Trying to reset on Slow Stitching Sunday....

So every Sunday I look ahead on my calendar to see what's on the agenda and each week I seem to think I'm going to have plenty of time for stitching and knitting and updating my blog...and every week I seem to be proven wrong!  Last week got busy and the weather was gray and cold and blustery and totally uninspiring and I was in a bit of a funk. I think I've broken through as Friday I had a very productive day in my sewing room and Saturday wasn't bad either. I've jettisoned the projects that just weren't working out and started some new ones which have brighter prospects.

To begin... the April Prairie Schooler has been put in time out and the July Prairie Schooler has made an appearance. July... it is almost 2 1/2 months away...surely I can get it finished by then. And since I don't have a lot of patriotic pieces (there is one waiting to be finished) this would be a nice additon to my decorating.

Currently I hope April brings some heat... that dusting of snow on Saturday was depressing. Heck, last month it was warm enough for me to shave my legs and wear sandals... Friday I was digging out my winter coat!

Here is a pic of the cover of the chart... I'm also fond of that lobster in the smaller chart... I think he'd make a cute little pin pillow... I think I have an overdyed red that would be fun...oh another shiny object to distract me...LOL!

And because a post with a measly two pictures seems a puny posting I'm including some pics of the quilt I put on my bed to chase the blues away.

It is another of those BIG star quilts I love so much this time done with lots of little squares with a very dotty background.  I did this eons ago and it is nice and sunny. The pattern is called Made in Cherry and you can see a pdf here.  I called mine a Queen Anne Cherry since I used yellows with other colors.

Lots of tone on tones, florals, dots and birds and bees. Here is a link to a picture of the whole quilt. And did you spy the chicken resting on the pillows? He was a gift from a friend and is adorable!

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts today and Super Mom - No Cape tomorrow. Again I am looking forward to a week that appears to have some time to sew...hope springs eternal!

happy stitching!
carol fun

Similar, yet different on Design Wall Monday

My design wall this Monday is very similar to the one I showed last week...but it is different too.

Forty two blocks using the same pattern as last week...Hi Again in the Mar/Apr issue of Fons & Porter's Quilting Quickly. This time I used a layer cake of the collection Basic Mixologie by Studio M. This is a great collection. I love the rich colors...teal, purple, olive, orange, navy, gold and taupe. And the patterns are wonderful too... a hashtag print, florals, tossed triangles and other geometric patterns.

My daughter in law "liked" this one when I showed it on Instagram. When she and my son were over for dinner on Sunday I told her to go downstairs and look at the blocks and if she wanted it I would make this quilt for them. She was very happy with the colors and the block...modern... something I don't always do well. I'm going to make it bigger. Instead of 42 blocks I'm going to make it 81 blocks so it will be a generously sized quilt for their bed. The blocks were very easy to assemble. I started by making the little sashing that goes in the middle of each block. With that done and the layer cake cut in half it only took a couple of hours to sew up 42 blocks. I'm looking forward to getting the rest of the blocks done this week. Like the one I did last week for me, adding cornerstones to the sashing made that assembly process easy too.

I think this quilt will look great in their home. I'm happy with the version I made for me and I'm happy with this one too. It is fun to make a quilt that you know someone else is going to enjoy.

I hope you have some quality sewing time in your week. Along with these blocks I want to play some more with that tulip block I showed yesterday...so many many many quilts I want to make....so little time!

happy stitching-
carol fun

PS I just notice that I have a block turned the wrong way in the top row...happy I saw it now as I missed 2 wrongly turned blocks in the quilt I made for me and didn't see them till I had the top all sewn together.  Took them out and turned them the correct way but wish I'd seen it sooner!

Rambling about unseasonable projects on Slow Stiching Sunday...

So... I said I was trying to finish the Prairie Schooler April piece... I'm still trying. Perhaps if I had picked it up last week it would have progressed a stitch or two...but I didn't. Instead I released this piece from its little plastic tomb box and worked on it.

This is the Magic Garden by Shakespeare's Peddler which you can see in its original form here. Now I've changed a ton of colors on this piece starting with using a linen I hand dyed. I changed the day lilies on the side (at least I think they are day lilies) to a lovely orange versus the GA Onyx they are charted with... I've never seen black day lilies, have your? The carrot was charted in GA Raspberry Frost which made it look like a dessicated parsnip...ugh. I have found this to be one of the most difficult charts to follow in many ways. I totally don't understand the color choices but I can chalk that up to a difference of opinion as to what is "pretty." However, I also have to say this is a very difficult chart to read. I made an enlarged working copy as I always do and the symbols are so busy that they are blurry...I haven't experienced this with any other charts by this designer or other designers so I don't know why it is the case here.

I really like the design of this piece which is what has kept me hanging in there. I started this piece back in 2010... I know I worked on it again last July ... and I think I will finally be able to have it finished for this summer, hence the unseasonable stitching. It is just the cusp of Spring here...nice one day, frigid the next. My stitching and my quilting are influenced by the season. At Christmas time I want to make a Christmas quilt which hasn't a snowball's chance in hell of being finished by Christmas. In Spring I want to do Spring stuff, but in reality I should be working at least a season ahead so I can display the things I do get finished. I think this piece will be a lovely addition to my Summertime decorating.  All I have left is one little motif in the corner, some berries and a scattering of I don't know what to call it...crumbs, maybe?

Now I'd really love to start a Spring quilt too. I found a pattern for GIANT tulips called Amsterdam...

You can get the free pattern here. I played with this pattern last year about this time putting together a "modern" quilt top that I didn't like in the end. But this time I want to make a bed sized quilt...with lots of different colored tulips ...or maybe just yellow tulips...with a scrappy low volume background...or maybe a tone on tone white background... and can you see why I start so many things??? There are "guilt" projects I should be working on...but I am forever pulled here and there and everywhere by shiny new projects that are current to that season...like my sainted Father use to say "you bounce around like a BB in a boxcar." So true, so true.

Anyway I don't know for sure what I'll work on next...I should probably move on to the July chart of the Prairie Schooler series. A 3 month lead may be enough...if another shiny project doesn't grab me...and it probably will. (Boy this was a rambling post... seems like the ADHD has taken hold of my projects and my writing...sheesh)

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

happy stitching -
carol fun
Edited to add:
I HAVE NO SELF CONTROL...had to make just ONE of the tulip blocks... managed to work 12 different fabrics into one block...will make a monumentally scrappy quilt...I can always find a way to make simple more complicated... it is a gift dontcha know? LOL

Socks I like...and a sock I'm not so fond of...

I meant to post this yesterday but yesterday was a waste of a day. I was exhausted all day...not like me... and while I did shuttle my son and his friend back and forth that was the extent of what I accomplished. However, I did finish another pair of socks this week...ta dah!

In my continuing series of socks knitted with two different self striping yarns. This pair uses Drops Fabel 677 and 910 with green heels and toes which are Drops 112. You can see all the Drops yarn here.


With that pair off the needles I cast on a new combination of yarns. Regia Colorito 4456 Petunia and what I believe is Drops Fabel 903. You can see the Regia here.

Now I thought these would play well together...and I think they will...when I start this sock over. I didn't pay any attention when I was casting on this sock...and then I never do...but the pinky portion of each skein is landing right next to each other and the lighter portions are doing that too. You can see the first part is all mushy lights with no visible stripe pattern...and then I got a little striping... I LOVE the striping... then it went to mushy pink. I wasn't feeling good when I was knitting this and I wasn't thinking (ohhh... some would say that is a common occurrence in my life but we aren't listening to them). Today with a clearer head I realize I can probably fix this by unraveling this back to the cuff...(I AIN"T reknitting that cuff) and then breaking one of the yarns and pulling off some yardage till I get the pinks next to the lights. We shall see...

Right now I'm off to lunch and Krogering...gotta get stuff to make lasagna for dinner tomorrow.

happy knitting -
carol fun

A fairly speedy finish on Design Wall Monday...

This is one of the fastest quilt tops I've ever put together... and if I hadn't gotten sick it would have been done even quicker!

The pattern called "Hi Again" came from the March/April edition of Fons&Porter's Quilting Quickly which looks like this...

The fabrics are a properly aged collection called Boho Chic by Urban Chiks... I think it was released about 2013. I love the big bold prints.

I will be making this quilt pattern again... I've already got another layer cake in mind...and tomorrow this is going off the the long arm quilter...yeah!

I have another project I should work on , but there are several other patterns calling my name...we'll see which project win.

I'm linking up with the Patchwork Times today...take a minute and check out what everyone else is up to.

happy stitching-
carol fun

Hippity hoppity happy Easter...

It is a lovely day here in my little corner of the world...peaceful and quiet for the moment. My roast is in the oven and all of my other dishes are prepped and ready to serve... we are dining at 3pm at my son and daughter-in-law's home and her family is joining us...it will be wonderful! Hope you are having a wonderful day too!

In searching the internet for a vintage Easter image I came across this... a chicken riding a bicycle pulling a cart of color eggs... and if that doesn't say Happy Easter I don't know what does...LOL!

And I do have some stitching to share for Slow Stitching Sunday...

This is Prairie Schooler April one of the monthly charts they designed. I have always loved these pieces and when I heard that the gals from Prairie Schooler were retiring I scoured the internet and purchased all 12 of them. But I was at a loss as to how to display/finish them. And then I saw this on Priscilla's blog...

OMG... this is perfect... she shows you how she altered this stand from Michael's and how you will be able to change out the months...this is the answer to my dilemma. Since I already had the charts I started stitching and then I ran to Micheal's to pick up one of these stands... on which I was able to use a 40% off coupon...score! Now I'm not certain I will have April done by the beginning of April but I should make it before April is over. And then I think I'll skip ahead another month or two... this is going to be a long term project but I know I will be happy happy happy with the results.

I'm stitching this on a 32 count linen I had in my stash... I don't think I'll go as dark with the next chart...but I do like the idea of using different linens for different months. I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts today and Super Mom - No Cape on Monday.

Now off to check my roast... it smells tasty!

Happy Easter!
carol fun

I'm coughing so I still must be alive...

So about 2 weeks ago I was introduced to some nasty little virus that has laid me low. First the aches, then the chills, the stuffy head, and the coup de grace...the cough...I have NEVER coughed so long and so hard in my life. If it was physically possible to cough up a lung mine would be sitting next to me in my easy chair. I went to an urgent care clinic which was a depressing visit, as I was told that since it is a virus, antibiotics wouldn't help...and oh that cough may last SIX WEEKS!!!! I am at 2 weeks now...it is a little better but it is still there. Today is the first day I've felt that I could go without the over the counter medication...so far so good...but the cough is still here.

Now the constant coughing hasn't lent itself to extreme productivity  in the crafty realm, but I did get some knitting done...mindless sock knitting...oh how I LOVE you...you've kept me sane. First I finished off my Opal Frankensocks...as I remember there are at least 5 or 6 different skeins of Opal in this pair.

The toes and heels are a yellow ombre Austermann and I just got lucky that the colors repeated in the same fashion on both socks...no adjustments were made by me as I was not capable of that kind of higher level thinking. I think they are nice happy Easter socks which is a tradition from my childhood that I hold near and dear.

My sainted Grandma always gave me socks for Easter...the kind with the frilly lace around the ankle or pretty contrasting colors...very feminine and they made me feel wonderful. Also to add to the gift she would put a silver dollar... a real silver dollar in the toe... I don't know why she did it but I saved them and they are in a safety deposit box. I suppose it was her way of spoiling me and I hope to be able to do the same for my future grandchildren. Do you have any Easter traditions to spoil grandchildren with? I'm stockpiling ideas!

Also I started another pair of the two alternating yarns socks. These are DROPS Fabel 677 and 910... you can see them here.

I don't think I'll ever tire of this vanilla sock knitting variation. You have NO idea what the sock is going to look like and no two socks are going to be the same. These greens and blues with a touch of beige  are lovely together.  I have a ton of this yarn in my stash and can't wait to try out other combinations.

So are you prepped and ready for Easter?  We are doing dinner mid-afternoon at my son and daughter-in-law's home... a mere two blocks from my house. Now the weather is lovely and I could walk but I'm bringing several dishes and don't want to stumble on my way over so I'll drive. Can't wait to make some deviled eggs and have the opportunity to use my Fiestaware egg plate... there aren't enough occasions to use it to suit me...LOL!  I did all my grocery shopping yesterday evening and hopefully I haven't forgotten anything so I won't have to deal with the crowds. I went past the Honeybaked Ham store today and the traffic trying to get in and out of the parking lot made me happy that I had been there yesterday. Oh I'm so smart...every once in a while...LOL!

Well I'm going to enjoy the sunny afternoon, still a bit chilly but temps are going back up tomorrow. Maybe I'll knit a bit or cross stitch or take a little nap...

I'm sure the master can give me tips on how to do it right!

happy stitching and knitting -
carol fun