Hell-Raiser WIP02

Of course I finished the text soon after I posted the first picture, but it's worth it to have a pic that just says "I'm a hell-raiser."

The border is coming along nicely as well, and shouldn't take too long. I feel a little more "back to normal" in terms of crafting. Rather, I want to work on it again. Less so in the evenings when I'm crawling into the hole of my head, but still.

My joy in the beach week has changed to dread of the rising temperatures and the day I have to turn on the air conditioning again, which will probably happen in March. Last autumn I had to turn it on one day in November. Blech.

I finished the greatest new book! The Martian by Andy Weir. It's funny, believable, interesting, hard science-fiction. It feeds every childhood astronaut desire you can summon. I can't recommend it highly enough. The audio edition is good in part, but they really needed a second reader for the third-person written sections.

Hell-raiser WIP01

Started on my new pattern, using a Mother Jones quote (the woman, not the magazine), "I'm not a humanitarian, I'm a hell-raiser."

Nothing wrong with being a humanitarian, but to me it's about one role making people think you have to be nice and polite and sweetly explain oppression over and over again, to people who benefit from oppression but want to think their hands are clean just because they aren't holding a whip. Mother Jones says, screw that, she doesn't have time to make you comfortable when talking about things that SHOULD make you uncomfortable. (These are perceptions and roles and baggage on words, not actual meanings of course, or things true for everyone, but I hope you all know what I mean.)

It has a full border and I'm quite happy with the pattern, which isn't always the case. It came together quickly with less constant dithering on my part than usual. The border has two colors, and I'm not sure what they'll be yet. I chose reds that have some purple in them for hell-raiser, and humanitarian (which will be a lighter shade). 

Still thinking of the beach and missing it. More than the ocean I miss the old houses, if I'm honest. The little tiny places built in the 1700s in Beaufort are my favorite. Despite having a lot of books (not to mention the teacup collection and dolls) I adore tiny houses. Speaking of, I'm out of space on pretty much every bookshelf. Trouble is there's not much room for more shelves. There's really no room in my bedroom for any. I have a row of three-shelf cases making a hallway and I don't want to go to full-height due to blocking light from the kitchen. Sigh.


Just because, here's my prettiest bookshelf. The top shelf is my collection of old middle and high school text books (mainly). The left side of the bottom is my West Mine Wars book collection, minus on, and to the right are my etiquette books.

Selfie Napkin - WIP 2

The beach was good, guys. I got no embroidery done, and very little reading, but that's okay. 

My goal for this year was to actually fill the serious gaps in my wardrobe at the trove of great thrift stores there (thanks military families!). It's been four years since I've had more than one pair of pants that fit well (and usually a second pair that fit enough to wear but not well). I also have a need to look more like an adult, both for doctors and gaining their respect and so maybe people will stop thinking I'm 18 (I'm almost 29).

So. I bought 7 pairs of pants, 5 skirts, and 13 shirts all for $60 which comes out to $2.40 per piece, which I think I can live with. I'm glad I saved up some money and really made myself do it. All of them are office-dressy things, so that's good. The only shirts I owned were Threadless t-shirts, barring three things two of which were too worn to look very nice.

I also brought books from home to a couple used bookstores and got more than I expected in credit (though gave them some very nice things, including a brand new audiobook from a very popular series). The best part - I got almost all the books for free initially, through the early reviewer program and stuff that was withdrawn from the last library my dad was at! So in the end I only spent $2 of actual money on books.

At least I got the third sketch on the napkin done at the beach, and stitched when we got home. I was always hurting so much at the beach that doing anything other than watching TV was hard. However, we discovered the show Rehab Addict, which is awesome. No massive pieces of linen in the thrift stores this time, but we can't have everything.

The Selfie Napkin

A post? Already? From me? Gasp!

Started a new project already, a little free embroidery. I have this small linen napkin that's been sitting around, purchased in a small lot of old linen. It's 7 3/4 inches square, and lovely fabric.

So this will be the Selfie Napkin. Self portraits, probably all in cartoony style (but in a variety of those) and colors chosen via the color wheel, though of course it's a square. Maybe I'll do little bits and pieces in the blank spaces, flowers and such, or maybe words. Not sure yet!

It's a good project to take to the beach, since I'm just sketching the design onto the napkin with washable marker as I go. It is making me realize how long it's been since I've drawn regularly. I need to reinstall my tablet (drawing tablet) so I can use it more easily and draw every day again.

Beach in one week! Weather forecast isn't good, Madre will be unhappy. I'm hoping it will change a bit, but since our primary pursuit while there is thrift store shopping I'm not too worried. I'm more concerned that we won't be able to take the van, which is far easier for my cat to travel in, and allows us to take my wheelchair (though if the weather forecast holds there won't be much point to that).

Mine Your Manners

Finished the Minecraft pattern, and it's for sale in the shop. I went to my friend Chris for the idea, since I don't play the game. I felt like out of the Minecraft cross-stitch bandwagon, and I do know what the kids like...

Did you know that litterateur is a word? Like raconteur, only more accurate for me. I own a lot of books (over 800, which is a fair few for someone who's only turning 29 this year). My TV is between two bookcases and I usually keep it covered with a small embroidered tablecloth, as otherwise it quite clashes with the teacup collection above it. 

Soo my next project might be to embroider "Litterateur" on the tablecloth. Or I'll start one of the quotes for my feminist handkerchief project. I'm going to the beach in a week, the timeshare my mum has. It's my favorite time of every year (we've this is our fifth or sixth year there). We mostly do a lot of thrift store shopping and watching the sunset on the beach while drinking.

Definitely not doing a counted embroidery project next, in any case.

Women Who Don't Help Other Women

New pattern up in the store! The quote is from Madeleine Albright, the first women to become US Secretary of State. I had a really random crush on her in middle school, because she's awesome. Now I live in fear that she didn't actually say this. Sigh.

I finished it over the weekend, but have found you never want to post something new on the weekend. So many people do so much internetting at work now. I've never had a job where that was really an option, so it still seems weird to me.

Just so there’s no nonsense later, when I say women I mean anyone who identifies as a women. And also, those of us who are viewed as women but don’t consider it a part of our identity. I’ve never felt particularly connected to either gender, but I know what I’m seen as, and feminism is the most important issue in my life. 

My niece is very into saying "So and so is a woman, so and so is a man" right not. The last time I said I didn't think that was very important, and the main thing is that I'm just me. She gave me a very skeptical look, but I can't resist. Of course she's a toddler and toddlers tend to want to classify the world and give it lots of order, but I feel it's my job to throw some anarchy in there. I am the youngest aunt, after all.

Soon I'll be starting a Minecraft pattern. I don't play it, but I know what the kids like.

Dreams and Nightmares

I finished this piece last night. It got messier in the last couple of sentences because I was getting upset and had a hard time wording what I wanted to express.

This is a piece that will grow. I'll do other installments in different sizes of hoop, and different colors. I might add song lyrics sometimes. I don't know.

It was hard to get through at the end. I had to speed through my new favorite show, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. It's Australian, set in the 1920s, based on a recent book series. It is absolutely perfect. I love Miss Fisher in every way and the chief inspector is so handsome (though less so when not done up in 20s style).

Today it's back to the Women piece, and the floral details, which is pretty mindless. I definitely need a little of that.