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.

Happy New Year!

Happy Winter Solstice!

Warm wishes for a wonderful Yule!

and a Blessed Winter Solstice!

A new project to stitch

As a creator of Goddess related projects I am always on the look out for Goddess related artist and creations, I love hand crafted items related to the goddess and paganism in general so this past summer I took part in the 13 Goddess challenge and posted my first of several creations starting with this post: http://witch-crafted.blogspot.com/2016/06/a-new-challenge.html  I did all of my creations in hand embroidery and while I didn't do all 13 goddesses I am happy with the few I did make.


While I was doing some goddess research for an upcoming project I came across Brigids Grove website which this link will take you to http://www.brigidsgrove.com/ . While browsing the site I came across an interesting activity offered in the Creative Spirit Circle, How to create a Calamoondala.  I am eager to get started and decided to try my hand at making mine in hand embroidery, I'm not sure how this will work out but I am going to use the templates offered so I can try my hand using fabric and embroidery floss.

Here is a look at the first Calamoondala I will embroider, I am using the stitch and wash away product to make things a bit neater.

centering on fabric

The stitch and wash away fabric adheres to the fabric I like to use a spray adhesive to make sure the product stays put because I have had it lift off when moving the embroidery hoop around.

ready to stitch

The second template has many more goddesses I love the overall mandala look of the piece. I am using white on white print fabric in 100% cotton, and I'll be using cotton embroidery floss.

getting ready to center

Once I complete the hand embroidery the fabric will be cut into a larger circular piece or I will applique it onto another circular piece of fabric.  Yikes! I just had another idea making my Calamoondala as an overall applique though with my applique skills that may take  me until 2018, so for now hand embroidery will do. Now its time to select the colors of floss for both pieces.

centered and ready for stitching

What is a Calamoondala quite simply a circle moon mandala calendar created by Molly Remer.  I can tell you though there is nothing simple about these lovely templates as soon as I seen them I was so inspired to get creating.

If you love goddess goods check out the Etsy shop  https://www.etsy.com/shop/BrigidsGrove  the pieces are just beautiful.

I plan to post my progress on both pieces weekly as time allows. With this being the holiday season and having several online retail shops that may not always be possible but I will make the effort.

Happy Thanksgiving

What I have been working on this month so far.

I am progressing nicely on block 10 of the Hocuspocusville Quilt, it won't be ready for this year but the blocks will be completed before the New Year, at least I hope so.

I just love this block with all those cute little items hanging on the clothesline to dry. All 12 of the hexie blocks have been embroidered for the tree skirt class unfortunately I was under the weather and missed the second class so I will work what I can at home for the last class in November.

I did change a few of the motifs designs on several of the blocks to make them more personal I do that every now.  Since the 12 blocks are done I will start the work on the Winter Goddess embroidery I chose the floss I want to use and with the 12 blocks out of the way I have more time to put into a new embroidery project to give me a break from all those black threads used on those witch houses.

Another new project I want to start on is crafting a few spirit and goddess dolls, I haven't made any in quite a while and lately I have a few ideas knocking around in my noggin so I am gathering supplies and going through my fabrics to see what I have. More on the dolls soon.

October Stitching up a Storm

The month of October seems to have creeped in when I wasn't looking.  We are watching hurricane Matthew this week so I'm sure we will have lots of rain, wind and humidity to start us off this month. Last month we started off with hurricane Hermine which brought some rain and a few bunches of mistle toe fell from the oak tree.

I have been slowly stitching the Hocuspocusville Quilt blocks for a little over a year now and began block 10 in September a year from when I began.

block ten

I am currently working on the hand embroidery for the Christmas tree skirt from Gail Pan's book.
Christmas Patchwork Loves Embroidery.

The next 6 blocks will be 3 stars and 3 gifts I plan to change the motif design just a little to make the tree skirt more personal.

I am taking a class at a local quilt shop for the tree skirt it meets once a month for 3 months the second class in October 19th.
Another hand embroidery project I will be working on is a Goddess pattern from Urban Threads, she will be a winter goddess.

Instead of tracing her onto the fabric I decided to print out the pattern onto a stitch and wash away sheet because I wanted to use the snowflake printed pale blue fabric which will be easier to see stitching and I didn't have to struggle tracing it through the fabric.

The last project I want to start this month is from an Etsy shop, Cozyblue, this moon phases embroidery kit has everything I need.

The shop also sells just the pattern as a download which I will probably buy too so I can make another with different fabrics.  I just love the sashiko look of the kit.

Here are links to
https://www.etsy.com/shop/cozyblue

http://www.urbanthreads.com/