Happy Potato Day!

 I've been meaning to post and Potato Day is as good of a reason as any! Baked potatoes are my favorite for sure, but roasted, hashed, mashed, souped, French fried, home fried, potato chipped, latked, totted, or stuffed in a pierogi, I just can't think of a bad way to cook a potato!

image from Kevin is Cooking

DH went hiking through the Beartooth mountains and then we went to the Sierras so it's been a long aimless time for me.  I had expected to get a lot of stitching done but I fell into the Hamish Macbeth mysteries and was lost in the Highlands of Scotland for a while! But I did work on some things! The more worked on ones were...

Tiger Moth, which is done except for the backstitching. This was a freebie kit from CrossStitcher magazine:

Atlas Moth, ditto.  The two months are supposed to be turned into coasters:

Ladybug, part of a completely separate but still bug-themed coaster freebie set from CrossStitcher:

Bumblebee, ditto:

Bear Walk has more bear:

Ukrainian Sunflowers has more sunflowers:

Dinosaurs has more sky:

Underwater Kingdom has more octopus:

Flowers A to Z has an aster going:

Kuna turned 15 so her vacation was pretty much sniffing things and napping. We were both on the same page for this trip, haha.

A finish for Bastille Day!

Have Stitching by JAR Designs

stitched on 14 ct Aida with DMC 4212. It was charted with Paris, Rome, and cities like that, but I haven't been to any of them so I changed it to places I've been and loved.  I'm intending to put this on a travel bag but we'll see how that goes haha.

Era of the Dinosaurs has more sky:

Sunflowers of Ukraine also has more sky:

Braver has more flowers and lettering:

Tea Rex has all the dinosaurs:

 Welcome Spring has the beginnings of a circle:

and I decided to try some embroidery so here's a little fox started. I stink at it but I think it's making me a better person to try something new:

Kuna modeling like my embroidery:

Happy Bastille Day to my francophile friends!

Happy World Chocolate Day!

 

I really feel like this should be a much bigger holiday!

The Paddingtons are coming along. They came from a booklet of 12 patterns and I started 6 of them and now they're so cute I may need to start the other 6. You know how it is ha ha.

Beach Holiday Paddington has some feet:

Cut and Paste has more of his jacket:

and Bearly Studying has more hat and his feet started:

In other stitching, Chinese Dragon has more sky:

Braver has more flowers and squiggles and lettering:

Brown and Yellow Moth has most of it's wings:

Underwater Kingdom has the big tentacle started:

and Sweet Tea Rex has the T-Rex almost done:

It's supposed to be a hot week here so not sure how much stitchy mojo I'll have.  Every year I mean to get one of those mini room air conditioners and every year I don't do it, but I swear it gets hotter and wetter every year!

Happy IHSW!

 I spent a great weekend with Paddington Bear - I try to stay off the news but I can't help myself. I'm so glad I have cross-stitch and Jessica Fletcher to get a breather from the real world!

This is Singing in the Rain, Paddington's hat is just about outlined:

Up, up and Away has the first balloons forming:

At Paddington Station, he got a sleeve on his coat and the wall is forming: 

Beach Holiday has his swimsuit taking shape:

In other news, a cat has appeared for Cape Cod Halloween:

The G is forming for Hustle (as in Good Things come to those who Hustle):

and there are some more hearts and flowers in Braver:

My really big news is that I got the Merlin Bird app - I guess I'm the last person on earth who knew about this, but you open it and it listens to all the birds chirping around you and tells you what kind they are.  It's mesmerizing, even thought it's almost always house finches at my house.  But I really love it and it's a very mellow way to take a few minutes away from current events. 

A Friday Finish!

 This is Retro Roller Skate, it was a freebie from Wild Olive. I was a roller skating queen in my own mind growing up, and my most precious possession was my white boot roller skates with stripes and red wheels. I really enjoyed rolling down memory lane while I stitched this!

I got another letter done in Braver:

Cape Cod Halloween is getting a roof on a blue house:

Hustle got the lettering started:

and the Modern Turtle got some more of it's shell:

2 Finishes for June!

Floral File is finished! I made it into a bookmark instead of a nail file case. I actually finished it in May but it's posted now. This was a kit from Just Cross Stitch.

Gingerbread Cottage from Mill Hill. I thought I was going to finish it Saturday but beading is slow! 202 days until Christmas!

In other news, Dragon Hall is past the midpoint on the top border:

Witchy Needlebook has some cats and a pumpkin started:

Ukrainian Needlework has more of Cherkasy Oblast:

Braver has more lettering and some leaves

Zinnias got some love on the border:

 

Lewis Chessmen has more of the board done:

Aliens has more spaceship:

Celtic Angel is getting a bigger niche to hang out in:

                    And Chinese Dragon has more of the lantern done:

I'm teaching Sunday School for Pentecost and I'm introducing the kids to cake painting - pray for me!

"The Pentecost" by Mark Durham

Throwback photo of Kuna from 3 years ago. Auntie had just gotten home from the hospital and we were realizing that she had full one dementia.   I was spending so much time over there that it made sense to start bringing the dog so we could camp out together.  What a long sad journey that was - every day was an eternity and now it seems like the blink of an eye.  Sigh. RIP Auntie.