Tying up July with a Slow Sunday Stitching Floss story and the Finished Morrigan.

 I put the last stitches into the Morrigan embroidery piece. I put off stitching her for nearly 2 weeks because I only had two strands of the wool floss I used for the wings left and didn't think I had enough, I ordered more and it came Friday so I finished stitching it yesterday and guess what? I had just enough to finish the piece without using the new stuff. I guess I should have kept stitching instead of waiting believing I didn't have enough floss and it would have been finished. Next time that happens I will use up the last bits I have on hand then go from there.  Here she is before I iron it.

On my search for more of the black wool floss I mistakenly thought I bought it at my local needlework shop, Brick City Cross Stitch, only to discover they don't sell wool floss. I did buy the Black Crow cotton floss there.  Not to make the trip a total waste of time I did pick up a few other flosses because who can resist all those luscious colors. The first group I just thought of oceans, and the second group will be used for an autumn project.  Let me clarify a trip to the LNS isn't ever a waste of time, it's just quite a distance from my home.

 What I should have done was to call ahead to see if they had the wool floss in stock, which would have disclosed they don't carry it and I would have remembered I purchased it online.  I made two purchases the first one for some Weeks Dye Works for the Kaleidiscope I was working on when I came across the Gentle Arts  Black Crow for the Morrigan piece I thought how fitting the name of the colorway so I bought them and added the wool floss to try.  The second purchase was for more of the wool floss when I finally remembered I didn't get it at the LNS,  I also ordered a few other colors of wool floss in lovely autumn colors and a wool blend on the end to try out.

I love the softness of the wool floss. I purchased it at 123 Stitch my go to place when the LNS doesn't have what I need in stock. I love the texture it brings to a piece, the softness of the floss to touch.  You can separate the strands, for the wings I used 2 strands.

I have no idea where I will use the other wool floss at this time only to say I have a few Autumn projects rolling around in my mind and will surely be posting all about it here. In the meantime I am linking my post to Kathy's Quilts here https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2023/07/slow-sunday-stitching_0426548094.html

 

Slow Sunday Stitching, And a Bit of This and That!

 Apparently the L4 has moved out of alignment and is causing all the pain, and I have quite a arthritis in the spine as well. An MRI is scheduled for Tuesday the 27th, in the meantime it's a round of steroids to hopefully reduce the swelling and relieve some of the pain. Anyway it has a fancy name spondylolisthesis.

If the doctor would have listened better a few months ago when I saw him for my knee pain and I described everything that was going on he could have addressed this much sooner and I could have had less pain filled days. I had already told him about a previous back surgery for the L5 for the same reason and this is a pattern with the condition.

On the up side the steroids have helped with the pain and I am hoping that possibly physical therapy could be an option before another surgery, but I know I have been suffering with this for over 2 years so that may not be an option.

My progress on the Goddess Morrigan is moving along slowly when I hit a stand still when I ran out of the Black Crow wool floss I was using for the wings. I had thought I bought the wool floss at

Brick City Stitches, out local needlework shop, unfortunately they don't sell the wool floss.  I did recall ordering from 123Stitch when I ordered a few items for another project.  I was only using the wool floss for texture so I may continue on with just cotton floss in the same colorway by the same manufacturer.   In the meantime I have other project to work on. I joined the Stitch Club via Cozy Blue and have 2 pieces to start, I'm going to iron them today and start on the July Kit 1st which is a lovely floral crescent moon.

I also have the June kit to stitch which in a lovely Moth

I harvested a few basil leaves a few days ago, with the heat and humidity here in Florida basil tends to struggle during the summer so I have been moving the potted plants into the sun every few days and so far it's helping

I chopped a few leaves to toss into a salad yesterday and have the remaining leave in a bag in the fridge to use on some fish tomorrow.  It's a small plant that I haven't transplanted to a large pot yet which probably won't happen until it gets cooler and I can bend better.  I have been thinking about buying one of these raised bed boxes so I can start some plants for a fall garden.  This would give me the chance to get my hands in soil and not have to worry about hurting my back any worse then it is now. I miss having a garden.

Some photos pop up in my Facebook feed to remind me I can actually grow a garden but it's been so long.

This little garden bed I planted a few years ago before I moved into my current house in June 2019, I had a little rose garden along the side of the house.

I do miss gardening, I learned over the years not to plant to late in the season so that I don't lose everything to the July rains and heat.  Now is the time to start some seeds for the autumn and a good time to sit with a sketch book to plan out the next spring garden.  I can dream of getting my hands in the soil, filling up my empty pots and containers and preparing the beds for the winter where I plan to plant a nice raised bed.

I am currently reading Kitchen Witch by Sarah Robinson, a friend gifted me for my birthday, it's a lovely look into folklore and history and a bit of fairytale, I am enjoying it quite a bit.

There are no recipes in the book however, there is a companion cookbook coming out in September which will have recipes. 

I finished reading Soil by Camille T. Dungy, it was a lovely read and really moved me in ways I didn't expect.

Here is a link to Cozy Blue where I joined the Stitch Club I mentioned above.  She also sells some wonderful patterns and kits.

https://cozybluehandmade.com/

I am also linking my post to Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2023/07/slow-sunday-stitching_01634929282.html

July Days: A Year Older, Garden Surprises and Hot, Humid Rainy Days. Lots and Lots of Rain.

 Here we are nearly two weeks into July and things have heated up with temps in the upper 90's nearly everyday and often rain at times heavy rains, this is Summer in north Central Florida.  

I turned a year older on the 1st day of July, I celebrated my 68th birthday going out to lunch with my son and daughter in law to the Floating Boat where I had a lovely Elderberry Hard Cider, something I wanted to try since I saw it on the menu when the kids asked me where I would like to have lunch.

I don't normally take photos of foods when I eat out but I just couldn't resist. The little tapas style servings on the plate are crab cakes, red cabbage and pickled red onion. In the bowl is burnt ends with a dipping sauce.  The blue can is the the Elderberry cider which my son grabbed a 4 pack for me to take home since I liked it so much.  I don't usually drink alcoholic beverages but hey I'm a year older it's time to mix things up.  Lunch was a wonderful Blackened Mahi sandwich, no photo. The food was very good.

After lunch we stop at in indoor flea market for a stroll and then downtown to the Solis bakery for a slice of cake.  I had a 4 layer salted caramel cake which was delicious, I had to take half of it home it was too big, I should have taken a photo, it was a wonderful birthday.

As I mentioned above the rains have been quite heavy and to my delight and surprise the gardenia has begun to bloom again.  The surprise is because this spring it barely bloomed at all which I am sure it's because some of the roots have grown out of the ground, I keep covering them with soil until I can move it.  At the end of June we had nearly a week of non stop rain so the soil washed away.  But the rain also caused it to bloom again I'm sure.

Above are the exposed roots and below the few blooms that have been sprouting this week again

Another surprise came earlier this week while I was watering the herbs I am propagating in my kitchen window, the pink crepe myrtle tree is rapidly blooming.  I'm sure having the trees cut back, all the rain we have had an the sunshine has really helped.  I had totally forgotten this was in the backyard.

It's quite scraggly so in the autumn I will prune it back quite a bit, here is a photo taken the week before from my kitchen window not a crepe myrtle in sight.

I walked around the back to take a look at the crepe myrtle tree/shrub it appears I have several growing

There are quite a few growing close together so I may be able to move one or two, I can see where someone at one time cut down several.  There is a lone little one coming along so I will try to keep it shrub size and not tree size.

Here is a photo I snapped at how a healthy crepe myrtle should look at shrub size, its growing at the local post office.

I will do what I can with the crepe myrtles in my yard and hope by next summer they are thriving.

The last few sunflowers from my birthday bouquet are just beginning to droop, I have one in the flower press while it was still open fully.

I love sunflowers and hope my body is well and healed enough next spring so I can plant them in my yard.  One of my main goals this year is getting this body into better physical condition so I can garden and do other things. Recently I noticed my mobility isn't what it was a year ago and my knees have both been going out on me so I began doing chair yoga at home and some balance exercises for women over 65. 

Simon enjoying his new tunnel he received on my birthday, we have a variety of cat tunnels this one is just straight and has two peekaboo windows.  After a few weeks I will pack this one away and take out another.

Today I picked up A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny from the local library.  I am also reading

Kitchen Witch by Sarah Robinson which I am enjoying, its not a cookbook, it's more of a brief history

of the Kitchen Witch.  I love the cover design.  In fact, this year I have noticed the covers on many of the books I have read and have chosen them to read based on the cover, I just love all the colors.