Trying to pay closer attention on Slow Sunday Stitching....

Well, where was I last Sunday... I was napping in my chair feeling sorry for myself with a nasty cold... I had mentioned the week before to my family how I hadn't had a cold in ages... I was so proud of myself... pride goeth before a fall...and a stuffed up nose, and a cough, and a scratchy throat.... but I am feeling better today...not fully recovered but much much better...and I have  lots of stuff to show you...

Let's start with the stitchy stuff and explain the title of this post... I finished up my Lizzie Kate Halloween ABC's...it is off to the framer and I was itching to start something new (aren't I always???)... well I had seen a "new" to me chart on IG and I loved it... a Barbara Ana Design ...

I like the whimsical quirky nature of this one and I really liked the pairs of scissors hanging from the branches. I knew that I could purchase this chart as a pdf from The Creative Poppy website which you can find here. So off I went to buy this chart... she has lots of cute charts on the website and I found the one called Autumn Tree and I bought it...and printed it out...and taped the 4 pages of charts together...and dyed some fabric...and pulled the threads ... and jumped right in and started stitching....

Notice anything???  Yeah...this isn't the same chart....this one is called Autumn Tree...the one I saw is called Autumn Sampler ...and while they do have some similar  aspects they aren't the same ....sheesh... now  I had the top 5 branches of the tree completed but hadn't started the motifs...that was my first clue... when I looked the  chart for Autumn Tree there are no scissors hanging from the branches...but I do like the house and the mushroom and that cute little squirrel...he was charted in black but some of you may remember the Moby Dick white squirrel in my neighborhood from several years back... well... what to do... rip out what I had stitched and start over???? Or just go with it??? Well I obviously just went with it. I actually like this one a lot too... here a pic of the whole chart...

The gal in the polka dot dress is cute and so is the little fox...here's my fox...

and here's what I've completed so far...

The linen is 32 ct and I used the Rit Apple Green dye which comes out olive...and I love olive green... I was traumatized by the 70's... avocado green, harvest gold, coppertone...love them all!!!

So I've got a great start on this piece which was no where on my stitching radar, but that's okay...shiny things catch my eye all the time... and I did go and purchase the Autumn Sampler chart and I plan to stitch it too... and I should have paid closer attention to the details on that chart as well,  as there is a little witch and some black cats at the bottom... not liking that detail as I want this to be a more Fall piece... so I'll replace her with a giant acorn from the Autumn Tree chart and I'll add a scissors from the Autumn Sampler chart to the Autumn Tree piece.... details details... it's all in the details, isn't it???

I did get some other tasks completed last week... I hauled out all my Fall stuff and decorated my house... it may still be 85 degrees outside but it is Fall inside... here's my shelf display... those new wider shelves let me put more stuff out...

Starting at the top we have my latest Drawn Thread Welcome along with older Blackbird Designs and Lizzie Kate and lots and lots and lots of pumpkins...

new additions include candy corn striped trees (Joanns) and a candy corn filled hurricane glass...

more Blackbird...more pumpkins and several Debbie Mumm Fall quilts...

Here's the little display cabinet...

That little wagon came from Michaels years ago and I put my Barbara Ana Autumn Keeper over here.

And now to the porch/sunroom re-do reveal... this isn't a big space...about 75 square feet... but right now is it mine...and the Dude's...favorite spot...

the couch is Klippan from Ikea...got the slipcover on Amazon (should have smoothed out the wrinkles but I had just hauled my butt off of it before I took these pictures)...this couch is sooooo comfortable...and since it is flush with the newly painted window sills it is a great spot for the Dude to perch and "chat" with the birds at the feeders...

the Dude on another perch... the recliner that was my son's (he got a newer  bigger  one) and yes that is a chicken underneath... a recent birthday present from a friend... she's is quite large and very pretty...and I don't have to feed her anything because I wouldn't want to  mess up the new carpet... I really love the color of this plaid...got it from Flor which you can see here.

And this is a view from the recliner....it is comfy too... I like having that little shelf to decorate and along with  the corn husk garland is camouflages the electrical stuff... I love having more places to decorate!!! Those turquoise blue pumpkins are a new addition... the result of watching a ton of youtube videos when I was feeling poorly...

So I have to tell you about these videos... I was watching Flosstube videos and somehow there was a list of  other videos that people recommended ...and one thing led to another and I found these videos from a gal who calls herself Auntie Coo Coo...check it out here... this gal shops... A LOT...now she doesn't buy a lot but she goes and scopes out all the places I love to shop for seasonal decorations...Target, Hobby Lobby, Joanns, Michaels, Homegoods,  Big Lots, Dollar Tree, Tuesday Morning, Ikea, etc etc etc... she makes great videos showing all she finds and the prices ...and she has the most calming, soothing voice I have ever heard...if she did relaxation videos I'd be asleep in 60 seconds...LOL 

Anyway she showed some great stuff that I had to track down...and I just saw that she posted a new video about the latest Halloween stuff at Target. She has several videos on the Target Dollar Spot...its called Bullseye's Playground and she shows the tag/price sticker on the items...there is an inventory code (not the UPC thingy) called the DPCI code  that Target and other stores are using and with this code you can go to a website called BrickSeek.com and you can put in that code along with your zipcode and find out if the item is available at your local store.  You can watch the video here... it is only about 7 minutes long...so I learned something new... which will probably get me into trouble... details details...LOL

And to close out this magnum opus I have a couple of pics of my house and yard... as you saw in the porch/sunroom pics I put mums in some of my window boxes but they finally  got pumpkins in at my  local "cheap" garden spot and I got pumpkins...

I love having those pie pumpkins in the window boxes...they require no watering.... and I got my son to haul this one into my rose bed...

Forty pounds of pumpkin-y goodness!!!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today and I know I've said this numerous times before but  I plan to do a post tomorrow on what I played with yesterday for National Jelly Roll Day. I broke out a vintage Jelly Roll and sewed for the first time in a while...

Hope you have a good week ahead... my prayers go out to all those affected by Florence ... I complain about my weather but I really shouldn't ... that is real weather and real problems... take care and happy stitching-

carol fun 

Pining for Pumpkins on a Slow Stitching Sunday...

Happy Labor Day weekend to all you of ... the last gasp of Summer... except it isn't... it is HOT HOT HOT...and humid and I am pining for pumpkins and Fall colors and apple cider and hay bales and pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins and pumpkin bagels and you get the picture. We had a couple of cool days a week ago... they were so nice, but now we are back to 90s...no rain in the forecast for the next 5 days and a long range forecast of temps still above normal. Mother Nature is not listening to me. My window boxes are toast... I've already ripped out two of them and put in some pretty mums...and tonight I will rip out the other 3 and plant more mums and some cabbages...and then I will have to water like crazy... more money going to the Metropolitan Water District and Duke Energy... ugh!!!

On the stitching front I have made progress... I finished my Lizzie Kate ABC's Halloween...

I am very very happy with how this turned out... I love the little motifs ... a ghost and Frankenstein...

A spooky skeleton...

And Elphaba...

She wasn't charted in green but she should have been...LOL

Now I was going to get this completely finished... "framed" and Priscillafied but as I was looking at the framing materials I have I realized that this piece is big... the stitching is about 6"wide by  11" tall and add a bit of framing to that 11" and  it is too tall to fit on any of the shelves of the display unit...soooooo I'm plotting where I can display it and then figure out just how big I can go. I have 2 possibilities.... oh I just thought of a third idea... will need to put more time into this one.

So with this one done I picked up Matilda Hornbuckle  from Not Forgotten Farm...

I know EXACTLY how she will be finished because I saw this pic (click here ) on Instagram... I raced to Hobby Lobby and got the frame she used and then looked at the stitch count... it was going to be too big if I stitched it on my favorite 32 ct... so I did the math and determined that if I wanted it to fit I was going to have to stitch it on 36 ct or higher. I got out some 36 ct and remembered why I'm not fond of 36 ct.  Two strands of floss are too thick and one strand of floss is kinda skimpy... so I found a piece of 40 ct. linen in my stash and I'm using 1 ply... for the most part I'm getting good coverage ...that BIG shoe may have some issues ...but I'm also going blind... I'm wearing my Mr. Magoo +5.0 cheaters and I'm still having trouble seeing it clearly. However she is going to look super in the frame...

There will be a broom in her left hand ...and I'm changing the colors of the flowers she's holding...they are charted in DMC 3031 Mocha Brown Very Dark... that makes them DEAD flowers in my book...not terribly attractive... so I'm using lovely DMC 783.. a warm sunny gold... I'd love to use this frame for more than Halloween so I'm  looking for small charts with a Fall flavor that can be stitched on 32 ct and still fit.

I want to work on some more small pieces ... it is easier to find spaces to display them and there is the satisfaction of a quick finish...gonna work on that.

My plans are to put away my Summer decorations starting tonight and tomorrow and have my Fall stuff up by Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. I don't care that its going to be 90... I'll just crank up the AC and pay Duke Energy their pound of flesh next month...

Since I have a bit, a bunch, A  TON of Fall stuff I got started and played with some new door/wreath  decor.

This wreath jumped into my cart at HomeGoods... I got the last one at the store in Loveland but I did see the same wreath at Marshall's ...

I'm swooning over velvet pumpkins... but I couldn't leave well enough alone...and you just can't have too many velvet pumpkins (that is a fact...not an opinion...LOL) I added the little green and white ones to fill in some blank spots. The little ones came from  Hobby Lobby as a floral spray... I just yanked them off and stuck them in. It is hard to see the but the stems of the orange pumpkins are a metallic copper... so Fall-ish!!

And then I needed to update the basket that hangs on the storm door of my porch... I got the basket and all the stems from Hobby Lobby...

Here it is hanging on the back of the door in the living room so I could get a decent picture...and here it is where it will be hanging for a while...

The colors are truer in this picture.

And I'm re-doing my front porch/sunroom... the furniture I purchased back in March turned out to be very uncomfortable. It was patio/outdoor stuff and if you  were only going to be sitting on it for a little bit of time here and then it would be okay...but  I park my butt out on the porch every chance I get and it was lumpy and bumpy and wasn't working for me. Now I hesitated to pitch it and start over as I had spent a chunk of change on it ... it came from IKEA and I stumbled upon an article talking about their return policy. I checked it out here and was amazed that I could return the couch for up to 365 days as long as I had proof of purchase and it was in re-saleable condition. Before I made arrangements to haul it back to the store I spoke with a customer service rep at the store and she assured me I could bring it back for a full refund... so I did. A dear friend has a truck and he helped me take back the 3 assembled sections and all the cushions. The full purchase price was refunded to my credit card.... I couldn't be happier!!! It's no secret I love IKEA...I really really really LOVE IKEA!!! 

My mindset on this room has changed since I had the windows put installed. In the beginning I thought of it as a porch but now I think of it more as a room, a sunroom....So I purchased  another piece of furniture... a real live couch...with springs and padding ...and it is very comfortable... I selected this one called Klippan... I wasn't fond of any of the slipcovers available at IKEA but there are a ton you can find online and I got one on Amazon. Along with the couch I moved a small recliner to the porch... my son got a new recliner for his room and this smaller one was in great shape... I added a little 3 shelf display piece and I'm going to change the carpet. I told myself to wait on  the carpet till they had a sale...and darn if it didn't go on sale the next day. I got these tiles from FLOR... I need to get my handyman to come and install them...and when he does I'll show you the make over...right now I'll show my newest display on the porch...

The garland of corn husks and leaves and pine cones and acorns is camouflaging the electric conduit that runs up that wall ... the basket and the Fall hello came from Hobby Lobby... I "painted" the hello  with Rit Tangerine dye... it was unfinished wood and this was a quick easy fix... I'll be doing that again.  So come on Fall... I'm waiting for you with open arms... and a pumpkin muffin...

Hope you have a great Labor Day weekend and that the short week ahead goes well too... I'll be off at least one day till Friday... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and check out what everyone else is up to... I still need to plant 8 mums and 6 cabbages but its too darn hot right now...maybe this evening...

happy stitching!
carol fun

Ongoing Halloween and a new video obsession on Slow Sunday Stitching...

No need to reiterate how fast the weeks fly by... Annie O of Annie's Orts commented that "the week did fly by like witch on a broom"... a very apt description. I had lots of things to do that took me out of the house...visit to pick up a quilt from my local quilt shop ...Homegrown Homesewn... appointment for my son... dinner with the quilty ladies...lunch for my son and his friend who lives about 40 miles away... didn't get the oil in the car changed...moved it to tomorrow...not as much written down for this coming week so I have high hopes to get lots of stitching and sewing and knitting done... but then I always do... hope spring eternal...LOL

The weather was hot and boy did it rain...Thursday we officially got 5" in one day...don't know if I got that much in my yard but it sure came down  in buckets.  I was happy not to water for a couple of days but I think I will have to do a little tonight...the coleus is looking droopy. I am soooooo ready for Fall... pumpkins, mums, decorative cabbages and kale... something to perk my bedraggled petunia window boxes. I was honored to win a local award for my yard again this year... the Deer Park Beautification Award... got a cool sign to put in my yard and a certificate signed by the mayor... so I feel an obligation to keep up appearances...and right now my flowers aren't at their best. I do have a slew of dahlias that are waiting to bloom... getting tall and I'm seeing some buds... can't wait for them to pop. And I want to buy those BIG pots of mums to put on my front steps and by my garage... I love them!!! Need to check out Costco and my local cheapy garden center... and I should wait till the first of September as I consider that the beginning of Fall, but lots of schools are already back in session and isn't that the beginning of Fall?

As for stitching I made a couple of changes to the Spooky Row I showed last week...

I backstitched with a light gray around the skeleton so he'd show better...

and I restitched the ruff on the vulture's neck so there is more contrast there too...

I'm contemplating taking this to be framed as getting the long pieces straight isn't easy and this one is 18" long... gotta look at those Joanns coupons.

As for the Lizzie Kate ABC Halloween I'm just about half way complete...

I love the way it looks on this linen...I did make Frankenstein green...he's charted in more of a beige/tan/yellow... too bland for my taste.  I've been thinking what pieces I want to get done for this Halloween...and there is this sampler, the Drawn Thread Halloween Welcome, the With Thy Needle & Thread The Cat and the Moon, and Matilda Hornsby... I think that's doable by the end of September... keep your fingers crossed.  I just have to guard against other shiny charts catching my eye...and yes I may be a touch delusional here but I prefer to think of it as being that eternal optimist...doesn't sound as nutso...LOL

I've found I like to cross stitch while "watching"  YouTube videos... I started with FlossTube channels and then stumbled upon this great gardening channel... its called Garden Answer and you can find it here... it is a husband and wife team...she narrates all the videos and he films them...she is adorable and her garden is phenomenal... they have 662 videos at last check...her parents own a garden center in Oregon which she grew up in and where she still helps out ... some of their videos are "a day in the life" and they are fun to watch... I am so impressed with her plantings and the property they live on... there is some great aerial video... right now my favorite episode is where they planted 44 hayrack window boxes ... OMG ... it is to die for... here is the one where they planted up everything... and here is the way they looked after about two months.  I have a new appreciation for purple after seeing her display... anyway as I lust after her beautiful flower beds I get ideas for my diminutive yard for next year... petunias or begonias or maybe short zinnias in my window boxes??? The short zinnias did great as an edge in my garden ... the petunias got leggy and scraggly...and it wasn't just me. I chatted with my neighbor who has a wonderful garden and he said the same thing. He pulled out some of his petunias and replanted begonias... maybe I should have done that. Gardening... always thinking ahead to what to do differently...

So this week should be a nice one... I saw a forecast with high temperatures only in the 70's and morning lows in the 50's...turn off the AC and open all the windows...I can't wait. Lots of things I want to do this week (heck lots of things I want to do every week...LOL) ...hope to get the quilt top for my son assembled... all the blocks are complete...just need to sew the rows together and add the sashing and the borders...oh borders...we know how long that takes me... but I do want this on his bed soon. And National Jelly Roll Day is coming up on September 15... last year I started the quilt that is currently on my bed, a pattern called Two Step from Missouri Star...you can see my quilt here on my Instagram page... carolfun53... I have plenty of jelly rolls ...just need to pick one and pattern... it will be something easy and fun!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... I always enjoy seeing what every one posts there...and again I'll say I hope to post some quilting...maybe this week it will happen...but don't hold your breath, you'll turn blue and pass out and I'll feel very bad about that...

happy stitching-
carol fun

A Slow Sunday Stitching where I ponder how many days till Halloween???

Hello again... another week whizzed by... I know I said I'd be back last Monday to show some quilting but ...well... I don't  know what happened ...I didn't turn my machine on at all  last week... maybe this week...no promises. We've had all kinds of weather this past week... hot...  humid... dry... rainy... sunny...gray... I am pining for Fall...cool, low humidity Fall... it can't come soon enough.I LOVE FALL!!! it is my favorite season!!!

My window boxes are looking raggedy ...the petunias got leggy and the sweet potato vine is a bit droopy. From the street they look okay but up close not so much. I'm ready to pull it all out and decorate them for Fall. I've already decided that if I can get small pumpkins for the same price as a mum or decorative cabbage...and I think I can... I'm putting lots of pumpkins in the 3 smaller boxes that are high up... the beauty of this is that they won't have to be watered. I found out last year that it is hard to water the cabbages cause you can't hardly get the hose in under the leaves...live and learn. Next to petunias, mums are one of my favorite flowers ... I love all those Fall colors...and the weather...did I mention that before???? LOL

Sooooo you may be asking yourself how many days till Halloween? (we aren't even going to discuss Christmas yet, okay?) Well according to a countdown website I found there are 79 days left... plenty of time to do more Halloween stitching and right now I'm ALL about the Halloween stuff.

This week saw  my butt in my stitching chair quite a bit and I finished the Bent Creek Spooky Row...

It is really neon green in real life... in the evening it looked more minty green but in natural light it lives up to its neon label.  I played chicken with the gray floss for the letters... only had a 6" piece left when I got done...

I'm going to frog the ruff around the vulture's neck... it is a cranberry red and is too close in value to the black... that shouldn't take too long. I think this is going to hang in my back hallway.

And since I finished that piece I  broke out my Lizzie Kate ABC Halloween... got the first line done... 11 more to go...

And here's how the  whole piece of linen looks...

I painted a new piece of linen for this as I thought the first piece I did was too busy... I like this better. 

This chart came as a kit with the called for Crescent  Colors and some DMC... and they are pretty but they didn't look good with my painted linen. So I took my chart and my linen to Michael's and picked out DMC colors that I like... a nice dark orange 720 and a light orange 722 and a funky green 581 and a purply purple 333... I traded  the beige  they called for ...3042... for a yellow 726...and I think I'll change the 3848 turquoise for 3812 turquoise.

I purchased this kit around the time Lizzie Kate announced her retirement... I read on her blog that she is going to continue for a bit with the kits of these in collaboration with 123 Stitch... here  is a link to that listing... if you are interested let them know.

And if this isn't enough Halloween stuff...along with the stuff I mentioned last week I got this chart yesterday from Stoney Creek...Halloween Moon ...you can see it here...

 This is a big chart... 207 high by 150 wide.... on 32 ct that 13" x  9.5"... a LOT of Halloween... What drew me to this is the pumpkin that says Halloween with its teeth... I do like the ghosts and the owl over the moon but  I think that  all I'm going to stitch is the big pumpkin...he's 70 x 60 so that would be about 4.5" x 3.75"... that will do ... and I think I may have enough of the orange fabric with the bruises left to do it. Keep my fingers crossed... I did whack off a piece to give to a friend...but I can always dye more. 

Well there may be some more stitching time tonight after dinner. I'm having my son and DIL for the first time in weeks... they've had a ton of things going on so I enticed them over with prime rib... who can resist prime rib??? Not anyone in my family...LOL... the meat is in the oven but my remote meat thermometer isn't behaving... I keep having to check on it with my instant read thermometer... which defeats the purpose of the remote one that is suppose to alert you when the meat has reached the proper temperature...oh well... I use my  20% coupon at Bed Bath & Beyond and get a new one.

I got a bunch of little things on my calendar for next week...pick up a quilt...take my son for an appointment...get the oil changed in my car... dinner with my quilty friends... if Mother Nature helps me out and rains a bit perhaps I can skip a night or two of watering and get in more stitching time... cross your fingers...

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts today...and if I get some sewing done tomorrow maybe their will be a post then...hope you  have a good week ahead!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Slow Sunday Stitching with Flosstube overtones...

Hello everyone... hope your summer is progressing nicely. We actually had a string of days with lower humidity where I could open the windows... it was lovely. The temperatures went back up but it isn't as bad as before...or I'm getting use to it...I keep reminding myself that at least I'm not in Modesto, CA... lived there for 3 years back in the late 80s... there were 2 seasons...hot and hotter than Hell... the day we moved it it was 106...the day we moved out it was 110...and my memory is that it didn't get much cooler any time in between...ok that is a bit of an exaggeration...we did have a "winter" there one year. Temperatures got down below freezing for a couple of days and in the neighborhood I lived in there were no basements. The water pipes were PVC and the came out of the ground under the tiny crawl space beneath the house... along with everyone's sprinkler systems these pipes froze and burst. There wasn't a piece of PVC pipe to be had anywhere in the city for a week. Luckily we protected our pipes... a light bulb under a cardboard box over the juncture to the house and we the only ones on our street with running water for days....and how in the heck did I get to this story??? Oh well ...lets talk about stitching...okay??

I have gotten several projects stitched...and several are the result of projects I saw on Flosstube... I enjoy watching and somehow I think I've seen everything stitchy that is out there and then BOOM!!!..there is a chart I've never seen before and I MUST have it... this is one of them...

All Hallow's Eve by Lizzie Kate... I came across this one as a result of watching the Flosstube videos of Pam & Stephanie from Just Keep Stitchin....which lead me to the Facebook group of Pumpkin Seed Stitchers...lov'e the little mouse  at the bottom left...used Weeks Onyx and a piece of 32 ct. linen  I had painted and smushed and over dyed... I think the purple spots look like bruises...LOL..I think I'll finish this as a little pillow with either rickrack or pompom around the edges.

And one thing lead to another...(doesn't it always???) and I found another little freebie on The Silver Needle's Free Charts page... Spooky Time by Lizzie Kate...

The chart called for little stacked button to make the eyes but I have these googly eyes in my craft stash and I think they will be perfect. I have an idea to finish this as a little candy corn shaped pillow...got the idea from my friend, Heidi... should be cute to tuck into my Halloween displays.

I was able to finish all the stitching on my Autumn Welcome by The Drawn Thread...

this piece is so PRETTY!!! if I say so myself...and I do!! Here are some close-ups...

Not as many decorative stitches in this one ...which is fine... just some satin stitch acorns and half Rhodes mounds on the basket.  I already ordered the Halloween version of the Welcome and the Winter version too. I will finish this one like I did Summer...simple fabric mat and then mounted on a piece of wood.  Details: 32 ct linen... Rit Teal dye smushed in a mason jar...my own floss conversion from the silks...Gentle Arts and Weeks.


And somewhere on the internet or Flosstube or Instagram or Pinterest I saw this Bent Creek chart...Spooky Row...

And I had to have it ... my version...just started this one on Friday... stitches up quickly as I've spent a lot of time watching Flosstube...which is only going to lead me to something else, isn't it???

a close up ...

I painted this 32 ct linen with Rit Neon Green and Lemon Yellow. I had smushed dyed another piece and it was very deep dark olive green... cool looking but not  working for all the dark stitching on this chart... I'll use it for something else... I've also come to the conclusion that as much as I want to use ALL the colors of dyes that I have, I really should limit it in most cases. I forget that while the piece of linen looks great I will be stitching over it and a busy background is not usually a good idea for cross stitch. Live and learn and then overdye your mistakes...that's my new dyeing motto!!! LOL

So while I'm working on this piece Flosstube has lead me to snag these 2 projects I'm adding to my list...

I know this is a blurry pic but it is the best one I can find on the web... this is from Not Forgotten Farms and appeared in the 2013 Halloween issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine. Pam & Stephanie made me aware of this issue and I tracked it down as a digital download on Annie's Craft Store which you can see here.  This is a great deal... I paid $8 and was able to immediately access and print off this chart. There are several cute cute cute pieces in this issues so it was a bargain.

And then I saw this piece  by Heart in Hand...Halloween Parade...on Flosstube...do we see a pattern here? I should stop watching shouldn't I? Ain't gonna happen...LOL

I've tracked it down to both Stoney Creek and Everything Crossstitch...  now Everything Crossstitch has the chart but not the button pack...Stoney Creek has both...Everything Crossstitch is just up the road from me and I like to support local shops and I'm not sure if I'll stitch this as one piece or as individual motifs...if I do them individually I don't need the button pack...decisions, decisions...

So I'm full blown Halloween at the moment. I am looking forward to Fall ...but then I always do...it is my FAVORITE time of the year. Can't wait to get out all my Fall decor ...but first I need to get through August. My goal today is to put away the patriotic stuff and put out a bit of late summer...I'll reuse a lot of what I had out before but plan to add some sunflowers and chickens. I wish I had stitched more of the ladies I talked about in January (which is when I should be stitching summer stuff...sheesh)... next year I want an August display of ladies and chickens...some more Pineberry Lane pieces and that new Hen Peck one by Plum Street Samplers which you can see here.  And for more eye candy check out the new pieces from Brenda Gervais at With Thy Needle and Thread right here.  I order this last night...

Is this not ADORABLE????  Not sure how I'll finish it but I had to have it...

Soooooo.... now that I've dumped all these pics and links on you I shall mosey over to Kathy's Quilts to link up today... I want you to know that the Dude has been very diligent in his inspector mode... and I've passed all my tests...

hope you have a great week... I'm going to try to post tomorrow too... I worked a bit on the quilt I promised my son...not my choice of fabrics but I'm liking the pattern and he's happy so that's the important thing.

happy stitching-
carol fun

So how long does it take to put borders on a quilt???

So just how long does it take to put the borders on a quilt?? Lets say a small inner border, cut 2.5" and then a larger border, about 8.5"?  By my calculations it takes 4 years, 10 months, 1 hour and 30 minutes...yeah that long.... I have no idea why I put this quilt top away when it was that close to being complete but I did...okay I may have some idea why...

Here is the top with its borders...

The pattern is Moda Love and its a freebie you can find here... the fabric collection is Fancy by Lily Ashbury for Moda.  I got the idea to make the blocks crazy pieced from a quilt done by Edyta Sitar which you can see here. It is a very bright and cheerful quilt...

A close up or two...

The background fabric is little snaps...click on the pictures to see it more clearly...it came from  a Gina Martin collection. I really like this combination of fabric and pattern and design variation and I will do it again...and you can't stop me....LOL.  

To make the crazy pieced blocks I stacked 6 or 7 10" squares and then randomly sliced them. Next I shuffled the cut pieces and sewed them back together. Then I squared the blocks up. I'm thinking of using this same technique with another collection or two of fabrics I have...maybe some Anna Marie Horner or Amy Butler or Debbie Mumm or Heather Ross... lots of possibilities out there. And hopefully it won't take as long to complete, but don't hold your breath...

Oh the reason I put this away... well it was October when it got to this point and to me this is a summer quilt so I wasn't going to use it for a while so I put it in a lovely plastic bin where it has languished for the past 4 years... I'd hang my head in shame but it would just give me a neck ache...so I won't...

And to further dazzle you with more completed quilting (I know your head is spinning... I haven't done a quilting post in eons)...I present my  American Jane Two Step quilt...bound washed and on my bed...

and from another angle which isn't easy as this room isn't that big...

I started this quilt last September for National Jelly Roll Day...the pattern is called Two Step, it is from the Missouri Star Quilt Company and you can see a tutorial on it here and read about my fabric choices here.  As I remember I started with a Spring-a-Ling jelly roll but added fabrics from other American Jane collections that I had in my rather large stash of her fabrics. I LOVE American Jane fabrics!!! I know all the center squares came from numerous charm packs I've collected over the years.

And a close up or two...

The last pic shows the quilting pattern nicely...the panto is called Flower Child (reminds me of Spirograph designs of my childhood)  and the quilting was done by Quilting by David...you can see his website here. This is the first time I've ever sent a quilt off  through the mail to be quilted. I was very happy with his work and how quickly he turned the job around.  I sent him the top and the back and purchased the batting from him. If you buy your batting from him (which saves you money in shipping to him) he pays for the return shipping.   I have sent the Moda Love quilt at the top of this post to him... can't wait to see what he does with it. He has a ton of patterns on his site but I let him pick the panto for me... check out his Instagram and you'll see what I mean... he told me he picks the pantos most of the time and he has a gift for pairing the right panto with the quilt design...check out his Instagram here...he posts all the time. Oh and he lets you pick the date you want the quilt done by... I gave him a date and he got it back sooner...he says he always tries to turn around a new customer's first quilt pronto...and he did.

So all this completion stuff has gotten me back into my sewing room and working on various projects. I have another...ok, a couple...well maybe several...um coming clean...A LOT of tops that don't need much work to be finished...and I'd like to get them sewn and off to be quilted. I'm working on those projects and I'm starting on the quilt I promised my son. I'm cutting the fabrics today and plan to hit the quilt store... Homegrown Homesewn  this week to get some Grunge for the sashing. Lots of plans... lots of plans...

My quilting mojo got lost around the time Judy's Design Wall Monday link ended and I was unaware till recently that there are several other quilting link ups that I could join ...and today I will... first there is Small Quilt and Doll Quilts (which took over Judy's link) ... and Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilts...and Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than housework...and Moving it Forward at  Em's Scrapbag...   you can click on any of the underlined blogs to get to the linkups... I'm going to link this post up to a couple and see if that keeps me moving in the right direction. Just a little sewing every week would be a good thing.

happy stitching-
carol fun

Slow Sunday Stitching with Showers...and that's okay...

Well last week was a scorcher until Friday and then it rain... A LOT... and things have cooled down nicely but the humidity remains... I'll take it. I've been watering watering watering watering... I even broke out the sprinklers last Tuesday as the lawn was looking quite brown and toasty in several spots. I hate playing with sprinklers. My yard is irregular and  I can never keep the water just on the lawn... I always seem to get the sidewalk too and water is too darn expensive for that...and when I thought I had it adjusted so I wasn't watering the sidewalk I was washing the windows... oh well they needed it as they were dusty. Yesterday and today have been cloudy and showers on and off...which is the forecast for the week so I probably won't have to be out there watering...yeah...more time for stitching.

And I did find a substantial amount of stitching time in the week ... it sure helps when you don't have an appointment out of the house everyday. First I finished  the stitching on the With Thy Needle & Thread  Tricks and Treats...

Ain't she adorable??? I love her punkin face and that toothy grin!!!  And with this one stitched I broke out another Halloween piece....this one is smaller...

This is a Lizzie Kate freebie I found in the Files section of the Facebook group Pumpkin Seed Stitchers... if you go to FB and ask to join the group you can get access to the chart too. On 32 ct. this one finishes about 3" square... I'm thinking it will be a little pillow. The fabric  is a chunk of that piece I smushed overdyed last week. I like deep orange with the purple bruises. I don't have much to finish here ...maybe get it done tonight. 

I saw this graph on the Flosstube video of Just Keep Stitchin' with Pam and Stephanie, Episode #54...which you can see here... they are a hoot. There are also other seasonal stitching FB groups and they are listed in the space under See More of this episode... Candy Cane Stitchers, Star Spangled Stitchers,  Watermelon Seed Stitchers....I admit I went and  asked to join them all ... I don't really do a lot of FB but it is fun to see what others are stitching.

And I started my Welcome Autumn by the Drawn Thread...

The fabric is a dustier teal than is showing here and I'm very happy with it and my color changes. As I said last week it is charted for silks and I'm doing my choices in Gentle Arts/Weeks/Crescent Colors. I'm using GA Sarsaparilla for the letters and I like the contrast with the teal. The blob on the far right is going to be a squirrel... GA Toasted Barley... I thought he might be a bit light but the W at the other end isn't a real strong block so I think it will balance out.  The pot on the M is missing its decorative center band but it is a raised stitch so I'll wait till I'm almost done to do it so it doesn't get worn. The thread on the pot is Weeks Kentucky Bluegrass which is a nice darker tone of the linen.

A very successful crafty week it was. I can't wait to start several other Halloween pieces and I'm having second thoughts about some of the linen I painted last week. I think I made them too busy... gonna start over and I'll smush overdye those busy pieces... nothing will go to waste...there will be other charts that will work for them.

And if you are interested check back here on Monday... I've actually had some quilting mojo return and work on not one but two quilts!!!  I sent one off to a new to me quilter and he turned it around pronto... I bound it and washed it Saturday and it is on my bed... very happy...and that motivated me to get out a top I started eons ago and finish it up... and I sent it to the long arm quilter today. Can't wait for its return... and all of this successful finishing has me wanting to start a quilt I told my younger son I'd make for him this year...notice I gave myself a year to do this and it isn't a difficult quilt I just knew I had no quilting ambition at the first of the year. I have plans to get the blocks cut out this week...wish me luck!!

I'm feeling a bit verklempt over my younger son... he is Aspergers...high functioning autism...one of his main interests is Japanese anime and there was a convention called Anime Ohio 2018 on Saturday. He bought himself a ticket online and was excited to go. Lots of people cosplay...that is dress up as their favorite characters...he does that sometimes but this time just wanted to go and shop the vendors (very similar to us crafty people) and take pictures of great costumes...which is exactly what he did. I dropped him off and when I picked him up he said he had bought something for me... I was intrigued because I didn't know what would have been there that he would think I would like...and then he pulled this guy out of a bag...

Is she not stinking adorable??? She stands about 4" tall and is crocheted around some sort of squishy egg that squeaks when you shake it.  My son said the guy who made this had other anime and Pokemon characters but when he saw this he knew he had to buy it. I have her displayed with my star-spangled stuff and I'm sure I'll find a spot for her in my next display of summertime stuff.  It was a such a sweet thoughtful gift... it warms my heart....

I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts today and tomorrow I'll show some quilty stuff and see if I can figure out where I can link that up with that. I really miss Design Wall Monday that Judy at Patchwork Times use to do... I know someone else picked up the feature but I've forgotten who that is...

happy stitching-
carol fun