Weird Week!

Tornado after tornado this week and it's getting OLD! The sirens go off for hours, the TV weathermen scream "we're all gonna die" constantly, it's mass hysteria down here! The phrase that really gets me (and something they actually say, and not me joking) is "get in your tornado safe spot now, we can't stress this enough". Every time they say it, it sets my teeth on edge. Let's keep reminding me that I'm poor and live in a trailer! I don't HAVE a tornado safe space unless I drive all the way across town. There is no family, no friends, not even a ditch within a close distance to me, so where the heck am I supposed to go? UGH! Granted, there have been several towns within a 10-20 mile radius of me that have gotten hit pretty bad, but I've taken to the mantra of, "if I can't see it, I'm not leaving" and "if I can see it, I'm already dead anyway, so might as well die with my stuff". But, it does cut into stitching time, so I spent the majority of the week winding bobbins for the upcoming projects.

I had planned to spend the week on Alice and the B's, but that didn't happen. I left off here last time:

I did manage two more days, but the progress was minimal (another 516 stitches). Just a bit more in her eye and hair. I'm now at 188847/329175 total stitches, 57.37% and 819.42 hrs.

I decided it was time to switch, so I did actually go to Hook (like I planned weeks ago). I had initially left off on 2-1-24 at 14,418/148,750 stitches and 9.69% and 61.1 hrs.

I decided to stay out of the white and work on the colors, but I'm not sure if it's the fabric being oatmeal or what, but I had a horrible time seeing what I was doing. Hook lasted a night and an additional 308 stitches and 2.2 hrs. I just wasn't feeling it. I'm not even sure you can tell the difference here:

Once I could start stitching again, I went back to Everest, one I haven't touched since 1-20-24. This was an Etsy project from Addict to Cross Stitch.

I started in the white clouds and immediately realized white was why I wasn't feeling Hook, so I moved into the mountain and top of the rickshaw. This was just last night, so it's just one nights worth of stitching (845 stitches to be exact), which brings the total up to 8884/136,528, 6.51%, and 51.82 hrs:

But I do have EXCELLENT news on the stand front! Since I had my scroll frames ordered from Amazon, I decided to reach back out to Gaylon at BeeCreekLtd about the attachment for my newish stand (not including inflation, and considering how inflation has been in the past couple of years, I think I got off lucky). He was SO accommodating! I ended up getting the attachment (for 48" scroll frames), the travel stand, and even a tablet holder (which is what jacked up the price). The total amount was $303, which I think might have been more than the stand when I bought it, but considering it's now doubling the capacity of the stand, making it better when it's in "standard" mode, and still cheaper than the stand I was looking at, I'm totally excited about it! I literally can't recommend them enough...such nice people. I will never be able to afford an Omanik or Millennium stands (let alone their frames), so I'm making due the best I can. I've been posting daily pics to Instragram for my stitching progress, so I'll make sure to post as soon as it comes in and I've adapted my current stand.

And that's about it for this week. Will I continue on with Everest? Not sure, but I am running out of projects in the rotation. I want to start the new ones once they are all set up, I'm just not there yet. Still need more supplies to arrive. Now I just to focus on finishing a project (or two or three) before the end of the year. As of now, there aren't any in my stash that I would "die" if I don't start them now, but there is a new Jasmine Becket Griffith print called Tudor Rose Fairy that I WILL have to get if HAED chart it (or anyone else who charts JBG prints). That is my historical time jam (well, technically, one generation before, the Plantagenets, but they are technically the origins of the Tudor rose, white for York, red for Lancaster). I haven't been on the HAED forums for years, but even back then, they would never listen to my requests for projects, so I'm not going to bother asking them (it took them YEARS after I had begged for years to chart Strangely Lonely, so maybe it's just me). I'm not sure if they still do the "request a chart" where you pay to get them to chart something for you, but I'm also not going to pay an outrageous fortune for them to chart something just for me, when they just turn around and put them in the main shop for everyone else to buy as well. I don't have money to throw around like that (says the girl who has spent lord knows how much on stitching supplies for the past couple of weeks).

Weekly Update and supply news

I'm already slacking on the weekly updates because I almost forgot, but better late than never! I have also started posting daily updates on Instagram, but those posts are just basic info about the total progress so far, not a breakdown of what I did that day. I'm still posting here weekly, but the dailies keep me updated a bit better (I don't have to spend so much time searching through apps to count up my progress).

As you may remember, I picked up SS/MC Once Upon A Fairy Tale, an Aimee Stewart bookshelf by HAED last Sunday Switch day. I was still NOT feeling the Q-snaps, so the redux lasted only through Monday. Last time we were here:

And, with the one additional day, I added another 628 stitches (2103/713,265) and another 1.4 hrs (9.52 hrs total). That brings me to 0.29%.

I decided next to move on to Mini Wisdom, a HAED by artist Cherie Gerhardt. In case you don't remember, here is the model (it's a Harry Potter Ravenclaw pattern). I'm not planning on doing the other house patterns (I don't even own them). Since I am a Ravenclaw, I figure one is enough (and I don't have the wall space for all four):

I last left off on this on Feb 29, 2024 (I think the last of my Leap Year starts, but don't hold me to that) with just 645 stitches and 1.08 hrs of progress.

I spent the week questioning my choice of picking the Mini pattern versus the full size, which is quite a bit bigger (they also have a MC, but I have enough of those in stash). I was having issues with the lack of details. Ultimately though, I decided this one should be OK from far off (the same decision I made when I bought it). I worked on it through the week excluding Tuesday (work made me so mad, I couldn't fathom doing anyting but vegging in front of the TV). I got an additional 5268 stitches (a total of 5913/184,500) and an additional 21.95 hrs for the week, which brings me to 7% finished (and the picture below actually shows it better than in person, I can see the transitions that are supposed to be there, the blues and the blacks all blend together in person):

On Sunday Switch day, I decided that, if I'm going to make Alice and the B's my focus piece, then I needed to go back to it for now, even though I'm not finished with the WIP rotation. I left off on 2-15-25 (I think I gave the wrong date in my last update of this one, I'll need to fix that). I was at 186,830 total stitches, about 56.76% complete.

I had planned a full day (and night) of stitching, but Sunday was another tornado night for us, so I lost several hours of work-time and didn't really stitch much once the threat of imminent death with over with. I only got 1458 stitches in (a total of 188,349/329,175) and another 7.47 hrs (I must not have been good about clocking in and out as the storms progressed, because that is appauling time for the little bit of actual stitching), but I am now at 57.22%.

I plan to spend the week on Alice, but we'll see how it goes. I'm not great at sticking to goals lately (apparently), so no promises!

On the new projects front, I have started kitting them up, but I'm still struggling with getting scroll rods or a new stand for them (plus the two on Q-Snaps). I did contact the maker of my newish stand, because I noticed he had a center mount attachment that works on it...I wanted to see if it would go to 48". It doesn't, but he said he could make one for it for an additional fee. I also asked about the tablet extension, as well as the scroll rods that he makes, and he said he would work up a quote for me. I haven't heard back from him yet, but I'll poke him again this week if I don't hear from him. His scroll sets are a bit on the expensive side, so I may just go ahead and order the others from Amazon (or wherever). I did realize that I didn't really need the EZ Stitch rods for the smaller ones, I could get the cheaper rods, like the ones they have at Hobby Lobby. That would save me a ton of money.

I also ordered another big piece of the 28ct Easy Count material. Partly because the other order is still backordered, and partly because I'd like to have some in my stash, you know the stash I apparently never touch? Since I am a bobbin person, that whole process of bobbinating should take a while anyway, so that gives me time to debate new rod purchase and gives time for the fabric to actually arrive. There are still a couple I haven't even measured for rods, but I did at least check to see what I had in my stash, so I might be able to come up with something that could save me from additional purchases.

I hope everyone has a good week! I need to spend some time getting caught up with everyone else's blog, but I'm so focused on stitching right now, I haven't had the time. I'll get there eventually! But thank you to those who are stopping by. I know this isn't a preferred medium for stitchers anymore, but I just can't see myself doing FlossTube. Everyone has such great areas of their house to film in (such as a dedicated stitch room), but my house is just a crammed-pack density of Disney stuff, it would just look horrible! I'm also not an "on-camera" person. I don't even take pictures of myself on vacation (and even before that, only yearly school pics, nothing personal). The thought of filming myself is just terrifying. I'd like to do timelapse videos of all my finishes, but I haven't found a suitable app product that can align them properly. Again, eventually!

Stitching ups and downs

I've had my good days and bad days stitching since my last post. I was moving along on Alice and the B's, but I have since switched four times (but more on that in a bit). I left off last post here:

And, after another 2876 stitches and 12.75 hours, I stopped Sat the 15th. I'm at 186,830 stitches out of 329,175 total, which is 56.76% complete. The lack of dithering makes stitching this one a breeze, I'm just in a weird area of the picture and don't care for it (which is odd because faces are kind of my thing, it has to be the colors). I left off here last post:

I know I had planned to finish the row, but I was getting so bored with it and I decided if I didn't switch, I would quit stitching again.

So about mid-day on the 22nd, I switched to The Bride Dollmaker by Medusa Dollmaker (a GeckoRouge kit). It was one I started in Jul of 2017, before my stay at the "Hotel California", so she's had ups and downs of her own. I left off on her back in Nov of 2023 here:

As a side note, the level of dirt that accumulates on these things is just horrible, so please ignore. It will get stitched over eventually.

After a sparce week of stitching, days on and days off, I got 2563 stitches done in 16.17 hours, which is a total of 46,024 stitches out of 107,269 and 42.91%. I stopped last Friday here:

I wasn't feeling the dithering on this one (you guys know how I feel about dithering and the fit I threw when HAED switched to that method of charting, but that's an old fight best given up now because it can't be changed). I love the picture, I just don't care for the charting method. It will be great once it's finished.

I decided to switch again to Snow White (a non-dithered HAED retired pattern) by Jessica Clark when I got up last Saturday (I didn't even get up until 3, so weird weekend all around). It was one of my 2016 New Year's starts, so it's been hanging around for a while. I also left off on her in Nov of 2023 at the second row finish here:

And very quickly remembered why I don't like this one...crappy fabric. By Sunday the 23rd (the next day), I was just done. I did a measly 10.23 hrs and finished 1318 stitches (which is shameful). That leaves me at 42,769 stitches total out of 69,374 and 61.65%. I could probably finish this one easily by the end of the year if I could stand the fabric, but I just can't take it for long periods of time. I still don't know why I didn't restart it from the get-go. Maybe I didn't have spare fabric? Oh well, again, a dead fight. I did manage to cover a chili stain from like 5 years ago, so not all bad. I am more worried about the dirt on this one since there is so much blank area that's part of the picture, but anyhoo, another dead subject. I left off here (which looks like more than it is):

By this point, I was struggling and debating quitting again. I think my mind was just in a weird place last week.

I took Sunday night off and started again yesterday with Harry Potter US Bookcovers by Fox and Teacup Designs. This one was one of my Leap Year starts in Feb 2024 and I stopped here that same month:

Since I decided to switch later last night (I wasn't going to stitch at all), I only got 5.1 hrs in and 1508 stitches. It was slow at first, but I picked up once I had literally done almost 2/3 of a page! That's not as great as it sounds because they are weirdly formatted pages and probably only equal about 1/3 of a large-charted HAED. So, even though it was just one night, that makes a total of 8231 stitches out of 121,975, or 6.75%. I'd like to finish the row this week (which is another 2 1/3 pages), but I'm taking it one day at a time. This isn't dithered and the fabric is the pre-gridded 28ct evenweave, so I can't use those excuses on this one. It will probably just be boredom that stops me. Last night, I stopped here:

I'm not sure where the rest of the week is going to take me, but I guess time will tell. My "change every Sunday" policy is obviously going out the window (for now), but whatever I have to do to keep interested, that's what I'll do. I have also decided to change my 55's on my stitching from 55 total stitches on every project to 5500. I think that's an easily obtainable goal at this pace, at least on most projects, probably not the UFO's though. I said I would pull UFO's back out too, but those may stay at 55 stitches total. They are, afterall, UFO'ed for a reason. For right now, one day at a stitchy time for me!

Working on my 55's

Since this year is my "Year of 55's", aka New Years' Resolutions consisting of 55 items per category, I've been moving along slowly but surely. I finished the final Gabriel books by Sylvain Reynard (to go with the Gabriel series on Passionflix), so that has me at 3 books (I read the first one at the end of last year). I've gone through 7 movies and shows that I have never seen before and I'm still working through a few more. I have gone through a few things to throw out, a few household repairs and chores, a few new food dishes (some wins, some losses), and at least 10 uncomfortable things (but since most of my life is uncomfortable, I'm having issues with those). I haven't touched any new music, lost any pounds, paid down any debt (of note), or saved up for a car payment.

But, and the thing that you guys will care most about, is that I have started stitching again! I'm swapping out projects every Sunday.

I started last Wednesday with DoNa Stitches Merida. It's probably my easiest project because it's on 18ct and it's solid blocks of colors. I had barely started on it back in March of 2024 and left off here:

Although it was really slow stitching at first, I'm getting better (it's been almost a year since I stitched on anything). I worked on it for 14.97 hrs (most of that was on Saturday) and got 3185 stitches done (so I hit my 55 stitches on every project mark with Merida). If I keep up (even with switching every week, I should be able to finish this one by the end of the year). I ended Merida on Saturday night (well, technically early Sunday morning, but that's just semantics) and left off here:

Once I broke myself in with Merida, I switched to Alice and the Bouguereau Princesses by HAED. Bit of back story: I cleaned off my Jasmine Becket Griffith wall in my house, put the prints in a storage box, and only left up the stitches (and one print). The other half of the wall now holds a few of my Disney cross stitches, but now the whole wall looks pretty blank with only about 5-6 on each wall. I need a JBG to make that wall look a bit fuller since that is the most lacking side. So I think, if I can keep stitching, Alice and the B's will be my focus piece and I'm going to try to finish it by the end of the year. I may not switch it out this Sunday and keep going on it for a while. But, if you remember, I left off here in January of 2024:

Today is only Thursday, but I've already put in 21.32 hrs and 4556 stitches. Hopefully, with a full day on Saturday (and possibly Sunday), I will be able to double that. Here is where I am now:

I'm still incredibly dissatisfied with the colors in this project, but it was designed that way, so I'm kind of screwed there. I'm over 55% done on this one, so it will be a hard sell to get it done by December. Even if I do, I don't know when I'll get it framed. Maleficent (which was my focus piece in 2023) is still sitting on the kitchen table in a ziploc. That will be a chore for me to complete this year, get Maleficent framed and, if I finish Alice, get it framed as well. Merida is part of a set (I've already finished Rapunzel), so that one will not be on the framing list. As a matter of fact, I even bought the Tiana and Mulan projects, so now I have all of them (until more come out). I want all of them in matching frames, so I'm going to finish them all first.

I'm also starting to get the hankering to start at least three new projects. I want to start A Discovery of Witches (which I haven't even printed out yet), the JBG of Strangely Lonely (which is the one print that is still on my wall), and one of the mouse kits. But, maybe I should finish another project first. I'm out of scroll frames, I'm trying to save money (so spending a fortune on fabric and threads is kind of stupid right now), and I do have so many WIPs, it's a itch I'm trying very hard to not scratch.

But that's the update for now. Sorry for the mid week update, but I was in the mood for it!

Still moving along

Not much new to report, still stitching along, although I did take a couple of days off stitching when I returned to work after vacation. As per usual, fate decided she was going to kick me in the teeth, and I literally have been knocked off my feet every single day since. Eventually though, I accepted it, and just started stitching again, shutting my brain down to it all, even though I'm not stitching as much as I was, some days, barely getting in a thousand stitches a day.

I left off on Alice and the B's here last week:

And, although I did get Cinderella's side finished up and started moving on to Alice's face, once I hit that Kreinik, I got stuck and spent almost all this weekend on nothing but. I do use Petit Treasure Braid instead, but all in all, it's the same stuff and it's a pain sometimes. I'm glad HAED doesn't really chart with it anymore, or at least not on the patterns I've bought in the last year or so. On some charts it looks good, but on this one, the coloring is so off anyway (I mean, look at their skin color, it's nothing like the original print, they look zombie green and you can't tell the difference between Cindy's shirt and her chest because it's all the same colors, it's NOT supposed to be according to the original artwork). The shiny thread is just an eyesore, but first, where I got to:

And, as hard as it is to photograph, especially with a phone, here is the Petit Treasure Braid, as best as I can show it:

There was more of it than just Alice's face, there was also some on Cindy, but not much more and not enough to single out. It was basically just that patch that took me all weekend, although along with the other stitching I did across the piece, it was still around 2000 stitches total for the weekend (which is about a third of my normal weekend stitching). I didn't count for the whole week, but it was way down, I'm sure of it.

On the coloring issue, I've talked about this in the past (probably ad nauseum), but I'm REALLY hoping it all works out in the end. HAED's are like that sometimes. Considering the size of this piece (it's the largest HAED I've done to date, although the bookshelf will outmatch it in spades once I start it, it's just hard to tell how big it is from these pictures), I won't say it will be a total waste of time and effort if they look like zombies (which, they aren't meant to), but I will be disappointed, especially after all these years of working on them.

I did have to stop watching FlossTube, because I ended up with more patterns, not all of which I'm going to show you (there are too many), but I got some more Vivsters patterns and seriously thought about starting this one as well, Quaker Tiles, Scotland (I may have shown this to you already, I got it in the first batch of Visters), but I would want to do it with silk thread, and the thread alone was yet another $100, and I'm just NOT going to do it!

And, when I was looking for something else entirely, I ran across this one by Modern Cross Stitch for A Discovery of Witches, another one of my favorite shows, which I had also read the book series (I actually read them first, a rare occurrence for me, normally a show gets me to reading nowadays). I do want to start this one as well, but I think I can wait for now...for now. So many easter eggs in this! Love it!

So, I just went back to watching A Discovery of Witches instead of YouTube this weekend (and easy weekend show because it's British, so short seasons, and only there is only three of them because three books, well, four books, but the fourth book is something else). I do think it slowed me down because I wanted to watch the show more than stitch, so there is that and that's something I need to consider going forward...because I do spend the majority of my time on YouTube anyway, but when I started stitching again, I found it easier to drop in Supernatural because I have seen that show so many times, it was easier to just have background noise that something I needed to pay attention to. Shows like Once or S.H.I.E.L.D., I'm gonna wanna pay attention to, even though I've seen them hundreds of times a piece. I guess I need an "OK to watch" pile and a "nope, distraction" pile. I can only deal with the family business of saving people and hunting things, taking the hobbits to Isengard, and telling Harry he's a wizard, so many times before I start to get burnt out. I can deal with people reacting to any of my shows or movies on YouTube pretty easily, but not that many people watch Once or S.H.I.E.L.D. and no one watches ADoW (must be a copyright thing), and the ones that do watch the other shows, only put out content once a week or so. I watch people react to GoT all the time as well, I've probably watched reactors dozens of times versus two times I've seen the show all the way through. I think I prefer it that way. Just anything to keep me away from FlossTube or I'm never gonna get out of debt! I do have other channels I watch, and I have to keep up with those, but it's mainly weekly content, so I really only have to drop in once a week for a day to stay caught up.

And I have also been watching the new Percy Jackson on Disney+, another book I've actually read (the first one at least, but after the first movie came out). But that's a weekly thing and only 30 minutes per episode, so not much of a distraction. The verdicts not fully out though yet because I'm not seeing the reason for the remake. I LOVE both movies, but I haven't read the second book, so its flack I don't get (other than the bad CGI, which I can ignore). I don't get remakes, unless there is an important reason for it, and so far, I'm not seeing those reasons (and that includes live action versions of animated movies). I get making books into movies or shows, some people just don't read anymore and it gets more media out there. I'm a reader, although I don't do much of it anymore (but I still buy way too many books for my liking). There are some rare cases where I like movies better than the books (A Walk To Remember comes to mind, love the movie, hate the book), typically I prefer the book to the movie, but usually, I can separate them and like them in different ways. In the case of PJ, it's like 8-30 minute episodes, basically a 4 hour movie, so again, why remake it? If they were hour episodes, I'd get it then. I know there was a lot of flack over the diversity casting, but what's new in today's world? Most of the new actors are better than the original cast (except Logan Lerman, he's still Percy to me). I have seen shows or movies fail simply because people went nuts over the casting. If the actors are bad, no matter their race, it isn't going to work anyway (don't get me started on the TV adaptation of Vampire Academy again). Sometimes story needs to be tweaked if you change the ethnicity of an actor, sometimes it doesn't. PJ does well without changes, VA made too many changes and was unrecognizable to the books (and the bad acting was a huge factor as well). Eventually though, if Percy fairs well, we will get to see all the books on the screen, so maybe it's a good thing, jury's still out. I'm still snagged on the sameness of it all as it's very similar to the movie version.

The upcoming Harry Potter series? Only time will tell and that's a fanbase that is rabid and extremely militant. Jo Rowlings is a whole other ball of wax I don't want to touch with a 10ft pole. No one can replace Alan Rickman, so whoever is cast as Snape is doomed, no matter who they are, inside or out. A couple more hours of information, if the episodes aren't long enough, is not going to change much story, except in Goblet, Prince, and the battle of Hogwarts at the end of Hallows 2, which the movies changes more of than they should have from the books. But I love both versions of all, they are just two separate things in my mind. As of now, I just don't see the purpose in remaking it. It's brilliant as is. I'm not really militant about much though (which, I probably am and just don't realize it, definitely Duran Duran, and Disney too, Disney is just in the naughty chair right now).

I'm not sure how I got off on that tangent, but enough gibber jabber! I'm all culturally referenced out...snap*...did all the bad people disappear yet? I don't think the world will be happy until we're living in the Mr. Hankey, The Christmas Poo episode of South Park (there, one more reference before I go).

An Actual Stitch Year In Review (I'm so proud)!

I can't believe I've started stitching again! It's very surreal. Stitching used to be therapy for me, my mind dealing with various issues, but now I can't let my mind go there because my headspace doesn't work that way anymore. Now I try to just keep my head clear and work on the project at hand. But sometimes I catch myself wondering why I'm stitching in the first place. Once I'm dead, what will it have been for? I stopped stitching for other people because they didn't seem to care. And now, my life is pretty void of humans in general and I'm very happy with that decision. But I can't help but dwell on all my stitching and my collections getting scooped into a dumpster by whoever trashes spinster old lady's stuff when I turn into worm food. I've considered selling some of my more valuable Disney items, but the thought just makes me sick. Some of my biggest regrets in life are things I've gotten rid of for one reason or another or lost (or got taken away). It's just the Asper in me, I need my stuff. I keep telling myself it won't matter when I'm dead, but it does matter to me now, oh well, can't cry over milk that's not only not spilt, but not even from a birthed cow, so moving on.

For the first time in quite a few years, I have made some New Years resolutions...the typical "stick to the diet" one (that's going pretty well, although it's more eating healthy than a diet, per se), but I'm also going to try to keep a positive attitude about as much of everything as I can (despite the above paragraph, which might have sounded negative, but I prefer to think of it as "realistic"). I'm going to try my darnedest to make 2024 better than the past several years and despite whatever bad things might happen, I'm going to smile my way through them, one issue at a time. I'm also going to make a pledge to pay down as much of my debt as I can (but the HVAC...that one is just too big for one year). I'm pretty sure I can do it (or at least come pretty close, excluding some other financial nightmare that might arise). It's time to start preparing for my future.

So, with talk of paying down debt, wanna see what $700 worth of stitch thread and fabric look like? It came in a very small and very light box, but here it is, and there is another batch coming, but it will be much smaller.

It's also ORT jar report card time. Up until October, it was completely empty, so I'm happy to report this year's "bagging":

Especially compared to the past two years:

Of course nothing beats where I started keeping them up to 2017 (the GLORY that was 2017 in general, the year that shall not be named, so to speak), but I'm still keeping them all for some reason (cough, hoarder, cough):

All my full progress on all that I worked on will be at the end of this post including Maleficent. She's still hanging up in my spare bathroom on the shower curtain where I hung her to dry over a week ago after her bath. I took last week as a home-cation week, so I decided to spend the entire time on Happy Haunts. This was a test for more than one reason. I wanted to see if I could finish the row (I failed), but I also wanted to see how I felt about 2x1 (for tent stitch practice for the Aimee Stewart bookshelf), which Happy Haunts is (although the context is different, it's 2x1 full on 18ct Aida). I very quickly remembered how much I absolutely HATE working 2x1, so I'm pretty sure I'd rather do 1x1 full crosses on the bookshelf than 2x1 tent stitch. It also solves the issue with tent itself. I just can't break my head from thinking that tent is like cross stitch cheating! I don't know why, it's absolutely ridiculous! I tried to convince myself it's just another type of stitch, but my brain rejected it absolutely, so problem solved, hate 2x1, hate the idea of cheating stitching, so full 1x1 on 28ct. Anyway, I left off on Happy Haunts in April of 2020 here:

And there were days I had to take breaks, but the days I did work, I worked over 8 hours per day, so I should have finished the row...I didn't. I hated every second of this. The Haunted Mansion wallpaper to the left was a nightmare and I even fudged a lot of the colors simply because I wanted at least one page finish. I could not get those colors filled in to save my life! By Sunday, I got it done, but barely and I literally had to force myself to stitch some days just to get it all in. It's going to be adorbs when it's finished, but heaven knows when that will be.

So come Monday, instead of continuing on, I was ready to move on, New Year and all, so back to Alice and the B's I went! Alice and the B's is in the scroll frame built for my old lap stand that doesn't need the clamp:

And I was excited to go back to the old stand again just to compare it to the new one, but I very quickly realized that, at least in the recliner (where I stitched for dozens of years), Alice and the B's was just too long (or I'm not as wide as I once was, take your pick) and it was very uncomfortable stitching in that far left side, because it hung too far to the left and I was reaching at odd angles, speaking of, guess I should show where I was back in December of 2020 when I left off on them:

And I started with a new approach, filling in the missing areas of the first couple of pages first, instead of whatever weird method I was trying to do back in 2020 (and that's the shadow of the clamp of my new frame to the left):

I got quite a bit of Cinderella's left arm and chest done. A couple more days should do it. I don't know if I'm going to finish the entire row before moving on to the next project, but I might get a good chunk. I sure enjoy 1x1 on 28ct...that's my jam, I guess.

Speaking of "moving on", the new starts...when will I be starting them? Right now, I'm not sure. I have the stuff, I'm just in no hurry to start kitting them up, I have the stuff to make the scroll rods, but again, I'm in no hurry to do that either. It might be March or so. I think my brain thinks I need to get my tax money in and pay off the debt before I can feel "comfortable" with actually stitching them, but we'll see. I might get a wild hair one weekend and kit one or two of them up. Right now, those bags of thread and fabric are just sitting on my living room table and the bobbin boxes are also just sitting around, waiting. I think there's a bit of guilt in there right now.

I worked on The Bride Dollmaking from a clean row to just a bit (dipping my toes back in the water so to speak), but she got me thinking about a new stand and getting my rear off the couch for the first time since 2017:

I went back to Snow White, who's fabric I thought I hated, but turns out, she's not so back after all. I still may have to do something with that weird patch in her cheek (it's driving me nuts), but we'll see later). I went from a partial row finish, to a full row finish, but got more determined to get a new stand:

And after one night with Night Wish, a project I hadn't touched since 2020, I knew I couldn't work with my current stand anymore, although I'm gonna visit her again pretty soon. She deserves some love!

And during transition between moving back to the recliner and getting a new stand, I worked on Maleficent. I left off on her in September 2022, and I finished the page row I had been working on and then the final page row (which was one ten block row from a full page row), for a full finish! Quite proud of her! Still need to get her framed though.

And that's 2023 in review, I'm pretty proud of myself for the amount of work I got done considering I only stitched from October thru December! I got quite a bit done stitch-wise all things considered and, if I can keep it up, 2024 is looking good for a couple of finishes hopefully!

Pouring rain and all that...

Last night, when I left work super early (because everyone and everything was pissing me off to the point I couldn't function), my car took a while to start. That's new. After I got home, I waited about four hours, went outside and it started right up, so I just figured maybe my keys were just buried too deep in my numerous coat pockets (because it's 30 degrees here and I HATE the cold!).

But this morning, same thing, only worse. So, despite the fact that I already had one doctor texting me from the hospital (that I can't go to because of my personal issues that very few are aware of) that he's having issues and he wants me to go over there first (and today is my intern's day off, so I couldn't send him), I decided, instead, to drive my vehicle to the dealership. My rationale (purely self-serving) was that, if I did go to that hospital, I could get stuck in the parking lot and it wouldn't start at all, and then I would have to get a tow truck, which I DEFINITELY couldn't afford.

I texted him from the dealership that I couldn't come to the hospital because my car was giving me issues and I was there...fortunately, his "desperate" problem had "miraculously" fixed itself by that point. Ironic that.

Unfortunately, my issues were just beginning. I need a new battery and a belt (about $400), it was WAY past time for an oil change (another $50) and yes, their brand new service manager let me know that I could no longer drive on my bald tires (which last time...when I had the money to buy new tires...now I don't really...they told me my tires were fine even though I KNEW they weren't). Despite him offering to install them for free and give me at least one cheaper, although not the other three...another $800 to $1000, depending on the tires in stock. Since this guy was new, I pretty much UNLOADED on him. Telling him my YEARS of grievances with the dealership and all the hardships I've had to deal with.

I think (although I'm not real sure, my temper was busting through my head), he's giving me super discounts because of all my bad issues, but it's still going to be about $1200, pretty. much draining about half my savings. Again, yeah me. Just what I needed on top of all this expensive therapy on the horizon.

But this post is about what little stitching I did last week, since I did promise that. I left off here last time:

And again, not much to report (although this was about 4 hours instead of my usual 2, and at least I wasn't too lazy to pull the needle through, so progress!). Most of it's in Cindy's arms, so it's hard to tell, but it was a lot of coverage:

So now, I'm just waiting to hear back the final verdict on how much my total for my car is going to cost and it better purr like a kitten when I get it back! At least I don't have anywhere else to go this week, just that event alone has shot my public appearances for the rest of the week and makes me want to call in sick tomorrow but, unfortunately, I can't. I have new tires to pay for. Another reason to not go on disability I guess. I wouldn't be able to afford vehicle repairs, I'd just be without transportation and this isn't a public transpo town (we barely have taxi's and, if we have Uber's, I'd be completely surprised...let alone the fact I couldn't afford that either on disability).