Today is the Yesterday

I am picky about colors. I am a perfectionist. I am detail oriented. I will always see the flaws in my work and think about the piece's distance from the original vision in my head. It keeps me striving, but it would be nice to leave those traits in a ditch somewhere, at least sometimes.

While photography just can't capture the beauty of metallic thread used well, I assure you that this piece is the most gorgeous thing ever and I am 100% happy with it. I thought I'd ruined it when I'd just stitched the variegated part of the border and the green metallic, but once I started adding the blue I was in love again. The pattern is in my shop now.

The quote is from Alan Mendelsohn, Boy From Mars by Daniel Pinkwater, a brilliant YA novel. It's a book that removed my feelings of self-consciousness about my vivid imagination, which I'd picked up when friends dumped me in 7th grade over issues like "doesn't wear brand name clothing/shoes, doesn't shave legs, doesn't wear makeup," things that many equate with an exit from childhood (I found the idea of being a Woman frightening and repelling). Pinkwater's YA novels helped me remember that imagination was valuable and it was totally find to still be playing Calvinball and pretending I was Caesar leading his campaigns in Gaul.

I'm currently reading The Sibling Effect by Jeffrey Kluger. As the youngest of five children, who siblings ranged from five to fourteen years older than me, it should be an interesting read. My siblings and I are certainly opposites of the stereotypical birth order traits (I think that birth order stuff is bunk, largely, in part because there are SO MANY other factors of equal or more importance). I really really need to start some early reviewer books I received, but I've not been able to focus well enough for print reading lately. 

I know I have a strange cat, because for her sitting in boxes is a sign of illness. Poor baby.

Wondrous Beauty

I liked this quote so much I stitched it twice (and I hate stitching the same thing twice). It's from a Moomins book by Tove Jansson (check then out if you haven't yet, I've read one and really liked it). 

The pattern is up in my shop now. Up to now I've been very hesitant to use any non-DMC thread in my patterns. A lot of people seem to have trouble choosing colors themselves and I felt like everything I used should be easily available. I've threw that to the wind with this project. Kreinik metallics plus "wondrous beauty" on both pieces is done with over dyed stranded silk from another Etsy sellers. I have pretty threads and I want to use them! I will probably try to stick to commercially available products though, since you never know when an Etsy user will close shop or get rid of an item.

Trying to capture the gorgeous gleam of the metallic border was frustrating and impossible. Then trying to have the colors be accurate on the black aida was as terrible as I remember. I love black aida, and I hate it. Everything looks so awesome on black though. Wish everyone could see these pieces in person.

I just finished an excellent book for book-lovers, When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning. It's about the drive to get books to servicemen (they didn't bother supplying service women, annoyingly) during WWII, and the creation of the Armed Services Edition paperback, specially designed to be light and portable and readable in any situation. Books soon became the most important 'luxury' for the troops, and many wrote letters to the authors and publishers. This program is basically what led to The Great Gatsby becoming an American classic (mixed feelings for me, I found that book so boring).

The program created a generation of readers who knew the incredible psychological value of reading, and won over many who hadn't previously been readers. It's a wonderful, feel good story. Interestingly, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was one of the most popular, despite being narrated by a young girl. Author Betty Smith received an average of four letters per day from servicemen and responded to all of them.

what, so soon?

I've been in a stitching frenzy lately, I think partly in response to being in extra pain and needing a fierce amount of extra distraction. 

A good sign that your nerve signals are seriously messed up is this ridiculous mirror image pain. So sometimes you'll hurt the big toe on your right foot but the big toe on your left foot will also hurt, and sometimes it's the left toe that will hurt most and continue causing more pain than usual for months. Thanks a lot nerves.

I'm waiting for the mail to bring me two more shades of Kreinik before I can finish up this baby. I wish it was easier to capture the total shine of metallic thread in pictures. The quote is from a Moomins book, though I'm not sure which one. I read one Moomin book, the first published in English, Finn Family Moomin Troll, and I think I understand why they're so popular (in Europe that is).

Humanitarian Finished

I have finished my Mother Jones quote pattern and it is up for sale in my Etsy shop now. I'm pretty happy with it, though I wish I'd reversed the colors in the border so that the lighter purple comprised most of it.

Oh well. It was fun to design and fun to stitch, and that's important.

I've started on a slightly less fun piece now. An addition to my Dreams and Nightmares work.

What I need are small clips that I could use to clip the excess fabric to the embroidery hoop. This is an old idea, right? Or should I be contacting a manufacturer and making millions? Not sure anyone can make millions with anything related to embroidery...

speedy stitching

We are in trouble as a species if people will refuse to believe
in things they couldn't actually do themselves.
--David Mitchell (not the author)

My parenting owl stitched up SO quickly. I have to wash him and then stitch a few more details, but that should be very quick.

In the meantime I decided to be totally crazy and just stitch up a beloved quote from comedian David Mitchell. I sort of feel bad, because I think maybe it's the kind of thing he would disapprove of/be uncomfortable about, but oh well. I can't go around worrying about what celebrities think.

Of course this is the time when my washable marker would completely disappear, so I stitched it without any guide whatsoever. It's messy (impossible not to be on that fabric and at that size, honestly), but not nearly as messy as I feared it would be.

The quote is from an episode of QI. They were talking about people who don't believe the moon landing happened. It's part of this clip.

Give a Man a Gun...

The last three or four weeks have just been... UGH. I got a really bad flu in combination with a bad fibromyalgia flare. I felt so terrible I wrote down all my online passwords in case I should croak.

Then, which I was just feeling well Madre and I went to the beach for our timeshare week. I felt fine but still hacked up phlegm all week. Got zero crafting done, and spent quite a lot of time in thrift stores (which is generally what Madre and I do, in addition to sitting on the beach with cocktails/food). I found this pretty awesome cross-stitch themed mug (if you want one and live near Morehead City, NC and want one, there's another at the thrift store run by the animal shelter).

I've been back home since Saturday, but my normal recovery time is further hampered by having to *do* things. Madre's moving house so I'm trying to be helpful there but I am beyond exhausted and aching now. I just want to curl up with a never-ending mug of tea and watch Rocky and Bullwinkle all day.

I did manage to finish a cross-stitch project yesterday and get the pattern posted in my shop. When I saw the quote (which it proves impossible to find an attribution for, though I have a feeling that it's a much older line which just suddenly gained new favor), I thought, as the Quakers do, "Friend speaks my mind."

I want to eat chocolates... Finished

Well it seems to be Monday again. I face the dilemma of expecting a package but needing to go out. It's being delivered by FedEx and they tend to have difficulties in making it up here (my building has a locked main door that can be buzzed open), which UPS never seems to have an issue with.

Happily though, I finished I Want to Eat Chocolates... and it's now for sale in my Etsy shop. Again, the quote is from Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett.

There's also the horrible issue of not being able to buy beer until I get my Christmas shopping done. I tend to have everything done before Thanksgiving always, but the finances are even tighter this year and I just don't want to keep worrying about it. 

I've been working on the pattern for another blackwork quilt square, but I think my next piece with be something in cross-stitch but without text (gasp!).

Also, out of 666 books (ha! though technically I own about 686, but the last twenty I may not keep, so they haven't been catalogued), only two of them are by authors with last names' beginning with I. Doesn't that seem odd?

And yes, I am the type of person who has catalogued all their books.

Books are Humanity in Print

So I've been gone for a while!

I went out of town twice in September and just got back from a trip to DC. We went to the Taste of DC, which was great, and I regret not making a bigger pig of myself (if only to soak up all the alcohol!).

All the traveling has a detrimental effect on my stitching, of course, but I'm almost done with a new pattern.

The quote is by Barbara Tuchman, who is easily my favorite non-fiction writer. I'm especially partial to her book The Guns of August, which is about the first month of World War I. If you want to really understand WWI, you need to read that book. 

Anyway, I like the way my books turned out and the dark gold text makes for a nice contrast.

The Misuse of Language - Finished

The Misuse of Language is finally finished, and the pattern is for sale in my shop.

I'm not sure what I've been doing for the past few days, but I'm very tired. I'll be out of town this weekend, so other than working on a pattern commission I probably won't be doing any stitching. 

Traveling with needlework is definitely not my favorite thing. I've done it before, but now I think I'll stick to knitting. I've got most of the strips for another knit ball done, and I think I'll work on that.

Patterns About People

Two new patterns are up for sale in my shop, as a two-pack, since I think they go together. They're two older blackwork/back stitch pieces I did a while back (pictured here).

If you’ve never done blackwork and it sounds intimidating, don't worry! It’s super easy (really just back stitch). Here’s what one of my customers says about it:

“I went to Meredith with a half-baked idea that I wanted a cross stitch pattern for Little House on the Prairie, and in no time at all, she had whipped up a beautiful pattern.  I started stitching it immediately, and it was such fun! The piece progressed quickly and easily.  As soon as it was complete, I sent the finished picture to Meredith.  I was in utter shock when she referred to it as blackwork! I had completed my first blackwork piece and didn’t even know it.  I had always admired blackwork but was too intimidated to try it on my own.  I had done a fair amount of cross stitch as a kid, but hadn’t touched it since I was 16.  At 33, I picked it back up again, and it was only about a month later that I stitched Little House.  Seriously, if I can do it, anyone can.”
 
Today I'm working on a pattern using a quote from Socrates. It's almost done, but designing the border has been slightly annoying. Hence, I am taking a break to write this entry.

My dad's in town so everything's been kind of busy and topsy turvy, with less crafting time than usual. I'm hoping to start this new piece tonight, but you know what they say about the best laid plans...

Time is a Drug - Finished!

Well, here it is in all its glory. I did finish it Tuesday night, but ended up going out for a lot of the day yesterday. With Etsy you always want to post patterns Monday-Friday from 9-5, because apparently everyone does their internetting at work now.

Anyway, the pattern is now for sale in my shop. I've altered the corner pieces a bit, to make them smoother and more pleasing, and adjusted the spacing of the text, so people making the pattern will have prettier pieces than me!

I'm really pleased with the colors on this one. I think it would look even better if you did a mix of the dark and light purple on the smaller flowers as well, though I like my way too.

Time is a Drug - WIP 03

So close to finished!

I think/hope that I'll be done today. The text shouldn't take long, so that seems quite doable at the moment. You know how it is though, you've got the whole afternoon free, then you get a phone call and someone needs you to do something or wants to buy you food.

People are always welcome to buy me food, though, as I'll happily sacrifice stitching time to eating tasty things.

Time is a Drug - WIP 02

I've gotten a lot done since my last post!

Using this many colors in this type piece is new for me and I've been bit unsure about it. Obviously I don't want it to be too busy, though perhaps with such a busy border having some color distinction helps that.

In any case, I do really like the colors I've used and I think I will be using an even darker green for the second part of the text. It would look nicest with the smaller flowers being done in both purples, but it's easier to stitch this way (again, I am super lazy!).

I'm hoping to get it finished and the pattern up in my shop on Tuesday, though you know how that goes... I didn't get much done yesterday, as I was lured up to my sister's house and spent numerous hours playing with the children. Kyla bought Benjamin the board game version of my first computer game, Big Bird's Special Delivery, which I played on our Commodore 128.

Time Spent Dismounted...

Remember this guy? 

The quote is by A.D. Wintle, famous London eccentric. I'm sure I'm taking the quote out of context, but that's life.I also redesigned the traditional Blackwork man to be a bit more suggestive.

So the point of all that is that the pattern is now for sale in my Etsy shop. Yay me!

I could be done with The Cheat by now, but ended up sleeping for twelve hours straight (it's been a really exhausting week), thus not waking up until 11:45! Sigh. Oh well. Technically I could have gotten more done last night, but I wanted to be sure the color was going to work out so I only stitched a few rows in the last color as it was dark.

Women are not... Finished!

Well I finished the Women are not.. piece and the pattern is now for sale in my Etsy shop. If I were stitching it again I would do the colors a bit differently, but oh well.

Stitching on The Cheat has been a bit stalled, since I'm just been so tired lately. I know I keep saying it, but after that I really must get to the chintz napkin. The last bit won't take that long and I know I'll be overjoyed when it's finished.

If you give a man a fire...

My break from Pogo was well-used, and helped me work a little more steadily on the monotony of black stitches. Pogo is actually almost done now, I just forgot to post about the quote piece yesterday.

This pattern is now for sale in my Etsy shop!

Choosing to stitch this on Monaco (an all-cotton even-wave) was a great choice. Blackwork is always harder to photograph though, so I must assure everyone that it looks SO much better in person. I'm really pleased with the combination of italic text and the wind-blown look of the flames.

When I designed the pattern I tried filling in the spaces between the second and the third flame colors but nothing really looked right. I have a new idea of how to do it so I might work on that a bit if I ever find the time.

This quote is from the Terry Pratchett book Jingo. It seems it's no longer in print in the US which is a crime! In my benevolent dictatorship I will be the one controlling what goes in and out of print.

no more funny

Well I finished the A.D. Wintle piece. I think it turned out really well. That might be something I keep for myself. I really don't get attached to keeping my finished pieces, even the ones I absolutely love. I just have a need to obsessively stitch in order to distract myself, so I do.

I'm going to do the family rules pattern in shades of blue, with the non-red parts of the flowers in the darkest navy. I think that will be nice but I'm feeling a bit hesitant about it. Given that it's a family/happy thing I don't want to do it in just black and red.

Opinions?

back to the humour

Well I'm back to stitching something funny that's not an in-joke! That's where I like to be.

After this I'll start my family rules pattern. I also got the material for my Understood Betsy book cover. 

I've been running around too much for various reasons (not so much for myself) and have been SO tired. I made a nice hash for breakfast though, as I really wanted something *real* to eat. It had sweet onions, garlic, grated sweet potato, cubed white potatoes, and Chesapeake Bay seasoning. I made it in the oven, so it didn't really tire me, and I swear it's the only thing that kept me from crying.

Life is skittles and life is beer...

I love Tom Lehrer's music. Absolutely love it. My dad found it when he was in college and introduced me to it when I was in middle school. My first exposure was the song Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, which my dad chose to teach me (we drove a lot, so we sang in the car all the time) because I don't like birds. I spent a good portion of my senior year singing "Bright College Days" at people.

Yes, that was me in the park as a 10 year old running and screaming at the pigeons to make them fly away. You can't just run at them, they don't go far enough. I perfected a sort of squawky crow noise that worked wonders. I still do it as an adult, even from a wheelchair. 

So here's a WIP shot of the Tom Lehrer embroidery I'm working on. The border below the text will be a line of dead pigeons. Then I'll be doing rows of poison bottles and a skull on either side. Overkill? Perhaps, but that's the point of the song!

My favorite line in the song is actually "We'll murder them all amid laughter and merriment, except for the few we take home to experiment," but it doesn't make a good stand-alone embroidery piece. The line I chose is recognizable to fans but not the most predictable choice. Plus people who don't know the song might also find it funny. 

The only downside is that while working on it I literally can not get the song out of my head. Even while listening to other music my head is still singing about poisoning pigeons.

People: What Are They?

This is a question I often struggle with. People. Do they suck or do they rock? I suppose it depends on the day and your relation to them, but I'm a curmudgeonly old lady who's gotten a bit too particular over tea cups, books, and baking supplies.

Of course this has led me to believe that Jon Richardson is my ideal partner. I'm somewhat compulsive, I always know where my keys and purse are, I'm a bit particular but not super intense about it. The perfect mixture of his "putter" and "leaver" personality types. Plus he's handsome. Plus I am super awesome and quite a catch. Who could resist.

This piece of embroidery, which is probably still a work-in-progress, is a quote from The IT Crowd. Now, I much Black Books as it's a bit less reliant on stereotypes than The IT Crowd, but this is still a very funny show. I highly recommend it.