My End of July Update and Slow Sunday Stitching

 On Monday at 7:20 in the morning I was still sleeping rare for me but it happens, I heard mowing and I was thinking who the heck is cutting their grass so early. Then I heard the mower go past my bedroom window and I knew believe I wasn't happy. I know it's our rainy season and also very hot later in the day but geez I hadn't had much sleep all weekend so a rare sleep in was nice.

On Tuesday morning the Tree Service arrived and began working without so much as a knock on the door. I heard all this noise looked out and pieces of a tree were being fed into a wood chipper.  Well midway through the job a piece of machinery broke down so they went onto another job while waiting for the mechanic to fix the truck.  They returned about 90 minutes later to resume the job.  They had to move one of the limestone boulders to get the heavy equipment in and assured me they would move it back after the job was done.

A few hours later it was real quiet so I looked out the door and there wasn't a soul in sight. They left, forgetting to move the boulder back (which would be okay), they left a 5 gallon bucket of hydraulic fluid and the payment.  My son and I looked around the yard to see how well the work was done and what may need to be done next.  The company called and asked if the men were still there and I told him they were gone, but needed to come back to get the hydraulic fluid and if possible to put the boulder back and get paid.  
Everything looked good, of course there is a few clean up jobs needing to be done, where the heavy equipment was.  I did notice all of the branches of my pear tree were cut off which I'm sure was do to the heavy branches coming down.  The backyard looks so empty even though there are still quite a few good size trees there.  My heart is heavy at the loss, but on a positive note I think the pear tree may do better next year with all the sunshine it will be getting, though one of the men said it was partially dead. Time will tell and this autumn you can bet I will fertilize it again.

The removal of the dead cedar tree was crucial because it was so tall and I worried it would either fall  on my house or my neighbors.  The tree service cut down the stump that was next to it and all I have left are two little pieces which I will make into spirit dolls one of these days.

Well onto other happier subjects, For today's slow Sunday stitching I am going to continue the work on Moon Crystals for the Stitch Along. I stitched quite a bit yesterday for World Embroidery Day.

The first stitch used is the Split Back Stitch, which at first I wasn't much of a fan but as I continued to stitch I began to like it.

The second stitch is the lazy daisy and mine tend to go wonky and I pull out more then I put in. So I am slogging along at a slow pace. I do like the overall look so far and plan to have all the leaves done today.

The Lolli and Grace and Snarky & Modern Stitch Along – Moon Crystals began on July 27th, I didn't start stitching until the 29th. You would need to join the FAcebook Group in order to get the free pattern and links to videos.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/snarkyandmodern/posts/3370873249800290/

You can read more about it here if you are interested in the SAL 

https://lolliandgrace.com/blogs/blog/moon-crystals-a-new-stitch-along-for-the-snarky-modern-facebook-group

Anyway I purchased the Afterglow Workshop hand dyed floss for the SAL but I supplied the other materials from my stash.

The colors are so pretty and I'm sure to have quite a bit left after I finish the pattern, I have an idea or two brewing in my head for them.

If you don't want to buy a kit or the floss Anne of Lolli and Grace posted the DMC floss conversion on her website and I took it a bit further and came up with a list for Anchor, Cosmo and Sullivans because as we all know not everyone has access to DMC floss.  Here are my conversions including the DMC #906 that is required for the pattern.

DMC 704 Bright Chartreuse

DMC 955 Light Nile Green

DMC 996 Medium Electric Blue

DMC 553 Violet

DMC 3837 Ultra Dark Lavender

Anchor 256 Parrot Green

Anchor 203 Light Mint Green

Anchor 433 Electric Blue

Anchor 98 Medium Violet

Anchor 100 Medium Dark Violet

Cosmo 271 Lime

Cosmo 333 Opaline Green

Cosmo 413 Azure

Cosmo 284 Amethyst Mauve

Cosmo 285 Violet

Sullivans 45164 Bright Chartreuse

Sullivans 45290 Light Nile Green

Sullivans 45315 Medium Electric Blue

Sullivans 45125 Violet

Sullivans 45435 Ultra Dark Lavender

Also required is DMC 906 Medium Parrot Green which would be Anchor 256 Parrot Medium Green

or Cosmo 326 Foliage or Sullivans 45255 Medium Parrot Green.

I printed the pattern on Pellon’s Stitch and Wash Away product. I don’t trust my eyesight to trace the pattern and my hands aren’t as steady as they used to be. 

I should order this stuff by the case I love how easy it is to use and how simply it washes off.  My needle doesn't get sticky and it goes through the product and fabric smoothly, and all those black lines disappear after washing.

The New Moon on the 28th had me sharing my orts on the TUSAL Facebook group, not much for July but I was stitching again so each ort is a blessing, the orts are on top of the Moon Flow and Greenman two projects I have been working on since May.

I am linking my post at Kathy's Quilts, click the link to see what Kathy is slow stitching today as well as other talented stitcher's around the globe.

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2022/07/slow-sunday-stitching_01064196367.html

I had to unravel my granny square afghan again but I have it on track now so it should work up rather quickly when I have the time to work on it.  

Some July Slow Sunday Stitching and New Projects Brewing

 July is flying by so quickly after celebrating my birthday on the 1st and getting through the 4th of July holiday weekend time just hit warped speed.  I have found more time to get some stitching done on my Greenman piece, I began crocheting a new Granny Square afghan and I am taking part in a few online stitching adventures.

The first is on Instagram is the Lolli & Grace #stitch and share 31 days of creative prompts for stitchers on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/stitchandshare/   I will also be joining the SAL beginning on July 27th info can be found here, https://lolliandgrace.com/blogs/blog/moon-crystals-a-new-stitch-along-for-the-snarky-modern-facebook-group  You will need to join the Facebook Group in order to get the pattern and updates.

I also joined though a bit late the Roxy's Journal of Stitchery Vol.2 I watched the videos to catch up. https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/roxysjournalofstitchery   I haven't made a stitching journal in years so it I just watched them through while I worked on my greenman.  There are 2 themes either Christmas book or a Winter book, I will probably combine both.  The series runs through December 2022 so this should keep me stitching more often again.

I think for my first journal page I'm going to use the reindeer pattern I purchased from Hook, Line and Tinker, I made a set of 8 napkins in red and blue for a friend.

My progress on the Greenman I finally had the motivation to do hand embroidery now that my fingers and hands aren't aching so bad and my eyes aren't burning and tearing from my allergies.  

I put in all those little acorns before I continued with the oak leaves that way the lines don't get lost in the leaves before I have a chance to stitch them.  I will be linking up to Kathy's Quilts for slow Sunday stitching here https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2022/07/slow-sunday-stitching_01742699446.html

Here is the start of my Granny Square Afghan I'm using Lion Brands Mandala yarn in the Troll colorway. I changed my mind on the stitch I was going to use and finally settled on the ever growing granny square which works up quickly.  I love the random color changes with the mandala yarn.

I put in a few stitched on the Brigid's cross piece I had put aside a while ago and silly me forgot where I put it. The cross is stitched and now I move onto the knot work.

Those pesky black lines will disappear once the stitching is done and I wash off the Stitch and Wash product.  This pattern is actually a coloring book page from Creative Haven by Dover publications.

The birds have been visiting the bird feeders in the yarn each day at Noon, then again around 3 and in the evening between 3 and 7.  The woodpecker hasn't found the seed block on the blue hook yet but he manages, the cardinals come on and off all day.

A New Month a Year Older and Some Slow Sunday Stitching

 On July 1st I celebrated my 67th birthday, time does fly when you get to a certain age for me it was around 45 since then the days just seem to pass in a flash. For my birthday I went to my favorite beach. 

The day was perfect for the beach though a little too breezy but the sun was shining despite the gathering clouds which passed by quickly. Before the beach we had lunch at the Funky Pelican and then I finally got to walk the Flagler Beach pier, something I have wanted to do for a few years.

When we were finished walking the pier we headed further north to a quiet more secluded beach that I  love, while Flagler beach is nice its very close to the roadway and I didn't want to hear the sound of cars over the surf. We took a quick detour at an interesting looking thrift shop where I purchased this sweet little pitcher.

That's my son's leg in the photo of the rocks on the beach and naturally he is texting a few people.

I brought my Greenman embroidery with my but it was so windy I managed only 3 stitches before I abandon him for a walk along the shoreline. 

On the way home we stopped at a Ukrainian Bakery and picked up several slices of cake to try back at home, I didn’t think to snap a photo of the cakes but I did get the counter case.

I also picked up some potato and cheese perogies which I will cook over the weekend. It was a wonderful day but it’s always good to get back home. My daughter in law and son left around dinner time, they surprised me with some lovely flowers. When the lily opened fully it was larger than my hand and smells lovely.

A few beach finds this trip 3 pieces of beach glass, some lovey Hag stones aka Holey stones, and a few shells.

The tree service still hasn’t come to remove the fallen trees they were scheduled for Saturday but called and said it would be Monday, I reminded them it was a holiday and they said no problem. I am not confident since they didn’t show up last weekend and rescheduled so I ask my son whether he would rather go with another company.  If they don't come Monday I will call one of the other companies that gave estimates.  On a positive note my son didn't have to hang around all day, his wife's birthday was Saturday and they were able to spend the day together.

The stitching progress on the Greenman embroidery is coming along nicely, though slower than I had thought. but any stitches is progress.  

I have a few stitches to put in the Lunar Flow piece the pattern by Cozy Blue, I have changed some of the stitches from the original pattern, mostly the French knot fillers and satin stitching the leaves.

I will be linking my post at Kathy's Quilts today for Slow Sunday Stitching, to see what other talented bloggers are working on the link is here https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2022/07/slow-sunday-stitching.html

For July I am taking part in the #stitchandshare with @lolli and grace 31 days of creative prompts for stitchers on Instgram.  https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/stitchandshare/

Later in July I will be taking part in the Moon Crystals SAL for the Snarky & Modern Facebook Group if interested here is a link for information https://lolliandgrace.com/blogs/blog/moon-crystals-a-new-stitch-along-for-the-snarky-modern-facebook-group

More Hag stones and the beach glass I am going to put these in my new little pitcher.