Weekend Progress - stitching and home wrecking!

More craftivism, yay!

This is my block from Stitch for Syria - I did it on 14 ct aida, as "instructed,"  which turned out to be a bit difficult because I don't use aida normally.   I ended up raiding a kit I had on hand (I was planning on stitching it on some other fabric anyway).  I used Simply Shaker Grape Arbor for the piece... In retrospect (or rather, after viewing other pieces), I kind of wished I had gone with two colors on this one - well I can always stitch it again if need be.

Stitch for Syria, Finished 5 March 2016

Stitch for Syria is hosted by Concern Worldwide, and Mr. XStitch actually designed the chart that you can stitch.

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My goal this weekend was to stitch March's update for last year's Zodiac Mystery (Pisces), while I binge watched House of Cards, but I wanted to finish off the block that I was working on for BoInk... and then I was really enjoying it and did another block instead... so there's that.

Two blocks, yay!

June 17th block, finished 5 March 2016

July 29th block, Finished 6 Mar 2016

I had to learn the hard way about watermarking my photos.   Someone reposted my photo, not maliciously or anything, but without any credit or information, so not only was it reposted without me realizing it, when I did find it (it was in a Facebook group), I saw a few queries wondering what pattern it was and other info.  Even if I wasn't slightly miffed that I wasn't credited, I felt kinda bad for anyone looking for information about the pattern and not getting it.    Oh well, so now I get credit and if someone has any questions I can help.

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On Friday, my car went kerblooey on the freeway (seriously, driving down the Interstate at rush hour to look down and see your car is about to redline is not awesome), and *of course* that was the same day that I was going to a neighboring down 45 minutes away for my next home improvement project.  Luckily!  A friend lived near the project piece and was coming to my neck of the woods to visit other people and he played shuttler for me (also, thankfully the TV was only $20, and it wasn't an imposition for him to "lend" me $20 for a couple of hours).   Oh, and no worries, car should be fixed Wednesday.  It just needs a new, expensive, rare radiator... because reasons.  I had to get my axle boot repaired anyway, so I'm out money I wasn't expecting, out 8 hours of vacation time I didn't want to spend, but no one was injured and I can get a ride to the bus to work in the morning and the mechanic will shuttle my butt from work to the dealership on whatever day I get my car back (hopefully Wednesday).

But here's my new toy!  It's a 1972 Zenith console TV.  I need to gut it, and that's the terrifying part.  The tube either acts as or outright has a capacitor that will hold a dangerously high charge for a really long time, so I have to discharge it before I gut it (and then take it to the appropriate waste place).  I've read up (a lot) on how to safely discharge the unit.   On a good/bad note: there was an older mid-century TV console they were also selling that was stylistically way more awesome, but someone got to it before me, the good news about this is that the '72 TV was born after they started making the tube implode (instead of explode) if it got cracked (for safety reasons, duh), so while I'll be careful and safety-geared out, at least that part is a bit safer.    After I gut it, I will paint it, hopefully clean up the trim, and outfit the inside to act as a liquor cabinet.  I'm super excited about it, and the only thing I'm having to look into is the durability of the particular paint I want to use.  Either way, good times for more home wreckin'!