Hook's progress

For someone not stitching much (pretty much only on the weekends), I'm making pretty good progress, especially on the projects I claim to hate so much! I left off on Hook here last week:

And, as much as I was dreading the white, I couldn't stop once I started! I was only going to do two rows this week and move back to his head, but two rows turned into two more, which turned into "well, I'm already halfway down", which turned into, "well, there's only a couple more rows left" and, before I knew it, I had all the left side of the white done!

It also meant that, instead of the two days I had "planned" for the white, I ended up spending almost the entire holiday on it, which also meant that there was barely any time left for his head. Plus, by the time I got to his head, I was just tired of him, so I'm thinking it's time to move on again, but that will depend on how I feel when I get home tonight. Because of all the white, my arm is also incredibly sore. Those side bars are long, so I have to reach in weird ways to get to both the top and, the deeper I go to the inside, to the middle of the canvas. I think I need to switch just to give my arm a break (and not to break my arm!).

I also had to buy a new iPad this week. The one I had was several years old, was owned by the lab, and was giving out on me really quickly. I didn't want to get in a situation where I lost it because I have a LOT of important cross stitch (and game) information on there. My boss told me over a year ago to get a new one, but I didn't and, now that things aren't in a good place for us, I don't want to ask for a new one, I only use it for personal reasons anyway (unlike my laptop), and I really don't like feeling guilty that I only use it for personal reasons, so I splurged. "Supposedly", once this whole mess is over with and the grant money we got clears an expiration hurtle, I'm going to get that so-called bonus I was promised all those months ago for doing all that work on building that new computer system, so I dipped into my savings with that potential (I'll believe it when I see it) bonus money in mind. In true "me" fashion, of course I went for the best, but I'm starting to want to get into digital art myself (if I can't find good art to turn into cross stitch patterns, I'll just learn to create my own!), so I need the tools to do so! But also, since it was so last minute, I don't have a case (and they are incredibly hard to find for the new models...took me forever and it's going to take a while to come in) and I had to order a pencil online because they didn't have one in the stores. Normally, with a purchase like this, I have the case and even the screen protector before I even start talking to AT&T. For now, I'm still carrying it around in the box to keep it safe. It also means it will be on my phone bill now instead of the company's...that will take some getting used to!

I wish it was the only "bad" thing I did this week, but it wasn't. I've already ordered more masks than one person will ever need (I just think it will be a way of life from now on, especially in the medical field), which isn't cheap if you're ordering specialized Disney masks, but because food is going up exponentially in price as well, instead of buying less of it, I seem to be buying more (and eating more as well). I'm not sure why. To make matters worse, I also broke down and bought my "Regina bowls"...for anyone that has watched Once Upon A Time, you probably know what I'm talking about, the coral white bowls that Regina ALWAYS kept apples in. She had one in her office and one in her house and you would be hard-pressed to find a single screen shot of Regina's office where you don't see that apple bowl. I've wanted those bowls for-ev-ah...they will go with the decor of my new house (you know, the house I'll NEVER be able to afford because I keep buying things to go in it and charging up my credit cards so I can never afford said house?). This particular decor I'm calling "Once Upon A Time Chic"....subtle nods to the show without being overt, little touches here and there, but the piece-de-resistance has ALWAYS been those apple bowls. For a long time, Amazon has been out of stock and I thought I'd lost the chance to get them, but they got more in and, although they went rather quickly, I got the very last one. I wish I could say they were cheap (they weren't), but oh well. At least they aren't the version Pier One used to carry! Bloody hell, they were proud of those! Maybe someday, my bowls will sit on the desk/table/whatever of the room I decide to make Regina-themed (or maybe they will stay in the box with all the other "future house" decorations that seem to now be cluttering up my Duck Room more than it's already cluttered!).

This is also a HUGE week because, not only is it the final season premiere of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but we are also going to launch Americans into space this week from American soil for the first time in almost 10 years! That's pretty frickin cool! I'm not sure what I'm more worried about, Shield killing off Fitz, or how the Dragon capsule will perform with real humans aboard (I'm only half kidding about the Fitz versus real humans there, fyi). I think the Falcon 9 has already proven itself as a stable rocket, but the capsule itself...ugh. I am old enough to remember the Challenger disaster as well as numerous other launch failures and I know what a delicate procedure it is, but I also know the future of space flight depends on them nailing this. I've watched every launch that SpaceX has done so far and watched the progression of each iteration of the Falcon line, so I'm pretty excited about it and I think it will be OK, but you never know. If we ever want to get to the Moon again or even to Mars, we have to get this this first trial right (if not perfect). Coincidentally, both the launch and Shield happen on the same day. I'm going to be useless on Wednesday (which I just realized is TOMORROW)!

Which reminds me of another rant...why aren't there any good (or just ANY) Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. cross stitch patterns out there? Granted, there isn't even a lot of good fan art out there, but still. You got promo posters, there is actual comic material to pull from, Disney itself sells fan art, so I know there is some material out there that someone could make a cross stitch pattern from! Is it because it's mainly considered a "guy's show" and it's hard to find patterns for the guy genre of stuff? But it's also Marvel, so that should count as any gender, right? I've had a lot of people tell me they are surprised that someone like me (aka, a girl), likes AOS. There is nothing masculine about Shield to me, it's all about the characters and it has one of the best couple ships on TV...that is totally a girl thing, right? Or do guys ship too? I choose reactioners on YouTube first by a) if you're a guy, I want to see you watch Once and b) if you're a girl, I want to see you watch Shield. I might cross those paths if I really like the reactor on what brought me to their channel, but I come for the gender mashup...I like seeing guys enjoy Once and girls enjoying Shield just because I think both of those shows are often stereotyped and I don't think they should be.

But anyway, have a good week, watch the sky on Wednesday, and keep your fingers crossed for my beloved Fitz! He only has to make it for 13 episodes (and I guess Jemma needs to make it with him, there is no Fitz without Simmons). Stay safe everyone!

It's Hook's turn

I decided to give up on Sleepy Hollow because it was just too much trouble and I was getting bored. Maybe by next go-round, I will be in a better head space with it. Since I only have three more of my "bottom of the barrel" projects, Hook was next in line. He's my first monochrome pattern ever (I have four in the set BTWs, Hook, Graham, August and Jefferson, all from Tilton Crafts, which I thank immensely for creating)...I just didn't think ahead about the difficulties of a black and white pattern, I was only thinking "ONCE PATTERNS!". For you pattern makers out there, there are still fans of Once Upon A Time out there (I can't be the only one, there are too many YouTube videos for Once, so I know it's not just me), but we Once stitchers go NUTS for patterns and there just aren't enough quality ones out there! I have seen some on Etsy that just aren't that great, but when I do run across a good one, I suck it right up in a heartbeat! My access is limited to pretty much just Etsy and the stores like Tilton or others who rely on artists that created Once fan art, so it's kind of sad pickins' folks.

And I think I've mentioned my interaction with the artist that created these black and white monstrosities (as well as several other pieces of Once artwork that Tilton has turned to patterns, which, I do happen to own almost all of...I'm a glutton for punishment, but at least the others are colored!), so I'm not particularly a fan of him personally, but I am a huge fan of his work, even if, while claiming to be a Oncer too, was EXTREMELY rude to me about why he didn't draw Charming (although it STILL drives me insane that there is no Charming to complete this set). I can't wrap my head around the fact that he didn't complete the male lead character set without THE main character (which, at the time the other three were "active", Charming was still the lead character...Hook technically doesn't belong in a series with Jefferson, Graham and August for reasons that fans will know, he should be in a second series with maybe Neal, Robin and possibly Dr. Whale, or a case could be made for Peter Pan). I think that's probably why I don't usually tag his name like I do all the other artists who make the charts I stitch. It's a constant reminder of how rude he was to me in that email. I have a sneaky suspicion that he did actually tried to draw David/Prince Charming and it turned out bad, so he didn't include it. Happens to the best of us. If that was the case (and I'm not saying it was, I just kind of feel that way), I wish he would have said that instead of what he did say, I would respect him more for it. Some people just have features that are just hard to draw. I used to be an artist too, so I know that's a fact (and I also know it's hard to admit it sometimes). But I also know that a character study is a character study, and whether you like characters or not, if they are part of the canon, you draw them, personal feelings aside. I don't particularly care for Emma or Belle, but if I were doing a female version of these, I would draw both of them, whether I enjoyed it or not, because they BELONG in the group. I have a few other non-Once drawings that Tilton turned into stitches of his, so every time I see his name, all I'm going to think of is that rude email that I interpreted as "Josh Dallas sucks, now f'off". Never meet (or email) your idols people. Lesson learned. His work is so good, it even got me to buy the Once version of Sleeping Beauty, who is my FAVORITE princess, but I HATED that interpretation of her on the show (in their defense, it was a very high bar to reach in the first place, so it was doubtful they could have done better...don't get me started on Phillip, my favorite Prince)! But it's a nice piece of artwork, it's purple, and it reminds me of the show...I couldn't help myself! I guess I can play Snow and hold out "hope" of a Charming someday (considering his response, I SERIOUSLY doubt it). Oh well, that's old news and I'm getting off track here (shock).

Granted, I could just buy stitching software and make my own Once patterns, but I've had some of that software the past and it never worked out well for me, and then there is the whole copyright issue that I don't even want to think about tackling. Nowadays, spending that kind of money on cross stitch software seems frivolous (but apparently buying the equivalent in patterns doesn't?). I'm not on Facebook, so all those patterns in the cool groups I don't have access to, aren't enough to lure me back into the hell that was Facebook for me, although I still have to thank my amazing friend who gifted me Snow and Charming from there...that is my absolute favorite of all my Once patterns (and why I whipped it out in four months!). I can never remember if she wanted to be named, so I don't name her, but that project hangs in my office, so I will be eternally grateful (and she knows who she is)! Despite my hatred for Jennifer Morrison, I still want an Emma and Hook pattern that matches Snow and Charming, which, I have "technically found" where the Snow and Charming picture originated and therefore "can get" an Emma and Hook that matches, but I would have to make it into a pattern myself and again, we are talking copyright issues. Ugh!

Okay, dismounting soapbox and back to the topic at hand, Killian Jones...I did debate doing them on white fabric and just not stitching the white, but I felt like that would be "cheating" since white is in the pattern. I'm just the type that follows the pattern. I can't help it! I wish I was the type that could modify or change patterns to suit my will or to make it look better, but I'm a) not that creative, b) a total chicken and c) too OCD to mess with a set pattern anyway. I'm still debating on restarting it on white fabric, even now (I'm only 25 hrs in, so it's not a big loss, but I need to make a decision soon before I get too much further), but I seriously doubt I will (again, not to beat a dead horse, but it's probably why I think a character study should contain ALL the main characters, I like rules...it's probably why Captain America is my favorite superhero, I like his code of honor).

Anyhoo...here's what he'll look like done:

But once I got him remounted with the American Dream tape versus the "supposed" super-strong velcro I bought from Amazon (and then had to resupport with the tape I used to use on projects back in the day that STILL wouldn't hold him to the scroll rods...I guess he hated being strung up, typical Hook!), he's been a lot easier to work with than I remembered. I'm still not enjoying the continuous (and monotonous) massive count of white, but I've decided to just do a row at a time and then move on to the top of his head and surrounding areas to break up the time. Here's where I left off back in March of 2018 (bad me!) and you can tell how bad he's sagging there...it was a constant struggle to keep him attached to the rods:

And, I didn't stitch a lot this week, but there is some movement:

You can't tell because a lot of the colors are close to the fabric color, but I got a LOT filled in on his head and the surrounding area, so here's a close up (although, since I didn't do a close up before, I guess it's moot, but oh well, here you go anyway):

Since I'm still not in hatesville with him, I think I might keep on going this week, starting with another row of white (since it's getting shorter with every row...although I do have to do the right side too...ugh). Once I get the third row done, I'll move back to the head. Then I'll reassess next weekend. I don't want to finish the head and surrounding "swish" though, because that leaves only white, and that puts me in Night Wish moon territory. I may have to do two or three rows of white as they get shorter. It's really only long at the very top.

Another ironic thing about Hook is his needle minder. When I started him, I had the Once storybook which I moved to Snow and Charming while I was doing them, so I had to get a new one for Hook. I went with a white swan (obviously...those who have seen the show will get it), but on the fabric, that swan does not look white at all! If I take it off...snow white, but on the fabric, it's dull and almost yellow (not just in photos, but to the naked eye as well)! Go figure! I guess, now that I'm done with Snow and Charming, I could put the storybook back, but I like the idea of the swan. Oh well, I'll just keep in the back of my mind that I know it's white and hopefully that will be enough (but I keep getting distracted by it). Or, I could get a black swan (again, if you've seen the show you'll get that too), but that's not my favorite season, which is why I went with white in the first place. Besides, if I finish another one, my actual storybook patterns are next up, so I will need the storybook bookmark for them.

Oh well, enough rambling and ranting (and I was a bit ranty on this one, sorry!). Hope everyone is staying safe and happy stitching!

Still having trouble stitching

I think I'm going to move on from Sleepy Hollow this week. I just don't have the motivation to work on it. I think it's partially work's fault...I get home and I'm just too worn out to do anything but watch TV and zone out, but still, I think that Sleepy Hollow just isn't the right project for me right now. I can't really tell that it's even moving, although I only worked on it two days (and barely even that because I kept getting distracted). Here is where I left off last week:

And, now that they are side-by-side, I can see it moved a bit, which makes me feel a bit better, but not enough to keep on it:

And, for the record, it is kind of hard to stitch on this long frame with this little monkey in his usual position underneath me...on the old frame with the shorter scroll rods, it's not a problem, but he gives me the evil eye when I elbow him in the head a lot!

I think the confetti is just wearing me out. I'm not sure where I'm going to next. I need to work on something that I haven't worked on in a while to keep up the rotation, but the pickins are gettin slim. I think all I have left are Hook (black and white hell), Suteki (more confetti hell) and Faces 167 (which is 32ct and, considering the state of my eyes right now, I'm not sure that's the best way to go either). But no more new projects until I finish one and I don't want to restart the rotation until I move through them all. I think I'm leaning toward Hook...we'll see.

Technically, I do still have Tartan B, A Summer Ball (the project I hate the most) and Disney's 35th Anniversary (which is still hilarious considering Disney World is coming up on it's 50th now), waiting in the wings, but I doubt those projects will ever get touched again or, if they do, it won't be for more than the 5 minute intervals that they get every couple of years. I just HATE them SOOOO much! Tartan B is SOOO tiny, I should have finished it in like two hours, why it's taken me years I have NO CLUE! A Summer Ball is going to look fabulous when finished, but I despise it SOOO much, all those partial stitches that HAEDs have spoiled me against, I just can't imagine going back to it. And poor 35th Anniversary. That project is doomed simply because of the dark fabric and my bad eyes. I do use a lightbox when I stitch it, but that in itself kills my eyes and gives me a headache. I'm not really a fan of inducing a headache if I can help it. Had to learn that lesson the hard way I guess.

Speaking of disliking things, what do you guys think of the changes to Blogger? I worked with it for about two hours a couple of posts ago before I switched back to Classic. Either they don't have the bugs worked out, I'm just stupid (although I'm gonna give myself the benefit of the doubt on that one), or it just sucks! I like the look of it visually, it's just not good in practical use. I hope they get it ironed out before they decide to do away with Classic! I haven't played with it since, so if it's gotten better, or if it does, let me know (or if you guys have figured out the trick to it where it's not mixing in the HTML code, I'd love to know!).

Stitch Switch

I tried really hard to stay with Maleficent, but after a week of just staring at her and not stitching a bit, by Saturday morning, I knew I had to switch to keep my stitchy mojo moving. I'll get her finished, just not now. At first though, I had trouble deciding which project work on next. I wanted to work on one that I haven't touched yet this year, but the pickins' are gettin' slim kids. One of the reasons I don't work on Sleepy Hollow Mural much is because it's in a Q-Snap...mainly because it's a horizontal piece and I didn't have scroll rods long enough, but also because I very quickly realized that I hate working with Q-Snaps! They are just square hoops for me, I have to work one-handed again, which seems like a reversal back to childhood stitching. It slows me down because I can't use two hands to stitch since one has to hold the frame. I also tend to hold on too tightly with my right hand (since I'm a dominant leftie) and I end up with a cramped right hand that has to be pried off the edges of the frame after a few hours and then it's a useless piece of flesh for days afterwards. Major props to you guys who can use them though, they just aren't for me!

Another major mistake I've made with this project is that I never take it out of the Q-Snaps, so it's been wrinkled up all this time. I HATE trying to get it set and centered, which is hard for me to do with the Snaps (I'm just really bad with them), so I just left it and hoped it wouldn't get too squished. But I also didn't plan to take a year off stitching and all the other life hurtles I've had the past couple of years, so I wasn't planning on leaving in the state it's been in all this time.

But back to Saturday morning, I pulled it out, took it off the Q-Snap and it looked really good, all things considered...no squishing, despite some of the stitched area being under the framed area (for a very long time) and, as I started to examine the length of it, I remembered I had a set of scroll rods that were long, but not quite long enough. I had plan to buy longer ones, but the American Dream ones are SOOO expensive, I just never did. I also planned to go to Lowe's or Home Depot or somewhere and just buy long wooden poles and make my own, but since I never go anywhere (and now I can't, literally), that will probably never happen either.

A while ago, I did buy just some really strong velcro from Amazon that I "thought" would work better than the American Dream scroll rod velcro, which is expensive (considering the amount you get for the price). I literally bought this "supposed" strong velcro for both sides in HUGE rolls for the same price that one tiny roll of one side of the AD stuff is (you have to buy the fabric side and the rod side separate). But, as per how Hook turned out, the velcro wasn't as "strong" as it claimed to be. I even went back on Hook and added the old tape I used to use to attach projects to rods on top of the velcro and it STILL wouldn't hold (more on Hook in a minute).

I went ahead and gridded out the rest of the pattern horizontally, just to see how long it actually was, and I had my usual three inch border on either side. I realized, I could cut that down to two inches, fold it in and, since these were the American Dream scroll rods that use the velcro-type tape stuff, I could just tape it down with the folded edges (although I would have to be careful when I stitched the edges and made sure I didn't stitch the folded down parts into the project. I also had to put it on my American Dream lap stand, which again, I'm not a fan of because it's too short for me (although I adore their scroll rods), but the stand can hold the weight of the longer rods better than mine and it has a stabilizer bar that goes across the top to balance them. But at least now Sleepy Hollow is in scroll rods!

While I was at it, I went ahead and used the last of my American Dream tape to stick Hook back down to his scroll rods too. It's why I didn't get much stitching done on Saturday. Between all the work getting Sleepy Hollow reset and remounting Hook, a good chunk of the day was gone.

Anyway, on with the pics! Keep in mind, this is only two days worth of work and I didn't work that much because I was too busy on Saturday trying to figure out plans and then switching to the stand and then trying to get the stand stable and then trying to get comfortable with the stand (and then dealing with Hook which I don't know when I'll work on again...why I EVER bought a black and white pattern, let alone four, I'll never know!). But, first things first, here is where I left off back in December of 2017 (WOW...seriously?)...and, of course part of it is cut off because of the Q-Snap:

And again, only barely two days work, but here we are (and at least you can see the whole thing again), you can also see the folded edges here on either side...I really hope that doesn't bite me in the butt:

It is a bit "bend" at the front corner and that is a side effect of the Q-Snaps, but I think I can fix that when I frame it...hopefully. To add to the crappy stitching excuses (I'm apparently full of them this time), I didn't take my Ritalin on Sunday for some reason, and I didn't have the motivation for ANYTHING! It's amazing how quickly that drug changes your production value. How I managed my entire life up to my 30's without it, I have no clue! I had also forgotten that, for a non-dithered piece, how confetti'ed it is! I'm not sure if the whole piece is this way, or if it's just the sky, but I have to change colors a LOT! I wish I could park, but a) the hanging strings, even with "cord management" would drive me insane and b) I couldn't keep track of all that hanging string anyway. I'm just not that talented. But if I could park, this would be the project for it.

I also didn't have a good needle minder to match this project (gotta work on that), but I thought a sleepy Stitch was an interesting match, so it will work for now. And just to show how long this thing is...it takes up my entire sofa table, which also shows how it is a bit uncomfortable to stitch on the couch. I probably should move back to the chair, but I've sat on the couch (and slept, and lived) for so long now, I wouldn't know how to function in the chair again. Plus, the pups prefer me stitching on the couch because they can snuggle on me better while I'm stitching (which also hinders my work, but makes them happy, so I can't really complain about that). Here is my very junky coffee table and Sleepy Hollow Mural taking up the width of the entire thing:

But, since it's so long, I might also have to change how I take pictures of this thing. Maybe a whole shot and then a close up of the actual stitched area. I might try that next week. Today is Wednesday, and I haven't stitched a single day this week, but this has been a really CRAPPY work week, so I haven't been in the mood to stitch. And whoopsy on showing the pattern, but if anyone can tell ANYTHING from that one page, good on ya!