Focus=Low, Drive=High

For someone with the attention span of a gnat, I'm still making progress on stitching. I think both my ADHD and OCD are kicking into gear, so it's causing me to stitch almost everyday even though I can't pay enough attention to make much progress. I tried really hard to work on Faces 167, but I literally couldn't see it! I already had an eye doctor's appointment this week, so maybe I can get it straightened out next time this one rolls around. I should have never tried 32ct, it was a test run for the SS/MC bookshelves (which I didn't want to be gigantic, but I started the first one on 28ct anyway, so why did I torture myself with a test run that would be a total project?). Oh well, lesson learned! As I mentioned in my last post, I left off on this one on Jan 29th, 2024 with 14,533 stitches done out of 50,175, which makes a total 28.96% done (as well as 68.43 hrs in):

I literally worked on it for one night, moving up to only 14,817/50,175 (or 284 stitches) and another 1.84 hrs of stitching (I think I spent more time squinting than stitching, which is what you'll have to do to see the progress):

I gave up and decided on Sleepy Hollow Mural by Lewis T. Johnson, another HAED (I've been on HAED kick I guess). I left off on this one Feb 11, 2024, 10,407 stitches in out of 246,000, or 4.23% and 150.93 hrs.

The issue with this one is it is so dad-gum wide! I thought it would be easier if it was on scroll rods instead of a q-snap (I still can't get the hang of q-snaps), but apparently not. The q-snaps really warped the fabric as well, probably because I'm not good at using them. I had issue mounting Sleepy Hollow on my newish stand because it kept tipping over due to the width and the weight of it, so I put it in the stand that these particular scroll rods go on, but it's a center-mount lap stand that doesn't work well when you have a pup sitting between your legs. I literally have to sit the stand on his back, which he doesn't mind, but it makes me uncomfortable and constantly aware of the pressure I use. He is, afterall, only 9lbs and really old. I think he thinks of it as shiatsu-Shih-Tzu massage...I personally wouldn't like it if there was this constantly-moving, twice-my-size, wooden cross stitch stand moving all over my back. And it's not like I can put him down, he just sits in the floor in front of me and barks until I pick him up again. Spoiled brat! After two days of fighting with it and him (technically three, but you'll see in a mo-mo), I gave up on this one too at 11,958/246,000 (or 1551 stitches in), or 4.86%. It was an additional 6.49 hrs, making it a total of 157.42, but the third day was only composed of 0.08 hrs, so that's why I'm only counting two days on this one (and here it is in all its wide glory):

Friday night was a tornado night (it's that season again), so I was paying more attention to the weather instead of stitching. Saturday, I spent the day cleaning carpets, washing various blankets and whatnots, and putting down the new throw rugs I bought weeks ago. I also went through all the pending printed cross stitch patterns that have been sitting in a box in my entryway for over a year or maybe two. I sorted them into their various binders as well as ordering new binders for the ones that were left (not that there is room on those shelves for more binders, so I guess they will all live in the closet). Overall, it was just a crappy day for stitching. I did, however, pick up Evil Queen, which is a pattern from Thread Geeks, late on Saturday. I last left off on her on Feb 26, 2024 (one of my leap year starts) and she previously only got one day of love, which got her 3.7 hrs, 934 stitches out of 86,688 and 1.08%.

Since I only stitched a bit Saturday night, I was super-determined on Sunday and did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself! I'm sure it's because this one is a non-dithered pattern, but I literally put in 13.92 hrs Sat night and all day Sunday (and 10.5 hrs of that was Sunday alone). I'm now up to 4595/86,688 (or 3661 more stitches) which is 5.3%:

Regina is my project for this week, but I'm just gonna take it day by day (I could literally change projects tonight if the mood hits, and I'm just going with that mentality). The thing about this one that bugs me is it's all greens and tans and blacks, even though the mockup looks all blues and purples and pinks and blacks (and the purple-blue family are technically more in Regina's wheelhouse anyway):

I would chalk it up to not being at the purple-blue area yet, but there is not a single thread in the box for those shades. I'm really curious to see how it's going to turn out and I'm a bit worried as well. I would hate to get pretty far into this and realize all the colors are off (another Alice and the B's quandry). Oh well, we'll see how this week goes. I still have numerous stitch projects I haven't touched yet before I rotate back around again. Plus, as of now, all that area to the far left on Regina is nothing but black, and I'm not sure I want to get into another Hook issue where I'm stitching nothing but a solid background (and Hook will be coming up soon because the background triggered me).

Speaking of Hook, the issue with it is, I'm constantly thinking I should restart it on white and just ignore the background instead of stitching it. But I also don't want to get far enough in (like Snow White) where I can't go back because I'm too far gone. Plus, I'm thinking about the other three that make up this set (there is a Jefferson, August and Graham to match and do I really want to do all this background stitching three more times?). I left off on Hook by Tilton Crafts on Feb 1st, 2024 at 61.1 hrs in, 14,418/148,750 stitches in or 9.69%:

But, as you can see, there is still a ton more white to do yet. Ugh. I'm just not ready to let it go and start over though. I just keep thinking (and probably stupidly), what an accomplishment all that background stitching will be and how amazing it will look when finished (again, probably a stupid thought). I wish "work smarter not harder" was my motto, but apparently I missed the day they handed out "logical goals".

And, just for reminder, here is Hook, followed by Jefferson, Graham and August (and that's a LOT of white):

Here's something I need your guys help with...how do you exclusively use electronic patterns? I'm still stuck in paper world (hence the bindering up of patterns on Saturday). Since I stitch two-handed on scroll rods, they cover my legs completely and block my view of the tablet. I keep the paper copy clipped to the top with a hair clip and can use my right hand well enough to mark off with a colored crayon (but there is no way my right is dexterous enough to use an iPencil on an iPad). The paper pattern is constantly in my face and makes it easy for my eyes to shift back and forth, whereas I only use the tablet to keep track of progress by marking off the stitching at the end of the night and clocking in and out of a time keeper app for time. The project isn't strong enough to hold the iPad and I can't see a smaller Android tablet (and I don't like them, I just live in Apple world). I can't stitch one-handed anymore because, well, it's way slower, and my right hand just cramps closed around it and I have to pry it open (and it hurts). That's the reason why I had to stop playing video games, the neuropathy keeps me from knowing how hard I'm gripping something. Do you guys use a tablet stand? Not that I have any room on the left for it, but if I thought it would work, I could try it. Do you just keep pulling the tablet up and down? I can't be the only person that works two-handed, am I? Any thoughts or ideas you have would be greatly appreciated!

Still movin' along

I have been a stitching manic the past week or so! I did start a new project on Sunday, but it isn't going to last through this week (I barely made it through Sunday). For the week (plus some), I put in 57.81 hours total and 14,958 stitches total. First up though, I worked on Harry Potter Bookcovers just a bit more before I stopped on the 28th. I left off here last time at 8231 stitches out of 121,975, which is 6.75%.

I managed another 11.78 hours (not much, but another 2470 stitches), which brings me up to 10,701 stitches and 8.77% finished overall.

I was aching to go back to a JBG, so I went to Belle of Bonaventure (a HAED). It was one of my Leap Year starts in 2024, and I left off on her on March 4, 2024, barely 15.92 hrs in and 3719 stitches:

And, apparently I went a bit nuts on this one. Starting on the 28th until the 9th. I was literally flying through this and I really didn't want to stop, but I was afraid of burnout. Not to mention I was having issues with the scroll rods not staying tight (they are one of the first ones I made, so I can cut a break for myself on that, next time I know to get bigger dowels and longer hanger bolts). I put in another 41.71 hrs and 11,219 stitches (seriously?...even I'm impressed by that for just a bit over a week), which got me to 14,938 stitches out of 118,000 and at 12.66%. Here is where she is now as of the 9th:

I was trying to stick to my Sunday switch, so I went with Night Wish by Annie Rodrigue (another HAED), but I immediately knew that was a mistake. I SO was not feeling it (probably because of that darn moon). I left off on her Feb 12th of 2024 at 197.8 hours in:

I decided very quickly to shift out of the moon and start on the far edge of the row, but that didn't help either. My new(ish) stand just doesn't hold it right and I can't go back to my old stand because the holder clamp doesn't work anymore...only those projects mounted on the straight dowel will work with it (aka Alice and the B's). I tried to move it down some, but again, just didn't work. I only got 4.32hrs in and 1269 stitches (which is HORRIBLE for a weekend day) and left her off at 47,806 stitches out of 206,000 and 23.21% complete.

I can pretty much guarantee I'm switching again tonight. I don't want to stay tied to Night Wish for a solid week. Right now I'm leaning towards JBG Faces of Faery 167 (another HAED), which I left off on Jan 29th, 2024 at 14,533 stitches done out of 50,175 and 28.96% done (as well as 68.43 hrs in):

But, considering all the issues I've had with fabric this past month and this one is my first (and probably last) piece on 32ct evenweave, I'm just not sure. There are quite a few I could try before I start the loop over again, but I guess I'll know once I get home. I guess you'll know for sure once I post again.

I also really need to start posting daily stitching status posts to Instagram again, but I have never been good at social media (I'm not counting blogging in that, but honestly, I've pretty much sucked at that too for the past year or so). I deleted my Twitter (or X) account for obvious reasons. I did sign up for BlueSky, but I haven't posted a thing on there yet. I have TikTok, but I can't stand the way those videos auto play, so I just don't go there (and I wouldn't even attempt to post anything). TikTok is NOT made for those on the spectrum...too much noise and no control! I have been watching FlossTube again and I think I might have found a software that can line up all my status photos into a nice timelapse video (other than the expensive Photoshop), but I haven't tried it yet. If I can get that to work, I'll made a timelapse of all my finished projects and post those on the Tube (and I'll let you know when and if I do).

One other thing I got done this week is I finally got Maleficent mounted and taken to Hobby Lobby for framing! I wanted to take it to Michael's (since we have one now), but apparently our Michael's doesn't have a frame shop. And I guess Hobby Lobby is wary of the competition because it only cost $47 to frame her (mat and frame included)! If they are that cheap now, I may have to take my Highland girl (and the other one that is broken) up there to get reframed. Right now, those two just have tape holding the frames together. That's what I get for trying to frame them myself in a "normal" frame! I'll post Maleficent once I get her back (which should be on the 13th).

And, as a final note, all this stitching may come to a screeching halt soon (for at least a while). I'm going to have to have surgery on my right hand. I have several ganglions that popped up at random, but one of them is squeezing nerves in my wrist and causing electric shocks constantly. I don't think I will be out of commission long, but my doc also says I have severe carpal tunnel in both wrists and both shoulders, and he's insistent on doing surgery on them as well. For now, I'm holding off on those surgeries, partly because I don't have enough sick leave to cover them (thanks to my knee surgeries) and partly because neither particularly hurts, so why bother? He says I'm going to have long term nerve damage if I don't get them cut on, but again, I'll deal with that when the time comes.

And that's about it for this week!

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:

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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.

I'm stumped and second guessing myself

I don't regret UFO'ing Suteki, I hated that project. But I can't stop thinking about it, athough not for the reasons you might think. It was confetti heavy and it was like stitching through carpet because of the color changes. Granted, it was during a time when I knotted the ends of my thread (I can be lazy that way sometimes and I still do it upon occasion, although I try to waste knot it at the front now). I was stitching her 1x1 on 28 ct Monaco (my fabric of choice). And I am a cross country stitcher by nature, which also doesn't help with heavily confetti'ed projects. I debated parking, but I'm just not built for those hanging threads.

The reason for the sudden obsession? The Aimee Stewart supersize max color Bookshelf that will be one of my new starts. It's going to be Suteki on steroids (and I have no plans to use any kind of knot, I can loop method one strand, I just don't like to, it takes too long). Back in the day when I did my first HAED and decided that 28ct was for me, I did try 25ct, but I didn't like the coverage for 1x1 (I have never been a fan of 2x1 and I'm still not...there's a story behind that too, of course). So, I've lived happily ever after in 28ct land 1x1 with the occasional foray back to 18ct 2x1, but I always complain about it while I'm doing it, even if I picked it for a reason (usually because 28ct is too small for the project or the design is too simple for the smaller fabric count). I watch FlossTubers who do 25ct 1x1 and their coverage looks fine, but I'm not seeing it close up. They are usually showing wide views (or they are stitching 2x1 tent, and I've already decided I'm not doing tent).

I need to interrupt this mini-panic moment for storytime. This week, I did everything I could to avoid Everest, although the why is a mystery. Maybe it was almost two weeks without stitching and I needed to retrain myself to the discipline of it all? I'm not sure. But I decided it might be better to change projects again because I literally put in 6 hours in a week (two actual days of stitching) and that's just horrible! It was here last week (which might seem sooner because last week's post was a bit late):

I was just so sick of all the blue! Blue in the sky, blue in the mountain, blue, blue, blue! Believe it or not, there are three colors of blue in that top part of the sky...you can't even tell! Even when I could get a brown or a purple in, it was for a brief amount of time, then back to the blue. No page finish, no real progress.

As my ADHD kept getting worse...back to my original thought. I started noticing the coverage on Everest (which is 28ct Monaco 1x1). It's a good coverage, exactly how I like it...here's a close up (and ignore my crappy stitching):

It's not too thick, there is no "carpeting", it's just the right amount of coverage, knotted back and all. Where you can see fabric poking through, once it's washed, those will disappear. But, I do actually have some 25ct chillin' in my fabric stash, it came with my Dollmaker kit from GeckoRouge (I just switched out her fabric for 28ct). So I got the bright idea to stitch up a block of different colors to see how bad it actually is (keep in mind, I did this test once back in 2010, but I figured maybe my tastes have changed or maybe my memory was skewing my view of the situation). I was using thread from Everest's stash which, ironically, is almost entirely made up of the knock-off thread I cleared out of my stash a few weeks ago. If it's faded, I can't really tell because it's all the same, but by golly does it shread really fast! I have to cut the strands very short or it will just tear apart after about 2/3 through. But anyway, here's my mock-up block on 25ct 1x1 (with a tiny little BamBam hair right there staring back, I thought about retaking the pic when I saw it, but it made me smile, so I left it in):

It's pretty much the same as I remember, pretty good with the lighter colors, but crap with the darker ones, especially the black. I should also add here that the 28ct of Everest is Monaco and the 25ct test is Lugana. In my experience, the holes in Lugana are bigger. Monaco is harder to get nowadays (and it's pretty much exclusively 28ct anyway) and the Easy Guide fabric I bought for the Bookshelf only comes in Lugana (even though it comes in various sizes, I bought it in 28ct for Bookshelf), so the holes will be bigger (which may negate this issue altogether and I'm, as per usual, getting bent out of shape for nothing). If I re-buy it in 25ct, I could go with Anchor black to solve the coverage issue, but it does create a couple more issues. First and foremost, it means I'm spending more money on a large fabric that isn't cheap (and more floss...21 skeins of Anchor black). I also couldn't get dowel rods longer than 48" locally for the new scroll rods I'm gonna make, which is fine for 28ct, but the fabric would need to be exactly 48" wide for 25ct, which makes them too short if I want a bit of hang-over of the rods, so I'd also have to order new dowel rods (and the next size up is 72"). Drilling in the house is one thing, but sawing too? I don't have an outdoor space to work in (let alone it's been 20 or below for two weeks now, with no change in that for the forseeable future) and I don't have an adequate vacuum to clean up sawdust. I am certainly not buying a new vacuum too!

I still have time before my February 29th start date to change all this out to 25ct, but the window is shrinking. I don't want to start on the 28ct and regret it because it turns to carpet, but I also don't want to rebuy it all for the 25ct and regret that as well if the coverage sucks. There is one FlossTuber I watch who starts big projects over and over again for various reasons (usually due to fabric and coverage) and I couldn't imagine doing that. I did it once with my Highlander Girl because it was my first full coverage and I didn't understand stitch lines if you stitched certain ways and it was pretty traumatic knowing I had to give up all that work (and it wasn't even a full page yet, let alone pages and pages of work like that FlossTuber does). I'm just not built that way nor do I have enough life left for that. She's young.

As for now, I'm trying to control my spending and trust my instinct to go with the 28ct. I have almost all of the bookshelf patterns (not quite all, but most of them), so if I do more than one, they will all need to be on the same fabric. Whichever one I pick first, needs to be the right one. I can't change later. Like the DoNa's, 18ct opalescent, each and every one. Someday, I will have a real house to hang the in, and they need to match. I am nothing if not a matchy-matchy kind of person.

But back to storytime (yes, the ADHD is strong), I did have to switch projects to keep myself stitching, so I did that on Sunday. I switched to Faces of Faery 167, a HAED by Jasmine Becket-Griffith. She's actually on 32ct 1x1 (a little experiment I'm still on the fence about). She's small, she'll only be 11x11 when she's finished. I have several other of the Faces series, so I'm not sure if I'll continue them on 32ct to keep the size consistent, or go back to 28. I'm not as strict on size for these as I am for some other projects. The bookshelves and the DoNa's are all the same size, the Faces vary. That helps with the decision. Plus, to be honest, in five years, I might not be able to stitch on 32ct as my eyesight gets worse than it already is. It's actually not that much smaller than 28ct, but it is smaller. And again, it's the "old" charting way for HAED, so there is no dithering, which means it's not "carpeting" up at all and that also helps with seeing it easily (some of the newer ones are dithered, which will make it harder to see as well, no chunks of continuous color). I left off on her here back in June of 2020:

I had trouble focusing Sunday, but I got a chunk done (although it's not my usual chunk and it just looks like more because she's so small). And, for the entire day, I only stitched 6 hours. That seems to be my new magical number. It's even hard to see what I got done on her because of the light colors and it was basically just fill in. Maybe I need to start on her face this week so next week you can see the progress as well:

As a bonus, the reason why I hate 2x1? I started stitching young, but they were young kids tiny kits. Teddy bears mainly. Back in those days, kits were all we had. I am older than the internet, remember? My first "real" kit was a Teresa Wentzler...yeah. I was 12! I had NO idea what I was in for. I don't know if any of you have done one of her projects, but tons of blended threads, half stitches, back stitches, french knots. I was WAY out of my depth. I was a one WIP pony at that point, and that kit took me through high school graduation, college, numerous jobs, marriage and separation before I finished it (although I would sometimes put it down for years and I apparently signed off on it with my married initials, so I wasn't quite divorced yet). This is a horrible picture of it and I think I've rematted it since, so I probably need to rephotograph it, but here it is:

There is a stain up by the dragon's neck that I never could get off. I have no clue what it was. I spilled tea on it at some point and half the fabric is "tea dyed" (or so I claim it when someone asks). It's supposed to be white Aida (I think 18ct, yet another reason to hate it). Ironically enough, I do have another Wentzler kit in my stash. I started it many many years ago (I was in my 20s), but I made a mistake and put it down. Haven't touched it since. It's 28ct, but it's 2x2 with some 1x1. I've never been good with 2x2 on a higher fabric, let alone mixing the two. I already intimidated myself enough by my initial experience, so between the mistake and the future issues this project could throw up, I've gotten too scared to touch it again. This one makes the other one look like child's play (what I would consider a Chatelaine on steroids with a dose of heroin). I started in the middle on it (which is what I used to do back in the day), but it all needs to be frogged before I even think about restarting this (which I can't imagine doing again unless I go crazy or something or someone offers me a million dollars to do it, and even then I might ask for 10 million). If this were a full coverage HAED, I'd be all over it in no time! This is it:

I had actually given away a bunch of kits to a co-worker at one point and panicked. I did the unthinkable and asked for some of them back, this being one of them. I'm still not sure why. I've never been good with letting go of things, but those of you who have been around for a long time, know the reasons behind that. It was a horrible thing to do, I'm aware of that, but I just couldn't help myself. I really shouldn't act on rash decisions! If I were smart, I'd sell the Disney Kinkade kits rotting away in my stash. I'm NEVER gonna stitch them, the detail is horrible and they have all those specialty stitches I hate, I was only buying them as "collectibles", and I never got Rapunzel (the last one before the company went belly-up). They go for several hundred on eBay now. I could get several thousand for the whole set. But, as with everything else, I can't part with them. That's for dealing with after I'm dead I guess.

So, I guess that's it for this week. This wasn't supposed to be a long post, but none of them ever are! I'm just a very verbose person in writing. I really should write a book someday! I'm more of a storyteller than a speaker or a "quippy" person. If you guys have any first-hand experience with those bookshelves or 28ct vs 25ct, let me know (but I know most of you guys don't work on those types of projects). I do so prefer the one-on-one relationships we have here versus what happens on YouTube. I still hate commenting over there. And I'm on Instagram, but I'm bad about posting a pic and forgetting it. I rarely respond to comments because I have notifications turned off (I have notifications on almost all apps turned off, I hate my phone pinging every two seconds), and I don't catch them until the next time I post a pic, which might be in a couple of weeks. I'm just not good with social media.

Well, there was stitching this week, but...

It sucked. Three little days worth, most all of which was done on Sunday, and even that was sparse. I gave up on Suteki and went back to Faces 167. This is the last one in my rotation so, after this one, I can go back to The Bride Dollmaker and start over again. I'm kind of looking forward to that! But anyway, in case you guys have forgotten, this one is difficult because it's my first on 32ct, so it's VERY tiny (it will be 7x7 when finished), although at least it's not dithered, and it's also on Lugana, not my favorite. But since they don't make Monaco anymore, guess I'll have to get used to it. Anyway, it actually hasn't been that long since I last worked on her, June of 2019 to be exact:

And, like I said, very little progress, but here is where I left off Sunday night:

Whether or not I continue on her for another week or go ahead and shift back to the Bride Dollmaker, I haven't decided yet. I'm still having issues dragging myself away from painting by numbers on my iPad. Little Faces isn't that horrible to work on, she just hurts my eyes after a while. I wish I could actually do everything on 32ct, I think I like the coverage better and I definitely like the smaller size. But the older I get, the harder it gets to stitch on 28ct, let alone 32ct.

I'm also doing this post on the new blogger format. I still HATE it with a passion, but come the end of the month, we're not going to have a choice, so I figured I'd better get used to it. There are still a LOT of bugs, but they have worked out some of them, so I can at least switch between the different blogs I have. The worst part is that I can't typically do HTML anymore because it works wonky. I'm going to have to dink with it more. Blogging shouldn't be this difficult. I shouldn't have to add <div> code to break a line after a photo...someone let me know if I'm doing something wrong on that front.  Granted, it will let me break paragraphs fine on just words, but photo code just kind of bungles everything (unless they are just trying to force us to use Google photos, which I don't want to do).  Working in the old Compose mode feels like I'm working in old 90's tech.  It's just not right either, but at least I don't have to worry about the code (unless I try to switch back to HTML, and then it's a HUGE mess and I'm editing out all kinds of extraneous code!).

I've also tried updating my blog look a couple of times over the past few weeks, but I'm just not happy with the other formats, and I hate editing the code to get it to show the entire blog post.  I know a lot of people like just part of the post showing, but I'm a bit old school, in that I prefer the whole post to show.  Only a couple of the newer blog styles have been hacked enough to give you this option and, of the four, the two I prefer don't have the hacks.  So, for now, I'm stuck with what I've got until I can find something I like better.  Besides, the trees remind me of Once Upon A Time's opening logo, so I'm not totally against it, even if it's not that personalized.  And I'm still in a pretty dark mood, despite the time of year, so it still fits.

Speaking of, on the personal front, I can't thank you guys enough for your kind words! I wish I could say I'm getting better but, unfortunately, I'm not. I'm aware of the problem, I just haven't figured out how to control it yet. That's always been my issue and why, most of the time, professional help isn't needed. I don't need someone to point out the issue because I already know what it is, where the cause is and, most of the time, the actions I need to do to fix it. But in the heat of the moment, implementing those actions, can sometimes take more energy than I have at that particular time. Professionals can't help with that. That's all on me. Any tools or tricks they can "teach" me, I already know, but they don't understand that it is easier said than done. It is a constant struggle, one I let slide while the world kind of stopped during quarantine. It was almost like the world adapted to me instead of me having to adapt to the world. Now that everything has gone back to normal (literally) overnight, I wasn't prepared for the fallout of being thrust back into things full-force. It's kind of amazing the damage just a few months of downtime can do because it might take me a year or so to recover. Yea me.

But anyway, I guess we'll know by next week whether or not I stayed with Faces or moved back to the Bride.  Right now, I'm lucky that I'm getting in and out of the house!

I stitched a tiny bit and I have a bit of a Netflix rant (that isn't so tiny)

I think, with an extra day off this weekend, I just got too bored of watching nothing on TV and needed an outlet, so I ended up stitching a bit on Monday. My arms got really tired, really fast (and I had a lot of trouble focusing), but at least I did something. It's kind of amazing how hard it is just to pick up stitching after a long lapse...it is more physically strenuous than most people give it credit for. I worked on Faces of Faery 167, by Jasmine Becket-Griffith:

I left off here on March 11 of 2018:

I made it here after a few hours of work:

It does look like I did a lot more than I did now that I can see the two pics side-by-side, but it is a VERY small piece (it will only be 7x7 when finished), so it was hard to tell while I was working on it that I was even making any progress! But as you guys keep telling me, something is better than nothing, right?

We'll see how the week takes me and I'd like to say I'll keep going with stitching, especially since I have COMPLETELY exhausted everything on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime there is to watch as of now, so I should have the time to stitch. I need a good stitching show, aka something that can run in the background and I don't have to really watch, just sort of listen to (usually because I've watched it so many times already). But I don't want to go back to "Once Upon A Time", "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." (AOS for short) or "Supernatural" because I'm trying hard to curb my OCD tendencies and those are my worst triggers and I get stuck in those loops for months on end. I cleared season 3 of "Riverdale" between Friday night and Saturday morning, spent the rest of Saturday watching two seasons of another show called "Very British Problems" (and yes, it confirmed that I am indeed British and not Southern, despite my area of birth and living), I watched horror movies on Sunday (as is my typical Friday night practice, but "Riverdale" distracted me), and I watched so much crap on Monday, I literally couldn't tell you what most of it was. I have now hit the dregs of all streaming platforms and was just grasping at the proverbial straws trying to find something good to watch and I can now confirm I have literally "seen it all", or at least all in the genres that I typically watch.

Now I need to rant a bit (or at lot, depending on my mood)...despite Netflix's constant urging, I will NEVER watch "Friends" or "Grey's Anatomy" and now, their newest recommendations, various zombie shows and Asian subtitled movies. I would sure LOVE to know how how these streaming services' algorithms work, Netflix being the worst about it. A viewer, who only watches horror (but NEVER zombie movies), action/superhero adventure-type movies, the occasional fantasy genre, and yes, a teen romance or two (or a dozen), would somehow love those particular shows or movies? Sometimes, and this REALLY gets me, they recommend "Riverdale" or Once or even AOS, which I already watch and they have record of it in my viewing history, so why not keep it in the list of "shows you've already watched" or "watch it again" list...why move it to the "recommended for you" list? I've gone back and made sure it was still in my viewing history just because I was questioning their practice on this, but yep, all views still there...so what the literal bloody hell?

Yes, I watched Once and AOS, which are both ABC shows, so that qualifies me for Grey's? Just because Disney owns ABC, doesn't mean ABC gets a free pass, even in my book. Right now, AOS is the only ABC show I currently watch because everything else kind of sucks now that Once is gone. There is no Disney or Marvel-related anything really left on ABC right now, so I don't spend much time on Hulu except for AOS. And, when it comes to Grey's, do they secretly know I own all 15 seasons of "ER" on DVD and, if so, how? It is the only American medical show I ever watched (and only because I was obsessed with Anthony Edwards back in the day and then Shane West), but I work in the medical field and I don't want to go home and watch it on TV, even though I work with a lot of people who watch every medical show on TV for some weird reason. I want escapism, not more of what I spent all day dealing with. Plus, I'm not a fan of procedural anything (unless it's British), because I also work in I.T., which is constant procedural everything. Not all medical shows are created equal, and "ER" holds a special place in my heart because I literally watched it on TV from the beginning to the end (as I did Once), besides, "ER" is on Hulu if I wanted to watch it streaming, so Netflix you're out of luck and I would never watch Grey's anyway...I am not a fan of most of those actors and I'm also not a fan of unhappy endings (which that show has a lot of).

I don't ever watch situation comedies (at least not American, and Netflix doesn't have the British ones, those are on Hulu and I have them all on DVD anyway), so why recommend "Friends"? I hate every single main actor on that show (a recurring theme with me apparently) and have rarely watched a single movie with one of them in it (if it did, it was by accident and I always delete it from my viewing history just to keep further "Friends" recommendations from popping up on other streaming sites). Matter of fact, I rarely watch a comedy film either. As close as I ever got to "Friends" was "Coupling", a British show which is often compared to "Friends" for some strange reason (which I own on DVD and, as far as I know, I've never streamed), but I see them as two completely different beasts, so what would give them the idea that "Friends" is a good fit for me? This horror-loving, America's Ass-worshipping, teen-angst driven, British comedy-watching viewer? Good question!

I watched "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" (more than once...well, probably more than high double-digits, but still) and it had a lead actress who is of Asian/American descent as well from a book series that was written by the same, but how does that constitute suddenly bombarding me with a plethora of Asian subtitled-language films? It also stars an Italian American, but I don't have any Italian recommendations (at least, not yet). Yes, I do watch the occasional French subtitled film, but that's FRENCH, not ASIAN...not that there is anything wrong with Asian or Italian films, they just aren't my cup of tea and, are they saying that all foreign films are the same? I think not. But again, the same thing happens every time I watch a French film, all foreign films suddenly get added to my recommendations list, all languages BUT French, that is. Amazon Prime has the same problem confusing French and Bollywood films. I have never watched a Bollywood film on Amazon, and yet, after watching one French film, I suddenly got bombarded with Bollywood recommendations to the point I had to clear out my history just to stop it (and no, I don't typically watch musicals either, so it couldn't have come from that). Again, nothing against Bollywood films, they just aren't for me (and yes, I've seen a few in my day). I like French films because there was a time I could speak it (sort of), I can watch one without reading the subtitles (most of the time unless their accents are heavy) and they tend to be extremely moody and dark, especially with their horror.

Speaking of which, when it comes to the big "H", I'm EXTREMELY picky about my horror...ghosts/hauntings and demons/possessions only, with vampires and werewolves only in the context of teen romance, so why recommend zombies when I've never even hovered over anything zombie-related? I'm even careful to stay away from too many apocalyptic movies for the same reason, they confuse the two quite frequently (even when one usually has nothing to do with the other). Do I suddenly have zombie recommendations because there were zombies in season 14 of "Supernatural" and I just finished it a couple of weeks ago? Or is it because Rose McIver (Tinker Bell) and David Anders (Dr. Frankenstein) from Once are in "iZombie" (which was also created by Rob Thomas of "Veronica Mars" fame, which is another one of my shows) and they are linking apples to oranges? But since I've never streamed "Veronica Mars" other than the digital copy of the movie, which I own, then how do they know that is one of my shows? Or are they just connecting dots? I don't think gore is scary...again, I work in a path lab, I see "gore" all day long and it doesn't bother me. As as a matter of fact, I tend to find gory movies quite funny because they never get it "right" and who is going to be scared of a creature that walks slow and constantly declares it wants to eat your brains? No thanks.

Then there is the alien side-effect...shows like "The X-Files" or any "Roswell" variation (both old and new) will automatically put every single alien documentary on the planet in a viewing queue for you on EVERY streaming site. I am watching FICTION here people and now you think I'm interested in documentaries? Yes, I guess one could surmise that most of those alien documentaries are "fiction" anyway, but still, I watch Mulder/Scully and Liz/Max for the romance, not the alien part of it. Yes, I do watch documentaries, but they tend to be of the historical/ghost/artistic nature, never on aliens. But alien shows are often also considered zombie horror for some very weirdo reason (although a case could be made for some episodes of "The X-Files", at least in the horror category, I will NEVER understand the zombie connection to ANYTHING alien). Me personally? I categorize it as fantasy/romance, but that's why I gravitate towards those two shows in particular. Maybe aliens should have their own category?

And, as an aside, and this is being really picky, but I do find it annoying that they keep recommending all the DC shows mixed in with everything else superhero/action. They should be able to tell that I'm obviously a Marvel girl and, like horror, not all superheroes can be categorized the same, so I do cringe when I'm looking for a Marvel movie and I have to dig through a huge list of DC shows and movies I'll never watch (even if Shane West is on Gotham now...yes, I'm aware, just disappointed he went with the "other side"). Just because they have the "because you've watched..." and it's Marvel-related, doesn't mean I'll watch anything DC. Yes, there are some DC exceptions, but those are few and VERY far between and, as best as I can remember, never on Netflix.

So, here is my letter to the recommendations department of various streaming services:

Dear Netflix and Amazon Prime (Hulu gets a pass for reason listed below),

Please stop with your stupid recommendations based on what you probably pay the most for and what YOU want me to watch and actually consider my past viewing history and what I might actually want to watch! Or, here's a thought, give us a chance to deny a recommendation as a "I would never in a million years watch something like that, try again" kind of thing, and modify your recommendations accordingly. Learn from your mistakes, correct them, and make actual recommendations that are helpful, give me choices I might actually pick from, and NOT make me spend long periods of time searching for movies by "remote typing" in the search box (and no, I don't want to have to hook a keyboard up to my TV, thank you very much).

As a general rule you can go by, I don't do American comedy or American drama without the benefit of horror, fantasy, superheroes, or teen angst or teen romance, I only do foreign films if they are French, I hate movies that make me cry and don't have a happy ending (unless it's a horror movie or certain notable exceptions which can be counted upon one hand), fiction genres shouldn't lead to documentary recommendations, not all superheroes are created equal, and last, but surely not least, I don't do zombies EVER. Most of your self-produced, over-priced shows I don't watch since your Marvel defection (although some of your teen romance movies are quite good, so keep those up), and are CERTAINLY not worth the price increases you keep inflicting upon us, so you might want to watch out when Disney+ comes out (although Hulu doesn't have to worry much since Disney owns them) because most all of your content will be leaving for both of them and you just might be in trouble! I checked, and most everything I've ever watched is either Disney or Fox, as well as most of your content I don't watch, so you better have a few new aces up your sleeve or else you're going to lose a customer that probably logs more streaming hours than any other full-time employed person on the planet and, as far as she knows, probably holds the viewing record for the most streams of "Once Upon A Time", despite owning the Blu-Rays!

Oh, and Netflix, please stop forcing your ads for these self-produced, over-priced shows on us, or at least allow us to turn them off, for that matter, allow us to turn off all the ads/trailers overall. Allow us the option of watching them like Amazon does. And Amazon, please stop forcing us to watch your ads and trailers for your self-produced, over-priced shows ahead of some other thing we've picked to watch. If we wanted to watch those trailers, we would have chosen to watch those trailers.

Thank You,
An annoyed, but still loyal (as of now), viewer of all three streaming services (but anxiously awaiting Disney+ behind your backs)

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: