. I wouldn't mind another day to sew but my son wants to have his best friend over and that depends on the weather and the roads... we shall see.

I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday and belatedly linking up with Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday.

happy stitching-
carol fun

Very slow Sunday stitching...

It has been weeks since I posted any cross stitch because...I am stitching very very very slow these days. In the evenings I've been gravitating to knitting instead of stitching and that severely limits one's forward progress. Here is as far as I've gotten on "Instead of Sheep" by Heartstring Sampler.

Excuse the wrinkles, not only am I stitching slow I am too lazy to go give this a press. What is left is 2 trees, the fill-in on the basket, the front of the house and the initials and assignation at the bottom. I've been dragging my feet on this one because I am going to run out of thread. The chart called for 1 ply of floss over 2 threads. I prefer 2 over 2 and that is going to take more than one skein of the needed brown or green. I will have to search my stash for something close in color or complementary as I don't want to buy more floss for this piece.

And then I got sidetracked with this little piece...

my plan is that this is the start of a small pincushion in the vein of this piece...

There was lots of chatter about this pincushion on the Fans of Blackbird Designs Facebook page. It was sold in quilt stores to promote one of BBD's fabric collections. It was machine made in India and I thought I might be able to re-create it. I enlarged a copy and charted out the alphabet. From what I could see it wasn't true to the linen grid but since it is a primitive I don't think it matters. I'm going to add a little checkerboard-y motif under the letters but I'm not sure about the numbers. They would have to be stitched over 1 thread and right now I'm not feeling it. What makes this so adorable is the finishing. I have some large rick rack and plenty of fabric. I could add that line of embroidery on the fabric frame with one of the many stitches on my computerized machine. It is all do-able... except that I lack the motivation to "do" at the moment.

If you can't read the tag, it is 36 ct. Smoke Blue Edinburgh linen. I purchased it at 123 Stitch. It has a nice turquoise cast in real life. The cream thread is Anchor 275. I love the idea of a display bowl full of smalls, but I don't know if I want to do the finishing they require. I think I can do it, but again I don't know if I want to do it. Just feeling lazy...maybe I can blame it on the weather. It is cold and there is snow blowing. I'm already looking forward to next weekend as I saw a 40 degree temperature in the forecast.

It is nice to have the 3 day weekend...last week was crazy busy...and this week is getting busy too. I hope to squeeze in some stitching time and some sewing time and some knitting time. We shall see.

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts today and Super Mom - No Cape on Monday.

happy stitching-
carol fun