A little time on the beach and an stitchy update.

As August rapidly comes to an end and the summer not too far behind I took a few days away from all things stitchy to spend some much needed time at the seashore.

This most recent destination was to St. Augustine Beach, one of Floridas many beaches. Last Friday was a perfect beach day, blue skies, a cool breeze coming in off the ocean, lots of sand, shells and rocks to explore.

upon the rocks

Don't you just love a beach with big boulders to climb over and peek into, like this little cavern of stone.

little cave

The beach wsn't the only sights to see, while driving through the streets I came across this lovely Art on a fence.

fence art

the other end of the fence

There were also some lovely homes to admire, none more interesting then this castle which was well hidden behind vegetation and a strong metal fence, not exactly a home but a lovely landmark just the same, this is Castle Otis I added the link below for more detatil.

Castle Otis

castle close up

Castle Otis link http://www.castleotttis.com/

I love the beach, it is where I head whenever I need a break from the real world or to just be with my own thoughts.  I can sit or walk for endless hours just watching the waves roll in, listening to the gulls and picking up a few of natures gifts offered up by the sea.

gifts from the sea

I have made a little more progress on the potting shed block for the Hocuspocusville quilt.  I am in no hurry to complete, in fact now that all the blocks are traced onto fabric I think of these as my go to blocks when I need a change in what I am working on.

block one

One last look at the beach, I would love to capture this in fabric or threads some day.

Finally some stitching is underway

Well after a few set backs, short road trips and a bout with my allergies so bad I could barely see the hand embroidery on the first Hocuspocusville block has been started.

And after many, many months of test driving all makes and models I finally bought a car to replace my 1996 Cavalier.

Tomorrow's Blue Moon and some autumn patterns

Full moons always seem powerful to me, I feel deeply creative and intensely magical during this time, when we have a blue moon, which happens when two full moons occur in the same month, I believe we are empowered more than ever.

The blue moon, which will not happen again until 2018, will illuminate the sky Friday. During this time why not take the opportunity to be illuminated as brightly as the moon, be energized, radiate and glow.

Tomorrow I am going to attend a small gathering for a little magical stitching and I have just the items I want to work on.

This sweet acorn pattern above and the lovely little pumpkin pattern below were both purchased from Prairie Point Junction and I thought they would make a lovely addition to my home during the upcoming autumn holidays.

 http://prairiepointjunction.com/

My idea was to use a single motif for napkins, tea towels and peraps a place mat or table topper, this in addition to the actual pattern project.  I think the ring of motifs would look nice as a candle mat on an altar or perhaps even an altar cloth.  

Tonight I need to trace the hand embroidery motifs onto the fabric so I can bring them along tomorrow for our gathering.

What do you have planned for this July's Blue Moon?

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

Preparing for some witchy stitching

Today is one of those days where everything comes together and I can spend a few hours, if not the entire day indulging in some me time.

I am anxious to get some hand stitching on the Hocuspocusville blocks started so today I managed to trace 3 of the blocks.

potting shed

bubble and brew

My plan is to trace all the blocks for hand embroidery before I begin stitching so I can just do one after the other.

I did have a set back while tracing the patterns onto the tone on tone fabric, the fabric was so rough it wore down my micron pen nib so I decided to just use unbleached muslin, which I was originally planning because I can see the tracing on the fabric better, and I had enough on hand. I think if I went a head with the other fabric, stitching may have been difficult.

So anyway, the first 3 blocks are traced with 9 more to go, it takes about forty minutes or so to trace each block depending on the details.

Peace Square and the Four Goddesses embroidered

4 Goddesses

Another hand embroidery piece has been hand stitched, now onto pressing and adding a simple border.

My Peace Square stitchery is done and also needs to be pressed and trimed to size then mailed off.

Peace square

I love working small hand embroidery pieces, it keeps my fingers busy and my stitching improves with each piece.

Happy Summer Solstice to All