Settling in to 2022...

     Re-reading my blog posts for January made me realize how obsessive I am about time and productivity. I'm sure that's excusable when a new year starts! I've now relaxed a bit, found my rhythm and accepted it as a slow one.

     I mentioned a show I am really enjoying on the Discovery Channel. It's British and it's called "The Repair Shop." Apparently this is a real place, where people bring their broken heirlooms, from stuffed animals, to mechanical toys, and smashed ceramics of all sizes and shapes. All the crafts people sit and work patiently at restoration for many hours and voila! The thing always ends up as good as new. Mention of the time spent, or the cost to repair, is just not a part of the show. Oh, what a wonderful world, beyond the constraints of money and time! So I've taken that to heart and have vowed to work as patiently and slowly as needed to get a thing done. 

     In that spirit, I slowly dissected the flower houses of Winterville and replaced the gigantic poinsettias with more architectural fabrics. And I got the oversized roof to fit.

     I am so happy I took the two or three hour U-turn-- I really like the way this is looking now. I got the rows of houses sewn together, now all that is missing is the corner Ohio stars, to be done in blue and white. I had to order more of the teal grunge-- how, oh how, do I remember the color was called "Dynasty" after three years, but I can't remember where I just put my phone. 

    Fortunately, an Etsy seller still had a yard of Dynasty-- it needs outer borders, too, and that's at the top of my list to finish this week.

     While waiting, I got my second Ribbon Runs Through It block done. I think it took even longer, but I used my dibble dabble technique-- just doing a portion here and there. I'm going to make this my Thursday project-- Thursdays are usually a home day for me. I'm doing this with my neighbor-- she's already ahead! One star a month for sixteen weeks is the first hurdle to jump. It's great to have a friend stitch along for motivation.

The Eastern Seaboard Carefree Highways set released! That leaves only ten more states. When Winterville is done, I'm going to start assembling. I'm sewing them together in the order they were added to the Union, so there's got to be huge chunks I could already join, especially since most (all?) of these were in the original thirteen.

Then, I've had this on my WANT TO DO, list for a long time-- some one color, easy machine cross stitch! I've been watching too many YouTube Flosstube videos, and I really love these small stuffed ones that are called bowl fillers. So don't tell any hand cross stitchers, but I made this in less than an hour-- in the hoop!

I'm hoping to come up with a little winter set of three this week. I now need a "bowl" to fill... you'd be surprised, but I am not a great home decorator for all of the artistic genes. There's a common theme-- all these cross stitchers find things at Hobby Lobby-- sometimes, if they're on sale, they just paint right over the saying on an item and plaster their cross stitch right over it! 

    For the bowls, they use these antique looking "trencher bowls"-- I did not find anything remotely like that at my Hobby Lobby. We have a HUGE one, though-- I doubt if I made it through 25% of the aisles.

    I did find this wooden plaque in the wood aisle--

     It looks great behind my Birth Month Mug Rug. So what you do next is kind of decorate it with a bow and greenery. I'm not sure about this part and I don't have a lot of silk flowers laying around the house. But once it's decorated, you can put a magnet behind your  piece, hang it, and just change it out every month. I'd love to do that. Let's see what happens! I'm sure Mr. SFO will be delighted to see more home decor items coming into the house.

    I fully embraced the Autumn Sampler as my morning stitch again, but it's been hard to get it rolling, too. Lesson-- just do one thing at a time! So here I am, stitching my black cat and broom in the middle of winter. What a nut! Thank you, oh, thank you, for caring about my blog!

     On Flosstube, they are obsessed with showing the backs of things, so here it is...

...and you can see that my back is a lot neater
than my kitchen is right now.

It's all about priorities, people!

And finally, the Aerogarden:

   My dill plant quickly outgrew the little toothpick stake. Mr. SFO loves salmon, so I'll trim it and make little Dill Sauce. And just look at that basil! I think a Spaghetti and Meatballs is in MY future as well!

   Have a patient, slow, and lovely little week!

xox

Carol