Things I've gifted myself on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - it was another week where I would swear that someone stole 24 to 48 hours out of my week.  It just blew by!! Monday was calm, Tuesday revved up with Elliott, Wednesday got stuffed with lunch with the quilty ladies and errands that were a bust, Thursday included taking a family member to the doctor for an appointment that wasn't very informative and dinner out with friends... that part was nice, Friday Nick and I completed the errands we tried unsuccessfully to do on Wednesday and then had a lovely dinner with other friends... then came Saturday... and we finally stayed home!!! and I really needed it... my knees have been killing me which is probably aggravated by the weather we've had (more on that in a bit, don't you worry, couldn't miss my weather rant...LOL) ... and a nice dose of family drama... sigh... but today is Saturday and I've got my butt parked in my easy chair and an ice pack on my knees and that is so much better.

So let's get the weather out of the way... it is Ohio and this week we had the full menu of weather. Started out with our first snow of the season ... about an inch or so... melted on the streets and stayed on the grass for a day or so... then a couple of windy days... had to go out and re-stake our inflatable Pumpkin Pie Pilgrim and the Turkey guys...then we got rain... and today, as I write this, it  is almost 70 degrees... oh oh and a couple of nights you could see the Northern Lights... I didn't get a really good look,  but others who live with less light pollution got some gorgeous views... so we touched lots and lots of weather events this week. 

As for craftyness ... it hasn't been a great week. Several nights I was just too pooped and achy and cranky... couldn't concentrate... so I did some mindless knitting... I got one sock done...

and a good start on its mate... I'm just starting the heel..

And while I was too tired to be productive I wasn't too tired to shop... so I did... LOL... and I have gifted myself several nice things this week. Self care.  I needed/wanted another couple of pairs of those Hiya Hiya needles I like and none of the local shops had them so I ordered them online from Simply Socks... but I didn't want them to have to travel alone from Ft. Wayne, Indiana so I had a couple of skeins of sock yarn booked to accompany them... safety in numbers, dontcha know... I got these 3 skeins of Opal sock yarn... my FAVORITE!!

The plan right now is to knit 3 pairs of socks from these but mix two colors each time... my hope is I get a nice scrappy stripey pattern with some chunks of tone on tone greens... we shall see... and I might just cast on a pair later today since I have some new empty needles. 

Then I had a conversation about Advent calendars with a friend... I already got Elliott the Lego one... this year it is Minecraft and that is his current obsession... he can hardly wait... and I got a puzzle one for my daughter-in-law... and I got to thinking about the Opal sock yarn mini Advent calendars I've gotten in the past... but I know that Opal doesn't do them anymore... insert sad face... but I stumbled upon this place that puts together its own Opal mini Advent calendar... Purple Circle Yarn... here's the Etsy listing... and I gifted one to me!!

Outside...

Inside...

I've been tempted to peek ... but I've been good... and December is only about 2 weeks away... I'll wait ... impatiently... 

Also another gift I gave myself has arrived... this is the Scarecrow Sampler by Teresa Kogut...

now this is/was ? an exclusive to  the shop the Shepherd's Needle in Little Rock, Arkansas... I don't think it is available anymore.  I ordered mid- September and they got swamped with orders so it didn't arrive till this week. I got the kit with 36 count linen... it is supposed to be stitched 1 over 2... I'll have to see if I like the coverage... I LOVE the pattern... and along with the sampler I want to do the drum...

but I'm not going to finish it as a drum I want to do it framed so you can see all of it at the same time.  Also I want to stitch some of the scarecrows as little pillows... and I might change the color of the house... not fond of dark houses... we shall have to see how it all turns out... probably not going to touch any of it for a while...

Because... these Christmas angels caught my eye and they were PDFs and I decided that I needed a host of angels so I bought 5!

These are from a new to me designer called Kiralyn's Needlearts... you can see all her stuff here... and I ordered the wooden ornament blanks (Amazon link here)  to mount them on as I really like the finishing with the tinsel trim. I also ordered some 18 ct Aida but I want to dye it ... I'll try to work that into my life next week... but it's looking busy too.. working out, Elliott, getting the windows washed (I'm not doing it, I use the nice young man down the street who has a window washing business), taking a family member out to dinner and to a doctor appointment and I have my yearly mammogram... stop the merry-go-round I want to get off!

I know so many people and places have jumped into Christmas decorating but I am enjoying my Thanksgiving decor...  here's the quilt on the living room wall... 

I LOVE these pumpkins... this is my version of the Cluck Cluck Sew Pumpkins pattern ... I call mine Grungy Gourds cause every pumpkin is made from Moda Grunge fabrics as well as the background. A couple of my favorite pumpkins ...

and this one too...

On the tier tray...

I have  stitched turkey from Stone Street Stitch Workes, a Jim Shore turkey, a cute salt and pepper set with a harvest theme and a little Lizzie Kate turkey...  and over on the other side I have the enormous resin turkey that somehow wandered into my house last year... 

honestly  those "buy now" buttons on Amazon are super sensitive... LOL... but hey it isn't the crazier thing I've ever bought... those purchases would probably be the 8 ft tall inflatable chickens... I now own 3 of these... a Christmas one, a Halloween one and a regular one... my older son said he had a dream where I had all THREE inflated in my yard at the same time... and I LOVE that idea... and I just might do it one day ... it would totally cement my reputation in the neighborhood as the crazy lady who on the corner...LOL

Okay, back to the decor... here is the small shelf unit... 

up top my favorite Jim Shore Thanksgiving piece ... my younger son found this in a re-sale shop and bought it for me so it is super special... and I love how Jim Shore incorporated quilt block patterns in so many of his pieces... 

Over on the other side my white pumpkin mini quilt has returned along with  Welcome Autumn by The Drawn Thread. 

Moving down I have on the middle shelf there is a turkey I don't know where I found and Gather by Pineberry Lane.  On the bottom is Give Thanks by Threadworks Primitives and  Autumn Quaker by Primrose Cottage.

And on the other side is a vintage Ewe & Eye & Friends called Turkey Hill Farm. 

Over on the TV stand flanking the TV that I rarely turn on is a tier tray with a tiny pillow that was from Prairie Schooler and a turkey from Emily Call. 

And on the other side I have my November piece from Hands on Designs. 

So I already gave a rundown on what the upcoming week holds for me... I'd also like to get out in the yard today or tomorrow and plant the  daffodil and allium bulbs I picked up at Costco weeks ago... Nick said he'd help and I'm going to take him up on that.  I'm still wanting to attack some cleaning out projects... my closet, the basement storage room and the garage... the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak and the motivation is fleeting... 

Here's hoping I can stay home the rest of today, tomorrow and most of Monday ... just have working out with Anna on my calendar for Monday and she just lives about 2 blocks down the street... I am lazy and I drive down... don't want my knees to be screaming before I even get there... 

I hope you have a great week ahead. I'm already contemplating what I need to start prepping for Thanksgiving. We are celebrating on the Friday after turkey day to accommodate my daughter-in-law's parents who want to get together with other family members in Kentucky on Thanksgiving ...and that is fine with me... I'm not a Black Friday shopper... in fact anymore I'm not much of an in-store shopper at all... I do still love Hobby Lobby but I've only briefly popped into Michaels and Target in the last couple of months. On line shopping is my speed these days and I seem to get into plenty of trouble there... so many great online retailers ... sometimes I feel like I'm doing a weekly order with 123Stitch... LOL...  so much cute stuff there... and then there is Etsy and so many designers with their own websites. I do miss having a big fabric store... my go to before Covid was Fabric Shack in Waynesville OH but they are only an online store now... sigh... 

Anyway... lots of rambling today... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and check out what's happening over there... 

happy stitching-

carol fun 

Non- crafty productivity on a Slow Sunday...

Hello  - well it was a week I will remember... for a while... didn't get much crafty stuff done but I did get the garden beds cleaned out... hallelujah!!!  Now it took Nick and I about 10 hours of back breaking work... not sure how many more years I can do this ... and I absolutely  CAN NOT do it without help.  We started on Wednesday and the weather was perfect... upper 60's, sunny, nice breeze... and we got about 80% of it done that day. We came back out on Thursday and worked again till we finished the job.

Front yard before-

Front yard after -

Side yard before - 

Side yard after - 

The filled dump trailer - this is a BIG trailer ... spans my double car driveway... and Nick needed a 5 ft step ladder to get up into it. 

Along with the dump trailer Dan left us his wheelbarrow and boy was that a big help. I would cut things off at the base, and Nick and I would yank them out and he'd put them in the wheelbarrow. When it got heaping full, he'd take it to the dump trailer, climb a ladder and toss the debris in. Every 4 wheelbarrow loads he'd get in the dump trailer and stomp stuff down.  The stuff on the bottom is super compacted. 

Now I said a prayer to the Good Lord before I started this epic endeavor to please keep my knees from killing me... and he did... but I should have been more inclusive with body parts as my lower back and right shoulder were screaming after the clean up... ibuprofen is my friend. 

I'm thinking next year I'll see if I could hire someone to do the job. I used to think I needed to be hands on so only the right stuff  got cut down... but this year I realized that we cut down everything but the shrubs so I don't need to be right there every minute. I have a friend with some teenage sons who may be able to do the job. I'll pay handsomely to save my aching body!

And here is a shot of my Thanksgiving inflatables... I still love the Pilgrim boy with the Costco sized pumpkin pie!

I did get a little sewing done last Monday in anticipation of not being able to get anything crafty done the rest of the week. I got the extra fabric for the hexagon Christmas tree and got all the pieces cut out.  It will get some sort of base/Christmas tree stand at the bottom. 

Now to see if I have enough of the background.   The plan is to cut out all the triangle pieces I need, and then I'm going to sew that 2nd to last row together. It is the longest. From there I should be able to gauge if I have enough to finish. And if I don't I won't have to undo too much. Fingers crossed. 

Another week of no cross stitch. I'm into sock knitting and I finished this sock.

Not sure I really liked it but the contrasting heel and toe made me happy. However as I was finishing up this sock it occurred to me that my stitches were kinda tight and small ... hmmm... is my tension getting tighter?  OR  OMG am I using the wrong size needles?? Now I have several pairs of Hiya Hiya circular needles  - size 2. 75 - my favorite for sock knitting.  And I do not know why I bought a pair of size 2.5 needles... but I did ... and darn if that wasn't what I was using.  You wouldn't think that the difference between a 2.5 mm and a 2.75 mm is a lot... but it is. 

And yet after looking at the tan sock and thinking something might be off, I picked up the same needles and started a new sock. This happened last weekend... about 10pm I feel the need to start a new project... so I looked through my stash of yarn and found these 3 skeins... they have been around a while... from what I could find they were made back in 2011... so they are quite mature... LOL  

Anyway I went downstairs where my yarn swift lives and I wound them into cakes. Before I did that I laid them out to see the pattern of the dyeing. These were hand-dyed vs. machine dyed and I'm curious which pattern knits up with more flashing/pooling/blotching cause I like that ... A LOT... 

In the same order they are on the cutting mat from the top down - this is Africa...

This is Australia...

This is Water Play...

So I cast on the middle one called Australia... pretty, very pretty but not flashing or pooling but definitely blotching... I got down the heel and that when I got out my magnifier glasses and looked more closely at the needles and discovered my error. Arghhh!!! I was knitting again with the 2.5 needles!!!

So I unraveled  the sock and started again on the 2.75 mm needles...oh this is much better, not as thick,  a bit looser... I know it is hard to tell from these pictures but there is a difference in the two socks. 

Now  the blotching  pattern has stayed the same ... which is fine... it is going to be a very pretty sock... and totally mindless as I'm not going to change yarn for the heel or toe... it was the perfect project for this week as I was exhausted Tues/Wed/Thurs evenings... and this was all the energy I could muster.

Also in anticipation of the big garden clean up I put away my Halloween stuff and got out my Thanksgiving stuff last Sunday. I started out here on the sunroom porch as I knew I would be able to enjoy the lovely weather we had most of the week.  I changed out a couple of things from the Fall display. 

Up top I have Autumn by Barbara Ana, I love the houses on the branches and the scissors hanging from the branches... and a Debbie Mumm turkey tin... he's cute!

In the middle I have 2 houses from Pinkernpunkinquilting...  Thanksgiving House and Turkey Creek Manor... I stitched 6 of these last year and made them all shades of yellow and gold... and if you click here you can see a parade of her house designs that are all free!! Melisa is so talented and generous.  I also have The Flowerpot Sampler From the Heart Needleart... and oldie but goodie dated 2011... I did this one during the time I broke my left wrist... I put it in a Q-snap hoop and put it on a stand. I never stitch like this usually but it allowed me to stitch with my wrist in a cast... where there is a will there is a way!!

On the bottom another wonderful piece from Pinkernpunkin Pumpkin & Bittersweet. 

And you know I love to have different wreaths and decor on the back of the door and this month it is a wooden wreath that has a vintage look that has harvest images and says Happy Thanksgiving... I found it at Homegoods years ago and I have never seen another Thanksgiving wreath... I love it!

Well last week the weather was quite, some rain came in on Friday... as I write this on Saturday the weather looks nice today... going to hit 60. BUT  things change Sunday and Monday is gonna be a cold one... high 35... may spit some snow... brrr!!  A taste of what the long range forecasts are predicting for this winter...yuck!  The temps climb into the upper 50's by mid week. I hope to be able to take advantage of a day and clean out my garage. I might even get out there today for a bit. Trash day is Monday and then I could put some stuff out on the curb to get rid of it.  I did get some things straightened up a bit but I'd like that done before real winter hits. And I want to clean out my closet. I did one purge during the Summer but it needs another one. And there is still the basement storage room that needs a purge and I still want to rearrange the fabric on my shelves... all projects I'll be happy about when they are done, but I'm not looking forward to tackling them. How did I accumulate so much stuff?? I've been in this little house 11 years last month... and EVERYTHING that is in here is something I brought in... so I have no one to blame but me...sigh... hanging head. 

I don't know if I have Elliott on Tuesday or not. His daddy has the day off... works for the county government. Wednesday my Quilty lady group is doing lunch.  I need to take a family member out to eat either Wednesday evening or sometime on Thursday.  Not sure what I'm going to do crafty wise. That hexagon Christmas tree quilt is calling my name but I don't think I can finish it this year, sooooo... after I figure out if I have enough fabric I may put it down for a nap in a plastic bin. The  Dorothy Momo quilt I talked about last week still has my attention as does the Momo  jelly roll hexagon quilt I started about a month ago. I'm reconsidering whether I going to finish that BBD  The Bells on Christmas Day chart... may put it in a plastic envelope till next year and move onto something Winter-y.  I did  find a new chart I'd like to do as a Blessings Sampler in January... Chilly Cardinals...

I want to stitch this on a dark-ish  turquoise linen ... I think the white letters and cardinals will pop!

I've already been thinking about what I want to stitch and sew next year... a mental distraction since I'm not sure want I want to do at the moment...  and to that end I've decided I must write down the "great ideas" that blow through my brain like a freight train that's behind schedule... because I'll think of some "great idea" I want to do ... and then later all I can remember is that there was some "great idea"  but I don't remember what that  "great idea" was.... sheesh...  I chalk it up to the fact that my mind is filled with clutter... kinda like a giant file cabinet...except nothing is in alphabetical order anymore... LOL

So where was I ... oh yeah... my plans for next week ... well as you read this on Sunday I'll be doing lunch at McDonald's with Elliott. His Mama is out of town visiting her sister and his Daddy needs to take care of another family member for a couple of hours. For dinner Nick put a pot roast in the crock pot so that's taken care of. I'll either knit or stitch tonight... it will be fine either way.

I hope your week ahead is a good one. I am sooooo happy to have the garden clean up behind me ... I love planting the garden and tending the flowers in the Summer but oh the Fall clean up is not fun... not fun at all... gotta remember that next year and make other arrangements if I can. 

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts and check it out later today... 

happy stitching-

carol fun 

PS  We are one week past the time change and I'm still annoyed at it... haven't gotten back on track ...feel like I'm sleeping too late  and staying up too late... argh... 

A giant skeleton chicken and fabric detours on a Slow Sunday...

Hello - well as I sit down to write this I realize that I have very little to say and even less to show... Was there actually 7 days in the last week?  I seriously think one or two went missing in my world... and I can't even blame it on a lot of appointments that took me out of the house. Just the normal stuff... working out, watching Elliott and dinner with friends... okay three dinners out with friends... but I had to eat either way and so I can't figure out why that sucked up so much of my time... but it did. 

Halloween was great here in SW Ohio... first time in several years that we didn't have rain or snow or cold or any combination of those weather factors. Temps were in the 40's and we had TONS of kids stopping by. We went through almost two HUMONGOUS bags of candy from Costco and I only got like 3 Almond Joys... they are my favs!  Now I finally got a chance to put out my skeleton chicken... it is 8 ft tall... I was waiting because I didn't want to have to move it when the lawn got mowed.  I put it right by the front door so I could keep an eye on it with my Ring doorbell...

I'm pretty sure this solidly cements my reputation among my neighbors as being a crazy old lady...LOL

As far as crafty stuff I just bounced from project to project to project... we had several days of gray and rain earlier in the week, perfect for hunkering down in my sewing studio but each project I started ran into a road block so I had to detour to something else. 

First was these snowball blocks...

this fabric was left over from the giant Lemoyne star quilt I showed last week. I had purchased a FQ bundle  of the Tiny Christmas collection by Lizzie House, and had cut out at least one if not two 10" squares out of each FQ which left a nice chunk to play with. I cut the remaining fabric into  5" squares and I'm adding 1.5" connector corners... except I'm running out of the corner fabric. More has been ordered... and then an email popped up which showed snowball blocks like this being turned into ornaments... you add a rectangle of a gray fabric to the top and then add more background around the other 3 sides... I thought I saved the email but I can't find it... but I think it would be a really cute variation... once I get more background fabric I'll see if it is doable. I did get 94 5" squares cut out of the leftover FQs... but I'd like to have 99... a throw with 9 blocks across and 11 down...  I have a piece I'm saving for pillow cases and I think I can squeeze it out of that fabric.

So since I'm waiting on additional fabric for this project another shiny object caught my eye... I saw this pattern ... 

and  you know how I LOVE hexagons. I thought this would make a great wall quilt for my living room... but it needs to be bigger than the pattern shows. Well I didn't buy the pattern I'm just winging it. I cut the hexagons from 5" squares. This fabric is Christmas Faire from Cathe Holden and I made this quilt out of it last year...

Here's where I am so far... 

by my calculations I need it to be 11 hexagons at the widest.... and AGAIN I'm running out of fabric but I found more on Etsy. It hasn't been delivered yet either. But  then I will have enough to do a tree that has 11 hexagons at the base. The background fabric came out of my stash...it has been there a long long time... and it has no identifying info on the selvedge... not that I'd be able to find more in any case. It is a random speckle that is a gold metallic with a definitely green-y cast.  I think I have enough fabric to do this ... I hope I do... there was about 4 yards ... fingers crossed it will be enough. 

I'm starting at the top and working my way down... if I run out I'll make the tree smaller ...and if that doesn't work out for the wall quilt I planned I'll make it again with some other fabrics and a background that I can get more yardage of. 

So since that project also got put on hold I broke out another project... this is the Dorothy pattern done in Momo fabrics. 

I started this in December of 2023 and it held my attention for about a month ... and then got put in a plastic bin to mature. I still like this a lot... and I have a ton of squares cut and ready to sew together... but lots of them are directional... and my OCD requires them to be in the proper orientation at all times... so I'm trying to sew ten at a time that read correctly horizontally and then ten more that read correctly vertically. 

I thought I had cut out all the squares that I needed, but in reading back in the blog I saw that I'm 34 units short... so more fabric needs to be cut... I still have a healthy stash of Momo so I'll be okay there. No need to wait for more fabric... shocker... LOL

Again this week I did very little cross stitch and I really need to get that BBD The Bells of Christmas Day done if I want it framed this year.

I did knit a little, but as was my pattern this week I ended up knitting on 3 different socks and none are complete. I'm also losing interest on the 2 of the socks I have on my needles...might have to start another project...

I'm hoping to take down the Halloween stuff today and get out the Thanksgiving stuff. We shall see if the spirit moves me. The weather this upcoming week looks dry and not too cold... and Dan said he could bring me the dump trailer mid week... so I can get started on cleaning out the garden beds. I estimate it is going to take Nick and I  several days to do this ... fingers crossed my knees hold up to the job. 

I've been seeing lots of cute Christmas cross stitch I'd like to play with... and some snowmen too... I like my snowmen as inside characters but I've watched several weather videos with long range forecasts for this upcoming winter and it appears we are going to have a cold snowy one. Not looking forward to that. I understand why people like to go to Florida in January and February... smart people... if I didn't watch Elliott every week I'd seriously consider being a bit of a snowbird... sigh... someday.

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today. Part of me wants to sit and veg but there is stuff I should get done. 

Hope you have a good week ahead... mine looks pretty standard for me... working out with Anna, Tuesday hanging with  Elliott, and a lunch or dinner out with friends I'm sure will happen. 

happy stitching-

carol fun

Oh wait wait... it is time again for my semi-annual rant about the time change... I've been railing against changing the clocks since I started this blog back in 2010 and my opinion has not changed one bit!!! Now I know this one is a bit easier to deal with than when we jump forward and lose and hour,  but I still detest it... it messes me up for two weeks... and I know I'm not the only one... you understand if you've ever had to deal with a toddler or a hungry pet... they don't operate on this arbitrary adjustment,  they are tuned into their internal clock...as they should be. If Arizona can stay on the same time year round what is the reason the rest of us can't do that?  I use to think it was just a giant plot to get you to buy batteries for your smoke alarm, but smoke alarms now days have lithium batteries that last like 10 years. I know they say to follow the money but I'm not sure who benefits from this, but I know it isn't me!! Okay, I'll climb off of my soapbox, carefully... don't need to fall. 

signed a cranky old lady