HAPPY JULY--

 So are we having fun yet--we are diffidently on the count down to the Holidays!!!  OUCH--  Are we working on any Christmas or Fall projects??

I tried--more on that later!!!

I did work on Mrs. Claus counted Cross stitching since the first of July--

Here is the before July 1st--

And here is where I am as of Saturday--

The Quilt on her lap is pretty much done--there will be bit more done on the quilt with the backstitching and some added features when the piece is all done--got the reds back in the thread box--ready to continue creating her dress--

I did do this project-sorta???

These little squares were along side a bigger panel that I got sometime ago and did the panel and every year when I open the Christmas tote--I think----I will do something with them--so I got brave and head strong and said--I will do something with these --first--so I did--only--I did not take the time to measure each one between the other one--and boy did they come out 'crooked'--so--

Here they are now-ready for Plan B!!!!!

As it's a beginning of a new month--I have to stop other things and do my Block of the Month blocks--

and I am happy to say that I am "totally" all caught up with Melisa's Roundabout blocks--

Here is those so far--

the first one is this months--July's--then May's, Aprils, and Junes--

Here is all 7 months so far---

Only got one more ABC block done--

But did order this fat quarter bundle of Tilda fabrics as I will need a lot more of that line for the rest of this quilt--

I know I will also make some of the little flower prints in Grandmother Flower blocks to go with the other 2 fabric lines of  hers that I am using--this bundle also has some of the poppy seed fabrics in the bundle--

I just did, and finished up this months BOM from Attic Heirlooms--

Love this basket--and I just realized that this company is in Brooksville, FL--directly across the state from me on the West Coast????

Been working a bit on this months jewel heart blocks--and a few I got done from last months--

last months--

This months--aqua, teal, turquoise these are the darker ones--have several more cut out!! lighter colors--

And here is my big wooden bowl so far--

Think I need to put these in a bag so there will be room for more!!!!

And this will be my slow stitching job today--

This monthly BOM started last month and is Christmas ornaments--from Joy's site--she doing her's all in red--but --to me--Christmas is lots of colors--so will be doing each one in a different color--this months is dark green!!

Have a couple other BOM's in  progress--but no other finishes yet--

And someone--couldn't have been Me--did some other fabric shopping since the first of the month--

Lots of Something blue--don't have a plan yet--am waiting to see what others are doing--though a plan or two is working around in the brain--which is probably--trouble---

And I just had to get some of this fabric--

I mean--who could not buy this fabric with these cute, dressed up mice--this is almost too pretty to cut up even!!!!  Also got a couple baby prints and a Fall panel!!!

We are suppose to be having some heavy Saharan Dust-- first they said last week--now they say starting today---wished they would make up their minds--I do believe we had some last week--maybe some before the big some gets here???? and some very hot humid temps--inside weather????

PRAY EVERYONE IS KEEPING COOL OR WARM WHERE EVER YOU ARE--KEEP PLANNING AND STITCHING, READING, OR KNITTING--AND DON'T FORGET TO SPEND TIME WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS--THINKING OF EACH OF YOU--AND ALWAYS THANKS FOR THE COMMENTS AND FOR READING MY POSTS---

HUGS, AND SWEET DREAMS--DI

PS--it's raining--but all I see is blue skies and sunshine--crazy!!!!

HALF WAY THROUGH 2026

 Today is the last day of June 2026--and now we are half way through the whole new year of 2026--I just have one big question for everyone--are you ready for the second half of 2026???? and who is ready to start on Christmas sewing for Christmas in July???????

But first--need to show you what I did get finished in June--

I built-with my own two hands--Junes Tiny house--I think I am finally getting the hang on how to do the finishing on these!!!!!   We should be getting the July one any day now!!!

And from Melisa, I also did her Summer Cross stitching sampler--

Remember I added the Chicken block of hers in Block 2 instead of the veggie one and did the center one with the Strawberry in the center for the quilt block--but still one of Melisa's block--then we came to block #9 and --her block was canned goods--and I did think about it--cause I did a lot of the canning in the family growing up--but decided to wait on her 'extra' block--which was a beach scene--but for some reason--I decided--as I had never been one to be at the beach--(though I love living near the beach!!???) and one morning when I woke up--I realized what was missing--a big bowl of ice cream--and I remembered Melisa gave us that block sometime last summer, I believe--so dug it out and that is my block #9!!!!  I did 4 flavors of ice cream--dark chocolate--strawberry--mocha and vanilla with the strawberry on top--yummy!!!   Thank you Melisa for all fun stitching I had on this one!!  the mat is Navy !

And still talking about Melisa--she is doing a monthly Roundabout embroidery project for us--

I did get all 6 of the stitcheries caught up for the embroidery--I had gotten behind on them--was also thinking how I wanted to finish mine off--and again one morning on waking up--it hit me--that a Dresden plate circle around them might be neat--sooo--

I started with January's--

Then went on to February's-

and now have March's done--

I also have the fabrics picked and the little plates cut out for April, May, and Junes--these do take time--I am hand stitching the plates together and then there is applique the inside edge and then the outside edge-----

And here is some more letters appliqued and embroidered--

I prepared the rest of the letters today!!!

And my big  project the last 2 weeks was getting this box ready--

there is 24 knitted baby sweaters and 9 knitted hats in this box and it did get shipped out to World Vision--now to start working on the next box---

I have kept count of each box since 2021 and so far with this box--I have sent out 190 sweaters plus some hats--but I started sending them in 2011 or 2012--so that number is probably double!!!  And, yes, there is a sweater on the needles and nearly finished now!!!!!!!!!!!

One late afternoon I was here on the computer and looked out the window and this is what I seen--

A big beautiful full rainbow arch--and it stayed a long time--and it was mostly sunny out--it did not rain here--but there is a rainbow--

and the other after noon I seen my first 'dry' lightning bolt--no rain clouds then either from my window--just this one big long lightning bolt and thunder--ouch!!!!

Ok--time to talk about Christmas in July--

My plan for cross stitching is to work on Mrs. Claus for the month--(will have to do July's tiny house--but otherwise--just Mrs. C)  so here is where she is now--

And I have seen some really pretty new Christmas fabrics online--would like to do a new Christmas quilt--but so far--haven't seen a pattern that is calling my name-- or which one of the new lines is talking to me---Soooo????

WHAT ARE YOUR CHRISTMAS IN JULY PLANS--IT'S TOO HOT OUT THERE TO GO ANYWHERES--SO WE NEED TO STAY INSIDE AND SEW!!!

HUGS, AND BLESSINGS TO ALL--DI

PRGRESS AND "OOPPPS"

 It is good and fun to show the 'good' stuff first--

This is June's Country Hart design for this month's BOM--a fun stitch to do!!

Some more ABC blocks were completed--

Getting those fabric highlight pieces to come to sharp points take a 'minute or two"--but these have been fun to stitch--

for Junes Attic Heirloom, BOM--

I did use a different fabric for the background with the School house--but used part of the fabric they sent me for the XYZ letters back ground--

And for May's color challenge--remember I decided to do purple (rest where doing Orange!!)

but I did not get them done--so decided to wait till Junes color came out and would do all 4 of them, then--Junes color was light colors--I went out of the lane again--probably with these 2 houses--

So am all caught up with the houses--

ON the Cross stitching front--

I forgot to show you that I had gotten Mrs. Claus out of time out last week and worked on her all week and this is where she is now--

her arm and shoulder sleeve was stitched in--see she is smiling cause I haven't forgotten her!!!!

And my hope and goal is, on Sundays, to work on the outlin

ing of the counted cross stitch that my daughter gave me back in Oct when I was there, to finish--I worked on it one time right after I got back and then it sat--and I can't believe that trip was 7 months ago now--what--how--when--where did those 7 months go?????  Last Sunday I got the branch with the flowers all outlined in the lower right hand corner--there is alot of outlining to do on this piece!!!!

And here is a photo of my Peace Lily--

I am so proud of her--when I first got her a couple years ago--she would get small flowers--but the center flower always turned brown before it became a real flower--then she stopped flowering for a good year or more--and then all of a sudden--look at this bloom---!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOW for the Opps--

I thought I had my hexie project ready for the background and to do the applique to the fabric--Kathy had used a black ground--can't say I wanted black--but couldn't seem to find any thing else-so got the back ground cut--laid it out and spent an hour hand basting it together--BUT--look

how wonky this is--it was worse looking in real life too--so got the pattern and kept studying it and discovered that the 5th row was a 6 hexie row and I needed a 5 hexie row--So--I unbasted it all and unstitched row 5--then restitched the top 4 rows to the bottom piece and then added that 5th row to the bottom of it all--   

Now I think I am cooking with steam--as they say--much better--and I think I have some Navy fabric I will try for the background--??????

WELL--GUESS SUMMER WEATHER IS COMING TO FLORIDA THIS WEEK END--AND THE HUMIDITY WILL BE BACK--GOOD THING I LIKE TO STAY INSIDE AND STITCH!!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK WHERE YOU ARE--HUGS, DI

 

AND HERE IS JUNE--

 Again I say--slow down a bit--time--there is no hurry here and the lazy days of summer is here for some of us and winter--for others--we need some time to catch our 'breath'!!!

Been busy with needle and thread --

and even some serious machine work got done-- In fact--two baby quilts for the local hospital where finished--

Quilt 1--

 cute bunnies and balloons-with a bit of yellows here and there--

Quilt 2--

pink and lavender one with cute elephants on it--

And then--I actually --yep--actually went to the local quilt club meeting at the local library and turned them in and stayed for the meeting--2 gals who have a company called--M&M's--(Margaret and Mary) gave a talk on 'Color' and it was interesting!!

See here's proof I was there!!!!

Got 2 more of the Roundabouts by Melisa--embroidered--

This one is June's--

and this one is January--I have 3 out of the 6 done now!!

And here is Block 2 of the Polka Dots girls--

And here is the first 6 letters of the new ABC top--

not sure I am happy with the letter F--maybe that background is too busy and too dark???

And oh my goodness--is this not a wonderful--goody!!!!

I just LOVE-- this new line of Tilda fabrics--this is just a fat 1/8th of 20 of the fabrics--and no-- I do not have any idea what I am going to make with them--yet????????????

And here is my garden flowers--( inside on my window ledge)

I have worked on some other projects too--but forgot to take photos--hummm????

IT IS TIME TO COOL HERE AND WARM IN SOME COUNTRIES--BUT THERE IS ALWAYS TIME FOR SOME KIND OF STITCHING--SO KEEP ON STITCHING--ENJOY TODAY!!

HUGS, DI