Back from the stitching grave! And PUPs! and TW! And WIPWednesday!

Long time, no see!

Of course long time, no stitch, as well.

This past weekend I went to visit some friends and have a stitchy get together.  I'll blog all about that later (tomorrow?  Friday?  I dunno!)   I'll even blog WIPocalypse soon, because I have an actual update (yippee!)  But for now, let's talk about PUPs

PUPs is something my friend Terri said she does with her quilt guild (I could be wrong, don't thwap me if I am).   Their group has Poor Unfinished Projects, and people bring a few to the guild meeting and they have to focus on finishing it over the next timespan.

My stitching group decided to adopt PUPs and (some of us, the deadline isn't for a couple of weeks) put some PUPs up to vote on finishing by next year.    I chose Fantasy Sampler, BoInk, and Freshwater Pearls.    I had intended to finish them up this year, but then house stuff and health stuff and puppers got in the way (I'm not sad about the pupper, because she's great, I am a little miffed about the house issue, because it had to do with someone else not doing their job and I will never hire that handyman again... I digress).   Oh, and Diablo.  I've been playing a couple of the seasons, I SWEAR I'll get to Level 70 Greater Rifts someday!  In the meantime, I'm just having fun being a Necromancer ;)

Back to PUPs...
Here is where the three of them currently stand:

What totally surprised me is that (so far), BoInk is off to a VERY strong lead (5-1), so it looks like BoInk will most likely be my 2018 PUP.    I think that because it was a mystery broken into smaller blocks, I can break it down into nice segments; but I'm super happy I have a reason to focus on it.   To be perfectly honest, I thought that Fantasy Sampler would be the one.

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Which brings me to another topic:  Teresa Wentzler.

The topic was brought up in the TW group on FB that she had taken down all of her dragon patterns from PatternsOnline.   Someone asked her about it in the comments of a recent blog post and she mentioned that she'd taken them down and would not care to discuss it, but used language that pretty much screams "religious reasons."      I'm not gonna lie - I'm super bummed about it.   I do not have a lot of love of religions, particularly not more strict or extreme ones.   I also remember how much she would enjoy talking about her dragon designs and she expressed a great fondness for dragons at various stitching shows where I met her.  I think it sucks.   I had also sold a few charts because I thought "oh well, I can always get them on POL" only... maybe not so much any more.   I did keep the most "important" charts (those I think I have a real shot at doing), but I suppose I'll have to stop drawing on my originals. 

I remember being heart broken when she announced her retirement.    We had a glimmer of hope when she posted a small shot of Illuminata way back when, but I know she's stopped stitching because of her arthritis and she likes to stitch her own pieces (not just design them on a computer), so we'll never see that piece. 

I think when I work on TW pieces, it'll be with a little stab of sadness that she doesn't take the pride she should in some amazing designs.

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And because it's Wednesday, let's end on a positive note with a WIP Wednesday!

Zenia by Mirabilia!
I won't be stitching the "frame" or whatever that was around her.  I just want the witch in a beautiful red dress with a cocktail in her hand.   She's being stitched on Storm by PTP, and I'm liking it so much that I'm thinking I might use it for Red when I get around to stitching her.

March 2018 WIPocalypse

Not a whole lotta WIPocalypse progress to report.    I was busy either not crafting, or just working on my two Brooke's Books Ornaments.

I did decide to pick up my Mill Hill Sugar Skull.  I've decided to do it a little different than the instructions strictly call for (other than stitching it on evenweave instead of the perforated paper).  I like the support that beads get when they're part of the stitching (vs being added later), so I'm finishing up the stitching with the final two floss colors that are not used for beads (light red and dark magenta) and I will start beading/stitching at the same time.

I'm just going to go down the list of colors and get it over with.   I am in both the "not wanting to wor on this piece" and in the "I want this piece over, so I want to work on it" mode, haha.

Here's where it was:

And here's where it is now:

I anticipate having it done by the next WIPocalypse (*yay*)

IHSW - January

My first IHSW in a long, long time!  I'm going to try to take part in these more.  Even just one weekend a month to do my thing would be fantastic.

Now, truth be told, this wasn't the most IHSW weekend it could have been - I had some previous projects that were already scheduled for this weekend - I need to paint one wall and finish some repairs, do a little work with mounting the TV, getting all of our peripherals done, and getting the wiring behind the wall (Partner thought it a little silly, but it would make me happy, and it's relatively easy to do and keep in code).  Ultimately, it's good, because it means we'll have our entertainment set up (finally) and I'll be able to chillax and stitch on the couch even easier ;)

But first up?  I finished my Lavender Biscornu!

I also did a few stitches on my Ink Spot #19 that I did not take a picture of (probably less than 20 stitches)...

before realizing that I wanted to work on my North Carolina heart, which I finished! so there's that.

It was a great weekend.  I think we're all pretty happy now.   And as an aside, I've made progress on helping out my fish tank.  The 55 is about done cycling, but more important, the 20 gal got 'old tank syndrome' (my fault) and I'm almost done treating/fixing that so the fish can be safely moved to the 55.

October 2017 WIPocalypse

I skipped last month's, oh wow, two months'! WIPocalypse because I felt like I didn't have much to report, but I do now!

I've pretty much cleared out my planned rotation except for my 2016 biscornu (which I'll get to, eventually) and Fantasy Sampler.   My current idea is to get one TW done/year, but Freshwater Pearls started screaming at me, so I went ahead and packed it up to take to my conference in mid-October.   I did a bit of stitching on the plane to Austin, and have been working on it in the evenings while Netflixing, so progress!  I also did finish one of the Desert Sunsets by Fireside Originals.  The one I have left is probably half the stitching of the one I just finished (it uses a lot of the exposed fabric for the sky, yay!). 

So here's where Freshwater Pearls was (literally untouched re: stitching since June 2007!)

And here's where it is

That beige/sand is KILLING ME.  So boring.  And annoying with the confetti of other beige in there.

And here's where Desert Sunset II was

And here it is completed!  (Link to the post with the finished photo, and a few extra)

August Question of the Month – How do you get yourself out of a stitching drought?

99% of the time, I'm not so much in a stitching drought as 'busy doing other things,' for example: gaming, gaming inserts, video gaming, working on the house, painting, quilting, doing anything else :)  So basically, I get myself out by getting bored or done with whatever I'm into at that given time.   I was playing a crap ton of Diablo III instead of stitching because of the new season, then I had had enough and went back to stitching :)

Now, if I'm feeling like trying to make myself stitch again, I look at pictures; or rather, when I'm reading through other blogs or FB groups and I see something I'm working on or want to work on, it might get me back in the mood, more than the other thing I'm doing :)

September Question of the Month – Which floss (or color of floss) do you absolutely adore and want to stash constantly?

Wine/Burgundy reds are my favorite.  I might have an overflowing drawer of 498, 816, and 817.  I didn't even have to think twice, I knew those colors.  I have a lot of silks I don't need in that color schema as well ;)

Fun fact:  the last four digits of my pager at work are 3042, which is, of course, a standard TW color.  I said something to the department admin about DMC floss color codes, turns out she's a stitcher and we had a good laugh about remembering extensions by DMC color in our head (/digression)

October Question of the Month – How did you begin stitching?

I've told this story in a prior post, but I'll share again!   I was spending Spring Break my sophomore year of high school with my aunt and uncle in a nearby town.  My family is fairly craft with a lot of crocheting, sewing, plastic canvas work, etc.    I needed a thick gold cord for the project I was working on and they were kind enough to take me to a (now out of business) cross stitch shop in the town next door.   When I walked in the door, I saw Teresa Wentzler's Castle Sampler on the table.  I literally bought everything I need right there and then.   Turns out, that was a hell of a first bite into cross-stitching, and I bought another kit (which had blended threads and quarter stitches, too! though not quite as much of it) and started my foray into stitching.  25+ years ago.  Wow.

I still have scraps of the original lugana I bought that I've been using over the years, and that was the one and only time I bobbined my floss, so if I run across a bobbin, I know it's from that project.  So much fun.

#WIPWednesday, Fruit Cocktail Mini Dessert

This is a mini-dessert kit I picked up while diving through some older charts in an LNS in Las Vegas.
I found the Mixed Berry Cheesecake there (which I'd been hunting for a long, long time), so I was happy to pick this one up, too, even though it's not really my color bag.

Unfortunately during exhaustion, or confusion, or whatever, I cut the overdyed threads the wrong way, so the colors don't "turn" right.   the colors were supposed to go from Pink to White to Green to Yellow to Peach (I think?) and instead just go from Pink to Peach to Yellow to Green (I never really go to the white), so it looks nothing like the model, and I'm a bit miffed, but it's small, and not something I'm super in love with in the first place.  I'll live.

I don't have the beads yet, they'll show up while I'm out of town at the yearly board game convention I go to (which didn't used to be out of town - hah), so this is where it's at for now (while I work on Mixed Berry, though not the overdyes yet, I'm going to do the regular silks first and then make sure I cut the threads in the right direction).

So here's this WIP, while I play with another WIP and wait for all of the beads to come for one big bead-nanza.   I'm also debating whether or not I want to frame these or sew them into a hangings.

#WIPWednesday What is the one thing we say to death?

Not that I'm not still working on my skull, but I really wanted to share a piece I had started and (also) not blogged about.

It's a Game of Thrones black/red work pattern I purchased from Crown Street Cottage on Etsy.  This is a link directly to the item for purchase.

I am stitching it on a piece of white evenweave I had left over from another project that I decided to coffee dye.  Long and skinny, just like this banner!   The banner is longer than I was expecting (thinking the number in my head and handling it are routinely wildly different for me), but I am loving it!  I think when I'm done, I will get one of those sword-letter-openers to hang it off of (dulled, of course).

Here are the first few bits.  I'm on the last section now, and it's a doozy! (you'll see when it's done!)

As of February 18

As of February 19

As of February 22

As of February 25

I had planned to finish this bell pull while I was living at my new city (there was a 2 1/2 week overlap where I started work, but before we closed on the new place), since I would be alone in an AirBnB or a hotel, but I ended up watching Netflix on my laptop or just playing some Starcraft instead ;)

When I'm done playing with my sugar skulls, I'll probably get this done so I can hang it on my LadyLair door.

Oops? And an update! A non-hacky update!

Some one kindly (thanks Abi!) alerted me regarding a random not-OK hacky post that had appeared.   Weirdly, I never lost control of this account, and I've updated my passwords and stuff, so we'll see how that goes.   I'm also looking into how that could have happened by checking my other online activities.  Because the post was posted by "me," I'm super annoyed that I lost control of some device or thing at some point.

In the meantime, I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a while, but I also haven't stitched much for a while (since February, really).   Good news!  I have a new job!  I moved to a new house!  in a new city!   And life is awesome.

I've been spending more time working on updating/making the house my kind of livable.   I'm not doing all of the decorating and fun stuff, just getting it to where we can put everything away and deal with longer term fixes later.   Things like redoing the deck so we all don't die happen now, retiling/paining the basement, which will become the future game room kind of projects will happen in the future (next summer, I hope, for that particular one).

The only major thing I've done was tear out the carpet and put down new floors in my lady lair, because I did not want to mess with the murphy bed twice :)

But hello, from the beautiful Triad region of NC :)

And just as proof that crafting sometimes still happens, here's my current WIP:

Tapestry update and plans, so many plans...

First off - here's where I stand with Tapestry!  I think I'm about 70% done.

July 28, 2016

Next?  Well, we're half way through the year, and I realized I've done a lot.  But I want to do MOAR!!! I don't know if it's really all that possible, but I'm gonna try.  And dream big, right?

So here's what I'd like to accomplish for the rest of the year, or is basically my rotation:

• Egyptian Sampler - Finish it!
• Fantasy Sampler - Finish it!
• Freshwater Pearls - PROGRESS!
• Deco Spirits - PROGRESS!  At least one more panel.

My work rotation (because I'm just going to stitch in my free time at work, when I can, assuming I don't get a new job, which I'm hoping for):

• Triforce of BadAssery - Finish it!  (this is something I'm stitching for a friend and his birthday isn't so far off)
• Desert Sunsets - Finish them!
• Biltmore - Start *and* Finish it!  (I need to find fabric for it, I'm not using the aida from the kit)

I am giving myself full permission to DROP ALL THAT SHIT in December (or maybe over the Turkey Day holidays).
Why you say?  Because for the holidays I wanna have fun, which means:

• Stitching ALL of the Just Nan mice that I have not done.
• Stitch the new Game of Thrones pattern I just bought (it's cute, and very simple). 

I can always go back to whatever I have on hand, or just play in my stash should I manage to finish those early.  

I get two days off for Christmas, so I should get a bunch done unless I'm engaging in obligations with the SO's family.
I don't waste vacation time over Christmas because I'm "essential" and my family is too far away to make a short trip worthwhile, and while I'm at it,  let me get a little rant out:
I'm a little cranky that the University is engaging in what I consider shenanigans.  We have four of five days (between Christmas and NY) as paid holidays, but due to the nature of our work, we will be working two of those (I don't mind, I get what's called "Equal Time Off" and I'd rather use that for vacation I choose).   The fifth day, the university is "closed" and *all* non-essential university employees aren't allowed to be here, but people must use their own vacation, which I think is unfair.   "Hey, you're not allowed to be here, but you have to use your own vacay not to be" is uncool.   Me?  I have to be here.  Doing very little, but hey, a warm body must be here in case of emergencies (which have happened) and my coworker will be out - she does a charity thing, and I honestly don't mind, so it's a perfect pairing.  So there's my little rant:  I'm sorry non essentials, that you get dicked over, and only by the grace of a boxed checked somewhere on my employment form do I get to be here and get paid without wasting leave, *and* get to hang out during a couple of holiday days for some free vacation time.  Yay.

That digression aside:

January 1, I'm going to start Namaste, and I'll try to stitch straight through that (I might consider alternating motifs and Deco Spirits panels).  And then I'll revisit goals and rotations.  Hopefully I will have made progress on the above.

I have plans for the new year, but I want to clean out more WIPS.  And I purchased a bit from the PTP sale, luckily those fabrics are for bucket list/future things like Amphitrite by Mirabilia (well, they call her Aphrodite, but they're wrong).

To hell with studying! - Sagittarius!

So here I am not studying for certification.   To my own credit - the policy I was most concerned about reading and learning, I did read and learn.  It's nice to have a weekend "off" though, and that's probably better than anything right now.

With Sagittarius (and the corner piece) I'm officially more than half done.  Two corners, 6 signs, and the entire inner ring, pretty solidly puts me ahead.  YAY!

And I can get started on Gemini before June even begins.   Then I'll head back to Scorpio at the "end" of the year to work on.   I'm feeling pretty good about finishing a large project this year.  Woot Woot!

Zodiac Mystery weekend update - March - Pisces!

It was exactly almost a year ago today (almost = off by two days) when everything crashed and burned for me.  And so I stopped stitching, and blogging, and the issues I was dealing with took up all of my time and energy and left me in more than a little bit of a depressed state.   But, I bounced back, because that is what one does, and I'm happy to be back to stitching away and not having enough time for all of the things.

One of my bigger (meaningful) goals was to go back to working on my Zodiac Mystery from CloudsFactory!  I had stitched the inner ring/frame and  the first two months, and even though I have the entire pattern, I am going to stitch one sign every month and will hopefully have a sizeable happy dance at the end of the year.

13 Mar 20016

And I did it!

My little Pisces.   I stitched the planet (Mars, though that's not Pisces's planet) symbol, the constellation, and the characters.  I do like the idea of the square finish, so every quarter, I'll go ahead and tack that on.

I don't know why, but I have a heckuva time getting that fabric to come out well in photos.  It always seems to grey out or go denim looking (and wash out the rest of the colors, oh well).

The one thing I did find infuriating is how much I've frogged this piece.  I repeatedly had to frog and restitch the inner circles setting up the frame, and I've had to frog on each subsequent installment.   I frogged the constellation circle on this one twice, I don't know how many times I frogged the character circle, and the corner bits?  Not only did I frog each branch 2-3 times, when I discovered a major mistake in the corner bit, I just said "eff it" fudged it and moved on.  SO. MUCH. FROGGING.   I'm super glad I subbed regular DMCs for the rayon, because I would have probably chopped this into little bits if I had to stitch that much rayon.   Oh well, it's getting done.

I went ahead and stitched Aries's symbol because I had the white left over... and then I discovered that I really liked stitching the symbols and that they were fast and easy, and after all of the frogging, so be it, I went ahead and did the symbols for everyone

Chugging away on the moons

I'm enjoying the planets, too, and even though I should move on to whatever is next in the rotation, I think I'll go ahead and work on the planets/moons until I'm either just done with it, or get tired of stitching that central area.  On one hand, it should make stitching each month faster, on the other, I'm worried that if I keep up with my frogging misadventures, I won't have some nice and easy stitching to relax with.   I guess we'll just have to see.

And in other good news, I successfully gutted my TV without deadly injury.    Discharging the capacitor was easier than  I thought it would be and the only thing I did to harm myself was scrape up some knuckles as I was yanking out wiring.  I also took the top off of the cabinet.  It was made with particle board and was a bit saggy - I'll stop it off with some sturdier plywood.

#WIPWednesday

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'!

Quilted Needlebooks

Once upon a time, someone who will remain nameless, created a bunch of needlebooks for a get together and I was one of the lucky recipients!

And it was awesome.   I mean, I adore hand made gifts, like any crafter, but this needlebook has been in constant use since I got it.   It has pockets on the front and back, and I keep a pair of needles and whatever threads I feel like in the pocket.   I also have a magnet on the pocket so that the scissors don't move around too much, and just because, really.

I like to either pre-thread a bunch of needles and keep them there for use (on a project that uses a lot of one color) or, if I'm doing something else, I might use part of a thread, tuck it and snip it, and just park the needle with the rest of the thread for later use (I would do this a lot with Thanksgiving Fairy since I didn't want to waste the overdyed threads).

My current book in use.

But what I really decided was that I needed multiple needlebooks, so they could each live with a project forever and ever and I wouldn't have to change out the needles or thread, or even worse, try to function without a needle book.  So I bugged dear friend, she gave me the tutorial link from Sew She Sews and I eventually went to town.

Most of the books are made from my favorite left over fabric materials.

The two Cthulhu fabrics were left over from when I was making bags to use as "Monster cups" during Arkham/Eldritch Horror,  the puppy fabric is left over from a duffel bag I made (it was supposed to be for Mona's stuff when I traveled, but is so huge that I use it for my weekender).  The grey fabric is probably my favorite fabric of all time that I should probably just buy the entire bold of from the quilting store (seriously, so much love)

The wine themed fabrics are just fat quarters I picked up.  I had actually made a 7th needlebook, it had grapes/grapevines as the cover, but a friend saw what I was working on (I was attaching the snaps) and she fell in love, and I'm a sucker, so I gave her that one.

I just did simple lines for the quilting on most of them, realizing one book in why you really, really want to get that walking foot out.   But I couldn't just do a regular stitch on two of them.

On the dog fabric, I just couldn't bear to stitch over the cute Mona-esque puppy face (which ended up there by accident, I didn't even fussy cut or anything), so I went with a diagonal in both directions that left the puppy face bare.

And on this grey fabric, which I'm so in love with, I decided to go a little bit wavy because it seemed to fit the motion of the fabric much better.

So that was my big project for the past week or so.   I "need" to get back to Zodiac Mystery since it's now March (I bet I can finish this month's bit while binge watching House of Cards this weekend), and I was working on a different project at home before that (another box on BoInk), and I just wanted to have the needlebooks for the projects ready.

And just for some fun, here's my #WIPWednesday - he's filling in a bit.

On a Roll!

With this irritating cold, I've been such a bum, just binge-watching Netflix and stitching.

I finished another RoundRobin piece, which means once I stop by the PO tonight, I'll finally be down to one in my possession!  YAY!  And I know what I want to stitch on the last one, I just need to chart it out.  I'm going to give myself a week or two before I get back to that one (unless the next one gets mailed to me, in which case I'll have to hurry again ;) )

I did a band from Esther's Waves by Northern Expressions.  I picked a band I liked, and I chose colors from fibres in my collection.

I used a Needle Necessities I originally acquired for a custom piece I did (of my uncle's artwork), Sassy Brass (by Crescent Colours), and Bark (WDW).

I love how it came out - it looks SO MUCH like Tiger's Eye, which is my favorite semi-precious gemstone.  I kind of hated to give the Round Robin back, because I loved it that much.

Here's my band (colors are a bit off, it was late when I took the picture):

Here's the whole piece:

And here's Mona, "helping" me.

I also stitched on Thanksgiving Fairy while hanging out with some friends while watching the SuperBowl (poor Panthers, oh well).

WIPocalypse - January

So I'm a week late... oops ;)

My main goal for this year is to start as few projects as possible.  At first I was on a total "new project ban", but then I realized that there were a few small things I'd like to start/finish and I didn't want to guilt myself.

But in the meantime, I'm still trying to plug away at WIPs/WIsPs/UFOs.

So far this/last month, I put a few stitches in my WWCKD and Thanksgiving Fairy by Mirabilia, as well as the Round Robin that I've fallen so far behind on.

I have already chosen what I want to do on the next RR (I have two more in my possession), and I know what I want to do on the last one, but I have to design it first, so I'll be doing my RRs slightly out of order.

Here is Thanksgiving Fairy!  I finished her skirt and started in on her wings.  I was out of town when I was working on her, and somehow the Black Coffee that is used for her boots was MIA, so I'll get to that later.   Because she's so small, I bead as I go.

Here is my contribution to Kay's RR.   I used the octopuses from Hands On Design's "Octopus Dance" from their Square*ology "Ahoy" series.   I stripped everything down to one octopus and then flipped it and placed them next to each other.  I used Weeks Dye Works Bethlehem for the main color, and Argyle Socks for the other shade.  I reversed the angle of the stitching so that the varigation came out opposite on each octopus (does that even make sense?  Well, you can see!)

Here is the whole RR:

January 24- Topic: Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!

Hallo!  I think this is the third? year I've tried to participate in WIPocalypse.  In 2014, I was off to a great stitching start.  I got a little derailed last year, right around March, but now I'm trying to get back to it, and my only real competition is that I got a PS4 for Christmas, and boy do I love me some videogames. :)   I am still plugging away at PS3 games (most notably the Assassin's Creed series), and I fell into Diablo III on the PS4 (I had never played before).  I really want to play Grim Fandango again, though - I had that back when I was a PC gamer ;)

I have all of my WIPocalypse goals listed here, and most of my pictures of pieces here.

I'm going to try to get back on "schedule" with Zodiac Mystery.   It's a 12 month mystery, and I stopped stitching on it after February, so I will try to pick it back up in March.

As far as non-stitching goals, I do have two quilts I started last year that I'd like to go ahead and finish, one is Bonnie Hunter's Allietare mystery quilt, and the other is a bloomin' 9 patch that I started at my quilting store.  That's about it, which isn't too bad..

#WIPWednesday and Oh, hai!

It's been a bit since I've blogged, and there are two primary reasons for that:

1. New flooring was put in (the whole downstairs!, and the new closet!), which took quite a bit of time and effort (why yes, we all put it in together, I even have a compound mitre saw in the garage now!).
2. There was a huge shake up at work.   Without going into details (because, public blog, yo), everything went what we like to all "tits up" and some "weapons-grade bullshit" was going on. This all started the week of March 9th, and was just recently resolved.  In any event, I have a new job, but at the same place, doing something different, and I'm super excited, because I'm thinking of going back to grad school (plenty of free time, and the state will pay part of my tuition).   So there's that.  

Not that I was doing nothing, I did go to a week-long professional conference, I took a really nice trip to Asheville (Biltmore estate, pony rides, garnet mining, drinking, eating, hiking, good times!).

But, with all the drama and what not, I did not stitch a single lick.   But now things are settled and I was able to take a trip to visit some girlfriends and have lots and lots of fun.  I even bought a few things, not the least of which was a fabric I was much happier with for my bloomin-9patch quilt (I took a quilt class as my awesome local quilt place, and now I can start sewing again! huzzah!)

I'll be a little slow on the pick up for stitching, because I'm also "renovating" the guest bedroom into a guest bedroom/office/craft/yoga studio, which will be known as my "lady-cave."   I've painted, and this coming long weekend I will be putting in the floors.   Then all I have left to do after that is an Ikea run, some organizing, some free-cycling, and to build a murphy bed.  I'm *so* excited!

In the meantime, here's some actual progress I made on my recent long weekend with friends!
Ferret Knot is coming along!

The section I'm working on...

The whole thing!

I need to finish off a band on my RR and mail it off... I have another RR that shouldn't take long to stitch as well.  I'm hoping after all of the work on my room is done, I'll be able to relax with some stitching while watching a movie or something on Netflix.

So I'm alive again!  And should be back to blogging regularly.  I'm a little stressed out from all of the stuff I didn't do, but I'll teach myself to relax about that.   First up are the RRs I need to mail out, and then onto my zodiac mystery/sampler thing, because I really want to get caught up on that.   What I really can't wait to catch up on is my blog reading.   Yay for normality!

#WIPWednesday

A couple of weeks-ish ago, Terri suggested Mirabilia Mondays, and I was not going to take part initially, but then I figured that I could at least go ahead and add just one thread on Mondays to a Mirabilia (as I always seem to have at least two Mira WIPs at any given time).   In the name of laziness I'll cheat and give out my #MirabiliaMonday picture as #WIPWednesday

I also told myself that I'd work on Deco Spirits as that one-thread Mira... and so here's Thanksgiving Harvest Fairy.

Before

One Two threads at a time.  I actually managed another length last night, but didn't take a pic.

The tiniest bit of progress ever seen

So my big goal this weekend was to spend an entire day working on Fantasy Sampler and then get to stitching on a round robin piece.

On the upside, I did finish designing the round robin piece I need to stitch.

On the downside, I fell into Assassin's Creed II again (that glorious time killer).

Lots of assassinations, not so much with the stitching.

Although I did get a lot of housework done - things cleaned, things cooked, locks changed (I installed one of those electronic keypad locks - both because I hate carrying a key, but also hate getting locked out and because we have a dog sitter coming over this weekend while we game), lots of clothing and shoes bagged up for donation, etc.

But here's poor Fantasy Sampler.  As of Thursday, I was sure I would finish off that lion by the end of the weekend (oops!).

I have a gaming convention coming up this week & weekend, so hopefully next Monday I'll get more done :)  (if I can keep myself from knifing Borgia spies in the back).

And in happier news - WE HAVE BABIES!

I'm only mildly sorry about the jumbo slightly-out-of-focus cameraphone pictures.   I didn't want to try too hard to get good pictures and spook the fish into something bad.

The little blueish-white fuzzy bits are German Blue Ram fry.
I have had two pairs of GBRs.  I bought them from a pretty reputable breeder from the internet (because the local place never had them).   These are fantastic, because they aren't any of the odd-bred strains, like the bubbles or lyre-tails.  They're not hormonally or anything injected, just fresh, happy, "wild type" Rams.

GBRs form very strong pair bonds and tend to mate for life - you'll actually see pairs acting as a unit much of the time.   They're the most docile of the cichlids, preferring community tanks and (most importantly to me) don't tear up or destroy plants.   They need lots of "dither" fish to stay happy (things like neons acting normally make them less stressed).  They're also very particular about their water, which can make some people crazy.   They can be very territorial (mostly to other pairs, especially males), so although my tank could fit 3 or maybe 4 pairs, I kept it at two.   I didn't really want to breed them, but I know they live better together.

The whole aquarium when I set it up - there has been some different plant growth since.
Hilariously - this is in the TV niche the homebuilders put above the fireplace.  Way better show than most tv!

My female ram guarding a clutch of eggs on the volcanic rock

This was their 4th or 5th clutch of eggs.  I kept getting excited when they would guard their eggs, but they never lasted.  It apparently takes a few clutches to get it right (so I've been reading), and I hadn't even realized this clutch had made it!    I love watching the parents guard their fry - it's quite adorable.   I have no idea if I'll be able to grow them up to size (I have a fish store willing to take them once they're about an inch long), but it's so fun!

My other female had died a few days ago, and I was a bit bummed, the male lost all of his color and was super stressed, but seems to have recovered.   I was pondering whether to get a couple of more females to see if he'd bond with them, but I was a bit hesitant.  Guess I don't need to purchase other fish now!

If they do grow successfully (you know, manage not to get eaten or sucked into filters or otherwise go to a soggy demise), I'll do my best to observe pairs and keep at least one pair.   I think I should still have plenty of space with my two pairs and an extra male.    I grew my previous two pairs from juveniles, so I'm super, super excited.    I have killer filtration (biological, especially) in my tank, so I think even with the overload of fish when they're still growing, I can keep the water clean enough with a bit of extra work.

Another bit of irony - some of my plants have melted due to the lack of nutrients (not enough fish waste), so hopefully this will help in the short term (I was thinking of getting more tetras... before fishapalooza 2015).