May comes to an end.

 The Memorial Day weekend has passed with lovely dry weather and temps in the low 80's a rare thing here in north central Florida, a true late spring day.

On Memorial Day I began stitching a new goddess hand embroidery, The Morrigan, I forgot to stitch her fingers so those need to be done before I continue on where I left off. The Dress is done in DMC 820 it's a deep blue, Flesh is DMC 437, Hair is being done in DMC 310. She is being stitched on 100% cotton white on white spiral print fabric.

I haven't done a goddess hand embroidery since January 2022, when I did the 3 Fates, which I stitched 

in shades of pink.  I'm not sure I posted the finished goddess pieces I did in 2021 for my goddess a month challenge.

Above: January Basic goddess with knotwork, February the Cailleach, and March Hecate is a Urban Threads pattern because I didn't like mine.

Above: April Willendorf on Labyrinth, May Minoan Snake Goddess, June Yemaya

Above: July, Isis, August Kali, September Ariadne

Above: October Elen of the Ways, November Baba Yaga, December Airmid

My newest Greenman I started a year ago is finally progressing and I actually moved the hoop.

On the way back from my doctor's appointment today I stopped by the library to pick up a book I had reserved. When I first saw it in my Facebook Feed the cover and title caught my eye and I was just going to buy it when I decided to check the library. 

The inside jacket cover if you are wondering what it's about.

I rad the first chapter and look forward to continuing on this evening.

 

Propagating a Pineapple to Plant

 I'm propagating a pineapple it's easy: start with a ripe pineapple, just twist off the top, pull off about 3 rounds of leaves until you see the beginning of roots. Tip: pull leaves off from the left or right side they pull off easier that way.

The beginning of roots after 3 rounds of leaves were removed, you can remove more rounds if you want.

place in a jar or glass with water wait for the roots to grow about 2 the 3 inches long then plant in potting soil. Or you can skip the water method and plant in soil.

You will have to wait 2 years for a pineapple but you will have a lovely plant in your garden while you wait. The next time I will plant to soil.

Happy May Day!

 

Slow Sunday Stitching and the Kaleidoscope SAL progress

 Wow! I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post.  Life can sometimes get so busy, this weekend I finally had time to sit down and get some stitching done.

The Kaleidoscope from the Lolli & Grace  One Meaningful Word #7 SAL is nearly completed.  I have made a few blunders along the way but all in all it still looks good.

Here is where I am today: Just started the Violet spoke using DMC Color Variations #4250 "Amethyst Ripple" I plan finish this later today.

Yesterday I spent most of the afternoon and evening stitching the Indigo Spoke and finishing the Blue Spoke.

Indigo

Blue

Here is where I was yesterday when I began stitching the blue spoke using DMC Color Variations #4022 "Mediterranean Sea". The doll head pincushion has been with me for over 30 years.

The Green spoke on the Kaleidoscope, I have several mistakes in the stitches I used, the inner shield was supposed to be couched and the outer spoke was supposed to be a threaded back stitch. I left the couched stitched on the outer spoke and just did the whipped backed stitch on the shield. I used DMC Color Variations #4050 "Roaming Pastures" It has more yellow in it than I thought but it flows well from the yellow spoke.

Green

I am enjoying this SAL so much, it’s been quite a while since I used a variety of embroidery stitches. If you are familiar with my stitching you know I mostly use the back stitch in my embroidery but after working on this for the past few weeks I’m sure more of my work will include a variety of stitches.

The Yellow Spoke I used DMC Color Variations #4075 "Wheat Fields" I had trouble doing the cable chain on the outer spoke so after tearing it out for the 3rd time I made my own way which nearly resembles the stitch but I wasn't about to try a 4th time. 

Yellow

The Orange spoke went along with out a problem I used DMC Color Variations #4124 "Bonfire"

Orange

At the start of the piece the first color was Pink and suggested DMC Color Variations #4210 "Radiant Ruby" which when shown next to the Red spoke looks like the colors should have been switched, the Red spoke was stitched in DMC Color Variations #4200 "Wild Fire" which in my opinion has more pink than red, but overall I like it.  I did make one change to the 1st spoke, I decided to use all reverse chain stitch on the outline, we were supposed to use heavy chain part way through but after pulling it out twice because it looked too messy I went with the reverse chain.

As I stated above I am enjoying this so much, using a variety of embroidery stitches I haven't used in a long time, some I never used.

Here are a few things I have learned along the way, I don't much like the chain stitch, my French knots have vastly improved. I love the whipped back stitch. I have a love/hate relationship with the split stitch, yet I love how it looks.  

As a quilt maker that pieces and quilts most of my quilts by hand at times I found myself making my stitches very small. For the outer spoke on the Indigo spoke I used a small piece of Tiger Tape to keep  my stitches at 1/4" long I just moved it along as I stitched and it worked out quite well. I have had the Tiger Tape in my notions bin for years and never used it until I decided I didn't want to use a ruler to make marks or eyeball it, cause these old eyes don't see as well as they used to.

Using the tiger tape helped with the spacing, my buttonhole stitched scallops are a bit wonky, the eyelet stitch my hole was too small so you can barely tell it has a hole in the center. (its the large circle, the other two smaller circles are the Rhodes stitch.

I will link my post to Kathy's Quilts here https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2023/04/slow-sunday-stitching_01155257091.html

Over the last few weeks I finished a few cozy mysteries by Leslie Meier:

I am currently reading Thai Dye by Monica Ferris, I think this is 15th in the series, which I began years

ago, then put aside for a while to take a break from the series.  I recently finished Knit to Kill by Anne Canadeo, another author I read a few years ago.

I also started to read Laura Childs tea shop mysteries again though not in order.  I have Lemon Curd Killer on the reserve list at the local library, I believe it's the newest. 

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!