Little blue amulet bag completed

A few weeks ago I began to crochet the purple amulet bag in the bottom corner using blue crochet thread

purple bag with button pattern

It has been a few years since I worked with cotton crochet cotton and steel hook size 6, my eyes struggled to see the loops and my fingers stiffened as I held the hook, it was a slow start just making the first row on the chain stitches, but I managed 4 rows and it only took me about an hour, I won't say how many times I had to unravel it all.

I brought it along to a Thread Therapy group meeting and managed to put in quite a few stitches in a few hours.

I would be getting ready to begin the flap piece when I put it aside to work on a few other projects. It was a challenge to see and my eyes would tear up after about 20 minutes.  Then one day a few weeks ago I was sorting my yarn and fabric bins and mistakenly packed it in one of the bins and for the life of me I could not recall what I did with it.

Then yesterday while climing up the 232 steps of the Devils Millhopper Sinkhole I remembered where it was.

going down was easy

Well I just put in the final stitches and sewed on the button and I can confidently say it looks very much like the photo in the pattern book.

The bag measures a scant 2x3 inches

I think next time I will string beads on the thread and make it a beaded bag and I plan to change the flap just a bit.

I plan to do a light blocking on the bag, there are several other amulet bag patterns in the booklet I would like to make using these threads, the silver metallic thread has sequins which may give it an interesting look.

green, light purple, silver sequins

Blue Amulet Bag

the climb out not so easy.

Happy May Day

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/

Earth Day and Greenman progress

Have a Happy Earth Day

Here is the progress on my Greenman #2 hand embroidery piece the top alf is just about complete.

April's Full Moon

This is the first Full Moon of Spring and is called the Pink Moon to celebrate the return of the many wildflowers. It is positioned very near Spica, the brilliant binary star in the constellation Virgo. This star marks the shaft of wheat in the left hand of the Virgin who was named Demeter or Ceres by the Greeks and Romans; Ceres being the goddess of ‘all things that grow’. It would seem appropriate at this Full Moon to make sure to acknowledge the abundance in our lives upon which we thrive. 

Spring is Here!

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.