Stitching Slow In July

It's the first Sunday in July and the first slow stitching Sunday for the month. I actually made time on Monday to celebrate my birthday at one of my favorite places, the beach where I did some much needed stitching.  I will be linking up to Kathy's Quilts today click on the link to see what other talented bloggers are slow stitching: https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2019/07/slow-sunday-stitching.html

I decided to bring along the Flower of Life piece rather then the Celtic Cross since the lines on this are simpler to see.  I managed to complete the entire outer circle and part of the inner circle while soaking in the sun, sand and surf.  The weather was beach perfect, clear and sunny,  quite hot  though the sea breeze made it feel comfortable.  The entire time I was stitching the Beatles song When I'm Sixty Four kept running through my head.

A new hand embroidery project is on the hoop

Mother's Day was yesterday I hope of you that are mother's had a wonderful day.  After spending the day with my son I had a chance to pick up my newest hand embroidery project later in the evening.

The piece is a Celtic Cross the pattern gifted to me from a friend a few months back and I have been eager to get started but as we all know other things tend to get in the way and then there is other stitching projects that are underway, or in the midst of being completed.

I finally washed off the stitch and wash product and did a quick pressing for my second in drum and dance series, once the frames arrive I will iron out those creases and wrinkles and hope I didn't pull my thread to tight.  I was uncertain how the metallic thread would hold up when washing to my relief everything turned out well.

For this piece my first in the drum and dance series I was considering adding more stitches to the skirt perhaps little stars, then I thought leave well enough alone I can always make another on, after all I had several ideas in my notebook for this one. I like the idea of doing more of the pattern with my other ideas, one which includes using fabric for the skirt and hip scarf.

This third piece of the drum and dance series I recently finished stitching and gave a quick press once I am ready to finish it will get a good pressing I hope that crease comes out with a good dose of Best Press.  I have two other pieces for this series waiting to be stitched with a ideas for a few more, a friend is creating a pattern for this series. So now after looking at the blocks I am considering putting them all together for a wall hanging or a quilt.

Right now all thoughts of  quilting or framing will have to wait, the property survey for the house we are planning to buy happens this week so as long as things go as smoothly as they have we should be closing on the 31st of May.  It's time to clear out the closets and fill the donation box and get started on packing.
I am keeping this cross piece and the Greenman on hand to stitch in the evening when I'm ready to unwind for the night, and one crochet project for when my eyes or fingers are too sore for hand embroidery.

I am linking to Kathy's Quilts a day late for Slow Sunday Stitching check out what other bloggers are stitching: https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2019/05/slow-sunday-stitching_12.html

For the Mermaid fans out there for the month of May this lovely Blog: Days Filled With Joy, will be hosting a month long stitch along aptly named Mermay the patterns are free to download and it's not too late to join in. Here is a link for those interested.
https://www.daysfilledwithjoy.com/2019/05/07/mermay-free-mermaid-embroidery-block-1/
I came in at the tail end last year (pun intended) and just didn't have time, I plan on starting the first mermaid later today she is all printed out and waiting to be traced onto fabric.

Rain and Sand, Sunflowers and Slow Stitching

Happening right now outside my door an early afternoon shower, the skies just open up and pour out buckets full of rain.

I think I prefer yesterday's weather much more, though it did rain there too in the late afternoon, but most of the day was bright and sunny with big white puffy clouds.

I love the beach, it's the place I head to when I need to relax and re-energize myself, there is something so calming listening and watching the ebb and flow of the ocean, the distant call of seabirds and the faint taste of salt air on the tongue.  I tried to do a bit of stitching on the Greenman, unfortunately I didn't have my magnifying sunglasses to see and forgot my sunhat which would have shaded my eyes so I could see better.  I gave up after a little stitching and so glad I did, when I returned home I had to undo 2 lines of stitching.

These lovely beach sunflowers grow so beautiful I am always amazed how well they do in the sandy soil.

There are some nurseries in the area that sell then and I'd love to have them for my yard someday.  I have seen them in several gardens in my area. 

I finished the stitching on my drumming woman piece now to finish it either as a small wall hanging or frame.

I have a few pieces of drum fabric to chose from if I decide to make a wall hanging or to use as a frame around the bock before framing it.

I like the top piece for backing if I decide to make a wall hanging the bottom piece possible to frame the block. 
I will be linking my post for Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts here is the link:
https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2019/05/slow-sunday-stitching.html  She has made some lovely embroidered blocks and has the most beautiful pastel fabric to coordinate with them have a look.

Last of April

The last hours of April are moving slowly, which is nice for a change as time seems to move so quickly once you reach a certain age.

There have been some major changes in house hunting, we are no longer looking in the Orlando area, after much thought and conversation we have decided to look for a house in Ocala, the main reason is we can get much more house for our dollars here than we could get in Orlando and since we need more space for our business it just made more sense.  A few days after we decided we started to look at houses in the area, on Good Friday we made an offer on a house that was just listed the day before, if all things run smoothly we have our closing on the 31st of May.


The house is one block from the house we currently live in which will make moving stuff from one house to the other much easier than driving 90 minutes to Orlando. This week my days are filled with making to do list so I can organize a smooth move.  I have begun sorting stuff I will not be taking with me  especially the stuff I haven't used in the 8 years since I moved in here most of it is still in the garage and will be donated to local charity shops.

I have made some time for myself and just finished reading Sally Goldenbaum's newest mystery

And this week in the book study for The Gentle Art of Domesticity we finished up the Patterns section.

You can read more about it and even join in, you don't have to have the book to take part. I'm linking my post today here:
 http://www.elefantz.com/2019/04/repetitions-within-domestic-life.html
This week we touched on repetition in daily life, at one time in my life I loved repetition, probably due to my Type A personality but when I gave birth to my son I loved having a schedule and structure to my day, though having a type A personality that had its drawbacks when someone interrupted my schedule/day. 

I still have a bit of repetition in my life, I start each day with a walk in the park, sit at my PC and print shipping labels, pack items and head to the post office then the remainder of the day is mine.  I fit in household chores through the week and am flexible enough to change my day and not have a melt down.
This past weekend I spent some time working on a new hand embroidery piece for my drum and dance series. I like the repetition of slow stitching, passing the needle through the fabric, getting lost my thoughts and finding that peaceful calm place within.

the drum

bliss

drumming

I was feeling a bit under the weather over the weekend and yesterday I had a headache which made my eyes ache so much they felt like they were going to pop out of my head. Just touching my face around my eyes made my vision blur for a bit, I was having bouts of dizziness throughout the day so I mixed up a bit of comfort food, one of my favorite childhood dishes, mashed potatoes and eggs.  It's a very simple dish though I changed it for one serving, simply make one or two soft boiled eggs. I used

two and cooked them for 4 minutes so they weren't too runny, mashed them until they are mostly small bits of egg.

Then mix the eggs into a serving of mashed potatoes and serve.  I cheated this time and used packaged heat and serve mashed potatoes.

On my goodness the first spoonful takes me back to childhood,  my mother would make this up for us when we were sick, usually for me it was with a nasty sore throat, I guess it was a good way to get something nutritious in our stomachs, I loved it back then and I still enjoy it today.

Happy Easter and Slow Sunday Stitching

Happy Easter to everyone I hope you have a wonderful day however you spend your day.  Today the weather is supposed to be sunny and warm which will be a pleasant welcome after the past few days of thunderous rain storms and tornado watches and warnings.

I plan to get a bit of stitching done today while soaking in the sun at the beach.  I have another drum piece I began last evening which I'll be taking along with me.

Progress on the greenman piece is slow going but is progressing so I'm okay with the snails pace it's taking.  When I prepare a pattern to print via my printer I usually lighten and thin the lines of the design which makes seeing the stitches easier, some how the lines didn't lighten as much as I thought so these 63 year old eyes struggle a bit seeing the stitch with some floss shades which every now and then I have to snip out where I have gone astray. I think too the texture of the stitch and wash product makes those pesky black lines look a little like stitches.  Yeah okay that was a stretch its the aging eyesight, lighting and perhaps the alignment of the stars.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Don't we all just love to suffer for our Art?!  This post will be linked up to Kathy's Quilts today for some slow Sunday Stitching. https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2019/04/slow-sunday-stitching.html I love sipping coffee while I read the post of other bloggers Slow Stitching on Sunday, they always have to most beautiful and creative projects going on.

Speaking of projects I have a few I need to pull fabric for and one that needs to be put onto the fabric before it starts to curl on the edges.

I posted the photo above a few weeks ago and as is typical with me when I was ready to begin the stitching I changed my mind about the fabric choice.

Between daily chores and the online business, running errands and house hunting I didn't have time to dye eggs so once again I did the next best thing and purchased dyed eggs from my local Publix supermarket.

No fuss and no muss colorful eggs with the yolk as lemony yellow as I could hope for but rarely ever achieve. Life is Good.