A Long Pause and I'm Back Again

 As you know over the past year and a month I have been ill and sadly enough this blog has been neglected. Still no answers yet as to what and why the pain began, all my test have been negative, no sign of cancer or tumors, and problems that were thought to have been have improved.

So on Thursday, the 22nd I saw my cardiologist and after a two hour visit I have come home with a laundry list of tests i need to have, so just about every week in May and June I will be having some kind of test. The last appointment is on July 1, my birthday, and believe it or not its listed as: F/U cardiac testing, is this an omen? I believe it translates to Follow UP cardiac test. Anyway I’m happy to say I have been having more good pain free days, but not enough as I see it. I’m sick if hurting. Those days render me pretty much useless, and I have too much to do to spend my days lying down.

Here is what I have been up to lately on my good days, after packing and shipping the daily sales from the Amazon and Ebay stores, I clean house and then I usually read a bit, do some stitching, water the plants.

Last week I pulled out a few old issues of Sage Woman magazine, in the early days publication was pretty regular and the issues arrived quarterly. As years passed publication was a crap shoot, one year you would get 4 issues the next 3. This year I haven’t received a single issue, the last issue was due out August 2020.

My progress on the March Goddess hand embroidery has been slow going I have made some progress on the faces and started the hands. When I finish the hands I will put it aside to get the April goddess finished, I am enjoying this little challenge I made for myself.

Here is a sneak peek at the April goddess for my Goddess of the month project, The Minoan Snake Goddess, I did start stitching it but wanted to get March finished but as the days moved on I realized that wasn't happening so I'm stitching April again and work on March in between. 

Here is an updated photo of some of my goddesses that I have, I ordered a new half moon table to use a an altar and that should be arriving early in May.

This space is getting a little crowded, I usually move things around but I haven’t had a chance in a while but once the new table gets here I will have more space. I have small altars in other rooms but this one I can see from my desk and my loveseat in the livingroom. 
  

This one is the newest from Brigid’s Grove meant to represent Persephone, I love the color and I am partial to these little figurines and in fact just ordered another one in a lovely green. I don’t always keep the goddess as depicted in the description and have quite a few without the belts, whatever goddess I feel a devotion for at the time my goddess will represent. I began taking part in the Brigid’s Grove Living the Questions and also the 30 Days of Goddess Devotion but somehow lost track of what I was doing in March, so I order the pre-printed journal and expected it to arrive for April 1st unfortunately with the postal delays we had this year it wasn’t delivered until the 9th, so I will try again in May, and I also purchased the 2nd edition of the pre-printed journal so I can continue on in June. An idea I had was to print out the pages Molly has generously given us and on my birthday I will do the goddess devotion journal for the entire year.

I plan to set it up either in a scrap book or a 3-ring binder, I haven’t decided yet but I have lots of periodicals to snip from, a stack of old We’moon date book calendars full of lovely goddess images, quotes, etc. I had planned on taking my goddess devotions deeper this year and this journal project through Brigid’s Grove has really helped me with that.

Above are a few books that I have been reading are oldies from the past but so appropriate for the goddess devotional and delving deeper. And a bit of tea with the goddess is always a nice treat, the older books are 365 Goddess by Patricia Telesco, The Goddess Celebrates edited by Diane Stein is an anthology of women’s rituals, written by the foremothers of the goddess spirituality movement and the gem in all by Marija Gimbutas The Language of the Goddess, and right on top is the Whole and Holy a Goddess Devotional by Molly Remer.

Here is a link to Brigid’s Grove if you are interested check it out https://brigidsgrove.com/

I have to transplant a few plants into large pots today, I am late again but oh so hopeful that I will have better luck this year since I have more good says. I would love to put in some raised beds but bending forward causes too much pain so planting in containers this year will have to be enough.

Before I post this here is the completed February goddess the Cailleach, she turned out lovely. I added a quartz crystal to the staff and used a twisted jump ring at the center of her belt. The use of the DMC Etoile floss with the bits of metallic thread was a great choice and gives me the icy effect I was hoping for. I love the look of the spiral fabric she is stitched on and will probably use it for another goddess or two through the year.

Well that’s what I have been up to lately. How is your month going?

April is Moving Rapidly

Is it me or is the month of April moving rapidly? Some days I feel like I can't keep the days of the week straight, for me that's one of the draw backs of not working outside the home any longer. I do know today is (Good) Friday the beginning of the Easter weekend, which means traffic gets a little heavier, the supermarket gets busier and the beaches will be full of tourist here in Florida.  Spring has settled in for it's brief time before the heat of summer arrives here in Florida.

This month has me planning a few new embroidery projects to keep me busy a few of my own designs and a few kits to fill in on days when I either need a break from a project or to fill in while I am preparing fabric and gathering floss for a project.

Last week while shopping at Joann's to pick up a few craft supplies for  my great niece Tessa, I came across a display of Zenbroidery kits and floss packs.

Tree and Sewing mandala kits

You may recall I posted this Peace Symbol Zenbroidery kit I purchase online a few weeks ago,

Peace Symbol Zenbroidery

I just love it and I know it will be quite colorful, (a few other members in The Year in Stitches 2017 challenge are doing the same kit).  So when I found an entire section in the embroidery supplies aisle filled with Zenbroidery kits I had to buy a few, and those 40% and 50% coupons made them such a bargain. The kit includes pre-printed fabric and needle only.  I did purchase 2 floss embellishment packets which includes embroidery thread/floss, sequins, beads and beading thread, which I will pass

embellishments and floss packets

to Tessa she's 4 and loves all those glittery bits and bobs for crafts, they will work nice with the stack of felt I gave her, she is such a sweet child you should have heard her excitement when she opened her package and saw the little pink scissors, squealing "My own scissors, aunt Debbie gave me my own scissors." I wish I had my camera out to record her excitement and her happy dance the scissor handles was all she saw but my she was one happy child.

The most recent hand embroidery piece I am working on is a Venus of Willendorf, which is going

stitching begins

to be a prayer flag or banner I haven't decided quite yet, I am stitching her on a neutral paisley print
cotton fabric using mostly 2 strands of DMC floss.

The Greenman in stitches

The month of February has been moving along rapidly, we are having more days of sunshine finally after the month of gray rainy skies in January, the drops below 30 degrees may actually be a positive thing for my daffodil bulbs I planted a few years ago, the first blooms on my Rhododendron are a sure sign Spring is on her way.

Here is a peek at some stitchery projects I have been working on this month, the quilt class is not meeting again this week from the last class I attended below are the nine-patch variation blocks.

I will be cutting the strips for the log cabin blocks from the class I missed on the 6th due to illness, I was going to stitch them at home but the piecing method used isn't one I am familiar with and I don't want to mess up the blocks I have trouble enough using the rotary cutter to get the strips I need for each block. This pile of scraps is from trying to get a straight edge on the fabric.

Here is the Greenman #1 hand embroidery piece with the stitching complete, I like the overall look using the subtle green print fabric.

Here is Greenman #2 traced onto fabric and waiting for the stitching to begin, I am considering using crayon tint on this piece.

The Celtic knot are going to be in each corner of the greenman #2 piece which is on an eighteen inch piece of fabric.

Currently on the light box are a few Goddesses I have wanted to make for some time now and I finally managed to make the time to trace them onto fabric.

I am feeling bright colors and beads for the Goddesses though those plans can change in a blink of an eye.
Here are a few of this month's embroidery stitches on my crazy quilt block, thanks to the Joyuful Embllishments group my hand emboidery is improving.

For February the stitches are variations of the Herringbone stitch, I like how the stitch looks over the seam.

While my pistil stitch needs work my knots are forming very nicely and no longer resemble mini cauliflower heads.
For the Witches & Witchcraft reading challenge I am reading this wonderful series by

Dolores Stewart Riccio, If you are trying to find a good Wiccan fiction with strong likeable characters, without the silliness of a romance novel or the usual paranoral page turner this series may be for you.

The first book, Circle of Five in the series by Dolores Stewart Riccio introduce five women of varied backgrounds who have formed a friendship. This friendship moves beyond the typical coffee klatches and lunch dates. These women experience a spiritual awakening and form a circle to explore Wicca and all the varied magickal practices that each woman has a particular talent for.

As Tarot, herb magick, candle magick, psychic skills develop so do the characters. The group of women are real, warm, funny, serious, spanning the ages of a young mother with children, accomplished business women, and a delightful lady of a certain age who has the gift of glamour.

So far I have read the first five in the series and have just ordered six throughhere is a link if you are interested in the reading challenge for 2015.
http://melissaseclecticbookshelf.com/2015-witches-witchcraft-reading-challenge-sign-up-post/