Saturday 2 July 2016

L is for Lightning Bird, Lantern and Leaves - Revisited

When we first started this blog I made a series of posts beginning with each letter of the alphabet starting with A.  Unfortunately, they ground to a halt after L.  So in honour of The Alphabet Club hosted by Chiara I have decided to resurrect the original posts and link up each month with the rest of the Alphabet Club posters.  To learn more about this SAL follow the Alphabet Club link to Chiara's blog.



L is for Lightning Bird from A Dark Alphabet designed by Julie and Becky's Note of Friendship blog.

A mythological creature in South Africa the Lightning Bird is the size of a human, black and white in colouring and it summons thunder and lightning with its wings and talons.  It is associated with witchcraft and has quite an appetite for blood.  Sometimes it takes on the image of a young man to seduce women. 

Another name for this bird is the hamerkop.  This bird is known to decorate its nest with anything from handkerchiefs to bicycle tires!  In the Zulu culture someone who spends much time in front of a mirror is called thekwane, their name for the hamerkop, because they are like the bird that is found to spend hours beside the water's edge looking at their reflection. 

I couldn't find any other cross stitch designs of a lightning bird but I did find these sweet little buttons which are available in a book:


L is also for Lantern which we make from pumpkins on Hallowe'en.  We had some of these designs for J for Jack O'Lantern and here are some more!


(laughing being another L word)

I've been using one particular sampler to help me find the words for this alphabet, the Lizzie*Kate Hallowe'en ABC


And now I have another one!


I'm taking the final L for Lizzie*Kate's ABC which gives us Leaf.  Of course leaves are more of an Autumn thing than specific to Hallowe'en but they do make lovely cross stitches.


(one of a series of four)


















5 comments:

Khristine Doiron said...

I enjoyed the Lightening Bird story! And those little storm cloud buttons are so cute!

Heather said...

Awesome choices! I love the dmc leaves

Lili said...

Nice post, Jo!

Kaisievic said...

Lovely "L"s and so interesting to learn about the Lightning Bird.

Stitching Noni said...

Great L post.... love the designs you showcased, especially those laughing pumpkins! :o)
Hugs xx