Happy Spring! Slow Stitching

 It has finally arrived, the 1st day of Spring!

The weather has cooled finally after the first weeks of March unseasonably hot with temps in the high 80's and 90's.  Then a few days of much needed rain and spring broke with the sunshine, birds singing and the Mexican petunias blooming.

On St. Patrick's day I came home from running errands to find a rare yellow cardinal at the bird feeder.

I was trying to get my phone out of my purse to snap a photo of him standing facing me but when I finally had the camera on him he chose that time to grab a seed.  My photo isn't the best, but believe me this will be a memory I will cherish forever.  I have seen several posting of the yellow cardinals and thought I would never see one in person. Talk about the luck of the Irish.  I baked my usual Irish Soda bread the night before, then yesterday morning I had a rough start, my eyes weren't even fully open when Simon decided to attempt to climb the drapes in the living room.  So early in the morning was me on the step ladder with drill in hand putting back the bracket to hold the rod.  Life with a cat is surely not dull.

After hanging the drapes back up I was able to sit down with a cup of coffee and a slice of soda bread, please note the bread in the photo is not the slice but the loaf before cutting off a slice.

On Saturday week 2 of the Lolli and Grace SAL began, we are stitching the second spoke in the Kaleidoscope, the Red spoke, while I was stitching I noticed the red looks more like pink and the 1st spoke which was pink looks more Red.  I went back over the supply list and instructions and I have it right, week 2 I am using the DMC 4200 (wild fire). Week 1 was to use DMC 4210 Radiant Ruby.

When I look at them side by side the color I am using now looks more pink than red. Watching the video tutorial Anne's look red than pink as well.  She is using Threadworks for the 1st spoke and  Cosmo floss for the other spokes.  I am using the DMC suggested colors because that is what I have in my stash and personally I have found Cosmo floss always knots and tangles on me.

I did make a change is the first spoke, I used the reverse chain stitch for the spoke outline, I tried to do the heavy chain for part of the outline but after taking it out twice because it just look messy I went with the reverse chain.  I am happy with the outcome.

I finished the first spoke and the triangle on Saturday morning and started the 2nd spoke Sunday evening.  I love this pattern and the tutorials on Youtube are wonderful as you stitch along with Anne.

Here is the link if you want to join in the fun.

https://lolliandgrace.com/blogs/blog/one-meaningful-word-7-kaleidoscope-stitch-along

The Stitchdoodles SAL I am behind on but confident I will finish.  I don't usually stitch sampler style pieces but the pattern caught my eye so I decided I wanted to do this.

This is my start on the first week of Winterberry Cottage, the SAL is actually on week 5, like I said I am behind.  Here is the link if you are interested in joining the SAL. 

https://www.stitchdoodles.com/winterberry-cottage-sal/

I didn't snap a knew photo but the windows are all stitched.  I am linking my post to Kathy's Quilts here

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2023/03/slow-sunday-stitching_0847577959.html

It's February and National Embroidery Month!

 

 

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.

Happy New Year and Welcome January

 For several years January 1st always begins with me choosing a reading challenge or 2 to start the year. This year is no different. One of the first challenges I will be joining is the Cruisin through the Cozies 2023 reading challenge with my goal for the Snoop level which is 10 books:

The first book I am reading in 2023 is by Lauren Elliot, Steeped in Secrets and it just so happens to be a cozy mystery.

The book has many of the elements I enjoy in a cozy mystery: tea, magic and a bit of murder.  What more could I ask for?

Here is the link if you are interested in signing up yourself: 

https://socratesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2022/11/cruisin-thru-cozies-reading-challenge.html?lr=1

On another note Simon has been very helpful with my crochet project, my ever growing granny square will eventually be a throw or afghan.  I am using Lion Brand's Mandala yarn in the Troll colorway and plan to combine it with another colorway at this moment I can't recall the name.

On December 29th I finally purchased a new car, after putting it off for nearly 2 years I took a few days drove a few cars and purchased the 2022 Kia Rio, I love buying at the end of the year there are always great deals out there. 

 It was way passed time to get rid of the Cadillac when the 3rd oil leak was discovered, I wasn't about to throw good money at a problem that never seems to be fixed.  The last mechanic said it would cost more to repair than the car was worth.  It was a 2006 that I bought used in 2015.  About a year ago I decided I needed a smaller more fuel efficient car not to mention something smaller for my aging body. Some days the Caddy felt like I was driving a truck.  

She will be missed on those long road trips and weeks when I need the entire back seat to brings packages to the post office but that is about it. 

Happy New Year

 

Merry Christmas

 

Life with Kitten.

 Simon looking quite handsome it his cubby, he has been with me for 6 weeks and 2 days, life has not been quite the same since he came to stay, I'm so glad he came.

Simon at rest in his cat tree cubby, his neuter surgery went well on the 13th, he was also microchipped in case he gets out.  His recheck at the vet on Tuesday was good, he has gained 2 pounds since he has come to live with me.  

He is quite a character and finds amusement in the simplest things.  And he loves his colorful tunnel too

He likes the cat videos on YouTube especially the fishes and the mice, also videos of birds, he also gets very excited to watch the birds at the feeder from my bedroom window.

And he naps just about anywhere, lately it's in the cat tree cubby, it was a long afternoon of playtime with my son and daughter in law.

Simon keeping his eye on his domain.