End of June 2020 Update

Today is the last day of June, so I am going to review what I worked on for this month.

Chicken Joy by Stitching with the Housewives.
Looks like a finish, yes?  Alas, I decided to use a button for the star on the tree.  Just as I’m about the go shopping at my LNS, guess what happens? Covid-19 surges and we’re being told to stay home again.  Sigh.

I used 28ct Watercress Jobelyn  (picture doesn’t give this beautiful green justice).  I made the following substitutions: pine for streamed brocolli and charcoal for the chicken’s eye and the light strands.  I also used Mill Hill beads for the lights (42013, 42011, and 42040).

Close up so you can see the beads

Candy Corn Ghost Mouse by Just Nan.
I have finished stitching this one.  It’ll be a FFO soon.

Cottage on the Corner by Bunny Hill Designs
This is just a nice relaxing stitch — not a lot of color changes, large areas of the same color, repetition....  Hopefully this will be a UFO for July.

Bloom Topia by Fat Quarter Shop
Loving the colors on this one.  I’m about 13 sections behind on the stitch-along. Ha!  I think I’ll make good progress on this one in July as well.

Cardinal Biscornu by The Tiny Modernist
Cardinals are one of my favorite birds.  I’m thoroughly enjoying working on this one.  I’ve made  enough progress on this one that I’m having to make sure my project is turned the right way!

Secret Snowdrift by The Trilogy
Barely started this one for Maynia, made great progress this month.  I started in the middle and have finally made it up to the top left corner - my preferred place of “origin.” I’ll start stitching down.  Probably won’t get back to this one until August.

Lady Death by Gecko Rouge
My new start for the month.  It’s one of those multi page full coverage charts.  I’m stitching on a strict diagonal, meaning I do one stitch at a time on the diagonal.  I find that my stitches look sooo much better.  I’ll probable finish it next century.

LORT Project

Quaker Sampler: A Secret Sky by Modern Folk Embroidery
This is my LORT project.  Have I introduced you to LORT?  LORT stands for Long Ort.  When I have an ort that’s too long to throw away but not long enough to keep,  I leave it loaded on its needle and then stitch on this.  You can really see Easter Bunny House and Bloom Topia in it.











So my goal for next month is to add one new start and one old WIP to my active projects (those listed above).  We’ll see how that goes.  I’m missing about two weeks of stitching because we’re trekking across the USA to help my daughter move.  And I’m never able to stitch on trips.


On to the gaming.....

I always forget to get pictures.....

We tried to beat Frankenstein and his Bride, Dracula and the Wolfman in Horrified.  THREE TIMES!!!  No, we never did beat them.  I took a close victory in Terraforming Mars and was whooped in The Quacks of Quedlinburg.  My pot kept exploding.  We also tried out Roam, which is a quick filler game with some strategic thought.  I was squashed in Ancient Worlds.  I made the mistake of thinking that my starting ability should be part of my strategy.  Nope. Big mistake.  I’ll be ready next time. It was a good gaming weekend.

The next weekend started off with Trash Panda.  Chad and I played this while waiting for others to arrive.  Chad took a garbage pail lid and hit me this way, that way and ground me into the dirt.  It was a brutal loss — 26 to 9.  (The garbage pail lid is for imagery, the game had nothing to do with beating each other with lids.)  I played a decent game of Terra Mystica.  I’m usually last but I came in third our of five.  Not bad.

And then COVID-19 put a damper on all our gaming fun with friends. After the City strongly encouraging everyone to stay home, my hubby and I turned back to the Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game.  We decided to do the Saga expansions which follow the books. We’re not doing too bad. We avoided the Black Riders and made it through the Old Forest. We also managed to escape the barrow wights.  Now on to the next one...