January last day and the Wheel of the Year welcomes Imbolc

  In the last days of January winter finally arrived in north central Florida bringing temps in the mid 20's and hard frost for several mornings.  It doesn't last long, a few days and then the temps rise again though last week the temps hovered around 55.  It's nice to have a few brisk cold days to remind me in the land of perpetual green that it is indeed winter.

Imbolc comes on the tail end of freezing nights and the Cailleach is slowing releasing her hold on the winters cold.  The first dandelions have started to appear along my driveway several already 3 feet tall with the tiniest of yellow flowers and white puffs of cottonlike seeds.  The tree beside my driveway once filled with bright red berries has given way to dry brown berries which seems to happen at the end of winter here in my corner of the world. Tonight it's only suppose to drop to 39 degrees.

Recently my next door neighbors cut down all of the trees in their backyard so I've added an additional bird feeder to the backyard. There is quite a bit of bird activity in the trees and the feeders are visited on and off through the day. Early morning the air is filled with birdsong before dawn and then again about 10 in the morning when all sorts of birds let me know if the feeders need a refill.  I have been blessed with cardinals, though very elusive eventually I may get a photo or two.  

I finished the hand embroidery on The Moriae, or the Greek Fates “spinners of fate” controlling the lives of humans in pieces of thread. Clotho spun the thread, Lachesis handled it, and Atropos cut the thread at the end of one’s life.  I thought a fitting piece for this hand embroiderer.

  I was ambivalent about using the 3 shades of pink floss in the end I am happy with the piece. I decided the eyes should be a haunting blank white. 

After much thought I decided I wasn't going to do a Goddess a month challenge or any other theme of the month challenge this year. Now that I am recovering from the ills of 2020 and half of 2021 I don't need the personal challenge to keep me stitching. I'm confident I will keep stitching among other activities that I missed during that dark time and I continue with projects that I have put on hold unto I felt well enough to work on them.  I will still do a few goddess pieces throughout the year, in fact, I have the Morrigan prepped and ready to stitch along with a new Greenman piece.

I have several new books to read and a few that have been waiting on my to be read list currently I am reading Gateway to the Crone by Jude Downes, I had started this in November but had to put aside all 

reading because the online shops were so busy I only had time for short spurts of stitching, my brain was too tired to retain anything I read. Does that ever happen to you?  You read a few pages or a chapter and can't recall a thing you read.

I also started reading Yemaya by Raven Morgaine, this was a Yule gift from a friend so it's on the top of my list.                                                         

Well it has warmed up to 56 so I am off for a nice walk in the park.

January is Moving Along and Some Stitching

 The month of January is moving along in a flash. I often wonder where the time goes when I am not paying attention.  The full moon on the 17th was beautiful, I was outside briefly to take my trash can to the curb and there she was rising above my house at 7:25 p.m.

I didn't expect to see her at all because it had been raining most of the day and more rain was expected, yet to my surprise and delight she was shining brightly.  I stood in her light to absorb her energy and I could feel her pull rising my energy from me.

On January 1st I began stitching  a new hand embroidery piece. I have a few other designs I need to transfer to fabric once I chose the fabric I want to use for each project.  Here is a look at my progress up to January 9th.

She is the first of three figures in this design, I am using an older 100% cotton fabric that I love it has a paisley design in the palest natural tone, if I am not mistaken it was 108″ fabric sold as quilt backing. I’ve use the fabric for several pieces and just love the look of the design when stitched. So far I am using DMC floss 603.  I don’t often use so much pink but for this it just felt right. 

Later in the week I continued my stitching working on the second figure of the piece and using DMC 602 floss. It’s a slightly darker shade of pink than the first figure, originally I had planned to use a blue on the 2nd figure and purple for the 3rd, but the more I looked at the colors together I liked the shades of pink rather than the multiple colors, the third figure will be stitched in DMC 601.

The piece is of The Moriae, or the Greek Fates “spinners of fate” controlling the lives of humans in pieces of thread. Clotho spun the thread, Lachesis handled it, and Atropos cut the thread at the end of one’s life.  I thought a fitting piece for this hand embroiderer.

On the 17th I spent a few hours stitching the second figure, removed the piece from the hoop to move on to the third figure, threaded my needles and put it aside for the night to give my fingers a rest.

The first two figures are not complete I still have to go back to stitch the hair, face and hands, since I will be using the same color floss for flesh I thought it would be easier to do all at once. Now I think I should have just completed each figure as I stitched. Looking at the two figures together I can’t tell the difference in the floss, so perhaps the pink, blue and purple colors I had originally planned would have been a better idea. Once the stitch and wash product is washed away and the black lines are gone the colors won’t be so identical or at least I hope so.

 

Airmid is the December Goddess of the Month Hand Embroidery

 I am happy to say I had time yesterday evening to get some stitching in and pleased to present the last Goddess of the Month hand embroidery for 2021, Airmid (also known as Airmed, Airmeith or Airmedh) is the Irish Goddess associated with healing, and particularly herbal healing. She is also associated with gardening, nature, family and loyalty.

I completed the stitching late last night, washed off the stitch and wash product and hung her up to dry, this morning I snapped her photo wrinkled fabric and all. Here is a close up of the foraging bag at her hip.

I haven't decided if I am going to do a new monthly challenge for 2022. I may just continue on with goddesses though nothing is set in stone, currently I am in the midst of creating a new Greenman piece. 

Here is a look back at all 12 Goddesses I hand embroidered during 2021

  All these pieces have to be trim to the same size if I decide to make them into a quilt, if not just trimmed and finished, possible ideas include: altar cloth, wall hanging, prayer flags, framed or mounted and made into a book. Well there is time to decide. I'm sure like everyone else this week I have a few things I want to finish up and things to get done before the start of a brand new year.

 

Christmas Eve

 Well I made it to Christmas Eve 2021 and despite several set backs this year I am feeling pretty good. 

I decided to pass on putting up a Yule tree this year, I had it pulled out of the box, spread out the branches and left it for a day or two, when I opened the box of ornaments I realized I just didn't feel like decorating a tree this year.  So I boxed up the tree, put away the ornaments and decided this arrangement would work perfectly for me this year.

My arrangement of silk flowers, pinecones, berries and greenery was all I needed this year, oh and my vintage Yule log which has been packed in a box since 2011, I was planning to remove the plastic decorations and remake it but decided to leave it.  I think it fits in with the vintage table cloth.

This is my $5.00 bargain I picked up at Walmart the other day while I was browsing the garden center.

It's just an assortment of evergreens and a few faux berries all stuck into florist foam, it smells divine and marked down from $39.95 to $5.00 I grabbed one.  It's turning a bit brown so I have to trim it each morning. It sits on my table in the kitchen and all those boxes around the table are now gone.

Later today between chores and stitching I'm going to sit down and read through the latest issue of Beachcombing magazine before the new issue arrives.  The subscription was a thoughtful gift from a dear friend I lost this year.  

She knew how much I love the beach and sea glass and one day an issue arrived in the mail for my birthday.  I knew who sent it right away right before I became ill in 2020 we had been walking the beach and I was lamenting how finding sea glass on the beaches in Florida is rare, well for me anyway and that I was planning to visit a few of the beaches where finding it wasn't as difficult but not without a challenge.  A few weeks later the magazine arrived, I didn't even know such a magazine existed.  Perhaps this year I will make it to a few of those beach glass beaches.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, Blessed Yule and the happiest New Year yet!