moonday needle book

My little needle book -- cotton, linen, wool felt, an old button and vintage rickrack trim. Oh, how I loved making it.

Today is a waning moonday in the sign of Cancer. We may feel more sensitive and find ourselves not wanting to leave home now. Instead, we want to nest and cook and feed people. And grow things -- everything from plants to collections.

A change of weather blew in this morning and the temperature has been dropping all day. They say we may even have our first snowfall -- one of these days that forecast will be right.

Wishing you the happiest of weeks.

needle book moonday

It is cold and wet outside on this waxing moonday in Aries. There might even be a little snow tonight -- just when we were starting to believe that autumn would be nothing more than a continuation of late-summer. Only a week ago I picked the last of the green peppers while lots of late-planted dill is still blooming and a big clump of lemon grass awaits its harvest. The bees have been out foraging daily but the time has come to get them ready for winter.

Step-by-step, I'm stitching a Rumi-cloth patch for the front of a needle book. I've never used or even owned a needle book before but think I'm going to like it. Because something or someone steals my needles during the night. The same something or someone that tangles up the garden hose every night all summer long.

Our Aries moon has really great assertive energy for starting new things. The general feeling though is that projects begun during an Aries moon will need long-term planning to see them through to completion -- Aries is so fiery it just fizzles out completely sometimes. 

I like a good strong start, it almost has to be to withstand all the second-guessing I do at the beginning. 

And I'm wishing you a good start to your week, too.

crafting our day of the dead

October's moondala is #10 in the eco-dye & stitch 13 moondalas project. The fibers are recycled wool dyed with onion skins and raspberries -- my color choices were most definitely inspired by last year's October moon cloth. The stack is growing.

We had our Dia de Muertos, Day of the Dead, family get-together a few days ago. After dinner, our loved ones were remembered and honored with photos, memories and stories. We cried and laughed both. The altar had more photos than ever this year -- as our family grows, the circle of loved ones gone to the Great Beyond gets larger, too.

The seeds that grew this tradition were planted after our boy, Corty, died of leukemia when he was nearly seven. This ritual-like gathering bonds and strengthens us and for me it is necessary.

During our time together before dinner all 13 of us just hang out. There's a football game on in one room and music playing in the next. Basketball outside and Foosball inside. And there is always a craft. A few weeks ago at a re-use store closeout, Jan bought me seven identical snowy, sparkling churches for a nickel each. They've gone to the dark side.

It always ends with chocolate cake. It was a good day. And I wish you a good week. xo

lovely moonday

It is warm and windy and gorgeous out there. I'm finding pretty leaves to press and bright marigolds to cut for our Day of the Dead altar. I noticed a few nature-made dye-pots in the garden, one in a birdbath and the other in a tote bin. That made me want to join in on the fun so I cut some red amaranth and plopped it into a dye-pot to sit right there in that exact spot for the next few months, maybe even until spring -- counting on rain water so hope it rains soon.

The little October mandala stitchery of raspberry and onion eco-dyed wool continues to be a pleasure to work on but I can't stop looking at and squeezing the Noro Kirara yarn for my next project -- the Stitch Sampler Shawl that Deanna showed us a few weeks ago. I've never worked with Noro before and am curious about how the three different colorways will unfold.

Today is a waning dark moonday in Virgo. It's time to relax and rest. And release. So I'll sit tight and wait until the new moon on Thursday to cast on the shawl. Hoping for a wonderful week for all.

halfway

Today is a waning half moon. How fitting because I feel like I'm halfway there on a lot of things.

But hey, there's a soft cozy place to sit on the front porch while I regather myself.  The sun has lowered enough that it shines directly on those porch pillows for a little while every morning. The change in light is just magical. I'm keeping track of this fleeting beam of light -- when it came and how long it stays. For the first time ever. After living here for years and years. Wow.

Hope you are having a wonderful week!

moonday homekeeping

Autumn home-keeping rituals are underway at my house -- drying and tincturing a few more plants, roasting a pan of tomatoes to make 3 cups of tomato sauce, and making thyme tea bundles. I tried the bundle technique with chocolate mint but the stems are just too long even though the flavor is fantastic. The olive-looking things in the pan of tomatoes are chocolate cherry tomatoes, in case you're wondering.

Nearly everyday I go outside and rinse off another potted plant to bring back in the house but there isn't much else I want to harvest from the garden. I'm beginning to change my views about the obligatory harvest -- realizing we don't have to eat or preserve every single tomato, plum, or bean. Some of the bounty is for people, some is for wildlife and the rest goes back to the earth.

More seed packets have been made and jars properly labeled, labeling is my weakness. It occurred to me that I rarely make quart-size medicinal tinctures anymore, except for echinacea. When I first trained as an herbalist everything was made quart-size and sometimes even larger -- new herbalists can be overzealous. Actually, that goes for anything new I guess. More than once I heard "not to go overboard with your herbal pharmacy because you'll end up throwing it all out in 10 years." Which is exactly what happened. Small batches are not so intimidating to make or use -- infused vinegars are pint-sized now and medicinal tinctures are even smaller, as I delve into the energetic use of plants as medicine -- using 3 drops instead of 30.

Every fall I look at that brown pillow cover and every fall I don't know what to do with it. Today I decided to either replace the existing patches or turn them into houses. I sort of like the houses. The calendar cloth is from last year's full moon sewing ritual.

Today is a waxing moonday in Pisces, a moist and fruitful time. Piscean energy is creative and intuitive and we may just find ourselves retreating from the outside world to spend time in the inner world.

To a beautiful week.

leaf-knitting

Did you know dried blue malva flowers are nice in a moon bath? If you put the flowers in a little muslin bag and squeeze it in warm bathwater it'll turn the water blue but it won't turn you blue -- especially nice on a blue moon (the second full moon in a month). In case you're wondering we haven't had a blue moon since 2012 and the next one is July 31, 2015. I used to make gift blue moon bath kits -- and when I came across an old package of blue malva flowers in a plastic bin in the basement, I had my doubts that there would be any color left at all much less blue, but there's a touch of violet in that warm water. We'll see how some snippets of alum-mordanted wool look after a few days.

I've been knitting and loving woolly leaves for book markers and maybe a garland of some sort.

A little bundle of semi-dried thyme makes a perfect cup of tea. Five minutes in hot water also seemed to rehydrate the leaves and they look and smell good enough for a few more go 'rounds. Thyme tea for medicinal use would need to be infused much longer but I like it this way simply for its delicate taste. The bundle-in-a-cup method works nicely and there's no straining involved.  Now I'm thinking about which other herbs this technique would work with.

I read that tomatoes should be picked with stems intact to ripen better inside and these twosomes hang perfectly on the drying rack. Two rows, close to the floor in case they break away -- and the dogs are not one bit interested.

Thanks for visiting and happy weekending. See you Moonday! xo