A new stitchery challenge by the The San Francisco School of Needlework & Design

I just signed up for a new stitchery challenge offered by The San Francisco School of Needlework & Design, it is my desire to one day take a class or two there but for now the challenge will have to do. Here is a link if you want to join in.


http://www.sfneedleworkanddesign.org/rules-and-entry-form/

Have a Warm and Wonderful Beltane!

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.

Welcome Spring! and Happy Ostara

Frosty Weather before Spring, Garden Update and a Sneak Peek at my Next Project

The hand embroidery on the newest Greenman piece is completed, now I need to decide whether I want to make a wall hanging or frame him.  The blank spaces on the sides were left so I can add fabric leaves to the piece as I planned when designing this piece.

The weather was quite cold last week with our usual before Spring freeze where the temps dropped to 28 and 32 a few nights. I'm happy to say I was paying attention to the weather reports thanks to Accuweather.com updates and covered my plants to protect them from the cold for a few days.

pots gathered under sheets

smaller pots under the table

I uncovered everything yesterday afternoon and moved the plants into the sunshine I'll now in a few days if anything was damaged.

soaking up the warm sunshine

Here is a Sneak Peek at an upcoming project I have in the works, this is a design created for a friend by request and I do hope she will like the finished piece.  Each fragment is from an earlier work of mine and will be combined together to form the full picture. 

horns or driftwood?

leaves or duck foot prints?

spiral shell or leaf unfurling?

Keep watching my blog as I post updates on my progress and the final project when its completed.

4 elements charms

About a week ago I ordered some new elemental charms for a few upcoming jewelry pieces I have in mind they arrived Friday afternoon but I was so busy I didn't have time to look at them until this morning. I'm quite happy with all of the charms and all of them are sterling silver.

I may use a few of the charms on the Elemental Goddess embroidery piece I made a few weeks ago, I have an idea or two floating around my head right now so check back to see what I decide to do.

One last thing the tomato plant is full of fruits despite the deep freeze so I'm hoping no damage appears in the next few days.

tomatoes

tomatoes

and more tomatoes

Today is...