Janet P's Bees, Butterflies, and Beetles Block

Here is a picture of Janet's naked block.  I was the first to work on it.  It's approximately 15 inches in diameter.

And this is a picture of the beetle I put on it.  The model was a picture of a Pink Sand Beetle off the Utah Wildlife site.  I drew it freehand. 

This one is at the same scale as the top picture.  It's after all the work I did on it.

And this is a closer picture of the work I did.  The ladybugs at the top are some kind of seed from around here that has been turned into beads.  I don't know what kind of bug I made up for the conga line, and the butterflies are SRE.  I hope Janet likes it and that the next person who works on it is able to add more to the piece.

Last Part of the Alphabet

The last third of the alphabet is done, as is part four.  It looks good, I think, but now I have to wait to stitch part five until I am done with the other stitchalong parts.

Guest Blog Post

I wrote an article for Subversive Stitchers this week, and you should read it.  It's about what happens to those kids' hearts I stitch.  You can read it here.  Maybe you'll even stitch a heart too!

Connie's Generous Exchange

About a month ago, Connie in Colorado contacted me about doing an exchange with her because she wanted things from Uruguay, having seen some of what I'd shown on my blog.  I agreed and sent her a bunch of beads and floss from here.  She, in return, sent me all this!  I'd told her that my real need was just plain cotton fabric because it's impossible to go to the store and get here.  Thank you, Connie!

First Picture

City Walk is an ANG correspondence course design by Linda Reinmiller.  I'm taking it with my chapter, San Bernadino.  I finally got all the materials together a week and a half ago and started it last week.  The first part is a lot of counting and gridwork, so that's what you see here.

Can You See?

More shutter, more of the bottom area.  It's coming along, but it's so big it's hard to see what I've done.

Groundhog Day in Uruguay

While people in the States were figuring out if there'd be more winter, here in Uruguay, February 2 is dedicated to the Goddess of the Sea, Yemanja.  It had been threatening to rain all day, but held off for this event.  This first picture is of the rides at Parque Rodo, all lit up and going full blast.  It was a night of celebration.

 The idea of Yemanja is to give offerings to the sea.  Part of that is digging holes in the beach at Playa Ramirez and lighting candles in the bottom.  People spent all day on the beach making holes and other things - usually boats - for the offerings in the sand.

Not the best of shots, but it shows the size of the crowd and that it really was right on the shore.

Dressing in white robes seems to be part of the ritual for some, and here they're preparing a styrofoam boat to launch with offerings out into the river.

Here, a lot of lit holes in the ground.  They looked pretty dotted randomly down the beach, but were treacherous when the light went out.  I'm sure there were a lot of wrenched ankles before the night was through.

Communing, offering prayers, I don't know, but many people sat by their holes contemplatively.  A lot of the ones who did were stoned, so it might have been vegetatively.

This was one of the more elaborate set ups.  You can see the offerings of food in the front.

And this one was very big too.  It had a gathering of people all the way around it.  It was a very peaceful crowd with little jostling and such.  The sight of all those candles lit was just amazing.  This festival is held on different dates in places like Cuba, Brazil and some of the Caribbean islands.  If you get a chance to go, do.