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Sunday, July 9, 2017

Beaches, Books and a Birthday too.

July is moving along at a fast clip, do you ever wonder where the time goes, it seems it was just yesterday I was blowing out the candles on my 62nd birthday cake on the first of July and here we are 9 days into the month.

I have been slowly making progress on the Peace symbol Zenbroidery and I am happy to say my satin stitch is looking much better as I work, for some reason I always struggled with that stitch, but not nearly as much as I struggled with the french knot.

Several members of the stitching challenge I am in have made this and told me that once its nearly done it will be very hard to get the needle through, I had noticed how dense the stitching looked on photos they had posted so I am using back stitch to outline some of the motifs rather than have it all filled in,  I like the look of some white spaces.

My time on Sanibel Island was lovely, though as it is with vacations too short. The weather was lovely sunny and hot, I forgot the further south in Florida the hotter it gets though it did seem less humid being on the gulf coast enjoy the balmy breezes. 

Spent some time shelling on the beach and browsing bookstores during the afternoon rains, the water so clear and the shells abundant.
perfect beach day
hunting shells low tide
thousands of tiny shells 
a lovely morning
I didn't take too many photos, I was too busy picking up shells and walking along the shore and wading into the water.  I will post some photos of the larger shells found eventually.  After an early morning of shelling I brought out my beach chair and spent a few hours soaking in the sun.

I located two book shops on the Island, one of the bookshops had 3 buildings and books everywhere.
These are some of the books I bought.
a little of everything
City Guide Discworld 
two books in one
I also found a bookshop in Fort Myers and purchased a few books but I haven't unpacked those yet.  I have just started the Terry Pratchett  Discworld series so I am picking up the books not available at our library, and I just thought to grab the City Guide complete with map.  Wicked is the first two novels for a friend. The Randy Wayne White books are written by a Sanibel author and the novels take place in and around Southwest Florida.  Now I can start this series too.

On the first of July I celebrated my 62nd Birthday with a little cake that just makes me smile, it was so colorful.
basket of  flowers cake

I have to tell you those flowers were amazing and quite sweet, I don't like too much frosting so I scrape most of it off, it was a delicious white cake inside. 

One of the new projects I am working on is a witch bonnet Sue quilt, here is a look at two of the blocks waiting for embellishing, I will be embroidering the blocks and adding some beads too.

Here is a close up of one of the Sue blocks, they are appliqued on using fusible web, don't you just love the spider webs.

I'm thinking may be using some metallic threads around the block.  Here is a look at a traditional Sun Bonnet Sue block I made years ago.


As you can see the black threads are all the embroidery I added around the edges, added the lines for socks and umbrella handle and her hands.

Here is an up date on my  progress. for the Summer of Love Challenge piece. I will be linking my post up today at Kathy's Quilts and on Monday at Supermom No Cape.
Summer of Love

5 comments:

  1. Yum! I wish I had some of that cake right now. It looks so good. Your embroidery is going to be lovely but, so much work.

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  2. Happy belated birthday. That's a gorgeous cake. The zenbroidery (love that term!) stitching is very complicated, but it's coming along beautifully. Happy stitching this week.

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  3. Happy belated birthday. Your cake looks too good to eat. I sometimes have trouble with satin stitch also. I find it hard to get looking just right. Yours peace sign looks great as does your Summer of Love challenge piece. I really like Sun Bonnet Sues. My mom made a quilt with them that I find so pretty. Enjoy your stitching.

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  4. Another elated Happy Birthday wish - and what a gorgeous cake!!!

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  5. Love the cake, Peace is such a great design, it reminds me of being a teen back in the 60s.

    Blessings
    Catherine

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