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!