Books, Beach and Birthday!

July is moving along at a fast clip, do you ever wonder where the time goes, it seems it was just yesterday I was blowing out the candles on my 62nd birthday cake on the first of July and here we are 9 days into the month.

I have been slowly making progress on the Peace symbol Zenbroidery and I am happy to say my satin stitch is looking much better as I work, for some reason I always struggled with that stitch, but not nearly as much as I struggled with the french knot.

Several members of the stitching challenge I am in have made this and told me that once its nearly done it will be very hard to get the needle through, I had noticed how dense the stitching looked on photos they had posted so I am using back stitch to outline some of the motifs rather than have it all filled in,  I like the look of some white spaces.

My time on Sanibel Island was lovely, though as it is with vacations too short. The weather was lovely sunny and hot, I forgot the further south in Florida the hotter it gets though it did seem less humid being on the gulf coast enjoy the balmy breezes.

Spent some time shelling on the beach and browsing bookstores during the afternoon rains, the water so clear and the shells abundant.

a perfect beach day

hunting shells low tide

tiny shells on the shore

lovely day

I didn't take too many photos, I was too busy picking up shells and walking along the shore and wading into the water.  I will post some photos of the larger shells found eventually.  After an early morning of shelling I brought out my beach chair and spent a few hours soaking in the sun.

I located two book shops on the Island, one of the bookshops had 3 buildings and books everywhere.
These are some of the books I bought.

a little of everything

City Guide

two in one

I also found a bookshop in Fort Myers and purchased a few books but I haven't unpacked those yet.  I have just started the Terry Prachett  Discworld series so I am picking up the books not available at our library, and I just thought to grab the City Guide complete with map.  Wicked is the first two novels for a friend. The Randy Wayne White books are written by a Sanibel author and the novels take place in and around Southwest Florida.  Now I can start this series too.

On the first of July I celebrated my 62nd Birthday with a little cake that just makes me smile, it was so colorful.

basket of flowers cake

I have to tell you those flowers were amazing and quite sweet, I don't like too much frosting so I scrape most of it off, it was a delicious white cake inside.

One of the new projects I am working on is a witch bonnet Sue quilt, here is a look at two of the blocks waiting for embellishing, I will be embroidering the blocks and adding some beads too.

Here is a close up of one of the Sue blocks, they are appliqued on using fusible web, don't you just love the spider webs.

I'm thinking may be using some metallic threads around the block.  Here is a look at a traditional Sun Bonnet Sue block I made years ago.

As you can see the black threads are all the embroidery I added around the edges, added the lines for socks and umbrella handle and her hands.

Well that's all I have for now, I will be posting up dates on my projects as they progress.

Happy Summer Solstice

The first day of summer brings me back to my childhood days of eagerly waiting for the last school bell to ring signaling the end of the school year and endless days of sunshine, tree climbing, berry picking, trips to the beach, chasing fireflies, skinned knees and playing outdoors with every kid in the neighborhood from dawn till dark.

While I may no longer get those skinned knees or play outdoors from dawn til dark, I do take trips to the beach, I'd chase fireflies if there were any here in Florida.  I do spend as much time outdoors as possible, though usually in the early part of the day to beat the summer heat most of my playing outside the gym or frolicking at the beach is with needle and thread or a good book both of which give me as much pleasure as those activities I did as a child.

My latest projects from the hand embroidery over the recent weeks are my winter goddess, though it didn't turn out as I planned I do like how she looks.

I had meant to stitch her using mostly blues, white and silvery gray and just a touch of green and red for the flowers she is stitched on a snowflake printed pale blue fabric,  but as I stitched her I changed my initial plan of stitching the swirls in blues and gray choosing to use green instead.  I'm happy with the overall results.

One of my current projects is the Zenbroidery Peace Symbol kit I purchase a few months ago.  I am using mostly variegated floss this is my progress so far.  I am slowly stitching this in between other

projects which brings me to the other project I am working on The Summer of Love stitch at home challenge I signed up for in May.

I chose a whiter shade of pale colors provided by DMC, once they arrived I had to decide where they would work best in my design.  Knowing myself as I do I know I would tweak the design several times before I began stitching.  

As you can see I did finally get started on the stitching and believe me when I tell you this took me quite a while to stitch. I'm happy I like it so far.  

I am planning to take the challenge piece along with my on vacation so I can make the August deadline. I'll be at the beach so I'll need to sand proof my work and tools. I don't stitch daily as I would like to because something like sore fingers or housework tends to get in the way.  On days when my allergies kick up a notch my eyes water all day so I can't really see well enough to stitch. And some days I'm just not in the mood to stitch.

On the days when I don't feel like stitching I will either read or do some other form of needle work, usually crochet.

I purchased the Playa Ruana pattern last month from a store online called Two of Wands, I just lose the soft flow it appears to have.  I plan to use my shawl in a ball yarn hoping to get a light airy look. I don't normally crochet in the summer time but this pattern just called to me.

Last week I picked up a few books to take along on vacation, I went in search of a beach read and came home with a short stack of books.

The book on the bottom is the one I had in mind to purchase the others were just happy surprises. I love cozy mysteries and I have wanted to read the E.J. Copperman series because they take place in New Jersey, if you didn't know it I moved to Florida from NJ 20 odd years ago and still consider it home.   The Beach Bags and Burglaries I'll take with me on vacation too along with a magazine or two.

I have also started planning a little Halloween quilting project which I will begin some time in July and once I have all the fabrics chosen. 

Have a warm and happy Summer Solstice

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.

Beltane Embroidery Revealed and other Emroidery Projects in the Works

About 10 days ago I wrote a post that included the few snippets of images for an upcoming hand embroidery project I wanted to make for Beltane, I had given little clues as captions.

driftwood or horns?

leaf unfurling or spiral or shell?

leaves or duck foot prints?

As you can see all those clues have been answered, the below photo is the piece on the stitch and wash away fabric right before I put in the last stitches on the ivy vines.

stitched on a wash away fabric

The finished piece is of a spiral Goddess standing between the stag horns used to represent the God. I used pink cotton fabric for the background for a experiment for Spring the first photo is more the true pink of the fabric, my lighting is not ideal and neither are my photography skills.  I am making another of these on a white background, I'm not too happy with my experiment, oh well live and learn and redo.
My next projects for hand embroidery will include two kits to keep me stitching between pieces I design myself.  I like having a few projects to keep me on track with the Year of Stitches challenge I joined in January.

The phases of the moon is a kit I purchased from an Etsy shop a few months ago and finally got around to putting it my hoop. The shop is here  https://www.etsy.com/shop/cozyblue

This lovely Peace symbol is from a shop on Ebay, a friend sent me a link to the shop thinking it would be something I would like and she was correct.

It is a Zenbroidery pattern and are available on Amazon, Ebay, Etsy just to list a few places for you.
I have another design in the works and should have it done in a day of so.

Moon Phases stitched

Here is the Moon Phases with all the embroidery done now I just need to iron it and decide how I want to finish the piece.