Crafting Witches and Reading challenge Update

I have all of the Hocuspocusville Witch themed blocks traced onto fabric and will begin hand embroidering the blocks later today.  I was surprised at how quickly I was able to trace all the blocks once I sat down and found my groove.

Over the next few weeks I have a few other Witch quilt patterns to start, the process of tracing the embroidery blocks, to piecing the appliques should keep me quite busy for the next few months.  Here is a look at some of the patterns I will be working.

I think these will make a nice addition to my growing Witch collection, and I hope will give me more experience doing hand applique.

Here is my update on the books I have reading for the 2015 Witches & Witchraft reading challenge.

I choose Crone Level which is 16-20 books, I'm happy to say I reached my Crone level and passed it reading 27.

Here are the Books I have read so far this year:

The Penguin book of Witches Katherine Howe

The Wizard and the Witch John C. Sulak

by Lenora Henson

The Wicked Garden

The Witches of Snyder Farm

Beltane

Aurora's Wake

by Dolores Stewart Riccio

Circle of Five

Charmed Circle

The Divine Circle of Ladies Making Mischief

The Divine Circle of Ladies Courting Trouble

The Divine Circle of Ladies Playing with Fire

The Divine Circle of Ladies Rocking the Boat

The Divine Circle of Ladies Tipping the Scales

The Divine Circle of Ladies Painting the Town

The Divine Circle of Ladies Digging the Dirt

By M R Sellars (Rowan Gant Series)

Harm None

Never Burn a Witch

Perfect Trust

The Law of Three

Crone's Moon

Love is the Bond

All Acts of Pleasure

The End of Desire

Blood Moon

Miranda

Spellbooked by Joyce and Jim Lavene

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katharine Howe

What I am reading this week

For the 2015 Witches & Witchcraft challenge this week I am reading Katherine Howe's The Psysick Book of Deliverence Dane.

I didn’t know anything about this book, I fell for the book cover then I read the summary and it peaked my interest. It has magic, witches and Salem. The perfect read for the witches & witchcraft challenge, Here’s a small summary:


“Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation. But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie’s grandmother’s abandoned home near Salem, she can’t refuse. As she is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the family house, Connie discovers an ancient key within a seventeenth-century Bible. The key contains a yellowing fragment of parchment with a name written upon it: Deliverance Dane. This discovery launches Connie on a quest–to find out who this woman was and to unearth a rare artifact of singular power: a physick book, its pages a secret repository for lost knowledge”

I have to say this book really caught me by surprise, I found myself turning page after page. The novel moves between contemporary times and one of the disturbing periods in American history – the Salem witch trials. This book moves solidly and tensely through a series of events, building suspense and anticipation, feeding us tidbits of what is to come and making it impossible to set the book down.

For more information on the Witches and Witchcraft challenge here is a link
http://melissaseclecticbookshelf.com/2015-witches-witchcraft-reading-challenge-sign-up-post/

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/

A Crazy start to the New Year

So here we are nine days into 2015 and things are moving along nicely, weather wise here in Florida we are having a cold snap with temps dropping into the low 30's. brrrr! Anyway let me move onto more interesting topics.

I may have mentioned in an earlier post my plans to make 2015 a more creative year for myself with plans to kick off the New Year attending a day long Crazy Quilt workshop,  I had a wonderful day, the other 10 women attending the group created some beautiful blocks. I am only sorry I forgot to pack my camera it would've been nice to show off their blocks too.

Celeste Viale, our instructor was encouraging and shared her knowledge with the group, as well as her love of quilt making.  As the day wore on and stitching got under way I could feel the stress and tension of December melt away, this in part to the crazy quilt making and the idyllic setting at the Crones' Cradle Conserve.

Fabrics, trims, buttons, threads and floss were plentiful and shared among the group, tips, ideas and many questions along with some laughter soon gave way to the silence of nearly a dozen women heads bent reverently stitching their crazy quilt block.

Here is the start of my first hand pieced Crazy Quilt block, I will be adding more pieces if I can decide on the fabric placement, I changed my mind 5 times yesterday.  In the meantime there are other projects waiting like the Greenman I drew onto fabric waiting now patiently to be stitched, I am planning to use it in a greenman crazy quilt block.

I began reading Spell Booked by Joyce and Jim Lavene for the 2015 Witches and Witchcraft reading challenge.

If you are interested the challenge info can be found here:http://melissaseclecticbookshelf.com/2015-witches-witchcraft-reading-challenge-sign-up-post/