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.
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| perfect beach day |
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| hunting shells low tide |
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| thousands of tiny shells |
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| 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.
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| a little of everything |
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| City Guide Discworld |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Summer of Love |
