Midway through December and a completed Baba Yaga

 Time is just flying by, can you believe we are in the middle of December, where does the time go? This is going to be a short post.

Having online retail shops and working from home this time of the year can be a challenge, this year I don't think I have slowed down since mid October, it's great on one hand business is doing well and this year I am able to get through all of the days without help, it's exhausting by the end of the day but nothing like last year when I was so ill I needed both my son and daughter in-law to help with the pulling and packing orders and dropping off at the post office.  

This year I have managed to do it all once again, which feels great.  I mentioned being exhausted at the end of the day which has been a problem since having the heart surgery in July, I don't feel as energetic as I think I should be. So in the new year I am going to see a new cardiologist for a second opinion.

During my down time I have been stitching my goddess of the month hand embroidery pieces, I had posted the Elen of the Ways and Baba Yaga while she was being stitched, here she is completely stitched.

I love the expression on her face, she turned out exactly like I had hoped she would.  I am currently stitching the final goddess for the year, Airmid for December.  Recently I posted a photo of the Baba Yaga in one of the Facebook groups I am in and someone pointed out she isn't a goddess but a witch.  I know she is a witch but I follow a goddess spirituality path and consider her a goddess as well.

Time Flies, the Wheel Turns to Beltane

It has been a crazy month with lots of hustle and bustle, running hither and yon and trying to keep on an even keel and stay healthy.  Not always easy but doable.  Early this year I had some great news in regard to my blood work all my numbers were back in the normal range, my main goal was to get my A1C down out of the pre-diabetes range and I'm happy to say I did.  When I opened the page with my test results I did a little happy dance and when I saw my doctor a few days later I had to restrain myself to chanting I told you so.  At the end of 2017 she had wanted me to start checking my blood glucose which baffled me because I wasn't diabetic and my numbers did drop a bit so I didn't really understand but I told here if there was no change I would try the daily testing for a few months.  Now there is no need.  I am currently working on lowering my cholesterol a bit more, even though I am in the normal it has been elevated over the years and as a heart attack survivor I like to keep it in the safest range I can. 

On to my garden, with the winter freezes we had here in Florida my garden took a big hit and I lost the majority of my plants when on more than one night the covers used to protect my plants came off in the wee hours of the night and truth to tell on several evenings I didn't check the weather report and missed the freeze warnings and the alerts I usually get via email somehow didn't quite make it through, or maybe I had to sign up again after a year. 

On the upside, several of my plants did survive and began blooming in the early days of Spring and are still surprising me this week.
The Jasmine is cold hardy so I was happy to see all those fragrant white flowers appear on the equinox in March.

I bought a few little daffodil plants because they just sing spring and I placed them along side my succulent plants one of which I lost.

The daffodils would be placed on my outside altar later in the week for my spring ritual.  I think for once I'm glad to have only container plants for the past two years other wise I would have lost quite a lot more.  The 2 rose bushes are gone and so are the 4 hibiscus plants and the mandevilla, so on .

The Orange Canna lily survived the freeze being a perennial makes a big difference but I really thought she was lost than last week she gave me this lovely flower and a few new shoots poking through the soil.

The Mexican petunias have also come back though not all of them but I'm quite glad these did, I cut off all the dead parts and they are just filling out nicely.

Friday I went off to purchase a few plants to add some spring color to the drab front yard.  My house is gray so the color is an improvement

The new plants consist of lantana and penta to attract butterflies, lavender and rosemary because I just love them both though I haven't had any luck growing lavender in about 4 years but I keep trying. There is also a lemon balm plant.

This rosemary was just so lush and full I had to buy it, I will transplant all the new plants into the larger pots this week, the bag of soil in my garage I thought was potting soil is actually garden soil, great for flower and vegetable beds but not so great in flower pots.  I hope to have a thriving garden in a few weeks.

On the crafting front I have been busy working on my hand embroidered projects, I am still working on the Urban Threads Greenman pattern and happy to say nearly finished with the embroidery.

I'm looking forward to finishing it because my fingers get sore pulling the needle through the extra layer of fabric I have for the backing and the pattern is printed on stitch and wash product and after moving the hoop around it tends to move about and wrinkle at the edges, though smooths back in place easily enough.

My newest hand embroidery is this piece I call  Entering the Forest Clearing on Beltane Eve. Just when I thought the stitching was complete I noticed there was no ground to stand upon. I must have 'erased' the ground when I was pressing out lines when I made a few changes. So literally I am back to the drawing board. Some day I will learn not to make changes midway through my designs.

I am currently reading The Witches of New York by Ami MacKay, as part of the 

This book Baba Yaga by Toby Barlow  was also read for the challenge  last month. It wasn't my cup of tea but I finished it, I think for e I just kept waiting for it to get interesting and it didn't.

 http://melissaseclecticbookshelf.com/2018-witches-witchcraft-reading-challenge-sign-up-post-2/

I chose Crone level as my goal which is 16-20 books, as per the rules from the website (link above):

• Any full length book that includes a witch as a main character or includes major witchcraft elements counts. They may be fiction or non-fiction. However, they should not be reference books which are not read cover to cover-I will leave this to your discretion.

I have read a few other books for this challenge though I don't always snap a photo because I am forgetful.

Midsummer Night's Mischief ,Bell Book and Candlemas, Yuletide Homicide all by Jennifer David Hesse, these are a cozy light mystery. 

My most recent non-embroidery project was these cute little Goddess/Spirit dolls using craft clothespins, bits of fabric, beads, buttons and charms.

These work up quickly and really have spirit to them.  The clay faces are made using a mold and air dry clay.

Week two Goddess

FOr week two if the 13 Goddesses in 13 Weeks challenge I have finished my Baba Yaga which would have been my first goddess if my iron didn't choose to stop heating at the time I was ready to heat set the crayon tinting.

She is hand embroidered and crayon tinted on white on white print cotton fabric.  Here are some interesting bits on Baba Yaga the ‘old woman’ of autumn was called Baba by the Slavic inhabitants of eastern Europe, Boba by the Lithuanians. This seasonal divinity lived in the last sheaf of grain harvested in a year, and the woman who bound it would bear a child that year. Baba passed into Russian folk legend as the awesome Baba Yaga, a witchlike woman who rowed through the air in a mortar, using a pestle for Her oar, sweeping the traces of Her flight from the air with a broom.

The challenge guidelines can be found here https://timelessrituals.blogspot.com/  as well as more Goddesses and links to see what other bloggers are creating.