Greenman hand embroidery progress

My progress on the newest Greenman hand embroidery is coming along at a slower pace then I had anticipated, it seems February has been a month of restlessness for me with a little busy tucked in to.
And on top of it all I was hit with a nasty bug this week that had me in bed for most of the week part of which I fought a high fever and bouts of nausea I could live without.

So far today is the second day I'm fever free so hope I'm on the upswing, last year at this time I was laid low for 7 weeks I just don't need a repeat of that.

Here is the progress of my newest Green Man embroidery in the snap frame and waiting for stitching

 the hand embroidery underway

I am using DMC embroidery floss throughout, 2 strands of thread most are variegated

When I got to this point in my progress(above pic) I wasn't sure I liked the look so I put my work aside for a nearly a week to rethink the pattern.

I mixed single strands from two different skeins to change things up a bit so I have a little of brown in the mix of greens which you can see best in the photo below where I'm working the bottom corner.

 I changed to the circular hoop which makes working the edges easier, the thickness of the Q-snap frame tends to get in the way. When I was once again happy with the overall pattern I picked up my work and began the corner leaves and stitching continues.

What I have been doing so far in January

Wow the 27th of January, this month has been flying by and my lack of posting for the past few weeks sows me how busy I've been.

The first week of January I was recovery from a nasty bout of bronchitis that hit me during Yule week which made me so darn tired I put all my energy into what had to be done so I could rest, I didn't want this to last for 7 weeks like it did last Spring.

Once I was feeling better and able to get around more I resumed my stitching projects and this week I have a Brigid's Cross in the making and should have embroidery done by the weekend.

The winter goddess has finally been started, is coming along slowly and I think she will be a fine addition to my other hand embroidered goddess pieces. She is an Urban Threads pattern.

The newest Greenman is in the hoop and ready for the stitching to begin I have most of the embroidery floss colors chosen but while I stitch I tend to make changes.

Aside from hand embroidery I have ventured back into my beading and jewelry making supplies and will have a few pieces to post soon.  When my fingers are too sore to stitch or bend wires I hit the bookshops and library.
This week I have two new books on my reading table the first book is a gift from a friend she is just coming into the Goddess path and thought it would be nice if we could read and discuss.

The little gardening book I ordered after several of my friends posted the book on their Facebook pages, I have hopes of finding a few quick tips for days when my body doesn't have the stamina to be in the garden for 6 hours, I miss those days so much but my body began to feel the heat and humidity

https://www.facebook.com/TWOwomenANDaHOE/

about two years ago so spending an entire day in the garden is no more because it takes me too long for my body to recover. Speaking of the garden my rhododendron showed its first buds last week and

even after the tornado like winds and warnings all of the blooms are intact.

My poinsettia is doing very nicely after being put outside I even forgot to cover it when the temps dropped below freezing earlier in the month.

My lemon and lime trees have beautiful buds and are so fragrant it won't be long till there are some bees buzzing around.

Lime

Lemon

This week I'll spend a few mornings clearing up the fallen twigs from the storm, doing some weeding and cleaning out the beds so I can start my spring planting.
Well that's what I have been doing so far for January, I getting prepared for Imbolc and on the 31st will be attending a wire wrapping class to refresh my skills since I haven't done wire wrapping in quite some time.

Progress on Greenman #2 embroidery

Greenman #2

The Greenman #2 hand embroidery piece just off the lightbox and waiting for stitching, the Celtic knots on each corner

Celtic Knot 

I decided to crayon tint the piece to add some interest to the stitching, I've added some darker greens around the mouth when I noticed how yellow it appeared in the photo.

crayon tint

The first stitches have been added and I am rethinking the entire piece

Stitching begins

The outline stitches of the piece are done now to tackle each leaf and the acorns which resemble pinecones, the lines were added before I decided to crayon tint to make them stand out among the leaves.

Greenman #2 in progress

For me the Greenman represents Spring, gardening and life in general, whenever I see a Greenman whether as a piece of jewelry or a garden ornament, a printed tee shirt or a quilt I just think Spring.

My favorite Greenman pendant from 1992, this embroidery may have been inspired by the pendant

Back in 1999 I was taking a pottery class at the local adult education center where my love with clay first emerged along with hand built pottery.
My first greenman piece was very flat but to me still held a certain charm and became a test piece with glaze, firing and making pottery in general.

Test piece

A few weeks later I my first Greenman piece emerged from the kiln after the last firing and I was overjoyed.

Greenman One

I would go on to create and sell several more of these pottery pieces, none of them were as special as this first piece I made in 2000 just in time for Spring.  I have an itch to get my hands back into some pottery clay again and you can be sure there will be a greenman in a kiln once again.

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/

Crazy Quilt block and new quilt class

I have completed the piecing of my crazy quilt block started at the Workshop I attended on January 3.

Overall I am happy with the results despite the haphazard way it was pieced, I have read a few books and received some great tips from members of a facebook group I joined and they all suggest adding the center piece and working in a clockwise direction when adding the other pieces, so my next block I will give it a try. I did begin adding some embroidery which I will post soon.

The beginning quilt class began last Friday and we are piecing fence rail or rail fence blocks as the first blocks for the sampler quilt we will be making.

The photo above shows the two methods we used to piece the blocks, I am enjoying the class so far and have learned a few nifty tricks using the rotary cutter and cutting strips, amazing how quick the pieces pile up and my hands didn't ache one bit.

The last blocks were homework I pieced them together yesterday finally feeling better after being down with a head cold all week and just miserable. Of course while sewing I hit a snag and my bobbin jammed, I was baffled as I stitched 6 pieces without incident and then grrrr jam, I fiddle around undid the jam and made a test line of stitches with no problem started to sew the last pieces to the block and you guessed it jam, this went on for an hour and after re-threading the sewing machine, tweaking tensions and bobbin, I was able to get the last pieces added, no more jams.

I have to press the blocks and later this evening I will do another test stitching and again tomorrow morning before I leave for class, I was just about ready to buy a new machine yesterday. This is the sampler quilt we are making in class

Oh new stamps for the first letters I will be mailing out in February's A Month of Letters Challenge.

I just love the simplicity of the design, they would look nice on a pretty little Valentine, don't you think?
Not sure what the letter challenge is, if you like to write letters, if you want to make a new pen pal or two, you can click this link here http://lettermo.com/  and see what its all about.

Here is the progress of my Greenman hand embroidery piece I am working on