Happy National Noodle Day!

 Have a bowl of pasta, ramen, chow mein, pho, pancit or good ole macaroni and cheese to celebrate the day! 

Here's a throwback in honor of the day - Noodle Bowl by Crafty Faux (on Etsy)

I've gotten into a rhythm with all the cleanup and the emotional roller coaster of going through all these dead people's junk.  So my cross stitch seems to be back on track - fingers crossed!

Modern Turtle by Yiota's Cross Stitch is getting a flipper started:

I started You are Not Here from Feminist Cross Stitch:

Promise of Spring by Silver Creek Samplers has a few more letters:

and the Paddingtons got some love - at the beach has some water and the beginnings of an inner tube to float in:

and at Paddington Station he has a lot more jacket:

Happy October!

 

September was a wasteland for me stitching-wise, I finally got to the point where I can deal with everything around my dad and Auntie dying last year. I've been emptying out one storage unit, organizing another one, shredding papers and digitizing what must be a million photos, slides, and negatives; I almost have to laugh at how often I open a box and it's just random old mail and photographs. I cry every day but at least I feel like I'm getting somewhere - I'm hoping to have an empty house and no storage unit by the end of the year. 

I check everyone's blogs when I want to cheer up and see the cute things you all make and the fun places you've been and your beautiful families - thank you so much, faithful blog buddies, for sharing your lives. you have no idea what a blessing you have are, even if no one is commenting that doesn't mean you aren't appreciated!

Some throwback finishes from past Septembers - it's funny how often I have Easter finishes in September, haha, but I did find some fall ones:

Sweeping Cobwebs from Prairie Schooler:

"Be Nice" and "Wish I'd Listened" from the Stitcherhood:

and some throwbacks of Kuna too, still jaunty at 15, or 105 in dog years!

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.