I'm still going (somehow)

Work is getting down to the wire on my big project, but I'm somehow still stitching! I think I'm just getting to the breaking point at work and I'm starting to give up, so I'm leaving and spending more time stitching. It was bound to happen, I'm an Asper who rarely finishes anything! I had just started Everest last Sunday with one day's worth of work:

And when I started to get to the boring sky, I had to stop about mid Saturday (at least I finished the first page):

But since it's such a LONG canvas, here's a close up (and forgive the shadow):

You can tell I haven't stitched in a while, check out how "bumpy" some of those stitches are! Oh well, I'll get better again with more practice! I was getting bored with the sky background, so I decided to move on mid Saturday instead of my usual Sunday (I didn't want to routine it, but it seems as though that has been exactly what I have been doing, changing out projects every Sunday morning). So to break up the monotony of the boring background, I switch to the most boring of background stitching, Night Wish! She's been on my mind lately though, mainly because she's another one I apparently haven't touched since November 2017 (I am SOOO ashamed!). But I did remember that I worked on both Night Wish and Snow when my Grandmother was dying in hospice in July of that year, so it was probably hard for me to work on them past that, 2018 was the "year of the psych hospital", and 2019 was the "year of the school project", so it's not like I've had a lot of time since to work on them, so I am going to try to not be so hard on myself about it.

Since it's been so long, she's a HAED from Annie Rodrigue that is supposed to look like this:

I left off on the first row finish here (and yes, that moon was a total beeoch!):

I probably stitched for like 30 minutes Saturday and kept coming up with stupid side projects to distract myself, so I barely got anything done Saturday:

But at least by Sunday, I got about a third of the page done, and that was WITH watching both Infinity War and Endgame (there are certain parts of those movies I have to stop and watch...I can't help it, even after numerous watchings!):

Since she's not dithered, if I have the time this week, I could get a LOT done, if I don't have to work late, but there is a LOT to get done because we are about to go-live with this new system and I still have to switch everyone out from Windows 7 to Windows 10 (there have been some complications there too, shock, there is ALWAYS complications). I guess we'll know by next week how much stitching I got done!

But, as a side note, I was bad again and bought more patterns. HAED had a sale and, although I barely have anything in my wishlist anymore since they switched to all dithering, I did have two Max Color, Supersized Aimee Stewart bookshelves in there to add to the multitude that I already have that I have NO CLUE how I'll ever get done! Once Upon A Fairytale:

And Boho Seaside View, because we all know how much I love the ocean and, if I do ever get to build a house, my spare bedroom will have a beach theme and this will look good in there:

And I guess that's the news for this week! Have a good stitchy week everyone!

I'd forgotten how headaches affect stitching!

They had put me on this miracle once-a-month shot that had all but stopped my headaches and, the best part was, it was free with this cute little card it came with! But, by the end of last year, the card went away and I have to get prior approval every month, which screws up the schedule, and therefore, the shot isn't as effective, so I'm back to random bouts with migraines that last days on end. Thus was my week last week. It started on a Tuesday and didn't let up until Saturday (and I'm still feeling twinges), so my stitching was minimal at best, and I probably only got as much stitching done as I did because I ended up working less hours at work thanks to my head.

I left off on Snow here last week:

And stopped her Saturday nite here, stopping at 151.8 hours total:

Just basically a lot of mirror fill in and the Petite Treasure Braid that you can't even see unless you are close up (I'm not even sure why it's there).

Not only because of my head, but I also had a hard time focusing on her Saturday, so I figured it was "time to switch" again. A new person at work was showing interest in my stitching (something NO ONE ever does), and I was showing her my WIPs, when I ran across Everest and I realized that I kitted that project up in 2018, but never started it for some reason. I had every intention of working on Alice and the B's next, but I kept thinking about Everest and, when I went to reach for Alice on Sunday morning, that blank canvas was staring at me, so I reached for it instead! Just a reminder, it's by Addict to Cross Stitch on Etsy:

And I think it will be about 14 x 11 on 28ct when finished (and, I'm not sure since it's been a while, but I'll bet it's Monaco, although it's tan-colored, not my usual Monaco purchase color, so probably something I bought at Hobby Lobby or something). I worked on it about 10.58 hours Sunday, so I made it through about half of the first page:

Like the others, I'l keep working on it until I get "bored", which seems to be until about Saturday. The pages have big blocks, so a half a page finish isn't that great an accomplishment, especially with 10 hours of work (although, I am still trying to build up my speed and my head was still hurting a bit).

Speaking of Monaco, is it just me, or are they not making it anymore or something? I'm having a heck of a time finding it, other than very small sizes of that really crappy Charles Craft stuff. 123 Stitch used to have an excellent Monaco, but even they only have the Charles Craft stuff now, on the rare occasion they have it at all! I'm NOT a fan of Lugana, it's too soft and the holes aren't "right" for me. I've never tried Jazlyn or Jobelyn, can anyone compare them to Monaco vs Lugana? Which one are they closer to? I HATE the thought of loosing Monaco! I have a bit of a stash, but not nearly enough for future projects (although I still have enough WIPS to last a few years). I did buy a really cheap evenweave fabric the other day at Hobby Lobby, and I SWEAR it felt just like a really good Monaco, although I'm not sure how it will stretch out and stitch up. I guess only time will tell.

On the Flickr front, it seems the CEO has backtracked a little on his whole "doom and gloom" statement (it might have been a whole ploy to get new members). I have been looking at other services, especially Google photos, because I do like Google for most everything else, but I'm NOT a fan of their privacy agreement on the photos...it's a bit on the scary side and, since I just re-upped my Flickr account and I would have to buy more space for Google, I'd be doubling my expenditure there as well. So, until I see that Flickr is diving down further than it is, I'll hang on just a bit longer, at least for now. But thanks for everyone's input, it does seem like, if I can get over Google's scary privacy statement (although, for the record, most privacy statements are scary if you actually read them), then that's the way to go next.

Oh well, here's to another good week of stitching!

Still Stitching!

I am proud of myself, I can't believe I'm still stitching! I said I would, but that usually doesn't mean much, especially with my current work schedule. I left off on The Bride Dollmaker here:

And stopped on her here at 183.13 hrs:

I started to get bored and tired with stitching, so I decided to switch projects and it fixed that issue and I think I decided that might be part of my problem. I'm trying to force myself to either stick to a schedule or finish a row when I really should move on when I'm feeling stressed by it. I picked up Snow White, which I apparently haven't touched since November of 2017! How HORRIBLE! I should be ashamed! I left off on her here at the second row finish:

And I stopped on her here last night:

It's also the first time I've worked on a HAED in FOR-EV-ER! It might also explain why she is SOOO dirty! I tried to wash the little stains off her, and I just ended up making it worse, so I just figured I would just wait until I was done. "Hopefully", the final wash will clean it up and, if not, I will have to get "very" creative with the matting! Just a reminder, this is what she is supposed to look like when finished:

I'm going to continue on with Snow until I get "bored". I'm also using my phone now to take pics, which is why they are a bit darker...I need to apparently tweak the settings a bit and fix that. I just thought it was ridiculous to dig out the camera, take multiples, find the best one, edit it down, upload it, blaa blaa blaa, when I could just take a pic with my phone and have it automatically upload to Flickr.

Speaking of which, I'm NOT happy with the direction that Flickr is going to lately, and I'm looking to switch my photos over to another site. What photo site do you guys use for your pics? Sure, there is Google/Amazon and all those sites, but they tend to compress them down and they really aren't blog friendly for links and what-nots. I don't want to pay Photobucket out the wahzoo...I've been grandfathered into Flickr's old Pro program for YEARS and I have almost 53,000 pics uploaded, sorted, and tied to my blog, so I hate to leave them, but the politics of Flickr since they got bought out has just gotten horrible and I doubt they will be around much longer. I just need something more reliable, so I'm looking to you guys for suggestions!

Happy New Year and Happy New Stitching!

Well, technically not "new" stitching, just stitching in general, but considering it seems like a lifetime since I've been able to stitch at all, I'm counting it as new! I took a few days off, at the WORST possible time ever at work (because I'm about to break...and I'm not sure it helped much, but that's another story), and I spent the entire time, sitting on my butt, watching first the entire Harry Potter movies (which I REALLY need to get in 4K, they look HORRIBLE on my TV on DVD) and then all the Marvel movies in chronological order while I stitched! I worked on The Bride Dollmaker, which I haven't touched since March 31st! I left off on her here, although the time I'm not really sure of:

and I stopped early last night, ending at 178.23 hours here:

And, since it's been so long, she's supposed to look like this when finished, so I managed to at least touch Frank a bit:

Obviously, since it's been so long, I stitched slow, but I did stitch a lot, even if I didn't get much done. It will just take me a while to build my speed back up. And I've decided that, despite all that is going on at work lately, I'm still going to stitch because a) I just miss it too much and b) it calms me better than anything else, so I just NEED it!

On the TUSAL front, this wasn't my worst year, but it obviously wasn't my best since I barely stitched for most of the year. Here's 2019:

And compared to the other years, I still think 2018 was the worst maybe? But that was my "crazy" year (pardon the pun), so that year gets a break too!

My poor little box still has room for more years, unfortunately:

Since I ended up with a migraine on Christmas day, I didn't get to go into work like I planned (yes, I planned to work on Xmas...it's getting that bad), so making my annual gingerbread house was out too, but I also decided to do that on New Years because, as with everything else this year, I've royally managed to screw up all my personal plans. Some people are depressive eaters, I'm a depressive spender so, instead of paying down my credit cards to build my new house, I've charged those puppies right back up again. New Year's Resolution #1 - STOP THAT! I'm not a fan of New Year's Ressies, but this year is an exception. By making my gingerbread house on New Years, it was a symbol of my New Year of starts, first and foremost, working on building a house of my own. Granted, this was possibly the ugliest gingerbread house I've ever made because I tried to be too "crafty" and I'm NOT crafty (and my hands are hurting from stitching...a side-effect I wasn't expecting), but still, here it is, so don't judge):

Let me just say, I HATE gel food coloring! It sucks when you try to use it to paint with! But as a dedication to my Sister and Brother-In-Law who will be helping me, I used a cookie cutter that was a "party favor" from one of their wedding parties for the heart on the back of the house:

Normally, I make these things and then promptly eat them, but this one didn't smell very "ginger-y" and I think, just for posterity's sake, I'll freeze it so that, every single time I open the freezer, it will remind me of what my goal is. We'll see. Besides, I hate a crap-ton of fondant building it, and I'm kind of burned out on sweets right now anyway!

And, just because, Bugs didn't seem to care much that I was stitching, there was no need to take a pic of him, but Bam didn't like it one bit, and this was the view I had for the weekend and it was too cute to miss:

It's not like he was ignored, any other time he'd be sleeping anyway, he just didn't like that I wasn't readily available "in case" he wanted attention!

But my time off from work has given me a bit more perspective and Ressie #2, stop being so angry all the time! If I need a day off, take it! There is no need working myself into the ground because it's not doing anyone any good when I get like this (well, technically work is benefiting like crazy out of it, but I'm not, so I need to put myself first and stop putting them first).

As of now, those are the only two Ressie's I have, well, unless you count Ressie #3, start stitching again, but I might keeping adding to the list. Let's just see if I can stick to them!

As an aside, I went back in and added the pics at a bigger size...they looked so tiny on my screen. Let me know if they look OK on your screen. I have some pretty big screens surrounding me, so everything looks tiny on them, but since the pics didn't come close to the edge of the text, I figured I had room! Apparently, I've been out of the game so long, I've even forgotten how to post pics!