Happy December!

 

Let's see what's on the camera roll:

Balinese Elephant has a bunch of dog hair, lol:

Dinosaurs has more leaves:

Closet UFO's has the closet started:

Flutter of Butterflies has all the butterflies started:

Cheese Sampler has some cheeses:

and Marmalade has the bottom squares going:

                                        

My reading for the month was mostly finishing up Halloweeny reading from last month, plus a totally 70's book that popped out of my storage unit - I don't even remember if it was auntie's or mine, but to the little free library it went:

Had my annual jaunt up north to work on the Rose Parade.  They have a whole different systemn for volunteers this year so the float barn was pretty empty and a little sad, but the work goes on and I did have a pleasant time with the tiny group of us that were there.  The float we were working on was San Francisco, if you squint you can see the row houses in the back, also known as the "Painted Ladies."

The mission for the day was cutting the petals of statice - this is always one of the first jobs because they want the petals to dry. Rose Parade floats are required to be completely covered with plants, so the petals are used like blue paint; these will be on one of the houses. The extra petals will be part of a US flag for another float.

If I stand on tiptoe I can see the back of the storage unit so yay me! DH is ready to tell me to just keep it, haha, he's definitely sick of endless boxes of stuff coming through the house!

Happy November!

Woo hoo! I love the end of Daylight Savings and the sweet slide towards Christmas!

On the stitchy front things are cruising along..

Promise of Spring has a couple more letters:

Marmalade has a little bit of everything everywhere:

Peace and Love has a P:

and Big Red Ship of Life has a corner started:

Stitcher's Blessing has the second line started:

and Ho Ho Ho has more beard filled in:

I've gotten rid of a few bags of stuff. I'm still saving way too much of Auntie's stuff but I can stand my whole self in my storage unit and lay on the bed in the guest room so that's progress - it doesn't sound like much but it's hard work throwing stuff out! 

I volunteered at the Ukrainian Museum and they have such lively cross stitch there:

and I read 3 books, which is three more than last month but not that many.  I'll try to improve my mind more this month!

A glorious fog is enveloping our house right now - it's thick enough that when the wind blows water falls off the leaves and it sounds like it's raining. I have some painting to do for All Soul's Day, then some stitching while I watch Green Bay so this should be a great Sunday!

 

The Spice of Life!

No, not pumpkin spice, haha! Novelty - rumor has it that it's one of the keys to happiness;n maybe that's why I like having a bunch of WIPs - it's always a thrill to pull out an old friend!

This is Promise of Spring by Silver Creek Samplers, I got some more letters done on it:

This was a kit from Cross Stitch Crazy magazine that I never started. I had a church conference this weekend so I brought up a little kit with a dream of finishing it, but hahaha.  They're Russian nesting dolls:

This is Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds from the Stitcherhood.  I think all she needs is her face and her skirt to be done:

This is the chin of  Sugar Skull from Yiota's Cross Stitch:

This is Blackwork Candy Corn from the Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue of 2018:

And all the animals are started on the Circus is in Town by Tiny Modernist:

The weather here is turning perfect for stitching, fingers crossed we get more rain this week!

 

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.