Happy Spring and Slow Sunday Stitching

 Spring arrived in north central Florida with sunny skies, clear cool air and birdsong from the early hours of dawn to my walk in the park and home to sit outside with a cup of tea and my newest hand embroidery project. 

I began stitching the Greenman with Weeks Dye Works floss in Monkey Grass 2158,  for me the greenman has always been a symbol of Spring and nature so beginning him on the Vernal Equinox seemed like a good idea.

I like using Weeks Dye Works floss for my greenman/greenwoman pieces because of the shades of green in each skein, and the names are herbs and other vegetation.  I may also use a few Gentle Arts floss.

I am also working on the Moon Flow piece by Cozy Blue, I bought the kit planning to have it stitched by today unfortunately I had a few days where I didn't feel like stitching.

I love the kits from Cozy Blue, I'm partial to Moon Phase patterns so I bought the kit and the pattern, I made this one in 2017 called Lunar Blossom I also bought the pattern and an iron on pattern to use.

I like to have a kit or two to stitch especially when the pattern is pre-printed on the fabric it takes care  of tracing the pattern.  A friend of mine suggested a company called Avlea and I bought a kit from there called Aegean Sunrise.

Here is my progress on the Moon Flow kit,  I started with the flowers and now I'm working the center leaves then I'll move on to the small flowers then the moons and the leaves on the outer rim.

The bright yellow fabric is what attracted me to the kit, I bought the pattern too so I could make it on a different background.

I'm linking my post to Kathy's Quilts https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2022/03/slow-sunday-stitching_0188912250.html

Check the link to see what other bloggers are slow stitching today and perhaps add your link to what you are slow stitching this fine Spring day.

 Here are the links for the 2 kits I mentioned Cozy Blue has an Etsy shop and a Website to shop on.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/cozyblue

https://cozybluehandmade.com/

https://www.avleaembroidery.com/

And Spring rose on the garden fair,

Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;

And Each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast

rose from the dreams of it’s wintry rest.

-Percy Bysshe Shelley

Art Janie Olsen

Happy Spring

 Happy Spring!

Art by Janie Olsen

And Spring rose on the garden fair,

Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;

And Each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast

rose from the dreams of it’s wintry rest.

-Percy Bysshe Shelley

 

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 

Fresh from my oven this morning my traditional Irish soda bread.  I have been making this bread for several decades, changing it every few years either adding raisin or currents, sometimes caraway seeds and candied citrus left over from the fruitcakes of Christmas. 

Signs of Spring's Arrival are Popping Up in My Garden.

 Every day I walk around the outside of my house to the sounds of birds, bees and the scampering of a squirrel or two. Today I noticed the pear tree has flowered, last week there were just a few small buds. It's a scrawny tree that doesn't get much sunlight when I first moved into this house almost 3 years ago there was a few small pears. I don't know who planted it where they did because it is overshadow by a very large oak tree and several other trees so I think it was doomed from the start.

March 7 2022

 

March 1 2022

I also noticed the yard is full of fallen leaves, it looks like autumn in the north, I have documented this falling of leaves in March in my garden journal and it happens every year so I'm sure it's normal for my area in Florida.

  A few other blooming plants in the yard, the purple flowers, I believe is Spiderwort, are everywhere in the backyard, there were a few bees buzzing about, the ever faithful dandelion coming up through the driveway. 

I can't recall the name of this shrub the flowers don't last too long. I think the plant below is Indian Hawthorn.

There are 3 of these plants along the side of my garage, they are quite pretty the flowers are like stars and remind of jasmine. 

There are signs of Spring's arrival everywhere except in the weather where the temps are in the high 80's. We are expecting so rain tomorrow and Wednesday.  We need it everything is so dry and there is yellow pollen everywhere which makes my allergies flare and my car looks like a breaded pork chop.

 

February's Last Slow Sunday Stitching and Birds, Books and Crochet

 This month is nearly over and our weather here in north central Florida has changed from temps below freezing early in the month to high 80's this week, oh how I wish for a few weeks of 70 degrees before the heat of summer begins, here usually about late March.

The birds have been happily singing their early morning songs and visiting the feeders daily, I bought a new table set last month and this week I have taken my coffee outside to watch the birds and the occasional squirrel. Early this morning I brought my Slow Sunday Stitching and a cup of tea outside so I could watch the birds and crochet.

I bought the plastic table cloth to serve as a dust cover as you can see on the window sill dust settles in quickly. I snapped the photo before sweeping off the dust, usually I sweep it off once a week or so depending on the dust. 

The bird feeders are actually straight where I was standing I had to take the photo on an angle to get both in the shot.  I have 2 other feeders in the backyard since my next door neighbors cut down all the trees in their yard last month. There is also a blue shepherd hook in the foreground under the palm tree I have a woodpecker seed block hanging there.

I started crocheting a goddess doll from the Fiber Magick book I purchased a few months ago.  I'm using Skein Tones Lion Brand yarn in Cedarwood.  I am changing the arms for my goddess otherwise she would have been finished, I unraveled a few times and now I think I have it right.

The pattern is Goddess of Journeys on page 155, it worked up quite easily though I did notice the stuffing is showing through, I used the suggested hook size for the yarn so next time I will go down 2 hook sizes. I ordered some dark fiberfill for my next one. I'm linking my post to Kathy's Quilts here:

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2022/02/slow-sunday-stitching_01156247302.html

The book Fiber Magick is by Opal Luna and has some cute Witchy patterns and you all know I just love anything witch related.  My friend sent me two new books with a cozy mystery magical witch as the main character.

Both are new to me authors which fits into my yearly goal of reading at least 5-10 new to me authors every year.  Yesterday I drove across town to run a few errands and made a stop Joann's I wanted to see what's new in the Spring decor items. I'm so happy I stopped, while browsing the magazines I came across an issue of Love Embroidery magazine.

I mentioned in a previous post a friend in the UK sent me several of her issues, I also found a US vendor to subscribe to the magazine I'm still waiting for the first issue which can take 8 to 10 weeks to start, this is issue #22  the January 2022 issue, recently on the Instagram page the newest issue #24 is out. Hopefully the subscription will start with #23 or #24 if not I'm sure in a few weeks Joann's will have issue 23 on the shelf.

I'll leave you with an image my sister sent me caution do not sip tea while reading it. I am a lifelong Peanuts fan.

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day

 

February Moves Along

 

The month of February moves along with a mixed bag of weather here in Florida. We have had days in the high 80’s and nights into the mid 20’s, a near week of rain, a day of sunshine and clouds and more rain. Today, the sun was out, the air was brisk and winter is trying hard to hold fast to her grasp as the days go by.

This image goes through my head after the warm sunny days turn to frost covered mornings.  Spring waits quietly knowing her time will come when she will once again emerge from the deep clutches of winter's icy grasp.

This evening I captured a bit of the sunset splashing across the sky in lovely shades of pale pink. 

While the moon hangs high above my house shining bright in the remaining hours of daylight.

Last week I had my check up with my cardiologist and he has suggested a treatment to help the minor blood vessel work a little harder to pump blood throughout my body since I have some many obstructed arteries.

I am only posting a photo of the machine not the video which squeezes the cuffs on my legs and jerks the bed to the beat of my heart.  I went for my first session on Monday, and my last session too.  I was fine while on the machine for the first 45 minutes, the last 15 minutes my left leg started to feel pain.  Once the session was done I walk out, drove home and was fine. An hour later I could barely walk and the next morning I hurt so bad I could barely move, I swear that treatment did some realignment to my spine my hips ached for 2 days.  So I decided these session were not for me.  For one reason I sure don't need any more knee pain or back problems. Second reason is the normal treatment is 35 1 hour  consecutive visits, my doctor scheduled me for 4 session and I would see him in June. What are 4 treatments out of 35 going to do.  I swear he just tossed this at me for something new to do.  I need to get a see another cardiologist, I don't feel he communicates well with me and seems to hold back information.  

I haven't done any stitching since I completed the Three Fates piece, I have 2 projects on fabric waiting I just haven't been in the mood to stitch.  I've been busy purging a few things I haven't used for a while and getting some reading in.  I am currently reading: