Happy Winter Solstice! And a Little Stitched JOY!

 Another year flying by, it's hard to believe its the first day of winter.

The first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere arrived on Sunday, December 21, 2025, at 10:03 A.M. (EST).

Although the winter solstice means the start of winter, it also means the return of light, the days begin to grow longer and longer again until we reach the summer solstice.

For those that are not lovers of winter it only gets brighter from here! The Duration is only 88 days, 23 hours, 42 minutes.

Here in Florida we are expecting 80 degrees and sunshine so while it doesn't look or feel like the winter of my youth I can live with it. 

Happy Winter Solstice!

  I have managed to get some stitching done mostly on the weekends. Currently I am making a little Spirit doll for my Word of the Year, which is Joy.

It came to me recently somewhere between March 2020, when I was plagued with that mysterious illness lasting 2 years and Now dealing with Cancer  I lost my sense of JOY. Not just the oh gosh I feel good kind of Joy, but deep in the bones Joy you get from nature, living and those simple things that us Joy.

So for 2026 I am on the journey to not only reclaim Joy I want to build an entire adventure to once again feel the deep in your bones JOY. 

Here is the fabric and the traced line body for the Goddess doll

After the body was stitched I made a little patch with my word JOY, pinned it in place before stitching it on.

The patch is stitched on, I left the top unstitched to create a little pocket, embroidered the face and pinned the head on.

I stitched the head in place and she is ready for the back of the body to be added. I slipped a little piece of paper into the pocket.

My fingers were too sore to continue stitching so I hope to add the back and have her done later today.

It's been a while since I did much stitching however I am linking my post to https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2025/12/slow-sunday-stitching_01479291710.html

Wishing Everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Happy Halloween!

 

Happy Autumn!

 

The autumn equinox arrived with a blanket of fog over the neighborhood. I have always loved the fog it shrouds everything in a sort of mystery only to reveal its secrets as it evaporates from view. Fog also reminds me of the thinning of the veil as we move closer into the dark half of the year. Blessing for a Happy Autumn Equinox!

My recovery from Chemotherapy is going slowly but I am making progress.  Each week I feel a little stronger and my walks to the corner have extended to the further corner going to the right  of my driveway. It may not seem far to you but to me it's like walking an entire mile there and back.

I have decided not to continue with the Chemo because my quality of life disappears completely for weeks at a time so 2 cycles is enough for me.  I just don't think my body could take another round, the last one on July 15th I felt as if I was dying inside and it took much longer to regain my strength even though the dose was lowered.

The neuropathy in my hands was so bad I had trouble doing much with my hands without pain, it was as if I had 100 paper cuts in each finger and nothing would relieve the pain.  I am now on a higher dose of medication for it but so far it hasn't done much.  I see the oncologist on Wednesday and I hope she will increase the dose.  If not I will give it a few more weeks and if nothing changes I will stop the medication with the thought if if it isn't helping why swallow a pill that isn't helping.

Anyway, autumn's arrival here in Florida is always slow but it does happening, the last week the mornings have been cool and pleasant with fog rolling in today. as the days pass some of the leaves on the trees will fade to a dull green, the sycamore trees will begin to lose there leaves as they turn brown and fall with each passing day until the trees are bare which happens right around the winter solstice, though some years its before and others its after.

I was thinking the other night how I had my hysterectomy on March 18th right before the Spring equinox and its taken two full seasons to feel almost myself again.  I tire so easily after simple task as doing laundry or sweeping the floor.  I lose half a day when I grocery shop, it's not as bad as it first was when I needed a nap after those simple task, now most of the time I just need to sit and rest.  I try to take longer walks at least once a week an now that the weather is cooling in the morning I would like to increase the longer walks to at least 3 times a weak.

I bought a rosemary plant about 2 weeks ago and found a pot to transplant her in not too big but enough room for growth. I transplanted it this morning, unfortunately I lost one of the 2 shown in the photo. I do have 2 small pieces in water hoping they will take root.

While I am too weak to do any gardening at this time I had to have a live plant near me. In the meantime I think a nice pot of mums on the porch would be nice.

My hands are still to uncomfortable for me to stitch much but I have been crocheting a few rows here and there.  I will post a photo soon.

Well I'm tired so I will post this with all good wishes for a wonderful autumn and I'll try to post more often going forward.

Catching Up While Recovering from Chemo

It's been quite a while since I have posted, the Chemotherapy has been kicking my butt big time.  After my 1st cycle on May 1st I wound up in the hospital on Mother's day with some type of infection that had me on 4 antibiotics running round the clock via IV.  The second cycle my doctor lowered the dose but still I had 2 weeks of laying on my back.

This is what the after effects of a round of chemotherapy looks like on this 70 year old woman. I have been laying on my back for over 2 weeks with little or no energy to do anything more. I force myself to drink water that taste metallic all day and do the same when I eat. Today is day 21 after my second round of chemo and I am finally able to sit up and food and water is beginning to taste pleasant again. After struggling with the first round of chemo and not doing much better with the 2nd. I have decided not to continue with the other 4 rounds. I don't think my body can take it. I wasn't in the best of health when I began the chemo and there is not much quality of life during the 2 cycles I had. I want to regain as much of my health as I can so I can enjoy the rest of my life no matter what it will be. There is no guarantee the chemo will keep the cancer from coming back. So I am trusting my instincts, listening to my body and will continue living my life on my own terms.

Things are looking up I have been able to sit up at my desk for an hour today and finally making a post to this blog.  It's refreshing to be sitting up.

Eventually the mess behind me will be organized once my energy levels increase. I moved in on May 6th and most of my things are still in boxes. This is my office/craft room.

Due to the neuropathy in my hands and not being able to sit up for weeks I haven't done much stitching. I have managed to get in some crocheting but not much.  Now that I'm feeling stronger and sitting up I hope to get to some stitching soon, I have several autumn projects I'd like to begin.  The last thing I made were the tribe of little goddess dolls that made their way onto the world to friends in a goddess Face Book group I'm in.

Well that's all for today I'm getting tired so it's time to get off the computer and take a rest.  

 

Slow Sunday Stitching and a Word of the Year Goddess Doll

Yesterday evening I made a sweet little Goddess doll with my Word of the Year, Tend. I was inspired by the little dolls made by Mirjam Gielen. (Mirjam Textiles). I purchased the Stitch Goddesses  pattern from her Etsy shop to use as the base of my goddess doll. I watched her video tutorial to see how she went about making hers and then proceeding to craft mine my way. Photo shows front and back.

I printed the pattern onto card stock, chose a piece of fabric for the body front and traced around the pattern pretty much how it was done in the video. Then I worked my own magic in the stitching of the goddess. I stitched the body from the backside of the fabric first using the running stitch, flipped it over and proceeded to wrap the running stitch to get a more defined line of stitching. I also chose one of the faces to use included in the pattern. I made a little tag with my word of the year: TEND, stitched it to the body and then put it aside to think about how I would finish her.

Initially I thought of attaching her to a light piece of cardboard to make a card, may be even adding a piece of fabric to the back to complete the card. (I’ll do this for another one)

In the end I made her into a doll after all it was the artist’s own dolls that inspired me to make one, I purchased the pattern to be supportive of other fiber artist and I love making goddess and spirit dolls.

I pulled out a piece of fabric for the dolls back trimmed it to measure the same size square. I stitched with the right sides together just outside my original stitch line for the front. I trimmed off all the excess fabric, turned it out which took a bit of time with such a small piece of fabric, stuffed her with cotton batting and rosemary.

She turned out exactly as I hoped, today I pulled out more fabric bits to make another. I was originally going to make a slow stitch fabric base but I wanted to see how it would turn out. I could have followed the original tutorial but I like to experiment, this time it worked out well. It’s a fairly quick project which I like to do between larger projects I’m working on.

I'm linking my post to Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching check out the link to see what other bloggers are slow stitching here https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2025/03/slow-sunday-stitching.html

 Here is the link to the Etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/MirjamTextiles

The second baby blanket is completed for my daughter in laws cousin who recently had twins, a girl and a boy. I posted a photo of the 1st blanket in my post yesterday.

Now to pack them up and ship them off to Switzerland.  But first I need to start the vertical stitching on the winter goddess slow stitch piece.

Happy Stitching!

March brings some changes, some stitching and a little bit of shop hopping.

 

Winds of March, we welcome you. 

There is work for you to do. 

Work and play and blow all day, 

Blow the Winter cold away!

A whole new month and endless possibility awaits us.  I finally had the biopsy done on Wednesday the 26th of February, now I wait for the results.  I can not believe how long this has all taken and still no answers since July. 

The week prior to the biopsy I was supposed to have a consult with a specialist in high risk patients for him to do a D&C to do the biopsy, however, after examining me the doctor said he could do the biopsy in the office and we both wondered aloud why my Gyn didn't just reschedule the biopsy in his office after the PA could not do it. (because the office person told me to take the medication before the procedure, however I took the medication before the ultrasound which the office called to remind me to take the pill that night.)

Well the biopsy is done, results pending and I can honestly say I will be pissed off if I have to go back for a D&C when it could have been done already.  So my thought is if I have cancer catching it early doesn't seem to matter when you have to wait 7 months for a consult.  On a happier note I finished crocheting 1 of the 2 baby blankets I am making for the twins my daughter in law's cousin just had.

This turned out just lovely the yarn and the colors are so soft. Yes that is a pale gray which I never 

imagined I would use if a baby blanket but it just works well for a boy.  The other blanket is for a girl and will include pink.  I am crocheting like a fiend so I can send them off to Switzerland where the mother lives.

I just order the Bunnies fabric panel from Spoonflower, I had the hardest time waiting for the site to open after searching, I had to use a 3rd browser to finally place the order.

The panel was only available in green, I plan to use spring colors to embroider the motifs.

I have 2 new embroidery stick and peel kits from Missouri Star quilts.  The Sweet Meadow was a gift from a friend and I purchased the Ingrid's Wildflowers 2nd edition.

The original Ingrid's Wildflower kit comes in a collectible tin.

I have been tossing around ideas what type of fabric to stitch the wildflowers on.  I keep changing my mind from a vintage tablecloth, little individual blocks for a quilt or slow stitch piece, or on a garment. A dress or jacket.  I will figure it out eventually.

Today is the start of the All Florida Shop Hop, below are the shops I plan to visit first.  

We have finally found a warehouse for our online business and are in the process of moving things from the house to the warehouse.

My son and daughter in law before the first boxes were moved in.  I'm not participating in the move I just took the photo.  Once everything is in place I will continue fulfilling out customers orders at the warehouse. We have been looking for a warehouse for nearly 2 years and finally found this one about 10 minutes from the house.  It will be an adjustment to go out to work everyday and I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. I do know it will be nice not to have boxes of inventory in my kitchen, living room etc.  Once we are settled into the warehouse, I plan to move into a much smaller home. Something more manageable for me and my cat Simon.  I have looked at a few places in 55+  communities and the search will continue pending my biopsy results and being moved into the warehouse.

In the meantime, I have stitching to do and a few more articles to read in the winter issue of Embroidery

magazine.

I hope March brings you all good things and the early stirrings of Spring here in the northern hemisphere, and the signs of autumn in the southern hemisphere. 

Slow Sunday Stitching The Winter Goddess

Another month moving at a rapid speed, it seems like only yesterday I was light a candle for Imbolc and here we are half way through another.

The days are growing noticeably longer which is a sure sign Spring is on her way which I am looking forward to.  

I finally had the time and energy to begin the Slow Stitch Winter goddess piece after gathering fabric scraps nearly a week ago.  I laid out the arrangement and pin each piece down on the backing fabric where I had traced the goddess template. This is the easy part of creating one of these goddess pieces.

For the winter goddess I am using fabric in the colors of the winter skies I see throughout the winter months here in Florida. Here is the fabrics pinned down.

This time the fabric scraps were not placed randomly, I selected each piece changing the layout and the colors until I liked what I saw. I pinned every piece down before I began to stitch.

I would first stitch each piece down across the center to be sure each piece was attached to the backing fabric, then I stitched around the traced line of the template from the back of the fabric so I know where my cut line will be once all the the stitching is complete.  I usually stitch horizontal and vertical lines of running stitch through the entire piece.

I'm just glad I have all the pieces in place once all the stitching is done I will cut her off the backing fabric and attached her to the background fabric and the embellishments can begin.  It's a slow process.  

I will be linking my post today at Kathy's Quilts for the Slow Sunday Stitching where you can see what Kathy and other bloggers are slow stitch this week:

 https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2025/02/slow-sunday-stitching.html

I have another wonderful embroidery kit from Missouri Star Quilts Company, as soon as I laid eyes on the Garden Friends kit I knew I had to have it.  It includes everything you need except the fabric. At first I thought I would just use the stick and stitch pieces on different embroideries but the more I looked at the pattern booklet and saw the set in my newsletters I bought the fabric kit as well.

The embroidery kit includes: 10 Missouri Star Perle Cotton 10-oz floss colors and 140 pre-printed Missouri Star Peel & Stitch designs,  7” birch wood hoop, embroidery scissors, two needles (#3 and #6), a needle threader, and a magnetic needle minder (1”).  

The Fabric kit includes:  Includes the quilt pattern, a large hexagon acrylic template, 99 precut 10” squares— Essex Yarn Dye Curry. Essex Ivory, Robert Kaufman Essex Natural and 5/8 yard of Essex Natural by Robert Kaufman for binding.  

I planned to make this Radiating Golden layout when I first saw the kit,  now as I look at the other layout I may wind up making it.  

The fabric kit is also available in denim colorway. The fabric kit includes everything you need to make a  62” x 76 1/2” quilt.

There is also video tutorials for the kits, and if you purchase the kit through the website you can get the designs in a PDF. Photos of the kits and quilts from the Shops website. I am not affiliated with the company I'm just a very satisfied customer.

Here is a link the the kits page: https://www.missouriquiltco.com/pages/garden-friends-embroidery-kit

This week I am reading the newest book in the China Bayle mystery series, this is book 29 in the series by Susan Wittig Albert

I had my consultation in Gainesville on Thursday after waiting 5 months for the appointment to set up a D&C so they can do the biopsy the other office couldn't do because of a miscommunication of a pill I was supposed to take before the procedure that could have been done in the office.  I was told to take it before the ultra sound which was wrong.  Anyway, this doctor is going to do the biopsy in his office, has given me proper instructions of when to take the medications so that I can hopefully avoid a hospital out patient surgery.  This is all fine and dandy but I am a bit miffed at why my doctor could just reschedule the biopsy for another time, on the record it just states it couldn't be done, so the doctor never inquired what happened with the Physician Assistant. 

I initially had to have the consult because I am high risk due to the blood thinners and my Gyn didn't want me to have the D&C at out local hospital.  Makes one wonder doesn't it?

Somedays just surprise you.

Well we are 22 days into 2025 and yesterday we had significant snowfall in the northern parts of Florida.  Here in Marion County we had freezing rain and sleet.  I was almost tempted to drive to Pensacola to have a romp in the snow but this is Florida and I'm sure the roadways were chaotic and I'm too old to avoid persons who can't drive in the snow.  The photo from a friend in Tallahassee.

Happy New Year and Welcome January!

 

My first walk of 2025 stepping out my front door I found my first feather, after 5 years here and the hundreds of birds that visit the feeders it was such a pleasant surprise to see the feather.

Today I started my first slow stitch project for 2025 it to be a Goddess journal cover. 

The 2 little goddess pieces were completed on New Years Eve 2024, they may be added to the journal as pockets.