Slow Sunday Stitching and a Word of the Year Goddess Doll

Yesterday evening I made a sweet little Goddess doll with my Word of the Year, Tend. I was inspired by the little dolls made by Mirjam Gielen. (Mirjam Textiles). I purchased the Stitch Goddesses  pattern from her Etsy shop to use as the base of my goddess doll. I watched her video tutorial to see how she went about making hers and then proceeding to craft mine my way. Photo shows front and back.

I printed the pattern onto card stock, chose a piece of fabric for the body front and traced around the pattern pretty much how it was done in the video. Then I worked my own magic in the stitching of the goddess. I stitched the body from the backside of the fabric first using the running stitch, flipped it over and proceeded to wrap the running stitch to get a more defined line of stitching. I also chose one of the faces to use included in the pattern. I made a little tag with my word of the year: TEND, stitched it to the body and then put it aside to think about how I would finish her.

Initially I thought of attaching her to a light piece of cardboard to make a card, may be even adding a piece of fabric to the back to complete the card. (I’ll do this for another one)

In the end I made her into a doll after all it was the artist’s own dolls that inspired me to make one, I purchased the pattern to be supportive of other fiber artist and I love making goddess and spirit dolls.

I pulled out a piece of fabric for the dolls back trimmed it to measure the same size square. I stitched with the right sides together just outside my original stitch line for the front. I trimmed off all the excess fabric, turned it out which took a bit of time with such a small piece of fabric, stuffed her with cotton batting and rosemary.

She turned out exactly as I hoped, today I pulled out more fabric bits to make another. I was originally going to make a slow stitch fabric base but I wanted to see how it would turn out. I could have followed the original tutorial but I like to experiment, this time it worked out well. It’s a fairly quick project which I like to do between larger projects I’m working on.

I'm linking my post to Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching check out the link to see what other bloggers are slow stitching here https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2025/03/slow-sunday-stitching.html

 Here is the link to the Etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/MirjamTextiles

The second baby blanket is completed for my daughter in laws cousin who recently had twins, a girl and a boy. I posted a photo of the 1st blanket in my post yesterday.

Now to pack them up and ship them off to Switzerland.  But first I need to start the vertical stitching on the winter goddess slow stitch piece.

Happy Stitching!

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.

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.

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

Reading and Stitching this 15th day of January

 Wow the cold weather is back once again in Florida for a few days, this morning it was 25 degrees and ice covered my windshield, it was cold Christmas weekend too. It only last for a few days so it's not so bad, though yesterday I could not get my hands to warm up for hours.  

The 15th of the month is here and I am well into a few of my reading challenges, a stitching project that will last a few months and slowly looking at what I want to do with the garden.

For the Crusin through the Cozies reading challenge I finished Steeped in Secrets by Lauren Elliot.

The second book I'm reading is Twisted Threads by Lea Wait which I was surprised to find at my local library in large print. Actually finding it at all was a big surprise since I looked for her books for a few years. 

I am also in the Gaia/Nature reading challenge for 2023, there is information at this link here if it is of interest to you. 

https://gumtreesandgalaxies.com/2022/12/30/are-we-ready-for-the-2023-gaia-nature-challenge/

The only requirement of the Gaia/nature challenge is to read at least one book that features the natural world, that book can be fiction or non fiction.  The first book I am reading for this challenge is: 

As a through hiker I love reading what other through hikers write about their experience on the trail.

I am participating in the Roxy's Journal of Stitchery Vol.3 making a stitched scroll which will give me plenty of stitching for Slow Stitching Sundays.  

As you can see Simon has been very helpful while I choose my fabric, almost as much as he has been helpful with my crocheting. 

The theme for the project is Down the Garden Path, so far I have my base fabric chosen, my spool which the completed project will wrap around, unless I decide to make a wall hanging or a book.

The project runs from January to June, every 2 weeks there is a prompt posted along with a YouTube video. The first prompt is Wildflowers, as you can see I'm lagging a bit right now and have just the beginning of a tree which I am stitching without a drawing.  I am going to follow the seasons while I 

stitch this project, it's winter so the tree will have bare branches, though I could add leaves since very few trees here in Florida lose their leaves in the winter.  Or I may just scrap this idea and save it for something else.  I'm tossing about another idea which is why I am lagging behind.  The amazing projects created by sisters Sarah and Rachel have me in awe, I attempted the Christmas Journal but November and December is so busy with the businesses it leaves very little time for stitching or anything else.  The project began on January 4th with the intro videos, each week on Wednesday there is a new video posted and every 2 weeks a new prompt for what you will stitch.  I can't wait to see what the new prompt will be this Wednesday.

Anyway the link to the YouTube video if you just want to join along here is Rachel's intro to the project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiYYfbQbgPg

And here is Sarah's intro to the project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugwwrH69xSU

And here is the link to the Facebook Group if you want to join this SAL and see what everyone is creating and perhaps post your own.  I am always in awe of the pieces of art posted. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/roxysjournalofstitchery

I am linking my post to Kathy's Quilts here https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2023/01/slow-sunday-stitching_01257888777.html

Drop in and see what Kathy is working on this week and check out the other talented bloggers posting for this week.

UPDATE ON MY JOURNAL SCROLL

I have once again made a change to a project and decided to put the tree piece aside for now. It just wasn't going as I had planned in my head.   So I  moved onto my actual first idea of using some old crazy quilt blocks I made a while back and build onto them with embroidery and embellishments.

 This is the first block I am  using, and here are some of the wildflowers I stitched in the late afternoon. I have more wildflowers to add.

I stitched them free hand instead of drawing them onto the fabric.  I added two fabric yoyo's and will add a button or bead on top of the yoyo's to give them a more polished look.

I have a stack of about 100 circles I cut years ago left over in my stash from other yoyo projects, I have been a scraps saver for about 40 years ever since I began gathering pieces for the postage stamp quilt I wanted to make.

These are some of the circles I plan to use in the scroll project.  I'm also using the Anchor spooled embroidery floss I purchased a year or so ago. It's a 6 stranded floss unwinds easily from the spool.

Hopefully this will be my last change my scroll project.

Sunday Slow Stitching and a Few Good Books

 October is moving so quickly I can barely keep up.  Lately it seems harder to carve out some me time to sit and stitch or read a book.  This time of the year keeps me busy with the online shops and as the weeks go by I will have less time for me until the New Year, which is what I signed on to when I decided to leave corporate America and do my own thing.  Mostly I have no regrets but as I get older I often wonder how long will I be able to keep up the pace.

A few weeks ago I attended a Broom Making workshop at the Ft. King National Historic Landmark Park, here is the broom I made.

After Hurricane Ian passed through we lost another tree so while my son was cutting up the tree I grabbed a piece of branch that will make either a great broom stick or a walking staff, right now it's in the garage curing for 6 months.  I enjoyed the workshop so much I just want to make another. 

Today is Sunday, the air was crisp and cool for my walk and after I post this and read a few blogs I'm going to enjoy some slow stitching on my greenman piece, I left off with my needle poking through a few days ago.

I haven't made very much progress since my last post of him but I did complete the Moon Crystals stitch along piece. I made a few changes to the moth, I didn't add the sequins and didn't do the Turkey stitch.  I'm not really a sequins in my embroidery person and I didn't much care for the Turkey stitch. This is no reflection on the designer, her work is beautiful but I have to go with what I like so I used the satin stitch in place of the turkey stitch, in the photo its the pink floss below the head and the sequins.

I did use the beads in the moth and the crescent moon, the large pink space should have been sequins. 

Here is the finished piece which need the stitch and wash product washed off which I will do later today. Overall I love how it turned out and I discovered I love doing the whipped backstitch and the chain stitch. Now to decide to put it in a hoop or make a pillow.

I have a few projects that need to be transferred to fabric so I can get started on them, for now I just want to stitch.  I am linking my post to Kathy's Quilts here, check out what other talented bloggers are slow stitching  https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2022/10/slow-sunday-stitching_01031266711.html

I picked up two books from the library yesterday while out running errands, I also returned 3 books. I will start reading The Girl Who Wrote in Silk this evening when my fingers are too sore to stitch any longer.

I started to read The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches last night, As Silly as it sounds while I am 

reading the book its as though someone is narrating it as I read, almost like the narration of the Queens of Mystery series, I can practically hear the voice in my head as I read. 

As I mentioned this week has been fairly busy with the online shops, especially after an Instagram influencer posted about one of out most popular products and sales went through the roof, at Amazon we sold more than 200 in an hour and from the home shop 75 one day and 70 the next and sales just keep coming. It's exhausting having so much to pack so early in the holiday season.

This is the object I am talking about, an embossed faux leather coffin shaped wallet, we sell them year round but at Halloween time we can barely keep them in stock.  

We are grateful to all our customers that have kept us in business all of these years it's nice to know the products we carry have a wide following. I'm just happy it's the wallet that's selling so fast and not the matching purse.

In closing I will leave you with a few autumn poems

I dream of colorful autumn leaves filling the branches of trees.