Happy Ash Wednesday?

It's not really a happy type of holiday but you can't really wish people "somber Ash Wednesday!" or something like that. I have no idea what I'm giving up for Lent but I have almost two hours before church today so I'll be thinking fast!

I don't feel like I got too much done since the last post, but there's been a lot of construction and home repair going on and I can't focus while there are strange men in and around my house. I can't really focus when my husband's home either, so who knows what my excuse is, haha.  

Anyway, El Toro is still almost finished - just needs some hooves and horns and the title:

This was a bookmark freebie from cross stitcher that I started because there was too much light peach and black on El Toro and I needed some more color in my life:

There's some more red creeping up the rainbow of You're Awesome:

The roller skate is actually done according to the pattern, but I decided to backstitch it so it's now back at almost done:

I started Chinese Dragon from Riolis. I think this is the fourth pattern I have with that name, haha.

Final start was Dragon Hall from Long Dog Samplers.  The palette is autumnal so I'm changing all the colors. But I touched the wall and top and now I'm stitching the next layer backwards to make sure I counted correctly.

A little flashback from our trip to Canada. It's terrible how politicians can ruin things. I hope our countries can go back to being friends and allies soon.

Happy Super Bowl!

 You can tell I'm not paying attention because here I am haha.  I'm not into either team and I have a strong suspicion the game will be annoyingly contaminated with politics and Will They Get Married commentary,  so I'm starting a new rotation.  I've been monogamous which is why this is finished but I can't stand it and it's making me chafe.  

I  have a finish! On Feathered Wings by Dinky Dyes. I love white on red! I used blanc, 3865, and B5200. For my life I can't tell the difference between them so I just keep them all filed as white. 

    

I have a near finish! El Toro by Barbra Ana just needs his name and a the non-furry parts. Right now he looks really mad because he only has one horn:

Dinosaurs has crept along with more sunset:

This oldie from Daily Cross Stitch finally got started:

And this was a freebie from Wild Olive's blog, a flashback to my Xanadu era:

Happy New Year!

 I didn't realize I hadn't posted this year, but here we are! 

I finished Turkey Time by December Stitches:

and got a lot done with On Feathered Wings:

Couldn't get into the spirit for Christmas - For the first time in my life I didn't put up a single decoration. I haven't spent a Christmas with my dad in at least 15 years, but it was still sad knowing that he's not out whooping it up in the Philippines.   Plus we've all had the crud and I didn't get tested to see if it was flu or COVID or what because I just don't care anymore - it's stay in bed and drink fluids so it's been an incredibly lazy start to the year. I'm all better except for still being so sleepy; it's 6pm and I'm ready for bed. High school me would be appalled, haha.

Viva Las Vegas!

 We spent the weekend doing Vegas in our own special way - we went to the park and looked at peacocks:

I went to Stitcher's Paradise and looked at threads and fabrics in real life! I ended up getting some patterns:

                    

And Kuna got plenty of beauty sleep:

I'm almost done with Turkey Time:

I'm getting there with Feathered Wings and El Toro:

and I've made it more than halfway across and down on Dinosaurs:

Nice boring week!

Did nothing this week except watch Midsomer Murders and stitch.  Well, I also joined Bluesky, the new Twitter.  They have a lot of cross stitchers there if you need some enabling!  A nice cold spell has settled in and possible rain this weekend so hoping for more of the same. 

The walls are closing in on Feathered Wings:

And more sky on Dinosaurs - if I wasn't taking pictures I wouldn't know I was getting anywhere, but there really is more blue and lavender on there:

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!