A Couple of Finishes and some WIPS

But I will never admit to all the haul I've been purchasing lately.  Could be where I'm getting comfort from whilst stuck at home (except on Tuesdays and Thursdays when I have to go to work--teleworking on Mon-Wed-Fri). 

But I did finish my Summer Swoon quilt.  This fabric was bought several years ago during a late night Party Party Party that the now closed local quilt shop had. 

Pretty subtle summer colors but it has lemons and ginghams and a little brighter in real life  It will be perfect for my summer bed spread. 

With the Material Girls challenge my next project  to work on is Frolic, the Bonnie Hunter mystery.  All the parts are together, and the full blocks are done.  Just need to piece the side and corner pieces and put it all together.  Just!  Ha! It's a Bonnie Hunter quilt - thousands of pieces.  I'm not thrilled with my color choices - it sounded so pretty in my head but just not enough contrast in real life.  But it will be perfect for my bed in the fall  Pictures to come in the next month or so

As far as other stitching, I did get a little bit on the face mask bandwagon.  I made one for myself and then a workmate of mine from Sierra Vista Mall asked if I would make one for each of her family members which I was happy to do.  I also made one for my boss as we do have to interview inmates and since where I work is a petri dish of germs, it makes sense that we protect ourselves as best as we can.  Now the principal wants one and I luckily have two extras cut out and ready to go so I will do that for him and his girlfriend who is going through chemo so she should have a pretty mask to wear.  Here's a picture of mine.  I use two different fabrics and I put a woven stabilizer in the inside and a piece of twist tie for the nose area.

I also have two charity quilts to machine quilt.  One is almost done and the other needs to be pinned, quilted and bound

CROSS STITCHING

This is where I am getting in trouble with haul.  I have over 150 charts now and I can't stop myself.  They are always coming out with all these beautiful patterns and I just need to have them.  Now I need the time.  (Yes, I know I am home more now but you will see below what has been keeping me busy these last few weeks.)  Anyway I only have one fully finished project.

And here are some things that I am currently stitching. 

This is one of 12 pieces  I will stitch them each separately and make little pillow ornaments.  It's my first time incorporating one thread over one thread (see the word Holiday). 

The S is done in the Cricket Collection Spring piece.  The fabric is really yellow which doesn't show in this pic.

Liberty Lane - still have a ways to go on this one.

With Thy Needle & Thread Spring Fling on pink Monaco fabric that I dyed.

Got block #3 of 9 finished for Little House Needleworks Farmhouse Christmas.  Putting all 9 together on one piece.

I'm also working on a Prairie Schooler Autumn town scene.  I'm a bit over 1/4 done with that.  I try to work a couple days in a row on a project.  Because I like to see some progress and only working an hour or so a day just doesn't show enough progress to make me happy.  

This last picture is my bag for Stitch Maynia.  I have never participated before but thought it would be a perfect time for me to start my Christmas ornaments for my family.  I made a list of all the threads I'll need for all of the ornaments.  So far I've been able to convert all to DMC floss.  I also dyed two fabrics for the projects.  (see pics below).  One turned out pretty green and the other I just dyed using brown Rit Dye and then baked for some mottling.  I've scaled back on the projects I wanted to work on from my list I made in January.  Keeping it mostly to family gift ornaments and not any for me or other holidays.  I want to get them done.

 

I also dyed some fabric for the Christmas list pattern.  I got all the threads using Priscilla Blains colors and dyed my fabric a blue like hers too.

And to make this post even longer, here is what I've been working on for over a month.

I gel stained and chalk painted my dining room furniture.  The only thing I still have to do is reupholster the chair cushions but I need to go shopping for the fabric for that.  I plan to use a dark brown fabric to match the table top.  Now picture all this furniture in oak wood - purchased over 25 years ago.  Long overdue for an update.  The chairs and table legs and inside of hutch were chalk painted with Annie Sloans cream and I did age a bit with brown wax.  The rest was gel stained with a Hickory colored stain.  I think it turned out great but it was a lot of work.  I was able to clear out and donate more stuff once I had to put all my hutch stuff back.  A week ago the dining room had about 30 boxes of stuff along each side and the table and hutch shoved around while I painted/stained.  It was a mess and a trip hazard  Here's a close up of my tiered tray.  You also get a better sense of the stain on the table. Oh and I know I need candles for my thrift shop candle sticks but the stores are closed that would sell them.  (Non-essential stuff you know,)

Like I said above, I am at work only two days a week now--Tuesdays and Thursdays but need to be near my computer the other three days as we are teleworking.  

There are still a lot of projects that need to get done around the house.  My husband and I were going to tackle some weeds out front today at least enough to make it look better but he will need to spray once the sun comes out.  Poor guy sprayed the pasture and then it rained so none of the weed killer worked.  We live on an acre lot so that was a lot of work.  

I have only lost another two pounds since the last post but that's better than gaining.  All my Dr. and Dentist appointments were cancelled as expected so I have no idea how my blood sugar levels are but I'm assuming much better since I have been eating so much better.  Lots of veggies and protein.  No flour, rice, potatoes, etc.  I will have whole wheat toast or bread occasionally, but that's about it.  No chocolate or candy.  

If you made it this far down the post, thanks for looking.