Happy (?) Crafting

Hellllooooo! We've been hit with a barrage of unseasonable cool temperatures accompanied by lots and lots of rain so that means I've gotten myself in a grumpy mood where I spend a lot of time and effort criticizing myself for not using all my free time adequately and wasting my summer off, basically beating myself up for not having fun but also not getting a whole lot done. 

Awesome, right?

Weather really affects me apparently because this rain is driving me BANANAS. We've gone past the state of "perfect time for cozy indoor activities that I love" and right on into "existential crisis after being confronted with too many of my own Thoughts" territory. I've waylaid this tidal wave of Grumps as much as possible by sneaking out for the occasional walk in between showers and throwing myself into wedding-related crafting to keep myself feeling vaguely productive at the very least. And, as an additional help with keeping the Thoughts at bay, I've gotten into a number of craft-related YouTube channels (as mentioned in my last post) that I will now share with YOU.

Did you think this was the direction the post was going? Probably yes since I'm sure you can already see the rest of this post but I like to think that I kept you on your toes a bit with that intro. Now, without further ado...

Studson Studio - Studson here makes a lot of miniatures, dioramas, and models based on pop culture and video games which already sounds cool but he presents these awesome creations in a well done and always hilarious way- I believe he has a background in video production somehow so you're getting a quality video that will make you laugh out loud. Plus, his fast and loose approach to measuring and prep-work as well as his use of found/inexpensive materials in his builds really speaks to me.

Bill Making Stuff - This English dude makes weird, like, post apocalyptical-type robots and spaceships and things out of straight up trash and I absolutely love it. The style of his creations is super interesting and cohesive (everything he builds belongs to the same "world" if that makes sense) and I appreciate the hypothetically low cost of making those things- crafts that require a high dollar buy-in to start bother me. He has a background in video production so his videos are super high quality as well. As a bonus, he has a dry humor I enjoy and he also does livestreams which are great to throw on as a background to my own crafting. 

North of the Border -  This dude also makes models and dioramas and things based on games and pop culture... see a bit of a theme here? He's like, a next level model maker though, using more pro materials and less trash but he's an excellent sculptor and his discussions of his sculpting technique have helped me a lot in my recent crafts. Basically, he's the model maker I want to be when I grow up. As a bonus, he has that Canadian accent I feel like everyone from the US assumes every single Canadian has but probably doesn't and I very much enjoy that.

Nerdforge - Nerdforge takes on all sorts of crafty projects, ranging from dragon mural painting, to full cosplay suits of armor construction, to tome book binding. Lots of their creations are out of my league and make use of tools I don't have access to but the builds are amazing and it's super enjoyable to watch. Its run by a couple of young people from Norway which makes me feel old, as you can tell from the fact that I called them "young people" but I would recommend the channel anyway. 

Black Magic Craft - This dude focuses mainly on making models and terrain for Dungeons and Dragons and similar table top games and even though that isn't my thing (making snap decisions while being "in character" in front of people, whether they're my friends or not, fills me with anxiety just thinking about it), this channel is filled with a lot of great resources for someone just starting out trying to build models or dioramas or something. I've already referred to his channel several times in the course of making my nerdy wedding centerpieces and have always come away with more confidence in whatever I'm about to attempt. 

*** *** ***

So that's it! There's a few others I've been checking out but I figured I'd limit it to my top 5 most watched so as not to overburden you. I'm always on the hunt for more recommendations though so feel free to share your own favorites if you've got them. I'm making an effort to curb mindless spending which means being trapped in my house more since we live in a society that expect you to spend money just for the privilege of taking up space in the world (yikes, deep breath Ashley) so these videos as well as the subsequent trips to the craft store they elicit (because that's spending with purpose) have been basically saving me. 

As soon as the sun comes out and stays out, I'm off to the beach. But in the meantime, happy crafting all!

Progress

A while ago, I mentioned that I was starting a new project. I'm happy to report that I didn't just say I wanted to start a new project but I did, in fact, start it. If you recall, the pattern is essentially nine tile-like squares with  coordinating designs. For this post, I decided to take a picture after I finished each color thread. 

All outlines are done in this shade of green, which I am not mad about because I love green. I think this is one of the colors I had to substitute to because I didn't have the specific color the pattern called for. This one seems a bit brighter though so I think I prefer it.

After finishing this outline, the real enjoyable part starts which is when you just fill in the outline with all the other colors, no constant pattern checking needed. It's like coloring in one of those adult coloring books but, um, you know, stitching.

This extra calming project has come at a particularly good time for me, as schools let out for April vacation and it was a little crazy during the run up to this point. And, in true Ashley fashion, I'm still unable to fully relax now that the vacation has begun.

I've begun wedding planning again and am reminded that I'm not good at wedding planning. I suppose it's not wedding planning specifically that I'm terrible at but making a high volume of decisions within a short time span. I'm only good for like, one decision a day, two if I'm feeling a little spicy.

When I have something important to do, I have a hard time relaxing and allowing myself to fully enjoy fun things when I'm not actively working on it. While logically I know it's about balance, you have to also do Fun Things in addition to Important Things so your brain doesn't explode or whatever, I still find myself vacillating between doing The Thing and moping around trying to convince myself to do something else while still somehow not getting anything done. 

This inevitably leaves me feeling like I'm wasting my vacation. Though I'm fully aware that worrying about wasting time only creates more wasted time, I still find myself focusing a lot of my brain power perfecting the art of that that very specific form of worrying. One of my many talents.

This is why I spend much of time stabbing things over and over. Something about it, especially working on a project like this, really calms me down. I think the key is that it takes just the right amount of brain space- enough to keep my worries at bay but allow them to work themselves out in the back of my mind, if that makes any sense.

Now that this piece has gotten me back in creative mode, I've slowly started to combine my need for creative relaxation with wedding planning- because of course I have to make stuff for the big day- as the perfect way to fully unwind. I've also got a project based on Isaac Asimov's Laws of Robotics going because despite just now talking about how stressed I am, I felt the need to just completely overburden myself, per usual.

Aaaaaand there we have it! The finished square. I love the colors and can't wait to crack on with the other eight squares. Aside from all the other things I'm stressed about, I've also been putting a lot of thought into what I want to do with the rest of my life (job-wise) for some reason, so I'm sure this'll be done soon enough as I try to maintain my comfortable base level of panic without reaching critical mass.

On that note, I feel the need to share that I got a beer midway though this post because 1) look at this can. Look at it. I love it, it has more of a shiny metallic shine in person and is 100% why I grabbed it off the shelf in the first place and 2) it was a delightfully bitter-but-not-too-bitter black ale, recommended if you're into that sort of thing. I've never had it or anything else from Ten Bends for that matter, but apparently it's out of Vermont and most of their cans are gorgeous. Sure it doesn't matter but art for arts sake is what keeps us sane so I'll take it where I can get it.

On that note, cheers!

New Adventure, New Project!

I've been moping along for a while, wishing I had a good cross stitch project to dig into but not having the energy to find and start one. I had an extra day off this week though, so I decided to visit a local needlework shop, see if that could fire up the ol' inspiration. I've been trying to make more of a conscious effort to shop local/small whereever I could anyway so it felt like a good way to spend some time on my bonus day off. 

I really can't believe that it'd never occurred to me until recently to see if there were any such shops around me. I wasn't expecting a ton of hits and there's certainly more yarn shops than needlework stores but I figured there would have to be some around Boston at least. I'm very glad to say however, I was pleasantly surprised to find one with a much easier commute (though there are more out towards Boston of course). So, on Friday I headed out to The World in Stitches in Littleton MA (they don't have a website but they do have a Facebook page you can check out).

I always get nervous when I first visit a new small shop like that. First of all, I get very nervous about parking- I panic if there's inadequate parking and I have to search for it or parallel park (the HORROR). Then, there's the near certainty that you're going to have to interact more with the people IN the shop, which is hit or miss and especially awkward if I find the shop doesn't live up to my expectations and I want to leave quickly. 

That nonsense aside, I'm super glad I went. The shop was, to my overly organized self, kind of in disarray and it was small and a little cramped, BUT that means it had a ton of stuff to look at. I was a pretty overwhelmed to be honest so I only bought a pattern, but next time I'll be more prepared to look around. I noted that they had a lot of thread I don't usually see and would be very interested in, including silks, hand-dyed cottons, and metallics that look like they may not be terrible to use (does that even exist?!).

Nerves aside, it was still a worthwhile trip because I'm pretty excited about the pattern I ended up buying. There was quite the selection of patterns (TONS!) but the colors really drew me in to this one. Once I looked closer though, I realized it was exactly the kind of thing I felt like stitching. Patterns like that- actual patterns, not, say a picture or something- are, to me, extra satisfying to work on. Plus, being able to complete one square at a time really ups the satisfaction levels. 

I didn't have all the threads it called for (only about half maybe) but I knew this was a situation where I would have plenty of similar colors to switch out with no issue. Really, I could've chosen a whole new color palette if I wanted but like I said, the current color scheme is what drew me to the pattern in the first place.

The woman who owned the shop, Randi, was extremely nice and helpful and not overbearing at all (another small-shop related concern of mine). She was able to tell me a little about the designer of the pattern and answered a couple questions I had. I later looked up this designer to check out the rest of her work and it was a Bad Choice because now I know where all my money is going forever. SO MANY AMAZING DESIGNS! Seriously, so many beautiful patterns, check it out for yourself. 

I've already started it and it's a joy to work on just as I predicted. It feels really good to be excited about starting a new project. Getting comfortable on the couch, watching something good (or not good, depending on my mood) and getting into a stitching groove... it's so relaxing to me and such a calming influence that when I'm not working on something more immersive, I feel at a little bit at a loss. 

It took a while to get to this point, I've been in a funk for a while, but it sure feels good to be back. I thought about giving it a rest and wait until I was feeling more inspired, maybe try out something new in the meantime, but instead, I followed a fellow stitcher's advice and stitched up something small and silly to get help me back into the groove. I'm glad I did because that, combined with yesterdays adventure, and I'm feeling better already.

Luckily, recently there was a conveniently timed "stitch or dare" event in one of my stitching groups where three different people gave me a stitching challenge and I had to pick one to complete. Of course I chose "grumpy animal of your choice" and decided to do a small (that's a 3 inch hoop) tribute to that snake I almost stepped on the last time I went hiking. Sorry buddy! I'm sending it off to a friend who's always trying to harass snakes when we go hiking. 

Well, I'm going to get back to my project! Have a fantastic weekend!

Hello Mr. Blue Sky

My excuse for stepping away from the computer lately is actually a good one: It's been nice outside.

I've realized over the last few years- especially since I moved to Massachusetts and began experiencing longer, more miserable winters- that the weather affects me a lot more than I thought it would. What this means is, I'm a sad cold lump for several months, then the first few warm days hit and I feel like I've taken a party drug. We got out our bikes and everything. And RODE them. Even my geranium, which I dragged inside after last summer and which hated me for it, proving it by shedding a ton of leaves, has regained her former glory and is even pushing out new blooms.

Speaking of plants, I would like to pause in my pro-spring rant to bring you another plant pride and joy, my birthday gift to myself:

Isn't she beautiful? It's a Ficus Elastica Tineke, or, slightly less fancily, a variegated rubber tree. In the background you can see the plant that started my obsession, Rubbert Plant the rubber plant, who is my ultimate favorite- when I learned he came in fun colors, I knew I would get one one day. It was ages until one appeared in my local nursery (ordering online isn't nearly as fun, plus, the hunt his half the excitement!) and serendipitously, I stumbled across this one on my birthday Treat Yo Self trip to the garden center. 

To further deviate from the original purpose of this post, allow me to share another birthday present to myself which is a new pair of glasses. I usually have two pairs in rotation just in case something happens to one but decided to add a third because... why not. I love changing my glasses frequently so I order them from Zenni, which has a lot of inexpensive but good options (I've never had any quality issues and I've ordered many pairs). I will say though that they're inexpensive for me because my vision is normal-bad so no astigmatisms or anything- I'm not sure how it'd be for someone with bad-bad vision. 

I usually go with something in a cat eye shape but decided to mix it up a little. I was specifically looking for blue ones but I fell in love with the shape enough that I was okay with settling on just streaks of blue. I like bolder colors usually (the blue isn't so pronounced when I'm wearing them) but I'm glad I got these because they suit my face so well!

Aaaanywho, with this explosion of good feels, I've broken out of my apathy a little and started some new projects. Things are still slow-going and I'm pretty sure this is something I'll always struggle with but it's felt nice to work on some new crafty things recently. 

One of the first things I did as the weather warmed up is break out the watercolors. I love experimenting with watercolors. I've nowhere near mastered it but I think I'm getting better and am pretty proud of my recent result, which is a card for my mom who recently had surgery on her hand (trigger finger). She's much better now and is healing quickly but I figured she could use a card of support since she was unable to sew for several days (tragic!).

Chickadees are the state bird of Massachusetts and fun to draw/paint because they're basically round little puff balls. Since they are super cute little puff balls, I thought it'd be extra funny to have it yelling at my mom to get better.

I dunno, it made sense when I was painting it.

I was definitely inspired by the comic False Knees when I made this (check it out! So funny!). I think I did a pretty great job if I do say so myself and though I haven't painted anything else since this, I also haven't put my paints away. It's either inspiration or laziness, only time will tell.

That's not the only project I worked on but of course, I'm making things for people that will potentially see this so I cannot yet share but it's happening, trust me. It seems to be impossible for me to just keep making things for myself- for every thing I do for me, I have to bombard at least three other people with something I've made. I suppose it could be worse.

I've also finally gotten around to hanging some art that's been kicking around for a while and generally sprucing stuff up. Spring cleaning I suppose. That and I've been taking more walks and planting a lot of flowers in Animal Crossing, which totally counts, right?

Well, I think I'm going to sit on the porch and try to coax the neighbors cat to hang out with me. I'll just leave the natural choice for a song to accompany this post before I go. Enjoy the sunshine everyone!

I scream, you scream, The Scream

I'm fresh off the weekend and... I don't know how I feel about it. I was going to talk about it at length like I do, mulling over how my desire to do nothing is constantly at odds with my anxiety that I SHOULD be doing something, but instead, here's some memes:

Anyway, now that we have that all cleared up, I can move on and show you the thing I did, in fact, actually do. The benefit of enjoying hobbies such as sewing is that you can essentially spend all your free time parked on the sofa watching you significant other play Breath of the Wild while doing it and not change out of your PJs all day (don't worry, we did take a walk on Sunday) but if someone asks you what you did, you can show them your project, which I will do now:

Do you like how I also forced you to look at my plant in this pic? Check out that variegation!

I've been working on this piece on and off for ages. It, for some reason, turned into the thing I did when I was between other projects- after my initial spurt, I largely ignored it. I'm not sure why because it was super enjoyable to work on. It's my first full coverage piece and though it has a lot of swirling colors, they're placed in such a way that you don't have to switch threads a ton, making it most definitely NOT tedious to work on. It's a 6 inch circle and yes, I did cut the fabric way too small (Somehow I only noticed this pretty late in the game) but I've ordered a round frame that should- hopefully- work. Per usual though, I'm too impatient to wait until it's framed to share it. 

I bought this pattern last year from an Etsy shop that is, apparently, no longer in existence (but just to give credit where it's due, it was HarpSealCrossStitch), and in case you did not know, it is Edvard Munch's "The Scream" mashed up with No Face from the Studio Ghibli movie "Spirited Away." I'm extremely happy with it and I can't wait to find a place to hang it up.

Now that this is complete, I find myself without a ton of projects to jump on. It's strange, I thought I'd feel better about getting things done but I already miss not having something in the works already. Its partly an exciting world-of-possibilities feeling like you get when you finish one book and it's time to figure out what to read next, but also partly an ugh-now-I-have-to-do-all-that-new-project-prep-work feeling. The work leading up to starting a new sewing project is, for me, not something I feel like doing when the urge to sew is upon me. A different brain space is involved I guess.

Actually, technically I have started a new project in the form of a literary themed embroidery stitch-along that's been organized by a Facebook group I'm in. I figured it was a good way to delve into embroidery, something I've been meaning to do for a long time but didn't know where to start. The project will be a total of 5 bookmarks (though, I'm not separating them into bookmarks), each one being a design based on a literary genre. I'm currently working on classic romance but the next genre will be out in a week. I think I'll enjoy it- I already am- and it's good that I'm working "with" people (so to speak) because that way I'm more motivated to follow through with the project and also I can ask questions along the way (they're also putting out helpful videos!). 

It's most definitely a lot different from cross stitch though, so I've still got "find another project" on my plate. I'd like to switch back to working on my own designs which is another brain space altogether. 

I'm realizing as I type this that my brain is filled with a lot of weird spaces that clearly don't like each other...

Crafty: Hos, Ghigh, Batlh, words to live by

So far my vacation is going well. In true Ashley fashion, I do have some concerns that pop up in my negative brain, suggesting I didn't make the best use of my time off but the list I made of stuff I wanted to accomplish filled with checkmarks says otherwise. 

Like I mentioned before, I've been working on a few projects here and there. That was one of the biggest things I wanted to accomplish while on vacation- I've had these almost done works-in-progress hovering over me, I just wanted to finish and get on with my new ideas. I know some people have tons of WIPs going at all times but that just makes me feel overwhelmed, especially if I've not been in the best brain-space. I'm slowly but surely coming out of my winter-induced brain blahs though and was able to power through not one but two of the projects and finish them! Without further ado...

I bought this pattern from this shop on Etsy. It was super cheap and I loved the subject matter so it seemed like the perfect choice for me to at the time. It was extremely enjoyable to stitch, I highly recommend it if you're so inclined! Samplers always come together pretty quickly and in in a really satisfying way and this one was no exception. The design and made to fit in a 5x7 frame- I'm sure I have one around somewhere, I just have to choose which one and figure out where to put it..

The words in the middle are Klingon for "strength, duty, honor." I especially wanted to do this one because it fit in with a couple other nerdy pieces I had done that hang proudly in my house. I'm slowly building up a collection of "home sweet home" or similar type of projects with the hopes that by the time we buy our own house I'll have a bunch to display prominently in a sort of art installation welcoming people into our home. 

That's the idea anyway.

I only have a couple done so far which is probably for the best as I only have so much wall space at the moment. Here's the first one I completed, which is adapted a pattern from this book.

You see this almost immediately upon entering our apartment- we even had a real estate agent exclaim "whoa, looks like we've got some Trekkies here!" when leaving with the new owners of our building once (he was not wrong).

The other one I've done is a self-drafted pattern I completed in 2018.

I've seen many iterations of this particular pattern/theme but I'm especially pleased with how my version came out. If my memory serves (and there's a good possibility it doesn't), I made this the very year I got into Doctor Who in a big way. I later got M into it and we've watched all classic Doctor together (which I had never seen either) and are now making our way through the newer batch (first time for M, second for me!).

What other nerdy versions of this should I do? I'm open to suggestions! I'm thinking a Firefly themed one for sure. I may have to expand more into video games for M's sake- I've seen a few Zelda patterns out there.

Speaking of nerdy cross stitch things and also M, my second finished project is part of his birthday gift,  completed just in time for the big day tomorrow!

The picture could be better, I know, but I forgot to snap one pre-framing and this particular frame is incredibly shiny and impossible to take a good photo of. Ah well.

M's favorite Star Trek is Deep Space Nine and his favorite character is Garak, so I thought I'd stitch it up for him. I made the pattern myself and I'm pleased with the result. I think M will be too! Tomorrow we plan to have some excellent beer at a brewery we haven't visited in ages, then go home to my famous salsa verde chicken tacos and cake. M isn't a big celebrator of... anything but he'd never say no to good beer, games, and tacos, that's for sure. Plus, it'll be a great way to wrap up my vacation. 

Until next time!

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Hot fun

Aaaaand I made it! Made it to what you ask? Oh, just-

***February vacation!!!***

Awww yeahhh, it's that time where I get to reap the rewards of working in a school- no more hospital hours for me! I get random weeks off now! Work has been going pretty well (surprisingly? Finally?) but I've noticed that as these mandatory vacations approach, everyone falls into this mindset of just squeaking by until our week off (the "__ sleeps until vacation" countdown on the message board in the teacher's lounge doesn't help), that's all everyone talks about starting about 2 weeks out. 

But hey, I have a whole glorious week to just chill so I'm not complaining. I was hoping to be able to travel to visit family but of course that's not the wisest choice right now, even though the vaccinations are finally rolling out (I'll get mine soon!).

I'm not sure why I'm so relieved to be honest because this is New England and we're deep into the sad grey winter which means...

***Snow Days!!!***

Yup, yet another perk of working in school and more unscheduled mini breaks. We've had a few already so I should be well rested and not jonesin' for a whole vacation so much. Like I mentioned before, I used to have to drive into work no matter what but now, at the first sign of flurries, I'm pacing around the house with my phone waiting to get the word that school is cancelled.

Recently we got hit with a nor'easter which dumped over a foot of snow on us pretty quickly, getting me out of a day and a half of work. If you live somewhere that doesn't get much snow, enjoy the following pictures. If you do, cringe with me at all the shoveling I had to do (this is obviously a pretty big downside of a snow day but some forced exercise is probably a good thing considering the rest of the day I'm lounging on a couch).

The sad little trench M dug to get out to his car (poor guy braved this mess to go to work). I later had to expand it but that's what you get for being the asshole who gets to stay home.

Yup, that's my car buried somewhere in there. We had a plow come through of course but that really only piled up more snow around my car.

Can you guess where my car was? This was taken after I broke free of my snow drift after considerable effort. At least that massive pile of snow made it easy to brush the snow from the top of my car.

After a couple hours (!) of shoveling (I suggest getting over-ear wireless headphones for listening to music or a podcast while you do this- it makes the chore slightly more enjoyable and doubles as ear warmers. This revelation has really revolutionized my shoveling game), there's nothing like a big mug of hot chocolate and crackers with fancy cheese (caramelized onion cheddar from Trader Joe's, my ultimate favorite).

And yes, I may have indulged in a good beer at the end of the day. And why not? I'd recently picked up this stout from Left Hand Brewing Co. out of Colorado. I love a good stout but fruity ones? Not usually my thing. I was feeling a little adventurous I guess and their regular milk stout is one of the finest so I figured it was worth a shot. And it was! The raspberry flavor comes out strong but still finds a way to blend nicely with the milk stout base. 4.4/5, would drink again.

The excitement from my recent crafty gift wore off a little as all this of snow and bad weather set in my annual bout of what I call The Winter Blues. I don't need any help getting into a depressive funk but every year around this time I'm hit with The Blues pretty bad and I suddenly can't build up any excitement whatsoever to do anything, I can't even veg on the couch because I don't feel like watching anything particular on TV.  

I'm always surprised at how much this barrage of grey days affects me- it doesn't help that taking head-clearing walks is hindered by snow and ice congested sidewalks. I've started taking some vitamin D to combat this and am slowly coming out of my funk a bit just in time for vacation.

I managed to start a couple sewing projects as promised though, and they've been getting me through even though the going has been pretty slow. I feel better at least looking busy. I'm not finished but I'm close enough that I don't want to share progress, I'd rather just wait and reveal it once complete so for now, enjoy my awesome color palettes. 

The first one is space-themed and uses a pattern from one of my new magazines. Not my usual colors for sure (I don't hate pink, especially darker pinks, but I naturally gravitate more towards blues and greens) but between that and the interesting style of the piece, it felt good to mix it up a bit.

The second pattern I bought from Etsy and used colors close to what was listed but using thread I already had. I like all the jewel tones here. Can anyone guess the theme based on the snippet of pattern shown below?

This pattern is a sampler so it's easier and more pleasant to stitch. Samplers are generally made up of basic shapes and solid chunks of color so it's easier to turn your brain off a bit while sewing, which suited my level of energy.

As always, I have even more projects in the works, including a Vonnegut piece I mentioned I might want to do. I'm slowly but surely getting my brain back on track, or at least as much as it was on track before (I have a dubious amount of track on the best of days).

Right now though, I'm engaged in one of my weird new relaxing activities which is to watch M play Zelda: Breath of the Wild and yes, I'm celebrating the arrival of my week of freedom with a fine beer. I went a little local this time and got something from Smuttynose's Smuttlab, their experimental side of things. Magic Beans, a coffee porter, is pretty smooth (especially for a porter) and the coffee flavor subtle. Its definitely a solid choice, I'd give it a 3.75/5. 

M and I have been to Smuttynose in person pre-covid and if you're ever in the area, I highly recommend a trip. The food was pretty good and the atmosphere fantastic. It's right near Hampton Beach so if you want to wrap up your beach day with something other than the ubiquitous fried seafood feast, it's the perfect choice.

This weekend another small storm is forecasted so I'm going to let myself take it easy but I do want to come up with a semblance of a plan for my days off, or at least put together a list of things I'd like to accomplish to give myself options. On Monday I'm doing some shopping with my good friend and premier shopping buddy which is exciting but the rest of the week I'm free. I'm just sure that, even though I don't expect to do anything exceptionally exciting, I don't want to look back on this coming week and feel as if it was wasted. 

No pressure, right?

On that note, I'm gonna log off for the night. For those of you that, like me, long to feel the caress of that warm summer sun once again (and forgot how much you complain about the heat when its here), I'll just drop this song before I go. Enjoy!

(Despite having heard it a million times, I didn't realize how much of a random mish mash the lyrics are to this song until posting it here but having a random stream-of-consciousness litany of vaguely summer themed words and phrases still seems pretty fitting.)

Made it: Mesmerizing

I mentioned last time that I had gotten some awesome cross stitching magazines recently and they couldn't have come at a better time. I'd finally finished with a couple February birthday presents, the last gift holdovers after all my holiday season crafting, and now I am at a loss, adrift in an ocean of possible projects. 

I haven't made anything purely for myself for what feels like ages so I was a little overwhelmed- the possibilities are endless and I'm primed to try something new. What I needed at the time though, was a small project to keep myself busy until I made those bigger plans, and I found it in the first issue of XStitch. 

Buy it here!

The first issue's theme is "revolution," (obviously) which they explore using all definitions of the word. What I chose to make involved some basic stitching onto a plastic mesh circle, which I inexplicably had (not really, I'm a craft hoarder), and which I pictured below:

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Since the holes are bigger, my embroidery thread wasn't going to work unless I used all 6 strands. I didn't feel like using up that much of my regular embroidery stash so instead, I used up some of a lone skein of thinnish cotton yarn as well as some embroidery thread that I accidentally bought the wrong size of so I never use it. Definitely the more economical choice, especially for something completely random.

Buy that super awesome pouch HERE by the way. It's the perfect size (9" x 6") for my sewing essentials (needles, scissors, thread conditioner, water soluble markers, etc) to schlepp between projects. Also, they had so many amazing book-related designs that it took me days to decide which one to get. 

Anyhoo, the project just involved essentially stitching backstitch around the circle with a plastic yarn needle (I have these from my brief foray into crocheting and the smallest one worked really well). The above picture is what it looked like when I was finished with the colorful yarn and had just started adding the black. Note that I skipped down a line at the diameter line (per the magazine's pattern) for a little more interesting effect.

Annnnnd the final product! I really like it even though I have no idea what to do with it or why I made it. I think all my gift-making made me forget that really, I just make things for the sake of making things. because I enjoy it and the point is the creation itself. In the end, I threaded a loop of leftover yarn and hung it on the door in my living room. I think it complements my weird knick knacks and books pretty well, maybe I should make one for the other door...

This picture also features a shot of another cross stitch I did a few years ago, based on a quote from the best-because-its-the-most-ridiculous Star Trek movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. I got that pattern from this amazing book (why is that so expensive?! Definitely picked that up several years ago in a small bookstore for normal cover price). Fittingly, I put my Bird-of-Prey next to it, which I found at an antique/junk store, complete/working and still in the box (it makes cool shooty noises!).

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This was a pretty good mind-clearing project and since making that, I bought more plastic grid pieces to use up more of my rogue yarn. Its a fun thing to do when you want to do something, possibly while re-watching some Star Trek movies or something, but also don't want to use your brain too much, its very relaxing. 

I've since gathered supplies to make another, bigger project from the Space edition of the magazine. I don't mean to go on about those magazines by the way, but craft-inspirational magazines plus a pandemic equals me getting jazzed up about stuff like that. I'm sure I'll share the final results of that at some point down the road. 

As for future projects, here's a list of what I'm thinking about tackling:

• Something Lord of the Rings related. I've started making versions of "home sweet home" cross stitch pieces for near my front door (I have "TARDIS sweet TARDIS" and "Enterprise sweet Enterprise" so far) and I think I could make one for the Shire. There's so many LOTR patterns out there though, it's hard to settle on one thing...
• Along the same lines, in the book I mentioned above they have a pattern for Qo'noS sweet Qo'noS.
• I'm almost done a Vonnegut book (to be announced soon) and that reminded me I've wanted to make a sampler based on this quote for ages.
• ...Or maybe this one from one of my favorite Vonnegut books, Cat's Craddle.
• The Litany Against Fear from Dune.

I could go on, but I'll stop there for now. Feel free to offer suggestions!

Christmas in January

My quest to be a regular reader again has been waylaid somewhat by the arrival of one of my Christmas presents from M. Yes, yes it is a month past Christmas but the poor guy failed to take into account how long it would take to send something from the UK. That's alright though because THEY'RE HERE!

I've loved cross stitching for a long time and it's only gotten more enjoyable as I realize how un-grandma I can go with this traditional lady craft. It also gradually dawned on me that I wasn't the only one and the internet has provided a whole community of nontraditional stitchers for me to dive into.

As much as I love scrolling through Reddit subs and cross stitch blogs looking for inspiration, I'm a pretty tactile person so nothing tops having that inspiration physically available, able to flip through whenever I'm feeling a little stuck. During my stitch scrolling I stumbled across Mr X Stitch and his textile art blog and YouTube channel. Not only is the subject matter of the cross stitch, embroidery, etc. usually a bit out of the box, but there's often out-of-the-hoop projects that get me thinking of ways to expand my stitching horizons.

Like I said though, I want that physical copy of something so first I got his book, The Mr X Stitch Guide to Cross Stitch. It's great for beginners and more advanced stitchers alike (I've discovered in my further quests for cross stitch books that that's not an easy thing to do) and I loved it. Imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered that there was a magazine!

I suppose I could've gotten the digital copies and be done with it but that wasn't good enough, I wanted the real deal! I put it off for whatever reason but this Christmas M came through and bought me the first 5 issues. They've been an absolute delight to flip through. The patterns are awesome and often something I'd actually consider making, and the articles aren't just fluff bits to break up a barrage of patterns, they're actually interesting and well written. They treat cross stitch as an art form.

I've only just started reading the third Space issue (obviously the one I'm most excited about) but I'm just so excited about these magazines and how awesome they are that I just had to share. Now though, I'm off to start a million projects at once...

Home for the Holidays

I've spent the last god knows how long attempting to start of this post with a video I took of my mother's rotating Christmas tree. There clearly is no video, but know that it was glorious, chock-full of super nice blown glass ornaments, and it rotated. This was a new addition to her already impressive Christmas set up. She has a lot of ornaments (like, a lot a lot) but not a lot of space for a big tree so the rotating allows her to display as much as possible. I was impressed. 

Anyway, yeah. I went home to North Carolina for Christmas!

Lots of precautions were taken, making sure we got tested before and after, traveling by car (14 hour drive, ugh) and vastly reducing the places we visited while there to limit exposure but it was SO worth it as I got to be there for my nephew's first Christmas and besides, after this year, it was nice to end it with some family time. 

I mentioned before that I was doing a lot of making for Christmas and this was one of the handmade gifts. My sister is a big Golden Girls fan and had given me this book of Golden Girls cross stitch patterns so of course I had to make her something for Christmas featuring one of her favorite characters.

The thing I'm most proud of though, is this Christmas stocking for M. My whole family has handmade Christmas stockings so I couldn't let M go without one. My mom made the actual stocking using some pre-quilted material and sewed the binding on the cuff- I just did the cross stitch bit.

I couldn't bear to make him a "normal" one which M, of course, greatly appreciated. Nothing says "Happy Holidays" like a large evil robot destroying a neighborhood with his laser beam eyes, right?

I couldn't let that evil go unchecked on such a special day though so on the back I sewed good ol' Saint Nick defeating the robot with his ornament hand grenades. 

It was a fantastic yet all too short trip- we had to get back in time to get tested before returning to work, per regulations. M took it upon himself to drive the entire way back home so I had a lot of chill time (I have a sneaking suspicion that my driving on the way down alarmed him, though I can't imagine why...). My sister got me a JavaSok, one for hot coffee (above) and one for cold. I highly recommend them! ...but maybe not the 7-Eleven coffee. Desperate times and all.

We've been doing a good job keeping busy doing our post-trip quarantine though, partially because my family bought us a Switch! Mike got Zelda Breath of the Wild and I got Super Mario 3D All-Stars and I'm currently working through Super Mario 64. I'm looking into getting Animal Crossing though, and would definitely take more game recommendations! 

For New Years Eve, we set up a Zoom party with our friends. We dressed up, chose a cocktail, chatted and played a party game! It was fun and even though we stayed home, it still felt like a celebration. It was also nice to get dressed up. I took the opportunity to don my beautiful silk metallic embroidered hoari (a jacket meant to be worn over a kimono) which I bought on my trip to Japan, along with a long, excellently swooshy and shiny skirt I recently bought at Uniqlo to really round out my Japanese inspired get up. I mostly think I looked like a fancy witch though, but I'm not mad.

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M took his inspiration from a Mr. Bean t-shirt I got him for Christmas and the Mr. Bean New Years party episode we watched recently (M is a long time fan. He also does a pretty good impression. I definitely picked a winner 😊). He wore this shirt, a bowtie (he didn't want to hide the shirt with a regular tie) and a blazer. And I of course made him a party hat. We were clearly the best dress couple.

Our signature cocktail was The New Englander- a Moxie-based cocktail made with, of course, Moxie, gin, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, and a lime wedge. Moxie is a very polarizing soda- you either love it or hate it. Adding gin and Worcestershire sauce might not sound like it's doing it any favors but I assure you, it's a delicious cocktail and tastes vaguely like NECCO wafers. 

For New Year's Day, I decided to break in my new dutch oven. Isn't she a beaut? I've been wanting one for ages and am glad to have one in this pretty blue. I figured I needed to make something extra special what with it being the first day of the year and all so I made some beef bourguignon, Julia Child's recipe no less.

It took about 3 or so hours all told but it was so worth it. It was a hit, though I don't think you could go wrong with some beef simmered in a bottle of wine for a couple hours. 

Served with a good chunk of garlicky baguette. Luckily this makes ton so we'll be good to go for a while.

Today I gave myself the sad task of taking down all the Christmas decorations. It's nice to have the house back to normal I suppose, but it's always a bittersweet chore. This time, I decided to take a picture of all my ornaments, partially to share but also I'll be interested to see how my collection grows by next Christmas.

They basically fall into 4 categories as shown above- birds, which I love to have hovering around the top of the tree, fill, which is exactly what it sounds like, sentimental, which I got from my parents house a couple years ago, and fun, which are largely space themed but not necessarily on purpose.

A lot of the sentimental ones were given to me by my grandparents, including the small Hallmark nursery rhyme books (they open and close!) which they gave me from 1993 to 1997. Its nice to have those up and read my grandmother's recognizable scrawl on the side of the boxes. 

I'm glad my "fun" category is growing though- if I buy ornaments myself now, they usually fall into that category. A friend of ours was clearing out his Christmas stash and is going to give me some Hallmark Star Trek ship ornaments so it's only going to get better! Aside from those, my goal is to make some for myself next year. I'll have to start early though as I always take on so many projects for other people around the holidays that I never find the time.

Since that was a lot of (kinda sad) work, I intend to get as much done on this No Face cross stitch as possible while lazing on the couch watching murder mysteries. Tomorrow I might do some much needed cleaning... or I'll continue with this. Plenty of time to be productive when vacation is over. Besides, one of my big new years resolutions is to finish what I start so I'm not allowing myself any new projects until this is done.

And lastly, check out my sweet needle minder. It always makes me smile and think of M, my own personal Mr. Bean. That, and I've stopped dropping my needles so much only to find them when I step on them later on...

I hope everyone had a great holiday and has a fantastic new year! It can't be any worse than 2020, right? 

...right?

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