Cleaning, organizing and fluffing....on Slow Sunday Stitching...

 Hello - so we've made it through another week... not sure I like to think of life in that manner but it is what I'm feeling at the moment... but it was a good week for me ... I attacked another project I've been putting off for months and months and I completed it... and yes I will spend lots of time in this post patting myself on the back...LOL... and this project like the DMC organization before it took waaaaaaayyyy longer than I thought... and this is a bit of a depressing thought because in my former life, long long long ago, I use to plan, format, schedule and implement large scale projects across many departments for a large business... obviously my skills are rusty ... and why was it easier to get other people to do my bidding than it is to get me to get my butt in gear???  

So here is the project... settle in... you may want to get a beverage... lots of pictures and lots of chatter...        I cleaned and reorganized and fluffed my small upstairs office/craft room... AKA  the small bedroom (there is no bed in there) ...AKA the Green Room (because it is painted a lovely shade of green)... as I mentioned before this is not a big room... about 110 sq ft ... but I have a TON of stuff packed into in... and if I say so myself and I do ... it is nicely packed  and arranged...

Here's my view as a I enter the room...

You get a glimpse of all four walls... I'm going to start with the wall on my right....I tackled this one first as there was a lot of cleaning to do...

Starting at the tippy top I took down every piece of McCoy pottery I have up there and washed it... they were filthy dusty... ugh...but now they actually shine... and I wiped down all those small IKEA storage boxes... they have stamps and dies and what nots I use for card making...  and I love that I could tuck in a piece of cross stitch on this wall..

This is from Blackbird  Designs ...when I stitched it, it was called Early Morning Read and was in the book Weekend published 2011 (it was primarily quilt patterns with a bit of cross stitch) but then it reappeared in 2019 in the book Ooh La La and was called A Bit of Spring... the colors on this are so pretty... pale rosy beige and the flosses included Crescent Colors Jakey Brown... my favorite pink floss!

Then I moved onto that cube unit... a Kallax from IKEA... I had cardboard storage boxes before... they hold my charts ... my linen... my UFOs that we will not speak of ... and the paper and ink supply for the printer... I've had the cardboard boxes for years and they were not holding up to the wear and tear and the weight of the stuff I was putting inside... sooooooo a trip to IKEA was on the agenda on Monday... 

Now this was the best trip I've had to IKEA in over a year... everything I went looking for was IN STOCK... I got 8 of those new bins... they are Lekman boxes... you can see them here...I assumed they were a solid cube... they are NOT... they come flat packed and you have to snap together 5 pieces... unfortunately my wrists are not what they use to be and this was hard to do ... luckily my son came to my rescue and assembled them for me... I like them a lot... they are sturdy... they have strips of felt on the bottoms that lets them glide in and out smoothly... I'm not afraid when I pick one up that the bottom of the box is going to fall out... to fluff them a bit a put a sheet of cardstock in the front... alternating a gold and an olive ... coordinates with my new rug which I'll show more of further down this post.

And in the corner I put an IKEA Raskog cart...this one was tucked away in my furnace storage room... it is a creamy beige-y white... they don't have this color anymore...now they have just white, black and a gray-y green....

anyway... here I've stashed lots of WIPs and a few projects that are just kitted up and waiting for me to release them from their plastic storage bags...

 I got the bags here on Amazon... I like these ... they are a step up from the Ziploc bags I've been using for years... I know lots of people are into the fabric project bags of different sizes and fabrics but I like the  orderliness of having the same kind of storage... makes me feel like I'm in control (even though I know I'm not...LOL) 

I've reserved that bottom bin on the cart for stuff I buy for Elliott... books, Hot Wheels, toys... I'm always picking things up and dumping them in this room... now I can hopefully remember what I purchased and get it to him, bit by bit... I often bring him a little gift when I baby sit him on Tuesdays... he is into twucks ( R's are hard to say) and  types of construction equipment... he particularly likes diggers  or I think the proper term is excavators... I have a several of books on those topics to give him... Gwamma is doing her best to spoil him... I take the job very seriously...

Okay, moving on to the next wall... I wiped down all those samplers... oh I LOVE samplers... and yes some of them aren't hanging straight... I'll get to that ...

I have plans to add more samplers to this wall this year... In organizing the WIPs I found several partially completed samplers... I want to finish up a couple and stitch a couple more..

As for all the drawers... these are Sterlite 2093... they are a 3 drawer unit and I've placed 3 units  on top of each other to make one "stack" ... and as you can see there are 5 "stacks"... these hold scrapbook paper and envelopes and stickers and buttons and embellishments and ribbons and ephemera and tape and you get the idea...I had a piece of finished masonite board cut to span the top which gives me a nice work surface when I make cards... and after fluffing my DMC boxes I had to FLUFF these drawers...

I put pretty paper in the front of every drawer and I added pieces of ephemera.. birds, butterflies, leaves... here and there...  I LOVE LOVE LOVE how this looks... why didn't I think of this years ago???  All of this stuff came from my stash (and yes I have a nice stash of papers along with my stash of fabric, yarn, charts, threads, linens, etc... do we see a pattern of behavior here?  Good think I'm not into drinking, drugs or gambling...LOL)... 

And I put some pretty washi tape on the edge of the shelf (oh washi tape is a new  obsession collection in my life... soooooo many pretty designs ... we won't speak of it now... okay?

And another thing we won't speak about right now is all the charts in that white basket... I have designated it to be the spot I drop charts into that have just snuck into my house (they are quite clever and squeeze through the mail slot on a regular basis) and charts I have gotten out, looked at and need to put away in their new Lekman boxes... there is quite a bit of filing to do here, but it is in loose alphabetical order... I may get to it later today... 

A tangent... I haven't purchased a lot of scrapbook papers in the last couple of years... and it appears that lots of the designers I liked are no longer producing papers... Basic Grey, October Afternoon, K& Company, Brenda Walton... makes me a bit sad... but instead of hording storing it I'm glad I'm using some of it... All of the papers I used in the drawer fronts were Brenda Walton collections... I know she is still producing art but I couldn't find any new paper when I looked online...  and yes there are labels on ALL of the drawers... gave my label maker a good workout... I had labeled these drawers a couple of years ago but the labels had gotten yellow... nice fresh clean white one are the finishing touch here... and yes my OCD is showing...

Under the window I have one of my 2 Juki sewing machines and a small ironing space...

There is nice light in this room even though I'm only a few feet away from my neighbor's house... I do have a view of their back yard and bird feeder... I like that... and I LOVE looking at this piece from Brenda Gervais called Needle and Thread...

This is one of my best painted pieces... I figured out how much room the grass would take on this piece and instead of stitching ALL that green I painted that area and then added a turquoise blue sky... this piece has EVERYTHING I LOVE about stitching... there is a bit of an alphabet and the scissors and the thread spools and some quilt motifs and  the vintage pearl buttons... now stitching that skirt was a bit of a slog but definitely worth it!!

Moving to the last wall,  another desk unit (this one is a bit bigger, the top was custom cut by my handyman Dan) and a Billy bookcase...

And yes that is a yellow cutting mat... I got it here at Create for Less ... and it flips to a light green on the other side.... above I have 2 pieces that I finished last year...

The top one is Vintage Birds by Jeanette Douglas and the bottom one is Faith of the Heart from With Thy Needle & Thread... this one speaks to me as the mother of a child with a disability... and this wall has empty space too ... and you know what that means... MORE SAMPLERS!!! LOL

Here's the Billy bookcase with my thread stash and a wreath hangs on the closet door with another piece from WTN&T...Bluebird out my Window...

That was one of the first pieces I FFO'd myself... oh we aren't opening that closet door... it is STUFFED with more paraphernalia...  it is semi-orderly... it has my dyes and my paints and more paper stuff ... I told you I had crammed a TON of stuff into this room and I wasn't lying... LOL

And finally the floor... a new rug from the company FLOR... 

I love their stuff and have a floral carpet from them under my dining room table and in my hall way and a plaid on my sunroom porch... it comes as large squares (19" square)  and you can arrange them as you like... and they stick to each other with large adhesive dots ... they aren't glued to the floor... I LOVE that you can get patterns....

Another tangent... when I was about 13 I went to a new friend's house for dinner... her mom had the most gorgeous carpet in the living room... it was a deep blue with flowers all over it...now this was 1966 or so... the era of avocado green and harvest gold shag carpet (which was a prominent part of my Mom's decor)... I had never seen anything like it... and as life went on carpet became waaaay more beige (and I do have some beige carpet in my house) but colors and patterns are waaaaay more interesting to me... oh this patter is called Among the Wildflowers and the colorway is Ivy... 

So this room is tidy and inviting ... I hope to do a little sewing in here this week as it is suppose to get frigid here and the basement will be a bit chilly... hopefully those single degree temps will come with sunny days... I can take the cold if the sun is shining...

On the stitching scene I didn't get a lot done... I stitched a small Valentine piece that needs to be FFO'd ... I'll show the 2 small Valentine displays I plan on doing next week... and I did put some stitches in a WIP from last April... this is Prairie Schooler Garden Alphabet No. 61...

Excuse the wrinkles... it is stitched in DMC on an unknown 32 ct mottled yellow linen from my stash... I'm halfway done... I'd like to add this to my Spring display in March ... one square a day should get me there... but I think I want this one professionally framed... doable ... and I want to put some time in on the needlepoint stocking... I still have several BIG projects I want to get to... cleaning my kitchen and making new curtains has moved up the list... but not sure I'll start it next week.. I'm waiting to hear from Dan,  my handyman... he texted last week and said he'd planned on coming this week to put together the 6 bookcases and attend to several other projects I have for him... but he's always busy and his plans change... I'd love to have him come but when I does I don't get anything else done and the bookcases will need my attention to unload and reload all the fabrics... perhaps I could give my bedroom and the sampler walls in the hallway a good cleaning... dusty there too... 

Plans are for a belated birthday dinner for my older son today... requested prime rib... and I'm also bringing a pasta salad and that Chinese coleslaw salad and asparagus wrapped with prosciutto and those yummy Kings Hawaiian rolls... should be a nice meal...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and browse the blogs there today... just have to get the prime rib in the oven and do the asparagus before we drive over to see the rest of the family... not sure what this week will bring... I have a 6 month check up at the eye clinic on Thursday... I thought this was the appointment without having my eyes dialated but the appointment reminder says otherwise... and while I always want sunny days an hour or so of cloudy when I get out of the doctor's office would be appreciated... 

Hope your week is a happy one... I think for most of us in the US it is going to be a cold one, so stay warm!

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Some productivity on a Slow Sunday Stitching...

Hello ... so last week turned out to be lots busier than I had anticipated... but it was also waaaay more productive than I would ever have believed... you know those projects that have been sitting around for months and months and months... and it isn't a small project but not too big... and you brood about it and think about starting but you just can't get going... well  I actually tackled and completed one of those projects and I've almost broke my arm patting myself on the back... 

So what was the project... organizing and completing an entire collection of DMC floss... 500 different colors of floss... OMG...I can hardly believe it... I had a pretty good stash already but I did need some colors and that entailed trips to Joanns (picked over) Micheals (nice inventory but someone put every single skein in the numbered slot backwards... you had to pull the skein entirely out to be certain it was the right number) and finally Hobby Lobby for the win... a dear friend pointed out to me Hobby Lobby usually has the best inventory because they never put floss on sale... I hadn't thought of that and if I had gone there first I probably wouldn't have had to go to the other places... oh well... 

Here's what I did... I put each skein in a snack size Ziploc bag along with an index card... I wrote the number of the skein on the card and on the flap of the Ziploc bag...

Then I placed each bagged skein into a Snapware stacking storage container...

I had a couple of these Snapware containers already..I had purchased them at Joanns a while ago and got them on sale... but I still needed one more so I picked it up on Amazon...you can see it here... I'm pretty sure this  more than I paid at Joanns but when I was there looking for floss their plastic storage aisle was bare... and somewhere there is an extra lid in my house... but I don't need it for this arrangement... it will show up someday ... Ta Dah!!!

All 500 skeins organized and labeled and I put a strip of pretty scrapbook paper in the front of each box to make it look tidy... I really like that idea and I'm going to do it to some other storage drawers in that same room...

And here is the overdyed box...

And those Snapware boxes are a perfect fit for the IKEA Billy bookcase I have  in this room... now all the months I've been putting this job off, I thought it would take me 3 or 4 hours to do this... WRONG... it took about 10 hours over a 3 day time span... but it was totally worth it!!!  It made me feel so good to have it done and it has given me some motivation to tackle some other projects... next week I hope to do a thorough cleaning and straightening up of this craft room... this is a small bedroom in which I have a nice size desk, a sewing table with one of my two Juki sewing machines set up on, a 40 drawer bank of scrapbook paper bins, and an 8 cube IKEA Kallax storage unit that holds my cross stitch charts and linens... quite a bit of stuff in 110 sq. ft.....everything in this room is dusty... I use to have the Dude's litter box in here and even though it was  covered box and I used low dust litter things got dusty... I want to wipe everything down and do a bit of straightening up and re-organizing and sprucing up ... I got a new rug for the room and I LOVE it... and I'm hoping that cleaning this room will motivate me to do other rooms of the house... but one room at a time. 

And along with tackling that project I did a bit of cross stitching ... I've been keeping track and I've stitched every day in January... I didn't make any concerted effort to do it... it just happened... and  I hope to keep it up... I stitched 2 more small Prairie Schooler snowmen on 32 ct opalescent linen I dyed.. I love how sparkly the fabric looks... kinda like snow...

That sparkly silver trim is something I picked up I think at Joanns at Christmas...  I twisted it as I tacked it down across the base of the one snowman and on the outer edge of the other piece...

And I framed the other PS Snowman I did earlier this month and here is how I've displayed these guys...

And here's a close up of the Prairie Schooler  snowman from  No. 151...

I found this little frame in my stash... had a marked down sticker of $1.99 and it was the perfect shade of dark blue... the snowflakes are plastic buttons... I cut the shanks off the back and hot melt glued them on. 

Another little display in my TV cabinet...

I stitched that Winter piece from Prairie Schooler a looong time ago and the long pillow is Lizzie Kate Snowy String... those are always a fun stitch... and it was when I got to decorating this spot that I wished I had a few more bottle brush trees... even though it seems like I have a forest of them... but a few more won't hurt... I'll be on the hunt next Christmas.

And I finally got some decent pictures of my kitchen shelf display...

Lots of snowman made from food items, and my Hallmark kitchen snowman who has measuring cups for a hat and wooden spoons for arms... here's a couple of close ups...

And new curtains for my kitchen windows is another project I've been putting off... I have the fabric and I can use the old curtains that I made 7 years ago as a pattern for the new set but the spirit hasn't moved me yet... I want to line the new ones as these have gotten very sun faded... I love how sunny my little house is!

So plans for today include brunch with my older son and family ... maybe a little sewing room straightening up.... it is quite messy at the moment... need to box up a couple of projects that I've lots interest in... maybe start cleaning the craft room... or maybe just sit in my comfy chair and cross stitch... I like the last option best... LOL

Next week does have a couple of plans penciled in... dinner with some friends and a movie with my younger son... and my regular babysitting on Tuesday... and I need to get my car in for an oil change... I want to schedule it on a decent day so they will wash it too... I hope you have something good happening in your  upcoming week... I'm feeling a bit more upbeat... I think accomplishing the DMC job helped... and I've heard a little good news here and there about the covid  and the vaccine situation... fingers crossed... I want to plan a vacation before 2021 is over ...

So I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today...and spend some time seeing what everyone else is up to... 

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Dreary and a bit weary on a Slow Sunday Stitching...

 Hello - well the weather is certainly dreary today.... cold, gray and a bit of flurries... not the kind of day that infuses me with energy... and along with that, the unsettled feeling  about what the  future will bring has made me quite weary... sorry to be a downer... 

I'm having trouble focusing on just one project ...and I find myself working on projects that aren't really vital at the moment and ignoring projects I really should attend to... big sigh...I've bounced here and there and back to next to here... I do  have my snowmen decor out and it is nice to look at... I'll show some pics further down...

I did finish something... this pair of scrappy socks...

mindless knitting ... I've got 3 shawls in various stages sitting in bags next to my comfy chair... perhaps I'll work on one of them next...

As for sewing... well I haven't gone down in my studio for 2 weeks... there a several projects which only need a hour or two and several other projects I'd like to start... perhaps something will call to me this week... 

On the cross stitch front I've done 2 little pieces... this snowman head from one of those little cards Prairie Schooler put out...

used called for DMC on 32ct opalescent linen I dyed... he's only 2" tall...

And this little angel... she's from the new chart Love Notes by With Thy Needle & Thread..

changed some of the threads because I couldn't find the called for DMC in my messy craft room and stitched her cheeks in Scotch Stitch ( just a satin stitch on the diagonal)... again 32 ct linen I dyed... this is just a tiny scrap but then she's tiny too... only about 2" tall...I may do a small tier tray display for Valentine's Day... 

Here's a pic of the pattern... I may stitch another one of the designs... I just took the little angel from the Love Stamp chart... 

I got my pattern at Kittenstitcher.com but it looks like it is out of stock at the moment... I'm sure she'll get more in. 

And last Sunday I went looking for  a chart in my stash... I don't even remember which one now... but I came upon this chart and this linen and this thread and well I had to put some stitches in...

It is soooo hard to capture the color of this piece... think Jakey Brown from Classic Colorworks... I'm pretty sure I used Rit Wine dye... the thread is Gentle Arts Vintage Lace... a rosy, pinky shade... this is so much fun to stitch on... the holes are easy to see, the thread glides through, the pattern is easy to follow... and it is 28ct... I haven't stitches on 28 ct for eons...  it has been very hard to put this down...

The pattern is Quaker Samplings from With My Needle by Ellen Chester... now I've had this a loooong time...  the copyright date is 2006, so it has been maturing for  a while.. glad I released it from its plastic bin...

And I worked on the needlepoint stocking... not going to show a picture because even after 6 hours I don't feel like I made a lot of progress... a bunch of ornaments were completed but they take a lot of time... each one has a minimum of 3 different threads... so lots of threading and re-threading... part of me says just concentrate on one project... but I am not listening to that little voice... at least not right now...

As for decorating here are a couple of pictures... first that new for me white shelf unit...

I LOVE all the bits and pieces here, but I'd like to add some cross stitch to this display.. perhaps the 2 PS Santas I've stitched... gotta get them FFO'd...

Now the Snowman cookie jar is one my younger son found for me in a flea market type store... it is gorgeous an I think the largest one I have... I love all the little animals form the bird on his shoulder to the squirrel on his side... on the bottom is says Tracy Porter  "Jolly Ol' Snowy"  exclusively for Target 2003... I found another one online... asking waaaay more than what Nick paid... 

on the other end is a sign I purchased from Walmart at Christmas... it is suppose to be outdoor stake kinda sign... I loved the style of the snowman... kinda vintage 50's... and the snowman head snow globe came from the gift shop at Cracker Barrel in 2019... gosh I miss going there... always found cute decor pieces... 

below I made a little ice skating rink with a mirror from Hobby Lobby and those little Russ Berrie Snowmen... I think these originally came from Hallmark, but I might be wrong... I  bought them on ebay ... I was surprised that they were primarily yellow... you know I LOVE YELLOW so that was a bonus... I was just looking for skating figurines and was surprised to find skating snowmen... I thought I paid too much for them... I got 9 figures... but after looking around on the web I think I did okay... there are several people selling just one or two of these little guys for half I what I paid for the lot... 

The bottom shelves...

I need to take pictures of the rest of my displays but every time I think to do it the light isn't good... either too bright or too dark... maybe this week I'll get the motivation to coincide with good lighting... maybe...

So no big plans for the week except to get my hair cut and colored... calling for a measurable snowfall ...we really haven't had anything but flurries so far this season which has been fine with me... I just wish we had more sunny days... I can take the cold but I HATE the gray days... not making me feel energetic.. so I think I'll sit here in my comfy chair and maybe take a nap and then when I wake up I'll grab something to stitch... already had breakfast with the family... so the rest of the day is quiet... maybe binge watch some youtube stuff... and read a some blogs over on Kathy's Quilts after I link up there... always interesting...

Hope you have a good week ahead...

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Not thinking too deeply on a Slow Sunday Stitching...

 Hello - another week has passed and as the Chinese saying goes "may you live in interesting times" ... ummm... maybe I'd prefer less interesting at this moment... did you know that this is an English translation of a Chinese curse?  Makes more sense that way, doesn't it?

Anyway, I've been hunkered down  ... got all the Christmas stuff put away... was proud of myself for organizing it more this year, deer in one box, Santas is another box, pink stuff all together, rather than my usual tactic of cramming things willy-nilly into my beloved plastic bins (and if you've been reading this blog for any length of time you know I LOVE plastic bins... and there is no need to think about that too deeply).  Wrapped the Christmas tree back up in the big plastic bag and returned it to the storage room under the steps... feels good to have that done...and after a brief respite from that mess, I dragged out the snowmen... and made an even bigger mess...OMG... I have sooooooooo many snowmen... lots and lots of beady little eyes watching me... and that's another thing I don't want to think about too deeply...LOL... I had a hard time getting into setting up my displays... I know to start with the biggest items, in this case the 7 cookie jars and the 3 large pieces of snowman cross stitch... I try not to put things in the same place every year, but some things will only fit in one place... and this year I had the extra display space of that new white shelf unit in the living room...I'm happy with how it is looking but I'm going to wait to show it to you till next week as I'm waiting on an impulse ebay purchase... more snowmen... I know you are shocked... LOL... but they looked so cute and I wasn't even searching for snowmen, I was looking for ice skaters... I want an ice skating pond scene... I bought a round mirror at HL... and what do you know,  I found ice skating SNOWMEN... OMG... they are a retired set of little figurines that came from Hallmark, as I understand... and do you miss Hallmark stores with nice gift and decor departments?  There use to be a great one in a strip mall that was on my way to pick up my kids from school... I would stop in almost every week and I have some wonderful pieces that I bought there... sorry another tangent... 

So where was I??  Oh yeah, my snowmen bins sat open with stuff piled on the chairs and the sofa and the floor for a couple of days till motivation arrived ... when I finally got my butt in gear it took several  hours but I got everything settled in... by my count I have 8 display areas in my little home... and yes I probably have jumped the shark... but that's another thing we aren't going to think too deeply about...oh I do LOVE my snowmen and I like that in putting up these displays, I will not touch them for 7 or 8 weeks... by March I can't stand them anymore and will be chomping at the bit to get my Spring stuff out... and I just checked ... Easter is April 4... already looking forward to it...

I will show a couple of pictures  of snowman decor today and then I'll have some for next week... in the meantime I'll share my crafty endeavors of the past 7 days...

Got a sock done...

nice and scrappy... I was going for a green sock with a bit of purple but it got more purple-y as it went along. and yes for some reason in this pic the purple is reading black... ugh... I had planned on grey heels but when I got to that point there wasn't any gray going on, so I used some purple yarn, which probably accounts for it reading as a purple sock... hmmm...another thing I don't want to think too deeply about... looking forward to the 2nd sock as I don't know how it will look... I divided up little 10 -15 gram balls of Opal sock yarn and you can never be sure that the colors will repeat when you divide them... my favorite parts are the little dotty parts... another hmmm... dotty... polka dots... I believe this is where thinking gets me in trouble... another tangent... when my youngest son was in high school he had this terrific guidance counselor... my son, being autistic, had many many challenges to deal with and this man was always helpful to the extreme... after our first meeting, I remarked how supportive he was being and he told me that he was thrilled to help a parent that gave a damn about their kid... he dealt with too many parents who just didn't...anyway, he let my son eat lunch in his quiet little office every day instead of having to deal with the 3 ring circus that was the cafeteria... we would talk on a regular basis about what could be done to help my son navigate high school, and a lot of our conversations would start with my saying "I think..." and he would tell me..."there you go thinking again, that will only get you into trouble"... and he was right a lot of the time... so that could be the basis for my not thinking too deeply about stuff... which is causing me to think deeply about not thinking deeply ... and now I'm going to take a deep breath and let it go.....

 Moving on... I did a bit of cross stitching... from Prairie Schooler No. 151 called Santas & Snowmen...

32 ct opalescent linen dyed with Rit dye... I think Evening blue... I love that the sparkly bits stay sparkly even if you dye the linen...

And this freebie from Liz Matthews by way of Country Sampler in Spring Green WI... if you subscribe to their email you can get it...

I just did this small part of the chart... 36 ct linen and I used the Sulky 12 wt thread 4014... it is one of the Blendables... I wanted to play with this... I did try it on 32 ct and didn't like the coverage... this is better, but I want to try it on 40 ct too... 

And I stitched a bit more on WTN&T Heart & Hand ... I'm not enjoying the over one legs on those sheep... most of mine look to be a bit crippled... poor sheep...

Excuse the wrinkles... I want to get this done and get back to the WTN&T Needleworker's Sampler... and I stitched a measly one more ornament on the Christmas stocking... will try to try and give it a bit more attention this coming week... no progress on the Christmas quilt I showed last week... I did sew 2 new toppers for my shelf units... the one in the living room and the one on the porch... only got one quilted... again... tune in next week and hopefully they will be completed... 

So I've been having bad thoughts about deep cleaning my house... I try to push them out of my mind by sitting down and stitching... and I'm wondering how much it  would cost to have someone come in and deep clean the bath room and the kitchen... hmmm... my son and DIL had someone come in and take care of their 3 bathrooms... need to look into that... my house isn't filthy... I do tidy up a bit each day ... okay a bit each week... but since I've been spending more time inside I see things I didn't see before... baseboards, some cobwebs, dusty fan blade... need to push these dirty thoughts out of my head...again, something I shouldn't think too deeply about... am I right?  I expect to see your heads nodding up and down ...up and down...

Well, lets circle back around to some decor, shall we? And I'm going to start downstairs in my sewing studio... I now have 2 places to decorate there and I like it...makes the space even more cheery...IMHO

This is that little yellow cabinet that use to be in the living room... I hung an Debbie Mumm quilt I made years and years ago... this snowman cookie jar was a present from my youngest son who found it at a flea market... he was so proud of himself for finding a gift he knew I'd love... just a touch of cross stitch... this is entitled  Star Shaped Snowman by Teresa Kogut ... you can see it here. 

And this small display has my Lizzie Kate Winter Alphabet  and that sparkly snowman head I got a year or so ago at Michaels on markdown... I like the retro look..

I found that as I put out my decor I wish I had a bit more winter stitching...and believe it or not (and I do) I could use a few more bottle brush type trees... I have what seems like a small forest of them but I kept thinking I wish I had another one here or there... this year I didn't buy a single bottle brush tree (okay maybe I did buy a pink one and some white ones, but no green ones) cause I thought I had enough...next year I'll pick up a few more... I use them for Christmas and for Winter so they see a lot of use... and they make me happy!   

So I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... and I'll say my prayers and keep my fingers crossed that the coming weeks aren't as eventful as the last one... between politics and the pandemic and the almost continual gray skies here in SW Ohio I had a hard time keeping a positive attitude ... I did find that fudge helped my mental state, but did nothing for my expanding waistline... but I can only deal with one thing at a time. Hope things are well with all of you... 

happy stitching-

carol fun