A couple of Monday's chores were washing wooden furniture and quilts.  Grateful for washing machines and dryers, so I don't have to take the quilts down to the creek and wash them there. 😆

Finishing this cross stitch used up the last scraps of polyester batting that had been lurking in the stash.  I'm convinced batting, along with fabric scraps, multiply when left alone for too long.  

I was delighted to find all the clumps of wild roses down by the creek in full bloom yesterday.  The scent was divine.  

Another dish cloth is finished.    Another two have been cast on.  The yarn is soft, has a nice drape and comes in a ton of different colors.

I got carried away with chores yesterday, which meant Rudy was neglected.  It wasn't a craftless day, as I dyed some orphan floss.  I threw the lot in a jar of yellow dye and was happy with the results, except for the shade of green the blue turned into.  That was an easy fix.  It was thrown into a jar of grey dye and ended up a greenish grey.  Much better!  

I also found these hand pieced Farmer's Wife blocks.  The purple and cream one is too small, so will be repurposed as a feature block on a project bag.  The "plan" is to not have as few repeats of the main fabrics for the blocks and make it all from stash.  It may be a case of spot the repeat fabrics.  It will be fun, however it goes.  

Don't you just hate it when you tidy up and can't find things afterwards?  This is the last round (ran out of fabric).

A ton of 1 inch hexi pieces was hiding in this cute snowman tin.  They're a bit thick, but will do to finish it off.

There's enough leftover hexies to play around with and add a bit more to it.

The fabric reminds me of something Escher might have designed.  I only bought 1/4 meter of each, as I wasn't sure what I'd do with it.  Work with what you've got, right?

 

Last night's scrap fabric cutting session was derailed when I found a piece that I thought was big enough to make a reindeer body.  That led to tracing templates.....

....a bit of appliqué for a nose and a rummage through the button box for eyes.  All the template pieces have been cut out, ready to trace, hoof and antler fabric has been pulled.  There's enough mwdium and dark neutral fabrics in the stash to make a herd of reindeer.  A perfect excuse to belt through my chores and start prepping a herd of reindeer while DH sleeps (he works nights at a hospital, so it's a great quiet project to keep me out of mischief).

Magnus Mouse is sitting by the knitting books hinting that he needs clothes.

View from the back deck yesterday around 5.30pm.  The closed in back porch is my favorite place to sit and stitch, knit etc.  In the summer, I bring out my sewing machine.   

No blade of grass will be safe after DH taught me kow to use the zero turn ride on lawn mower yesterday.  This is a flood plain that's on the other side of the first pic.  We will see how well I did in a few days after the grass starts to grow.

We're in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the house sits on the side of a hill.  It gives a perfect view of all the comings and goings of deer, possums, groundhogs and birds.

I pulled the floss and fabric for Night & Day last night.  I think the second down from the left is too grey for tree trunks, so will probably blend them with a couple of browns.  They both looked more greenish grey last night.  Goes to show not even a daylight bulb beats the real deal.

I dug this book out last night, as I couldn't remember how to pick up stitches on an edge to give Magnus Mouse a snout.  It's a brilliant resource.  

I much prefer a book to a video tutorial.  For one thing, I don't need to hit the pause and rewind with a book!    

Have you watched any of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals over the last few weeks?  A different one is on YouTube every Friday and Saturday for a few weeks.  I found out about it yesterday and watched Phantom of the Opera.  Search "the show must go on" in YouTube to find it.

Early last year I spotted the Pieced Tulip Block on Quilter's Cache.   After a quick Google, I found a pic of an antique tulip quilt, from which I copied the leaves and stems.  

Next was a rummage through the button box, where I found a couple of these cuties.

The rest of the scraps were cut up into 

1 1/2 inch squares and another mini was born.  They are hung facing each other on the basement and pantry doors during spring.

I mentioned to DH yesterday that I don't want to make quilts atm.  I think just saying it may have stirred my mojo....just a little.

I've been thinking this morning about drawing up a Carolina lily and a peony block.  I'll have to see what happens! lol

Witch by The Prairie Schooler was finished this morning.  The fabric is a scrap of 14 count aida which I threw into a pot with the last of my purple dye powder.  This is the 2nd witch themed cross stitch on purple dyed scrap fabric.  There's seven more pieces, so I'm thinking it'll be fun to use them all for witch themed ornaments.  

Night & Day by Little House Needleworks has been on my mind for a week or two, so I pulled the pattern out of my stash.  Time to rummage through my fabric stash and floss box.

Stitch dictionaries are my favorite knitting books.  This one was written in 1968.  It's a great resource.

The yarn is 50% cotton and 50% bamboo.  It's sof and drapey, so I'm thinking about making a summer top from it.

It's getting a test run as a few dishcloths, first.  The pattern is sand stitch and I like it a lot.

This one is knit on 3.25mm needles, which will be a bit loose for a garment, but fine for a dishcloth.  If it stands up to that, it'll be fine as a garment.

Bailey found his job as knitting quality controller completely exhausting, so lay on my lap to recover.

Finished The Witch's In by Cherished Stitches a couple of nights ago.  The fabric is a medium purple.  It is a scrap of 14 count aida I threw in the dye pot that has been lurking in my stash.  The pattern is from the JCS Halloween cd.

Started Quaker Reindeer by The Workbox.  The pattern is from the JCS Christmas ornament cd.   It's being stitched on 18 count aida from my stash.

I made Snickerdoodles last night.  They're delicious!

Stitched my initials and the year on this one.  It's in the To Be FFOed pile now.

Finished this one, too.  Also in the To Be FFOed pile.  😁  On to some Halloween stitching.

Making progress. 😁

Also making cookies.  There was a partial bag of almond flour floating around in the fridge, so I made almond choc chip cookies....with M&Ms.  The  recipe is from the King Arthur Flour web site.  They're delicious!