November, What I'm stitching on this Slow Stitching Sunday.

 

Here we are in a whole new month with endless possibilities. The weather here in north central Florida begins to change to cooler days dropping from the 90's to the low to mid 80's.  It may not seem like a big change but believe me when you have mid to upper 90's for nearly 7 months it's a welcome change, at least it is for me.  After 30 years living here you would think this northern transplant would be used to the weather and nearly non existent seasonal changes. 

I have stitched the November block of the Kathy Schmitz Woven Wreaths piece. The cornucopia, next month is the last block.  I love stitching up these little motifs, I have loved Kathy Schmitz designs for years and have enjoyed the Stitch Along, though I have changed the stitches for many of the motifs.

Progress on my autumn goddess piece is coming along, I have finished stitching everything down vertically and horizontally so I could cut her out, later today I will add her to some background fabric and begin to add embellishments with hand embroidery and some fussy cut bits and pieces I have.

She does look so much better once you can see her form after she is cut from all those bits of scrap fabrics.

I still have to stitch the pieces to the 2nd prompt of the Roxy's Journal of Stitchery. I finally had the

energy to iron the pieces flat getting out the fold lines of the fabrics. later I will work on this as part of Slow Sunday Stitching.  The last prompt for Autumn is autumn birds, I have no idea what bird or birds I will choose and I still have to layout my mossy forest prompt.  Time does have a way of flying by. For today I have my stitching lined up and I'll link to Kathy's Quilts here   https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2024/11/october-flosstube.html

I put in the last pieces of my slow stitched background block and plan to work on this first today for

Slow Sunday Stitching.  

The hibiscus plant I purchased back in February has been blooming on a near daily basis with no signs of stopping.  

I have always had great success with hibiscus plants but this one is by far the best.  I purchased this at Bob Wine's Camellia Gardens nursery along with several other plants.  The azalea and the jasmine bloom spring and summer. The milkweed keeps coming back after the caterpillars munch them down and one of the azalea plants I believe is a early winter bloomer.  These need to be transplanted in the next few weeks once I decide if I should plant them in ground or just larger pots.  

Happy Halloween!

 

My daughter in law dress Simon, he lasted about 15 seconds.

The last Slow Sunday Stitching for October

 Wow we are nearly at the end of October, time flies doesn't it.  The older I get the faster the days seem to pass.

The A-Fib is kicking my butt all over the place so I am trying to pay close attention to what I am doing that makes me extra tired but so far it varies too much.  Like yesterday I did some shopping and browsing around Walmart, I needed a few things tape and new tape dispenser copy paper and a few items in the grocery section.  I looked at the books for a short time but for the most part just did what I needed to do. I checked out and planned to drop off the things I bought at home and then go for a walk.  

Well that didn't happen because an hour browsing around the store very early on a Saturday morning was all this body could stand. I was done with any physical activity for the rest of the day.  I need to find a specialist that deals with Atrial Fibrillation because this is not living, its barely existing.  

On the up side of things I can stitch without too much trouble and have completed the stitching on the Kathy Schmitz Fright Night piece.

Here are the individual motifs

One of the motifs is the same pumpkin in the Woven Wreaths for October

I love the little oak leaves and rose hips in the pumpkin it just says autumn to me. 

I have stitched some of the leaves for the 1st autumn prompt for the Roxy's Journal of Stitchery Vol. 6 slow stitch piece and have laid out some leaves to add. The other bits are for the 2nd prompt Mossy Forest which I am working on at the moment which will be moved onto a separate cloth I was just selecting some bits when I snapped the photo.

I am also working on another Goddess slow stitch piece, this one for autumn, so far I have the fabric scraps sewn down.

I have begun slowly stitching vertical and horizontally to be sure everything stays in place before I cut her out and put her onto the main background fabric.

Once I cut out the goddess she will be similar to the summer goddess I made.

Speaking of Summer, the Roxys Journal of Stitchery Spring the last spring prompt was Blooms or Blossom for The blossoms I used a block from a Darlene Zimmerman panel which I will add to the slow stitched background.

The Summer prompts was Wildflowers and the 2nd was insect which I added to the wildflowers piece. 

The 3rd prompt for Summer was lazy summer days which is still in progress.  I won't be putting all my pages together until they are all complete.  I still have bits I want to add to the wildflowers

Today in my Facebook feed this photo showed up of my pin cushion with thread loaded needles on my stitching table. That photo was taken life before Simon my cat came to live with me.

Now, I keep Simon in mind whenever I am stitching, I still have the thread loaded needles at the ready, only now they are inside a box so Simon doesn't get a hold of them.

The 3 pincushions are loaded with different threads for different projects though currently only 2 are in use. I am linking my post at Kathy's Quilts https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2024/10/slow-sunday-stitching_0739717889.html

Take a look and see what other talented bloggers are slow stitching today.

I am currently reading The Gathering by Katherine Genet a friend sent me. From the first lines of the 1st chapter: 'This is where we all begin. Right where we are.' To the last line of the 1st chapter: 'And thus, I reach out across time to you.' I was pulled into this book.

I am also reading Restart Your Heart, it reads like a text book but I am learning about this condition and optimistic about finding a way to help myself thrive going forward.

Waiting on Hurricane Milton

 Well it looks like this next hurricane is going right across Florida and there is no way we aren't going to get more than just a little rain.  I have a feeling more trees will fall.  My neighbors tree fell over my fence into my yard during Hurricane Helene.

It was no surprise since it was half dead which I noticed when we had one of our trees cut down that was hanging over another of my neighbors yard, the tree was half dead so it made sense to cut it down.

I am well stocked with water, batteries and cat food and litter, a full tank of gas and some cash on hand just in case.  I'm not surprised by this storm, it's been a few years since we had a large hurricane blow directly over us. Tomorrow I will take down the bird feeders and wind chimes, and have my son move the few planters to a more secure place.  

With the A-Fib (atrial fibrillation) I am so tired most of the time that small tasks exhaust me. The other day I had to stop in the middle of grocery shopping, check out so I could get home to lie down.  Walking down to the corner and back, some days twice is about all I can handle right now.  I miss my daily 2 mile walks so much.

On a more positive note yesterday I stitched 4 of the 12 hexagon blocks on the Kathy Schmitz Fright Night table mat.

I have to gather some autumn fabrics for a few slow stitching projects I want to get started on.  Despite the rain we had all day yesterday and today stitching keeps me calm and creative. With out a needle and thread I think I would lose my mind.

If you are in Florida, Stay Safe.

Slow Stitching Sundays October Woven Wreaths And Fight Night

 I finished the stitching on the Kathy Schmitz Woven Wreath October block and began the stitching on the Fright Night mat.

Last night I stitched one pumpkin and this morning I began stitching the cat which I will continue to stitch later today.

 

There was a hiccup with the Harvest Hues SAL with a slight delay in getting the stitching started as Mary Corbet is dealing with some eye issues. She may be able to get a midweek start this week, I may go ahead and stitch a set of leaves on my own and once Mary is back to stitching I will stitch along with her.  I love the leaf patterns so having an extra set will help me use up some of my stash of floss and fabrics.

The newest prompt for the Roxy's Journal of Stitchery Vol. 6 is autumnal colors which I have a few leaf motifs to stitch as well as some leafy fabric to fussy cut and slow stitch for my page.

I will add my post to Kathy's Quilts for slow stitching Sunday here is the link drop on over and take a look at what other bloggers are slow stitching today. 

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2024/10/slow-sunday-stitching.html

It looks like we are facing another hurricane this week with lots of rain wind and power outages.  This one looks like its going to cross the entire state of Florida. For anyone in it's path Stay Safe.

A new Stich Along Harvest Hues with Mary Corbet

 I have gathered my supplies for the newest Stitch Along I am taking part in hosted by Mary Corbet.

You can read about it here and join along if you like, we don't begin stitching the leaves until next week so there is time.  Here is the link to Mary's Website for the SAL

https://www.needlenthread.com/2024/09/harvest-hues-1-design-materials-set-up.html

As soon as I saw the photos posted on her blog I knew I would join in.  I love Autumn colors and I'm always looking for something new and colorful to use to decorate my home here in Florida.

I have some wool blend felt I purchased about a year or so ago from Benzie Design for a project I did with quite a bit left over. Here is there website https://www.benziedesign.com They also have an Etsy store by the same name.  I love their wool palette selections most of the time you can purchase the DMC floss to coordinate with the felt which saves time trying to get that perfect match depending on what you make.

Also for autumn I am stitching another Mary Corbet design Autumn Leaf Lines the pattern is free for members of Mary's Patreon. 

I first came to know of Mary Corbet when I renewed my interest in Hand Embroidery way back in October 2014.  I enrolled in a hand embroidery class on October 7th we would make 2 projects from Gail Pan's Patchwork Loves Embroidery book. My finished needlebook and pincushion side by side with the photos from the book.  I can happily say my French knots have improved.

 The next project to follow was a Crab Apple Hill design which I am happy to say I am still crazy about those patterns. More about those another time.

After the New Year in 2015 we began to meet once a week for hand embroidery class learning new stitches and refreshing our skills.  Many of those classed included a video from Mary Corbet, it may have been either the website or YouTube. 

I have to say signing up for that first class 10 years ago was one of the best things I  have ever done.  I have grown as a hand stitcher following patterns to designing some of my own patterns and exploring the world of Slow Stitching in many of it's forms.

I will also be working on Kathy Schmitz Woven Wreaths block for October along with her Fright Night Table Mat which is available on Spoonflower, it includes the backing fabric when you purchase 1 yard.

I just love the vintage look of the motifs there are 12 in all and also available in Kathy's shop as a stand alone download to stitch the images.  I may use these as part of a bunting instead of the table mat.

The design images reminds me so much of the vintage Halloween cutouts from when my son was a little boy kind of like these vintage Beistle 

I just saw in the Spoonflower shop there is a Christmas Table Mat and a Wall hanging, I may grab one though I do have the Jolly And Bright ornament pattern to start on soon.

I am finally linking my post to Kathy's Quilts here:https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2024/09/slow-sunday-stitching_02122906470.html
It's been a while since I linked a post so it feels great to have something stitch related to talk about.

A Mary Oliver poem and my thoughts.

 

INVITATION by Mary Oliver

Oh do you have time

to linger

for just a little while

out of your busy

and very important day

for the goldfinches

that have gathered

in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,

to see who can sing

the highest note,

or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,

or the most tender?

Their strong, blunt beaks

drink the air

as they strive

melodiously

not for your sake

and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning

but for sheer delight and gratitude –

believe us, they say,

it is a serious thing

just to be alive

on this fresh morning

in the broken world.

I beg of you,

do not walk by

without pausing

to attend to this

rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.

It could mean everything.

It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:

You must change your life.

Mary Oliver

The words in this poem are almost my exact thoughts when I'm lying in my bed between sleep and waking listening to the birds singing out my window.  Some mornings there isn't a peep from a bird but on those glorious mornings when the birds wake me with their chorus of calls and songs of joy.  I will listen for the different tunes my own heart filling with joy.

Early this month we had rain for the first two weeks with some heavy downpours, the birds would gather at one of the feeders under the covered porch several perching on the windchimes and the table waiting to take their turn at the feeder or perhaps just being social while getting out of the rain.  They sing while they wait out the rain.  I often wonder are they calling other birds to let them know it's dry spot out of the rain with plenty to eat.  

I am fortunate to have this almost daily gift of birdsong and happy to say it's not only in the early morning that the birds come and sing.  For the past few weeks they have been coming in the late afternoon and early evening after the sun goes down filling the air with song.