A Little Stitching and a bit of this and that

 Here we are saying goodbye to the month of July, wow this month sure went by in a flash, I am keeping my fingers crossed that I'll stay healthy in August I'm sick of being sick, so far the last 10 days of July were pretty good with me regaining more of my energy. Friday was a beach day for me so I slathered on the sunscreen, packed up the cooler with a few bottles of water, grabbed the beach chair and off I went to soak in the sun, walk along the waters edge and just rejuvenated my soul.

I made very little progress on my hand embroidery stitching this week but a little bit of stitching is better than none. I will link up my post to Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday stitching, 

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.ca/2016/07/slow-sunday-stitching_31.html

I spent most of my free time this week reading, writing letters and doing the household chores.

Currently I am shopping around for a new bike, before I moved to Florida I had a racing bike for events, I had purchased two other bikes when I lived in apartments, and both were stolen right out of my screened porch area. After the second theft I didn't bother buying a new bike and just used the upright cycle at the gym, but recently I've been wanting to bicycle again and I have a garage I can store the bike in so I'm looking for something basic. 

We have a wonderful park nearby with a wide paved trail that is ideal for riding a bike it would be a great place to get my stamina up and get in a better workout.For me when I don't move I can't drop pounds. I was feeling so sluggish when I was off my daily walk, I figure a bike would not only help drop off some pounds and build muscle, it can help me with the vitamin D deficiency too since I will be riding outside. It can't hurt right.

One of the items I picked up this morning is a few Jamba fruit & veggie mixes, this morning I made the Red Fusion, I like these as a meal which I usually added a 1/2 serving of cream of rice cereal, oatmeal or an egg.

I want to by a juicing machine or a magic bullet machine because my blender doesn't really blend the fruits and veggies well; yet it works fine with just liquids, so for now I use my hand immersion blender with works just fine,  August is going to be all about me getting healthy and resuming my fitness routine and losing the pounds I gained while I was sick. I see my doctor early in August and I have a few questions and concerns to address to keep me on the stay healthy and fit path.

Stitching update

I am slowly stitching along on the Hocuspocusville Quilt block there is so much to stitch it seems to be taking me forever. I have just started the door on the bottom of the house and only have this little corner to finish and the house will be completely stitched, then I need to tackle the tree and the long sign.

working the door

block 8 unstitched

I completed the hand embroidered goddess Morrigan for the 13 Goddess Challenge last night  it was a bit of a hit and miss in my eyes.

The Morrigan is often depicted shape-shifting into a raven/crow, or else wearing attire crafted from raven feathers. The Morrígan is a goddess of battle, strife, and sovereignty from the Irish mythology. She sometimes appears in the form of a crow, flying above the warriors Taking the form of the death raven announcing death, or the banshee predicting it with shrieks.

She is the 5th Goddess I have made using hand embroidery, the challenge is actually on week 9 this week so I am now 4 goddess behind, they are waiting in different stages either sketched, waiting to be traced onto fabric.  I don't always follow the suggested subjects: 

Week #1: RUSSIAN

Week #2: CELTIC or NORDIC

Week #3: JAPANESE

Week #4: SEMITIC

Week #5: NATIVE AMERICAN

Week #6: EGYPTIAN

Week #7: HINDUIST

Week #8: ROMAN or GREEK

Week #9: SOUTH AMERICAN

Week #10: SUMERIAN/ BABYLONIAN

Week #11: AFRICAN

Week #12: AUSTRALIAN or POLYNESIAN

Week #13: CHINESE

I tend to go where my creativity takes me, when I did do a goddess from the subject list she was usually out of order,  This week I will be working on some of the 4 goddesses waiting for stitching.

I will be linking my stitcheries here:

https://timelessrituals.blogspot.it/2016/07/13-goddesses-challenge-week-9-south.html

http://www.supermomnocape.com/2016/07/25/vintage-embroidery-monday-stitchery-link-party-68/

Stitching on Sunday

It's been a crazy week from getting a blow out last Saturday on my way home from the beach, finding out the spare was also flat, calling the tow truck, to ordering 4 new tires on Sunday and having them put on Monday only to have the mechanic call to tell me they had to order another tire because one of the new ones went flat while taking it for a test drive and running over a big nail.  By Wednesday I had my 4 new tires and a big headache, still tired from the cold earlier this month I just wanted to lie down for about the week.

Instead on Thursday morning I headed for the beach, the one place I know I can regain my sense of peace and balance.  It is the main reason I want to move closer to the beach the 90 minute drive is tedious.

I did get some hand embroidery done this week and will continue with my hand stitching today for so much needed Slow Sunday Stitching and you can bet I will be hooking up at Kathy's Quilts here is the link click on over to see what other talented bloggers are hand stitching today.
https://kathysquilts.blogspot.ca/2016/07/slow-sunday-stitching_24.html

No surprise I am still workling on block 8 for the Hocuspocusville Quilt the quilt shop, I made quite a
bit of progress this week.

Witches Stitches Quilt Shop

While running errands a few days ago I stopped at the library to pick up a book by Stephen King titled Finders Keepers only to find out it is part of a trilogy so I dropped in to pick up the first book

Mr. Mercedes, I wasn't planning on reading a trilogy but since I have the third book, End of Watch, on reserve which I didn't know was part of the set until I did some research I figured I will go ahead and read all three. I loved Stephen Kings older novels but after Rose Madder it was hit or miss and too often a miss, but every now and then one of his books grabs me in like the older novels. So far it has held my attention.

Since my miserable cold early in the month I fell behind on my 13 Goddess so I have a few of those in the works. I will give you a partial peek at the next one I just finished tracing her onto fabric and will crayon tint before I begin to stitch her.

which goddess is she?

And here is a look at one of the projects I have been working on from my bin of projects from the past. All the pieces for the Sun Bonnet Sue were cut and waiting to be appliqued onto the block for about 20 odd years which really gives this piece vintage appeal.

Sun Bonnet Sue

Last week I was puttering around the kitchen and threw together a tasty vegetable lasagne which turned out quite good, I used broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, corn and peas and instead of a tomato based sauce I used an alfredo sauce.

Still here but out of sorts

 The start of July was not kind to me I woke up on the first with plans of celebrating my 61^st birthday only to find I was not feeling well (ugh) I was running a fever of 102 and just felt miserable. My son came down with a summer cold a few days before and sadly I think I had it a few hours later the fever still at 102, nasal congestion and coughing would confirm it. I picked up the phone to cancel my hotel reservations at the beach, brewed a cup of tea, grabbed my quilt and headed for the sofa where I would sleep on and off for nearly a week. I was so miffed I was just feeling better after seven weeks of illness in the spring.

The weather during the first 2 weeks was hot, hazy and humid, with temps at 99 for 3 days running so I was kind of glad to be house bound, except on the 4^th the AC decided it wasn't going to run and tripped the breaker. I had to reset a few times but all seemed well and the repair would be here on the 5^th, mind you I had just had this problem addressed in June. Luckily I keep a few fans in my garage just in case.

Well the cold or virus passed after two weeks though I am still so tired, last week my son and I went to the beach for a few hours just to soak in some much needed sunshine and fresh ocean air and to have a belated birthday lunch. On the way home my tire had a blow out and wouldn't you know it the spare was flat, one of the things I failed to check when I bought the car oops! Triple A towed the car home, on Sunday I ordered 4 new tires for my car, Tuesday while the mechanic did the test drive one of the new tires hit a nail or screw and now I am waiting for a new tire to replace the new tire. UGH! I know this is nobodys fault but what the heck. During the entire episode from the initial blowout to the flat in the new tire I remained cool and calm, my blood pressure did not rise and I did not rant for hours, Its just one of those things.