Weekly Stitching and FINALLY relief!

After 10 long miserable days, by Friday afternoon I was FINALLY headache free. I'm not sure if it just gave up or if being back on Ritalin did it, and I'm not sure I care. It may have been the shock of finding out that our lot rent here at the trailer park is going up $50/mo starting next month! They have NEVER raised it THAT much! Plus, they haven't done anything to deserve it. My neighbors across the street have already moved out and more will follow. I've been here over 20+ years and it happens every rent increase...mass exodus. When I moved out here, the lot rent was $75 and now it's going to be $250 starting in March. My house payment was only $318. Just with the lot rent alone, I'd probably paid for a house already. It's kind of sad really. I still think I'm going to stay here and focus on the school path though (although I had my doubts for a while on Friday). I don't want to pay them this extra money, but I know a degree opens more doors, not just here, but elsewhere too. I can still build my house, but maybe I can do it somewhere else and not be stuck here anymore. I just hope I'm not too old. One step at a time though, get out of debt so I can get into more debt with school loans! Brilliant plan!

But enough of my whining, I left off here last week on Mal:

And ladies and gents...as of 5 pm on Saturday, I am able to give you row 5 in all its confetti hell, most of which I did finish Friday night!

And all together now for a total of 621.23 hrs:

Only a row and three-quarters of a row to go...but not right now. To be honest, I think I'm more proud of the background that actually Maleficent herself. It's going to be fabulous when it's finished and framed and I may spend more to get it done right with fancy double-matting and all!

I couldn't wait to start on DoNa's Rapunzel. It's been calling to me since I kitted it up. It's amazing how different charts stitch differently. I started immediately on Rapunzel after I finished Maleficent's row on Saturday, worked on her Sat and today, probably no faster or harder than usual, and I managed to finish a whole page and almost a full other one! All my fears about working on 18 projects in a year completely went away after this weekend...that is if I can keep up this pace. But anyway, from blank slate (which, FYI is the picture I always mean to take and never remember to do...yea Ritalin!):

and I'd say I'm about two-thirds in page 2:

Part of me feels like this should be outlined or something and, is it just me, or does the lantern in the middle look a bit like an IUD in a uterus? Have I been working in a lab too long? Funnily enough, these colors would have been great when I was 14, but I do feel like I'm stitching a birthday cake right now. Hopefully, once I get to the good stuff, it will work itself out, most projects do. At this pace, I could be done with the first row by next weekend, but I'm going to be conservative and say weekend after next just to be safe.

I am kicking myself for the cheap scroll rods and the even cheaper velcro strips I bought instead of my usual American Dreams frames. They are just SOOO expensive and I needed four of them! I'm having a hard time keeping tension in the fabric with these Hobby Lobby cheapies. What I wasted on the four I could have at least bought two AD's...maybe. Oh well, maybe I can slowly buy one at a time. Right now though, it's more important I buy one for Sleepy Hollow Mural and it's going to be expensive because it needs to be 36", then I'll worry about stocking up on 18"'ers.

Speaking of 18, it is VERY nice being able to stitch on 18ct again, even if it's just temporary. My contacts needed a break from me more than I needed a break from them...the joys of gas-perms. I still have to wear two pairs of readers on top of my glasses to see 18ct, but at least I can stitch on it without my contacts. There would be no way I could even begin to see 28ct triple glassed up. Why can't I get normal diseases? No, I have to get some mutated crazy astigmatism on steroids and eventually I'll need donor corneas and that fits the plot line of just about every horror movie ever!

I got some fabric for the glass project that was in the magazine...I'm still on the fence about doing it, but I do love the fabric! The picture doesn't do it justice...it's more purple and gray, but oh well.

I'm still not sure it's going to be one of my other five, but I still have 11 months left in the year to decide, right Jo?