Darwin is a big party boy!

The Evolution Cocktail Napkins are done for my Pops for his birthday!

Who says evolution isn't fun?

As I've written before, I saw this amazing and simple evolution pattern on the Coyote Craft blog a while back and I was instantly attracted to it. Bean Paulson designed it for Darwin Day back in 2009. Her original free pattern was the outline of an evolving man, minus the party theme. For some reason, when I came upon it, I thought of a celebration.

I'd like to share a cocktail with all of these creatures. You?

So, to her crisp, clear design, I added a party hat, Mardi Gras beads, a birthday crown and decadent, slightly raunchy elf boots. And I thought they would look nice on cocktail napkins.

Still think the booted man is kind of hot.

Stitched this up in simple, at times messy, back stitch with 321 pearle cotton. I do like the raw simplicity of this design.

Party with festive ardipithecus.

Or party with our erect friend, who I call Lyle.

My Pops is an amateur science nerd, albeit a very cool one. (My friends and I think nerds are uber cool, hot and sexy, even, but he is from a generation that may not appreciate the term.) In the 19th Century, and with a different bankroll, Pops might have been a gentleman scholar. I remember him explaining evolution to my brother and I when we were wee and living hardscramble, in a neighborhood pizza parlor in NYC. 

On the other side of the napkins, The Tree of Life.

I love Bean Paulson's use of the Tree of Life.

Stitched Tree of Life

Darwin's original

Happy Birthday to the world's wildest, coolest pops! (Don't get me started... it's hard to rebel when you have a wild Pops, but I tried!) May you drink many bottles of white while gripping these little napkins.

Wild Pops and The Kid (as he calls me).

And now I move onto my latest obsession: stitching words. Very simply. In red. Nerdy as hell, mofos. Can. Not. Stop.