~ the end of june ~

 june 30th....my mother's birthday...she's 94 today ~ still in hospice....such a strange and sad time in our lives for our family.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

tomorrow is July 1st.
and it is hot.
too hot, in fact for any rational being to even want to be outside.
and if we must be outside, say, to nourish our gardens,
we must look through saddened eyes at the dry, parched and cracked soil
that a month without rain has given us in our part of Virginia.

...because of this, or maybe it's just my 'nature',
I have been pouring myself into my designs for ~Autumn  Fall  Harvest  Halloween
much earlier this year.

I'm so grateful that I have my needlework and folk art as my therapy,
I would be bonkers by now without any of it.

each thread, stitch, loop & brushstrokeholds my deepest thoughts and emotions.

every word and memory fills the pages of my heart and sketchbooks,and I return to them each year to keep them all alive in some way.

I create friendly characters and kind, gentle 'folk' that i bring to life with my hands
and whichever medium I choose.

I'm into my 60's now,
a Crone, some might say, and my soul craves
& wants to create peace.

and my mind, the 'make-believe'
as it did when I was a young child
playing in the woods on the outskirts of my New England hometown
~ Blessed be ~

Levora

~ Blackwork ~

Blackwork,  sometimes historically termed Spanish blackwork,  is a form of embroidery generally using black thread,  although other colors are also used on occasion.  Sometimes it is counted-thread embroidery which is usually stitched on even-weave fabric. ~ courtesy of Wikipedia.   I have never done blackwork... but I will be giving it a whirl sooner than later!   take a look at these lovelies below ~   

antique ladies' blouse cuff

queen elizabeth

simple stitches

antique men's shirt cuff

child wearing blackwork on dressing gown

contemporary blackwork from Memorial Stitches on IG

black and goldwork

love this freestyle blackwork embroidery

more contemporary blackwork, counted on evenweave fabric

Memorial Stitches on IG

more black & gold...

all of those little insects!

   Have any of you done blackwork? I will share mine once I get it started.....     ~ Blessed be ~

Levora

~ Midnight Reading ~

 

    ~ Blessed be ~

Levora

~ Memories in Thread ~

I was perusing Pinterest  and found these beautiful Mourning Samplers ~  

 

 ♥

~ Blessed be ~

Lori