Slow stitching on a Spring-y Sunday...

Oh my poor neglected little blog.... I do need to give you some attention. Life has been busy...not particularly noteworthy... but busy. I haven't sewn a stitch on my sewing machine in over a week, but I did do a bit of cross stitching, so I have a little something to show here.

The beginnings of my Fragments in Time by Summer House Stitche Workes. One chart of the eight finished...

That little house took FOREVER as you were suppose to alternate GAST Tarnished Gold and Chamomile... a muted checkerboard effect. Except that my skeins of these two flosses are almost identical in value... not good. I ended up substituting DMC 3829 for the Tarnished Gold but I'm not sure I shouldn't have just stitched the whole house in one color and said "good enough". Oh well...

Cross stitching and card making are about all I've accomplished this last week. Lots of running around and then when I get home I'm pooped. I've gotten back into card making, rediscovering lots of goodies I bought years ago. When I purchased these goodies I ooohed and aaahed over them but couldn't bring myself to use them. Now I'm over them, and I'm enjoying playing with these pretty papers and stamps and ribbons and buttons and lots of carp I have no idea why I bought...but I'm glad I did.

I've sent off a couple of cards but I forgot to take pictures... I will try to remember to do that with the next batch. Nothing fancy, simple layouts, but I think most of us enjoy getting a card in the mail so I don't have to produce a Mona Lisa in each envelope.

It is an absolutely gorgeous day today... as was yesterday... a tease of Spring even though I know it is still 27 days till official Spring. Yesterday did spur me into action to banish my snowman decor to their plastic bins and break out the bunnies and eggs and other Spring-y stuff. I will have a gratuitous  decorating post this week so I can document for me what I put where ... that will save time next year when I do it all over again. I looked at my photos from 2014 and I didn't put everything exactly where I did before but it gave me some direction... and Lord knows I need direction... lots and lots of direction!!

I'm going to enjoy this glorious Sunday by sitting in my stitching chair with the Dude napping beside me... I plan to stitch ... and nap. Hope you have a great day!

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

happy stitching-
carol fun

PS... while I've neglected my blog I have been posting pictures of this and that on Instagram you can find me as carolfun53... check here.

Happy Valentine's Day...

A blast from the past... but perfect for today. This is Blackbird Designs Truly Thine. I stitched this on a lovely deep rose linen and the frame is a black lacquer faux bamboo... I really like this pairing. I changed the chart slightly substituting "mine" for "thine" and eliminated a large motif all done in Queen's stitching so I could add my sons' initials in Smyrna crosses. An excellent substitution if I say so myself...and I do!

\

And here is my current project... Fragments in Time from Summer House Stitche Workes. This one has me singing "Don't go Breaking by Heart"...remember that tune by Elton John and Kiki Dee... right now I can't get it out of my head...argh!!!

Now I started out by assuming that the border was a simple repeat... NEVER assume... when you assume you make an "ass" out of "u" and "me"... another cultural reference from the past... a great The Odd Couple TV show episode. Anyway, while lots of the border is a simple repeat there are several places where it deviates...pay attention or there will be lots of frogging ahead... or in my case behind me. I swear I could have twice as much stitched on this piece if I had paid closer attention. Who knew that counted cross stitch would require so much counting????

I was happy when the outside border met and "assumed" the inside dividing bands would be a piece of cake...they weren't. But they are now stitched correctly. And then I made another assumption as where start the chart inside the border. I was off by 2 stitches and that had everything mushed up next to the dividing band...frogged again. When I actually stitch correctly it does go pretty quick, but I've ripped so much I think I'm going to need more floss. Big sigh....

This will be nice stitching for watching Downton Abbey tonight...and for watching the snow. We have a forecast of 2 to 3" over the next 24 hours. I can hear the shark music from Jaws as the weather radar shows the approach of the White Death. Oh goodie... maybe the Jaws music will drown out the Elton John/Kiki Dee tune!

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts today and Super Mom - No Cape tomorrow...hope your Valentine's Day is sweet!

happy stitching-
carol fun

Thankful on Thursday...

Well it has been quite a week...snow...running around... and bunch of goodies in my mailbox... I have lots to be thankful for...okay maybe not the snow or the running around...but the goodies have been wonderful!  In the order that they have come to my door...first goodies from Moda... I won a giveaway on Moda's Instagram ...Making it Moda...Colorful. Well you had to pick your favorite color...how many of you who know me waaaaaay too well just shouted out "YELLOW"?  Oh you are sooooo correct! As my prize I received these goodies...

Three junior layer cakes from the Simply Colorful collection by V & Co., a layer cake of the newest Grunge fabrics (and oh how I love Grunge!), two charm packs Bella solids and Zen Chic's Modern Background - Ink, a great book by Vanessa Christenson of V & Co. featuring my favorite and the best color in the whole wide world...YELLOW...and a cute tin pin that says Moda Certified...is that a hint that I'm certifiable?  Don't answer that. I also got another great handwritten card thanking me for my love of Moda. I don't know for sure but I think Carrie Nelson may have written the card...whoever did it I truly appreciate the goodies and the hand written note. The writer has lovely penmanship and hand written notes are to be treasured in this digital age, don't you agree? Thank you Moda for your generous giveaway!

Next delivery brought these goodies...

a beautiful card with another hand written note inside and this adorable, or should that be egg-dorable cross stitched piece!  This will have a place of honor in my Spring decorations The white on khaki color combination is an exact match for my living room!  It was stitched by my cloud friend, Barb from Wicked Stitcher... you can check out her beautiful work here. Thank you so much Barb...such a lovely gift!

And the final delivery which arrived today were these goodies...

a third card with  a handwritten note and the cutest little heart tin filled with what I call Jordan almonds.... the almonds with the pastel hard sugar coating. I have fond memories of these from all the Italian weddings I attended as a child... and I think they are very tasty!  These goodies came from Stasi of Bee-mused and Bee-Stitching... you need to check out her beautiful work here. Stasi use to manage my favorite cross stitch store, Twisted Threads. I was one of many who were very sad to see it close, but we have been able to keep in touch. Thank you Stasi... your thoughtfulness is very appreciated.

So I am one lucky lucky gal... lovely friends and lovely cards and lovely goodies! So very very much to be thankful on this Thursday  or any day of the week!

happy stitching-
carol fun

Making up my mind on Monday....

So today finds my design wall quite crowded with several projects...some old and some new. Now to make up my d*** mind about what to work on first.  Right now I'm just jumping around from project to project... or as my sainted father use to say " you bounce around like a BB in a boxcar"... folksy and true.

What a mish mash... I can't even decide what season to work in. Lets start from the top and see what I can sort out...

This is the most senior project... I started this 2 years ago and according to my blog I had it on my wall in 2014 and 2015. It is from Lori Holt's first book Quilty Fun... you can see it here. These flowers are my version of her Tulip Patch Quilt. My tulips are more squat than hers and all of mine are dotty... they are my hybridized version. When I first started this quilt I was going to make it big enough for my double bed. I have since decided that it doesn't need to be any bigger than the one in Lori's book. When I released this one from its plastic tomb I was happy to see that I had several rows put together and was almost half way done. Then I looked more closely and realized I had made a mistake in the first row of tulips. The spacer I added to the last tulip group on the right hand side is narrower than it should be. I'm pretty sure I fudged to make the rectangles above and below fit which I shouldn't have done. Need to go back and fix the tulip row and then continue on. It would be nice to have this one done for this Spring. Third time I've played with this quilt will hopefully be the charm.

These 3 amigos are Charm Pack Churn Dash blocks done with 2.5" squares which produces an 18" block. You can find the pattern here. There is a group on Instagram doing this one... you can see what they posted here. Each of these blocks was done with a different Fall collection from Sandy Gervais and my favorite butterscotch Grunge is the background. I'm using Charm Packs cut into 2.5" squares to do these blocks and the other six I want to make will use all of the different collections mixed together. I really like these but it will be a while till Fall rolls around again so perhaps they can wait a bit.

And this is the newest project... Friendship Pinwheel from Missouri Star Quilt Company...you can see the video here. This pattern was just uploaded last Friday and I was immediately smitten with it. The block is BIG... 18" finished... and I thought it would be a good pattern for a quilt for my younger son. I'm using my stash of Debbie Mumm fabrics and I'm going to put minky on the back. I think he is more excited for the minky back but he does like the stars too. I figure 16 of these with sashing and border will make it big enough for his bed. The pattern is easy but somehow I messed up and my stars are rotating in a different direction from Jenny's ...hmmmm... need to be sure all mine end up in the same direction whatever that will be.

So what to do first... oh I forgot to mention the projects not on the wall that need some attention. I need to put together a back for another quilt for my brother... I want to get the borders on my Double Square Stars...and I want to get the signature blocks from my older son's wedding assembled by their 1st anniversary which is the end of April.  There is certainly no lack of things to be done and hopefully I'll have more time at home this week than last week. They are even calling for some snow...but I can't say I would take their predictions to the bank.

Hope you and I have a productive week...
happy stitching-
carol fun

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!