Happy Summer Solstice!

 

Wishing you all a happy first day of Summer.

I'm still battling a nasty bout of bronchitis which seems to be lingering longer every year.  This is about all the energy I have right now for a blog post.

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit! Hello June

 

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit!”

Saying “Rabbit rabbit rabbit” aloud upon waking on the first day of a new month is an old charm to ensure good fortune throughout the month.

Wow it's the first day of June, did May go by in a flash or what?  Time seems to move faster and faster every year.

May is Flying By, What's Been Going on Here.

 It's just been a crazy month of busy days and being under the weather fighting off a virus or flu that didn't want to let go.  

Then twice this month in stopping myself from falling I hurt my back and knees, how is it when you stop yourself from falling you seem to injure yourself more.  This last save happened Monday when I slipped in the shower, I twisted to grab the windowsill to keep my footing and I felt a snap from left knee to left hip.  I can't begin to tell you how painful it was but today I am moving about much better than I was on Monday.  Last week I was avoiding a fall when I stepped on one of the cats toys and bang the same snap on the same side.  I would let myself fall if I knew I wouldn't break anything.  

So while letting the pain work itself out I did get a few things stitched. Last night I did the May block for the Kathy Schmitz Woven Wreaths SAL, I have changed the stitches to what I am comfortable with.

My pieces for the K3n.clothtales SAL has opened my creativity in so many ways, I am really embracing the slow stitching style, the raw edges and the wonkiness.  This week, 21 is Boro Style which I actually love the big stitches. 

Week 20 had us doing a Desert Island trip where we could only bring 8 items for out project. My piece is quite simple mainly because I was under the weather all week. I only brought 4 items, but a 5th will be another piece of fabric to mount my piece. The items I brought are: 1 piece of fabric, 1 needle, 1 length of 6 strand DMC variegated floss ( I used 2 strands for each spiral), and 1 pair of scissors. The spirals were stitched freehand and the closeup is to show the wonky stitches. 

Week 19 was based on Kintsugi the Japanese art of repairing broken ceramic with gold, here is my take on Kintsugi in stitching. For this piece it's a metaphor for grief it exemplifies the way that healing our broken places allows us to emerge from darkness stronger and more beautiful. Grief joins our broken places with our strong places; it unites our tangled past with our present.

Week 18 was the Pocket or better said Women's pockets,  I won't list all the things I did wrong constructing this piece, but it's a pocket made from an old bed sheet and bits of fabric scraps. It holds a small personal token inside along with a copy of Sharon Owens poem Dangerous Coats. 

 Earlier in the month The little Moon gazing hare is completely stitched.

The Summer Goddess will be put aside for a bit until I decide if I want to add anything more to her once I finish stitching and adding the bird which for it's small size is taking forever to do.

The weather has been a mixed bag of actual Spring days during the early part of the month, very little rain and this week quite hot, summer comes to central Florida early and we will stay hot now through mid October.  Our rainy or wet season starts on the 27th and Hurricane season starts on June 1st. 

The hibiscus continues to bloom these large flowers nearly every day.  The milkweed has rebloomed and those buds are now small yellow flowers the butterflies visit daily.  

The birds continue to visit the feeders and I have been visited by two fat squirrels that love to hang from the feeders.  A racoon stopped by once and trying to shoo it away was comical but I haven't seen it since.  No photos of the critters.

 

The Last Sunday in April, What I'm Slow Stitching

I have been working on and off on the Summer goddess piece adding bits and pieces here and there while working one other projects as well.

I added some of the bottom pieces last night and this morning shown below. 

For Week 17 of the K3n.clothtales SAL the prompt was Back Story, where the back of the work would be the showcase of the piece.  My Back Story piece is from a well worn favorite hankie of mine. A few days before the prompt while folding laundry I noticed a few places were worn through I thought to myself why wouldn't it be? this hankie served me well for over 40 years mostly in the last 15 when the season of my life changed once again, this hankie wiped away the daily sweat of my brow during my change of season, in earlier years it wiped the grimy sweat while gardening here in Florida, during daily walks and mopped up falling tears after several tragic events over all the seasons of my life so far. I have other hankies I use, some nearly as worn as this one but for now this special treasure will be honored as part of my year of stitching. The back of my piece, the Back Story, looks pretty much like all of my pieces. Though I didn't take out any of the missed tangles or knots

Walking the Wheel of the Year observations in my yard this week is more Lantana has sprung up in the back yard I think with the tree that was removed allowing it to grow or it's self sown thanks to the birds, either way the bees and butterflies love it and the Plumbago is beginning to bloom.

I am also stitching a Moon Gazing Hare piece, I used DMC Etoile for the Moon just to give it a little sparkle. I used a back stitch on the hare and a stem stitch for the foreground.

Than I whipped stitched the Hare and added a little spiral, I am still not sure if I like the use of the variegated floss for the hill but I'm leaving it.

Every few days my fingers need a rest from the stitching so I pick up and book, settle down with a cup of tea and some days when I'm not stitching I'm reading about stitching.

I was reading The Echo of Old Books by Barbara Davis, trying to read it quickly because I can't renew it at the library because someone has requested it. So I returned it because I hate to rush when I read a book. I will have to request it again because lately the urge to stitch has really come over me.

I am linking my post to Kathy's Quilts where Kathy and other talented bloggers share what they are slow stitching. https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2024/04/slow-sunday-stitching_01636077516.html

Slow Stitching Sunday: The Summer Goddess in Progress

 I can't believe we are halfway through the month of April, this month is just flying by.  We have had some crazy weather here in north central Florida, from hot sunny days that feel like the middle of summer to wicked rain storms and tornado warnings to cold mornings and glorious afternoons.

The Solar eclipse came and went without much fanfare here, though I will say the sun appeared extra bright and the birds were quiet for a while.  For the K3n.clothtales SAL our weekly prompt was the Sun which seemed right with the star and moon prompts the previous weeks.  The weekly prompt included the eclipse.  Here is my piece for week 15 along with the moon with wolf and friendship star pieces. I am coming to embrace the wonkiness of my pieces, I love the raw edges and the layering of fabrics. I have always admired the work of others yet never imagined I would love the process as much as I do.

I have been working on several goddess pieces in the slow stitch style, I am currently working on the Summer goddess.  First, I pulled out lots of yellow fabrics, many scraps from my stash. Then I cut or tore them into strips. I traced the template onto muslin then began to randomly stitch them on where you can see a vague figure.

Once each piece is stitched onto the fabric I stitch vertical lines of running stitch down the length of the entire piece, once that is done I stitch around the traced line of the template.  Once all the stitching is completed I cut out the goddess shape and then mount her onto a background fabric. 

Then I just build onto the piece with some fussy cut pieces, hand embroidery, other embellishments as I work. 

The fussy cut piece I added is from In the Beginning, Sun Moon and Stars by Jason Yenter.

I have also mounted the purple goddess onto the background fabric and will begin work soon, I have autumn and winter in the planning stages.

I finished the Kathy Schmitz Woven Wreath's SAL block piece for April and March which I didn't post. 

I changed a few of the stitches on both the bee and the bunny, preferring the back stitch over the stem stitch.

I began the stitching on the Stitchdoodles SAL last week, the SAL began on April 3 and post each Wednesday.

I also have a hand embroidery started a moon gazing hare I just started it on Friday night using the DMC Etoile floss for the moon

The purple goddess is also on her background piece and I will start adding bits and pieces in the coming weeks ahead.

I'm adding my post over at Kathy's Quilts here https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2024/04/slow-sunday-stitching_0587940416.html

Here are the links for the 

Kathy Schmitz SAL https://www.youtube.com/c/TothePointwithKathySchmitz/videos

K3n.clothtales:https://www.youtube.com/@k3n.clothtales/featured

Stitchdoodles:https://www.stitchdoodles.com/

Garden surprises, slow stitching a goddess and a wonderful book to end off March

The flowers on the Milkweed are nearly devoured by very hungry caterpillars. I was hoping to get caterpillars this year and I was not disappointed. 

I finally have the name for the little purple wildflower its a lyre-leaf sage.

The Lantana along the driveway is doing quite well after the rains we had this week. It sprouted out a few weeks ago where the Holly tree used to be. I'm going to cut a piece to see if I can root it and plant some in another area. I would love to have some along the fence. 

I finished week 13 piece for the K3n.clothtales SAL it is a Friendship Star. I was reminded how much I love hand piecing.

I am working on another slow stitched Goddess this one in shades of purple fabrics

She is almost ready to be cut out along her template lines so I can put her on a backing fabric to continue working.

The Spring goddess is waiting for me to decide how I want to continue with the piece.  I'm so glad I ventured into slow stitching in this way. I feel more creative with each piece I make.

The Untamed Thread by Fleur Woods arrived a few days ago while I only had time to browse through the pages I will be taking the time to read over the weekend.  

The full color photos are breathtaking to say the least, the fiber art among the pages are so beautiful I ache to run my hands over them.

If you were thinking of buying a copy and haven't taken the plunge yet do it you will be so glad you did. It's a great addition to your fiber art and needlework library.

If you aren't familiar with Fleur Woods her Instagram and Website links are below:

https://www.instagram.com/fleurwoodsart/?hl=en

https://www.fleurwoodsart.com/

A quick update, about 5 hours after I snapped the photos of the caterpillars I found them starting to spin a cocoon.

Nature is amazing.