I made a little cactus stitch for this month …
Not a great photo but you get the idea. It’s adapted from one of the free DMC patterns.
Sweet!
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Those DMC free patterns are cute and versatile. Love the pop of red and the little pot.
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I love it!
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I think my stitch is done, but I am letting it marinate a bit, to see if any changes are needed.
Power was restored yesterday, but a storm just came over, and electricity went out three times for just ten seconds or so each time. I used to love thunderstorms, now they worry me. 
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About 14" high. Background is scrappy quilt as you go, cactus is four different green scraps nearly hidden by tapestry yarn. Flower is several different paint-dyed ribbons.
Inspiration picture, taken on my front porch in May…
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This is beautiful!
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Wow…fabulous
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It’s absolutely stunning!
Your area was in the news this week, the article was about the extreme heat and how especially visiting tourists get themselves in trouble quite often because they just don’t understand how hot and how dangerous it really is. There is apparantly a a Saguaro mascot telling everyone to drink more water.
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It gets ridiculously HOT here every year, this one is only a couple of degrees warmer. The real problems have been:
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we had a cool spring (in the 90s, everything is relative), which held off the monsoon. That kicked off a record breaking stretch of days over 110° F (43° C). Nights don’t cool off enough, stay in the 80s. (30s C)
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now the cooling monsoon storms are here, they are wilder than usual. Lots of wind and lightning and hail knocking out power and damaging houses, trees, cars, etc. Floods close roads, idiots drive through rushing water. Lotta fun!
monsoon has arrived here in southern AZ, not yet in Phoenix, where the heat continues. -
110° + no air conditioning = everybody scrambling for alternative housing, and complaining loudly and bitterly about how bad the power company is, when they have actually been working literally day and night to get power up.
People who haven’t been affected are all tsking at those complaints…then THEY lose power, and whine even louder.
Weirdly, the worst of each storm seems to hit a different part of town, so first the East side had hail and wind damage, then my SW neighborhood had crazy winds, and yesterday the Central area got hit so hard that 80,000 people were reported as being without power last night.
TL/DR. Yep, sure is hot!
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This is what happens when people live in environments expecting nature to change after millions of years…and, when doing human things, destroy any natural protections. It is our fault but blaming leaves on the forest floor is not the answer.
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Are you nuts? It’s a desert, there’s no leaves! 
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As someone born and raised in a country where a heatwave is a period of at least five consecutive days over 25C/77F of which at least 3 are over 30C/86F, I’ll probably never understand why all those people move to the desert in the first place 
no matter how beautiful the cacti are. If I had to pick any random place in the US to move to, I’d probably pick Seattle or something, at least that’s a climate I’d survive in.
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Yeah, I wanna move to Oregon. At least during the summer. It is great here in the winter. We get snow every couple of years, no hard freezes.
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Lol…It was a reference to some moron who does not believe in climate change. He thinks wild fires scan be controlled by clearing the underbrysh:rofl:
This is gorgeous, the colours and 3D effect are fantastic! I real life cactus is spectacular too!
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Finally! Its the last day of july, and that means the last circle for my challenge/mindfulness. Im so sick of this piece right now! But I will let it rest on a shelf for a while, and then Im making a wall-hanging. I am proud of myself for sticking to all the days. Some circles were easy and some more challenging, but I did it. 
The last circle is my favorite smiley. And I will sign with name (or initials at least) and year before finishing the wall-hanging. But for now - finished!
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Love how many ways you got to do the circles!
Is the challenge still available now or was it just for July?
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It was just a personal challenge. I have never committed to a craft like this before, but I have dreamt of it, and I felt I had the time now in july. Will do again in the future.
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It is really lovely, it’s going to make a beautiful wall hanging!
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