Coming Up Roses!

 This was my weekend to help decorate the float for Rose Parade.  We stayed in Los Angeles and I got a lot of sky in on my dinosaurs. We haven't had cable in years so it was nice to be able to spend a Sunday watching football and stitching:

I spent Saturday sorting corn. The dried kernels needed to be separated into small, medium, large, chipped, and "yucky":  

This is the seed trailer where the corn comes from; all these barrels are full of seeds from every plant you can think of, and there's a guy in the trailer whose whole job is making sure everyone has the right colors and textures for their floats:

This is where the float is so far.  The corn is going on the yellow parts of the fish to look like scales. The theme of the float is Children's Day, which is a holiday in Japan that apparently involves flying koi kites:

I cracked the lens on my phone so the light is getting streaked out.  I'm far too cheap to get a new phone for something like that so you'll just have to enjoy the feeling of flying through the cosmos.  I don't know whose float this is but I love a pterodactyl!

This is the float for Louisiana, my spiritual home.  My family settled in Gretna, by New Orleans ,when they fled Cuba:

We had a new location this year, right across from the Rose Bowl, it was my first time in the canyon. I'm so glad it's still the Rose Bowl and not the Paramount Plus Frito Lay Bowl or something. I don't know why it makes me happy, but it does:

The float is sponsored by Donate Life, which coordinates organ donations. If you aren't a registered donor, you can sign up here:

On Veteran's Day we went on a hike and got a great view of Los Angeles:

Kuna is 14 now, which is definitely the sleep all day era. We got her up the hill but this is all she really wanted to do. I know the feeling haha.

No matter what's happening here....

Dinosaur Delight!

I got a lot of sky in on my dinosaurs, that's the only thing I've touched since my last post because I love them.  My little purple pteranodon is done and my big orange one is coming in. You can see a brontosaurus neck starting on the left.  

I'm glad I have something to keep my hands busy today!

 

10 years?

 

It seems crazy that it's been so long, RIP Debbie. I still miss you.

My auntie has been in the emergency room almost exactly every four weeks for a year now.  I finally agreed to start hospice and it's a nightmare.  I can't believe I'm giving up on her but at this point I think the ER is going to kill her anyway.  I've just been lolling around crying for the last couple of months.  In some moments of sanity I stitch.

 This is Sunflower Field from Oh My Stitches on Etsy:

It will look like this:

I started this in memory of my dad - it reminds me of all our camping trips and has a kind of retro vibe, it's Bear Walk by Lee Fisher of StitchyFish for Just Cross Stitch magazine:

I got some more done on Birds of a Feather:

And I started this map of Ukrainian needlework.  I'm a volunteer docent at the House of Ukraine, a cultural museum, and they have a display of Ukrainian needlework, so when I saw this design it jumped out at me.  People who know what they're doing can tell you what region of Ukraine the needlework is by the design. It's from Wonderland Ukraine.

  

This is a better picture of the design:

Kuna has my vibe:

RIP dad

 My father passed away after a massive heart attack a couple of weeks ago.  He's been the world's worst heart patient for the last twelve years so it wasn't really a surprise, but at the same time I wasn't expecting the last time I spoke with him to be the actual last time we talked.  We went out the old Naval Training Center in San Diego, to pay our respects.  

He was the master of milkshakes, king of the road, and he was the one who gave me my love of gardening and all things Asian.  So much of my stitching has been related to his greatness as a dad - his sandwich making:

His patriotism:

 His Scots and Irish heritage:

Our camping trips and his blue metal coffee mug:

His wanderlust:

 

His milkshaking:

I was the light of his life in a way I never will be for anyone else. RIP.

 

Midsummer Mice!

 I hope everyone stayed cool for IHSW! I did almost no stitching but if I don't post now I may never post again, haha!

I've been working on the sky of Dinosaurs:

Also working on the sky of Pagoda:

Auntie's been in and out of the ER so I had the genius idea of starting all my Furry Tales mice by Lucie Heaton, since they're small and the mice are all the same color.  I've been gutting my magazine freebies and looting the threads of the things I'll never stitch, so the colors don't necessarily match the pattern.

Princess Mouse in honor of my sister the belle of every ball:

Gamer mouse also in honor of my sister, same girl, different mood:

COVID nurse mouse, it's entirely possible I'll make this into a card for Auntie's caregiver. Auntie was testing positive for 70 days with no symptoms at all (I thought we were done with COVID, sigh), then tested negative for a month and then ended up in the hospital with a plain old cold that got out of hand. Grrr:

This is Sewing Mouse in honor of me!

Cave Mouse, also in honor of me; same girl, different mood haha:

Hippie Mouse in honor of Auntie:

I got a little moused out at this point so this is Elmer the Elephant.  If you've never read the book it's about an elephant learning to love looking different, it's a very cute story.  

And this is supposed to end up as a coin purse - I think it's called a Tatreez style, JCS had an issue where they talked about this kind of stitching, and I think that's where this pattern came from:

Kuna says stay frosty!

Springy Finishes!

Two finishes since my last post..

Spring Bunny, a kit from World of Cross Stitch:

Welcome Spring, a kit from Cross Stitch Crazy:

I finished my first swan on Birds of a Feather and just realized these are dragons, haha!  I like dragons so it's fine but I can't believe I bought the pattern and got this far thinking these were swans. At least I can always count on me for a good laugh!

I started the grass on Spring Band Sampler by Tiny Modernist:

...and I got more of the outlining done on Aliens:

Auntie couldn't name me but she knew she knew me and kept saying how happy she was to see me so we'll call that a win.  

RIP Alexei Navalny

Brookings Institute

Stand with Ukraine

Canadian Broadcast Corporation

                                                        

A Beary Cute Finish!

I actually had two finishes this week - I feel terrific clearing out all these little kits! The first finish was Make it Sew, by Jessica Savage in the July 2020 CrossStitcher magazine.  It was part of a series, another one where I was supposed to use a sewing machine charm, but I used what I had which was a charm that says "procraftinator":

My next finish is Popcorn the Bear by Fiona Baker.  The duck is evidently named Souffle.  This was a kit from the World of Cross Stitching in 2023 but who knows which month because they didn't see fit to include it:

So far I'm right on track to have a finish even six days...yay me! I think I calculated 17 years to finish all my stash before I'm either dead or too gaga to stitch, so I just need to keep this up for another 16 years and 11 months, haha.

The only big piece I worked on was Rain Dance because I feel like I've been really bogged down with Big Bird on the left.  I got some of his beak done and more on the little symbols up top and for the first time in a while I feel like I can tell I touched it.  It's supposed to start pouring rain in an hour or so and not stop for four days, so maybe the Rain Dance worked?  We normally get about 10 inches of rain a year and we're supposed to get 4 inches today so fingers crossed we don't get flooded - I feel like we're the last people left in California who still have a dry house!