So where have I been ....

Some of you have been wondering where I've been... I've gotten a couple of emails and even a lovely card from Di (QUILTINGISBLISSFUL)checking up on me... thanks for your concern... as for where I've been... I HAVE BEEN NO WHERE... unless you call being in a funk somewhere... that place, I have been to... I'm still stitching and sewing and knitting and gardening but there is a underlying feeling of frustration and anger that I can not shake... I have treated myself to some retail therapy lately... THANK YOU Hobby Lobby... your fully stocked shelves of holiday goodies has brighten a day or too... and the Dollar Spot at Target has teased me with a couple of cute Christmas trinkets.. hope there is more to come... and some online shopping... got several new charts and a quilt kit...I'm really really really trying to treat my condition... and isn't that a great excuse for spending money??? Almost as good as my personal mantra that "I'm helping the economy"...

Well you didn't come by just to hear me whine so I'll show some pretty pictures... I know Halloween was yesterday but here is a look at my displays...

The shelf unit...

A new arrangement of cross stitched pieces I did previously... that big house plate on the 2nd shelf was a marked down purchase after Halloween last year... I grouped all the pumpkin headed gals together... started stitching a new one but didn't get it done... next year... oh and I did this little Prairie Schooler piece...

I changed the date to 2020 because I can't think of a year I'd like more to be dead and gone...

The quilts... Halloween Swoon on the back of the couch...

The spider quilt... I glued googly eyes on...

The tier tray...

New items added this year are the bug eyed Frank and Bat... they are from Heart in Hand Halloween Parade...

 and that Haunted House Rae Dunn piece... a birthday gift from my super shopper friend Stephanie...

If you want to see  more pictures check out my Instagram here and here and here...

I feel like I just got all this stuff out and later today or tomorrow I'll be putting it back into the plastic bins and getting out my Thanksgiving stuff because before the month is over I'll be getting out the Christmas stuff... how does time go so slow and so  fast all at the same time???

And speaking of Thanksgiving I did a little turkey stitching... 

This guy I started last year and got finished... he's Prairie Schooler...

And this guy is a freebie but I don't remember from where and my print out has no identifying marks...

And last night I got out this Pineberry Lane chart called Gather... it is from the Quaint Country Ladies Club at Dyeing to Stitch... 

Except I'm not using the linen they sent... this is something I painted a while ago... 

and I'm not using all the flosses it called for ... I've already changed the scissors and the basket and there will be more changes to come... some are because it is suppose to be stitched on 36 ct and I assume one ply over two threads... but I'm doing 32 ct and 2 ply over two threads so I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have enough of several of the flosses they sent... so I'll sub in my choices...oh the blob on the left is going to be the lady... 

And I never use to think of myself as a stitcher who was a serial starter but it appears that I am... this week alone I've worked on 4 different charts... this one Heart & Hand Sampler from With Thy Needle & Thread has been one I've wanted to stitch for a long long time...  I dyed some 32 ct linen with Rit Teal dye ... it is deeper in color than this picture is showing...

And a trip to Joanns had me lusting for this Christmas wreath...I thought about making it but if I can get it for 50% off...which I think will happen this week... the wreath would be $30... and I know I'd end up with more than $30 in the materials alone... so I NEED to buy this...anyway...

this got me to thinking about a pink and aqua Christmas display out on the sunroom porch... I have a piece or two that I've stitched in those colors and I remembered I had started the Lizzie Kate Christmas ABCs...

so I dug it out and got another line done... there are 8 lines so I still have 5 to go... excuse the wrinkles...

This is 36 ct and I'm using 2 ply over 2 threads and it is very nice coverage... this piece of linen is not a real tight weave so I'm not having any problems with the thicker thread... and I have a recollection of another sampler done on a pink and turquoise linen in my stash... which leads me to another idea... right now my charts are sorted alphabetically by designer's name... I think I might go through all my charts ...and that is quite a few... about 3  boxes 13" square... no wait 4 boxes (I should hang my head in shame but I won't...LOL)... and pull out the seasonal charts... Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Fall, Snowmen, Chickens...yes Chickens are seasonal and yet year round at my house... anyway I think this might be a good idea for when I want to do something seasonal but can't recall exactly what I have... and it should make for an enjoyable afternoon perusing my stash... maybe I can do that this week... 

And as for the week I'm not seeing much on my calendar... I haven't been babysitting for a couple of weeks as my daughter-in-law's sister has been staying with them and she's been watching Elliott...however I have seen him every week which is always fun... I went to watch him "Trick or Treat"... he was dressed as a tree ...think green sweater, brown corduroy pants, green hat with some faux ivy garland wrapped around him and some faux leaves on the hat... it was adorable but he had no idea why we tied him up in fake leaves... he liked grabbing the candy and watching the other kids...too bad they won't let him have any candy yet... luckily his Grandma's give him ice cream and cookies when they babysit... it is our job to spoil him, right???

Those who've read this blog over the years know that this is the day for my semi-annual rant about Daylight Saving Time... and you know I DETEST it!!   While this change does give you an "extra" hour of sleep (the damn hour they took away in the Spring)  it does nothing for my body clock... I wonder if anyone has done a study and looked at whether people who live in areas where they don't change the clocks twice a year, live longer??  This has to take a toll on everyone's body... one that I don't think is necessary at all.  I know I've signed petitions to have it halted but nothing ever happens... which leads me to wonder (and yes my mind wonders and wanders a lot) who is making money off of the time change?  Years ago I assumed it was the makers of batteries and smoke detectors but now days the come with batteries that last for years ... so who benefits?  If you know please let me know... it won't make me happier about the time change but I'll have one less thing to wonder about...LOL

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... need to see what everyone else has been up to ...and check back here tomorrow... I have some quilt stuff to show... I made a new quilt for my younger son and I got 2 Christmas quilts back from Quilting by David and there is a quilt top on my design wall... and I'll let you in on my plans to change the furniture in my sewing studio... I've been to IKEA waaay too many times in  since they re-opened..

Hope things are going well in your little world... I don't know how people in places like  Michigan and Pennsylvania and California are putting up with the lockdown restrictions... in Ohio we've gotten back retail stores and dining inside but not attending the theater (I miss going to see stage plays) or concerts or sporting events ... and I'm concerned that we may see a lockdown again... which doesn't help my funk... saying my prayers every day for a return to the life we had back in before this all started... 

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Lots and lots and lots of stuff on Slow Sunday Stitching...

 First off ... thank you for all the kind comments about Big Dude's passing... they touched my heart... I still miss him A LOT!  I miss him greeting me at the door when I come home... I miss him waiting for me to haul him up on the bed at night... at times I still think he's just in the other room... I wanted to share the thoughtful gift I got from my son and daughter-in-law... she had this hand painted by an artist she knows...

This canvas is  6" square... such sweetness ... I love how the artist captured his chubbiness! 

And while I was gone it was my birthday...we won't dwell on the number of birthdays that I have passed, will we??  My family hit it out of the park with my present....

This is a one of a kind Cat's Meow village wooden cutout of my house... it is about 3" tall and 7" long... my son took pictures of my house one morning when I was still asleep ... you can see their website here... years ago I collected Cat's Meow village pieces... I think I left them at my old house... they are probably still there in the storage room... anyway I love this piece... my window boxes and the landscaping looks great... was a special gift!!

As for the crafty stuff, well I've been monogamous to Elliott's stocking and I'm happy to reveal that it is just about done...

All I have left to stitch is this little area... the bow on the bear and the mane on the hobby horse...

Now this has not been without drama... about 3 weeks ago it became clear that I was going to run out of wool for the background... I hadn't finished the heel area and I hadn't put a stitch in the area with Elliott's name... so I jumped through hoops to go to the shop I purchased the stocking and the wool from... they didn't have any of this color...they said they would order it... I've checked back with them twice and I've haven't heard a single word.... arghh... so first I went online and found a shop in California that had the wool... I purchased several skeins, but while it was the same color it wasn't the same dye lot and it was noticeably different... ARGGGHHH!!!  So I finally thought to call the other local needlepoint shop to see if they might have some wool ... and THANK YOU LORD... they did ... and it was the same dye lot... I rushed over and bought all they had ... I ended up using 2 of the 3 skeins I bought ... I'm annoyed at the shop I purchased the stocking and wool from for several reasons... first they grossly undersold me the amount of wool I needed. This is why you go to a shop... for expert advice... when I went back to try and get more wool they were not helpful and suggested if  the new wool didn't match it would be okay... NO it wouldn't be okay... and then there is the poor customer service in getting back to me... needless to say I won't be taking it there to get it finished.   The new shop I went to was waaaay friendlier and helpful. 

As for seasonal decorating, I've done quite a bit... the weather here has cooled down nicely... highs in the upper 60's and low 70's... my favorite kind of weather...  I don't have any new Fall stitching to add to the displays this year and I decided to try and mix it up from what it looked like last year... now some pieces are so big they only fit in one spot in my house, but I was able to rearrange things and I'm happy with these updated displays.

The yellow cabinet...

A close up of the Lizzie Kate Autumn piece...

The view across the living room...

The quilt on the back of the couch is called Butterscotch Scrap Jar Stars... I made it back in 2012... and the quilt on the wall is my "original" design... I used a panel from Sandy Gervais' collection called Tranquility and I improv pieced the alternate blocks...

Here's a close up of the tier tray... I'd like to have more cross stitch on this ... need to do some smalls...

I had fun re-doing the shelf unit... I moved things around that were in other places like the wagon and added that picnic tin...

And here are some close up of the shelves...

Here's a view of the sunroom porch decor... so hard to take a picture as the room is only about 7 ft wide and 10 ft long ... but it is a favorite spot of mine to sit and stitch and watch the birds...

I tried to color block these shelves... green on the top, turquoise in the middle and white on the bottom... I wish I had a piece of cross stitch with a Fall theme on a turquoise linen for that middle shelf... I may be able to get something small done after I finish the stocking... fingers crossed...

Also the main function of that crossstitch piece is to obscure the electrical outlet... LOL ... and if I can find a cute white squirrel I'm getting that for the bottom shelf... I think I saw one somewhere but I don't remember ... I did get out to do a little shopping last week... was surprised that several places still didn't have much inventory... only my beloved Hobby Lobby was really well stocked... 

So are you still hanging in there with this giant post???  While I've been monogamous to Elliott's stocking and haven't done any crossstitch, I have done some sewing and got some tops started and a quilt bound ... first is my Fall 2 x 4 quilt... David did a great job on the panto... I picked pumpkins...

I made some new pillowcases to go with quilt... I used fabrics from Sandy Gervais' new collection from Riley Blake... and that pillow with the cute bird and pumpkin came from Hobby Lobby... I ogled for a couple of weeks before I broke down and bought it. 

Here's close up of one of the blocks and the panto...

And Saturday was National Jelly Roll Day... I always love this event and I never have a lack of jelly rolls... I thought long and hard about what I wanted to sew but in the end I couldn't make up my mind and chose between 2 different projects... what to do, what to do??  Well I ended up starting both projects... this first one was a night owl choice... I started around midnight and worked on it till around 2am... pretty much my normal bedtime... 

The fabric is from RJR, a collection from Alex Anderson called Mirage... I have no clue where I got this ... probably somewhere on line... the pattern is TipTop from Melanie at A Bit of Scrap... you can see the pattern here... I'm sashing this with some lime green Grunge from my stash... and I was able to find some yardage of this fabric and got enough of that print on the far left hand side to do a border... 

When I got up on Saturday I switched gears and started my second choice... another Fall quilt... because you CAN NOT have too many Fall  quilts... that's a FACT... like the sun coming up in the East... really, it is...LOL... anyway  delusional thoughts aside, I'm using a 2nd  jelly roll of Sandy Gervais  that I've been letting mature in a plastic bin... it is vintage... the price tag says $27.50... wonder how long ago that was?  I paired it with a new Grunge called Elafin...does anyone know what Elafin means?  It is a pretty color... a nice gold with some rusty red and tan highlights... I like it A LOT... and I'm happy to see another yellow/gold added to the Grunge line... 

This pattern is from a freebie from quiltjane  called Jelly Roll Whirl... you can find the pattern here... and she has several other free jelly roll patterns on her blog... now the pattern has the blocks set straight but I'm liking the look of it on point... I will have to figure out how to complete the pinwheels that would happen on the edges ... and while I thought this would just be a throw, right now there is a high probability that it will be a bed size quilt... because I rarely listen to myself when I say I'll make a throw... LOL... also I ended up adding fabrics from my stash to the jelly roll... I wanted more variety than the jelly roll had...Sandy Gervais did some lovely teals and purples in her later collections  and I wanted to include them... I'm also liking the light pieces ... I think it will make add a bit of sparkle... 

And while I had plenty of other things to work on ( 3 quilts to bind and 2 more quilts that just need backs) I played with another pattern about a week ago... this is one block from a QAL done by Fort Worth Fabric Studio...  here's a link to the all the patterns in the  Absolute Autumn quilt... I only used the acorn...

Each acorn is a different Grunge fabric... it still needs a border... but it is only a throw... so perhaps I can keep quilts down to a reasonable size every now and again... LOL

Soooo... that's what I've been up to... I'm looking forward to doing some crossstitch this upcoming week... while I haven't had time to stitch I have had time to buy some new charts... and there are some old charts I'd like to stitch too... just need more hours in the day...

A side note... didn't Blogger say you could stay with the old format?  I was avoiding changing over but when I logged in today it gave me no choice but to use the new format... I think I've figured it out, but I'm just trying to get it to work the way it use to... I'm an old dog and I don't want to learn any new tricks... fingers crossed that  all the links I put in work... 

I hope things are going well for you... I still have my up days and my down days... between the uncertainty of what's happening in the world and the passing of the Dude there are times I'm fed up with all of it... I am glad that I have my hobbies and my garden... my yard is still looking pretty good... some flowers are fading but my dahlias are just starting to bloom... don't know why they are so late this year... I do have zinnias and cosmos that are taller than me ... and I'm 5 ft... I know the seed packs DID NOT say I'd get such gargantuan flowers... and I didn't even fertilize that much... they are pretty... I was pleased that several people have stopped and told me how pretty my garden is... while I was out watering yesterday a car stopped and two young girls complimented the flowers... that was nice... I do it because I enjoy the flowers but it is nice to know that others enjoy it too. 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and check up what everyone else is up to... I'm sure I'll see something that catches my eye ... and leads me down a path to something else I'd like to do... take care...

happy stitching-carol fun 

Both Sad & Glad on Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hello - I know, I know... it was been a while since I checked in here... 2 weeks ago I had nothing blogworthy to talk about... and last week was a difficult one where I didn't want to talk... that said, let me get the sad news out of the way and then I can end on a happy note...

If you've read this blog for any time at all you've seen pictures of the world's most awesome cat, Big Dude...I'm sad to tell you that last week Big Dude went over the rainbow bridge... I knew he was slowing down... I've had him for 10 years but he entered my life as a full grown stray, so he was at least 11 - 12 years old, maybe older... he stopped eating and drinking and his breathing became quite labored... I took him to the vet who diagnosed congestive heart failure... nothing could be done, so I had to make the call to have him put to sleep... it broke my heart. Luckily the vet allowed me and my son Chris to stay with him till the end...I can hardly type this without getting weepy... I catch glimpses of him every where I turn in this little house... he was a constant companion and the house is empty without him... he was a legend who inspected my work and kept watch over the bird feeders from his perch on the back of the couch...

Rest in peace my sweet boy...

So I'll dry my tears for a bit here and shift to some crafty stuff...  I'm been monogamously stitching on Elliott's stocking...

got LOTS of the background done... realized the other day that the train I wanted to stitch in the space where I painted out the present, is too big to fit... arghh... need to come up with another plan... and get Elliott's name graphed for the top ....

And I spent some time with my sewing machine and put together another version of the 2 x 4 quilt done with a jelly roll this time...here's a link to the free pattern on Cluck Cluck Sew ....

I started with a vintage jelly roll from Sandy Gervias called "Fall Back in Time"... price on the tag, hand written, $27.50.... I did add bits and pieces from other Sandy Gervias Fall fabric collections and I alternated the 2 x 4 blocks with some Chiffon Grunge... this is gold-ier in real life... 

I began making blocks that paired 2 fabrics... 

and about halfway in I switched it up and made scrappier ones...

I really love the scrappy ones...

I'm putting this in the mail today to Quilting by David... I picked a panto with pumpkins...  hope to have it on my bed by mid-September. 

On the decorating scene I have 2 more vignettes to share... first is my display box in my kitchen... I continued the chicken theme in here with a bit of Pineberry Lane cross stitch and some Rae Dunn pieces and some chicken cookie jars...

And on the small yellow cabinet in the living room, more chickens mingle with a cross stitch pillow from Nikyscreations called Summer Scissors Sampler....

Not much on the calendar for this week... dinner with Chris and his family tonight... dinner with friends Monday night... weather hot, humid and no rain... want to stay focused on finishing Elliott's stocking but may spent some time quilting... I want to play with an idea I saw  here  on Instagram .... 

This is the Disappearing 9 Patch pattern done with layer cakes.... I sewed together 9  10" blocks like I would for a Disappearing 9 Patch and realized that it will be almost impossible to cut the resulting 29" block on my cutting table. I'm going to try again by cutting the layer cakes into 5" x 10" pieces and 5" x 5" pieces along with 10" squares and assemble blocks that way... we shall see how it  turns out.  I think it would make a nice quilt with my American Jane fabrics... I have at least a half dozen I  her layer cakes...and a new collection is coming any day now... 

Well I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... may sit on the sunroom porch and needlepoint a while... I love sitting out there but oh I miss having the Dude's company with me... I believe he thought I had the space enclosed just for him... and maybe I did...

Hope you have a great week ahead...

happy stitching-

carol fun

Spinning my wheels on a Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hello - so where have I been the past two weeks?  Absolutely nowhere... stuck close to home and it hasn't done anything to improve my mood about Covid.  At least the weather has been very nice the last week ... finally lower temperatures and humidity.  I've spent every minute I could sitting out on my sunroom porch. I've shut off the AC and opened the windows ... perhaps it will make this month's bill slightly lower than the gargantuan one I got for July... yikes... and then there was the water bill... both were the biggest bills I've gotten for utilities in the last 7 years.  I will say my flowers are looking good... the lawn... well, Mother Nature needs to pay a bit more attention... it could use some water...

As for crafty stuff, I've been almost totally monogamous to Elliott's stocking... my goal right now is to have it off to the finisher no later than mid-September... here's the back of the stocking right now...

And here is the front...

I got all the of the stuff in the sack, and the sack itself stitched. I did that arch around the window, the white trim on Santa's coat (although there is going to have to be some back stitching around that candy in his pockets),  the rockers on the rocking horse and a bit of background. I've decided to go with a dusty blue for the background... Bella Lusso yarn in colorway 563, cornflower.  And I went and painted out one of the packages and the rug and the decorations on the bows of the packages.  I'm going to stitch a train engine where the one package was and I'm just having bows on the other packages.  I'm copying the train from my son's stocking. Hopefully Elliott will love trains as much as his Daddy does.

And my mood had me procrastinating about putting away the patriotic decor and getting out my chickens... but yesterday I got my butt in gear and re-did the living room.  I like the chickens as a late summer display, but I'm looking forward to September and the Fall stuff... I LOVE LOVE LOVE FALL!!! But enough of that tangent... here's what I've got...

Now, the quilt on the wall is the same one I displayed last year... the flower and leaf blocks are from  Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage  book and the chicken is from Cluck Cluck Sew's appropriately titled pattern called Chickens.  I machine appliqued the chicken on after the quilt was quilted.

And the quilt on the back of the sofa is even older... I used  a portion of it as my blog header (and I really should figure out how to make it bigger there)... It is called Dotty Chickens with a Fried Egg border... circa 2001...

I like using the back of the sofa as another display area... I have a little house so not a lot of wall space.  I don't remember what pattern I used for the chickens... maybe one from Country Threads... I know the alternate blocks were my idea, as was orienting the chickens in different directions... and the eggs are just a snowball block with a yolk appliqued on... really simple.

Along with the wall quilt I have my tier tray...

lots and lots of chickens... I'd like to add some cross stitch to this display but I don't think it's gonna happen this year... I'm committed to the stocking (and yes I do need to keep telling myself that so I don't wander off into another project... I could easily find myself getting sidetracked by some new shiny thing... shiny things are soooooo seductive...LOL)

And I used several pieces from Pineberry Lane on my shelf display along with an assortment of chickens and a vintage picnic tin...

Here are some close ups ...

And no I didn't learn my lesson about that straw... it will go everywhere and be a pain in the butt to clean up ... but I LOVE it... and I'll use it in my Fall and Halloween and Thanksgiving displays so I don't have to think about cleaning it up till December... and then I'll break out the fake snow...followed by Easter grass... OMG... I never learn my lesson... LOL... good thing I have a great vacuum cleaner.

I still am working on two other smaller displays... I want to get back to my sewing machine and make 2 smaller table toppers using my American Jane fabrics. Hopefully that will happen this week. And I'd love to get some of those quilts languishing in my sewing room bound... and I want to start a Fall quilt for my bed... and I'm pretty obsessed with Elliott's stocking (see another reminder to myself) ... so many many things I want to do!!! Need to spend less time on the internet and more time with needles and thread.

So I've been up and down lately where Covid is concerned... it is nice to be able to go out and shop and eat in restaurants again, but it has been depressing to see the number of places that have closed up. Last week 2 of the places I shopped online went out of business ... and Friday I saw that one of the locations of a fast food Italian place we like and a Panera's near by it were gone too.  I understand the need to wear masks and socially distance but the demands to keep things shutdown until it is "safe" never seem to end... how many people need to go hungry?, or lose their jobs?, or their life savings?, or go bankrupt?, until people feel "safe"... life is not without risks... The unending nature of this situation is wearing me down... I want to look forward to a vacation or a quilt show or something fun and there is nothing on the horizon... I know I'm waaay better off than lots of people in this situation, but I want to see people's faces again and see that they are happy.  A local church has a marquee and puts up a positive quote each month... this month it says "Peace begins with a smile" - Mother Teresa... What a lovely sentiment... but since I can't see anyone's smile nor can they see mine I'm not sure this helps... okay... I'll climb down off the soapbox.

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... doing dinner with my older son's family ... carryout from somewhere... and think my younger son and I will go for a walk in the park... and perhaps stop for an ice cream sundae... cause it is a Sunday... LOL... corny joke...

Hope you have a good week ahead... other than babysitting on Tuesday my week has nothing going... not sure if that is a good thing... but I'm hoping to stitch some more on the stocking and spend time with my sewing machine... we shall see how it all turns out.

happy stitching-
carol fun