Sunday, March 24, 2024

Easter Decor and more on a Slow Sunday...

 Well I anticipated that last week was going to be busy... and it was even busier than I expected. Lots of time spent with friends talking talking talking... that was fun... got my hair cut and colored...always enjoyable... and then there were the unexpected house issues.  Last week I talked about replacing the AC and I am going to do that...I'm thinking in May... and I'm still having an a bathroom sink problem... Dan my Handyman will be by this week to see if he can remedy that... and then my dishwasher died... oh great... now it is 10 years old and we have very hard water here which takes a toll on appliances that use water. Last year I put $200 into this dishwasher when I had the problem with the backed up kitchen drain... in retrospect I should have just gone ahead and replaced it then... cause I'm ending up replacing it now.  Did some research on line about the life span of dishwashers and 10 years is about average. It wasn't a top of the line model when I bought it, so it isn't worth putting any more money into it.  Compared models and prices online and went off to Lowe's to see them ... took Nick along as he is the one who spends the most time with the dishwasher... he loads it and runs it and unloads it. He liked the unit with the 3rd rack and I liked the stainless steel interior and it is a Samsung which is what the broken unit is, and the styling is similar ... so we bought it... it will take about a 7- 10 days to arrive and get installed and they will take away the broken dishwasher...  fingers crossed the fridge and stove I purchased at the same time,  hang in there a while longer.

Since I was busy busy busy doing social stuff I didn't get a lot accomplished in the crafty areas.  As for quilting I was able to sew up all the blocks for the quilt I'm now calling the twirling yellow flower quilt.

I rearranged a bunch of the blocks in an attempt to gradate them from light at the top to darker at the bottom... I think I'm happy with the arrangement. I figured out how big to cut the setting triangles on the side so they are straight of grain. I like them a bit bigger so I can trim everything down. Oh the blocks are 8.5" unfinished... the pattern is Flowers for Nana's Girl from the Kim Brackett Book Scrap-Baskets Sensations... here s a listing on Amazon.. whoa... I didn't realize this was out of print... if I was looking for a copy of this I'd check out a Half Price Book place... you might have better  luck there... 

As for cross stitch I'm trying to get the WTN&T Red Bird Sampler done before the end of  the month...

here's where I was last week...


and here's where I am today...and yes today's pic is ironed... makes a difference doesn't it?  sheesh

I completed all the flowers along the bottom... and I LOVE the little vignette with the church inside the bower...

What's left to do?  I have the big pot of flowers on the left  and a bird and a couple of small pink  flowers, and I think I'll put my initials and the year in the space that open to the right of the alphabet... oh I added the alphabet... for me a sampler isn't a sampler if it doesn't include the ABC's!  I think finishing this by March 31 is very doable ... and that would have me completing  a sampler every month this year!! ... now 2 of the 3 were already started but I still think that's being pretty productive... and I've already got my eye on another WIP sampler I'd like to get back to. 

Don't know what has gotten into me lately but I'm really into finishing up projects, quilts and cross stitch, that I've previously started and then somehow walked away from...  makes me feel virtuous for finishing up... LOL... and since the projects are already started it doesn't take as long to finish them... yep, back to my long held philosophy that UFOs or WIP are GOOD THINGS... 

And I worked a little on the WTN&T Summer Schoolhouse... 


framed in the windows and doors and got started on the roof... found a mistake in the house... I made it one row taller than graphed... not frogging this... just moving on... I'm going to do a band of satin stitches as the "grass" and then do some birds and flowers beneath that. I will wait to do the satin stitch until the end so I don't keep rubbing the floss... I did a row of satin stitches at the bottom of the Red Bird sampler and I love the look but I can see where in some spots it has gotten fuzzy  from my handling it... lesson learned. 

And where did the month go???  Easter is next week ... we are doing dinner at my older son's home ... already hit Costco and picked up the prime rib... will pop into Krogers on Thursday for the veggies ... same holiday menu we did for Thanksgiving ... don't see a need to change it as every one seems to like it just the way it is... along with the prime rib I'll make a pasta salad, marinated tomatoes, asparagus bundles wrapped in prosciutto, and deviled eggs. My DIL's side of the family will provide a ham and some other sides and desserts... there won't be any lack of goodies.

And I realized that while I've had my Easter/Spring decor out for weeks I've only shown one display... so today I'll give you a tour of the rest of it... sorry some of the pics are a bit hazy... the sun was coming through that big picture window and no matter how I positioned the blinds it didn't help. 

Here's the yellow tier table... I surprised myself in how much I could display here  and I like the  primarily pink theme... up top I have a little chick in a field of tulips from Jelly Bean Jubilee by WTN&T and the tiny tulip pillow was a riff on the tulips in another WTN&T chart.

Below is Easter Rabbits from Stitchy Princess Black... you can see it here... I brightened this one up quite a bit  and it goes nicely with the pink ceramic bunny and other pink knickknacks.

On the wall ... well I keep talking about doing a new Spring wall quilt, but all I've done is talk sooooooo I  went with the same quilt I've used for several years... the pattern is Jam & Jelly from Fig Tree Quilts and the fabric was the Kate Spain Verna collection. 

The tier tray is a new purchase this year from Michaels.. I could not resist a yellow tray!! Up top I have Be Hoppy from Emily Call ...such an adorable pink bunny, and below in the round tin is Holiday Hoopla Easter from WTN&T.


On the TV cabinet a cute bunny shaped tier tray from Dollar Tree and a trio of smalls from Prairie Schooler No. 178... along a a freebie bunny from Pinker n Punkin Quilting and a giant bottle brush carrot... that was a recent purchase from Hobby Lobby. 

As for the big display a very green and yellow theme emerged... 

from the top and left to right... a little pillow with a sweet gal from Pineberry Lane,  a Blackbird Design piece from the book "Thank You, Sarah Tobias' and WTN&T Sampler Hill...

 I love how the alphabet is "hidden" in the grassy hill.  

Next shelf March from Prairie Schooler... another piece where the alphabet is "hidden" in the grass and 2/3rds of the Blackbird Design called Breath of Spring and the sampler pillow with the daffodils is called Hello Spring and is from Sub Rosa... 


Moving down... another bunny shaped tier tray, as I remember this one came from Target a couple of years ago... it is sporting some cute little pillows from WTN&T Jellybean Jubilee and the  monochromatic green sampler is from the BBD book called Women of Grace & Charm...the book is primarily quilting but this chart called Tribute is included and was the reason I bought the book. I dyed this with Apple Green Rit dye and used up a ton of bits and bobs of Gentle Arts Dried Thyme floss... it is my favorite overdyed green ... and having purchased it for years and years and years left with with a collection of many many many different dye lots... but it worked out perfectly for this piece. A note: this BBD book is OOP ... I paid more than list price for it a couple of years ago but not as much as I saw it listed on the web... 

Here's the little phone niche... 

The pink bunny on the wall  is Egg Hunt from Emily Call... it is charted in brown but she had done Be Hoppy the year before as a pink bunny (he's in my tier tray) so I just subbed in those coolers... the egg with the bow dazzled frame was a gift from a sweet friend... and the long pillow on the ledge is Lizzie Kate's Spring String.  I was trying to include links for these charts but Emily Call's Etsy shop is temporarily closed... she posted she was going to be out of town till April ... and it appears that the Lizzie Kate chart is kinda OOP... I did see some Etsy and Ebay listings.

Now I have one more display on the porch but I'll save it for next week as I want to add the bunny head piece from WTN&T that I finished stitching last week, but I didn't get around to FFO-ing it.  And I don't know what else I may have to post next week... not a lot of new stuff on my agenda so I hope you don't mind seeing the bits of progress on the stuff I already started.  As much as I'm itching to get out in the yard Mother Nature is NOT cooperating... temps for the upcoming week are seasonal and 50 to 60-ish... I don't know about you but I still keep a paper calendar along with the stuff on my phone...and in my paper calendar I made all kinds of notes about stuff and when I start a new calendar in January I include details I think I'd like to remember...I have a note that before the end of March I need to get back to Natorp's Garden Outlet and get a replacement shrub for the one that is dead... and I have a note that I planted my window boxes on April 1 of last years... what??    There is no way that is happening this year... I remember I planted purple petunias and marigolds, a mix I hadn't tried before. and they looked great... but that means that it had to be warmer for a week or two before that for me to even contemplate that and that the garden stores had petunias... I haven't seen anything but pansies ... which I love but the deer eat them so I'm not wasting my money. They can easily reach 2 of my 5 window boxes and it would just be a buffet... I'll pass. I thought we had global warming... I'm all for some of that right now... 

So this upcoming week  should be a less hectic than last week... but one never really knows... I see a doctor's appointment one day and dinner with a friend another day and of course Elliott on Tuesday.  Now to see what I can muster up in motivation to get things done... I'm going spend time today with the Red Bird Sampler... my motivation is I want to work on something "new" and by "new" I mean something I've already started. And I want to get more done on the twirling yellow flower quilt cause I found some other already started  projects I like to play with. More time spent doing stuff and less time just looking at stuff... not easy to do with all the temptation on social media... and I have to say I'm finding reading blogs very enjoyable again... more space to chit chat and it seems more personal than Instagram and I have no interest in anything on TikTok... I like the routine I've gotten into posting once a week... I know these posts can be long but I don't know how I use to find time to post several times a week like I did in the beginning. 

Thank you for coming and reading my ramblings... I hope that you have a pleasant and productive week ahead!  I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts so I can sit on the sunroom porch, read some blogs and do some stitching... now that's what I call a good day!


happy stitching-

carol fun 


Sunday, March 17, 2024

Trying to keep on the sunnyside on a Slow Sunday...

 Well last week was a hot mess... I was looking forward to a week with no appointments or obligations other than watching Elliott... I had big big BIG plans to get lots of stitching and sewing done and pfffft... there very little to show ...had a plumbing issue over the weekend and Dan the Handyman came to fix it... and part of it is fixed but a new problem cropped up... and then another house issue which had me thinking I need a new roof, but actually I think I need a better dehumidifier... had an HVAC tech here and that's the conclusion I came to... oh ... and I'm there is a very high probability that I will need to replace the AC this year... I was anticipating that, as it is as old as the furnace I replaced 2 years ago....now do I go ahead and get it down before it gets hot? or wait till it dies?  It think I'll bite the bullet and go ahead and get it done in a month or so.  I did get a wild hair and  took 2 loads of stuff to Goodwill out of the basement... there is plenty more that could go but I lost my enthusiasm for the project as my knee, which I just remarked to a friend last week that it was feeling great after the gel shot, hurt like crazy that day before I had even done on flight of stairs. Knock on wood it has settled down since then. And I'm going to blame it on the time change but I haven't slept well and have just felt off all week. Haven't been able to get in a schedule as a couple of mornings I had to get up extra early to deal with stuff... end up dragging all day and then get a burst of energy when I should be getting ready for bed... like I said, a hot mess.

Okay let's drop that and move onto to happier stuff and try to get to the sunnyside of life...

Here's what I can show for the week... I finished Hoppy Easter by WTN&T...


now I thought I was finished with this several times this week and then I would look at it and realized I'd forgotten this or that detail... lots of details at the end.  I did change some of the colors... made the carrots more orange-y and the chicks more yellow and ditched the peach for the inside of the ears and the cheeks... made it rosier and made the ribbon turquoise instead of pink...I want to make this into a little pillow with some white chenille trim... fur... like a bunny!

I stitched a tiny bit more on  Summer Schoolhouse ... filled in the flowers on the border... sorry the color is so washed out here... 

I'm proud of myself for figuring out how to do the house with the flag,  in mirror image from the chart... took me a while to get the angle of the roof correct... 

I added a couple more blocks to the yellow flower quilt... I'm seeing daffodils  with these blocks... 

I got all the blocks cut out... still need to check the count for the sashing strips and then do the setting triangles.

And I finally got around to getting the Sunnyside Sampler from The Drawn Thread framed...just picked it up yesterday... I did this all in DMC on 32 ct I painted with Rit dyes, Lemon Yellow and Tangerine... 







 I'm quite happy with this one... the frame is a spot on match to the DMC dark green I used... (pay closer attention to the  color at the bottom of the pics than the top ... somehow the top of the frame looks more turquoise... I think it is from the sun coming in the window behind it )  ...  the framer said this line of frames was developed to match DMCs  ...what a great idea! I think I'll use it as part of a seasonal display this summer and  there is a spot high up on the sampler wall in the green room with I think it would fit to display it all year.  And I definitely need to take some advice from this sampler and keep on the sunnyside!  Less grumpy, more sunny!  

Still debating what to work on next... I'm leaning toward picking back up a sampler that I started last year that doesn't have a lot more to do ... maybe Red Bird Sampler by WTN&T...


 it's the closest to being finished... and I'd forgotten how pretty this linen is. 

And I'm still loving Fragments in Time 2022 from Summer House Stitche Works...this is 8 little cards and then you can download that border for free on her website which you can find here. 

I'm further along than I remembered... and oh I still LOVE this one... 

Revisiting these is a good idea... but there is always the siren call of a brand new piece, but I'm trying to turn a deaf ear to that right now... I keep telling myself I need to sit down and seriously think about what I want to stitch the rest of the year... but lately I haven't been wanting to do much thinking... part of me wants to start some BIG new piece... but then I remember that Summer Schoolhouse is  BIG piece and I just started it 2 weeks ago... sheesh... how quickly I can forget...LOL


Next week is busy... lunch today with friends, Elliott on Tuesday, lunch with more friends on Wednesday, a haircut and color for me on Thursday and my son wants to hang out with a friend on Friday that will require a small road trip... I really really want a week with no appointments and I want to couple it with the mojo to get crafty stuff done... I hope the stars align soon for that occurrence but it seems as rare as a total solar eclipse, which is actually going to happen around here on April 8. Already got the glasses that let you look at the sun... if we drive about an hour from here we can see it in totality... in my yard I can probably see about an 80% eclipse... have to see if what I want to do... also have to hope it isn't a cloudy day and there have been lots and lots and lots of cloudy days here in the past couple of months.   Need to keep reminding myself about keeping on the sunnyside...LOL

Sorry for the grumpyness... I'm blaming it on the damn time change... I need at least one more week to adjust... maybe 2... at least yesterday was sunny and I took some pictures of the daffodils in my yard... this is the side yard that I see when I go into my garage...

and this is the front  of the house... it doesn't get the sun until the afternoon so the daffodils aren't all bloomed yet... but I was looking and  I think I have at least 5 different varieties... each year I've been adding more  and I like the mix ...


and here's my garden guy... he seems happy surrounded by the flowers... I need to take some tips from him...LOL!


I hope your upcoming week is a great one... I'm going to link up with Kathy's Quilts and check back to see what going on over there when I get back from lunch with friends... that should put me in a sunny mood!


happy stitching-

carol fun 

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Where I rant about DST and bop along to a 70's classic on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello... it is Spring Forward Day... I shall reserve my rant for the end of this post so you don't have to listen if you don't want to.... but it's a pretty darn good rant if I say so myself... and I do!!


 Well the week started out with great weather... 70 and sunny on Monday... but it trended downward the rest of the week... gray and rainy... hoping to see some sun today.  I'm itching to get out in the yard, but it is waaaaay too soon for planting any annuals... although I did poke some marigold seeds into one of my new raised beds... they are "free" seeds as they are left over from last year's flowers... we shall see if they sprout. I want to have marigolds all along the edges of those raised beds this year... I think it will be very pretty around the base of the dahlias.   

And speaking of dahlias, I was looking forward to the arrival of the bags of dahlia tubers at Costco ...but it wasn't as I expected. They had some bags of dahlias, but not a huge selection like in the past. However they did have a lot of other varieties of flowers and plants and I ended up with a pretty good haul... excuse the darkness of these pics, I took them out in the garage...where it is dark... makes sense, right?

I got a dozen bags in total... lots of new stuff to add to the garden! Like elephant ears and caladiums...

some  tall phlox and clematis... love that deep rusty red color of the clematis...hope it grows, I haven't had much luck with clematis in the past...

Some crocosmia and hollyhocks and  kniphofia (red hot pokers)...


There were only 2 bags of dahlia tubers that weren't like ones I already have... but I'm happy to get the collarette ones!

As for creative endeavors this week, I had more time this week,  but somehow I don't feel I have more to show for my time... I did spend more time than I thought I would with the  Summer Schoolhouse series by WTN&T... 

right now I'm having to make a lot of guesses as where to position motifs as I'm not exactly following the charts but trying to mimic Kim  The Contented Needleworker's version. But I'm really enjoying stitching on this... it kinda has a Blackbird Design feel as it is imperfectly perfect... I re-checked my math as I had a fleeting thought that I mis-calculated how long this will be on 32 ct... it should be around 31.5" and I have 36" of linen so I should be just fine. I also calculated that if I did a section approximately 50 stitches wide each month I could complete this by the end of the year. Now that's a great plan but I know me and this will go off the rails ... I'll end up working on it in fits and starts and that's okay because other shiny objects till pop up... or hop up... like this did...

This is Hoppy Easter by WTN&T... oh my goodness there is a lot of bunny here... I find that when I stitch with white thread I have to cross every stitch as I go along, which is not my normal method... and while I can get into a rhythm when I stitch from left to right I can't seem to do it when I'm stitching right to left...however when I'm stitching vertically I have less issues... so that's what I'm doing here and I'm turning the piece at the end of every column so I'm stitching down vertically...does that make sense?    

Anyway this is taking a ton of floss ... glad I'm using DMC as I think I will just eke this out with one skein.

Oh and more interesting charts managed to sneak into my house... these are from the Nashville Needlework Market and I'm impressed by how quickly these pre-orders were filled.

I got both of the Blackbird Design books because you buy ALL the Blackbirds, right?  These are Moments of Glad Grace and Thy Love More Strong.

And while I doubt that I will stitch either of the cover sampler both books have several smalls that I definitely would like to stitch... several crazy looking birds I'd like to add to my displays.

I got another one of these pear charts, Spring Green Pears...It think this makes the 3rd one in my stash....

need to get around to stitching one...LOL

And I find the typography of this Benezet Alphabet Sampler very intriguing...

I won't be grungy-ing it up ...might use a floss with lots of color changes. And I also found the word "Benezet" intriguing so I did a bit of research and there is a St. Benezet... here's a link. and there was an abolitionist  Anthony Benezet... here's another link... he was a Quaker educator, born in France, emigrated to London and then to America and settled in Philadelphia. History is fascinating!

Oh this one is so pretty and speaks to my gardener's heart... Pollinator's Garden by October House Fiber Arts...

I'd like to stitch one version of this as a long pillow and then maybe some smaller versions too!

And I couldn't resist this Heartstring Samplery piece, Home is Where your Heart Is...

As for sewing, well I looked at those Vintage Soul  Layer Cake Loop blocks for quite a while,  and decided they just weren't going to work the way I wanted...  I had cut the fabrics so 4" square in the corner of each block  was either navy, green or pink colorway out of the collection and that was too "regular"... it needs to be a variety of fabrics so the busy-ness is cohesive... I know that makes no sense at all when you say it out loud but I think that's the problem... anyway I ordered 2 packs of charm squares and I think that will help... they'll be here next week..

So in the meantime I was rummaging through some plastic bins and I came across these blocks...oh my goodness, why did I ever walk away from these?? I love them!!!  Pretty yellow spinning flowers!!  For some reason the song  "Build me up, Buttercup" popped into me head when I put these on my design wall... and it's been bopping around in my head all week... and here's a link to 3 minutes of classic 70's fun... enjoy!  but I take no responsibility for this becoming an ear worm...LOL 

They are from the Kim Brackett book Scrap-Basket Sensations and the quilt is called Flower's for Nana's Girl...I dug around here on the blog and realized that these blocks only appeared once and it was back in November of 2011... almost 12 years ago... insert hanging head in shame...  When I went looking for a link to the book Amazon popped up and told me I had ordered this book December 29, 2010... that was a while ago, wasn't it?  

I spent a day cutting more tone-on-tone yellow fabric for more blocks... when I started this I planned on it being a double bed sized quilt, it is now going to be a nice size throw... 4 blocks across, 5 blocks down, set on point... I need 32 blocks and they are super easy to make. 

I really like the sashing... that bit of green just pops and boy is this fabric old... Pat Campbell Fossil Fern... I loved those fabrics. I thought they were out of print but I was mistaken. Benartex is still producing this collection and I think there are almost a hundred colors.  And speaking of old fabrics, that tone on tone print with the tulips... I bought that in Modesto CA... I haven't lived in Modesto in 30 years.... everything old is new again, right??

I'm not sure if I have enough the random polka dot fabric I have pinned up to do the border... fingers crossed.  I got a few blocks and some sashing sewn together last Tuesday when Elliott was here, perhaps I'll get some time this week too.

No big plans for the upcoming week, which is fine with me. I do want to stay home stitch and sew...oh I did get my Easter decor out... here's a pic of the small shelf unit display...





I'm happy with  where things ended this year. I look at pics from previous years and I don't want to  repeat the exact arrangement but some things are so big they only fit in one place... like the little tulip quilt and that tall turquoise vase... I do see where I could tuck in another small cross stitch piece or two... and I have a couple of small bunny charts in my stash... I might get one stitched, we'll see, we'll see... 

oh a tangent thought... when my boys were little and wanted something when we were out shopping, instead of saying "no" I would say "we'll see, we'll see"... and then one day my older son told the younger son, "that means no"... LOL... but really I'll see if I get around to stitching more bunnies...

Hope you have a great week ahead with plenty of time to indulge in all the fun stuff. I'll link- up with Kathy's Quilts... always fun stuff to see there.

happy stitching-

carol fun 

PS... my rant about Daylight Saving Time... JUST STOP IT!!  Pick one... leave the clock alone!! Studies, from Harvard no less, have shown that the one hour change can wreak havoc on a person's mental and physical well being.  A person can feel exhausted, drowsy and less focused and crabby... definitely crabby (oh that wasn't in the scientific study... that was me being... crabby!)

A University of Colorado study found a 6% increase in auto accidents after the Spring time change.  Be careful out there!!

The change upsets the circadian rhythm  with less morning light producing lower amount of serotonin which elevates one's mood, and with more evening light delaying the production of melatonin which promotes sleep... What about either of these situations is a good thing???  DST makes you crabby and sleepy...again my observation which is equally as valid as any scientific study...(lack of sleep makes me crabby extremely sure of myself...LOL)

I looked into WHY we keep doing this and the reasoning when it was first enacted was to "conserve energy resources"... not sure what you conserve if in the morning when you get up you have to turn on the lights to see things, rather than when you would have use those same lights in the evening...  

So who benefits from DST... it has been speculated that retailers benefit because more daylight in evening entices customers to shop longer... which may have been true before covid , but it is painfully obvious from the many many many brick and mortar store closings that people aren't doing a lot  in store shopping. 

In fact, as of 2023, consumer spending online for the US was almost double that of in-store shopping... 63% online to 37% in store. Also younger people, millennials and Gen Z overwhelmingly prefer online shopping and except for fabric shopping, this old geezer boomer prefers online shopping... don't know what I'd do without Amazon and all the cross stitch and fabric sites I have bookmarked. 

Sooooo I can't think of a single reason to keep changing the clocks... I don't know why Congress doesn't stop this ridiculous dog and pony show, except that I figure someone somewhere is making money off of it...

and that concludes this semi-annual rant on DST from this sleep deprived, crabby baby boomer with more sense than 99% of Congress. 






Sunday, March 3, 2024

Trying to go with the flow on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello... well that was another week that whizzed by me... I'm here just trying to go with the flow but I'd like the speed to be a bit reduced... I'm working hard to just keep up...LOL

The weather this week was again all over the place... lovely sunny days where one could have broken out some shorts and other gray rainy spitting snow days that required a cozy coat.  But the forecast for the upcoming week looks decent... some upper 60s... just enough to tease me into thinking I could plant something... but I know I shouldn't... and what else is teasing me is the new raised bed project that got completed last week. Now this was a thankless job as about 4 cubic feet of mushroom compost had to be shoveled out of the old raised bed, moved into large tubs and when they all got filled, piled onto the patio.

Then the new raised beds were assembled (which involved about a bajillion screws and wing nuts, so glad Dan & Evan took care of it because these arthritic digits couldn't have handled it)  and then the compost was shoveled back into the new bins. 

I had thought the compost would fill 4 raised beds but I thought wrong... and actually I'm not sure where I would have put the fourth raised beds.  I have space between my house and the one next store but I just don't think there is enough sunlight...my house cast as shadow there almost all day. I may try some stuff in pots and see how that works out and if it does I can add another bin next Spring... always thinking ahead..LOL! 

So there was a lot of socializing this week which was a lot of fun but it does cut into my stitching and sewing time. However I did seem to have plenty of time to think about what I want to do in the very near future. 

Let's start with what I think is a finish... this is the Garden Samplers from Prairie Schooler I started as part of my "7 samplers for my 70th"  project which kinda fizzled... anyway this is the one I wanted to finish first and my goal at the beginning of February was it would be done by the end of February... and I think it is.



I ended up backstitching around the gate with a light gray (DMC 168)  I think it gives it a bit more dimension. I've debated backstitching around the gazebo at the top but I think it is okay. I picked up some wood at Michaels I think I can paint and use to mount this piece... a project for later in March.

And February 29th was Leap Year Day and I had said I would start the Summer Schoolhouse project by WTN&T with Judy of  The Patchwork Times and Denise of Just Quiltin'.... now I waited till the last minute to paint/dye the linen I wanted to use. Like Judy and Denise I'm going to stitch these 5 separate charts as one continuous piece... by my calculation that is a little shy of 500 stitches... on 32 ct which makes it 31" long. I had a yard of the Wichelt linen I like and couldn't decide what color to make the linen. I thought about blue, or yellow, or yellow with green splotches, or some shade of tan but kinda mottled. Well on the 29th I got out my bottles of Rit dye and started out with Tan, which has some definite green undertones that I like... and I started painted in the upper right hand corner, turned  to move something on my desk and the entire bottle of Rit Tan dye went "flowing" onto the  linen leaving a large, dark highly unattractive sploosh.. ugh ugh ugh...  ( a warning - put the darn cap back on the bottle) .... so I ran to the sink to see how much I could rinse out... it is amazing how fast  Rit dye can set on linen... much faster than my short little legs can run ... I got some of it out but not as much as I wanted ... I tried painting over it a bit with some diluted Tan but I could still see the unattractive sploosh, so I resorted to bleach... I know some of you are horrified, but it was necessary as I didn't have another piece of linen this large.  That did help pretty much but now what color to use?  I got out some Apple Green and a brand new bottle of Cocoa Brown which turns out to have a lovely peachy rosy undertone... any way,  I painted and then smushed the linen into different glass containers of assorted diluted mixtures of Tan, Apple Green and Cocoa Brown and I have to say I'm so glad I went with the flow because this linen turned out gorgeous and not at all what I ever conjured up!  

Okay I took a video of the piece of linen so you could see the entire span but I can't get it to upload here so go to my IG post which you can find here... it is the 3rd image...

Here's a look at the flosses on the fabric...


It is hard to capture, think a slightly lighter Gentle Arts Woodrose or DMC 3772... the bleached sections gave it a mottled appearance with some shadows of green and the flosses look great on it ...IMHO. At this moment I'm planning on following the layout from Kim The Contented Needleworker. with a few changes here and there. Here's a pic of her version...


 I'm starting with the end of the alphabet and working my way to the beginning as I stitch in hand and this way I won't be bunching up and handling the areas I've already stitched.  This will probably be a long term, multi-year project and I'm okay with that.  Right now I'm gung ho on it but other things are already on my radar that I want to get to soon... 

Like this one... Happy Easter! !by WTN&T...


again I went with the flow here as I was going to paint the linen with Rit Coral but I wasn't paying attention and picked up Petal Pink which I thought was too red at first but I toned it down with some Tangerine and in the end I like the more pinky color. 

And I'm on a WTN&T kick and I've had this robin pattern for  a while...its called "The Robins are Here!"... I painted the linen with Lemon Yellow and Apple Green but I haven't pulled the flosses yet and it is apropos as I've seen several robins in my yard this week!.

I have all the DMC for Blooming Tiny Town by Heart in Hand... need to decide what color I want for the linen... I already know I'm going to finish it like I did the Lizzie Kate Christmas Row... ok so I was going to insert a link to a pick of that LK piece but I can't find one anywhere... sheesh...  it will be a long 3 dimensional roll... like a Christmas cracker... 

And I want to do this oldie but goodie from Ewe & Eye & Friends... it's called Small Sampler  6th in a Series...not very descriptive, is it?


now I'm going to change a lot here... the house is going to be Classic Colorworks Queen Bee (my favorite yellow and quite a good match to the brick on my house) .. the front door with be an olive green and the roof brown... I'm be using a softer color for the alphabet and I want to graph "Home Sweet Home" for inside the cartouche  and I want to hang it right here...

that small open  space to the right of the thermostat on this sampler wall ... the petite sampler above the thermostat use to hang here, but when the new furnace was installed they put in a new thermostat and it is much smaller than the old one and there is a spot on the wall that needs to be fixed with dry wall ... so in the meantime (like 2years ago) I moved the petite sampler over to cover that spot and now I need something for the spot where it was.  I have lots of EEF samplers on this wall.. they were my gateway drug into samplers with houses and I still love ALL of the ones I've stitched!!

Oh oh I want to tell you about a very pleasant surprise  I had this week... I think we all have a unicorn chart or two we'd love to find... for a reasonable price.... for several years I've wanted to find a copy of Prairie Schooler No. 8 (circa 1985)  American Primitive...

I've searched for it for a couple of years with no luck but recently I found a copy on Ebay for the eye watering price of $49.95 plus shipping...here's a link if you want to see it ... and I came within seconds of purchasing this in a fit of exuberant late night "I deserve it " shopping.... but then I did one more Google search and  I found it on Etsy for a very reasonable $15 plus postage...well I couldn't hit BUY fast enough and it arrived in my mailbox yesterday... it is original cardstock and I've never seen a chart like this before but 3 charts, the sampler, the elephant and the donkey are on the bi-fold cardstock,  but Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam are separate piece of cardstock just stuck inside...I am over the moon with this chart... I want to stitch every one of these!!  I'm thinking of doing patriotic decor from mid-May through June and ending in early July, so I want to add more patriotic stuff... Oh, and as of when I'm typing this on Saturday there is still one of these available... here's the link to My Fantastic Attic if this is a unicorn of yours.  I can't wait to start stitching these... I know I'm going to do them all on a yellow background  like lots of my other patriotic stuff. 

I didn't have a lot of sewing time this week... Elliott was into watching youtube videos and playing upstairs but I did find a couple of minutes to finish cutting up and sewing together some blocks with Cathe Holden's Vintage Soul and the Layer Cake Loop pattern.... but I'm kinda blah on the results... now the pattern has you putting all these blocks right up next to each other like this ( I only have 6 blocks of the 36  at the moment)...

and I'm not digging it... 

So I thought about sashing them... the sashing fabric is Grunge in the Curry colorway... don't know what he coral cornerstone Grunge name is and I think if I used cornerstone it should be pink-er...

and this is a bit better....

And I thought about setting them on point...

but I'm not digging this either.  So I may do something entirely different with these fabrics... had a thought (which usually gets me in trouble) of making all the blocks and then cutting them up to make some big flying geese blocks... I purchased this pattern, Patchwork Flying Geese, from Quilty Love and I'd like to play with it... need to determine how big a quilt I could get out of these blocks... hmm... could always get another layer cake to play with... thinking of using the Curry Grunge as the constant fabric.... ohhh the flow here is picking up...LOL

Well I hope to have a bit quieter upcoming week... and some time to sit on the sunroom porch and stitch as is my plan for today... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts  and wander around there for a bit... I hope you have a great week ahead... be sure to stop by next week for semi-annual rant about the time change... hint: I HATE HATE HATE it, particularly the Spring forward one... thanks for the lovely comments and for those who have trouble commenting on Blogger I feel your pain... you can always drop me a note at cfunliu@aol.com... there are days I think about trying to update the blog and figure out the problem but in the end I have more enjoyable ways to spend my time... LOL

happy stitching-

carol fun