Sunday Slow Stitching, What's up for October

This is the last Slow Stitch Sunday for September, is it me or did this month go by in the blink of an eye? It sure seems that way to me. 

I finished the hand embroidery on the Green-woman #2 piece, held my breath while I rinsed out the stitch and wash product hoping the over dyed floss wouldn't run, pressed it lightly so I could snap a nice photo.  

I am going to finish her either in a frame or hoop not sure yet which so I will shop around for a frame to my liking. I used mostly Weeks Dye Works and a few Gentle Arts floss in colors named after herbs and other vegetation, DMC floss for the flowers and the pine cones and the eyes are done in Weeks Amber. She is stitched on 100% cotton muslin.  I'll link my post to Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching here:https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/09/slow-sunday-stitching_30.html

I do love checking out the other bloggers that link to the site each Sunday there are so many creative people crafting some lovely quilts, embroidery, a bit of crochet and knitting too.  

I will also be linking up at Supermom No Cape here https://www.supermomnocape.com/gratitude-embroidery-pattern/

This week has been eventful my car went back to my mechanic who once again address the oil leak problem, he didn't do the initial work but was able to de-grease the leaky mess that was left and he tightened the gasket that was supposed to be done at the other shop I had the car at.  I also needed a new tire that's the fourth tire I replaced so I sent a copy of my receipts to the place I bought the original 4 tires requesting a refund for defective tires they sold me.   Then Friday afternoon as I was leaving the car wash I noticed the rear window was down a little bit, you guessed it another regulator will need to be replaced so I will drop the car off this week for that to be done. it seems the heat of the Florida sun melts the glue that holds the window on the track my son has had to have all of his windows redone.    

There are 16 new floss colors available from DMC as individual skeins that were once offered as a set in 2013.  They came in the mail last week.

The colors are numbered 3880 through 3895, I think I might have the set so now I'll have two of each which is fine with me.  Sometime in October DMC will be releasing a new floss with a sparkle I'm hoping it will handle better then the light effects.  

I just love these New Age Muslin fat quarters 26 colors in the stack, I love using muslin when I do

hand embroidery, with 26 colors to choose from it could take me forever to plan a project, I'm sure not all of it will be used for embroidery I see potential autumn projects just begging to be made, something with a pumpkin or two.  These came through Craftsy's sale last week arriving in 2 days.

October is just a few hours away and I have a few projects I plan to get started on this week. I need to get the afghan I'm crocheting for my sister done this week so I can start on this long vest pattern I purchased from  Etsy   https://www.etsy.com/transaction/1492612640

I have a few embroidery designs ready to trace onto fabric today so I can start stitching them, there are a few patterns in the new Kathy Schmitz book I think will look nice done on some of the new muslin fabrics above. 

In between stitching and crochet I have been reading to give my hands a rest they have been very achy this week. I finished reading Grandma Greenwood Takes a Walk  by Ben Montgomery which I enjoyed thoroughly.

I just started On the Beaten Path by by Robert Alden Rubin and so far it has my attention which is a good thing.

I have through hiked the Appalachian Trail alone several times in my life the first time at age 20 and reading other accounts of walking the trail brings back those memories as if it were only yesterday, I have been tossing about the idea of doing it one final time maybe when I'm 65. 

I finished reading The Bookshop of Yesterdays and while I liked the story I did not like the main character, has that ever happened to you?

 I'm nearly through reading The Library at the Edge of the World by Felicity Hayes McCoy I'm

enjoying it very much which I had my doubts because a friend recommended it and usually the books she suggest just don't hold my attention after the third chapter in the 30 years we have known one another we have rarely ever read the same books.

I have decided starting in October to change my walking routine up a bit and go for a few longer walks perhaps a few day hikes, my usual walks in the park are nice but I need a change of scenery so I plan to find a few new places.

I'll leave you with a lovely bit of sunshine to brighten your day.

Autumn Arrives, Slow Stitching and a Stitch Along

Autumn has arrived last night at 9:54 p.m.  I for one am quite happy to see the summer end this year and hopefully it's taken all the germs that had infected all summer.

Here in Florida our autumn decorations may be just a little bit different but you can be sure we will have a pumpkin or two on display.

I have made more progress on my Greenwoman embroidery piece though you may not be able to tell she is nearly completely stitched.

This has been a challenge for me while I was ill as much as I wanted to work on her I had to pick out stitches I wasn't happy with which led me to put her aside most days and pull out a book or crochet.
I am linking my post to Kathy's Quilts today for Slow Sunday Stitching click on the link to see what other bloggers are slow stitching today.
https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/09/slow-sunday-stitching_23.html

The afghan I am making for my sister using a basic granny square is working up nicely and should be done in a week or so.

I snapped the photo of it folded in half because I was too lazy to open it fully on my bed, the afghan as it is now is on a queen size bed and reaches from the foot of the bed to just where the pillows start. So far 4 cakes of Mandala yarn in Spirit have been used.

The beachy throw I'm making using the shell stitch is progressing as well though not as fast as I would like,  I added a second cake of  Mandala yarn in the Wishing Well color way, this shell stitch uses much more yarn then the granny square.

I have a few new projects I'd like to get started on this week one of them involves using felt in lovely autumn colors along with DMC floss.

I came across some cute little patterns I bought a few years ago and plan to use them for a project as well.

I also have a few designs of my own I'm working on and a few free patterns from several websites one includes a stitch along for a lovely Fall leaf  I printed the pattern out and have traced it onto my fabric and now I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to use the colors listed in the stitch along or change up the colors to my own.  The leaf is quite stunning and a photo and info on the free stitch along can be found here.
http://www.lolliandgrace.com/lolli-and-grace-autumn-leaf-stitch-along-day-one/

I just realized we have one week left for the month of September so I better step up my stitching if I want to have my autumn pieces done this year.  For now though it's time for a cup of tea and I will leave you with a little sunshine.

Sunday Slow Stitching and September's TUSAL Report

Well here I go again with a big bout of bronchitis and coughing so hard it feels like I'm choking to death. If it's not one things its another.  It hit me Thursday evening out of nowhere I just started to cough and feel tired no warning like a sore throat which my son had at first. My son keeps passing me these bugs and I am just about ready to lock him out, he's 37 he should know better.

On the Slow Stitching front I made a little progress on my Greenwoman and will be moving the hoop hopefully later today. I will be linking up at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday stitching today here is the link  https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/09/slow-sunday-stitching.html

Greenwoman

Here are my orts for this months TUSAL report and right on time with the New Moon, there isn't much in the pile this month. https://itsdaffycat.blogspot.com/2018/09/totally-useless-box.html

September Orts

As you can guess most of the threads are from the greenwoman and a few snippets of yarn from my crocheting.   The Shell stitch crochet blanket throw is coming along nicely I decided to keep using just the Wishing Well colorway.

Shell Stitch throw

So I picked up 3 more cakes for a total of 6 which should make a nice size throw for the cooler weather we do get some cool evenings here the yarn is fairly lightweight which makes it perfect for a Florida throw.

Speaking of the weather I have noticed the mornings this week are quite foggy with the nights getting cooler fog is usually in the forecast until about 10 a.m.  Well that's all for this post now its time to see what other bloggers are stitching today.

September a Slow Stitching Sunday, Some Crochet and a Few Things to Read

September is National Sewing Month how are you celebrating?  I am working on the early planning for a new project for the next San Francisco School of Needlework and Design's Stitch at Home Challenge which has the Theme of Make Do & Mend for more information please click the link   https://www.sfneedleworkanddesign.org/rules-and-entry-form/

Sadly enough my entry for the last challenge didn't make it to San Francisco, it was returned to me the package damage and the frame broken, lucky for me the embroidered piece was undamaged so much for paying for priority shipping, I can tell you that package was not handled with care.  It's unfortunate that our postal service seems to get worse with every passing year.

My Greenwoman #2 piece is progressing slowly but than that's what slow stitching is all about isn't it.

I will be linking up to Kathy's Quilt blog today for Slow Sunday Stitching so click the link and have a look.
https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/09/slow-sunday-stitching-photo-challenge.html
Also Kathy has a new photo challenge of where we like to do our stitching when the weather is good.  For me my favorite place for slow stitching in good weather is always at the beach.

hoop and sun rise

my chair and essentials

My last trip began at sunrise with a nice long walk along the water's edge picking up shells and stones and just enjoying the sounds of the beach, gulls and sea birds calling, the ebb and flow of the water and the breeze blowing through my hair before sitting down to stitch a little beach motif.

Issue number 99 of Inspirations magazine finally arrived, it was due in July but somehow was lost in the mail, after contact via email the issue arrived a few weeks later.

There are some lovely projects in this issue I would like to give one or two a try, like the little bag on the cover.  My subscription runs out with the next issue (I won't be renewing) which should be arriving soon, it would be nice not to have to request a replacement copy out of the 3 issues I received so far only one was mailed to me on time, I find this quite frustrating and to be honest while the projects are lovely most are not something I would make myself and since it's an Australian publication the shops and events listings are pretty much useless to me.  But it is a lovely magazine if you love embroidery.  I'm going to use the free pumpkin pattern from Supermom No Cape and get a start on autumn stitching.  Click the link and have a look at what other bloggers are stitching.
https://www.supermomnocape.com/pumpkin-banner-embroidery-pattern/
The Shell stitch afghan I am crocheting is coming along there is 14 inches in length so far using just one cake of the Mandala yarn.

When I first saw this wishing well colorway I thought it looked beachy and decided to make this up in the shell stitch. I am planning to combine it with the colorway on the left.

There are some similar colors so I'll give it a try and if I don't like it I can unravel and just keep using the wishing well that I started with.
I started reading Samhain Secrets yesterday, I had pre-ordered it from Amazon and it came 2 weeks earlier than expected, its the 4th book in the series and I pre-ordered the next book due for release March 2019, I will link my post here https://www.gsheller.com/2018/09/yarn-along-september.html

for the September Yarn Along, click the link to see what other bloggers are reading and making with yarn.
Well before I sign off to get some stitching done I will leave you with a few more photo beach photos

hag stone and sunrise

sand dollar and sunrise

Have a Safe and Happy Labor Day Weekend

The End of Days Uh August

Well I have to say this month has kicked my butt big time and it's showing no signs of letting up.  I know we all experience these when it rains it pours moments in our lives and this month I'm having one. 
Just when I thought things were turning around that dark cloud found me again, so I am pulling out my trusty sword and paused to do battle this time it's computer crashing time.  The continuous mystery of my car's problem, and lightning striking much of the essential electronics in my household not to mention the one going mystery of my son's car problems a computer crash just wasn't on the list of things to do this month. Rant over.

the dreaded message

Aside from all that aggravation I have managed to get some Slow Stitching in this week on the Greenwoman #2 piece.

I should have snapped another photo I started on the second eye last night so I am much farther on this piece.  I will link up to Kathy's Quilts today for some Slow Sunday Stitching here: https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/08/slow-sunday-stitching_26.html

I am also making crochet progress on the afghan for my sister, I am working a simple granny square using Mandala yarn by Lion Brand this is Spirit colorway, so far just two cakes have been used.

I have 6 cakes of this yarn which should give me a nice size afghan once it's done, the one I made for my little great niece was made with 4 cakes and the finished size is 60 inches square.  I am also working on an afghan using the shell stitch in Mandala yarn Wishing Well colorway for a beachy look.

It's funny I had forgotten how easy this stitch works up, its one of my favorite crochet stitches, speaking of crochet this week I picked up a two of Betty Hechtman's crochet mysteries and two of her yarn retreat mystery books.

These should just about bring me up to date on her books until the newest books come out in paperback.  So in between stitching I have some light reading to keep me busy and entertained for a while.

Slow Sunday Stitching today

My new water bottle tells it all after a lightning strike on Wednesday took out the internet modem, DVD player, and the HDMI capabilities on the TV. You could hear the strike, then a crackle and loud snap and those surge protectors were toast but did the job they were made for well mostly. ugh sucks to live in the lightning capital of the world. On the up side went to the Xfinity store to get a replacement modem and was in and out in 10 minutes, So business can continue as usual.  The rest of the week kind of went downhill after that.  

In between labeling about 800 items to send into Amazon to restock the store, running the usual errands and dropping my son's car off for repairs and than dropping mine off the next day for a new tire which I found out was the reason for the crazy vibration lucky my usual mechanic was available and he also fixed the controls on the door at no charge so the buttons are no longer sinking into the arm rest and I can use the buttons to adjust my mirrors and open the windows which I won't be doing for awhile it too darn hot a

terribly humid.  I am ordering another tire for the front so both can wear down at the same time, since it is showing quite a bit of wear it will only be a matter of weeks before it goes bad, so much for the warranty to 70,000 miles.  

I finally had time to get a little bit of crocheting done on my sisters Granny Afghan on Friday evening, 

I put off  doing any hand embroidery for a few days because after handling all those adhesive labels and bagging everything my fingertips are quite sore (I have a sensitivity to adhesives).  I'll work on the Greenwoman piece today for the Slow Stitching.

I also have a new project I started to crochet it's another afghan using the Lion Brand Mandala yarn in the Wishing Well colorway which looks kind of beachy to me.

Oh on Friday Urban Threads was having a sale which is running through August 24th and I bought a five new hand embroidery patterns all the patterns I bought were 50% off so each one cost me fifty cents.
This is one of the patterns, here's the link:
 https://www.urbanthreads.com/recentRelease.aspx?date=081718 

https://www.urbanthreads.com/recentRelease.aspx?date=081718

The piece above isn't mine it's a photo I borrowed from the email I received alerting me to the sale, you can bet I will have it traced out soon.  This one is called Moon Phases Quilting Square, I also bought one similar called Around the Sun quilting square.  I love celestial pieces and I have just the fabric I want to try out and I think it will look great.  

The Herbiary by Maia Toll arrived a few days ago, it feeds my weakness for unusual books and my love of  herbs and gardens mostly I just love the colorful illustrations.

36 botanical cards 

The book includes 36 cards neatly tucked into an envelope in the back of the book and don't you just love the end pages.

Cards tucked away

Luscious end-papers

Here is a look at some of my favorite pages so far.  I have a few friends that would just love this book so

Oats 

Rosemary

Elderberry

I think I need to order a few and get a jump start on the holiday shopping this year.  Well that's about all I have for this post. I'm linking up to Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching click on over and have a look   https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/08/slow-sunday-stitching_19.html

I will leave you with this thought...it made me smile.