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!
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!
Comments
Dollmaker looks awesome, that's fantastic progress for you.
The house looks VERY sweet, good idea to freeze it. We made a gingerbread house once, the e-numbers in the sweets gave my son such a hyper actIve evening!