Deborah's Bits and Pieces: Walk 31 Miles in January

Monday, January 1, 2024

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!

Sunday, December 31, 2023

The Last Day of December and Planning Projects for 2024

It's New Year's Eve, the every last day of 2023 with a whole new year of possibility waiting in the wings.

I'm not sorry to see this year come to a close, it's been a year of ups and downs which I sure many of us have experienced.

My first stitching project for 2024 is taking part in Kathy Schmitz's Woven Wreath Stitch Along. It begins on January 1st. The project requires the purchase of the preprinted fabric from Spoonflower. There are 3 color choices: blue, red or green. I chose the blue, though I had the green in my cart too but I work with green quite often so I decided on the blue.

My one change is I am using Valdani 6 stranded floss instead of perle cotton as a matter or personal choice.

You can find info here on her instagram https://www.instagram.com/kathyschmitzstitches/ or YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0goemkQd0S4

This is the link at Spoonflower, all you need is a fat quarter, I am not using the coordinating fabric

https://www.spoonflower.com/en/shop?on=fabric&q=kathyschmitz&availability=ForSale&sort=bestSelling

I am also going to attempt the 2024 Slow Stitch with k3n clothtales

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_V7o7DpYeE&list=PLIvsY9XB9IaavqCrqeFaFvZBtQoJD-X4Q

So these are a few stitching projects to start off 2024, I haven't even decided what I plan to stitch this year. I do need to finish my polar bears. Today I need to wash the stick and wash away product of the polar bear and then trim around the edges.

Here is a look at both of the polar bears before I cut them out to finish them, I decided not to stuff them.

I actually completed the stitching on the bear on the left, I love these little polar bear ornaments, even though they didn't get finished yet. Today I will be working to get the other one done. I had to stop stitching for a week because my fingers were so dried out from packing all the those out going orders from the web shops Christmas week my fingers were bleeding.

I'm going to add my blog post over at Kathy's Quilts for the Slow Sunday Stitching, hop on over to see what other talented stitchers are working on.

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2023/12/slow-sunday-stitching-new-years-eve.html

I'm taking part in the American Cancer Society's Walk 31 Miles in January, I'm walking in memory of my brother in law and my aunt. It's a way for me not only to raise money but a good way for me to get back into my walking routine. Since I had the spine and legs problems since late spring my daily walking was stopped for several weeks and then when I was finally comfortable walking my walks were shortened. I miss my daily 2 mile walks so with this charity walk I'm planning 1 mile each day so that by February I can be back to at least 2 miles again. Here is a link to the Facebook page if this is something you want to do and also my page where I will post my daily walking.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/6686097324772727

https://www.facebook.com/donate/811260747426352/6826339254082667/

This is the 1st book I will read in 2024 The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl

I just finished reading Wintering by Katharine May