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

Stitching Update, Violets and books read

I don't know what gets into me when I see one of these plants looking so lush sitting there on the shelf at the supermarket this morning but I had to buy it.  I haven't had much luck with African Violets but every few years I pick one up and manage to keep it alive for several weeks.

I bought one four years ago when I first moved into this house, I placed it on the windowsill in my living room for a while it did quite well new flowers bloomed as spent flowers were removed. As the weather grew cold I would take it off the windowsill when the sun went down and replaced it in the morning.  That went on for a few weeks until I forgot it was in the window and I was away for a few days and the temps dropped into the 30's and no amount of coaxing could rescue it.

I do love African Violets, they are such a dainty little flower with a subtle scent I pickup when I least expect so I am once again going to try to keep this Africa Violet thriving.

On another note I am making progress on the Holly King Hand embroidery piece I started last month.

I am so glad I decided to crayon tint this piece I think the subtle color makes the threads standout just enough. I am also working on the third Hocuspocusville block which I need to get back to this week, I have been trying to decide whether I want to use black seed beads in place of the french knots on the railings, or bite the bullet and gets lots of practice making french knots.  I don't know what I was

thinking when I drew little circles rather than just make a dot where each knot should go I guess I was so engrossed in the tracing that I just followed the pattern. I do like the idea of using seed beads.

I finished reading all the books in the Amanda Lee Embroidery shop mystery series except for the

newest one, The Stitching Hour, which I will buy eventually.

 I just finished reading Looming Murder today and I'll start the next one Tapestry of Lies next week.