JEWELS--NUMBERS--BASKETS

 It was a busy week for me--with something happening every morning--so that by afternoon all I could do was sit and rest my 'head' with some hand sewing--

So by last night I had gotten these projects worked on--

Got-- what I had gotten cut out for the jewel hearts all sewn together--

There is 20 here--so I still need some more--will have to go though more of the stash to find some more yellows!!

On the ABC quilt I got the row of numbers all appliqued and embroidered--

So now all the letters, A-Z are done and the numbers are done--now to work on the other items on this quilt--the bottom of the quilt is a house with fence and trees--so that will be next --I believe!!!

 And now --for this bundle of fabric--

I was kinda waiting to see what 'others' might come up with --for this line--I know Tilda has some patterns--and I love them--but was looking for something else--

So I finally decided to do my own thing-- and out came paper, pencil and scissors and I started designing and cutting out patterns--for basket type designs --I had seen a couple basket designs in the past and you know me--I love my baskets--sooo

These are not finished--these are just the main basket blocks---I have 6 more designs made so need to get the fabrics cut out for them and work on appliqueing them to the background blocks--I think I want 16 or 20 baskets--????

And I do knit each night for a bit--did come up with enough yarn for one baby sweater while I wait on my yarn order to come in--

On other notes--

I am still having a bit of 'fun' with vertigo--but I have decided if it wants to visit with me--it will just have to go along with me with whatever I have to do or go!!!!! so I have made 'friends' so to say--with it and try to keep on going--but I am more tired by early afternoons than usual!!!

Weather--most of this week here mid East Coast of Florida--this past week was dark and dreary--acted like it wanted to rain--but not really happened--once or twice a nice shower!!!

Now the weather man says--starting Wednesday--Friday or so we  will be getting a heavier case of the Saharan dust storm--think that is what started this vertigo--so --who knows how much I will get done--so far I only have plans for Monday morning--!!!

While out yesterday at the Publix strip shopping area--I seen these cute little orange flowering plants--

 They were a brighter orange than it show here!!!

A couple of you follow a gal who always asks you a question each week--think this weeks or was it last week's question on whether you liked ice cream in a cone or a dish--

Growing up my Dad was an electrician and he wired a new Tasty Freeze building in the little town next to ours--so every Saturday night we would all load into the car and off we would go to Joel's tasty freeze for a small ice cream cone--and I remember one Saturday something broke on the car a mile down the road and Dad had to turn us around and go back home--and yes--all 4 of kids cried!!!   But now I enjoy my ice cream in a cup/bowl--it melts too fast in Florida for a cone!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

WELL--FELLOW STITCHERS--IS EVERYONE HAVING FUN WITH SOME NEW AND BEAUTIFUL STITCHING PROJECTS--LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU ARE WORKING ON AND THE COLORS/LINES YOU ARE USING!!!!!

hugs and blessings--di

WELCOME TO AUGUST--AND END TO CHRISTMAS IN JULY

 Oh my--was I glad to put all of the Christmas back into --time out!!!

I did several Christmas projects--but after the first week or two--my 'heart' wasn't really into it--but I just keep 'pluggin' away at it!!

Here is the newest project--

I am not sure when I the got the bird circle fabric--??? I think it might have been this year--but???  All I know is I found it in my Christmas fabric tote--wanted to do something with it--but what???  Then I found a site that has printed items--cute, cute,cute--and you can get them in several sizes--I seen some I liked--signed up for the site--and every so often I get a sale newsletter from them and this pine tree was on one--this panel is 18x18" and made the perfect background for the little bird ornaments--this is now ready to be layered and basted and hand quilted!!  (I got some other pre-printed squares to play with--so more coming from this new site to me??)

And this is where I am on this project--

I really liked how this 'redo' came out--right up to this  outer border--I love the fabric on the border--just not sure I like this border on this little quilt top?????  So --now?????

and I did alot--and I mean alot of hexies the last few days--

There is 20 sets of at least 6 hexies to each print in this box--with some random ones there in a pile outside the box--not sure how I want to finish these--whither into flowers, or just random stitching them together with some reds, greens and whites???????

And here is how far I have gotten on Mrs. Claus--

I did get the rest of her dress stitched in and started on the 'fur' along the hem of her dress--still have her slippers to do--plus a big rug under her rocking chair with some kittens and puppies on it--I have surprised myself that I have keep working on this project--it is way more involved than it looked in the magazine!!!!!

And this project--

really 'stalled' out on me--so it's definitely in time out!!!

In regular sewing news--

I started the row of the numbers to the ABC quilt--

And finished the teal jewel hearts--

though these look more blue--opps!!!!!!

I am ready for the new color---Yellow--bring it on------!!

I am continuing to have daily problems with the Vertigo--but I did notice one day this week while sitting on the patio out front--that the Palm trees here are just loaded with huge blooms--plus we have had the Saharan dust for a couple weeks or more--so am believing the vertigo is being caused by those two things --I just have to do everything in slow motion and everything takes me longer to do--but --thank God, for helping me --I do keep on going and staying busy--doing alot of hand work--at least!!!

SO--WHATS EVERYONES PLAN FOR AUGUST?????  STARTING ANY NEW PROJECTS--TELL ME ABOUT THEM!!!

HAVE AN AWESOME WEEK--HUGS, DI

WEDNESDAY--A GOOD DAY FOR A POST!!

So--is everyone staying cool or warm--and are you working on those Christmas projects???

I have mostly been working on Christmas--but have done a bit on the block of the month projects too--

first I got the rest of the embroidery done on block #7 of the Country Heart blocks--

and I got a few more of the 'color' of the month jewels made up--in teals and aqua's--

And I did get this month's tiny house finished up--for Melisa--

now there is 7 tiny houses on the tree!!!

As for Christmas stitching--

Here is where I am on Mrs. Claus--

just a couple more reds to fill in this area--but still have the front of the dress to-- under the quilt on the front!!!

And here is progress on this little project--

remember I first did them this way--all on 'one' piece of cloth--

then I cut that piece of cloth into squares and did a blanket stitch around each of the little squares--

And once these were stitched onto the green backgrounds--I gave them an outer border--

And of course there is always "one" who fails to follow the rules--

They have been recused and are not back into the correct framing--I still have one more block to do--as I only got 8 green squares out of the green fabric--but today I did 'decide' to piece 2 pieces of the green for the 9th block--!!!!

And I also--cut some 2" strips from my Christmas fabrics and then sewed 4 strips together--and then I took one of each of the sets of strips--in 6 different patterns and cut out my own shapes and cut backings in white and red snowflakes and appliqued the designs to them--

I have more of the strip sets--but here is where I am in the plan so far?????

It's been a fairly quiet last 5 days for me and I am having a really bad time with Vertigo--oh--my--in the middle of the afternoon last Friday I bent down to empty one of my de-humidifiers and my world went all wonky--felt I wasn't walking straight and had to hang on to walls and furniture and such--with some other reactions--so did not do much the rest of the day--it has been better since Saturday--but am still not doing alot--just basics and sitting and doing hand work --have to sew--to keep my sanity--I do have alot of problems with my ears and sinus--but never as bad as Friday's attack--!!!

ONLY 9 DAYS LEFT FOR CHRISTMAS IN JULY--HOW ARE YOUR PROJECTS COMING ALONG?????   I THINK I WILL BE GLAD TO GET BACK TO OTHER PROJECTS IN AUGUST--THOUGH!!!!!!  HAVE AN AWESOME REST OF THE MONTH--

HUGS, AND SUNNY THOUGHTS--DI

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