Weekly Stitching

This was a totally pitiful stitching week. I've got vacation coming up and my mind is on little else, so between it and work, my poor Cinderella Castle didn't stand a chance despite my best intentions of finishing it last week. I left off here last week:

I got all the body stitching done and started on the backstitching, but after about four hours in one little location, I was done for the week.

I questioned every single color on Sleeping Beauty Castle, especially in the backstitching area, but since there was a more definitive color variation on Cinderella Castle, I haven't been too worried (although, like Sleeping Beauty Castle, the colors are WAY off from the actual castles...that's what I get for doing a kit that is about 20 years old). The closer I got to finishing though, I started to question certain things. I decided to stitch the gold and silver with one thread instead of two so it didn't look clumpy like it did on Sleeping Beauty's (but now I find myself wanting to go back to it and fix it too so that they match), but the more I thought about the black thread designated for the backstitching on Cindy's, the more I started panicking a bit. I ended up pulling out a dark gray for the castle walls and a darker baby blue for the turret tops. The darker blue didn't make that much of a difference, but I'm glad I changed out the black...I think it would have been too harsh. I'm thinking I made the right decision, but I rarely ever change things from the original design, it makes me VERY nervous!

But alas, there won't be much stitching in the next few weeks and I doubt I'll even have status reports for a while until vacation is done. I am WAY past due for an excellent Disney World trip, so I need to put more effort into this one. I've got packing to do, camera equipment to prepare, and about a million more things to do before my trip, all the while dealing with utter hell at work. Fun times ahead, but hey, I can't complain too much because...I'M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD WITH MY SISSY!

I'm going to have a ton of new stuff to report when we get back...we'll be staying at a resort we've never stayed in before, eating at four new restaurants, and going to the Flower and Garden Festival which I've always wanted to see, but never have. It will be a trip of firsts, that's for sure!

February WIPocalypse 2016

Measi's WIPocalypse

Sorry I'm late guys...I'm bogged down with vacation planning right now and just forgot!

This month's question is: "If you have any of your pieces on display in your home which attracts the most plaudits? (via Hazel)"
All my pieces that I've done for myself are hanging on my walls, but unfortunately (or thankfully, depending on how you look at it), no one ever comes over to my house, so they are basically just there for my own enjoyment. Besides, I have a blog to show them off, so no one need come visit in person.

For this month's WIPocalypse, I made considerable progress on some and none on others, so without further ado, let's see the progress!

I worked the most on Maleficent. Last month she was here:

And I managed to finish the third row making her total now here:

She is on my usual HAED fabric of 28ct Monaco, 1x1 full stitches. She's going back to the bottom of the rotation pile for a while though...she's pretty exhausting!

The next project that got the most love was Snow White. She went from here:

To the first row finish here (which is really not that spectacular because they were partial pages...next row will be harder, but it's also her face, so it will be exciting!):

I'm nothing if not a creature of habit, so she's also on 28ct Monaco, 1x1 full stitches, but I quickly discovered that this cut of material was very subpar and it's making her difficult to work on, especially in the confetti areas.

Tartan B got touched for the first time in forever. I left off here:

And thanks to Grandmother-babysitting duty while my Aunt had surgery (nothing serious), I managed a bit more although I thought I goofed and stopped (because it's hard to fix issues in a hospital waiting room). Once I got home and gridded the fabric (which I should have done in the first place), I discovered that I didn't goof after all, but I didn't want to mess with it anymore and left off here:

It's on 22ct Hardanger (or Aida) 2x1 full stitches (or at least I think...this is my third start of this project because of fabric changes). I hate working with hoops now because I have to work one-handed (and that's always slower), but stupid me tends to do hoop up on projects I deem as quickies instead of put them on scroll rods. They rarely ever turn out "quick" though as this one's age shows, so I don't know why I just don't scroll them in the first place...at least then they would be faster and easier to work on.

I got started on the second half of Rainy Wedding, the worded panel, and managed to get to here before I got bored with it (so much for hurrying up and finishing!):

I'd forgotten what a pain it is to work with variegated thread. It's on 28ct Caribbean Blue evenweave by a manufacturer I can't remember, 1x1 full stitches. And stupid me put this one in a hoop too, so who knows when it will get finished!

I've been working on Cinderella Castle the last week. I left off here on it last year (after finishing Sleeping Beauty Castle):

And managed to finish the bottom two pages and started on the top two:

It's on 18ct opalescent Aida, 2x1 full stitches

I've also been working on Suteki on the weekends. She's a project for my sister and also for A New Stitchy Start Blog, but I figure since I posted last month over there, it would be OK to show you guys that progress. Obviously, I'm farther than this now, but she went from practically nada...just one day's worth of work:

To this at the end of last month:

Again, 28ct Monaco 1x1 full stitches. She's been a total nightmare, but since I'm only working on her on the weekends, it doesn't bother me too much.

I haven't touched Night Wish or Alice and the Bouguereau Princesses (only because they haven't come up in rotation for this month), A Summer Ball or 35th Anniversary Celebration (and it would be a total miracle if I worked on either one of these), so there is nothing to show for these guys, but there is always next month, although I can probably guess that none of my WIPs will get much love due to vacation plans.

Top 10 YouTube Channels You Find Yourself Watching

As always, go over to Kate's and Tiff's blogs to see their Top 10's for the week and if you want to join in, just let Kate know.

I love me some YouTube! I've been a faithful watcher of the channel since its early days. I use it for entertainment purposes, for work purposes, for learning purposes, for vacation purposes, and a half-dozen other reasons as well. My favorite channels change all the time, but I do have my go-to, never-let-me down favorites. I almost wish this was a top 20 list instead...I could literally ramble on about YouTube for hours!

#1: CRASH COURSE (SPECIFICALLY ASTRONOMY)
This series just finished up (there is talk that Physics is next), but there are also courses on history, literature, culture, philosophy, government, etc. They are short and sweet, but very perfunctory and certainly enjoyable enough to watch over and over. I've read Phil Plait's blog for years, so I was already a fan, but he's not the only Crash Course host (just the Astronomy host), the Green brothers, who handle all the other topics, are as equally entertaining.


#2: SCI SHOW SPACE
And speaking of the Green brothers, Hank (my favorite), is also involved in another channel involving Astronomy which he co-hosts. This one is more about current Astronomy news and I don't really think there is a schedule to these.


#3: DURAN DURAN
OK, so I'm sure you knew this one was coming, but still. There are tons of official music videos, interviews, live concert clips, and other surprises that keep the average Duranie occupied for quite a while!


#4: FLOSSTUBE
I don't have specific FlossTubers that I follow religiously (although I do subscribe to a couple), I tend to just roam around, checking out their videos, often scrolling through the banter just to see their progress. I'm linking to a random one I watched this morning, a FlossTuber that Kate turned me on to. The Stash Queen is kind of grating and enjoyable at the same time and I do often find myself hypnotized by her, although I'm not sure why...probably because she has a million needle minders!


#5: SARAH SNITCH
I spent a lot of time on YouTube prepping for my first ever Disneyland trip and I found that, although there are barely any fan websites for Disneyland, there are a lot more YouTuber's for Disneyland than Disney World. I got addicted to quite a lot of them, spending hours upon hours watching their walk-through videos of the park and their commentary, but at least one stood out more than the others and has kept me coming back long after my trip was over. Sarah is quirky and funny with a huge dose of Disney geekness that I relate to.


#6: LET'S EAT FICTION
Granted, Red Reyna does a lot of other videos that are food/entertainment related, but my absolute favorites of hers are her Disney recipes. One of these days, I'm going to try her versions of some Disney World and Disneyland classics.


#7: ADAM THE WOO
I almost hate to admit that I like this guy...he's not the most likable of people. But I will start watching his channel and it takes me forever to stop! There is something eerily fascinating about urban exploring, and he definitely does a lot of it (how he doesn't get arrested is beyond me, although he does get caught sometimes). He also does a daily blog which I rarely watch unless it's Disney related (he's also a Disney geek). I tend to stick to his abandoned places series and some of them are downright creepy, especially places like the old Six Flags in New Orleans and supposed haunted buildings. He ended up getting himself banned from Disney World for a couple of years for this video, hence my reason for posting it, but it's also the reason why I found him in the first place.


#8: LOEY LANE
I am obsessed with makeup tutorials for some reason and subscribed to quite a few YouTuber's who do nothing but, but Loey's channel is a bit different. She's a very inspiring person and I will often watch her videos when I'm feeling bad about myself or my looks.


#9: THE PET COLLECTIVE
OK, who doesn't love cute pet videos, seriously?


#10: TOURING PLANS.COM
When a Disney trip is on the horizon, I like to watch walk-throughs and on-ride videos constantly to get myself prepped and ready. I typically only troll these channels during planning season, but since I'm in the heart of one right now, I've been spending a lot of time on one of my favorites, Touring Plans, specifically this walk-through video of our resort that we will be staying at, Coronado Springs.


BONUS - THE DAILY PARANORMAL
I tried to edit the list down to 10, but I just couldn't leave out this channel! Sometimes watching real ghost stories on YouTube can be just as scary as watching a horror movie (especially with the crap horror movies they put out today).

Weekly Stitching

If there is one thing I've learned about my work environment it's that there are those that bully and those who get bullied. When one bully starts up, it stirs up the others into a feeding frenzy. Last week was one of the worst in my 20 years of being employed there. Although I wasn't the main target of the biggest explosion, I got caught up by the mongrels looking for leftover morsels. Apparently, some people have more free time than work.

I'm one of the bullied, but I've always been OK with that because I I don't feel emotions like a normal person, so thanks to my Asperness, they are wasting their time...usually. But even I have weaknesses and there are those in the bully brigade who know some of them. Last week, they managed to hit the worst of my exposed nerves.

I'm not a bully myself because it takes more social effort that I'm willing to put forward...it takes planning, conniving, a desire to make oneself more important, and an evil spirit that enjoys hurting people. These are traits that I just don't possess even on my worst of days.

The details of the week are irrelevant and not worth rehashing, but it did affect my stitching something fierce. I managed to make up for it a little this weekend, but only because I ended up with a headache that refocused my attention. I still stitched through the pain, but my progress still suffered.

I did manage to finish the row of Snow White. I left off here with just a touch of background left:

And, although I should have finished it Monday night, it took me until Tuesday to get through it:

As an effort to try to get my mind off the brewing storm, I decided to move on to Cinderella Castle. I haven't touched it since July last year:

But by Friday night, I had only gotten this far and all I could see was the monster face in the middle:

After the horrible week, I wasn't ready to give up on it yet and go back to my usually weekend rotation of Suteki, so I stuck with Cinderella Castle. Besides, I'm not sure my head could have struggled through Suteki anyway. I did get through the grunt part of the bottom half:

And got a few into the top half:

I was hoping that working on the castle would take my mind off of the evils of the week and focus it where it should be, on my upcoming Disney trip, but it didn't. All I can think is how much I'm dreading going back to work tomorrow.

I've decided to spend next week continuing on with Cinderella Castle, but I'm not holding out hope that my current mood will change, so I doubt I'll finish it by next weekend. Once the main stitching is done, there is a ton of backstitching that could take almost as much time as the stitching and I'm not sure I'll be able to finish by Disney World time anyway, but that's the goal.

As for work, I have absolutely no clue how I'm going to handle things. I'm going to try and stay in my little purple office, surrounded by some of my favorite things, ignoring the gloating of the bullies on their victories of last week, but you know what they say about good intentions. It will be a very "serious" filled week, that's for sure!

Top 10 Movie Heroes

As always, go over to Kate's and Tiff's blogs to see their Top 10's for the week and if you want to join in, just let Kate know.

I'm not really sure how to approach this week's topic. Heroes are very subjective and mine change with the tides other than a select few, but I'm going to give it my best shot. I don't know why I consider some of these guys heroes, but they are the characters that come to mind first, be they "real" or animated. I also tend to interchange "hero" with "superhero". I know there are varying degrees of hero, but I tend to go big or go home, so to speak.

This will also be an male-dominated list for several reasons, the main one being because I'm old and I like male heroes. I've ranted numerous times about the shift in movies to give young girls someone to look up to by making the girls the heroes...I get the point of it, but don't necessarily think it's a good thing. If they insist on doing it, why not make it a 50/50 thing instead of an either/or (although that is a bit of back-talk because I prefer all male, but like I said, I'm old and that's just a product of my generation). Besides, I can't say that I've seen a "really good" female heroine movie (yet). I'm going to stop now or I'll never shut up about it.

#1: CAPTAIN AMERICA - THE AVENGERS (perfect specimen, pure-hearted and the epitome of chivalry...need I say more?)

#2: CAPTAIN FREDRICK WENTWORTH - JANE AUSTEN'S PERSUASION (yes, a bit vindictive, but his heart was always true, even if he wasn't sure for a while)

#3: PRINCE PHILLIP - SLEEPING BEAUTY (my perfect "Prince Charming")

#4: FOX MULDER - THE X FILES (I can include him because there are X-Files movies and because there is no one I would want on my side more if aliens ever attack)

#4: FLYNN RIDER - TANGLED (a bit of give and take between him and Rapunzel on the hero end, but still chivalrous in his own way)

#6: JOHN MCCLAIN (simply because Bruce Willis was and always will be hot and kick-ass)

#7: GAMBIT - REMY LEBEAU (the Taylor Kitsch version, even though his part was WAY too short, I have entire Taylor-based scenarios in my head thanks to the animated series though, so I'm good)

#8: WONDER WOMAN (a bit of a leap since the movie isn't out yet, but it looks really cool and I loved the show as a kid)

#9: ALL OTHER AUSTEN HEROES (Darcy, Tilney, Ferrars, Bertram, Knightly and let's add Colonel Brandon in honor of Alan Rickman...give me a man in a cravat any day!)


#10: THE REST OF THE AVENGERS (I'll be PC and include Captain Marvel, Wasp, and Black Widow)

Since I'm in an Avengers mood now and since I do so love fan videos, how about another one?

Sunday Stitching

I spent last week working on Snow White. She's definitely more complicated than she looks! I left off here last time:

I did stop her on Friday night as planned, but she stayed on my mind all weekend because of where I left off. After a rather crappy weekend spent on Suteki, I picked Snow back up today to try to get the background finished. I didn't succeed, but I'm so close, I think I'll continue on her next week until I get the row finished. Here is where I stopped tonight:

I figure it shouldn't take more than a day or two at most to finish the background, but it will leave me with a partial week for whatever project I pick. I'm pretty sure it won't be Night Wish because I want to give it a full week's worth of attention. I'm kind of thinking that maybe it's time to start Cinderella Castle back up, especially since I will be in Disney World in a few weeks. We'll see.

Speaking of Suteki, I'm at a very hard place with her right now (but, as per usual, it's not progress I can show here because it's saved for the other blog). I'm still not ready to give up on her though, she's going to be perfect for my sister. I just have to remember that this will probably be the heaviest confetti row. I can show a little somethin' tho...I ran across yet another hidden Mickey on her:

I still swear she looks like a rainbow threw up on her. I admit that, on Maleficent at least, dithering can be useful for the final product, but it sucks in the interim. The way that HAED used to chart, with blocks of color, produce areas of completion quicker and therefore keep me in a perpetual state of accomplishment because I can SEE progress as I stitch. With Suteki, it looks like mush until you put in the very last stitch (and step away to view it from a distance). It makes it very hard to keep me entertained or feel like I'm doing any good. I really hate that they changed the way they chart patterns. But there is nothing I can do about it, so I've got to find a way to let it go. Guess I'll have to work on that.

And, BTW, I've been hitting Etsy kind of hard lately, so my Stitch Stash page has grown significantly!

Guess where I was last night

Despite my reluctance to get out in the world, on certain occasions I am dragged out for one reason or the other and last night was one of those nights. If I had it my way, I would never go to any other concert than Duran Duran, but there are specific instances when I'll make an exception. As a birthday present to my mother, my sister got us tickets to see my mother's "Duran Duran"...Barry Manilow. I'm not embarrassed to say that this isn't the first time I've seen Barry (for the sake of my mother) but, if I'm really honest, I really don't mind seeing him either because he does put on a good show and it really is the music of my childhood. There comes a time in everyone's life when they discover that, not only is their parents music not as sucky as they once thought, but that some of it is really good.

I didn't take a camera, I just had my phone, so the pictures are crappy (because Barry does love his spotlights), but here are a few highlights and yes, we were THAT frickin close...I could have done without that because the first two rows comes with a certain caliber of fan that is just plain scary:

If one is going to completely freeze their face with botox and plastic surgery, then one shouldn't do a side by side duet with himself 40 years apart:

And, of course, how could I leave out my very favorite Barry song...Weekend In New England (forgive the crookedness at first...one of these days I'll learn not to turn the camera mid view and sorry for the quality, I was lazy):

Overall, it was still a great night, but I couldn't help thinking through the entire show how I'd KILL to be that close to Duran! This is as close as I've ever gotten to MY boys:

At least I could zoom (even with that old camera I had back then) to make me "feel" closer: