Sunshine and Some Slow Stitching

 We have had 2 full days of sunshine here in north central Florida, though the temps began in the low 30's it sure is a nice change from the nearly 3 weeks of rain and gray skies.

After my brisk walk this morning I say down to do some slow stitching.  I finished the embroidery on the polar bear ornaments I just need to add the ribbon ties.

I love the overall look of them but will say stitching through 2 layers of wool felt left my fingers sore.

I pieced week 3 of the K3nclothtales block I just need to add the quilting, this was a fun piece to do since most of the quilts I make are hand pieced and hand quilted.

I chose a simple 4 patch using fabric scraps left over from a quilt I made about 10 years ago in a quilt class at a now closed quilt shop.

I am linking my post at Kathy's Quilts here:https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2024/01/slow-sunday-stitching_01608846556.html

Tomorrow the week 4 video will be released so I can get stitching on that.

Here is the link to the year long stitch along for K3n cloth tales https://www.youtube.com/@k3n.clothtales

I started the second book for the Library Love 2024 challenge.  This week I am reading Black Candle Women by Diane Marie Brown.

I am also reading Where the Deer and the Antelope Play by Nick Offerman.

Mid-January and Slow Sunday Stitching

 It's just about the middle of January and the weather here in Florida has been a mixed bag of rain storms, sunny days and windy days so fierce I could barely stay on my feet.  What happened to our dry season?

On the up side of all the rain as I have been enjoying the down time with warm cups of tea and some slow stitching which is always a good thing.

For 2024, I wanted to do something a little bit different with my hand embroidery so I signed on for a few stitch a longs. The K3nclothtales stitch along runs weekly for the entire year. It's the first time I am doing this type of stitching which to me is a more meditative kind of stitching, we are only 2 weeks into the SAL and I love it.

The first week was weaving fabric strips together on a base fabric and stitching them to the base. I used a basic running stitch horizontally and vertically and then added a stitched word mend which is my word of the year for 2024. I blogged about that yesterday.

Kathryn of K3n cloth tales mentioned Community and the weaving of cloth and stitch and how it brings us together as a community.

It took me a while to get the feel of stitching and having the raw edges tattering about which I love but never thought this type A personality could live with it without putting in a hemmed edge.  Here is the YouTube link for the video of what is needed for the SAL.

https://www.youtube.com/@k3n.clothtales

The week two piece is darkness and light, which seems appropriate for a winter piece as the daylight hours are shorter in the winter and darkness closes in before we know it. I love this piece, as simple as it is it brought me immense joy stitching it.  I made my circle a bit bigger than I had originally planned

so filling in all those seed stitches took a bit of time. I actually finished this late morning after my walk. I chose black and white at first than decided on the brown and light beige fabrics. I watch the video though before I start, I actually finished the first weeks piece on Saturday night  and added the Mend piece this morning. Tomorrow begins week 3, I can't wait to see what's next.  

Now that the second week piece is done I will continue stitching of the Goddess Airmid piece, which I was working on before Christmas. 

Yesterday I ordered 2 new patterns from Crabapple Hill Studio, Block 2 the Queen of Halloween and Block 3 Violet Soggybottom  for the Block of the Month Witch's Faire quilt.  ( Somehow I missed the 1st block which I am sure will be on the website eventually).

I have loved Crabapple Hill studio patterns since the first one I stitched back in 2014 in a hand embroidery class offered at a local quilt shop, it was a relatively simple pattern but at the time I had just rediscovered my love of hand embroidery and discovered an entire world of embroidery stitches that were new to me.  During the short time the class ran I was introduced to the works of Meg Hawkey of Crabapple Hill Studios, Gail Pan, Kathy Schmitz, Bird Brain designs and Blueberry Hill.  

Over the years I have discovered many designers, have amassed a large collection of patterns and started deigning my own pieces. This year I plan to pull out some of the patterns I have purchased over the years and start stitching them.  I am adding my post today over at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching. https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2024/01/slow-sunday-stitching.html

My Word of the Year 2024

Do you choose a personal word for the year as a focus? In the last decade it seems to be the offspring of making New Year’s resolutions, which never resonated with me. I always felt making resolutions at the start of the year when we are winding down from the holiday season and in the throes of winter where everything seems to be in a state of rest and recovery, why put oneself through promises that most of the time are broken before February ends. But a word or even two words is something I can get behind.

My word for 2024 is: MEND.

During last few years with all the physical challenges and changes it brought, mending feels like exactly what I need to do. When thinking about the difference between mending and healing; healing always feels like something that just happens (if you’re lucky), but mending is something that you do.

You take something into your hands and you make it better. It's an act of will rather than patience.

I want to mend, so this year my word of the year is Mend. I'm interested to see just where this word takes me. 

I stitched a little reminder of my word which I plan to add to the woven piece in the photo.

First Week of January and Slow Stitching Sunday

 Here we are 7 days into 2024, the time is flying by so quickly it's enough to make my  head spin.  

The weather here has been a mixed bag of sunny days and brisk temps, rain storms and wintery gray cloudy days where I wish it were snowing.

I have the January motif stitched for the  Kathy Schmitz The Woven Wreaths Stitch-Along is completed. I used Valdani 6 strand floss instead of the Perle. 

You can find info here about the SAL https://www.instagram.com/kathyschmitzstitches/

Here is my progress for the motif, it didn't take too long to stitch but long enough, the Valdani floss was a bit fiddly at first but once I got the hang of it stitching moved along until it didn't.  I ordered the Perle to see if it stitches any better. Though the problem is probably just me working with a floss I don't normally use.  I had a similar problem when I first used Cosmo floss.

I watched the YouTube tutorial all the way though first and then replayed while I stitched.  Here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0goemkQd0S4

I am also taking part is the K3Tales year long stitch along which will be weekly so 52 weeks of stitching in 2024.

This is a link to the first video on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAzwCPBcBfA  

I will be working on the 1st week today, again I watched the video through and I will replay while I work.  This is a completely different SAL where it's more Slow Stitch and not a pattern or specific motifs.  

I also wanted something a bit of a meditative stitching piece so I am taking part in the SAL with Marion of Marion's World. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFv4CJuGzkI

I came upon Marion's World a few months ago, June and just enjoyed watching her videos and the creations she made not to mention the seeing her lovely garden.   The first week of Marion's SAL is the running stitch which I will post my photo at another time since I didn't snap a photo of it yet.

I will be posting at Kathy's Quilts today https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2024/01/first-slow-sunday-stitching-party-for.html

Happy New Year!

 

I started the New Year off with a walk at Silver Springs State Park.  I am taking part in the American Cancer Society's Walk 31 Miles in January fundraiser so I thought why not walk in a beautiful park surrounded by nature to log my first mile, I actually walked several miles.

Those are my feet and cane and some of the lovely views along my walk. The weather was a perfect Florida winters day with lots of blue skies, sunshine and passing white clouds.

Some late blooming flowers along the rock garden area, some of the fallen flowers were placed atop the stone wall above.

Beautiful camellias and dragonfly bench and a large oak with dormant canna lilies in the foreground.

You probably can't tell from the photo below but the solid gray mass is a manatee just hanging

All in all it was a wonderful day for a walk.

Happy New Year!