Unlikely Small Ads

So here's the first look at my Mock the Week cross-stitch project. I'm about halfway done with it now. It's a bit ruder than I usually stitch (though those parts aren't done yet), but it cracks me up.

This is a clip of that scene, though they spend almost the first minute of that video pissing around. I haven't used all the lines, but I did use quite a lot (there are 13 total). The "FOUND" one isn't in that clip but is in a BBC clip.

It's enjoyable stitching, much more so than that damned wisteria piece. Random swatches of color, few efficient ways to stitch, endless opportunities for mistakes you won't notice until hours later... I'm still missing a few colors for it, but hoping to get them today or tomorrow.

Tintin!

I grew up with Tintin and Asterix comics, and while Asterix will always be my favorite, I'm very attached to Tintin. We had some of the Tintin cartoons too, which I adored.

So here's my Tintin-in-progress. It will be just like my base image (just without the black fill background. I think I need to get a lighter skin tone though and also need to look for a good color for his hair, so the project is on hold for a bit. I think it's a really good translation from my base image to the cross stitch though!

Now I'm trying to design a pattern of the Grateful Dead logo from the Steal Your Face album. With Christmas coming a lot of the things I'm stitching either can't be posted here (since they're presents) or are so obscure that I don't think you guys would enjoy them. I did design a fabulous blackwork ax though, so if anyone needs an ax design, just ask!

I'm desperately hoping that I won't have to turn the AC on again this season, but it's hard to say. Sometimes it's still pretty warm during the day. All my plants are inside though and I've rearranged some of my succulents. These days my only non-succulents are my lemon tree and a lone African violet. Oh, and the cat grass but that doesn't really count.

new project

Started a new project the other day. It could be finished but I think I'll add another row of the moth pattern before the top one, but with slightly different colors. 

I do like how they've turned out, and it makes the frustration that comes with satin thread almost worth it. I hate satin thread. Hate it to death! Sometimes you need the effect though.

Might I recommend to all a book and a sequel to that book? The books are Shanghai Girls and Dreams of Joy by Lisa See. They are absolutely wonderful. She's most known, I think, for her book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan which is quite good, but the two I just mentioned are a lot better (and that's saying something). Shanghai Girls follows two sisters sold in marriage to strangers in California. They're going to avoid going but then the Japanese come and their tickets to the US seem like the only escape. That's just the very beginning of the book but you can read longer descriptions elsewhere. Trust me when I say it's a wonderful, worthwhile read and the sequel, Dreams of Joy, is even better.

tough few weeks

I expect to spend the next few weeks thoroughly embroiled in needlework, reading, and cleaning. Madre is off to Japan. Hopefully she will call when she gets there despite the time, because I tend to worry about these things. I mean, I know planes fly via black magic, but people do assemble them and people are terribly fallible. 

Anywhere, there's good progress on my color fade piece and I might be done with this "People: what a bunch of bastards" piece. I might add a skinny leaf detail to the top, but I'm undecided. I feel like I should do some cross stitch as I haven't done any for ages.

Otherwise I've been conquering the world playing Rise of Nations, though I wish you could be any nation. I really wanted to conquer the world as Wales, since they deserve it. Alas. Maybe next time I play Civilization I'll be the Celts and give all the towns Welsh place names.

color fades for the win...

Oh how neglectful I've been! I had a house guest and then I left my camera at my sister's house. That's the pain of having an adorable nephew (and niece), you leave your camera a lot of places.

Anyway, here's my new piece. I had yellow on it but the fade from green to blue was so perfect that I wanted to redo the yellow to get a nicer fade into the green. This all means a trip to the needlework shop (there's a lovely little local place) and it's just so annoying having to leave the apartment.

On the plus side, how gorgeous is this?! Oh I'm so happy with how it's turning out. It is my first art piece. Well, I did that cross stitch of Obelix so we'll just say this is my first abstract art piece. Hopefully I can eventually frame it and give it to la madre. It just looks so quilty to me and quilts make me think of her.

Was there ever some tiny piece of information you would do anything to get? Any tiny bit of someone's thoughts you would die to know? I have something like that, and I dream about it and that person so often. Once a week, sometimes more. The dreams alternate between good and awful. Sometimes the truth is wonderful and perfect and sometimes it's so soul crushing and hurtful. I would rather know though, no matter how painful it might be. I'm not good with matters requiring that sort of courage, but I'm working on it.

Bullwinkle awesomeness

Not much to say. Things are just hard. Here's a blackwork WIP picture though. It's a quote from Bullwinkle, though of course it's funny to everyone and not just Bullwinkle fans.

I grew up with Bullwinkle, starting from age five. It still cracks me up, I still find jokes I didn't get two years ago or ten years ago. That's the beauty of Rocky and Bullwinkle. It's funny when you're eight and still funny when you're eighty.

song lyrics

For a long time I barely listened to music. I love music, always have. My parents gave us all extremely eclectic music educations for which I'm grateful. Only then I got sick and it became important to distract myself as much as possible with audio books while knitting or stitching. Plus music made me think of dancing.

Since I've had the kindle (can't hold paper books for very long) I've listened to more music again, and it's a happy change. Plus I cut my reading down this year so sometimes I just listen to music while I stitch. 

Hence this new piece (still a work-in-progress) using the lyrics of one of my favorite bands, Ed's Redeeming Qualities. They play calypso-ish music with the most hilarious lyrics in the world. They're funny songs but also intensely real, things real people feel, rather than the unrealistic people that inhabit most song lyrics.

Also, here is a funny picture I took of my niece, Evie. My new nickname for her is Clamps because she's got a very tight grip. She tends to give disapproving looks, and in combination with her fat face this makes her look like an old, male politician.