tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80965959043497456322024-03-18T08:18:01.207-05:00Keebles WorldKeebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.comBlogger1329125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-85021694784328814222024-03-04T11:54:00.004-06:002024-03-05T09:14:14.530-06:00Start frenzy!<p>Last week my brain was in a migraine cyclone. I didn't feel like stitching at all, although I did get started on Evil Queen, but only worked on her for one night (last Monday to be specific), so I took her from nothing to here (and she's all background right now, so you wouldn't be able to see anything anyway). Oh, and where Captain Hook is all white background, Evil Queen is all black, so I didn't start there, I started where the color was...looks a bit like a dinosaur at a drinking fountain right now though:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53561675149/in/album-72177720313675996/" title="EvilQueen_002"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53561675149_058b8078c8_b.jpg" width="1024" height="326" alt="EvilQueen_002"/></a>
<p>There are several colors in there, but you can't tell by the crappy picture. This is a trend that apparently continues throughout the week, almost every picture sucks, but considering how bad my head hurt, I really shouldn't have been doing any of what you are about to see. I received my new grime guards for the two new biggie WIPs, so they definitely changed:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53561790985/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53561790985_263459503c_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53561543968/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53561543968_ac85479434_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>By Wednesday, the 28th, I realized that I wasn't going to make my goal of starting all my new projects in the Leap Year, so I got a wild idea...I started a new WIP frenzy! On Wednesday, I started The Blue Marble Is So Fragile (although, technically I forgot to take the done pic on that night, so the EXIF data shows a different date, but I assure you I stitched it on Wednesday night, when you stitch through that kind of pain, you definitely remember it!):</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53566499637/in/album-72177720313671357/" title="BlueMarble_002"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53566499637_db39988f90_b.jpg" width="1024" height="600" alt="BlueMarble_002"/></a>
<p>The Supersized/Max Color Once Upon A Fairytale</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53561675009/in/album-72177720313685468/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53561675009_e600894a60_b.jpg" width="1024" height="574" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>And DoNa Stitch's Merida</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53561346226/in/album-72177720313685438/" title="Merida_001"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53561346226_544d5f9a9d_b.jpg" width="1024" height="410" alt="Merida_001"/></a>
<p>On Thursday the 29th, I started the last two, Mini Wisdom (and this is the ONLY one with the correct needle minder on it for now other than HP Bookcovers, every other one still needs a proper needle minder...this one came from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/Kimsneedleminders" target="_blank">Kim's Creative Needle Minders</a>:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53561674969/in/album-72177720313831488/" title="MiniWisdom_002"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53561674969_72b5690247_b.jpg" width="1024" height="353" alt="MiniWisdom_002"/></a>
<p>And Belle of Bonaventure, which is the one I've stuck with since, so I'm now I'm at almost a page finish instead of just a hair beyond blank:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53567794300/in/album-72177720313676016/" title="Belle_004"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53567794300_360768d5ef_b.jpg" width="1024" height="308" alt="Belle_004"/></a>
<p>I can now say that all seven new WIPs were started in Leap Year, but after the whole incident settled and my headache finally died down, I realized they call it Leap "Year" for a reason and I literally could have started these at any point this year and been fine, I didn't need to start them in February per se. Dumb me. Oh well. It's done now.</p>
<p>I also replaced my clothes hamper of a storage bin for my projects with two new bins from Target (I did actually buy three, but turns out they fit in two).</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53567549423/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53567549423_9f91515981_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53567794450/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53567794450_771671f116_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>Sure, they are plastic, but at $9 a piece, I'm pretty proud of myself for not spending a forture, and with the spare, I have room to grow. Plus, now the scroll rods are no longer flopping around like crazy, so that's a bonus. I was so afraid they were going to break something, either on my Harry Potter shelf, or one of my framed stitches (well, one that is not already broken, like Mickey, Goofy & Donald, which I still haven't gotten reframed, it's just being held together with tape).<p>
<p>On the Etsy front, I obviously got the two grime guards (and SUPER fast), the needle minders replaced from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/MadForMinders" target="_blank">Mad from Minders</a> are out for delivery today (they were originally tried on Saturday, but I have EVERYTHING shipped to work, and we're closed on Saturday), and funnily enough, the claim process from Etsy for the other order was VERY easy and my refund with instantaneous, although it was full of warnings that they were basically now "watching me" and I couldn't have a lot of claims. Fair, but if it's not my fault, it's not my fault. I did NOT reorder from Caffeinated Cat Crafts (I'm not going to link to her store, but I'm sure you can find it if you're interested). I'm also not going to recommend her based on my experience, although someone else's experience might be different, she is a 5 star seller after all, I may be the exception to the rule (which wouldn't be the first time). I've also decided to NOT leave feedback. The items were lost in shipping (not her fault), I didn't like her response (matter of opinion, not fact), so it does no good to either of us for me to leave negative feedback. My opinion is just that. I will just leave it at "I will never buy from again" on this blog and that is that.</p>
<p>Mad For Minders actually does <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/818718800/custom-wooden-needle-mindercover-minder" target="_blank">custom needle minders</a>! I'm having trouble deciding what designs to do (plus, I do need to wait until another payday first), but I am looking for designs for the above projects that need them, specifically, Evil Queen (who's minder will go to Once Upon A Fairytale, unless I find something better for that), Blue Marble, and Merida. The shipment due in today has Belle of Bonaventure's in it.<p>
<p>With our weather changing so much on a daily basis, it's just headache season as well as the beginning of tornado season. I have the feeling my stitching will be sparse in the next couple of months. We'll see. I have also decided I will have three new starts on my birthday in September, but I think I can have at least two finishes by then (big talk, right?). We'll see. The way Belle of Bonaventure is going, I might be able to finish her before I can Alice and the B's! It's amazing how fast it's moving! And, ironically, there is absolutely no black in the project whatsoever! Just as a reminder:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/30422384602/in/album-72177720313676016/" title="belle of bonaventure"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/8675/30422384602_eaf40c85e9_z.jpg" width="600" height="443" alt="belle of bonaventure"/></a>
<p>Since I've managed almost a page finish in three days (I slept through Saturday again, or I would have definitely had a page finish), she is definitely going to move fast and she's not too large, a little over 14x10 finished size and no dithering, so lots of block color.</p>
<p>Oh, and I got my WIP Page updated with all the new projects and their Flickr page links, so everything is up to date! I'm still bad at keeping Instagram updated, but I'll try harder to keep that updated as well. There is a part of me that thinks I should just switch to Instagram instead of Blogger, but I'm just too verbose for that. If I didn't have such a cluttered, junky house, I would do my own FlossTube. One of these days when I get a "real house"....</p>
Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-18979877370787538292024-02-26T16:35:00.000-06:002024-02-26T16:35:55.933-06:00Moving along slowly and Etsy seller issues<p>I haven't been in a stitching mood lately. In the past week, I've only stitched two days on Harry Potter Bookshelf. I slept through most of Saturday, and when I did finally get up, I ended up putting together a 3-D puzzle. Anyone guess what it is?</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53553027632/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53553027632_f36e74c46c_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>I did stitch almost a full day on Sunday, but I did have a lot of distractions. I left off on HP here last time:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53539236303/in/album-72177720313676011/" title="HP-USBC_003"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539236303_fae89b57a9_b.jpg" width="1024" height="358" alt="HP-USBC_003"/></a>
<p>I fully finished page 1 along with most of page 2 (and technically book 2 cover). Per Markup XP, it's 5.5% of work total, 6723 stitches out of 121,975 and I've got 29.9 hrs total involved in this project (and I don't use Markup XP for time, I use an app called Hours Tracker and have for YEARS), so not a lot for two weeks. Here is where I'm leaving off:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53553881136/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="HP-USBC_005"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53553881136_eff4b64f32_b.jpg" width="1024" height="357" alt="HP-USBC_005"/></a>
<p>Before I quit entirely Sunday night, I got Evil Queen is all ready to go as my next start:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53553881126/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="EvilQueen_001"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53553881126_8f0e06662a_b.jpg" width="1024" height="319" alt="EvilQueen_001"/></a>
<p>If you remember, I mentioned back at the end of January that I bought a bunch of new needle minders. One bunch from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/MadForMinders" target="_blank">Mad For Minders</a>, which I have bought from numerous times before, and another bunch from another creator that I've never bought from before. Both were bought on the same day, both were shipped out the same day, but each were shipped from opposite sides of the country. As of now, neither have arrived. The tracking information from Mad For Minders show it never left Cali with an estimated delivery date of Feb 7th (today is the 26th). The tracking information for the new seller said it made it all the way from NY to Memphis (which the last stop to here, and an hour away), but it's been sitting there since Feburary 6th, the estimated delivery date, and it now just says "delayed, estimated delivery date Feb 6th", same as the original.</p>
<p>This weekend, I reached out to both sellers and got two VERY different responses. I reached out to the new seller first (we'll call her seller #1 for now), and since I used Etsy to do it, I had to either choose "refund" or "replace". I chose "replace" because I still wanted the minders, but I added a comment with the caveat that I wasn't requesting official replacement, I just wondered if she could see something on her end that I couldn't see that maybe could explain why I hadn't received the items because I did actually still want them and was worried because I hadn't received them. Sometimes, I've had sellers not actually ship things to me even though there is tracking information. Or, at the very least, she could check the shipping information on her end since the seller has more "rights" than the receiver. It's not the postal service of old and they make a lot of mistakes these days. This seller told me, short and pointed, that I needed to file a claim with Etsy and I could just reorder the items and she would expedite the shipping on the new ones. This may be the response a store is supposed to give, but it's not a response I've ever gotten before. It struck me as odd, but not strange until she started sending me messages about reordering the items, along with discounts on shipping and coupons, one after the other. So I just answered back with a "well, I've never had to file a claim before, so", kind of answer, because I really didn't know what to say about the pressure of reordering (and I definitely felt pressured). Then, when I tried to file the stupid claim, Etsy told me I had to wait 48 hours from when I started messaging her, so more delays, and it just made me madder. I messaged her back about the delay, but she just responded she could do nothing about that. We're leaving it at dead air for now. At that point, I didn't mention reorder and neither did she. I think, had she asked again, I would have lost it.</p>
<p>She wasn't rude per se, but there was definitely no "sorry" in any part of her messages. Maybe she was pushing for a reorder because I had initially stated that I still wanted the items, although I did make it clear I wasn't requesting a replacement, but if I have to file the claim myself, I don't have a fountain of money in my living room, it has to come from somewhere, so I would need the refund first before reorder, right? It just made me uber paranoid (like I need any help), all the pressure to reorder the items before I even got approved for a refund. I read on Etsy's website that the seller isn't punished if a claim is made, so does that mean she would get double money if I ordered them again? If they genuinely got lost in shipping, then she should get paid for her work, and if Etsy is willing to eat that than the US Postal Service, then that is between them. But, because of the pressure, I'm questioning if they were genuinely initally shipped at all. I ordered like 6 or 7 and they were only $30, which is REALLY cheap, maybe she couldn't take the hit? If I reordered them now, they would cost more, even with the discounts she sent. And, I probably wouldn't order them all again, so I wouldn't meet the minimum for free shipping (although that also might have been a coupon she sent), so I may have to take another punch on that as well. All of that hypothethical stuff doesn't matter, I'm NOT reordering them, but still, my mind is spinning with thoughts, none of them good.</p>
<p>When I reached out to <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/MadForMinders" target="_blank">Mad For Minders</a>, the second seller, I made sure I messaged her privately first since we've been in contact before and she has always been amazing in the past. She immediately processed a new order for reshipment without any issue or even mentioning an Etsy claim. I did explain what the other seller did and asked if I needed to do that for her, but Mad for Minders said, "no problem, I'm SO sorry about all of that, new order already processed on my end!". I've had a few Etsy orders go missing over the years, and this response has ALWAYS been the typical response I'm used to from all my sellers. Never, have I ever been required to file a claim. This seller has gone above and beyond to solve the problem. If, by some miracle I do receive the original order, I'll just pay her again (and, in all of history, that has only ever happened to me once, months after the resend, and I did just that).</p>
<p>Then there is the whole rating thing. I can't give seller #1 a good rating because I never received the items. I'm not really happy with her response either, because she didn't respond to the problem, she just sent me a link to deal with the problem myself and then started pitching for more business (that might be a bit harsh, but I'm not a happy camper right now). Even if she was only following protocol, I'm the one doing all the legwork to get my money back (that I'm not guaranteed to get) and she expects me to just repurchase from her again with no guarantee it will arrive a second time, she's got another thing coming. If they do magically appear in the mail this week, I wouldn't recommend her to anyone else, nor would I purchase from her again, so that's another ding in the rating. At minimum, 1 star, and that's not very helpful for her business. Better to not leave one at all.</p>
<p>I HATE giving negative ratings. A lot of the time, I just don't rate them to keep from it, which isn't good for other people who might buy from that seller in the future, but I hate dealing with the confrontation (maybe it's from the old eBay days when the sellers could rate you back and, if you gave a negative rating, you could guarantee you would get one back, deserved or not, usually not). Even now, you'll notice I haven't used seller #1's store name in this post. I'm still holding out hope the package will eventually arrive (I haven't filed the claim even though the 48 hours is up) and I can just forget she exists. Part of me is even debating letting it go and take the financial hit (these were the minders for Evil Queen, Blue Marble, OUAT Bookshelf and several upcoming future projects, but it was only about $30, like I said, not terrible, but still, money).</p>
<p>Seller #2, Mad For Minders, on the other hand, I have mentioned several times in this blog and would recommend highly. She has always gotten 5 stars and will get 5 stars this time as well, even with the issue, because she handled it well and I will most certainly buy from her again.</p>
<p>On the Etsy plus side though this week, I did decide to get grime guards for both OUAT Bookshelf and Blue Marble since they are in their own q-snaps and not sharing like I initially planned (and I ended up also getting extenders, so now both are 11x20, which feels more like scroll rods and left less hanging fabric). I tried those magnet hoop things to hold the fabric, but I don't like them and I need something to hold the fabric in better and protect it more. I have one grime guard, but it's 11x17 and doesn't fit. The issue I had was that no one carried grime guards for 11x20 q-snaps. So, I reached out to a seller that I've again never dealt with before on Friday night (I try not to buy from new sellers, because of problems like the above, but I have only ever bought the one grime guard in my life, so I had to make an exception), <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/Susebiees" target="_blank">Susebiees</a>, and, since she had a question box for custom orders, I took a chance and point-blank asked her if she could make an 11x20 grime guard. She was very nice and instantly agreed to give it a shot. She didn't have the fabric choices I picked out, but she was savy enough to notice that they were both in the purple family and immediately gave me three other purple choices, two of which were easily just as pleasing (I really liked that she noticed that). She walked me through every step, she put her q-snap together with extenders to figure out sizing, made them over the weekend and poof, instant grime guards with a MORE than fair price! She even shipped them out first this morning!</p>
<p>Now, I actually haven't received these yet obviously (so I may be getting excited too soon), and I explained to her why I'm a bit leery of Etsy right now, but she assured me she has never had issues with shipping, although she did just have a project bag take 3 weeks to get to its destination (hence my williness to give more time before I file the Etsy claim on the first group of needle minders). Time will tell when or if I get these, but she is a really great seller if anyone is looking for grime guards. Like I said, she also makes project bags, but I have no need of those. As a matter of fact, those cheap ones I bought on Amazon have no use now, unless I end up using them for something else in the house. They are just cluttering up my kitchen table now.</p>
<p>Am I being too harsh about the first needle minder seller? Should I just file the claim and be done with it or should I give it more time? Etsy says I have until May to file it. I'm probably not going to order replacements from one of my usual sellers unless I find something special to go with those projects...I'll just use something I already have. And I'm definitely not leaving any feedback of any kind until I calm down a bit (if I ever do for seller 1). Whatever I decide in the end, I will eventually give you her store name and tell you the outcome so you can decide whether or not she's worth buying from. My experience may not be yours, but it won't be a recommendation from me. Mad For Minders is the exception, not the rule, I'm aware, but it's kind of the rule I'm used to from my sellers and it's why I use the sellers I do and why they are the only sellers I would recommend to you guys. Because Susebiees was already so amazing, even though I haven't gotten the grime guards yet, I already feel comfortable recommending her.</p>
<p>There are several "rules" with ordering from Etsy I try to follow:</p>
<p>*Don't order from new sellers (per the reasons from seller #1, but there are rare exceptions, as in Susebiees)</p>
<p>*I personally can't order anything from Canada or Australia because I'll never get it. They ALWAYS get stuck in customs and never get released for me. Not sure why. This rule also applies for eBay.</p>
<p>*Never order t-shirts outside of the USA because of sizing issues.</p>
<p>*Always pay with PayPal or ApplePay or any third party payer. Never pay directly and never agree to pay outside of Etsy (this rule came about because of eBay).</p>
<p>All in all though, I think I'm burned out on Etsy for a while, which is a REALLY good thing!</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-84230089968866312792024-02-19T12:09:00.004-06:002024-02-19T14:05:22.451-06:00It has begun!<p>Last week I tried to continue on with Night Wish and I started strong on Monday with progress, but then I didn't stitch for the rest of the week. Let's get the progress out of the way, and then I'll explain. I left off here last time:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53525003533/in/album-72157660603117014/" title="NightWish058"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53525003533_50efc60541_b.jpg" width="1024" height="577" alt="NightWish058"/></a>
<p>Even though it doesn't look like much, it was all the Petit Treasure Braid on this one side, as well as the rest of the final touches around her face. It was definitely a lot of work for one night, even if it doesn't look it:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53539058186/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="NightWish059"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539058186_518fa9205f_b.jpg" width="1024" height="580" alt="NightWish059"/></a>
<p>I don't really even have a good excuse. Although I finished watching Castle and it was OK (I can at least say I've seen it), I was not oblivious to the number of Firefly references throughout that show, it became like my Hidden Mickey game in Once Upon A Time. But it also meant that it put in me in a Firefly mood, and Firefly, well, let's just say that Firefly is one of my obsession shows that takes over for quite some time and it's a hard pit to dig myself out of once I'm in it. Like any other of these obsession fits of mine, I will just have to let it run its course, but it may be a long one, so I've just accepted it and am dealing the best I can. Hey, it could be worse, it could be Twilight, right? I might not want to give myself any ideas, so I'm going to change the subject now.</p>
<p>By Friday, I was able to scroll rod up the fabric for the new projects (at least some of them, still waiting on some supplies to come in), and by Saturday morning, I started my first project! I went for the US version of the Harry Potter Bookcovers (in case you don't remember, it looks like this:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53360938640/in/album-72177720313676011/" title="HP-USBC_000a"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53360938640_5ff5711588_b.jpg" width="693" height="1024" alt="HP-USBC_000a"/></a>
<p>So I started with a blank slate (and more on the fabric and the gridding on the gridded fabric in a minute):</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53539236313/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="HP-USBC_001"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539236313_72ff5c6a95_b.jpg" width="1024" height="349" alt="HP-USBC_001"/></a>
<p>I had a little trouble focusing on Saturday, because I had to catch up on some of my YouTube stuff, I'm more than a bit behind on all the channels I watch (and I was still going back and forth between that and Firefly, god help me when I start watching reactors reacting to Firefly), so I only stitched about 6 hours (not great for a weekend):</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53539382204/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="HP-USBC_002"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539382204_f7e383a1fb_b.jpg" width="1024" height="364" alt="HP-USBC_002"/></a>
<p>but I got in a good solid 8 hours of stitching on Sunday, so I almost finished the first page (but that's not saying much and I'll explain more on that, again, in a minute):</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53539236303/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="HP-USBC_003"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539236303_fae89b57a9_b.jpg" width="1024" height="358" alt="HP-USBC_003"/></a>
<p>First up, the magic guide fabric. You will notice that I did add grid lines myself. Until I get used to the magic guide, I thought it was for the best. Up close, the magic guide covers a row of stitches and, as long as you plan it out, you can work out in your brain where to start and where your block is, but until my brain figures that out on it's own, I needed a bit of help.</p>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53539479645/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Magic guide"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539479645_261c67f883_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Magic guide"/></a>
<p>It's way easier than griding yourself beccause there was no counting involved and now I feel a bit spoiled (I spent several hours Friday night griding up the first row of both Evil Queen and Merida because they were on non-grided fabric, so I had to count it out and count it twice, the joys of OCD). If the fabric itself works out nice, I can see myself using this for all future projects! I decided to go with top and far left for my grids on this, and it's working out well. I initially only gridded the first page of HP, but I went ahead and moved into the second because it's pretty easy and I'm not ready to do it myself yet.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53538179767/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53538179767_559fe3e285_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>The other snag is the pattern itself. I don't know about most people, but I tend to stitch like I read, left to right, top to bottom. There are some notable exceptions, but as a general rule, that works best for me. This pattern, the top row of pages is technically the last row of pages. Here is the page chart map:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53539330508/in/dateposted/" title="HP-USBC_000b"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539330508_8457372738_c.jpg" width="497" height="800" alt="HP-USBC_000b"/></a>
<p>So even though it looks like I'm breezing through the first row, it's not even a full row because it's the partial bottom row. It's SUPER weird. And, of all my new WIPs, it's not the only one to be arranged in a non-standardized (left to right, top to bottom) pattern arrangement. There are more than a couple, each with a different arrangement. I don't get the logic in it, and I'm not a fan, but oh well, it is what it is.</p>
<p>I wanted to start all these new WIPs in the month of February for Leap Year, but I don't think that's going to be possible since it's already almost the end of the month, unless I start switching them daily. I'm really enjoying Harry Potter, and I want to keep working on it for now. To be honest, I thought this one was going to be WAY more difficult than it is. When I first saw this, it was somewhere on a Reddit post (I don't have a Reddit account, but it was just something I came across while looking for HP patterns) and I remember the poster saying it was the hardest pattern she had ever done and had taken her years, even though she was an experienced stitcher. I'm pretty sure I got the same version as her, the super-sized version, and I used her post to find the pattern in the first place from Fox and Teacup Designs. I know I'm using a smaller fabric ct (I'm using 28ct and I think she was using like 12 or 14ct), but that's the only difference I know of, and that usually doesn't make something more difficult if it's what you're used to (12 or 14 would make it more difficult for me, but for someone else, 28ct might be harder). If I focused steadily on this, I think I could finish it in a couple of months (but obviously I'm not going to do that) and the chart is VERY easy to follow. I'm a bit confused now on what the difficulty was. I'm starting to wonder if I got the wrong pattern or something. Oh well, again, I'm not going to complain about it. It was an older Reddit post and since I don't have an account, I could only follow the string so far down before it blocked me anyway.</p>
<p>The other issue, one you can't see, is that in the actual pattern I printed off, J.K. Rowling's name is at the bottom of the books and looks like this (not the image you see above):</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53539580014/in/album-72177720313676011/" title="HP-USBC_000c"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539580014_2671ef1147_b.jpg" width="691" height="1024" alt="HP-USBC_000c"/></a>
<p>I got two patterns when I bought it and I didn't understand that one of them had her name at the bottom and one didn't (although the "unnamed" version should have been my first clue...I just figured it out when typing up this post, I can be pretty thick sometimes). I just printed one at random (which happened to be the one with her name). I've been trying to figure out how to stitch her name out this entire time and whether or not I should. Now, considering it's just one row of pages, it's an easy fix because I just need to print off that row instead of a whole new pattern. Easy fix or not, it's still a question of "should I?" because, despite the obvious reasons of her personal views (which I do NOT agree with), she is still the author of the books and these are her bookcovers, US versions or not and I like true representations of things. Like a lot of HP fans, I've chosen to give up on her and not the franchise, but I think this is kind of a special case. I'm not sure I feel comfortable with her name at the bottom of my project to be honest, true representation or not. So I'm at a weird cross roads. At least I have a choice now, so I think I might print the extra row and make the decision when I get there. Maybe things could change by then.</p>
<p>Next week will see if I've moved on to another or if I'm still in Harry Potter world (although technically, I do have two new HP projects in my new WIPs, so we'll see), so have a good week everyone and aim to misbehave!</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-44984284229619861782024-02-12T11:42:00.001-06:002024-02-12T12:20:01.285-06:00Best laid plans...<p>I barely stitched this week. Partly, because I wasn't in the mood, and partly because I was working on building my new scroll rods, a process I did NOT enjoy. I didn't plan the process out very well. I got the right amount of dowels (which was more of a case of not knowing which circumference to get, so I got a lot to try), but I didn't get enough of the side 1x2 boards (I only bought two), which ended up making five sets (not nearly enough for the number of dowel sets I had, but I also kept changing their length, hence the abnormal number), and the hanger bolts recommended in the video seemed really big to me, especially compared to the bolts in the scroll rods I usually buy that are built similarly (those are way smaller in diameter), but I don't know enough about measurements to figure out how to get a smaller size. She mentioned in the video that sometimes they split. I can see why (and I almost split one). I also didn't even come close to getting enough hanger bolts because I didn't account that I'd need two packs (there were two per pack) for each scroll rod frame (two for each dowel, two dowels per scroll rod frame). That meant that I also didn't have enough twisty knobs for the sides...it was an overall mess.</p>
<p>By Saturday, I had already built another Lowe's cart that was reaching up to the $100 mark for more supplies to finish the other rods. But then, I decided I needed to do a test first before I spent anymore money, so I took the scroll frame I made for Bookshelf, since it was the biggest, (only one of three that I had actually finished), put the fabric on it, and got the shock of my life...it wouldn't stay stable! The knobs wouldn't tighten, they just kept spinning (which washers might fix, but that meant yet another purchase that may, or may not, work), the fabric was super loose, and it was a wobbly mess! To say my frustration level was on high, is an understatement. I still don't know how the lady in the video made hers work, but here's mine. I took a picture of it on Sunday night after I calmed down a bit (and it's only part of it, the whole thing is 4' tall and I didn't feel like framing a photo properly by this point):</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53525145019/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53525145019_1a3979cb5b_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>Sleepy Hollow Mural is also long, but its frame is store bought has a stablizer bar at the top which keeps it from being wobbly (which it is without that stablizer bar, a fact I had actually forgotten). I do typically prefer the bought scroll rods that are built with bolts in the ends with knobs to tighten them to the side bars. I don't like the split rail things, although I do have some of those too. The bolted kind are a bit more expensive, but not like those Millennium frames or Omanik or any of those other fancy things that cost more than my entire stand (which is the most expensive cross stitch thing I have ever bought). Here it is, the extra bar screwed at the top (and a split rail behind it):</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53524828641/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53524828641_747f03a420_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>So I added more things to the Lowe's cart to built a stablizer bar for the longer projects, more hanger bolts, washers, more knobs and nuts, more 1x2's for more side bars, and then I realized that I basically almost had the same amount it would cost me for "real" scroll rods for all but the big two projects and I could just use my much dreaded Q-snaps for the two biggies. It's not ideal, but why spend more money to build more stuff (which I hated the entire process of) and there was still a chance it didn't work and I would end up buying the scroll rods anyway. It was the lesser of two evils and I had really had enough by that point. Like I've said, a woodworker I am NOT. So, off to Amazon I went, and bought everything I needed. Yes, I did spend more, but it was well worth it for the lack of trouble.</p>
<p>It's not better than those super-expensive frames that are strong enough to be 48" long and hold everything taunt, but it will do. Now, here comes another rant...when it comes to cross stitch accoutrements, needle minders are a big yes (I kind of think of them like Disney pins, collectible, but usually not that expensive, so it's something I can justify, especially since I can make them myself), but all the other stuff...expensive stands, francy frames, scissor fobs, and especially fancy project bags, nothing but decorator swag and all I can do without. If someone can sew and make their own project bags, then cool, but I can't sew. I'm a bobbin person, so I keep each project in their own bobbin box. I use paper patterns (along with apps), so bobbin boxes and paper also aren't that conducive to project bags. I also don't stitch on the go, or have a craft room to store everything in. I keep all my WIPs on a bookshelf behind my chair (a piece of which you can see above). The scroll-rodded projects in a clothes hamper on top, the bobbin boxes with the row of sheets I'm working on stack neatly on the next shelf, the shelf below that is the three-ringed bingers that hold each printed project in their entirety lined up (or, for the smaller ones, the zip plastic envelopes), and the bottom shelf is old lapstands (probably, soon to be the new WIPs). It's all tight and confined, but definitely no room for another container for project bags.</p>
<p>And just to add to that, same with those new chip system thread keepers, both the hanger kinds and the bobbin kinds...a whole set of those is about $250...I mean, seriously? I can buy 500 bobbins and five thread box for under $20 (and Michael's thread boxes come with 100 bobbins in each box, so that's 1000 bobbins). Then, you have to buy these foam inserts for those chip things to go into either an Ikea or another storage system (both of which ain't cheap either)...I live in a trailer. I ain't that rich and I don't have the room. I think, even if I won the lottery, I wouldn't own those things. It's a waste of space having the bobbins spread out like that like rings in a ring box. But to each his own, I guess and if you have the money, I guess you can spend it on whatever you want.
<p>I also think my issue with project bags is tied to my OCD...I like bobbin boxes because I have the entire project's thread in one area, all together, neat and clean. The thought of throwing a few bobbins in a bag separate from the set drives me insane. I wouldn't be able to do it. Plus, I just don't work that way. I won't know which direction I'm working in until I get there, and if I don't have the next color, I would go into panic mode. It's why I carry a 400lb purse around. I carry it all because you never know when you need it all. Irrational? Maybe. But it's how I'm built.</p>
<p>Now, having said all that, I did buy those cheap Amazon project bags so I have something to keep the larger Q-snap projects in. Hopefully, I don't end up with the issues I had with Sleepy Hollow because I left it in the Q-snaps all the time. I'm only going to be using them for Blue Marble and Bookshelf and neither one of their bobbin boxes is going to fit in the project bag since they are supersize bobbin boxes, but it is what it is. It's really just to keep the fabric safe. I also expect that the process of putting the projects in and out of the snaps is going to make me dread working on them. We'll see. I only have one grime guard (it's the purple thing hanging off my hamper above and yet another one of those luxury stitching items I don't see having dozens of), and I don't intend on buying another one, so it will have to be shared between the two.</p>
<p>Enough ranting, let me show you what little stitching I've done...oh yeah, but first, here is the coverage of 28ct Lugana that I meant to show you earlier...it's good coverage, but you can still see material underneath. Thanks again to Leonore and Sleepy Hollow for making me feel better about not switching Bookshelf to 25ct. Plus, after putting the 28ct Lugana magic count on the scroll rods to test it, it's awfully thin, so now I'm worried about it because this Lugana is way thicker. But here's Sleepy Hollow's coverage:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53525145054/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="Hollow034b"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53525145054_12cc92cfae_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Hollow034b"/></a>
<p>Here is where I left off last time:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53511087739/in/album-72157632862333706/" title="Hollow033"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53511087739_6922c2c1da_b.jpg" width="1024" height="225" alt="Hollow033"/></a>
<p>And I may regret it, but I stopped taking pictures all the way across, just to where I am, so that way the picture isn't so long and maybe you could see it a bit better, but it's still only two days of stitching since last time, so not much progress:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53525003573/in/album-72157632862333706/" title="Hollow035"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53525003573_7937146849_b.jpg" width="1024" height="368" alt="Hollow035"/></a>
<p>In the middle of Sunday, I also decided I was ready to move on from Sleepy Hollow, since I couldn't start one of the new ones (which was the plan and why I started building the new frames...I'm getting heated just writing this), so I went back to Night Wish since I barely got to work on her last time because of lapstand issues. I left off on her here back in November:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53358636801/in/album-72157660603117014/" title="NightWish057"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53358636801_779546b57a_b.jpg" width="1024" height="577" alt="NightWish057"/></a>
<p>And again, since this was barely a third of a day stitching, not much progress, plus, as irony would have it, I ended up back in the Petit Treasure Braid! I mean, seriously?</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53525003533/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="NightWish058"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53525003533_50efc60541_b.jpg" width="1024" height="577" alt="NightWish058"/></a>
<p>For some reason, everything I ordered from Amazon is not going to be here until next week some time, so I'll be lucky to get every new project started by the end of the month. I can probably start on Bookshelf and Blue Marble, since I have the Q-Snap now, but as it stands, the very thought of Q-Snaps makes me cringe. I would rather wait and start the others first. HUGE props to everyone who uses Q-Snaps and loves them!</p>
<p>I can say though, one good thing did come out of this whole disaster...the side bars I made for my scroll frames can be used with the dowels from my bought ones. For some reason, I have a TON of the dowels, but not enough sides. Now, that issue is fixed. And wingnuts (which I also bought some of because I didn't know which I would want, the knobs or nuts), will work just fine with the store bought dowels. I'm not sure about the knobs yet, but I kept them just in case. I haven't thrown anything else out yet (because I'm a pack-rat), but I probably should. I doubt I will have use for those dowel rods anymore, especially the ones with hanger bolts hanging out the ends.</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-53809151739759371782024-02-05T11:59:00.003-06:002024-02-05T11:59:51.285-06:00Not much luck on the stitching front<p>Turning Hook upside down actually worked pretty well...eventually. I learned (almost the hard way) that the direction in which you stitch is the same upside down. I made it across an entire row before I started to panic and question whether I needed to frog it all. My bottom stitches go ///// and my tops go \\\\\ (and I'm not too picky about which I go in first, top holes or bottom holes), but turns out, even upside down, they end up in the same direction! But what I did discover about three rows in was that I was one column short, and it was causing complications since I was working left to right (like I always do), but it's technically right to left upside down, so I was going from the far right edge to the area I had already worked, and I was meeting an area I was already up to and coming up short. It took me the three rows to figure it out. If I would have continued right side up, I'm not sure I would have figured it out if that final column stayed white all the way down. It was all pretty tedious work and I had trouble stitching last week because of a headache anyway, so I only went from here:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53500434863/in/album-72157692102257945/" title="Hook-016"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53500434863_768bd501b1_b.jpg" width="1024" height="625" alt="Hook-016"/></a>
<p>to here (with the extra column added) and I marked the page breaks to make it easier for me to figure out where to stop:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53511087759/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="Hook-018"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53511087759_9aa63c0db2_b.jpg" width="1024" height="634" alt="Hook-018"/></a>
<p>I can continue the white upside down, but I can't stitch the entire thing that way, it's too hard for me to figure out symbols, which was what I was afraid of. My brain doesn't work that way. And I had decided I'd better switch projects again because I was losing interest, so the only real project left in my WIPs (at least now) is HAED's Sleepy Hollow Mural by Lewis T. Johnson. I believe it's a retired pattern (which I guess means I have two retired HAED's in my WIPs). In case you don't remember it:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/7182160701/in/album-72157632862333706/" title="Sleepy Hollow Mural"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/7213/7182160701_4955e3aaa4.jpg" width="485" height="212" alt="Sleepy Hollow Mural"/></a>
<p>It was the first project I ever tried on Q-Snaps since it was so long, but I had a horrible time with them, so I put them on the longest scroll rods I had (the fabric is still folded at both ends because the rods aren't long enough...if I have enough dowels left, I may make a new set for this one too). I left off here back in May of 2020:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/49886962096/in/album-72157632862333706/" title="Hollow031"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49886962096_5dbf36a571_b.jpg" width="1024" height="211" alt="Hollow031"/></a>
<p>And again, it was a headache week, so I only managed two measly stitch days on it, although I did spend one night alone just reattaching it to the scroll rods because it was another one that had come loose (plus, I tried to straighten it up a bit, it is stretched crooked because of the Q-Snaps, so it's taped to the rods in a really weird way). It' also Lugana, so that may have been why the fabric couldn't hold up well against the Q-Snaps. I also replaced my <a href="about:invalid#zSoyz" target="_blank">Mad For Minders</a> Sleepy Stitch needle minder for one I made myself from a magnet I got from Plymouth, Mass:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53511087739/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="Hollow033"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53511087739_6922c2c1da_b.jpg" width="1024" height="225" alt="Hollow033"/></a>
<p>Two things about this one have been an eye-opener. I know it's Lugana and even though it's 28ct, I can see the fabric through the thread, so it squashes the idea of 25ct for good. I thought I had already killed the idea thanks to you guys (especially Leonore, thanks girl!), but it must have still had a breath or two left because I was finally able to nail the coffin lid closed. 25ct Lugana is NOT for me, it's official. If I can see the fabric on this, then 25ct would be even worse!</p>
<p>Secondly, it's not nearly as long as my new Bookshelf will be, but it is really horizontal, and I can already see that long horizontal projects are going to be a problem in this new K's Creation Stand. It won't hold it well. I already have a concrete block holding down the base, but I had to add one of the buckets of water that I got when our water was off on top of the block because it was still tipping over (all three water buckets were still sitting in my foyer). Even tightened, the entire arm still gives way under the weight of it when I turn it away, so it probably means I won't be able to keep the project in the stand when I'm not stitching on it. That's a pity. I'm a bit scared the weld is going to give if I keep it on it long-term. Once I get some bills paid down, I may just have to spring for a Lowery stand or maybe even an Omanik (just the thought makes me cringe!). Stitching is definitely a rich person's game!</p>
<p>Speaking of which, I had every intention of building my new scroll frames this weekend. I didn't. I watched TV and worked on my family tree. I definitely am a cyclic person when it comes to hobbies I think, but the frustration with the stand was keeping me away from it this weekend. Oh, and in case you're wondering how I'm going to build these scroll frames, this is the video I'm getting my inspiration from:</p>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nkw_CYCYIJg?si=NCb_0sSICWFjqKZP" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>I think I'm worried about the supplies. I bought what she recommended, but I think the hanger bolts are too big for the dowels, which means, if I replace them with a smaller size (and I'm not savy enough to know which way to go in bolt size to go smaller), then I also have to replace the knobs, so more purchases and more waiting for orders to come in. And, I'm not sure why I'm so scared of dealing with the drill. Granted, I don't have a fancy battery drill, it's an old plug-in kind, but it's not like I haven't built a ton of furniture in my day. I'm not a delicate flower, but it has been YEARS since I've even touched that drill...part of me is scared I'll put it out and it won't work and I'll have to buy one of those too! I'm more of a screwdriver kind of girl, but this project definitely calls for a drill. I think I've worked it up in my head to be more than it is, but I'm still watching long scroll frames on Amazon and part of me wonders if I wouldn't rather spend the money to buy one rather than deal with the stress of building one...money versus stress or the stress that spending the money will cause? It's a never-ending cycle.</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-90128693973191789092024-01-31T13:50:00.002-06:002024-01-31T13:55:28.305-06:00Back to a bit of stitching<p>I've had a bit of trouble focusing on stitching lately. I think it's because I have these new upcoming projects in my brain and I can't get them out. I went back to Faces of Faery 167 by Jasmine Becket-Griffith and, although the 32ct has been going good, I think it might be the color scheme. Her face is a bit...how can I put it nicely...ex-presidential? I'm not a fan. As with any HAED, you don't know what you're going to get until it's finished, but geez, is she orange-tinted! I left off here on her last time:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53480863300/in/album-72157662505108157/" title="Faces-010"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53480863300_8aa99da4a5_b.jpg" width="1024" height="494" alt="Faces-010"/></a>
<p>And, just a reminder, this is what she is supposed to look like, no orange to her on the original pic:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/30422386142/in/album-72157662505108157/" title="167-000"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/5468/30422386142_ec8d5b5715.jpg" width="485" height="482" alt="167-000"/></a>
<p>Since we aren't a fan of the orange-tinted bafoon in MY household, she's gotten a bit hard to stare at. And she just has these big eyelashes, which look more like black eyes right now, giving off a demon-vibe, so I decided to stop on her before I finished the row (and I was getting so close). This pic is a bit off, she is more orange than is showing up here. And, it's a little blown out of proportion, the whole project is only 11x11, so from a normal distance, she is super tiny.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53499197029/in/album-72157662505108157/" title="Faces-017"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53499197029_784c51935f_b.jpg" width="1024" height="482" alt="Faces-017"/></a>
<p>Once I can move down to the second row, I'm sure she will clear up a bit, but for now, I'm just not in the mood for reminders of things I don't want to think about (I get enough politics in the daily news). But there is one project that has been calling to me, although I'm not sure why. Tilton Craft's Captain Hook by Daniel Kordek. Since it's been so long, he's supposed to look like this:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/34171816300/in/album-72157692102257945/" title="Hook-000"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/4186/34171816300_97442bec77_z.jpg" width="640" height="640" alt="Hook-000"/></a>
<p>I have the entire set (there are four, Hook, Jefferson, Graham, and August, although, considering the names of the others, I'm not sure why this one isn't named Killian or, if you're going to call this one Captain Hook, call the others Mad Hatter, Huntsman, and Pinocchio). But alas, there are three more, so ultimately, I have to go through this process three more times. I LOVE these designs (although don't get me started on why there isn't a David/Prince Charming, I'd trade them all for one Charming!), but maybe they would have been better as prints rather than cross stitches. I'm still at the point though that I could start over though because of its issues (more on that in a sec), so I think that's why I'm so wishy-washy on it. If I have to do it three more times, I better pick the right process. I last stitched on this in May of 2020.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/49937851208/in/album-72157692102257945/" title="Hook-015"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49937851208_e8e34de27e_b.jpg" width="1024" height="629" alt="Hook-015"/></a>
<p>I did have to re-attach this one to the scroll rods because the tape on the E-Z Stitch velcro had melted on this one too like Maleficent. I just used the tape I used on projects in the 80's. It worked better than anything I've ever tried, so if it ain't broke, don't fix it (well, I fixed it, but you know what I mean). Besides, I cut the ends of the fabric off when I'm finished anyway (and it's folded behind when it's mounted, so it doesn't matter what holds it to the scroll rods, as long as it's held.</p>
<p>I'm not sure what was drawing me back to this one, other than to look at Killian's face (eventually). Why I thought I could stitch all that white background is beyond me. I probably should have stitched it on white fabric and skipped the background altogether. Last night, I almost gave up again as I sat there in my 4-6 hour stitch window and only stitched a little more than an hour. I piddled with supper, I played with the puppies. I measured fabric for the new projects. I looked at the scroll rods I had for the new projects to see how many I needed to make (basically, one for each really, so seven...I have plenty of dowels in my current stash, but not any extra side bars for some reason). I scoured Etsy for needle minders and pre-made scroll rods. I played games on my iPad. I checked Amazon for scroll rods too. I debated buying the side bars for the dowel rods I had that would fit the littler projects (in the end, I bought nothing from nowhere, proud of me for that). I've been watching Castle, a show I've never watched before, but I'm still not diggin' (and I'm in the middle of season 3, so it's safe to say I'm not gonna get into it, at least I can say I've seen it?). Last night, I actually paid attention (still ain't diggin' it). I did my Duolingo lesson. Basically, I probably would have stared at the wall to have kept from stitching this background. As you can see...suckage progress. I think about 350 stitches, maybe.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53500434863/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="Hook-016"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53500434863_768bd501b1_b.jpg" width="1024" height="625" alt="Hook-016"/></a>
<p>And I do love my swan needle minder. If you know, you know (and, ironically, it will work for the other three projects as well, although I probably won't use it for the others...well, maybe Graham?). I think I bought it from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/Kimsneedleminders" target="_blank">Kim's Needle Minders</a>...yep, just checked. I've only bought needle minders from a couple of stores, so it's not too hard to forget (or I just check my Etsy history). I'll try to remember to link my needle minders when I think about it. The rose on Faces came from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/GinasUniqueBoutique" target="_blank">Gina's Unique Boutique</a>, and I've bought a lot from her since. I'm not a big fan of the new way they kind of just print stuff on plastic or wood now, but oh well. Now that I can make my own, I'm not too worried about it. I did just buy a few more last week, but it's only because I feel like every needle minder needs to "match" each project. I'm annoying that way.</p>
<p>Hook is on a cheap scroll frame, another big issue, probably from Hobby Lobby. The side bars are WAY too long and I can barely get my hands up to the top where I need to stitch. It needs much shorter side bars. And, as per usual with the cheap ones, I can't really tighten the nuts good enough, so the fabric keeps going slack. But I've got nothing else to put it on without buying something else (and I can't do that right now and I could never afford those Millennium frames or even their cheaper counterparts, those are way out of my league). I guess I could get new screws for the nuts with actual heads like phillips or flat than can be tightened with a screwdriver, instead of those flat bolts that just spin when the nut gets to a certain point. That wouldn't be too expensive. Ugh. I just want to stitch, I don't want to do woodworking! But if I want scroll frames that hold, I guess I have to make my own, hence...woodworking. I've actually got half a mind to put this in a Q-Snap and I HATE those things! Or, maybe I could try to turn it upside down and stitch it that way, but I'm not sure my brain could reconcile stitching upside down or backwards. I could always try. At least where I'm stitching (right now, the upper right-hand corner), would be closer to me in the lower left. Yeah, that's the plan to try for tonight, wonder how long that will last?</p>
<p>If I could restart it and decided to continue to stitch the background, I might try to do it on a gray fabric instead of oatmeal. A lot of these colors are beige-y tan-y grays and they are hard to stitch on the oatmeal. And I might go to Lugana instead of Monaco, simply for all the reasons I praised Monaco for in my last post, the holes are too tight. With all this white thread, Lugana would be easier. And I'm also not sure 25ct wouldn't be a better choice with Anchor black. But then again, I might just be making excuses. It's a pretty picture, but will it be worth the hassle of the stitch? The further I go, the more I'm wasting my time if I'm going to end up "Suteki miserable" (my new catch phrase), although I'm not there yet, but I need to decide soon. In all fairness, the top part is going to be the most white-heavy, so if I can get past that, it should get easier.</p>
<p>And, I do actually have another Hook-themed project I could do instead of the Tilton, that would be far easier, and by easier, I mean, harder in that it's a black-stitched background instead of white (and there is no way I'm stitching on black fabric), it's much larger and far more detailed, but you get me, right? It's GeckoRouge's Amour et Vengeance by Dailen Ogden. I think it's a retired kit, but I managed to snag it back in the day. Yeah, that's what I need, another absolutely HUGE cross stitch WIP! I only bought the GR kit because I knew they were going to discontinue it and I couldn't decide whether or not I wanted it or not. I figured it was better to have it, even if I never stitched it, than regret not ever getting it. I love GeckoRouge's kit's, but they are way out of my price range sometimes. I would love to do one of their maps, but I can't spend $1000-$2000 on one single kit! I could kit up 10-20 projects for that! But anyway, here's Amour:</p>.
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/49757798953/in/album-72157672079848414/" title="Amour et Vengeance_000a"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49757798953_3a40713efd_b.jpg" width="667" height="1024" alt="Amour et Vengeance_000a"/></a>
<p>I do prefer the design of the Tilton to the Gecko, but ultimately, it comes down to the "Suteki miserable" of it all. I'm gonna stitch on Hook this week and see how I feel then. I may stitch all the white, or work on the other colors to break it up (there are still quite a few other colors in there I haven't done yet, all shades of gray). I probably should have cut down the top and sides a ten-block or two. It could have helped. Hindsight. I have never been good at altering patterns though. I've always been a pattern follower to the letter or else I feel like I'm cheating. My moral code is very weird...I'm an Adam Ant song...anyone old enough to get that reference? Yeah definitely something inside. And, in a weird sort of way, Once's Hook reminds me of Adam Ant....although, again, I'd much prefer...Prince Charming, Prince Charming...yeah, I'll stop now.</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-18585967953651439342024-01-29T13:02:00.001-06:002024-01-29T13:02:54.446-06:00Have I been watching too much FlossTube?<p>I'm so sorry about my last post guys...I guess I wasn't very clear, I said my ADHD was bad that day! Maybe I got too "FlossTubey" with my terminology? Let me try again and hit the highlights with a clearer brain. I was trying to say that I'm worried that if I stitch the supersize max color Bookshelf on my usual 28ct fabric, it's at a risk of being too thick. 28ct is already pretty tight (which is why I like it, full coverage with no fabric see through), but when it comes to confetti-heavy projects and a lot of color changes, the back just becomes a jumble of thread mush (aka "carpet"). There were times I couldn't even get the needle through Suteki without the use of a pair of little pliers. Yes, I was knotting my thread back then, but I don't think even stopping that practice on Bookshelf will help much since the Bookshelf has three to four times the number of colors in it and there are no solid patches of color blocks, just a virtual pixelated mess (that will look like a million bucks when finished and my most challenging project to date). I just don't want to have to restart it after a few pages, so I was questioning whether I should just buy new supplies now for 25ct, before I officially start.</p>
<p>As far as pitching out Monaco vs Lugana, those are just fabric types. Monaco, like Aida, is made with 100% cotton (as is Hardanger). Aida and Hardanger are just more stiff and Monaco feels like Linen or other evenweaves. I'm from Arkansas, we should be called the cotton state considering how much of it is grown here (but it is called the Natural State, so there you go). The Monaco has smaller holes because there is more fabric (cotton is thick unless blended with a lighter fabric), which is very noticeable at the 28ct level. You don't notice it at the hole size of Aida because the fabric can be woven tighter (hence it's stiffness instead, more fabric in a less confined space). Lugana is a blend, a little over 50% cotton and the rest is viscose, a material made from wood pulp (something like that tends to stick in your brain, or at least mine). I find that Lugana tends to tear between the stitches if you're not careful, probably because the holes are bigger and the fabric weave is thinner. Fabrics like Jazlyn and Jobelan (the only other two I've personally tried) are mixes of 50+% cotton and the rest is rayon. I don't like the feel of rayon myself, it feels slimy to me. There are obviously many other types of fabric, with many different blends, but all around the 30-50+% cotton range plus something else.</p>
<p>Back in the day, I didn't even consider stitching A Walk In The Highlands on Aida. It would have been too big and I didn't have the wall space for it. Plus, after that Teresa Wentzler, I liked the idea of a fabric with a count that I could stitch 1x1, so I started experimenting to the largest count that I could still see (with the aid of reading glasses, of course). HAED always recommends 25ct (as does a lot of other companies), but I didn't like 25ct coverage because too much of the fabric showed through (and my recent test proved that to still be the case, but I've since learned there are ways around even that, like with black you can use Anchor instead of DMC thread because it's thicker). After my initial experiments, Monaco just worked best for me and I haven't really try much else (other than a brief stint with Linen, but I don't feel the need to go there ever again!). Monaco will always be my fabric of choice, although most of the fabric I bought for the new projects was Lugana, mainly due to the pre-gridded stuff. I can't imagine life without gridding now, so knowing I don't actually have to ink in the grid is pretty nice (unless it confuses me more, time will tell). I know higher counts aren't for everyone and the worse my vision gets, the more I might have to rethink it myself, but right now, fabric types are more a concern. My Snow White project? The fabric I've always hated so much? Lugana. I think I was more resigned to it this last time because I've gotten more used to it after a couple of other projects.</p>
<p>Everyone who does these bookshelves typically does tent stitch (which I just can't bring myself to do) and also uses a 25ct or an even lower count (there are actually people doing them on Aida, which blows my brain). And I've seen a few who stitch on 28ct, but do it 2x2, so they are basically stitching it 14ct, but hey, everyone has their own process, it's just not MY process. On 28ct 1x1, it will be almost 36" wide...that's 3ft wide. It would change with other size counts. I can do a bit of a breakdown for fun (assuming all these are over 1, but obviously thread counts would change per size, 14ct might need 3x1, I haven't worked with 14ct for YEARS):</p>
<p>14ct.....71 3/8 x 51" that's longer than my living room!</p>
<p>18ct.....55 1/2" x 39 5/8"</p>
<p>25ct.....40" x 28 1x2"</p>
<p>28ct.....35 5/8" x 25 1/2"</p>
<p>32ct.....31 1/4 x 22 3/8" as of now I can still do, but if I'm worried about tightness on 28ct, 32 would be worse</p>
<p>40ct.....25 x 17 7/8" that sounds WAY more manageable, but my eyesight is too bad for that</p>
<p>A lot of it is about the just looking more like a painting if the stitch count is higher, but for me, I also have major space issues in my house (which some of you are aware of), and I really don't have the room for a 3ft wide project, let alone something 71" wide, so given the lesser of the two evils, I'm going with the 36" over 71". If I change the fabric from 28ct to 25ct, that will only change the stitch size up to 40" (still really too big for my house, but oh well). Because of the added border size on the 40" though, it would go end to end on a 48" dowel rod, so I would need to order the next size up (which is 72") and cut them down with a saw, hence the worry about all the woodworking in the house. If I stick with the 28ct fabric, the 48" dowel rods will work fine.</p>
<p>But speaking of eyesight...I just got a bill from the eye doctor for my contacts last year (I thought I had already paid it, but apparently I hadn't) and it was $540 with the possibility of more if insurance doesn't cover the visit. Why they are just now billing me for an August visit is beyond me (I swear I paid for the visit though and I tried to call them, but they are apparently closed on Fridays and I'm just not hitting them right today, too early this morning and I've hit their lunch hour so far today). Point of that story...my previous, ununderstandable question of changing out fabric? Moot. Not that I could before, but now I definitely can't afford to spend another $120 on cross stitch supplies to switch to the 25ct now, even if it's best, given the new eye doctor bill. Fate has a way of sticking it to me, usually in a very brutal manner. This is her way of saying I made the right fabric choice, by slapping me with another medical bill, when she just could have made me write an easily understandable blog post!</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-47717124616893015832024-01-22T14:17:00.002-06:002024-01-22T14:21:57.749-06:00I'm stumped and second guessing myself<p>I don't regret UFO'ing Suteki, I hated that project. But I can't stop thinking about it, athough not for the reasons you might think. It was confetti heavy and it was like stitching through carpet because of the color changes. Granted, it was during a time when I knotted the ends of my thread (I can be lazy that way sometimes and I still do it upon occasion, although I try to waste knot it at the front now). I was stitching her 1x1 on 28 ct Monaco (my fabric of choice). And I am a cross country stitcher by nature, which also doesn't help with heavily confetti'ed projects. I debated parking, but I'm just not built for those hanging threads.</p>
<p>The reason for the sudden obsession? The Aimee Stewart supersize max color Bookshelf that will be one of my new starts. It's going to be Suteki on steroids (and I have no plans to use any kind of knot, I can loop method one strand, I just don't like to, it takes too long). Back in the day when I did my first HAED and decided that 28ct was for me, I did try 25ct, but I didn't like the coverage for 1x1 (I have never been a fan of 2x1 and I'm still not...there's a story behind that too, of course). So, I've lived happily ever after in 28ct land 1x1 with the occasional foray back to 18ct 2x1, but I always complain about it while I'm doing it, even if I picked it for a reason (usually because 28ct is too small for the project or the design is too simple for the smaller fabric count). I watch FlossTubers who do 25ct 1x1 and their coverage looks fine, but I'm not seeing it close up. They are usually showing wide views (or they are stitching 2x1 tent, and I've already decided I'm not doing tent).<p>
<p>I need to interrupt this mini-panic moment for storytime. This week, I did everything I could to avoid Everest, although the why is a mystery. Maybe it was almost two weeks without stitching and I needed to retrain myself to the discipline of it all? I'm not sure. But I decided it might be better to change projects again because I literally put in 6 hours in a week (two actual days of stitching) and that's just horrible! It was here last week (which might seem sooner because last week's post was a bit late):</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53470007443/in/album-72157662505091857/" title="Everest008"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53470007443_021da2859c_b.jpg" width="1024" height="385" alt="Everest008"/></a>
<p>I was just so sick of all the blue! Blue in the sky, blue in the mountain, blue, blue, blue! Believe it or not, there are three colors of blue in that top part of the sky...you can't even tell! Even when I could get a brown or a purple in, it was for a brief amount of time, then back to the blue. No page finish, no real progress.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53480455391/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="Everest011"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53480455391_459063cf7b_b.jpg" width="1024" height="374" alt="Everest011"/></a>
<p>As my ADHD kept getting worse...back to my original thought. I started noticing the coverage on Everest (which is 28ct Monaco 1x1). It's a good coverage, exactly how I like it...here's a close up (and ignore my crappy stitching):</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53480455411/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53480455411_52534997a6_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>It's not too thick, there is no "carpeting", it's just the right amount of coverage, knotted back and all. Where you can see fabric poking through, once it's washed, those will disappear. But, I do actually have some 25ct chillin' in my fabric stash, it came with my Dollmaker kit from GeckoRouge (I just switched out her fabric for 28ct). So I got the bright idea to stitch up a block of different colors to see how bad it actually is (keep in mind, I did this test once back in 2010, but I figured maybe my tastes have changed or maybe my memory was skewing my view of the situation). I was using thread from Everest's stash which, ironically, is almost entirely made up of the knock-off thread I cleared out of my stash a few weeks ago. If it's faded, I can't really tell because it's all the same, but by golly does it shread really fast! I have to cut the strands very short or it will just tear apart after about 2/3 through. But anyway, here's my mock-up block on 25ct 1x1 (with a tiny little BamBam hair right there staring back, I thought about retaking the pic when I saw it, but it made me smile, so I left it in):</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53480455381/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53480455381_337d2f7848_b.jpg" width="924" height="1024" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>It's pretty much the same as I remember, pretty good with the lighter colors, but crap with the darker ones, especially the black. I should also add here that the 28ct of Everest is Monaco and the 25ct test is Lugana. In my experience, the holes in Lugana are bigger. Monaco is harder to get nowadays (and it's pretty much exclusively 28ct anyway) and the Easy Guide fabric I bought for the Bookshelf only comes in Lugana (even though it comes in various sizes, I bought it in 28ct for Bookshelf), so the holes will be bigger (which may negate this issue altogether and I'm, as per usual, getting bent out of shape for nothing). If I re-buy it in 25ct, I could go with Anchor black to solve the coverage issue, but it does create a couple more issues. First and foremost, it means I'm spending more money on a large fabric that isn't cheap (and more floss...21 skeins of Anchor black). I also couldn't get dowel rods longer than 48" locally for the new scroll rods I'm gonna make, which is fine for 28ct, but the fabric would need to be exactly 48" wide for 25ct, which makes them too short if I want a bit of hang-over of the rods, so I'd also have to order new dowel rods (and the next size up is 72"). Drilling in the house is one thing, but sawing too? I don't have an outdoor space to work in (let alone it's been 20 or below for two weeks now, with no change in that for the forseeable future) and I don't have an adequate vacuum to clean up sawdust. I am certainly not buying a new vacuum too!</p>
<p>I still have time before my February 29th start date to change all this out to 25ct, but the window is shrinking. I don't want to start on the 28ct and regret it because it turns to carpet, but I also don't want to rebuy it all for the 25ct and regret that as well if the coverage sucks. There is one FlossTuber I watch who starts big projects over and over again for various reasons (usually due to fabric and coverage) and I couldn't imagine doing that. I did it once with my Highlander Girl because it was my first full coverage and I didn't understand stitch lines if you stitched certain ways and it was pretty traumatic knowing I had to give up all that work (and it wasn't even a full page yet, let alone pages and pages of work like that FlossTuber does). I'm just not built that way nor do I have enough life left for that. She's young.<p>
<p>As for now, I'm trying to control my spending and trust my instinct to go with the 28ct. I have almost all of the bookshelf patterns (not quite all, but most of them), so if I do more than one, they will all need to be on the same fabric. Whichever one I pick first, needs to be the right one. I can't change later. Like the DoNa's, 18ct opalescent, each and every one. Someday, I will have a real house to hang the in, and they need to match. I am nothing if not a matchy-matchy kind of person.</p>
<p>But back to storytime (yes, the ADHD is strong), I did have to switch projects to keep myself stitching, so I did that on Sunday. I switched to Faces of Faery 167, a HAED by Jasmine Becket-Griffith. She's actually on 32ct 1x1 (a little experiment I'm still on the fence about). She's small, she'll only be 11x11 when she's finished. I have several other of the Faces series, so I'm not sure if I'll continue them on 32ct to keep the size consistent, or go back to 28. I'm not as strict on size for these as I am for some other projects. The bookshelves and the DoNa's are all the same size, the Faces vary. That helps with the decision. Plus, to be honest, in five years, I might not be able to stitch on 32ct as my eyesight gets worse than it already is. It's actually not that much smaller than 28ct, but it is smaller. And again, it's the "old" charting way for HAED, so there is no dithering, which means it's not "carpeting" up at all and that also helps with seeing it easily (some of the newer ones are dithered, which will make it harder to see as well, no chunks of continuous color). I left off on her here back in June of 2020:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/50034097091/in/album-72157662505108157/" title="Faces-009"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50034097091_2262ecbdf6_b.jpg" width="1024" height="398" alt="Faces-009"/></a>
<p>I had trouble focusing Sunday, but I got a chunk done (although it's not my usual chunk and it just looks like more because she's so small). And, for the entire day, I only stitched 6 hours. That seems to be my new magical number. It's even hard to see what I got done on her because of the light colors and it was basically just fill in. Maybe I need to start on her face this week so next week you can see the progress as well:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53480863300/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="Faces-010"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53480863300_8aa99da4a5_b.jpg" width="1024" height="494" alt="Faces-010"/></a>
<p>As a bonus, the reason why I hate 2x1? I started stitching young, but they were young kids tiny kits. Teddy bears mainly. Back in those days, kits were all we had. I am older than the internet, remember? My first "real" kit was a Teresa Wentzler...yeah. I was 12! I had NO idea what I was in for. I don't know if any of you have done one of her projects, but tons of blended threads, half stitches, back stitches, french knots. I was WAY out of my depth. I was a one WIP pony at that point, and that kit took me through high school graduation, college, numerous jobs, marriage and separation before I finished it (although I would sometimes put it down for years and I apparently signed off on it with my married initials, so I wasn't quite divorced yet). This is a horrible picture of it and I think I've rematted it since, so I probably need to rephotograph it, but here it is:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/6135669824/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="DSC02546"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/6083/6135669824_e19c46065f_b.jpg" width="843" height="1024" alt="DSC02546"/></a>
<p>There is a stain up by the dragon's neck that I never could get off. I have no clue what it was. I spilled tea on it at some point and half the fabric is "tea dyed" (or so I claim it when someone asks). It's supposed to be white Aida (I think 18ct, yet another reason to hate it). Ironically enough, I do have another Wentzler kit in my stash. I started it many many years ago (I was in my 20s), but I made a mistake and put it down. Haven't touched it since. It's 28ct, but it's 2x2 with some 1x1. I've never been good with 2x2 on a higher fabric, let alone mixing the two. I already intimidated myself enough by my initial experience, so between the mistake and the future issues this project could throw up, I've gotten too scared to touch it again. This one makes the other one look like child's play (what I would consider a Chatelaine on steroids with a dose of heroin). I started in the middle on it (which is what I used to do back in the day), but it all needs to be frogged before I even think about restarting this (which I can't imagine doing again unless I go crazy or something or someone offers me a million dollars to do it, and even then I might ask for 10 million). If this were a full coverage HAED, I'd be all over it in no time! This is it:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/14076159186/in/album-72157672079848414/" title="Lady of Shalott"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/5160/14076159186_55b5e7d6ac_b.jpg" width="789" height="1024" alt="Lady of Shalott"/></a>
<p>I had actually given away a bunch of kits to a co-worker at one point and panicked. I did the unthinkable and asked for some of them back, this being one of them. I'm still not sure why. I've never been good with letting go of things, but those of you who have been around for a long time, know the reasons behind that. It was a horrible thing to do, I'm aware of that, but I just couldn't help myself. I really shouldn't act on rash decisions! If I were smart, I'd sell the Disney Kinkade kits rotting away in my stash. I'm NEVER gonna stitch them, the detail is horrible and they have all those specialty stitches I hate, I was only buying them as "collectibles", and I never got Rapunzel (the last one before the company went belly-up). They go for several hundred on eBay now. I could get several thousand for the whole set. But, as with everything else, I can't part with them. That's for dealing with after I'm dead I guess.</p>
<p>So, I guess that's it for this week. This wasn't supposed to be a long post, but none of them ever are! I'm just a very verbose person in writing. I really should write a book someday! I'm more of a storyteller than a speaker or a "quippy" person. If you guys have any first-hand experience with those bookshelves or 28ct vs 25ct, let me know (but I know most of you guys don't work on those types of projects). I do so prefer the one-on-one relationships we have here versus what happens on YouTube. I still hate commenting over there. And I'm on Instagram, but I'm bad about posting a pic and forgetting it. I rarely respond to comments because I have notifications turned off (I have notifications on almost all apps turned off, I hate my phone pinging every two seconds), and I don't catch them until the next time I post a pic, which might be in a couple of weeks. I'm just not good with social media.</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-66128110934901552842024-01-17T12:08:00.000-06:002024-01-17T12:08:23.966-06:00Unavoidable Distractions<p>I've been busy with stitch stuff the past week or so, just not stitching per se. I did switch off Alice and the B's because it was turning into "work". It must have been all that Petit Treasure Braid. For some reason, Everest by Addict To Cross Stitch from Etsy was calling to me (I'm not even sure if they are still a shop, I've had this pattern forever). I had barely started this back in 2020 and haven't stitched on it since 2021. Since it's been so long, and I'm not very far, here is what the design is supposed to look like:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/33840048506/in/album-72157662505091857/" title="Everest-000"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/3840/33840048506_46072ba341_b.jpg" width="1024" height="816" alt="Everest-000"/></a>
<p>Granted, despite the animated nature of the picture, it is a real bridge in Animal Kingdom in Disney World, although, with all the changes, I'm not sure if it's even still there now. It was one of my favorite places to get away from all the traffic of the park because not a lot of people would usually go back in that corner. Whether it's still there or not though, I still love the design, so I decided not to give up on it. I left off here back in Feb of 2021:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/50956626948/in/album-72157662505091857/" title="Everest007"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50956626948_5a63594de7_b.jpg" width="1024" height="377" alt="Everest007"/></a>
<p>And I had only stitched one night before I ended up with a super-migraine that lasted almost a week:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53470007443/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="Everest008"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53470007443_021da2859c_b.jpg" width="1024" height="385" alt="Everest008"/></a>
<p>Instead, for the days I could, I started winding bobbins for my new starts that will be coming (I've decided to start them on Feb 29th, since this is a Leap Year, it will be interesting to see how far I will be by next Leap Year, maybe I'll have more than one of them finished in four years, who knows!). It's taken me well over a week, but all the projects are bound up:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53470007388/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53470007388_59ea14dd32_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>The bottom one there is a two-sided bobbin box, that's where my super-sized/max-color one lives now. That container was originally bought to help expand my thread collection (I keep my spare threads in those boxes and the three I had were running over, so I bought the fourth, but by the time I cleaned them out, I'm at two and a half now, so this one was a spare again). The one above that was the original box I got for that project, but I very quickly realized it wouldn't fit. When I got to Blue Marble, I realized it wouldn't fit in a regular bobbin box, so it all worked out. Also, there were so many of the little paper thingees from the skeins, it half-filled a small trash can:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53470007398/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53470007398_5c3885d354_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>I also learned a valuable lesson, when ordering thread for projects, only order thread for one project at a time. The two I ordered on their own was perfect...no extra thread, no missing thread. The order I made for five projects was missing thread and, for some weird reason, I ordered 42 skeins of 208...I only needed two! Granted, 123 Stitch's ordering system is a bit weird and you have to be careful how you click on the numbers, if you hover too long the number goes up exponentially (and, if you don't click off, it will drop down to zero), so that must have been what I did, I forgot to click off and just ran 208 up to 42. I just chalked it up to the question of life (if you know, you know), and wound those too:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53470282940/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53470282940_86afa95390_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>I'm sure they will come in handy someday, although it's not MY color of purple (I prefer a more blue-purple). I still have to go to Michaels and get the missing thread I didn't order properly, but it's only like maybe 8 skeins or so. And here is a better picture of my DMC "trash" for comparison (shame those aren't recyclable, but boy, I need to run that trash can through the dishwasher, sheesh!):</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53469863501/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53469863501_f880123f62_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>As another side project, I had gotten myself a magnetic board for my needle minders to get them off the fridge (since the fridge was already covered in Disney magnets) and the new board was looking pretty sparse with my 8-10 needle minders, so I went around the house, pulling out my spare (or duplicate) Disney pins, old buttons, duplicate magnets, duplicate keychains, even seashells I thought might work, and made myself enough needle minders to fill the board! I did have to order some new magnets for all the bits I found, but with a headache that wouldn't go away and all the bobbin winding, I was busy enough until they arrived. Anything Harry Potter, Outlander, Supernatural, Marvel or the pave Disney stuff are basically the bought ones I think, maybe a couple of other ones...I probably should have taken the bought ones off the board and just taken a picture of the ones I made. Oh, and for the record, the one on Everest is one I made a long time ago from an old Disney pin.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53470007458/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53470007458_fc12f05cfa_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>I do still have to make my scroll rods, but that's for another week or something. I might have to watch another YouTube video on making those before I attempt it. I still have some time before Leap Day and I'm ready to get back to stitching before I lose my bug again.</p>
<p>I had a day where I left work after just 30 minutes when the migraine just got to be too much. In hindsight though, I'm not sure how much of it was headache, and how much of it was a panic attack...there was a lot of extraneous noise in the office, I was in a lot of pain, and I just really wanted to be home and not there, so I was already hyper-sensitive. I've worked through worse headaches. When I went to the office manager and told her I was going home, I was met with a bit of resistence, and I just kind of freaked even more and I just left (they weren't going to stop me, but I could tell they didn't want me to go). But once I got home, even the headache eased, so I'm thinking it was more panic attack and I probably could have suffered through the pain if not for the attack, but I have sick days, so why? If pressured (which I won't be), I'll call it a mental health day instead of a sick day, although we don't get those here, it is Arkansas after all.</p>
<p>We (surprisingly) got a fair bit of snow this week, not ice, but actual snow! It has been below 20 degrees here for over a week (and that will continue for another week, as well as below 10 at night with a wind chill in the negatives). At least I got to work from home for a whole day. We did get more than this, but it was just got too cold to open the door later, so this is the best I got.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53470404005/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Snow"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53470404005_30c1abeefb_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Snow"/></a>
<p>I do live in a trailer, so we have to be extra careful about pipes freezing, although, in the South, we all have to worry about this because our houses aren't really built for cold weather. For me, every water cabinet door has to be open, every tap has to be running...it's super wasteful in my opinion, but at least I don't have to pay the water bill, that's on the park (although I do pay my gas and electric). On Sunday, the water went off completely. The park "claimed" the main water froze (which, in 28 years of living there, that has NEVER happened, even with colder weather and harsher weather conditions). Even though that put my own pipes in greater danger, there was nothing I could do. I typically don't buy bottled water because I don't like the taste of water from plastic bottles (so, of course I had no spare water other than what was in the Brita in the fridge). I only drink tea (made from tap water), so I had some of that in the fridge, but I don't drink sodas or anything else, so no other fluids. We were pretty SOL on the liquid situation. I drove up to the lab and filled what large containers I had (and a few water containers from my office), so at least I had water for the pups and to boil and bathe with (and believe you-me, they weren't that big, but it was a desperate situation at that point).</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53470182819/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53470182819_4aa9fe9609_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>Then, a strange pattern started emerging, about Monday night, the park water would come on, but only between 7a-10a and 7p-10p. After initially calling the trailer park the second the water went off and seriously questioning her explanation initially (she sounded like she wasn't telling the truth), it didn't take me long to figure out that they had probably (allegedly) turned off the water on purpose. They have more rentals out there now than owners, so they were probably (allegedly) protecting their own properties from freezing up. I'm hoping it was just a coincidence that the water was freezing and unfreezing at "scheduled" times, but even I'm not that stupid. The water is officially back on full time now, although the pressure is leaving something to be desired. It's probably the same as what it's like to take a shower in an RV. But I'm not complaining, a shower is a shower and, when you haven't had one in several days, you are grateful for whatever you can get!</p>
<p>And, to add to the "fun", we are expecting our typical ice tomorrow. The amounts keep varying, so I'm not quite sure yet if it's enough to keep me working from home yet. I'm far less stressed when I do that and, probably, far more, regimented. I sit at my desk at home, I don't listen to any podcasts or music, which I have to have, at minimum, at least earbuds in at work (even with nothing playing) to tune out the noise of the office because even people's voices can be upsetting sometimes, and I just work. Certainly no TV or other distractions (maybe a puppy snuggle or two, but that's it). I even tried to listen to a podcast Monday and I had to shut it off almost immediately because it was too distracting at home. I almost work like there is a hidden camera on me at home, whereas at work, I'm horrible about distractions and probably am way more lackadaisical than I should be, without fear of consequences (although I should have, I'm almost daring them sometimes to do something...maybe it's my ODD). I managed to get caught up on everything I got behind on last week at work with my headache, on Monday, it was great! But now that I'm back in the office, I'm stressed again and the headache is coming back.</p>
<p>But tonight, I say I'm going back to stitching, although, as I have been winding bobbins, I have been glancing back over to Everest, and I'm thinking I might want to change to something else. It might be because I'm in the boring sky and it's just not fun. I keep trying to remind myself that I have to get through the boring sky to get to the "good stuff", but it's a LONG way to the duck. I'm not sure if there are mice ears in this top row or not. It's a long project, but I'm not sure how tall it is (it is horizontal, so definitely not as tall as wide). The mock picture doesn't make it look very big, but even on 28ct, it's almost as wide as Alice and the B's. Maybe halfway between Alice and Maleficient. And the dithered nature of the pattern is also a bit of a bore, especially in the sky (although it looks great in the wall). Time will tell though. It's the first I've stitched from this company and, like I said, I'm not sure if they are still in business, or even if I have more of their patterns (I think I do), but so far, so good!</p>
<p>And that's this week's update...for a week of no stitching, I had a ton of stitching-related updates I think! I wound probably several hundred bobbins, sorted seven new projects, and made quite a few new needle minders, all with a migraine that ranged from severe to mild, so I think I did pretty well!</p>
Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-78636649151869208962024-01-08T17:39:00.000-06:002024-01-08T17:39:01.702-06:00Still moving along<p>Not much new to report, still stitching along, although I did take a couple of days off stitching when I returned to work after vacation. As per usual, fate decided she was going to kick me in the teeth, and I literally have been knocked off my feet every single day since. Eventually though, I accepted it, and just started stitching again, shutting my brain down to it all, even though I'm not stitching as much as I was, some days, barely getting in a thousand stitches a day.</p>
<p>I left off on Alice and the B's here last week:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53438017026/in/album-72157649761187896/" title="Alice184"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53438017026_38c2602745_b.jpg" width="1024" height="351" alt="Alice184"/></a>
<p>And, although I did get Cinderella's side finished up and started moving on to Alice's face, once I hit that Kreinik, I got stuck and spent almost all this weekend on nothing but. I do use Petit Treasure Braid instead, but all in all, it's the same stuff and it's a pain sometimes. I'm glad HAED doesn't really chart with it anymore, or at least not on the patterns I've bought in the last year or so. On some charts it looks good, but on this one, the coloring is so off anyway (I mean, look at their skin color, it's nothing like the original print, they look zombie green and you can't tell the difference between Cindy's shirt and her chest because it's all the same colors, it's NOT supposed to be according to the original artwork). The shiny thread is just an eyesore, but first, where I got to:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53451550985/in/album-72157649761187896/" title="Alice189"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53451550985_dea2a37e22_b.jpg" width="1024" height="350" alt="Alice189"/></a>
<p>And, as hard as it is to photograph, especially with a phone, here is the Petit Treasure Braid, as best as I can show it:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53451259193/in/album-72157649761187896/" title="Alice189b"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53451259193_5097940682_b.jpg" width="1024" height="669" alt="Alice189b"/></a>
<p>There was more of it than just Alice's face, there was also some on Cindy, but not much more and not enough to single out. It was basically just that patch that took me all weekend, although along with the other stitching I did across the piece, it was still around 2000 stitches total for the weekend (which is about a third of my normal weekend stitching). I didn't count for the whole week, but it was way down, I'm sure of it.</p>
<p>On the coloring issue, I've talked about this in the past (probably ad nauseum), but I'm REALLY hoping it all works out in the end. HAED's are like that sometimes. Considering the size of this piece (it's the largest HAED I've done to date, although the bookshelf will outmatch it in spades once I start it, it's just hard to tell how big it is from these pictures), I won't say it will be a total waste of time and effort if they look like zombies (which, they aren't meant to), but I will be disappointed, especially after all these years of working on them.</p>
<p>I did have to stop watching FlossTube, because I ended up with more patterns, not all of which I'm going to show you (there are too many), but I got some more Vivsters patterns and seriously thought about starting this one as well, Quaker Tiles, Scotland (I may have shown this to you already, I got it in the first batch of Visters), but I would want to do it with silk thread, and the thread alone was yet another $100, and I'm just NOT going to do it!</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53414759905/in/album-72157672086470633/" title="Screenshot 2023-12-22 at 11.01.10 AM"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53414759905_19656ce239_b.jpg" width="1024" height="641" alt="Screenshot 2023-12-22 at 11.01.10 AM"/></a>
<p>And, when I was looking for something else entirely, I ran across this one by Modern Cross Stitch for A Discovery of Witches, another one of my favorite shows, which I had also read the book series (I actually read them first, a rare occurrence for me, normally a show gets me to reading nowadays). I do want to start this one as well, but I think I can wait for now...for now. So many easter eggs in this! Love it!</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53443164979/in/album-72157672086470633/" title="A Discovery of Witches_000a"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53443164979_1192f7a475_b.jpg" width="1024" height="514" alt="A Discovery of Witches_000a"/></a>
<p>So, I just went back to watching A Discovery of Witches instead of YouTube this weekend (and easy weekend show because it's British, so short seasons, and only there is only three of them because three books, well, four books, but the fourth book is something else). I do think it slowed me down because I wanted to watch the show more than stitch, so there is that and that's something I need to consider going forward...because I do spend the majority of my time on YouTube anyway, but when I started stitching again, I found it easier to drop in Supernatural because I have seen that show so many times, it was easier to just have background noise that something I needed to pay attention to. Shows like Once or S.H.I.E.L.D., I'm gonna wanna pay attention to, even though I've seen them hundreds of times a piece. I guess I need an "OK to watch" pile and a "nope, distraction" pile. I can only deal with the family business of saving people and hunting things, taking the hobbits to Isengard, and telling Harry he's a wizard, so many times before I start to get burnt out. I can deal with people reacting to any of my shows or movies on YouTube pretty easily, but not that many people watch Once or S.H.I.E.L.D. and no one watches ADoW (must be a copyright thing), and the ones that do watch the other shows, only put out content once a week or so. I watch people react to GoT all the time as well, I've probably watched reactors dozens of times versus two times I've seen the show all the way through. I think I prefer it that way. Just anything to keep me away from FlossTube or I'm never gonna get out of debt! I do have other channels I watch, and I have to keep up with those, but it's mainly weekly content, so I really only have to drop in once a week for a day to stay caught up.</p>
<p>And I have also been watching the new Percy Jackson on Disney+, another book I've actually read (the first one at least, but after the first movie came out). But that's a weekly thing and only 30 minutes per episode, so not much of a distraction. The verdicts not fully out though yet because I'm not seeing the reason for the remake. I LOVE both movies, but I haven't read the second book, so its flack I don't get (other than the bad CGI, which I can ignore). I don't get remakes, unless there is an important reason for it, and so far, I'm not seeing those reasons (and that includes live action versions of animated movies). I get making books into movies or shows, some people just don't read anymore and it gets more media out there. I'm a reader, although I don't do much of it anymore (but I still buy way too many books for my liking). There are some rare cases where I like movies better than the books (A Walk To Remember comes to mind, love the movie, hate the book), typically I prefer the book to the movie, but usually, I can separate them and like them in different ways. In the case of PJ, it's like 8-30 minute episodes, basically a 4 hour movie, so again, why remake it? If they were hour episodes, I'd get it then. I know there was a lot of flack over the diversity casting, but what's new in today's world? Most of the new actors are better than the original cast (except Logan Lerman, he's still Percy to me). I have seen shows or movies fail simply because people went nuts over the casting. If the actors are bad, no matter their race, it isn't going to work anyway (don't get me started on the TV adaptation of Vampire Academy again). Sometimes story needs to be tweaked if you change the ethnicity of an actor, sometimes it doesn't. PJ does well without changes, VA made too many changes and was unrecognizable to the books (and the bad acting was a huge factor as well). Eventually though, if Percy fairs well, we will get to see all the books on the screen, so maybe it's a good thing, jury's still out. I'm still snagged on the sameness of it all as it's very similar to the movie version.</p>
<p>The upcoming Harry Potter series? Only time will tell and that's a fanbase that is rabid and extremely militant. Jo Rowlings is a whole other ball of wax I don't want to touch with a 10ft pole. No one can replace Alan Rickman, so whoever is cast as Snape is doomed, no matter who they are, inside or out. A couple more hours of information, if the episodes aren't long enough, is not going to change much story, except in Goblet, Prince, and the battle of Hogwarts at the end of Hallows 2, which the movies changes more of than they should have from the books. But I love both versions of all, they are just two separate things in my mind. As of now, I just don't see the purpose in remaking it. It's brilliant as is. I'm not really militant about much though (which, I probably am and just don't realize it, definitely Duran Duran, and Disney too, Disney is just in the naughty chair right now).</p>
<p>I'm not sure how I got off on that tangent, but enough gibber jabber! I'm all culturally referenced out...snap*...did all the bad people disappear yet? I don't think the world will be happy until we're living in the Mr. Hankey, The Christmas Poo episode of South Park (there, one more reference before I go).</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-41383861218969066612024-01-04T17:04:00.001-06:002024-01-04T17:04:13.666-06:00The dangers of FlossTube<p>I still haven't started officially kitting up my new starts yet, but I've instead been happily stitching along on Alice and the B's (update to follow when I'm a bit further along). I've been spending a lot of time watching FlossTube, and last night, I was down the current rabbit hole of end of year WIP parades. Someone (and I honestly don't know who it was because I fell asleep watching YouTube, so there are so many videos that played after I fell asleep, I'm not sure which video it was on), but it was a she and she was stitching a HAED that was a Hufflepuff design I was either unaware of, or had forgotten existed. Now, I'm not a Hufflepuff (diehard Ravenclaw, which, I'm sure for those in the know, that's not surprising), I was IMMEDIATELY sucked in and I went looking for the Ravenclaw to see what it looked like. I figured it was gone...most patterns that are a bit too close to certain themes get pulled pretty quickly, but with a bit of digging, I found it and, of course, I fell in immediate true love!</p>
<p>I was careful at first, partly because I've just spent a fortune on supplies for my other new starts, but I was also struggling between the SS/MC version, the regular version, and the mini, so that was slowing me down too. I have officially gone nuts with the SS/MC versions lately, so I decided on the regular version (I didn't think the mini had enough detail) and I put it in my Wishlist (I can count on less than one hand how many times I've ever bought HAEDs at full price, I always wait for sales), so for at least a couple of hours, I was content. And, as per usual, I have thought about nothing since. The hold-off on a purchase lasted maybe half a day?</p>
<p>I found a video of someone doing the mini, and the detail looked pretty good, and considering the coloring, I'm not sure I would want to do a full size, so I just bit the bullet and bought the mini, sale or no sale. Then, I immediately decided it needed to be another new start because I want to start it NOW, so I had to get it kitted up, so off to 1-2-3 Stitch I went for supplies and got those ordered. So hey, looks like there are going to be seven on the docket instead of six! Oh, guess you want to see it, huh? It's called Mini Wisdom by Cherie Gerhardt.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53442983778/in/album-72177720313831488/" title="Mini Wisdom_000a"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53442983778_ca33156856_c.jpg" width="640" height="800" alt="Mini Wisdom_000a"/></a>
<p>I'm still going to do the Harry Potter Book Covers, so that will be two Potter-themed projects, but it will be fine, right? I'm a bit too much like Veruca Salt for my liking, just a shame my rich father ain't the one helping me get what I want when I want it (how many got that reference...I'm a Wonka purist, I was born in the 70's after all). I'm humming the song already, "I want the works, I want the whole works, presents and prizes and sweets and surprises, of all shapes and sizes...don't care how, I want it now". Yeah, I figure I'll be falling down that bad golden goose tube anytime now!</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-53352897240128084202024-01-02T14:49:00.004-06:002024-01-02T14:49:43.815-06:00An Actual Stitch Year In Review (I'm so proud)!<p>I can't believe I've started stitching again! It's very surreal. Stitching used to be therapy for me, my mind dealing with various issues, but now I can't let my mind go there because my headspace doesn't work that way anymore. Now I try to just keep my head clear and work on the project at hand. But sometimes I catch myself wondering why I'm stitching in the first place. Once I'm dead, what will it have been for? I stopped stitching for other people because they didn't seem to care. And now, my life is pretty void of humans in general and I'm very happy with that decision. But I can't help but dwell on all my stitching and my collections getting scooped into a dumpster by whoever trashes spinster old lady's stuff when I turn into worm food. I've considered selling some of my more valuable Disney items, but the thought just makes me sick. Some of my biggest regrets in life are things I've gotten rid of for one reason or another or lost (or got taken away). It's just the Asper in me, I need my stuff. I keep telling myself it won't matter when I'm dead, but it does matter to me now, oh well, can't cry over milk that's not only not spilt, but not even from a birthed cow, so moving on.</p>
<p>For the first time in quite a few years, I have made some New Years resolutions...the typical "stick to the diet" one (that's going pretty well, although it's more eating healthy than a diet, per se), but I'm also going to try to keep a positive attitude about as much of everything as I can (despite the above paragraph, which might have sounded negative, but I prefer to think of it as "realistic"). I'm going to try my darnedest to make 2024 better than the past several years and despite whatever bad things might happen, I'm going to smile my way through them, one issue at a time. I'm also going to make a pledge to pay down as much of my debt as I can (but the HVAC...that one is just too big for one year). I'm pretty sure I can do it (or at least come pretty close, excluding some other financial nightmare that might arise). It's time to start preparing for my future.</p>
<p>So, with talk of paying down debt, wanna see what $700 worth of stitch thread and fabric look like? It came in a very small and very light box, but here it is, and there is another batch coming, but it will be much smaller.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53437091217/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53437091217_72ca2703e3_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>It's also ORT jar report card time. Up until October, it was completely empty, so I'm happy to report this year's "bagging":</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53438017131/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53438017131_7d141259b1_b.jpg" width="1024" height="719" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>Especially compared to the past two years:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53438432765/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53438432765_d2173715fc_b.jpg" width="562" height="1024" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>Of course nothing beats where I started keeping them up to 2017 (the GLORY that was 2017 in general, the year that shall not be named, so to speak), but I'm still keeping them all for some reason (cough, hoarder, cough):</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53438017171/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53438017171_b0f7cf62a8_b.jpg" width="1024" height="522" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>All my full progress on all that I worked on will be at the end of this post including Maleficent. She's still hanging up in my spare bathroom on the shower curtain where I hung her to dry over a week ago after her bath. I took last week as a home-cation week, so I decided to spend the entire time on Happy Haunts. This was a test for more than one reason. I wanted to see if I could finish the row (I failed), but I also wanted to see how I felt about 2x1 (for tent stitch practice for the Aimee Stewart bookshelf), which Happy Haunts is (although the context is different, it's 2x1 full on 18ct Aida). I very quickly remembered how much I absolutely HATE working 2x1, so I'm pretty sure I'd rather do 1x1 full crosses on the bookshelf than 2x1 tent stitch. It also solves the issue with tent itself. I just can't break my head from thinking that tent is like cross stitch cheating! I don't know why, it's absolutely ridiculous! I tried to convince myself it's just another type of stitch, but my brain rejected it absolutely, so problem solved, hate 2x1, hate the idea of cheating stitching, so full 1x1 on 28ct. Anyway, I left off on Happy Haunts in April of 2020 here:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/49728604647/in/album-72157678500445746/" title="Haunts031"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49728604647_22bf7f58c7_b.jpg" width="1024" height="436" alt="Haunts031"/></a>
<p>And there were days I had to take breaks, but the days I did work, I worked over 8 hours per day, so I should have finished the row...I didn't. I hated every second of this. The Haunted Mansion wallpaper to the left was a nightmare and I even fudged a lot of the colors simply because I wanted at least one page finish. I could not get those colors filled in to save my life! By Sunday, I got it done, but barely and I literally had to force myself to stitch some days just to get it all in. It's going to be adorbs when it's finished, but heaven knows when that will be.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53438150163/in/album-72157678500445746/" title="Haunts039"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53438150163_8812c8f52b_b.jpg" width="1024" height="585" alt="Haunts039"/></a>
<p>So come Monday, instead of continuing on, I was ready to move on, New Year and all, so back to Alice and the B's I went! Alice and the B's is in the scroll frame built for my old lap stand that doesn't need the clamp:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53438432745/in/album-72157627643004850/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53438432745_5c35f06064_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>And I was excited to go back to the old stand again just to compare it to the new one, but I very quickly realized that, at least in the recliner (where I stitched for dozens of years), Alice and the B's was just too long (or I'm not as wide as I once was, take your pick) and it was very uncomfortable stitching in that far left side, because it hung too far to the left and I was reaching at odd angles, speaking of, guess I should show where I was back in December of 2020 when I left off on them:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/50673214927/in/album-72157649761187896/" title="Alice183"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50673214927_e77e6cc5cf_b.jpg" width="1024" height="353" alt="Alice183"/></a>
<p>And I started with a new approach, filling in the missing areas of the first couple of pages first, instead of whatever weird method I was trying to do back in 2020 (and that's the shadow of the clamp of my new frame to the left):</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53438017026/in/album-72157649761187896/" title="Alice184"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53438017026_38c2602745_b.jpg" width="1024" height="351" alt="Alice184"/></a>
<p>I got quite a bit of Cinderella's left arm and chest done. A couple more days should do it. I don't know if I'm going to finish the entire row before moving on to the next project, but I might get a good chunk. I sure enjoy 1x1 on 28ct...that's my jam, I guess.</p>
<p>Speaking of "moving on", the new starts...when will I be starting them? Right now, I'm not sure. I have the stuff, I'm just in no hurry to start kitting them up, I have the stuff to make the scroll rods, but again, I'm in no hurry to do that either. It might be March or so. I think my brain thinks I need to get my tax money in and pay off the debt before I can feel "comfortable" with actually stitching them, but we'll see. I might get a wild hair one weekend and kit one or two of them up. Right now, those bags of thread and fabric are just sitting on my living room table and the bobbin boxes are also just sitting around, waiting. I think there's a bit of guilt in there right now.</p>
<p>I worked on The Bride Dollmaking from a clean row to just a bit (dipping my toes back in the water so to speak), but she got me thinking about a new stand and getting my rear off the couch for the first time since 2017:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/50398822911/in/album-72157683147685142/" title="Dollmaker-049"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50398822911_88a74e5e20_b.jpg" width="1024" height="637" alt="Dollmaker-049"/></a>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53322220497/in/album-72157683147685142/" title="Dollmaker-054"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53322220497_fc1e824bd4_b.jpg" width="1024" height="644" alt="Dollmaker-054"/></a>
<p>I went back to Snow White, who's fabric I thought I hated, but turns out, she's not so back after all. I still may have to do something with that weird patch in her cheek (it's driving me nuts), but we'll see later). I went from a partial row finish, to a full row finish, but got more determined to get a new stand:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/50832894432/in/album-72157662770925192/" title="SnowWhite046"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50832894432_7ae40434b2_b.jpg" width="1024" height="681" alt="SnowWhite046"/></a>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53358857223/in/album-72157662770925192/" title="SnowWhite057"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53358857223_2ea6f70fe2_b.jpg" width="1024" height="657" alt="SnowWhite057"/></a>
<p>And after one night with Night Wish, a project I hadn't touched since 2020, I knew I couldn't work with my current stand anymore, although I'm gonna visit her again pretty soon. She deserves some love!</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/49579709432/in/album-72157660603117014/" title="NightWish056"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49579709432_db7c7f1e50_b.jpg" width="1024" height="576" alt="NightWish056"/></a>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53358636801/in/album-72157660603117014/" title="NightWish057"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53358636801_779546b57a_b.jpg" width="1024" height="577" alt="NightWish057"/></a>
<p>And during transition between moving back to the recliner and getting a new stand, I worked on Maleficent. I left off on her in September 2022, and I finished the page row I had been working on and then the final page row (which was one ten block row from a full page row), for a full finish! Quite proud of her! Still need to get her framed though.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/52373602217/in/album-72157649825993332/" title="Maleficent0169"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52373602217_8c58b341a8_b.jpg" width="1024" height="489" alt="Maleficent0169"/></a>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53406239229/in/album-72157649825993332/" title="Maleficent0196"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53406239229_6e8bfbbd6a_b.jpg" width="1024" height="535" alt="Maleficent0196"/></a>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53406099548/in/album-72157649825993332/" title="Maleficent0197"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53406099548_7d369e4c98_b.jpg" width="788" height="1024" alt="Maleficent0197"/></a>
<p>And that's 2023 in review, I'm pretty proud of myself for the amount of work I got done considering I only stitched from October thru December! I got quite a bit done stitch-wise all things considered and, if I can keep it up, 2024 is looking good for a couple of finishes hopefully!</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-76006552627934818092023-12-29T02:07:00.005-06:002023-12-30T22:32:05.193-06:002024 New Starts<p>Not quite ready for a end of year review, so let's go with the new starts.I have been off this week and tried to finish Happy Haunts, but it is killing me. I don't think I'm going to make it through the week with it and it won't even be a row finish, let alone a total finish. I need a break from it. But that's for another post.</p>
<p>So, I guess you guys knew that I wouldn't be able to hold off from new starts, but I came VERY close! I had the chosen six picked out, but when I added some fabric to a chart (I do have fabric in my stash) and added the thread (more about thread in a mo-mo), it was almost $700! I am NOT kidding...it was exactly $678.76, but that's pretty darn close to seven (and yes, that is with discounted fabric and a coupon)!!! For friggin THREAD! I can't say how many skeins I ordered, it was for at least one max color project and four others (yes, 4+1=5, my math skills will bite me later). I decided I could NOT afford that and was ready to let it go with the WIPs I have. I agreed with myself that I would pay off three credit cards first (granted, the smallest three, but three nonetheless). But then we got our xmas bonuses and they cashed in some of my vacation time (because we're only allowed to roll over three weeks and I had way more than that saved up) and all of a sudden, three credit cards were paid off. I took that as a sign (granted, I didn't need much of a sign, but the checks came the exact same day I decided not to make the purchase, so here's your sign Keebs).</p>
<p>Of course, it's never just that simple and here's where my math caught up with me...I forgot an entire project hence #6, so fabric and thread again, another $108. I also had to place an Amazon order for some other things (another $120), I still have to get scroll rods (and you'll see why in a minute), and there are other things, so it won't be a January 1st start for any of these. I need to pay this stuff down, save up more money, and frankly, kit up six new projects. I like bobbins, so bobbinating a max color project is going to be a chore. But oh my, cross stitching is an expensive hobby!</p>
<p>I've always prided myself on my stash of stuff, but apparently, I'm not as stashed up as I thought. I went through all my thread to see what I had (so I hopefully wouldn't have to buy any) and I discovered that all that Chinese thread I bought years ago had faded and started to fuzz up. Most of it was probably over 10 years old, but the DMC was about the same and it was fine. I just decided to pull all the bad thread, unless it was the only one for the color I had and I gave it all to a co-worker. I ended up with about a forth of the stash I had to begin with, and none of it was enough for a full project. After all these projects are finished though, my thread stash will be stocked again.</p>
<p>Speaking of which, so which projects did I choose? Well, I guess it's no surprise that I went with HAED's Belle of Bonaventure by Jasmine Becket-Griffith, she'll be on 28ct Lugana:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/30422384602/in/album-72157675642603335/" title="belle of bonaventure"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/8675/30422384602_eaf40c85e9_z.jpg" width="600" height="443" alt="belle of bonaventure"/></a>
<p>And the HAED Supersize Max Color version of Once Upon A Fairy Tale by Aimee Stewart (and I'm not doing the redo chart...I had already printed the chart when they reissued it...I actually had to email HAED last week to figure out the difference because it's been so long, which was just two colors, so I figured I wasn't going to reprint the whole thing just for that and I don't mind the colors anyway, so I'm just going to keep as is...I do still work with paper charts and I print them on this soft card stock stuff, and it ain't cheap either). This will also be on 28ct Lugana, magic guide. I will say, this week I've been on vacation and I've been working on Happy Haunts (it's on 18ct 2x1) and I really HATE working with two threads, so I'm pretty sure I won't be doing 2x1 tent stitch on this. I still can't wrap my head around tent not being a "cheat" version of cross stitch, but any time I would save with tent I would just be wasting with the two threads. I can't deal. I think I stitch fast enough that 1x1 full crosses will be fine. Guess we'll find out!</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/49414243283/in/album-72157675642603335/" title="SS-MC Once Upon A Fairytale_000a"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49414243283_d86d325d9b_c.jpg" width="800" height="572" alt="SS-MC Once Upon A Fairytale_000a"/></a>
<p>A chart by Thread Geeks that goes with my Snow and Charming, Evil Queen is also one of my new starts...it should be fairly easy if it's like Snow and Charming. Of course, another 28ct Lugana, unless I pull out some old Monaco that I still have.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/50211234137/in/album-72157672086470633/" title="Evil Queen_000a"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50211234137_760f876e89_c.jpg" width="800" height="600" alt="Evil Queen_000a"/></a>
<p>Then there is my first Unconventional X Stitch, The Blue Marble is So Fragile by Borda Danut Adrian. I've been wanting to start this since the second I saw it! She will probably be on the 28ct magic guide Lugana as well, but she is not small.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/33111529508/in/album-72157672086470633/" title="The Blue Marble Is So Fragile"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/4861/33111529508_748468915d_c.jpg" width="800" height="579" alt="The Blue Marble Is So Fragile"/></a>
<p>Another easy one, DoNa Stitches Merida, she'll be on 18ct opalescent Aida, like Rapunzel was. She shouldn't take very long, although she is a lot more coverage than some of the other DoNa's.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/30502954856/in/album-72157672086470633/" title="Merida"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/8650/30502954856_6724c34325.jpg" width="446" height="500" alt="Merida"/></a>
<p>Another new designer, Fox and Teacup Designs, Harry Potter Bookcovers. I went with the American version, not because "American pride" and all, but when the books were coming out, I was one of the weirdos standing in line for them, and I live in the US, so the American versions were the ones I ended up with. I still own those original versions. Maybe, when I finish this one, I'll do the British covers (which I also now own). It will also be on 28ct, but I'm not sure whether it will be Lugana or Monaco. It's also the supersize max color version, but it's still not very big, so I'm not sure if I have the wrong pattern, so I'm reading it wrong, or what. If it's right, it shouldn't take very long.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53360938640/in/album-72157672086470633/" title="US Bookcovers"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53360938640_5ff5711588_c.jpg" width="541" height="800" alt="US Bookcovers"/></a>
<p>I've also decided, since I have a new stand now, on the kit front, to go back to A Summer Ball. I UFO'ed that several years ago and haven't touched it since 2015. I hated it. Maybe a new stand will make it better? It seems like I also had issue with all the partial stitches, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. If I still hate it after another shot, then I'll look at another kit.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/16702224657/in/album-72157627893406511/" title="summer ball"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/8722/16702224657_1ffb4f967d_c.jpg" width="800" height="195" alt="summer ball"/></a>
<p>Here is where I left off, barely a third of the way through (and to be honest, I'm not even sure where I put it, so I might have to do some digging):</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/16073889259/in/album-72157627893406511/" title="asb046"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/7521/16073889259_dd04e65ac1.jpg" width="500" height="370" alt="asb046"/></a>
<p>As a side note, I am going to UFO retire a project, HAED's Christmas Contest Suteki by Aimee Stewart.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/23511918049/in/album-72157660613011163/" title="Christmas Contest Suteki-000"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/5758/23511918049_bf1dcca7c4_z.jpg" width="471" height="600" alt="Christmas Contest Suteki-000"/></a>
<p>This was a project I started for my sister, who never really acted like she cared for it anyway. I don't know why I was bothering. It was a nightmare to work on with all the confetti, and frankly, now that my sister is not in my life anymore, I just don't see the purpose in working on it because it definitely isn't my style at all. I actually have several charts I bought to do for her. Guess they will go in my RAK folder. I haven't worked on her since 2020, so it's really no skin off my back to retire her. Maybe someday I'll pull her back out again if I meet someone who's style she is, but I just can't see it. I only made it here:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/49984968242/in/album-72157660613011163/" title="Suteki039"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49984968242_03379ab903_c.jpg" width="800" height="354" alt="Suteki039"/></a>
<p>So that at least takes one WIP off the books along with Maleficent. Next time, a year end review, which should be short since I've only been stitching since October and only (at least so far) on two and there is only a few more days left in the year.</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-55113927358117796172023-12-18T11:26:00.000-06:002023-12-18T11:26:24.843-06:00A FINISH!<p>Yep, you read that right...a week ahead of schedule, I finished Maleficent! I am SO proud of myself. I literally did almost 6000 stitches in two days. As you remember, I left off last week here:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53394896732/in/album-72157649825993332/" title="Maleficent0191"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53394896732_9bd74b9ed6_b.jpg" width="1024" height="484" alt="Maleficent0191"/></a>
<p>I started her Jan 2, 2015. It's been a rough almost 9 years for sure and I had probably about a four year stitch break, although, when I did try to pick stitching back up, Maleficent was always the one I picked up first. It took a total of 879.13 hrs, there are 213,200 total stitches. About 10:30 last night I finished the final row:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53406239229/in/album-72157649825993332/" title="Maleficent0196"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53406239229_6e8bfbbd6a_b.jpg" width="1024" height="535" alt="Maleficent0196"/></a>
<p>And, despite all the melted glue from the tape strips on her backside, I did manage to get it off the scroll rods and here she is in whole:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53406099548/in/album-72157649825993332/" title="Maleficent0197"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53406099548_7d369e4c98_b.jpg" width="788" height="1024" alt="Maleficent0197"/></a>
<p>She still needs to be washed and ironed, and of course, mounted to mat board. I think, now that we have a Michaels here, I'm going to take her there to get framed instead of Hobby Lobby. At least that will clear my conscious a bit. I do have major issues with Hobby Lobby's politics and business practices. I try not to give them my business, but sometimes it can't be helped. Now I have choices. I haven't actually stepped foot in there in years anyway (although, in honesty, I haven't stepped foot in any store in this town in years, so that's not off-brand). It at least gives me an excuse to go into Michaels, although it probably won't be anytime soon. I need to get up the courage first. I'm not even sure I have any mat board, so I may have to go to Michaels first to get some. But it probably won't be until after the first of the year.</p>
<p>I do still have two more weeks before the end of the year. Last night I started winding some bobbins of loose thread that had bit sitting around for a few years. I need to move my thread around in my big bobbin boxes before I can add back the leftover thread from Maleficent (because some rows are pretty tight in the three I have now, which is why I have a spare box...pictures to come soon), so I figured it was a good time to add the spare thread. I didn't think this project would take more than a day, but I think I might be wrong.</p>
<p>I was also thinking I might be able to either finish, or get close to finishing Happy Haunts, which I haven't touched since 2020. It's at least the closest candidate for a finish. I would say Tartan B, but that project is notorious for being hard to work on, so I'm not even going to attempt that giant B! Plus, Happy Haunts is another framed piece, so an easy FFO, Tartan B was originally meant to be a pillow (I can't sew and I don't know how to make a pillow, so I have no clue why I thought that was a good idea), but now I think I'm going to hoop finish it, but I'm not crafty in the slightest, so I have no clue how to hoop finish anything without watching numerous YouTube videos and buying supplies at Michaels. The B is just too much trouble (in more ways than one for such a so-called "simple" project).</p>
<p>Ironically though, Alice and the B's is actually the project that is calling to me. There is NO WAY I could finish it by the end of the year, but it's the one I'm wanting to work on next. If I try to work on Happy Haunts and my hearts not it in, there may be issues, but we'll see. If I could just get one more finish, I think I could feel a bit better about new starts, although, the more I think about new starts, the less I actually want to start them, and the more I just want to "think" about it, if that makes sense. If I can just keep that momentum going, maybe I can get some more bills paid down before spending money on cross stitch supplies.</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-70818874701761194452023-12-13T14:18:00.002-06:002023-12-13T14:18:54.112-06:00Quick update (yeah, right)<p>Hey, there is a first for everything, right? Frankly, I've been doing nothing but stitching, so there is literally nothing else to report and I'm trying really hard to finish Maleficent by Christmas. I left off on her here last week:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53376216595/in/album-72157649825993332/" title="Maleficent0182"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53376216595_ff4d8b6d7e_b.jpg" width="1024" height="504" alt="Maleficent0182"/></a>
<p>And, now that I've made it through the major colors (I'm color completing if you remember), I'm whipping through the colors like wildfire now and she's here (and, believe it or not, there are quite a few different colors in there):</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53394896732/in/album-72157649825993332/" title="Maleficent0191"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53394896732_9bd74b9ed6_b.jpg" width="1024" height="484" alt="Maleficent0191"/></a>
<p>Sorry the pictures are blown out, I really miss the quality of a camera...a phone really doesn't cut it, I don't care what people think. I will always be a camera girl. Phones are "cute" for pictures, but they aren't meant for serious photography except by professionals in certain circumstances and a low light, macro situation isn't one of those circumstances. And to be honest, I'm not sure why I stopped using my camera to take these pics. Probably laziness.</p>
<p>I'm also happy to report that I've got less than 8000 stitches to go before she's finished (7906 to be exact)! She's 96.3% completed. On average, I do about 1000 stitches a day (give or take) except, apparently, Mondays. I think, because I stitch over 8 hrs a day on Saturday and Sunday, come Monday when I get home from work, I just don't want to stitch. I try, but I usually stitch less than an hour before I quit. I've done it ever since I started back, so it's enough of a pattern to call it a habit. I always try on Mondays though.</p>
<p>I still haven't decided about new starts yet, or decided where the money is supposed to come from, especially if I start a max color, supersize bookshelf, because I will have to buy new scroll rods for it, which could be super expensive, not including the fabric and threads for such an endeavor. I've been very good about not spending money on anything lately since my HVAC expense, although my desire to shop is constant. It's definitely an addiction.</p>
<p>And that's the update for this week! Definitely a short one for me. I've been trying to read and catch up on blogs, but I was surprised at the number of blogs that haven't been active in years. I commented where I could. A lot of the missing bloggers have probably moved on to FlossTube, but I'm just not ready to do that myself yet. I like blogging and it's "nice" over here. It's a very nasty world in YouTube and I'm had enough of that in real life, I don't need it in the cyber world as well. I still feel so overwhelmed with Jo at <a href="https://serendipitousstitching.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Serendipitous Stitching</a> and all her SALs! Maybe one day I'll be back up to snuff enough to be able to join in with her again, but I'm not there yet. Jo is a goddess, for sure!</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-53170686784817185662023-12-04T16:37:00.007-06:002023-12-04T17:01:05.114-06:00Trying to beat my Stitch Gene into submission<p>Despite all the external forces, I'm still struggling with my ADHD, so I got the "brilliant" (aka, slightly crazy) idea to color complete the final row, because hey, who doesn't want to solely focus on one color for weeks when you can barely focus on anything, right? And what better way to start than with the color with the most left, 310 black! But, despite the ADHD hanging in there, the OCD must be kicking in because I actually finished the black last night and got to move on to 939! I was quite proud of that...it barely took me over a week. Last time, I had just started the final row:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53358967314/in/album-72157649825993332/" title="Maleficent0175"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53358967314_38eab1c213_b.jpg" width="1024" height="493" alt="Maleficent0175"/></a>
<p>I did stop a bit early last night because my head was hurting a bit (and my arms and wrists a lot, but more on that in a moment), but here is the finished black and a bit of the dark navy.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53376216595/in/album-72157649825993332/" title="Maleficent0182"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53376216595_ff4d8b6d7e_b.jpg" width="1024" height="504" alt="Maleficent0182"/></a>
<p>I did get through most of that glue I talked about last time, although there is still more spread about. Here's a look at some of that mess (although not a good look):</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53367109428/in/album-72157649825993332/" title="Maleficent0176b"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53367109428_a265513f0c_b.jpg" width="1024" height="767" alt="Maleficent0176b"/></a>
<p>On to the "pain" aspect...my new stand. I'm really left dominant. I often say that my right hand really only serves to give a matching set. But I do stitch two-handed, my left on the bottom (because it can navigate) and my right on top as a worker bee. I don't even remember how to stitch one-handed, nor would I want to go back to the old days, I do stitch twice as fast now. So for me, the best placement of my new floor stand should be on my right side (not sure if my logic is sound, but it works for me). The way I hold my arms, I need my left elbow clear and it can't be if there is a bar in my way or, if my arm is constricted because there is a scroll rod sitting on top of it. I'm using my left to get the scissors, take a drink, operate the remote, etc, so if I'm reaching back and forth under the scroll rods, another headache. I tried it as it should be (as below), and it just doesn't work (and forgive the dirty house). Even if I can move it anyway I want up and down and left and right (which I can't do on the left, too many restrictions), the stand was obviously in the way of everything. But the major issue with how far over the project sits and I couldn't stitch all the way across the scroll no matter how I moved it (and it also doesn't help that I sit leaning toward the left edge of the chair, I tried to adjust myself, but I would just subconsciously move to the left before I realized what I was doing). You'd think, with all that movement area, I'd have no issues with being able to reach it, but it just didn't work that way. It's a bit far out in the pic below because I moved it to get out of the chair. I can't do that on the left (you'll see in a mo-mo). There is also problem with horizontal bar being wobbly or it not holding the project straight (but frankly it's that way on both sides of the chair, and that may be operator error, at least I hope it is and not the stand itself).</p>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53374850257/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53374850257_ff05a0abbe_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>So I moved it to the left side, where I had serious restrictions on movement, but I could still reach the entire scroll somehow:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53367109543/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53367109543_403efaca3b_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>Now my arm is constricted under the project and I have to sit weird, hence the arm and wrist pain on my left side. I'm trying to use a pillow under my left elbow, but now that's causing left shoulder pain, if easing the arm and wrist pain. I also have to jack my right side up weird to tilt myself down to the left and my arm is raised unnaturally in the air, hence my arm and wrist pain on the right side. You'll also see the remote on my right side, I still can't operate the remote that way...I keep trying, but I eventually just pass it to my left hand and pass it back. It's why I've been spending more time on Hulu than YouTube.</p>
<p>I will say, when it was on the right side, the boys wouldn't come near it (and it was already bad enough I was sitting in the chair again), but since I've had it on the left, they are coming around, although they take their turns and never together for more than a couple of seconds...Bam, the never-invasive, ever-sleeping old man perches up under the frame:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53367109538/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53367109538_c65b981b0f_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>And Bug, the ever-invasive, always attention-seeking monster, whose glaring eyes are constantly burning holes in the project:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53367357515/in/album-72157653437259639/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53367357515_94bcdb5622_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>What I hate about it on the left is, just to get out of the chair I have to rotate the entire stand when turning the project or it will tip over, it's just too top heavy. I didn't have this issue on the right. Ironically, I can't turn the stand sitting in the chair and I can't get out of the chair without turning the stand. Right now, it's a circus act and it's sometimes easier just to take the entire scroll frame out of the stand (which I'd rather not do). There is this strange concrete block in my yard that serves no purpose, I'm going to see if it's enough weight to hold it down so I can turn the project without having to turn the entire stand.</p>
<p>Then there are the issues with the joint that balances the scroll. I also had this issue on the right, but not to this degree. It's either too high, at too great an angle, not at great-enough of angle, it droops over when I try to rotate around to tie off a thread (and I'm trying to keep all the joints tight, but not too tight...they just work their way loose). Some of these issues may just be Maleficent, she's already wonky because she's on scroll rods that are too long.</p>
<p>I have since watched a few more YouTube videos and it seems as though the first generation K's Creation stand would have been better (it didn't have the joint in the middle of the horizontal bar, but they aren't for sale anymore anyway except for second hand at a higher cost) or, as much as I hate to admit it, I should have doubled the cost and just bought a Lowery's stand. I still can't afford that right now (I really couldn't afford the K's stand, but here we are). All in all, it's STILL better than what I was dealing with and I've made a lot more progress than I could have on the lap stand. I fully expect to be able to finish Maleficent (at least at my current rate) by Christmas. So any progress made is good progress and maybe I can work out a happy medium. I'm still counting it overall as a win, if some minor hiccups. The little side table attached to it alone has been a game changer.</p>
<p>But speaking of a finish, as I've mentioned. I'm on a start freeze until I finish something and I decided a long time ago what a couple of my new starts would be, although I think those plans might change now. Belle of Bonaventure was always the next in line. She reminds me of Christine Daae from Phantom of the Opera.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/30422384602/in/album-72157675642603335/" title="belle of bonaventure"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/8675/30422384602_eaf40c85e9_z.jpg" width="600" height="443" alt="belle of bonaventure"/></a>
<p>But now that they've charted Strangely Lonely, which is my favorite JBG artwork of all time, I'm starting to rethink that decision, although I'm still on the fence about it. I do own the print for Strangely Lonely, so it's not like it's not on my wall already, but it's just not the same. Maybe you guys can help? I don't really want two JBG's going at the same time and with Alice and the B's making one, it has to be one or the other. Belle is still leaning more heavily because it's not dithered since it's an older HAED chart and I still prefer (at least JBG's) to be non-dithered, but I do so love Strangely Lonely as a piece of art and, especially now, the premise is just, well...me.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/49132917376/in/album-72157675642603335/" title="Strangely Lonely_000a"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49132917376_1de417f9d3_z.jpg" width="474" height="640" alt="Strangely Lonely_000a"/></a>
<p>I also have plans to do another DoNa Stitch, either Meridad or Aurora (I've already finished Rapunzel, I just want to finish all of these before I get them framed), but these are super quick and super easy (although Sleeping Beauty will be harder because I plan to change out the colors on the fairies to the "appropriate ones", hence my leaning more towards Merida right now).:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/30502954856/in/album-72157672086470633/" title="Merida"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/8650/30502954856_6724c34325.jpg" width="446" height="500" alt="Merida"/></a>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/26251009228/in/album-72157672086470633/" title="Sleeping Beauty-2"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/4754/26251009228_eb0bb8e6a6.jpg" width="442" height="500" alt="Sleeping Beauty-2"/></a>
<p>Part of me is also itching to start a Super-Sized Max Color, and most all of those that I have are Aimee Stewart Bookshelves, although I do have other ones of hers...again, still on the fence about all of them, but I am leaning towards Once Upon A Fairy Tale. I'm also going to have to learn parking and convince myself to do tent stitch (and either make my own scroll rods or spend an enormous amount to get some made considering the size of this puppy), but that's a decision for another day, even if I can learn parking and tent now on YouTube:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/49414243283/in/album-72157675642603335/" title="SS-MC Once Upon A Fairytale_000a"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49414243283_d86d325d9b.jpg" width="500" height="358" alt="SS-MC Once Upon A Fairytale_000a"/></a>
<p>There is also the issue of doing something either Harry Potter, Once Upon a Time (my TV show) or Marvel related. I've been dying to do something in those worlds forever (although, in fairness I have done a couple of OUAT projects already). Part of me wants to start one of each. I'd also like to do a kit, something easy and NOT full coverage, but I have no idea which in my stash would get that joy, maybe one of my mice kits. But here again, we are getting in the territory of having too many WIPS on the go with no chance of finishing anything. Maybe it would be better to finish two current WIPS before a new start. As someone who grew up doing only one project at a time, this whole WIP experience is still a foreign concept, even after 10+ years of living in WIP-land and I'm starting to wonder if it's not the reason for my burnout...too many insurmountable obstacles (and a gigantic mental health struggle, but we aren't going there anymore, right?). I still need to show you the new Harry Potter's I got over Black Friday, but maybe I'll save that as a reveal as a new start? Especially since several of them are a series, although I am leaning more towards a full coverage one, we'll see. Maybe I'll show you them all after I decide.</p>
Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-19734768033234201612023-11-27T14:40:00.002-06:002023-11-27T15:00:10.815-06:00Stitching progress, but everything is against me!<p>I've made quite a bit of stitching progress since my last post (well, considering I've been on hiatus for years), but practically everything is going wrong! My ADHD is still fighting me. How did I ever have so much focus before? I did manage two row finishes though, despite fate's attempts at thwart-tation (I just made up a new word). I left off on Snow White last time here:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53329917699/in/album-72157662770925192/" title="SnowWhite048"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53329917699_ea09374c4a_b.jpg" width="1024" height="674" alt="SnowWhite048"/></a>
<p>And I finished row three, so I'm now at 215.4 hours and I also have some new data because I started using Markup R-XP, I'm at 59.8% with 41,451 stitches done, and 27,918 stitches to go. I'd like to say I'm using Markup to stitch with, but I still prefer marking on paper...old habits die hard and, as someone who works with technology for a living, honestly, I just don't trust it. And I'm not about to buy a different tablet just for Pattern Keeper or a tablet stand or other stuff just to make already printed paper obsolete, at least not now. But anyway, here she is in her row finish and all rows together:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53358857223/in/album-72157662770925192/" title="SnowWhite057"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53358857223_2ea6f70fe2_b.jpg" width="1024" height="657" alt="SnowWhite057"/></a>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53359095235/in/album-72157662770925192/" title="SnowWhite058"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53359095235_9deb14eabd_b.jpg" width="1024" height="951" alt="SnowWhite058"/></a>
<p>You can also see how dirty she is...who knew projects sitting around for years untouched would get dirty? The next row is the biggest, so at least the dirt will be covered, but the final two are a lot smaller. She's going to be hard to frame if I don't go rectangle (I'd like to go oval). That dark swatch of color on her left cheek is bothering me though and my eye is constantly drawn back to it. It's not dirt, it's the called-for colors, but I don't like it. I may frog it and just restitch with the surrounding lighter color. I just think the color is overall a bit off in her skintone to be honest...she should be way paler (and is on the original artwork), she is Snow White after all. This girl has been spending too much time in Florida! But anyhoo, I decided instead of moving down to the next row, it was time to move on to another project.</p>
<p>I switched out to Night Wish by Annie Rodrigue (another HAED), which I apparently haven't touched since 2020. But this time, the ADHD wasn't the biggest hurtle, it was my stand! It's a lap stand and it obviously wasn't really made for general scroll rods (not many are, or maybe aren't meant to be used for 20+ years), but I just couldn't keep it clamped shut down on this project. It's also why I moved on from the Bride Dollmaker to Snow, trying to find a project that would clamp down better. It has scroll rod end clamps made for it that have a dowel rod that fits into the stand (but they don't fit all scroll dowels), but I only have one set of these, and those are locked on Alice and the B's. I'm not ready to go back to a project that big yet. The clamps that came with it, on the other hand, have a kind of curved groove that look like they were made more for Q-snaps (which I don't like) and, despite changing out the nuts and bolts (a couple of times), the wood is just worn out and won't clamp down good anymore. They used to hold scroll rods of all kinds just perfectly. But I have noticed the decline in the past few years. If I could do woodworking, I would make a new set of clamps and I have ideas how to improve it, but I can't and I don't know anyone who can, so I have to retire it. I bought that stand off of eBay many moons ago before Etsy and that seller is long gone (he was gone not long after I bought it, if I remember right, I think he passed away).</p>
<p>Needless to say, despite my lack of funds thanks to my lovely HVAC purchase, I had to break down and buy a new stand. I refused during Bride Dollmaker last month due to finances, but I really can't put it off anymore, it has become a necessary expense if I'm going to continue stitching. After a rather exhaustive search for a new lap stand, I gave that up and I ordered a new floor stand from K's Creations (which came in over the holiday, but it was delivered to work, so I haven't gotten it home yet). I have never cared for floor stands personally, but we'll see if I can adapt. I figured that, once I start on a super-sized HAED, I would need one anyway, so might as well start getting used to it now. Supposedly, it will work with all scroll rods, but I have the feeling I'll need some sort of adapter or something like a Lowery stand has that I'm unaware of (despite reading every comment and looking at every picture, but not seeing an issue...I even looked through the other listings for an adapter, but I didn't see one, at least not at the time of my purchase). I went with this stand versus a Lowery because, after I modified the Lowery for my surroundings or added the appropriate accoutrements, it was going to be well over $350 and that is just too much for me. And I'm not worthy (or wealthy) enough for a Millennium stand. I went with the cheaper of the three, so let's hope it doesn't bite me in the behind, because it still wasn't cheap and I can't turn around and buy a Lowery stand now. But I'm getting off track here...Night Wish. Like I said, not much progress. Here she was back in February of 2020:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/49579709432/in/album-72157660603117014/" title="NightWish056"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49579709432_db7c7f1e50_b.jpg" width="1024" height="576" alt="NightWish056"/></a>
<p>And this is my little bit of progress in one day, she is now at 91.07 hrs, 22.2% done with 44,778 stitches completed and a whopping 160,222 to go, and this is only row 2 after all. She just would NOT stay in the stand without coming loose every five minutes and it was wearing me out! I'm not built for one-handed stitching, so I had to move on to something I could work with.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53358636801/in/album-72157660603117014/" title="NightWish057"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53358636801_779546b57a_b.jpg" width="1024" height="577" alt="NightWish057"/></a>
<p>I decided to go back to Maleficent which is actually on scroll rods for another lap stand I have, an American Dream (although I still put it in my main lap stand). Whereas my other lap stand is just worn out, that American Dream one just sucks and I HATE using it! Time sometimes clouds the bad memories though, and I thought I was overreacting and I could handle it for a few days at least. I did, but ugh, what a pain (and no, I was NOT overreacting)! As expensive as that thing was back in the day, you can tell a non-stitcher designed that thing. At least it held the frame, but that's about all I can say for it. It's too short and very heavy for what it is. I also have to position it at weird angles propped up on top of one knee with the other knee holding it up and my arms reach at very unnatural angles. I actually think it's designed for someone to sit at a kitchen table with the stand on the table and stitch. Does anyone actually still do that? Maybe in the olden days when you had nowhere else to sit, but not in the last 100 years or so, right? How uncomfortable would THAT be? Although, I can remember sitting at the dining room table trying to embroidery with my mother back in the day, but we are talking mid to late 70's, so again, olden days! Needless to say, I was able to make enough progress to get some work done, especially with a heating pad on my back the entire time. Maleficent by Annya Kai...left off on her in 2022 (she's always the one I go back to when I start stitching because she is so close to done):</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/52373602217/in/album-72157649825993332/" title="Maleficent0169"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52373602217_8c58b341a8_b.jpg" width="1024" height="489" alt="Maleficent0169"/></a>
<p>And despite the physical restrictions, I managed to finish the row:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53357759157/in/album-72157649825993332/" title="Maleficent0172"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53357759157_57d08a432e_b.jpg" width="1024" height="493" alt="Maleficent0172"/></a>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53357759277/in/album-72157649825993332/" title="Maleficent0173"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53357759277_fddb8489d7_b.jpg" width="842" height="1024" alt="Maleficent0173"/></a>
<p>That's just lighting at the top and not dirt, although we'll get to her other issues in a mo-mo. I did get a bit further into the last row for a total of 771.37 hrs, 88.3%, I only have 24,844 stitches to go and I've gotten 188,356 completed:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53358967314/in/album-72157649825993332/" title="Maleficent0175"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53358967314_38eab1c213_b.jpg" width="1024" height="493" alt="Maleficent0175"/></a>
<p>This bottom row is also not a full page row (almost, but not quite), so I've decided (at least for now), that I'm going to focus on her until she's finished. She also has an additional complication...the glue from the velcro that I use to attach the fabric to the scroll rods has melted to the good part of fabric at the bottom three to five rows (I guess having your air conditioner go out 10+ times while a project sits for years tends to do that). It's annoying stitching through thick melted glue, but I don't know how to get it off, so stitch through I must. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears. I didn't want to use something like alcohol because of the color-fastness of the thread and I didn't want to use Goo-Gone because that stuff is like lighter fluid. It's all black down there anyway, so it shouldn't affect the thread. I guess that's what I get for having a 2 inch border. Normally, I'd have a much longer border, especially top and bottom, and cut the velcro layer off when I'm finished, so I wouldn't care about the glue layer. But I've also never had it melt before. And, in all fairness, I never expected to still be stitching on the same project almost 9 years later (I started her in 2015). It's been a rough decade. Frankly, I use this stuff on all my projects, which, ironically is an American Dreams product as well (should have guessed, right), so I am a bit worried about what the others look like. Maybe I should go back to using tape like the old days? I sure as heck ain't goin bind stitching to the scroll rods thing...UGH! But I'm not thinking about that now. Lesson learned, 4 inch borders from now on (at least top to bottom, 3 is fine for the sides).</p>
<p>Speaking of new borders, I'm also still on my self-imposed new-start restriction until I finish at least one WIP, so hence the focus on Maleficent since she is the closest to finished. If I get her done soon, I can start something new and maybe that will help invigorate me a bit. I did purchase a couple of Harry Potter patterns over the weekend, but it was the only shopping I did anywhere (and I'm quite proud of myself for that, although today is not overwith yet, it being CyberMonday and all). They were all on drastic sale, so I even saved a pretty penny, but this post is long enough without more pics, right? Maybe in another one.</p>
<p>Oh, and just because I didn't have enough struggles to deal with, I also moved back to my recliner to stitch instead of the couch, which made it a bit easier on my back and rear (especially with the booser cushion I bought, and before the American Dream stand fiasco, but should be better for the floor stand hopefully, the left and right placement will be switched and I'm left-handed, so it works out). It was kind of an ordeal moving everything back over to the chair, with the lights and all...I took out my side table to the chair and replaced it with a bookshelf for my Harry Potter stuff a few months ago, so I don't have a place for storage anymore and the outlet is hard to get to now. Plus, now that I'm reaclimating to the chair, I have to remember to move back to the couch before I fall asleep (they say it's REALLY bad for you to sleep in a recliner, especially if you have circulation issues, so I'm trying to avoid that). Sometimes I make it, sometimes I don't. The joys of medication. One thing is for sure, neither pup cares for me sitting in the chair now. They want me back on the couch!</p>
<p>And that's about it! I'll have the new stand at home tonight, and I'm pretty excited! Hopefully, it will be a game-changer because that was a lot of money wasted if it isn't. Be my luck, I'll have to buy specialty scroll rods for it too and that will be more expense! Ugh! Even if I do though, it won't help me now, so I'll have to look for another stand again. But I'll make sure to give you an update, either way and a review. And I know I haven't explained my stand very well, so I'll post some pictures of that too if you want, might help.</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-43918898024269763332023-11-13T11:28:00.003-06:002023-11-13T11:33:04.541-06:00More Stitching...well, I'm trying anyway<p>I've been trying very hard to not spend any extraneous money. It hasn't been easy, but I've been focusing all my energy on paying off my vacation so I can then focus all my money on this stupid hvac. My water heater is now making strange noises, but I'm trying my hardest to ignore that.</p>
<p>I think my stitchy bug has come back though, finally! I've been watching a LOT of FlossTube and I've got some more stitching done, although I am having some serious issues with my ADHD. All I think about all day at work is stitch, stitch, stitch and, as long as that's the first thing I sit down and do when I walk in the door, I'm good for a while. But the first time I get up to do something else, or if I get distracted for a few minutes and set it down then BAM! I can't make myself pick it back up again. Sometimes that means I've stitched for 10 minutes, sometimes an hour, but usually no more than. Or, even worse, I spend all day daydreaming about stitching, only to get distracted right when I get home long enough that I end up just vegging on the couch and not stitching at all! It's kind of ridiculous sometimes, especially when a lot of the time I'm actually watching FlossTube for the motivation, but I can't bring myself to pick up my stitching! I'm trying hard to get my ADHD under control right now, but it's just been allowed to run wild for so long, it's like trying to tame an unruly teenager.</p>
<p>Needless to say, I did work more on The Bride Dollmaking, although I didn't get much done. If the amount of time I spend thinking about her translated to stitching time, I would have gotten the row done. But for now, I left off here:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53304949201/in/album-72157683147685142/" title="Dollmaker-051"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53304949201_233a1fd0cb_b.jpg" width="1024" height="624" alt="Dollmaker-051"/></a>
<p>And I got just a bit further here:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53322220497/in/album-72157683147685142/" title="Dollmaker-054"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53322220497_fc1e824bd4_b.jpg" width="1024" height="644" alt="Dollmaker-054"/></a>
<p>I was enjoying the project, but by Friday night after skipping another night of stitching (after an entire day of stitchy daydreams, and a lengthy conversation with a new coworker about my "love" of stitching and showing off my WIPs...I mean seriously, how is that NOT motivation?), I decided maybe I needed to switch it up and try another one, so Saturday morning I whipped out Snow White by Jessica Clark (back to a HAED, more comfortable territory for me) and had much better luck. I apparently havent't stitched on her since Jan 2021, and left off here:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/50832894432/in/album-72157662770925192/" title="SnowWhite046"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50832894432_7ae40434b2_b.jpg" width="1024" height="681" alt="SnowWhite046"/></a>
<p>And I faired far better this weekend, I averaged about five hours a day on Sat and Sun, so she ended up here by Sun night:</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53329917699/in/album-72157662770925192/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53329917699_ea09374c4a_b.jpg" width="1024" height="674" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>Snow White was always a pattern that I loved, but it was the fabric that sucked on this one, so it's been horrible to stitch since day 1. The co-worker I mentioned earlier was really excited about this one, which in turn got me excited about it, which is why I chose to go back to it. I was expecting problems but, to be honest, other than being able to tell the fabric was different than Bride's, it seemed OK his time around. Either it's because I'm not used to stitching and I just can't tell the fabric is a pain, or I've softened in my old age. But as of now, as long as I'm stitching, I don't care!</p>
<p>I don't have a non-Apple tablet, so I can't use Pattern Keeper, and frankly, I'm not going to buy a non-Apple tablet just for an app. I did try the free version of Markup R-XP on The Bride and spent a bit too much time at work getting caught up to where I was up to now. And yes, while it was nice to see all the percentages of where I was, what I done, and what I had left, the extra work just wasn't worth it in the end. When I do typically use apps, I use HoursTracker to keep up with my time and EZPDF reader to find hidden stitches (on the HAEDs at least), but I'm still very much a paper chart girl. I print them off on a lighter cardstock that is sturdy enough for everyday use for a couple of years, but not too heavy and thick to take up a lot of space. I use color pencils to mark my progress and that works for me. As someone who works in I.T., I know that you can't trust I.T. exclusively. I can just picture marking dozens of pages and then the app crashed or the pad does and whoosh! All gone! My system works for me and I just don't see the need to throw out percentages and stitch counts, while cool, in the end it doesn't really matter unless you have a FlossTube channel I guess.</p>
<p>And, of course, despite the spending moratorium, there were a couple of things that slipped under that radar. First and foremost, my stitch lap stand that I love so much is on its last legs and now that I live on the couch instead of my recliner, it's all just very awkward anyway position-wise. I broke down and ordered a K's Creation floor stand. I hate I had to spend that much money, but I'm wasting a LOT of time trying to keep my frame in the stand (it keeps falling out), adjusting myself because the whole setup is just weird, etc. I may have to go back to the chair anyway, but at least the new stand (whenever it comes in), will hold my project secure no matter where I'm at. I debated a Lowery or something else, but by the time I added all the extra things I would need for it to work on the couch, the K's ended up cheaper (although not by much) and it's coming from the States, so I don't have to worry about waiting months for something that is going to inevitibly get stuck in customs (story of my life).</p>
<p>I also took advantage of the HAED 50% off sale, but I only had one item in my wishlist (well, the same item twice in two different versions), so that wasn't a big deal. There are technically two versions of this pattern, one without the quotes from famous writers and one without and, initially, I had both in my wishlist, but in the end, I decided the one with quotes is more "me", so that's the one I went with and deleted the other one. It's Bountiful Bookshelf by Aimee Stewart. I have quite a few of those bookshelves, and I always get the supersized, max color versions, so I'll probably NEVER stitch them (because there isn't enough lifetime for one, let alone all the ones I own), but here we are...</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53329898818/in/dateposted/" title="SS-MC Bountiful Bookshelf_000a"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53329898818_924e8f77b4_b.jpg" width="1024" height="729" alt="SS-MC Bountiful Bookshelf_000a"/></a>
<p>I also purchases about four patterns from Vivsters (a seller on Etsy that I found through a FlossTuber). I initially just looked at some patterns and wishlisted them, but they almost immediately sent me a coupon, so I thought, "why not?". The all look fairly easy and my mind immediately went to some nice hand-dyed fabric and silk thread (I'm already thinking big again). This one is Quaker Tiles-Gemstone Forest</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53330016159/in/dateposted/" title="Quaker Tiles-Gemstone Forest_000a"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53330016159_8898b94605_b.jpg" width="1024" height="769" alt="Quaker Tiles-Gemstone Forest_000a"/></a>
<p>Quaker Tiles-Black on White (and just now I realized it's the same exact pattern as Gemstone, but I'm so horrible at color conversion, I don't even mind because I would screw it up if I tried to change this out to just black by myself...and yes, even I could screw that up!</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53329900848/in/dateposted/" title="Quaker Tiles-Black on White_000a"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53329900848_abbdf56a6a_b.jpg" width="1024" height="858" alt="Quaker Tiles-Black on White_000a"/></a>
<p>Moroccan Lanterns, because I just LOVE Moroccan lanterns...I have dozens of them all over the house. I actually like a lot of Moroccan decor, but another story for another day.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53329677426/in/dateposted/" title="Moroccan Lanterns_000a"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53329677426_c685b80ea1_b.jpg" width="1024" height="877" alt="Moroccan Lanterns_000a"/></a>
<p>And last, a really quick and small stitch, All Hallows Eve-Pumpkins</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53329900613/in/dateposted/" title="All Hallows Eve Pumpkins_000a"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53329900613_2323e088e9_b.jpg" width="1024" height="539" alt="All Hallows Eve Pumpkins_000a"/></a>
<p>As I was sorting these new stash photos, I realized that there were also four other new projects that I bought quite some time ago that I apparently never mentioned! So let me show you those as well since I'm on a roll. I have no clue when I bought these, but it had to be some time in 2022, because I'm fairly sure I haven't bought anything since then. There are only four, and three are Aimee Stewarts (shock...I seem to really only buy Jasmine Becket-Griffith and Aimee Stewart), but there was one by Joanne Rowland called Toffee. Part of me really hates the thought of stitching all that brown (reminds me the giant Jesus head), but I just LOVE the thought of a Highland Coo above my couch!</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53328801232/in/dateposted/" title="Toffee_000a"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53328801232_375eaf14b1_c.jpg" width="800" height="553" alt="Toffee_000a"/></a>
<p>There was one Max Color Super-Size bookshelf from Aimee, The Grand Library</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53329898493/in/dateposted/" title="SS-MC The Grand Library_000a"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53329898493_557bd122c9_c.jpg" width="798" height="562" alt="SS-MC The Grand Library_000a"/></a>
<p>And the other two where the Life Is An Open Book series, one for London and one for Paris (both are both MC/SS, of course, because I'm a glutton for punishment):</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53329675306/in/dateposted/" title="SS-MC Life Is An Open Book-London_000a"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53329675306_b1da49e459_c.jpg" width="800" height="561" alt="SS-MC Life Is An Open Book-London_000a"/></a>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53329898578/in/dateposted/" title="SS-MC Life Is An Open Book-Paris_000a"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53329898578_32d87c1e77_c.jpg" width="800" height="558" alt="SS-MC Life Is An Open Book-Paris_000a"/></a>
<p>And that's it for now! We'll see how I get along stitching on Snow. I'm not ready to enter any stitch-alongs or anything yet, but I'm working on it. I need to see if I can keep up the momentum first.</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-44826996875992343362023-11-02T11:11:00.002-05:002023-11-02T11:19:32.363-05:00Pic failures and, well overall failures (but some stitching)<p>I had another few days off around Halloween with the specific purpose of taking a trip to the beach and downloading Lightroom so I could get my trip pictures taken care of (it is taking FAR too long trying to do it with Apple Photos). But fate, as per usual, had other plans. First off, we had two days of heavy storms, and then, my bosses decided to have an exec meeting and I'm the only person that can start the Zoom meeting for them, which meant that I could risk being on the road and potentially not being in a location to be able to start their meeting, or not going to the beach at all and making sure their meeting was able to be started...so I stayed home for their meeting because I'm a good little girl (a stupid zombie).</p>
<p>As I sat fuming over my missed beach day, logged in 10 minutes early knowing full well that they would be at least 10 minutes late, I gave them another 10 minutes past their usual lateness before I texted someone to find out why I had been sitting there for 30 minutes with no one but me logged in..."oh, they cancelled the meeting!", is what I got back! Seriously? I gave up a beach day to sit there all day on stand-by, just to be told it was for nothing? Apparently they cancelled it that morning and didn't bother to tell anyone but each other. Wow. Good to know how important I am. Am I shocked? No. Should it change my attitude about how I approach work? Absolutely. Will it? Probably not.</p>
<p>"Well", you are probably saying to yourself, "at least you got to work on your pics, right?". Wrong. Also, during all this "fun", my heater once again went out like it has so many times before, only we were in a freeze warning. My glorious new roof? Well, they didn't seal up around the vent to the exhaust, and it leaked down into that circuit board that already had issues (I believe I've mentioned in the past that it has been replaced three times before). Since the last time it has been replaced, it has now been discontinued and they couldn't get it anymore, which means I needed to get my entire heating and cooling system replaced...the furnace on the inside, the air conditioner, the whole shoot-and-shebang (even the thermostat).</p>
<p>Wanna guess what it cost? Ten thousand dollars...yes, that's $10,000.00. I've cried a lot in the past few days. I had to take out a loan because I didn't want to put that on a 21% interest credit card. My stupid trailer isn't even worth 10g's! But that's how much I paid after three days of freezing to death with just our cook-stove and an electric blanket to keep us warm (and it was going to be $12g's, but they took pity on me because I'm a long-time customer and I cried quite a bit).</p>
<p>It means I'm not moving anywhere for the next 3-5 years (at least), because I now have a loan to pay off. For the first time in well over a year, I haven't spent all my free time on Zillow looking at real estate (because why?). Even now, if I say $10,000 too many times, I start to tear up. So there is no Lightroom in my future, no anything extra. I will probably be eating ramen for the next 3-5 years.</p>
<p> Granted, the new heater/air thingee is plastic, very loud, but hopefully it is more energy efficient. You'd think for that kind of money it would at least be built well and quiet. But at least, I only set on 72 when it used to be set on 78 for us to be comfortable, so maybe that's a good thing. I'm really trying hard to see the positives, it' just not so easy right now. We're back to sleeping on the couch because it's so loud and blows so hard throught he vents it sets the whole dynamic of the house off and it freaks me out. Although, in fairness, it doesn't take much to send me back to the couch. Everything considered, what's a couple hundred more dollars to get a new couch? At least I could sleep in a bit of comfort instead of chronic pain, right? Why make that easier too? Just suck up the pain Keebs. Between my vacation expenses and now this loan, I'm in worse shape than before I had all my credit cards charged up to the max! UGH! WHY! Granted, they aren't charged to the max, but add in the new loan and I'm getting there. Focus on the cards, THEN new couch. Change of subject now...</p>
<p>I did stitch some (believe it or not). I think it was more out of trying to keep my hands busy so they didn't freeze off. And, even though it's actually several hours worth of work, it's pitiful. You can tell it's been forever since I stitched! I worked on the Bride Dollmaker, one I apparently haven't touched since 2020! I mean, really? 2020? Has it been that long since I stitched? Geez! I ended the first couple of rows back in Sept of 2020...</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/50398822911/in/album-72157683147685142/" title="Dollmaker-049"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50398822911_88a74e5e20_b.jpg" width="1024" height="637" alt="Dollmaker-049"/></a>
<p>And, as you can see...pitiful...I mean, look how dirty the canvas is (and the pic isn't really even clear, geez)!</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42970033@N06/53304949201/in/album-72157683147685142/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53304949201_233a1fd0cb_b.jpg" width="1024" height="624" alt="Untitled"/></a>
<p>And my ORT jar was completely empty...I'm not sure if I just haven't stitch this year at all, or I've spilled it at some point and they got lost (although I'm leaning on just not having stitched at all). We'll see if I keep up the momentum. There were several days of my time off when I just stared at the TV. I couldn't deal. And my stand will not hold the frames anymore. I'm not sure if it's the frame though or the stand. But right now, I will NOT be buying a new stand, so I either deal with it, or stop stitching. We'll see.</p>
<p>As for the vacation pics, they are going to take some time. I took a couple of thousand (I really hate that word now) and I've only edited a couple of hundred. It's hard when you have to open them one at a time, decide if they are worth saving, edit it however, save it, rename it, and move to the next one. I've gotten where I really hate computers now, so I do NOT touch mine when I get home. My iPad, yes, laptop, no. So, anything I do is in my freetime at work (which is rare). I'll get there, it's just going to take a LOT longer than I wanted it to. But hey, at least I can do it in a warm house if I do it at all? Positive, right? Geez.</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-43460279310866255052023-10-03T12:58:00.002-05:002023-10-03T13:19:07.346-05:00I'm baaaccckkk!<p>We came, we saw, we kicked it’s…well, you know the line from Ghostbusters, right? That’s what I did on my vacation! But it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. I was very quickly reminded of my limitations, but I adapted accordingly and was able to have a genuinely good time. I didn’t fret about money (I’ll do that later when the bills start coming in) because, even the money I wasted on stupid stuff, or on stuff I wasn’t able to actually do, was money well spent in my opinion. The weather was up and down. My view of the States was up and down (I still love Pennsylvania and want to move there as soon as possible, and I have a new love in Maine, but if I never see Connecticut again, it will be too soon!). GPS and I still don’t get along, no matter if it’s the vehicle’s GPS, Google or Apple Maps. I do better with an old-fashioned map and paying attention to signs. I guess because I’m old? But I never once felt unsafe or scared, and I ended up on some pretty desolate roads…maybe that was me just being naïve, but I think I’ve traveled enough to not be too naïve, right?</p>
<p>There is a lot to mentally unpack (the physical part is done), and I’ll do my usual day-by-day breakdown when I get the pictures edited (and I promise to work on that ASAP), but I will say that I spent time in some beautiful country through almost every landscape this country has…from plains to mountains to beaches to cities to the country (I didn’t go through desert, but I could have because apparently there is a desert in Maine, I just didn’t have the time…the theme of this trip). It’s why I’m always in a bad mood when I get back to work…I see what all is out there, and I have to come back here! UGH!</p>
<p>I went on a historical tour of battlefields, forts, national parks, founding fathers, and great houses (although I had issues hitting as many capitols as I wanted to). I went on a literary journey from Grover’s Mill to Sleepy Hollow, to Union Cemetery, to Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s houses, and even Stephen King’s house. I went on a cinematic journey to Gettysburg (the movie was mainly filmed on the battlefield after all), Holliston (great underrated TV show), Mystic, Passamaquoddy, and New York City (thanks to said joyous GPS that took me directly through downtown Manhattan although I had mapped it to go around!). I went on a scholastic journey to Princeton, Yale, Brown, and dozens of others (they have a LOT more universities in New England than we do in the South, for sure!). I went on a cemetery journey from Presidents, war heroes, historical figures, celebrities, the ultra-wealthy, and, of course, family.</p>
<p>And, speaking of family, one of the highlights of the entire trip was spending time with family, and that’s not something you will often hear me say! My Dad often referred to his cousin as “weird” and, maybe it’s because I’m “weird” too, but I found him to be quite charming, incredibly knowledgeable and engaging, and he genuinely seemed interested in making sure I saw everything I needed to about our family history, taking me to meet his brother (or my other 1st cousin once-removed, I guess I should say), and the town where my Papa (my grandfather) spend his formative years. I appreciated him for taking time from his day for me and I’m mad at myself for not allowing more time to spend with them!</p>
<p>I spent a lot of time in gift shops buying…wait for it…books! I now have a whole shelf dedicated to American History (not a subject that ever appealed to me before). Yes, I bought the obligatory shirts and magnets too because I have a TON of room for that stuff (NOT). I also went on a food journey and bought Twizzlers in Hershey (because that’s what I do, I HATE Hershey chocolate!), had lobsters and blueberries in Maine (not together, of course), and bought maple syrup and cheddar in Vermont (although those might work together). But at the same time, eating on this trip was the hardest part…I ended up eating a lot of gas station food and, if it wasn’t for room service at the one hotel that I splurged on during my B-day and the ton of snacks I took with me, I wouldn’t have had a good meal the entire trip (besides eating at Mystic Pizza, of course). Apparently, eating out is something I still need to work on.</p>
<p>I am also very sore from head to toe. I have strange bruises all over my body that I can’t explain (and my neurologist wouldn’t touch the subject with a 10-foot pole yesterday…he brushed me back off to go see my GP, who I know won’t touch it with a 10-foot pole either because it’s related to my neuropathy, which the neurologist should deal with). I’m thinking about just calling an internist myself to see if I can get in without a referral. I’m tired of dealing with these two. But that’s another story for another day. I drove, on average, 12 hours per day, so I expected my feet would swell. I walked a TON when I wasn’t driving, and I’m not physically fit enough for that kind of strenuous exercise because it wasn’t just on flat surfaces, it was up steep hills, on big rocks, up and down stairs (I really should NOT have been on), up the side of cliffs, on very rocky beaches, and even on woodland trails (I know, me in the woods, right?). Most of the parks up North aren’t made for out-of-shape fat people (and I didn’t see a lot of us, to be honest), so me walking around limping, out of breath, wheezing, and extremely red-faced, probably just gave the locals a good chuckle.</p>
<p>Guess we’ll see how the new camera worked out. I will say, I’m not sure I took a ton of pictures this trip, well, I know I didn’t take Disney quantity pictures. I had to keep reminding myself to take pictures in the first place. I spent more time enjoying things than doing my usual snappy-snappy distracty-distracty, which again, was another first and hopefully a new trend! I enjoyed enjoying the world (for once!). I didn’t use my laptop but a couple of times for work. I never turned on a TV once in a hotel. I only used my iPad for maps (and my obligatory daily Duolingo lessons, and even then, I missed two days). And about the only social media I did was Insta, and barely that (and it’s not like I’m on a ton of social media anyway except for Twitter and Instagram and I never post on “formerly known as Twitter” anymore because it’s vile). I actually kept a journal for this trip! They were short entries, but I made sure to keep it every day.</p>
<p>And that’s about it for this trip, well, the highlights anyway (as short and sweet as I can get). I really sank a LOT into every single day, probably way too much and I still didn’t have nearly enough time to get done what I wanted to. Probably way more than the average person would do, but that's just me! Before I left, I had to shave down a lot, and I ended up shaving more on the fly. Some things I refused to give up, which caused me to loose more things later down the road, but we’ll get into all that during the breakdowns!</p>
Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-22176794504598317602023-09-12T15:29:00.000-05:002023-09-12T15:29:31.051-05:00Upcoming trip<p>And now we move to the future! First item, traveling companion…well, I gave my co-worker two chances to take a day trip to see if we could travel together. As you know, she backed out of the first chance and, not surprisingly, she also backed out of a second chance, so I told her point-blank that she couldn't go with me. I was pretty clear and, at first, she even seemed mad about it, but got over it kind of quick. She has since come up to me and asked again and if she was going. Very confusing! I set her straight (again) and she seemed resigned (again)…maybe it’s my OCD, but wishy washy people scare me. I feel LOADS better now!</p>
<p>Ironically, every reason that my ex-friend in 2015 ruined my Disneyland trip, this person was also doing (minus the ranging testosterone). Money…which I get, traveling is expensive, but she was expecting me to cover her as well. I was willing to cover hotels, but nothing else (even solo it’s two-person occupancy, hence my justification, although it would have been nice to pay half). Luggage…I find it hard to believe nowadays people don’t have at least a couple of backpacks in their house, but OK. Locations…I was looking at out-of-the-way interesting places, she wanted to hit all the tourist traps. I’m not into tourist traps at the best of times. The weirdest rant--cameras…she didn’t care until I bought one. I thought the rest of the world took pictures on their phone and didn't care about cameras? At least she did have a phone, which my ex-friend didn’t, so there’s that I guess? There were about a dozen other stupid issues I could mention, all of which were sending me into PTSD flashbacks, so all’s well that ends well and I can let all that go now.</p>
<p>Since the trip is back to being mine now (and I had already added the day before and the day after to my off days), I made the executive decision to leave half a day early and drive through the night so that I could arrive when the parks open Saturday morning instead of leaving at 1 a.m. on Saturday. But even that has snags. I had been keeping a close eye on the schedules, and I knew that the 23rd was National "get into National Parks Free day" (another crowding issue I was going to have to deal with), but Antietam decided to add a 161st celebration that wasn't on the schedule last time I checked (which could have been a couple of months ago in all fairness), so now I won't be able to go...too many people. That's a bummer. In all these years of going up there, we always went to Gettysburg, but we never got to stop at Antietam, even though I always wanted to. I might go to Monocacy instead, but it's not the same. Oh well, it means another PA trip on the horizon!</p>
<p> I also lost a ton of places I either couldn't go to on my own (negative), or really didn't want to go to (positive), so the trip has morphed into something completely different. Yes, it's still a future-home discovery, a family tree discovery, and a general vacation, but the vacation part has gotten bigger, while the other two aspects have gotten smaller (which is weird). I found myself getting further up into Maine than I ever intended to go (I only intended on skirting ME, NH and VT), but now, instead of spending my Birthday in Holliston, MA with my family , I'm going to be spending it in Bar Harbor in an expensive hotel (Happy B-Day to me), enjoying the beach and (hopefully) lobster, and more than likely, reading Persuasion (which is what I do every b-day, no matter where I am). Granted, I still have the family thing the day before, but at least my b-day isn’t hindered by it (not that it’s a hinderance, it’s just going to be emotionally draining for me).</p>
<p>Speaking of ME, I discovered there really is a place called Passamaquoddy (like from Pete's Dragon...the original, not the crappy remake, which I still haven't seen, but I think it's still safe to call it crappy), and since Pete's Dragon is one of my all-time favorite Disney movies, I HAVE to go! Yes, I understand that this Passamoquoddy looks nothing like the So Cal Disney backlot where the movie was ACTUALLY filmed, but my Disney girl gene is still strong despite the past month of me convincing you otherwise! And Quoddy (just a bit more south), is the Easternmost point of the US, and since I've been to the Southernmost point (in Key West) and the Geographic Center (in Kansas), I would be stupid to be that close and not go tick another box. Problem is, it adds a TON more to my travel time, but hey, this is me, right?</p>
<p>Then, I discovered that Mt Washington would be in my path on the way back home and my gears started turning again. I'm still not sure I can make the drive up it (too chicken…YouTube Mt. Washington drive), but I'm aimed for it just in case and, if not, I will have some good views from down below (if I make it in time, I can always take the trolley instead of drive it). I got a hotel close enough for the night after my b-day, just to be safe. And, when done, that lines me up for the Kangamangus Hwy, and I'll be there at the beginning of leaf peeping season, so yeah me, and I'll now be able to see the ME and VT State Houses (although I have to give up NH), but it will also put me in line for Ft. Ticonderoga, another bucket list place.</p>
<p>Like I said, what basically was a skirting trip has turned into a full three state discovery session (along with PA, CT, MA and NY)! I'm still trying to figure out how to get home in time (which is why I haven't booked a hotel for the last two nights, because I might drive straight home...it might be easier than adding another day onto the vet bill for boarding, which is already going to be outrageously expensive...more on expenses in a mo-mo). Everything I had planned to do on the way home, must be severely edited now just for me to make it on time to pick the monsters up! I'm still going through Albany and Harrisburg, but I managed to move Three Mile Island (another bucket list item) to the beginning of the trip as well as the Flight 93 Memorial. So, most of the home part of PA will be at night, but it will be interstate, so I'm OK with that. I may save the next night for just a "see where I end up and pull over at whatever hotel I can find" type of deal.</p>
<p>I will say though, for a road trip, I have spent a crap ton of money so far! And as I mentioned on the sly, yes, I bought a new camera! I'd like to say I couldn't help it, but I could have…I just wanted it. Then there are all the accoutrements that come with the camera. I also bought new luggage...partly because mine is over 25 years old, and partly because it's buried so deep in my closet, I'll never be able to get it out (and just don't want to try). Luggage is pretty cheap right now, so that wasn't so bad (at least not in the context of a camera). I've also needed new shoes, socks, underclothes, just general stuff that will live on well past the trip (that's my story). I've also been losing a lot of weight, so I've gone down a size and, of course, I don't have clothes for that size anymore. Even as we speak, I have a HUGE Amazon cart of clothes I'm waffling about purchasing. My credit cards are in pain right now!</p>
<p>Granted, this trip might be a LONG car ride and pictures from the car window, but it's still better than nothing (and they should at least be WAY better pictures than last time). I do have at least six hotels booked, so there is that, and I'm going to have to eat sometime (or at least stop at a store and buy more food than is in my Target cart right now). I did make sure to stick with my preferred hotel chain most nights (Hilton/Hampton Inn), so that way there is "familiarity" and I made sure to pick hotels with free breakfasts, so I could have one meal a day (if I can make myself get it...I've been bad about not doing that in the past because it requires human interaction, even with Continentals), or I leave too early for breakfast, but we’ll see (my mantra for this trip).</p>
<p>I haven’t made a “map book” yet, although I’m taking Google Maps snapshots as we speak, simply because plans are literally changing daily. It is so amazing what this trip started out as, and what it has become. I also have a hurricane to deal with (and its aftermath). Not that I’m saying I’m more worried about my vacation than the people that live there, what I’m saying is I don’t want to be in anyone’s way by being a “tourist” if they get damage. I’m sure they don’t want some stupid Arkansan in their way if they do. I have to take that into consideration as well and adjust accordingly.</p>
<p>That’s the main gist of the updates! I’m going alone, I have a new camera, I’ve spent a ton already, and I can’t wait! I really hope I don’t turn out to be a giant chicken and it’s all I’ve built this trip up to be in my head, because I’d really like to continue taking trips like this! I’ve also signed up for both AAA and AARP (one for car protection since there is now no one at home I can call when I’m 3000 miles away, and one because I’m old). I’m not sure how either discount will help me much in general, because I’m HORRIBLE at using discounts…they require interaction, (I don’t coupon either fyi). More expense, of course, but at least a bit more piece of mind (from AAA at least). Unless something major comes up, this is probably the last you’ll hear from me until after the trip, so wish me luck!</p>
<p>If everything goes horribly wrong, it might be a while before you’ll get picture updates, but I’ll try to drop in a little message to let you guys know what happened.</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-53626012466169341572023-09-08T16:44:00.000-05:002023-09-08T16:44:00.144-05:00Day 4-The End Of Trips for TWO YEARS (Disney '21)<p>My final day, I had no doubts as to what my plan was, I was going home. No last minute running into parks, no last minute shopping excursions...nope, my butt was going home! I'd had enough. I did need to get a Saratoga Springs pin and shirt, but with all the construction, that took longer than it should have. But first, a few last parting shots of the resort including my balcony:
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And outside my balcony (I really need to stop paying extra for a view, because this is was the first time I stepped out here):
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But hey, time to get back in the Rogue and head back to the main building (because I sure as heck am NOT going to walk it!):
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The joke was on me though, because they moved it because of the construction (even in the three days since I checked in) and I still had to walk, including up a very painful flight of stairs (but hey, since my knee surgeries, I can't walk up stairs at all, so them where the days, I guess):
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But I did eventually make it and got my obligatory rug pic:
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Here's the promised map from the last post...I got off in the peach section and my room was in the red section (leaving you out for scale):
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And just because people don't really "get" the scale of Disney World, there are four theme parks, two water parks, a double-digit number of hotels and resorts, golfing places, an entire shopping district, and a TON of other things, so it's huge in scale overall...bigger in size than the cities of Manhattan and San Francisco. This resort alone, for example, Saratoga Springs, is tiny in comparsion to other resorts, but the section I was in, the red section, had four buildings, each with over 130 rooms in each building! Think of a typical hotel you would stay in, this resort is made up of sections of hotel buildings, maybe 15 or so in all? Yeah, and Saratoga Springs is SMALL!</p>
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<p>I did decide to eat a good breakfast, so I went to the resident restaurant at Saratoga for my Mickey Waffles:
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The decor was relatively simple, but pretty:
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But by 10:34 a.m. (and I swear, this is the last time I'll say this, by the EXIF data), I was on my way home!
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One last look at the "oppression state":
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And there are only about four more pics after that, this being the very last one taken at 4:36 p.m. (but I won't say why I know that!):
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And that's it! As some of you know, almost a week after this trip, I would have a nerve test done on my feet and legs and almost killed me, but hey, it started my journey to my knee surgeries, so I'm going to turn a negative into a positive there. And yes, this trip caused a lot of trauma but, in the end, I'm still a Disney girl at heart (and always will be). I needed a long break for a while and now, maybe for a while, I'll take trips elsewhere. I still have to get overseas eventually, after all.</p>
<p>Someday (but not anyday soon), I will wind up in Disney again, but the next Disney trip I take will be to Disneyland, of that much I am sure. My sister and I talked about it, but now, that is scrapped and I'm going alone, again, that is OK. Maybe it's something I need to do alone anyway. If you guys remember, the first and only trip I took to Disneyland didn't end well either, so maybe alone is the best way to handle it anyway.</p>
<p>As far as Florida goes, politicians don't last forever, CEO regimes don't last forever (although who would have thought Iger could screw things up too?), and things for my beloved Disney World will turn around again. I will be back. I am bummed I'm going to miss the 100th celebrations, but I did buy some 100th merch (I couldn't quit Disney altogether you know!), and I'm OK with that. I'm excited for the future and, for the first time in a very long time...happy and content with my life. I've made some pretty drastic changes and things are significantly different now (with more changes to come), but all of them have been for the better. After all, isn't what life should be...a neverending series of attempts at improvements? That's what mine has been, anyway.</p>
<p>But that's it for now. I might update my Disney Reviews page somtimes soon. So thanks guys and I'll keep trying to hang in there!</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-28916323650985882032023-09-05T09:20:00.001-05:002023-09-05T09:35:42.030-05:00Day 3 Part 2-First Ever Disney Shopping Fail! (Disney '21)<p>In the past, I have literally spent thousands of dollars at Disney World on merchandise, sometimes more than the trip has actually cost (sometimes, twice, or three times the cost of the trip). I should be ashamed to say that aloud, but I'm not. I have a wonderful collection that I've curated because of it, and I'm quite proud of that fact (I also have a lot of junk, but oh well, one person's junk is another person's treasure). Every trip, there are certain things that have become trip "staples"...things I ALWAYS purchase every single trip because I can always count on those items to be there, and usually be dated with the appropriate year for that trip. On this trip, I utterly failed in my mission. What I brought home that trip, could fill one big bag (and most of it sat on my kitchen table up until about mid March of this year, the pins are STILL sitting there...I couldn't (and can't) bring myself to touch them).</p>
<p>The night of day 3 was my attempt at trying to rectify my lack of "duty". I had lists...carefully complied lists in my carefully made binder book that I've made every single trip since the late 90's. Shopping lists of things I need, things to buy for other people, things I would like...you know, the typical completely useless crap. I didn't touch my book. On day 3, my room was in walking distance of Disney Springs, but I took the (apparently) 7 minute journey to Disney Springs on a bus and found myself walking too soon yet again:
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I obviously went into Trend-D, one of my favorite stores, because I have proof:
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And I again walked past the super-popular new cookie store, but I didn't attempt the line this time (and apparently didn't stop to get a proper pic):
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The next pic almost immediately after that is of an Earl of Sandwich:
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But the following pic gives more context:
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It was 8:05 p.m. and I was back in the room eating said sandwich. How much shopping I did, I can't say. Looking back, I'm utterly ashamed, but hey, at least my credit cards didn't suffer! I know I used up every gift card I bought, but in all fairness, I didn't buy a lot this trip (I usually start buying those early in the year since I typically plan Disney trips a year ahead, I planned this trip within the month, another first for me). But hey, the couch was a pull down murphy bed, so this was hiding behind it (another crappy picture taking excursion apparently):
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That night, I did a lot of soul searching. I had planned to go to Disney's Hollywood Studios the next day, but I totally wasn't feeling it. I have never hurt that bad in my life. Another thing I have always done before a Disney trip is "train" physically. This trip, I didn't have the time. I went physically unprepared, overweight, and I suffered because of it. I cried (a lot) that night.</p>
<p>Also that night, I realized I didn't love Disney anymore. I had been touched by strangers on buses, in lines, at restaurants, and just in general (but no more than any other trip) and, I ALWAYS notice it, but this time, I REALLY noticed it. After COVID, I realized I never wanted to be touched by another human being again. Two years later, I'm still dealing with that trauma. Other guests have always been the bane of my existence, but never more so than that trip. In the subsequent years, well, you guys have heard the stories, they have made national (and international) news. Disney guests are the worst kind of people on the planet.</p>
<p>It was also the beginning of the downfall of the Disney Company for me. Chapek was in charge at the time and I hated everything he was about (things got way worse later, but this trip is what we are focusing on) and his fingers were all over the parks. There were physical changes in the parks I didn't agree with, pricing models that were bad, heck, even the Disney Cast Members had lost their magic! Store CM's were rude, couldn't get mousekeeping in the room to save my life (and I didn't want them in there but once), the Food and Wine booth CM's didn't want to wait on you, it was just a complete mess. In the time since, I have limited what I've purchased from Disney and I've not given a dime to Florida.</p>
<p>One final story before I depart this day...to top off this entire trip, when I got off the bus this night, I got off at the wrong stop and ended up having to walk completely around the resort! In the next post, I will show you a map of the resort, but it doesn't give a sense of scale, trust me when I say, I don't know how long I walked, but I was practically laughing in a Harley Quinn kind of way when I finally found my way back to the room (using the AirTags). It was an Epcot-ian kind of distance and if I never see that resort again, so be it! To add to the rude CM's...several of them drove past me in the little golf carts on their way through the resort and, there was a day when resort staff would stop and ask me if I needed a ride, especially the way I was limping. This night? Every one of them honked for me to get out of their way and almost ran over me on their quest to get to their location. That is probably why there are no pics from one location to the other. Frankly, I don't even want to discuss that story anymore, so on we go.</p>
<p>Next up, my final day in Disney World. I'd like to say it was a good end, but come on, you guys know the end of this story. What I did was, very slowly, packed up the car, and left for home...unceremoniously and with a sense of defeat. It will be a short one. By the looks of it, my last picture was somewhere in Alabama, so about halfway home, which also means I drove straight home, not either scenic way (either by the Gulf Coast or through Chattanooga). Basically, I even gave up on picture taking halfway home. But let's save that for next time, shall we?</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-89917649438729096832023-08-30T15:05:00.001-05:002023-08-30T15:05:00.143-05:00Day 3 Part 1-Last Park, forsaking my Disney Fandom card! (Disney '21)<p>I'd like to say I slept in and didn't get to the bus stop until 8:42 (according to the EXIF data) because I had the most amazing birthday's ever, but, in all actuality, I could literally barely walk at this point and it just took me a long time to get ready and physically get to the bus stop:
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The ride to Epcot was too short (bet you thought you'd never hear me say that, but by this point, any chance I got to sit down was a good one and Epcot isn't a park for sitting). Of course, my luck being what it was, they dropped us off at one of the furthest bus stations I've ever been to:
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It took me quite a while just to get to Spaceship Earth (and no, I didn't ride it, so yes, it's going to be one of THOSE days):
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There were at lot of walls though, and Disney has only gotten worse since. It's been my reasoning for why I don't want to go back (all the changes I don't agree with), but I also have issues with Florida in general, Disney management, and a million other things, but that's for another set of posts...I'm trying not to be too negative:
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I did head over to The Land to ride Soarin' and Living with the Land, but I'm not sure if I road either because I have no pics. More than likely, I did ride Soarin', but not Living with the Land. If I had to guess. I could see where, at least at that time, I could walk right onto Soarin' so there wouldn't be time to take pics, but Living with the Land is a long boat ride, so there would be a ton of time for pics. I obviously didn't ride it at all, but I can't imagine I walked all the way into that building and didn't ride anything. But, since I have no proof, I'm not counting either, just to be safe. I also didn't eat breakfast at Sunshine Seasons, one of my favorite breakfast spots, because there are no pictures of it. Probably because it was getting close to time for World Showcase, which meant Food and Wine, but something was very wrong!
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I walked to The Seas with Nemo and Friends, but I didn't go in (there are no pics and there would be pics):
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I do have proof I road Figment:
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Mainly because here he is!
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And the second I could get there (World Showcase opens later than Future World does, but I'm not sure they call either land by those names anymore), I was back in search of 50th statues (although again, I missed a ton!):</p>
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<p>I did start hitting the Food and Wine booths, apparently not until Germany though, according to these pics (it may have been 2 years, but I know my FaW booths!):
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Although I didn't remember to take a picture of my drink until I had finished, but I'm pretty sure it was alcohol free. It might have been pomogranate maybe?</p>
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<p>Then Italy apparently:
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And Greece (and there is no use showing you the booths, the outside of those hasn't changed in years, although I did manage to photograph every single one...somehow):
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More walls:
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Canadian cheddar cheese soup and pretzel bread...my absolute favorite thing on this planet!
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This was supposed to be pavlova, but it was the weirdest pavlova I have ever had. I remember that at the time:
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I did go into the new Creations store in Epcot, which took over my beloved Mouse Gear, which I apparently never reviewed, so I need to fix that. Creations is divided into silver and a color side, which I thought I would prefer the color side, since it was very 80's, but I ended up prefering the silver side. But if this trip taught me anything, it's that tastes change, and apparently, mine definitely have!
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What I can remember about that day at that point was, it was about 1:30 (again, I checked the EXIF data), and I found myself back at Spaceship Earth with a choice...make the loop around World Showcase again, start riding rides, shop, or head back to the room...can you guess which way I went?
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Yep, you guessed it! Back to the resort I went! I was having extreme bouts between numbness and pain in my feet and legs and I just couldn't take it anymore. I needed a break. This pic was taken later, but you get the point).
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I rested for a bit, and by 4:45 was back at the bus stop, but waited almost an hour for the bus (this pic was timed at 5:30 p.m.). The longer I sat there, the more I just wanted to go back to the room:
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Given a choice between sitting at the bus stop or hurrying up at Disney Springs and being in the room for the night, I would definitely pick the room anytime. I REALLY needed to get some shopping done...there are trip necessities that I always buy that I haven't even purchased yet (a hint...I don't end up purchasing them). But that's for now, so stay tuned!</p>Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8096595904349745632.post-19267023690211257592023-08-25T13:41:00.001-05:002023-08-25T13:41:00.172-05:00Day 2 Part 2-It's my Birthday and I'll cry if I want to (Disney '21)<p>Ah, welcome back to the "fun" that was my 2021 Disney trip! I did slow these down a bit because they were coming too fast, even for me! Last you left me, I was heading back from the Magic Kingdom, in pain, but it was my Birthday, so I had plans. It was noon when I left, but it took forever for the bus to arrive, so it was 12:46 p.m. when I got back to the room:</p>
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<p>I tried to take a bit of a nap, but I think it was more of going through what I already bought, dealing with my feet, and dealing with the ant situation. By 3:30, when I headed out to Disney Springs, I looked like this (and normally I don't; a) take pictures of myself and; b) show pictures of myself, but this is important for the story narrative, so I'm allowing it...I'm tired-looking, puffy, and my goodness, the hair!). I went out in public like this people! Seriously?
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By the time I got just to the walkway (which was aways away from my room), I had to get to just beside where that tent is, which, as the crow flies, isn't that far, but I ain't a crow and I can't fly, so I was in for a long walk!
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I stopped a TON and a LOT of people passed me (people that don't seem to exist here, but I assure you, it was a pretty busy path, I was still very apprehensive about picture taking...an absolute first for me), but it was all in the guise of "taking quality pictures" when I did stop (aka resting my feet):
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Best signage ever!</p>
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<p>At 4:10 (according to the EXIF data, meaning it took me about 40 minutes to walk that loop), I made it to Raglan Road and just sat outside for a long time taking a lot of pictures until I could even check in for my reservation...I didn't want to carry anything around just yet, so I hadn't been shopping a bunch...I just sat there:
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But hey, slàinte mhath! (I did use Google Translate for that, but only to get the accent graves, so to hit my Scottish blood...Co-là-breith sona dhomh, happy birthday to me! (yes, I'm digressing, it was a rough night):
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Of course Irish soda bread with oil:
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And Bangers and Mash (full Irish, meaning with cabbage), I'm learning to embrace my Irish blood:
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All my dark ride pic experience was going out the window with my Guinness pics:</p>
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<p>I sat in there for way longer than I should, but it wasn't that crowded and I was dreading the next step, picking up the cake. Before we get there though, there is some explaining to do. I did pick up the cake, and got a mini cake too, but the next section was a bit of a blur. I didn't really think about how heavy a full cake would be to carry around. Plus, Disney Springs at night is NOT fun, not even on Monday, which this was. I tried to take pictures (keep in mind, last time we were there, Disney Springs was just being converted from Downtown Disney, so a lot of this is still new to me at this point...I failed at this mission). I tried to shop, but people where just rude. I found myself not buying anything, not because there was nothing to buy, but because I found myself not wanting to get around the people to get to merchandise. I don't remember the exact number, but I know I made it out of the World of Disney Store (the largest Disney store, at one point in the world), with less than 10 items. I didn't go in the art store, the toy store, the Lego store, the bath store, I may have gone in the Christmas store, but I don't remember it. The pictures go from Raglan Road to the cake shop (and only one cake in the display window) back to the room in a matter of an hour (and keep in mind, it took me 40 minutes to get there, and by the time I ate, and walked around even more on my already sore feet and legs, that means my shopping was extremely minimal at best for me to get back in an hour). The cake bag was massive and I bought a backpack I didn't even want just to have another way to carry packages other than in my hands. I almost get the shivers remembering that walk back. To say it was rough is severely downplaying it. So let's just pick back up there, at the room with the cakes:
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The seven layer red velvet delight that is Amorette's! I forget the exact name of this cake, but I've had the mini version of this cake before and thought the big version was a good idea. In restrospect, it wasn't. I was literally eating this cake for a month afterwards! And even now, if I ever did go back to Disney World (which as of now, I have absolutely no desire to do in its current state), the thought of this cake makes me sick to my stomach. It is still very pretty, but ugh, how sickenly sweet it was!
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And my first slice:</p>
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<p>The mini cake was just plain chocolate, but I ended up eating a lot more of it and, in the long run, ended up actually liking it better, but I think it was because I was tired, full, and wasn't in the mood for sweet stuff. This one, despite appearances, wasn't nearly as sweet:
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And, at this point, I stayed in for the night, reading Jane Austen's Persuasion (like I have every birthday since I was in my teens), keeping my feet as elevated as possible. They were bleeding, swollen, and almost completely numb (which I was extremely grateful for, but a bit scared about since that was a new thing). I almost finished the Haunted Mansion cake that night (the rest was breakfast the next morning), and I was seriously questioning my life choices at that point!</p>
<p>This was a short one (for once), but you'll start to notice my attention span drop off considerably for this trip from here. Come next post and day 3, it will be my last full day (and my last park day as it ended up).Keebleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13297218097725284142noreply@blogger.com2