Cherished Teddies - USA Bear

So I'm stitching the Cherished Teddies International Bears based on the country I've been to.  I started with Japan since I was born in Okinawa.  I've now started to work on the USA bear.  Unfortunately the only other countries I've been to are Mexico and Canada so I'm going to have to start visiting other places if I want to stitch more of the bears in the booklet.

Here is what it is suppose to look like:

I'm doing it on 14ct Lt. Oatmeal (Fiddler's) Aida in 2x1, full stitches.  This is what I've got done so far (it's 2 hockey games worth of work):

Cherished Teddies - Japan update #2

This project has been much easier than I expected, especially with all the quarter stitches that had to be done.  Every time I pulled the project out and said I should get an update pic before I start stitching again I would just tell myself I'll do it later and then I start stitching.  Well, it's done . . . sort of.  The regular stitching is done and I only have the backstitching left to do. 

I hate backstitching so I'm happy to put it off for awhile so I can redo a couple of the Zodiac projects because the gridlines wouldn't wash out.  I'm having to redo the snake and rooster that I had done on the dark green fabric.  I tested the marking pen on the red and dark blue and it came out just fine so I thought it would be the same for the dark green as well.  I was wrong. 

Once I finish those I will get back to this one to do the backstitching and finish up so I can start another project.  I love starting new projects.

Cherished Teddies - Japan

I got a book called Cherished Teddies Around the World and it has a bear for a lot of different nations.  I loved it and thought I'd stitch them all.  But which one to start first?  I thought I'd do them in order of the nations I've visited.  I'd start with Japan, because I was born there.  Then the USA, because I live here.  Then Mexico, because I've visited there first.  And finally Canada, because I've visited there too.  And that's about it.  How depressing is that?

So . . .

I've decided to make it one of my "bucket list" items to visit all the places represented by these bears and then stitch up the corresponding bear to hang on my wall.  I doubt that I'll get to all of them but at least it's worth a shot.

Here's the book:

I'm doing the Japanese Bear first.  This is what it's suppose to look like:

This is how much I've got done so far (14ct Mint Aida, 2x1, full):