1st Design Wall of 2107...

So 2017 is starting out on a productive note... I meant to post yesterday as I did start a new cross stitch piece and I cast on another sock. But after doing lunch with my sons, daughter in law and her mom, a trip to the Cincinnati Art Museum to see the Van Gogh exhibit, and making a prime rib dinner  I was too pooped to post. I'll catch up with the cross stitch and the knitting later this week but for now...

I haven't posted a Design Wall Monday for a while... but I have been sewing ... and here is some of what I've been working on...


These are for a swap I'm doing on Instagram... Bonnie and Camille Log Cabin blocks...

You do these by making a big block... squaring it up.. and cutting it into quarters... I've made some that way and others I'm doing a quarter at a time. The important part is that each quarter measures 10.25" square and the last round of logs are 2.5" strips. This is fun... but messy messy messy... I have piles of fabric strewn here there and everywhere.

This is a great project for me because I've been hoarding my Bonnie and Camille fabrics for quite a while.  I have various different cuts of the fabrics. I have a FQ bundle of Ruby that I won from Fat Quarter Shop eons ago... I have a charm pack of Scrumptious... and a layer cake of Hello Darling ... and jelly rolls of Handmade and the newest Basics line... so it is quite a nice collection and I think this block will show them off. You can check out what is going on with this swap here...my plan is to make more blocks as I want a quilt big enough for my bed.  Should be a very pretty summer quilt... and it may even get done by then...but don't hold your breath...blue isn't a good color for skin... just saying.


And I put these on my design wall for a group shot... my blocks from Tula Pink's City Sampler book...

I started these as part of a QAL on Instagram... they began  at Block 1 and I didn't jump in until Block 78... a bit behind... the goal was to do a block a day... and as you can see I didn't last too long...oh well... I do LOVE what I got done but I was feeling a bit blue that I couldn't keep up... but then I saw that another QAL was starting on Instagram by Three Dandelions and the pace is much better... 2 blocks a week... I think I can do that!!

They are logically starting with Blocks 1 and 2... and I have till this coming Saturday to have them done...yeah!!! You can check out this QAL here. I think the hardest part of these blocks is first deciding on a theme which for me is Momo fabrics... and then picking out the fabrics for each block... decisions decisions... sewing them together is a piece of cake...and very satisfying... like eating a piece of cake.... I wonder if there is any cake left in the kitchen...hmmmm...

Anyway heere are  two blocks I like a lot...

This is how I imagine Big Dude would look in a tree... if he could get up that high...LOL!

And I like this parrot... the Momo collections have a nice selection of animals which worked out well for this group of blocks that had larger squares and rectangles that could be fussy cut. Unfortunately there are no polka dot chickens so I shall have to settle for parrots and other birds... hey they are fowl and that is close enough.

I'm developing a love/hate relationship with Instagram... so much inspiration...but I spend waaay too much time looking at the pretty pictures. And I keep stumbling upon QALs that I want to do ... along with the Bonnie and Camille swap I found a Swoon QAL that I want to do ... you can check it out here... it runs from Jan 8 to Apr 9... and I think this could be the kick in the butt for me to finish the Swoon blocks which I haven't touched since. OH MY GOODNESS... Jan of 2012!!! I have 7 blocks completed so I only need 2 more. It would be nice to finish that project.  And to me fair to me... and I am always fair to me...LOL... I did do an complete Swoon quilt back in 2011... a Halloween version of 16" blocks which you can see here.    So I'm not a total slacker... well I'm a little bit a slacker where some stuff is concerned. Hey we all have flaws...right?

So I want to sew today and I should go outside and take my Christmas lights down as it is 52 degrees... quite warm for Ohio in January...and it is going back to the "seasonal" temps by Wednesday...but I just am not feeling it right now. I'm not turning them on anymore this season so really no one but me is going to notice...right?   Can you tell I'm talking myself out of it and justifying my actions at the same time... a slacker but a crafty slacker...LOL!!

I hope your 2017 is getting off to a great start... right now I'm full of anticipation of getting lots of stuff done... I'm just not sure exactly which stuff ... but that is ok.

If you have a minute check out this video... an adorable 4 year old explains why New Year's resolutions are so hard to keep... my resolution is to keep doing what I've been doing and stay awesome... we'll see how that turns out...LOL!

happy stitching -
carol fun

And that's a wrap....

So what DID I do in 2016? Well I did more than I thought!!!  My friends always tell me I get a lot done... but it never seems that way to me. I think because no matter how much I do there is always more I want to do. And while I do knit, cross stitch and sew a lot, I also goof off too. I am hooked on a couple of games I have on my Kindle and I play them every day. I feel a bit guilty that I spend time playing a useless game when I could be accomplishing something... but I do it anyway. Perhaps the problem isn't that I spend time on the games... perhaps I can lay the blame at the feet of the Benedictine nuns who instilled in me a deep sense of guilt and responsibility!  Yep, this is all the fault of Sister Esther and Sister Joanita and Sister Ida (ohhh she was a real psychopath) and Sister Caritas and Sister Lawrence. I won't blame Sister Dorothy as she was the sweetest nun I ever had... loved that woman!!! Yep, my guilt isn't my fault... it is the fault of 12 years of Catholic education...LOL!!!

Now I really don't hold any animus toward the nuns... guilt and responsibility aren't bad things... the world could use a bit more guilt and responsibility IMHO.

So here's a run down of what I accomplished in 2016. I went back and looked at all my posts for 2016 ... there were only 87... but there was a bunch of stuff there I didn't remember...  oh the mind isn't what it use to be... and it probably isn't what its going to be in the future... scary thought for the day!

I've ended 2016 with another sock finish... ta dah!!!!  This is the 2nd pair from my Opal Advent Calendar and astoundingly I knit the entire pair in less than a week!! Never happened before ... and will probably never happen again. A combination of having a nice chunk of holiday free time  and yarn that was egging me on to see what it would knit up like made these socks fly off the needles!!

Overall on the  knitting front I produced 33 or 34 socks...you know math isn't my friend...  about 16 pairs and 2 single socks waiting for their solemate...which is on the needles.  Only 1 sock was a patterned sock... this pair... Sunday Swing done in Regia Colormania.

All the rest were the plain vanilla stockinette kind except they weren't that  plain and vanilla as they were all some variation of scrappy or Frankensock. I knew that this kind of knitting was something I would like but I didn't realize I would become addicted to it. It is a good thing I don't drink, smoke or do drugs... I'd be a goner!!  An addiction to scrappy colorful socks isn't illegal or immoral...LOL... gosh I feel almost virtuous!! Here are a couple of my favorite pairs...

On the cross stitch front I completed 12 different projects... some big.... some small... a couple framed and a bunch that still need framing or finishing.  My favorite pieces this year were Sampler Hill from With Thy Needle and Thread (which needs framing)...

and  Fragments by Summer House Stitche Works...

I saw last week that there is going to be another Fragments this year... the sneak peek showed a really pretty bird in yellow and blue... you can check is out here... as I'm sure it will turn up on this blog in 2017.

And onto the quilting front...  a bit of a mixed bag ...  I consider a quilt finished when it has the binding on it and with that requirement met I finished 13 pieces of various sizes from this little square piece that is hanging on my back door...

ain't he cute? I saw him on IG and found the pattern here on Craftsy.

On the other extreme I did  a very large quilt... 104" square... that I gifted to my son and daughter in law and forgot to photograph. You can see it here before I sent it off to the long arm gal.

And here is my latest finish that is hanging on the back of my couch this Christmas season. The pattern is Diamond Dash from Missouri Star which you can see here....

the fabrics are Christmas Tole by Gina Martin. I really love the ornaments and that white poinsettia in the border.

But my favorite quilt this year is this one... Avant Garden Vintage Stars...

I LOVE EVERYTHING about this quilt...the colors, the quirky prints, all the yummy butterscotch Grunge background. It is on my bed right now as it goes so well with the butterscotch buffalo check drapes and the blue walls. I'm really having quite an affair with Momo fabrics... and it is going to continue into 2017 as I'm doing a QAL where I'm going to use my stash of Momo to do Tula Pink's City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks. I started another QAL on Instagram with this book and these fabrics back in November but I jumped  in around Block 77 but fell off the wagon around Block 99. Doing a block at day was a bit too fast a pace for me... this QAL is doing 2 blocks a week. I think I can handle that.

That was the positive side of my quilting ... and on the dark side I started at least 12 projects... maybe more... that are UFOs... now I'm not totally bummed by the 12 or more UFO's  as I believe that UFO's are a vitally important part of quilting. When I return to these projects I will already have a nice start... in some cases almost a finish... and that can motivate me ... sometimes...so we shall see what 2017 brings! I have confidence in me... that I will finish some stuff ...and I will start more than I finish... that ain't gonna change.. LOL!

Oh,  the count of 12  UFO's is only what I "created" this year... there are many more than that from previous years languishing in plastic bins waiting oh so patiently for me to pop the lid on them... they are such good little UFO's... its a good thing fabric doesn't spoil!!


And as 2106 comes to a close,  I want to take a moment and thank all of you who read this crazy blog... you have hung in there through dithering about ... petunias and marigolds....  window boxes and shutters... decorating and deer and many many many rantings about the weather... Mother Nature provides me with a lot  of material, doesn't she? This little blog is a diary of my life...as I said yesterday it ain't Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, but it is my life and I'm happy with it!

May 2107 bring all of us the best life has to offer!

Happy New Years!!

carol fun

I LOVE hand knit socks!!!

So the end of 2016 is in sight... and on the knitting front I will end this year just like last year... with hand knit socks on my needles.  Socks are my most FAVORITE thing to knit ... and in looking back over the last year they were pretty much the ONLY thing I knit.

I was curious how many socks I knit last year and by my count (and remember math is not my friend) I knit 32 socks... 16 pairs, but really 15 pairs and 2 single socks. The good thing is both of the single socks have their mates on the needles... I am amazed at me...LOL!!

Here are the first complete pair of socks made from my Opal Advent Calendar...

I did these in the Frankensocks style so there were lots of joins and ends to deal with but I do like the little bits and bobs of different stripes and colors. I wanted the Advent calendar so I'd get some different colors than I usually buy and I did. That purple and pink  were no where in my stash. This pair reads very "cool" and subdued to me... nice but different.  I finished these up on Christmas Eve...

So on Christmas Day I cast on the second pair of socks from the Opal Advent Calendar... and these are much brighter...

I picked out the skeins that were showing some yellow and orange... not many with yellow. The cuffs, heels and toes are a variety of yarns from my stash. Now these are even brighter in real life!  And did they knit up fast!! Like I said I cast on the first sock Sunday and I was finished with it on Tuesday. I don't remember the last time I knit a sock that fast.

Using 3 different skeins of yarn, in much bigger chunks sped up the process as there was less decision making.  And I'm always super motivated when starting a new skein of yarn to see what the repeat is going to look like...multiple that 3 times over and you get very speedy knitting!!!

The second sock is moving along nicely too. I took what was left of each skein and wound in into a ball so the sequence of the striping pattern is reversed.  It makes for scrappier looking socks in my opinion and then I'm again motivated to see what the repeat is going to look like... I know I could just turn the first sock upside down and see what is coming but hey....I'm easily amused here... and it keeps me off the streets at night!!! LOL

With a bit of luck I may have this pair finished before the end of 2016!!  My plans for New Years Eve are to stay home, probably eat pizza and knit or cross stitch. I'll be up at midnight because I'm a night owl, not because I need to see the ball drop.  As for the New Year I will usher it in with more knitting, cross stitch and quilting. My philosophy is that you should do the things you love on the first day of the year to set the tone for the next 365 days!!

Tomorrow I'll have a little recap of what I've accomplished this year. I never think I get much done but reviewing my blog showed I was more productive than I thought. I haven't been too conscientious in posting the last couple of months but I have been working on stuff. I've considered not updating the blog and moving solely to Instagram, but looking back over 2016 shows me why a blog is a good thing. It is a pictorial diary of what is going on in my life. It certainly isn't the lifestyles of the rich and famous (remember that show with Robin Leach? Whatever happened to Robin Leach?)... but I am certainly happy with the life I have!

I'm going to link up with Patchwork Times to see what others are knitting this week. So much yarn...not enough time!

happy knitting -
carol fun

Merry Christmas to you!!!

Merry Christmas dear blog readers!!!  I hope that you received the gifts you wanted and that tasty food was eaten and wonderful memories were made!! I did brunch this morning with my family and now the rest of the day should  be a quiet one spent knitting and cross stitching and probably napping...naps are soooo GOOD!!!

As you can see from these two pics my Christmas decor has gone to the deer this year... I'm particularly fond of the glittery sparkly kinds of deer, as opposed to the smelly ravenous ones who eat my roses... just saying... I'm more of a Bambi kinda gal... I like my animals well behaved!!

Okay,  I'm off to stuff my face with ginger cookies (thanks for the recipe Laurey!!) and then I might take a nap....nooooo... I'll definitely take a nap!!

Merry Christmas!!

carol fun

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

Are your stocking hung by the chimney with care?  Naahh, neither are mine...but I do have a lot of pretty sock yarn!  Here are 23 of the 24 little skeins from my Opal Advent Calendar. Aren't they cute???

The one I left out is the first one that I got... the ugly black brown one... now I did use the black/white sections but I don't think the other portions of this skein are gonna see the light of day in my socks.

And here is the first pair of socks I've made with these goodies...

I just have to do the toe and this pair is done!  Now I like these but for Frankensocks they seem quite subdued. I think it is because there is no yellow in them... yellow makes me happy ... and I think yellow makes for happy happy socks!

I'm planning on casting on a new pair of socks this evening and I'm definitely picking one of the brighter skeins.  I want to try knitting a pair of socks with a large swath of one skein, followed by another swath of another skein... like these...

I wish I had seen these socks before I started knitting the pair I'm finishing up. I LOVE that swath of yarn on the bottom of the sock on the right... and I used quite a bit of it on the sock I'm finishing up. Love the colors and those little dotted black and white stripes. Oh well... I shall survive ... there certainly are quite a few pretty skeins to play with.

I forgot to show my new Christmas knitting bag I got as a gift along with that fabulous shawl...

Isn't this a hoot??? Or should I say a cluck??  Polka dot chickens wearing hats and scarves and bearing gifts!!! Now I purchased several yards of this fabric last year with the intention of making Christmas curtains for my kitchen but I never got around to them... they will be top of my list for next year!!!

So are you ready for tomorrow??? I'm as ready as I'll ever be. The gifts are bought and stuffed into their Christmas bags...

years ago I made a ton of simple fabric bags out of Christmas yardage. Each year we stuff our presents in the bags and close them with either sparkly pipe cleaners or sparkly elastic cording.  Very "green"...but that's not the reason I did it... I did it because I really don't like to wrap and this method of gift presentation is easy peasy.  I store all of the bags in a plastic bin (you know how I LOVE plastic bins) and toss a dryer sheet in the  bin so everything stays fresh smelling.  This gift wrapping idea came from my friend Vicki who's been doing this even longer than I have. Very smart, dontcha think?  It makes me appear virtuous when in fact I'm really just lazy...LOL

We are doing brunch tomorrow at my son and daughter-in-law's  house... I'm bringing quiche and cinnamon rolls... the kind that come out of a can... told you I'm lazy!  I'm making the quiche tonight so I don't have to get up early to cook... I'm sooooo NOT a morning person. I can drag my sorry butt out of bed if I have to ...but I don't like it.  Brunch is good... doesn't start too early...and this arrangement allows my son and daughter-in-law to do Christmas dinner with her family. Then we will celebrate again next Sunday with a prime rib dinner at my house. It spreads out  all  those big holiday meals. My younger son and I are planning a shrimp and pasta meal for our Christmas dinner and that should be tasty too!

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas or Hanukkah celebration...lots of good food and family and fun!

Merry Christmas!!!
carol fun

Some assorted stitching on Sunday...

Well I haven't done this for a couple of weeks, but today I have  some cross stitch pics to share. Something completely stitched, something almost done and something started... I'm covering the whole gamut today...LOL! (Funny aside... at first I had typed gamet... which didn't look right... so I looked it up and I'm glad I did. A gamet has something to do with before a vowel... a little knowledge is dangerous!)

Anyway here is the piece that is completely stitched...

This is A Funky Bird by Barbara Ana. Now I changed the body of the bird from the dark brown to the lighter thread color that I can't remember what the number is now... but I like the looks of it.  I plan to get this one framed.


And then this is almost completely stitched...

This is from Teresa Kogut and is called appropriately Star Shaped Snowman... hey I guess titles get hard for designers too!  Now I pretty much changed every color on this one as the original was done more primitive. I wanted to use this scrap of linen in my stash that I have no idea where it came from. It is dyed/bleached with what I think is  a snowy look...however, I may not have made the best choice for where I located this on the linen. The snowman's arm... which is behind that branch is almost invisible. I think he would benefit from some backstitching....ugh!!!  He is a cutie but I was surprised that this primitive piece included a ton of 1/2 stitches and 3/4 stitches.  I think he will end up as a little pillow. You can see more of Teresa Kogut's cross stitch here... she has some cute Santas and chickens too!


And finally there is this ... a BRAND NEW Christmas start... which doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of being done this year....

This is the Lizzie Kate Jingles series from about 2013. I had never seen... or probably just hadn't paid attention ... to this bunch of adorable charts before. I lay the blame for this new start squarely on the shoulders of my friend Heather, who not only pointed it out to me, but also found it on sale on ebay for a great price including all the embellishments. Now it is well known that I have little self control where cute stuff is concerned... I'm thinking it is a genetic flaw and that will absolve me from any responsibility for my actions stemming from this condition... right??? A head nod in the affirmative would be  greatly appreciated.

Here is what it will look like when all 12 little darlings are stitched...

If you go to Lizzie Kate's website... here... you can download a layout that shows you where to put each chart and gives you additional little fillers like those blocks under the reindeer and the heart frame for what will be a snowman scene.  They also provide this layout info for other series... and somehow I think that info will get me into more trouble as the Halloween stuff  is too stinking cute!

So right now I'm happy with my stitching stuff. I have BIG BIG BIG plans to organize my cross stitch graphs in 2017. I'd like to put them into alphabetical order by designer so when I go to look and see if I have a chart I don't have to look through 6 different boxes. I also have plans to lose 50 pounds, quilt only from my stash and win the lottery... I think all those plans have about the same probability of success... should be an interesting year, dontcha think???? LOL!!!

So dinner tonight is going to be Mexican food... at El Rancho Grande... my boys and me...always tasty. My daughter-in-law is attending a concert her mother is singing in...she is a good daughter!

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

Hope you have your Christmas duties well in hand. I hesitate to say this out loud but I'm in pretty good shape. Two more gift cards and I think I can call it a wrap...I hope I haven't forgotten anything...

happy stitching-
carol fun

A soggy Saturday of socks, and a shawl, and a sad sad song...

Hello -- can you tell I LOVE alliteration... soggy...Saturday...socks... shawl...sad...song... I'm don't believe that all those things  would actually have any connection other than on this blog... oh well...here goes...

First off on this soggy Saturday,  I'm down to the toe of my first Frankensock from the Opal Advent Calendar...

I like this one but in the scheme of the Frankensocks I've knit I think this one is rather subdued... pink, lavender, sage and blue... not a bit of yellow and only  a couple of specks of orange. Not my usual picks but then I hoped that the Advent Calendar would give me new color combos, so it is successful on that point. I am going to make the second sock using these same skeins... by my calculations I've used a bit of 7 different little mini skeins in this sock.

And here are the delightful little bundles that have popped out of the calendar since I last posted...

This soggy Saturday doesn't make for good lighting but these little guys are a nice bright bunch... except for the black/gray/white one bottom row second from the left... he is definitely odd man out!  I see several pairs of brightly colored Frankensocks using these skein.

My ever changing strategy this week is to proceed with the second sock mate to the one currently on my needles and then start a new pair with lots of the bright stuff.

 Wednesday night my quilty lady friends got together to celebrate Christmas.  We exchange names each year and I was blessed to receive this magnificently exquisite shawl from Cathy... thank you SOOOOO much Cathy!!!

My photo does NOT do justice to this shawl... it is knit with yarn from Caterpillar Green Yarns which you can see here. The pattern is called Playground Shawl... it is free and you can see it here.   The magic of this shawl is that this was knit from ONE skein of yarn that was dyed to have the rainbow sections separated by the gray sections... there are NO joins or loose ends to weave in for the entire shawl except for at the beginning and the end... think about that for a minute?  Isn't this genius???

Here is how it looks when you wear it...



I tried to take a selfie of me wearing it, but between juggling the camera when it almost fell into the toilet and temporarily blinding myself, this is  the best pic I could get...

and yes, the bathroom mirror definitely needs to be wiped down... housekeeping isn't one of my talents, no one on their death bed every said "I wish I'd spent more time in the office" or "I wish I had cleaned more bathrooms."  NEVER been said!!!

As for the sad song...have you ever heard the song "Same Old Lang Syne" by Dan Fogelberg?  It is played on the oldies station locally that does all Christmas music this time of year. Now other than it mentions Christmas eve in the first line I'm not sure why it is considered a Christmas selection. I love the lyrics and the melody but this song ALWAYS makes me cry... last night it came on the radio and I should have turned it off after the first 8 bars... but I didn't... and I cried. I don't know why... I'm certainly not pining for any lost love but there is something just so evocative about this song that is always touches me. The chorus includes the line "we drank a toast to innocence, we drank a toast to now"... you can tie up a lot of memories in that line.

So on that note I'll sign off... I'm happy all the rain today isn't snow... and I hope you are warm where you are.

happy knitting-
carol fun