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).

Not much luck on the stitching front

Turning Hook upside down actually worked pretty well...eventually. I learned (almost the hard way) that the direction in which you stitch is the same upside down. I made it across an entire row before I started to panic and question whether I needed to frog it all. My bottom stitches go ///// and my tops go \\\\\ (and I'm not too picky about which I go in first, top holes or bottom holes), but turns out, even upside down, they end up in the same direction! But what I did discover about three rows in was that I was one column short, and it was causing complications since I was working left to right (like I always do), but it's technically right to left upside down, so I was going from the far right edge to the area I had already worked, and I was meeting an area I was already up to and coming up short. It took me the three rows to figure it out. If I would have continued right side up, I'm not sure I would have figured it out if that final column stayed white all the way down. It was all pretty tedious work and I had trouble stitching last week because of a headache anyway, so I only went from here:

to here (with the extra column added) and I marked the page breaks to make it easier for me to figure out where to stop:

I can continue the white upside down, but I can't stitch the entire thing that way, it's too hard for me to figure out symbols, which was what I was afraid of. My brain doesn't work that way. And I had decided I'd better switch projects again because I was losing interest, so the only real project left in my WIPs (at least now) is HAED's Sleepy Hollow Mural by Lewis T. Johnson. I believe it's a retired pattern (which I guess means I have two retired HAED's in my WIPs). In case you don't remember it:

It was the first project I ever tried on Q-Snaps since it was so long, but I had a horrible time with them, so I put them on the longest scroll rods I had (the fabric is still folded at both ends because the rods aren't long enough...if I have enough dowels left, I may make a new set for this one too). I left off here back in May of 2020:

And again, it was a headache week, so I only managed two measly stitch days on it, although I did spend one night alone just reattaching it to the scroll rods because it was another one that had come loose (plus, I tried to straighten it up a bit, it is stretched crooked because of the Q-Snaps, so it's taped to the rods in a really weird way). It' also Lugana, so that may have been why the fabric couldn't hold up well against the Q-Snaps. I also replaced my Mad For Minders Sleepy Stitch needle minder for one I made myself from a magnet I got from Plymouth, Mass:

Two things about this one have been an eye-opener. I know it's Lugana and even though it's 28ct, I can see the fabric through the thread, so it squashes the idea of 25ct for good. I thought I had already killed the idea thanks to you guys (especially Leonore, thanks girl!), but it must have still had a breath or two left because I was finally able to nail the coffin lid closed. 25ct Lugana is NOT for me, it's official. If I can see the fabric on this, then 25ct would be even worse!

Secondly, it's not nearly as long as my new Bookshelf will be, but it is really horizontal, and I can already see that long horizontal projects are going to be a problem in this new K's Creation Stand. It won't hold it well. I already have a concrete block holding down the base, but I had to add one of the buckets of water that I got when our water was off on top of the block because it was still tipping over (all three water buckets were still sitting in my foyer). Even tightened, the entire arm still gives way under the weight of it when I turn it away, so it probably means I won't be able to keep the project in the stand when I'm not stitching on it. That's a pity. I'm a bit scared the weld is going to give if I keep it on it long-term. Once I get some bills paid down, I may just have to spring for a Lowery stand or maybe even an Omanik (just the thought makes me cringe!). Stitching is definitely a rich person's game!

Speaking of which, I had every intention of building my new scroll frames this weekend. I didn't. I watched TV and worked on my family tree. I definitely am a cyclic person when it comes to hobbies I think, but the frustration with the stand was keeping me away from it this weekend. Oh, and in case you're wondering how I'm going to build these scroll frames, this is the video I'm getting my inspiration from:

I think I'm worried about the supplies. I bought what she recommended, but I think the hanger bolts are too big for the dowels, which means, if I replace them with a smaller size (and I'm not savy enough to know which way to go in bolt size to go smaller), then I also have to replace the knobs, so more purchases and more waiting for orders to come in. And, I'm not sure why I'm so scared of dealing with the drill. Granted, I don't have a fancy battery drill, it's an old plug-in kind, but it's not like I haven't built a ton of furniture in my day. I'm not a delicate flower, but it has been YEARS since I've even touched that drill...part of me is scared I'll put it out and it won't work and I'll have to buy one of those too! I'm more of a screwdriver kind of girl, but this project definitely calls for a drill. I think I've worked it up in my head to be more than it is, but I'm still watching long scroll frames on Amazon and part of me wonders if I wouldn't rather spend the money to buy one rather than deal with the stress of building one...money versus stress or the stress that spending the money will cause? It's a never-ending cycle.

Back to a bit of stitching

I've had a bit of trouble focusing on stitching lately. I think it's because I have these new upcoming projects in my brain and I can't get them out. I went back to Faces of Faery 167 by Jasmine Becket-Griffith and, although the 32ct has been going good, I think it might be the color scheme. Her face is a bit...how can I put it nicely...ex-presidential? I'm not a fan. As with any HAED, you don't know what you're going to get until it's finished, but geez, is she orange-tinted! I left off here on her last time:

And, just a reminder, this is what she is supposed to look like, no orange to her on the original pic:

Since we aren't a fan of the orange-tinted bafoon in MY household, she's gotten a bit hard to stare at. And she just has these big eyelashes, which look more like black eyes right now, giving off a demon-vibe, so I decided to stop on her before I finished the row (and I was getting so close). This pic is a bit off, she is more orange than is showing up here. And, it's a little blown out of proportion, the whole project is only 11x11, so from a normal distance, she is super tiny.

Once I can move down to the second row, I'm sure she will clear up a bit, but for now, I'm just not in the mood for reminders of things I don't want to think about (I get enough politics in the daily news). But there is one project that has been calling to me, although I'm not sure why. Tilton Craft's Captain Hook by Daniel Kordek. Since it's been so long, he's supposed to look like this:

I have the entire set (there are four, Hook, Jefferson, Graham, and August, although, considering the names of the others, I'm not sure why this one isn't named Killian or, if you're going to call this one Captain Hook, call the others Mad Hatter, Huntsman, and Pinocchio). But alas, there are three more, so ultimately, I have to go through this process three more times. I LOVE these designs (although don't get me started on why there isn't a David/Prince Charming, I'd trade them all for one Charming!), but maybe they would have been better as prints rather than cross stitches. I'm still at the point though that I could start over though because of its issues (more on that in a sec), so I think that's why I'm so wishy-washy on it. If I have to do it three more times, I better pick the right process. I last stitched on this in May of 2020.

I did have to re-attach this one to the scroll rods because the tape on the E-Z Stitch velcro had melted on this one too like Maleficent. I just used the tape I used on projects in the 80's. It worked better than anything I've ever tried, so if it ain't broke, don't fix it (well, I fixed it, but you know what I mean). Besides, I cut the ends of the fabric off when I'm finished anyway (and it's folded behind when it's mounted, so it doesn't matter what holds it to the scroll rods, as long as it's held.

I'm not sure what was drawing me back to this one, other than to look at Killian's face (eventually). Why I thought I could stitch all that white background is beyond me. I probably should have stitched it on white fabric and skipped the background altogether. Last night, I almost gave up again as I sat there in my 4-6 hour stitch window and only stitched a little more than an hour. I piddled with supper, I played with the puppies. I measured fabric for the new projects. I looked at the scroll rods I had for the new projects to see how many I needed to make (basically, one for each really, so seven...I have plenty of dowels in my current stash, but not any extra side bars for some reason). I scoured Etsy for needle minders and pre-made scroll rods. I played games on my iPad. I checked Amazon for scroll rods too. I debated buying the side bars for the dowel rods I had that would fit the littler projects (in the end, I bought nothing from nowhere, proud of me for that). I've been watching Castle, a show I've never watched before, but I'm still not diggin' (and I'm in the middle of season 3, so it's safe to say I'm not gonna get into it, at least I can say I've seen it?). Last night, I actually paid attention (still ain't diggin' it). I did my Duolingo lesson. Basically, I probably would have stared at the wall to have kept from stitching this background. As you can see...suckage progress. I think about 350 stitches, maybe.

And I do love my swan needle minder. If you know, you know (and, ironically, it will work for the other three projects as well, although I probably won't use it for the others...well, maybe Graham?). I think I bought it from Kim's Needle Minders...yep, just checked. I've only bought needle minders from a couple of stores, so it's not too hard to forget (or I just check my Etsy history). I'll try to remember to link my needle minders when I think about it. The rose on Faces came from Gina's Unique Boutique, and I've bought a lot from her since. I'm not a big fan of the new way they kind of just print stuff on plastic or wood now, but oh well. Now that I can make my own, I'm not too worried about it. I did just buy a few more last week, but it's only because I feel like every needle minder needs to "match" each project. I'm annoying that way.

Hook is on a cheap scroll frame, another big issue, probably from Hobby Lobby. The side bars are WAY too long and I can barely get my hands up to the top where I need to stitch. It needs much shorter side bars. And, as per usual with the cheap ones, I can't really tighten the nuts good enough, so the fabric keeps going slack. But I've got nothing else to put it on without buying something else (and I can't do that right now and I could never afford those Millennium frames or even their cheaper counterparts, those are way out of my league). I guess I could get new screws for the nuts with actual heads like phillips or flat than can be tightened with a screwdriver, instead of those flat bolts that just spin when the nut gets to a certain point. That wouldn't be too expensive. Ugh. I just want to stitch, I don't want to do woodworking! But if I want scroll frames that hold, I guess I have to make my own, hence...woodworking. I've actually got half a mind to put this in a Q-Snap and I HATE those things! Or, maybe I could try to turn it upside down and stitch it that way, but I'm not sure my brain could reconcile stitching upside down or backwards. I could always try. At least where I'm stitching (right now, the upper right-hand corner), would be closer to me in the lower left. Yeah, that's the plan to try for tonight, wonder how long that will last?

If I could restart it and decided to continue to stitch the background, I might try to do it on a gray fabric instead of oatmeal. A lot of these colors are beige-y tan-y grays and they are hard to stitch on the oatmeal. And I might go to Lugana instead of Monaco, simply for all the reasons I praised Monaco for in my last post, the holes are too tight. With all this white thread, Lugana would be easier. And I'm also not sure 25ct wouldn't be a better choice with Anchor black. But then again, I might just be making excuses. It's a pretty picture, but will it be worth the hassle of the stitch? The further I go, the more I'm wasting my time if I'm going to end up "Suteki miserable" (my new catch phrase), although I'm not there yet, but I need to decide soon. In all fairness, the top part is going to be the most white-heavy, so if I can get past that, it should get easier.

And, I do actually have another Hook-themed project I could do instead of the Tilton, that would be far easier, and by easier, I mean, harder in that it's a black-stitched background instead of white (and there is no way I'm stitching on black fabric), it's much larger and far more detailed, but you get me, right? It's GeckoRouge's Amour et Vengeance by Dailen Ogden. I think it's a retired kit, but I managed to snag it back in the day. Yeah, that's what I need, another absolutely HUGE cross stitch WIP! I only bought the GR kit because I knew they were going to discontinue it and I couldn't decide whether or not I wanted it or not. I figured it was better to have it, even if I never stitched it, than regret not ever getting it. I love GeckoRouge's kit's, but they are way out of my price range sometimes. I would love to do one of their maps, but I can't spend $1000-$2000 on one single kit! I could kit up 10-20 projects for that! But anyway, here's Amour:

.

I do prefer the design of the Tilton to the Gecko, but ultimately, it comes down to the "Suteki miserable" of it all. I'm gonna stitch on Hook this week and see how I feel then. I may stitch all the white, or work on the other colors to break it up (there are still quite a few other colors in there I haven't done yet, all shades of gray). I probably should have cut down the top and sides a ten-block or two. It could have helped. Hindsight. I have never been good at altering patterns though. I've always been a pattern follower to the letter or else I feel like I'm cheating. My moral code is very weird...I'm an Adam Ant song...anyone old enough to get that reference? Yeah definitely something inside. And, in a weird sort of way, Once's Hook reminds me of Adam Ant....although, again, I'd much prefer...Prince Charming, Prince Charming...yeah, I'll stop now.

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!

Weekly Stitching

Snow and Charming are coming along nicely, despite the fact that I didn't really have a good stitch week. But still, if all goes according to plan and I do OK this week, I should have them finished by the end of this week. I left off here last week:

And, despite the pain that Flickr has now become since the change-over to their new management (but I have WAY too many photos in there to switch to anything else, so I'm kind of stuck), I FINALLY managed to find where the new ones I put this week ended up and here is where I stopped Sunday night:

I'm excited to finish it and scared at the same time. Plus, I think I might, if I finish early, go around the border a couple of times with the outside color, just to have a little extra "padding" for framing. I just wish I had another Once realistic project to go to next! I guess I could technically make one, but then there is the whole copyright issue and I'm not sure I want to tackle that. I have LOVED every second of this project and I am eternally grateful to the wonderful person who gifted it to me, but finishing it means I have to make some serious decisions about rotations and how to redo Hook, or even if I want to...still on the fence about that one. Logic (and you guys) tell me that it would be best to switch to white fabric, but then I think about the edges of the project and when to know what is the edge white and what is fill-in background white and that's a lot of thinking. My whole thing with cross stitching is that I don't want to think about what I'm actually physically doing, that's the time my mind goes "elsewhere". As it is now, just filling in the white means there wouldn't be any thinking involved, but my goodness, how boring it would be just stitching all that white! I guess I could always see if I could cut down the background a bit:

But it would be cutting it close down by his right arm area:

I swear Hook didn't look white at all, which is why I picked the fabric I did so it would make it easier to stitch the white on. I had such a hard time with Night Wish's moon on that first row because I was stitching white-on-white and I had to stitch a little moon and then switch to something else because I kept getting bored. This is SOOO much more white than that!

I guess I can only focus on finishing Snow and Charming now and THEN see where I stand. I'm still in such a massive Once Upon A Time mood, I'm not sure I can go into a normal rotation without going directly to Hook or another Once project in my stash.

But speaking of stash, I did actually buy a new chart this week. It's from UnconventionalX on Etsy, who I've followed for a long time, but never actually bought anything from. It's called "The Blue Marble is So Fragile" by Borda Danut Adrian and it's very moi!

There is so much detail in this picture, it's amazing! There are actually a few more of that artist's patterns in their shop, but none fit me as well (and I've got to stop buying every single chart by an artist just because I have one and I like style but maybe not necessarily the piece).

Oh, and I failed to mention it, but quite a while ago, I bought another chart from MandarinksDesigns, Rumplestiltskin's dagger. It's not the typical type of pattern I would buy because I HATE it when the outlines go over half the stitches, but I couldn't help it considering the pattern (and the fact that Once charts are EXTREMELY rare). They really have some great patterns, but it's that whole "outline over stitches" thing that gets me. Typically, I fix those as I stitch, but it's such a struggle because then you are creating half or quarter stitches, I just don't like to bother (thinking+stitching=annoying). Besides, I think HAED's have spoiled me to just full stitches and I can't seem to do anything else anymore. But anyhoo, here is the pattern and I love how Belle's rose comes out the top of it:

There are a lot of great artists in DeviantArt (if you can muddle through all the semi-porn or bad stuff) who have done some amazing Once artwork and, if I hadn't gotten such a dismissive response from the Hook artist about Charming, I probably would send a message to a few of them and ask them to license out their work to Tilton or HAED or someone because they would make excellent stitch projects, but now I'm too chicken. There is a great series of holding hand pics of the Once couples from Sarah Mac Illustration that would make great cross stitch projects...here's the Hook and Emma one from her RedBubble store and then another great one is Svenja Gosen, who sells her stuff on Etsy too as well as RedBubble...it's just easier to find their RedBubble stores than find them on Etsy or DeviantArt for some reason (these are watermarked, so I think it's OK to post them, but if not, please let me know...friggin copyright laws!). Then again, I guess I could just learn digital art and do one myself and then turn it into a cross stitch project, but that's SOOO much work! It's much easier for someone else to let their work be commissioned out, especially when it's probably better than anything I could ever do anyway!

Weekly Stitching (a regular stitching post...yea!!)

This was one of those weeks that I stitched like crazy (other than the two days I had a migraine), but I seemed to get no where. It's the reason why I'm glad I take pictures every night, or else I could never see the progress sometimes! Last week I left off here:

This has been a rough row...lots of confetti, but I still hope to finish it this week and move on to the final (and short) row next week and hopefully be finished in a couple of weeks. And, despite all the work I put in this week, I only made it to here last night:

I want to finish this project before I start back into a normal stitching rotation. I'm not really sure why, I just feel like it's what I need to do. And I'm also still not sure I don't want to finish DoNa's Rapunzel before moving on to a rotation...that WAS the plan back when I left off on her last July (when I tried so desperately to force myself to stitch). I left off on her just beginning row 2:

But, then again, I'm also still completely obsessed with Once Upon A Time, so there is always Hook which I barely got started on. And I still have to make a decision on whether to continue with the same fabric or switch over to white so I don't have to actually stitch all the white background...that was either ambitious on my part, or stupid. I guess right now I'm still deciding. It would look better stitched, but I am lazy (and have more WIPs and stash than lifetimes, so it might be better to switch now before I get too far in):

Decisions, decisions...I seem to be riddled with them lately! But Hook might be better served in a rotation anyway, so there is that.

But I have managed, at least for a few days, to break my Once viewing habits. I started watching MI-5 again over on Hulu (Spooks for all my Brit friends) and it's amazing how that show has held up over the years, despite it's age, and how socially relevant it still is! I missed my beloved Adam Carter and, although I haven't gotten to the Lucas North years yet, I'm prepared for that heartbreak (I am too much like Tom to get emotionally attached to him). For anyone who hasn't ever watched the show, I highly recommend it, although, I feel I should warn you, don't get attached to anyone...they often die horrible, painful, brutal, gut-wrenchingly, sob-worthy deaths. But just about every single British actor has been on that show at some point, and you might even see someone you didn't remember being on there (an Avenger or two maybe and definitely an Austen man, maybe a Hobbit or Potter alum, even a Oncer or two...just trust me, you will recognize someone!).

Weekly Stitching

I was literally and figuratively all over the shop this week. I tried to keep going with Hook, but my contacts just wouldn't cooperate. I left off here last week:

And I got one whole day's worth of work done before my contacts started up again and I also decided that I'd just had enough of the sepia for at least a while:

Other than the changing lighting, you can't even tell the difference between the two.

For some weird reason, I did have a couple of good contact days (I guess I'm going to have to break down and go back to the eye doctor), so I started Faces of Faery 167:

Once my contacts went all wonky again, I decided to at least see if I could see the fabric with both sets of glasses on. This was kind of nutty, especially since Hook was 28ct and Faces is 32ct but, for the weirdest reason, I could actually see the 32ct! I even went back and checked and I still couldn't see the 28ct on Hook. Funny that. But anyhoo, I didn't get to stitch a lot because of work, but I did get some done:

This is literally gonna be the tiniest piece when it's finished!

I did manage to get caught up on Netflix (I'm not sure my Supernatural obsession is broken just yet, but I'm working on it). I did get Jessica Jones Season 2 done. I can't seem to make it through the other Defenders shows, but JJ I do like (but it might be David Tennant, be he bad or good, he is still brilliant).

I also managed to get caught up on Hulu too. Why is Once so good now that it's been cancelled? I don't want to give anything away for anyone that still watches it (does anyone but me still watch it...doubt it, but still), but Regina has the WORST taste in men.

I am also freaking out about X-Files a bit too. The AI episode is one of the scariest I have ever seen...like ever, but I keep watching the show on the edge of my seat because I know Gillian Anderson has refused to come back and I'm one of those weird people that ship Mulder and Scully hard, so knowing they either are both leaving or he will be without her is already killing me, and the season isn't even over with yet!

But I do have a funny Josh Dallas story (and there might be spoilers here)...so I got Thor: Ragnarok in last week from Disney Movie Club (I can't say I would recommend DMC unless you are a serious Disney pin or memorabilia collector...their prices are EXTREMELY high, but it's worth it for the pins (and now lithographs) otherwise). I wasn't going to watch the new Thor until the weekend when I could binge-watch all the Marvel movies together (hence the Supernatural disc making it out of the Blu-ray player). Thursday night I was feeling a bit wiry though, so I decided to see what was on Netflix. On the top of my list was a movie called Wind River and since it had Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen in it (who I think have chemistry, even though they aren't destined in the Marvel-verse), I decided to watch it, especially since Ragnarok has been sitting on my kitchen counter for a week and I had Marvel on the brain. Wind River was not my usual kind of movie, but it was great and I highly recommend it!

Now, I bet you're wondering what all this has to do with Josh Dallas...I'm getting there (and some of you may already know). After watching Wind River, I was in a serious Marvel mood, but I didn't want to watch Ragnarok out of order, so I started searching through the queue. I found a horror movie called Descent 2 and I seemed to recall that I had seen the first Descent and it was kind of scary, but the selling point was that Josh Dallas was on the picture (see, told you I was getting there). Obviously, it being a horror movie, I knew he was probably gonna die, but I just figured I'd turn it off when he did. Fifty-one minutes! It took 51 minutes before he died! I was pissed and crushed! I did turn it off at that point, but that far in and with less than 30 minutes left, I ended up just going back and finishing it. Turns out, in the last 10 minutes, they found him again and he had one final gasp and THEN he died. FUDGE!

So, in an effort to make myself feel better, I restarted Once Upon A Time. It took me all of 10 minutes into that to remember that Charming sort of partly dies at the end of the first episode and spends most of the first few episodes in a coma anyway, so I ended up turning it off. By this time, it is after midnight and I still had to work on Friday, but I was determined to feel better about Josh, so I said, screw it, it was time to watch Thor.

Anyone who watches Marvel stuff, or at least Thor movies, knows that Josh Dallas was the first Fandral, but because of Once, he got replaced by Zachary Levi (aka Flynn Rider, my second favorite Disney prince and technically, Josh Dallas also saved Rapunzel on Once, so he is technically Charming and Flynn (in a way), so there you go...although, just to be clear, Prince Philip is my favorite Disney prince and let's not go where Once took that mess). But ten minutes into Ragnarok, Fandral just gets killed very nonchalantly! I'm all like, "what the hell!". But not long after that, barely another ten minutes in, literally once Hela destroys Asgard's army, my medicine kicked in and I fell asleep.

But, when I woke up the next morning, I was still mourning all kinds of Josh Dallas characters, past, present and adjacent, so I got to work, checked his Instagram page in an effort to make myself feel better, only to discover that it had been removed! Seriously? By the time I got home, I rewatched Ragnarok (all the way through this time), then went on to Jessica Jones and tried to forget Josh until at least today when I could pull out my computer and watch fan videos of Snow and Charming on YouTube. I have definitely got to get that chart kitted up!

Ok, so maybe that wasn't a funny story, but more of an Asper story, but hey, since the happy couple are on my mind (and let's hope his missing Instagram page isn't a sign of bad times...his Valentine's Day message to Ginnifer was so sweet it was almost disgusting), here's a new vid I found to top off the night:

Weekly Stitching (I actually did!)

Well, it wasn't much, but I FINALLY figured out the big secret to fixing my contacts. I tried all the tricks they taught me throughout the years...the official cleaners and the unofficial ones like baking soda and cola and nothing worked. I had gotten to the point where I had just started wearing them long enough to get me to work, then putting on my glasses to get me through the day. But Friday night, I just decided, while I was washing my hands, why not give hand soap a try. The spots on them seemed grease-like anyway, like I was looking through vaseline, so why not? And sure enough, I could see out of those little puppies again, grease spots all gone! Granted, they are starting to cloud up again today, but I now know what to do and I think I know why it's happening. I've been using the knock off stuff for years, but only ever the Wal-Mart kind, not the Target kind. Apparently there is a difference. So I'll try to make myself go to the store this week and get the "good" stuff. Stupid gas perm contacts require very expensive juice, so I try to save where I can. Apparently, not all knock-off juice is the same and Target skimps more than WM...who knew? At least I managed a couple of days worth of stitching!

I left off on Hook here, where you could barely see the white:

And after muddling through a row of the white, I decided to move down to Killian's head, something I don't ever do in projects like this...I do typically go in order from top to bottom:

His head looks so tiny in that sea of future white.

I still need to order paper to print Snow and Charming on before I can buy thread and new scroll rods, but once I get them all kitted up, hopefully I will have the row done for Hook and I'll be ready to go on them!

I also got my new computer in this week and got it mostly built up with my stuff. I still think I need to probably split off a section and Boot Camp it (if I can get my hands on a Win 7 license, therein is where the trouble lies, but it's not totally impossible). I have too many Windows specific programs that I use for various things like editing pics quickly (Windows Picture It, which they haven't made in years...I have Lightroom too which swings both ways, but that is not an "in a hurry" kind of editing product). I like to use ProShow Gold to make photo DVDs of trips. ProShow is the ONLY software that doesn't have a limit of how many pictures you can use in a slideshow. That's a big deal when you take thousands of Disney pics. I have cross stitch software, family tree software, collection cataloging software, YouTube snagging software, British disc reading software and about a half a dozen others that I've used for years. I could probably find Mac comparable versions, but they won't be exactly the same and I like what I like. That's where Boot Camp comes in handy. I don't want to ask for more money for Parallels and I definitely don't want to deal with Windows 10 which Parallels is very friendly with now (besides, most of these programs won't work even in compatibility mode with Win 10). Boot Camp does fine with Win 7 and it's free, I just have to give up a section of hard drive space (good thing they sprang for the 2TB drive).

I'm gonna try to get to the doctor again next week too to get those stupid boosters so I can "officially" be a student of Arkansas State. Then I get to start the scary part of advisors and scheduling classes and then the "fun" part can begin. The hell I'm already getting from work now about school will probably triple once classes start, but that's OK because I'm ready for it since, when all is said and done, no matter what direction I end up going in, once I graduate, I'm out the door. I can stomach a lot of torture if it means there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Here's to a better week of vision, of work, of health in general, and of stitching, but my hopes aren't very high. As my new sticker on my new laptop says...Team FreeWill. There is something to be said for being a total fangirl...you can kick certain people directly in the teeth and they have no clue what you are talking about. I mentioned that I almost went with "damn the man, save the Empire!" and they thought I was talking about Star Wars. Seriously? I also have a button in my office that I bought in Disney World that has Scar saying "I'm surrounded by idiots"...it gets pushed a lot too.

Weekly Stitching

This is almost sad, but I'm going to post it anyway. In my defense, I had a REALLY bad week (as you guys know) and, on top of that, I've been having major contact issues. I can't stitch on 28ct without my contacts and readers. With my eye condition, glasses don't correct the problem...I'm not allowed to drive with them, I can't read with them by themselves (you wouldn't believe how big I have my screen blown up right now), and my eyes constantly water without my contacts in. But my contacts are also gas perms, which means they are tiny, but hard. So I can't sleep in them, and when they irritate, they REALLY irritate, so I'm taking a weekend break from them while they soak in the "heavy" juice. I had exactly one stitching day last week so I went from nada:

To a hair past nada:

Remember when I said that stitching all that white background wouldn't bother me? I think I might have lied. I also now know where the crappy fabric for Snow White came from...it's that tubed Charles Craft Monaco (because this is the same). Before I go any further, I need to decide (once my eyeballs get settled), whether or not I start again on a better piece of white Monaco (so I don't have to do the background), buy a better piece and start over, or just keep on keepin' on. It's not a heavily confetti'ed project like Snow, so maybe it won't be as bad. It's also a lot smaller than Snow, so that's a factor. Part of me considered just going back to Rapunzel (since I can see it with my glasses doubled up), but I guess with everything else going on this past week, maybe I just needed a break and some zone-out time with Sam and Dean.

I had a hard time picking a needle minder for this puppy too. I looked at swans (for Emma) and anything else related to Once, but in the end, I just went with the Once book that really doesn't look like THE book. I still kind of like it although I had to put a MUCH bigger magnet on the back, it came with the tiniest little heart one that wouldn't hold a needle, let alone the minder on the project.

And since I may have just offended the seller by criticizing their choice of magnets, I won't post a link to their store. They were great to deal with, I just don't think they build a strong enough needle minder.

I said I was going to ignore the 50% off HAED sale this week, but when I don't stitch, apparently I get bored very fast and I tend to spend money on stupid stuff, tax money that I was so proud I used to pay down on my credit cards (that didn't last long). Don't get me started on the crap I bought for my new laptop (like decals, a hard case, and little neat toys that I DON'T need). I like pimped out laptops, after all, I am a geek. I also have to break down and buy a new phone this week (the tax money is almost gone, so I'd better hurry), so I had to have swag for it too.

But back to the HAED sale. I wasn't too bad, I only bought two, but I think they are very aprapo for the way things have been going lately:
Despair by Rebecca Sinz:

And Hope, also by Rebecca Sinz:

I figure since I'm a walking symbol of both despair and hope, I will do these together and they will be a reminder of this time, even if I don't do them until years down the road. It was kind of the whole lesson in Once Upon A Time...to always have hope no matter how bad things get. They are not very Once'y, they are probably more Supernatural'y with the whole Angels thing, but I'm kind of trapped between the two worlds now anyway...loosing Once while binge watching SN for the third time in a row.

As far as school goes, I did manage a pretty in depth look at the Undergrad Bulletin on Friday and I still think I might be over my head with the BS in Computer Science. If I take well to the Physics though, I may add Physics as a minor which will help with my Astronomy aspirations. If I can't cut the CS but do good with Physics, I may just switch to either Computer I.T. or Physics by itself. I.T. is no different than what I do day to day now, I will just know more (and have that little piece of paper that will make sure I get the pay I deserve). Astronomy is still the goal (at least for now), but it will all be determined by my adeptness at physics...if I can't cut it, then dream over anyway. My school has two Astronomy courses...Intro to Space Science and Astronomy (which is a Physics class course, but doesn't count toward a physics degree for some reason, doesn't even count as a physics elective). But I do have options for the first time in my entire life. If all else fails, I still have all those "rotting" art classes that can go towards a computer design degree too. Yet more options.

Monday is "shot" day, and once that is sorted, then I've got to get an advisor and get the disabilities office to get me a tour of the campus (it has changed SOOO much since the last time I was there, I couldn't find my way to a bathroom!). Then the real planning for my future can begin! I should be a lot more scared than I am. I still think reality hasn't sunk in yet. Shots first and, since my GP is a total dick and I have like three major work meetings throughout the day too, I have the feeling tomorrow isn't going to be a good day either. But hey, in typical me fashion, here's hoping Tuesday works out!