MMMM #5, The Final One (For October)!


Well, here we are at the final day of October (I swear, it really was just May yesterday...)! I managed to squeak in another finish bringing my grand total of finishes... to two. Lol. Well, two is better than zero, right? I have a feeling I'd have been more productive if I hadn't been taking a class, going on vacation, and in the middle of deep cleaning the house at the same time! But it was fun being part of a sort-of-SAL for once (my first, weeee~). Mahalo to our host at Pull the Other Thread. :D

To match the Witchy Kitty microkit from the blog hop post I give you... Mr. Frankenstein!

toxic green

He's just as cute as Witchy Kitty. I'll probably finish him off with felt like before but as you can see, I completely derped out stitching him and he's very close to the edge! Eek! I'll think of something... I hope.

A Mr needs his Mrs but alas, she was not meant to be finished in time.

feminine(?) toxic green

If I had had my wits about me, they would've been stitched on the same piece of plastic canvas with a gruesome little heart between them. Maybe I can still pull it off?

Anywhoodle, I'm still trying to decide if I can continue into November which will now be hosted by Justine! I still have class, but I won't be taking vacations or scrubbing every corner of the house so I should have a bit more time. I say that now. :)

Productive fingers go.... to bed!

Trick or Treat! It's a Hallowe'en Blog Hop!

BOO! Are you frightened? :D

o my, I didn't realize my next post would be another blog hop! These holiday ones are hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching and are always a lot of fun. I'm not sure where I'm at in the order so you might want to start there first!

Now, I must admit I do not have a lot of Halloween stitches (yet!) so I will give you this piece I stitched two years ago:

Front & Back

She was stitched on black 14-count perforated plastic in six colors plus the orange blanket stitch for the edge. I backed her with a piece of black felt and I think she's just adorable haha. You can find the pattern on Carolyn's blog, along with a whole bunch of others! :D Also her dA has more!

Of course you all are wanting your next letter...

grotesque I

And now I need to send you on your merry way -- the next stop is at jocondine's blog!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN to you all~ :D

I've scheduled this to appear in the dark of the night; I do hope it works!

Around the World Blog Hop!

I was invited on the Around the World Blog Hop by the wonderful Vickie (her blog hop post is here) and of course y'all know by now I can't miss an opportunity to ramble~ We were asked to answer a few questions so maybe you British folks would like to have a cuppa before you start. I don't even know if I used that word right. I'm as American as a hamburger casserole.

chibi America
from Hetalia

1. What am I working on?
MY SANITY?! AAHHAHAHAaahhaha... ahem. It's never fixed.

I have a couple of projects going on in-between the random morale-boosting smalls.


First we have the neglected Dolphin Trio. This poor thing is definitely a UFO for, um, maybe 4-5 years now. Eep. I really should finish it some day, especially since it's so small and so close!

seventeen hours!

Next we have FFIII. There is (still) a grievous counting mistake in it that I haven't found the heart to pick out yet so it's been lurking on the stand for several months now, mocking me. I'll put on my big girl panties some day and get it back in shape. It's turning into one of those projects, you know, those ones that just give you all sorts of problems from fabric to floss to being unable to count...


Lastly, I have a couple of smalls going/planned as I'm participating in Mega Mini Month Madness along with a host of other wonderful ladies who are all glad to be getting their pile of minis worked on. I have made more progress on him but haven't gotten a new picture yet.

I also have a pattern on the computer I'm being very (overly?) picky about as it will be a gift for a friend.  It's very close to being completed but it will be interesting to see how it actually works up.  Eek!

itty bitty pumpkin... attempt

I am also learning how to crochet! My friend introduced me to ravelry.com and I've been hoarding free patterns in my library. This was one called Itty Bitty Pumpkin and it almost looks sort of like a pumpkin! Maybe!  It is very small; I should've included a coin with it (slightly bigger than a US quarter).  I wanted the stem to be a loop so I sort of made that part up as I went along.  It starts with a magic ring and as you can see, the magic wasn't in my ring (there isn't supposed to be a hole in the middle).  :(  I will keep trying though!

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I guess my work differs in that I tend to like stitching nontraditional subjects (eg video games/anime/manga). Please don't take that to mean I'm not interested in traditional subjects, I am! But I'm much more likely to stitch something nontraditional myself and cheer on all the traditional stitchers. :D  But for me, there is something about taking a traditional medium and doing nontraditional subjects. Does this make me subversive...?

3. Why do I write/create what I do?
I write what I do because I like to hear my own head rattle (cough). Once a motor-mouth, always a motor-mouth (cough cough).  In reality, I write because I will forget. I have a horrible memory and if I don't chronicle my adventures in crafts (personal blog is elsewhere), I will not remember the journey. And I don't want to forget it! Plus I like to share my creations with others and see their opinions and be inspired by their works.

I have a hard time creating because I have a stigma about the "usefulness" of a project. I love the relaxing feeling of creating but there is only so much I'm willing to put on the wall (and that is admittedly a very small amount). I like to stitch the video games and anime stuffs as a way of showing that love for the subject. I imagine that's true for a lot of people even if we don't obsess over the same things! :) That said, sometimes I just need an escape. Stitching allows me to organize my chaotic thoughts and still have something productive going on.

4. How does my writing/creating process work?
Writing = word vomit?  I'm much more reserved in-person but somehow the hyper-happy always leaks out online.  :)

Creating... hmm. It depends on the piece and who it's going to be for. Once I get over the usefulness aspect, anyway. If designing my own patterns, I have to find an image I like, run it through a charting program, get mad at it a few times, let it lurk in the depths of my computer, fish it out again and redraw, take the colors listed to the store, gasp at how none of them are correct, wing a floss toss, and then maybe I can stitch. Even then, when I'm working on a project I'll have a random whim to change something (whether color or shape or or or...). I am an expert at creating frogs so if you've been around long enough, you might recall just how Overly Excited I get when I have a (somewhat largish) finish. Amplify that 10x if the finished product gets a frame. So my creative process is pretty much a mess filled with ultimate highs and despairing lows. It's the highs that keep us going. :)

I hope you have survived and if you've gleaned anything from this post -- I'm just a little helter-skelter. I fly by the seat of my pants more than have a strict organizational thing going on.

Now I'm supposed to pass on the baton of the world so I picked these fun ladies:

Steph at Show and Tell - In the wilds of England! - The happiest blogger in the world; she knows the secret of finding joy in everything and then giving it to others. I think she might actually be a fairy because it seems she just makes magical projects out of nothingness all the time. If only I had, like, a tenth of her doing ability, I'd have so many finishes!

Tenille at Stitched Up! - In the wilds of Australia! - She's pretty new to the blogging world and works on crazy things like HAEDs and Châtelaines which I know many of you love (and they are gorgeous)!  She also has an adorable little boy who would love nothing more than to explore her craft bin, ehehe.

Amber at Last Yesterday - In the wilds of Oz! - I've known this hobo for probably around 10 years in the online world and she's one of those special snowflakes who's like "Hey, a thing!" and then makes the thing. Perfectly. She stitches, sews (when sewing machines aren't out to off her fingers), yarns (when her wrists aren't falling off), and quilts.

And that's all folks!

MMMM #4

Hellooooo~

Despite it being IHSW, I got very little stitching done. In fact, I got very little of anything other than walking and eating done! My husband finally (finally) got some time off of work so we took a mini vacation and walked all over a million places like good tourists. Who knew vacations could be so tiring?!

bluuuuueeeee~!

Since we were in a "big city", I had a little stash enhancement. My friend found lovely blue and purple floss boxes and informed me that they were available at Micheal's and Jo-Ann's respectively. I bought the blue one but I wasn't willing to spend $7 for the purple (which was also designed a bit different). I also picked up a skein of E940 which is glow-in-the-dark floss (and is hiding in plain sight)! I'm excited about it because I can't find it anywhere around home and all online places mark it up something ridiculous. My first impression (besides squeaking like an overly-excited dolphin in the middle of the aisle) was that the skein feels weird, hah.


Of course it's time for my rather late MMMM update! The spiffy button was made by Alyssa who always manages to find the most amazing freebie patterns!


Anyway, here is the progress I made over a week. Isn't it amazing? Perhaps some of you recognize the pattern already (there have been a few adjustments) as I did a similar one before. :) Once I found a needle that I didn't have to shove through the perforated plastic, stitching on it became so much easier. I won't impress you with the amount of mistakes and picking outs that I had to do just to get this thing started. I don't know what it is about the plastic; it completely screws up my already screwed up counting abilities. I was also entirely too exhausted to be stitching. I dozed off a few times with needle in hand!

Most definitely you've had more productive fingers this week! Until next time~

MMMM #3

Aloha, everyone! I think I've fixed the comments issue. And gave my blog a Halloweeniesh sort of theme.

This will be a short post because I am simply too tired to do more than be a zombie. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise since I'm sure I ramble too much anyway. ;)

finally framed!

blinding flash

Please ignore the dismal excuse for a ribbon. It's one of those skills I feel I'll never master.

my first square!

This photo was shot at an angle; I swear it's square! It's not "finished" because I haven't learned how to do edging and didn't want to try on it after the countless efforts it took me to get this far. I think I will make another square of the same size and make it into a large potholder because I've never heard of a yarn dishcloth before (that's what the pattern called it).



new stitch floss toss!

This will be the next (two) project(s) for MMMM. I'm not quite sure about the colors but I didn't have the listed ones in stash and getting new stash requires a lengthy trip. I think they will work out. I hope.

And before I forget! CraftySasha is having a really fun pattern giveaway, found here. I suggest you head over there and join in the fun (and admire the super cute paperclip army)!

Until next time~ But now, I'm going to go crash in some soft-cushioned thing.

MMMM #2

I am a bit frustrated with blogger. I don't know what happened to my code or settings but I'm unable to reply on-site anymore. I'm not sure blogger even emails replies to comments anyway! /grumpy So if you happen upon my site over the next week or so and it looks totally wonky, it's because I stripped it down to bare bones code, the silly thing.

Okay! I cannot be grumpy for long because I Have a Finish~! Even if it is a mini finish. So I can completely call MMMM successful because I have at least one finish. Finish, finish, finish!

last time on episode mini #1...

after last weekend

This is as far as I got over the weekend. There was just too much going on and I even wound up doing some of that work under a streetlamp in a parking lot, hah. (I do not recommend this unless you 100% know your floss colors -- yikes!)

finished pre-bath

I must admit, this piece took far longer than I was expecting and looks better too. The preview picture showed very muted colors but perhaps it's because it was a kit from 20 years ago haha. And it was even finished in less than a week! I dunno what it was with this piece; I must've been grimy from the Fall Housecleaning, but I felt the need to wash it. There was no drama with any floss bleeding and it looks so much fuller after.

finished post-bath!

I made a few minor changes besides tormenting myself with light effects floss. I added in the tree garland using a strand of gold and fished out a tiny piece of brown from old kit leftovers to do the two tiny tree trunks. And instead of a black outline around the letters, I opted for the same red. It's obviously not framed yet. It came with one of those little plastic hoops... in a sort of faded blue color. I'm not feeling that, haha. I have a gold frame stashed away that I think might work but will require further investigation!

Technical Details
  • "Noel" kit by The New Berlin Co., designed by Tina Watson
  • 2 over 1 on 18-count white "even weave fabric" - Looked like Aida to me!
  • Finished size: 2" x 2.5" (5,1 x 6,4cm)
  • Started: October 1, Finished: October 7, 2014. Unknown hours.
  • Kit was missing needle depriving me of a chance to lose yet another needle to the carpet/furniture gremlins.

I haven't started my next mini yet, although I have two picked out that I'm going to work on together. I just need to rummage through my stash and see what colors I can come up with... or not, and justify a stash enhancement experience... :)

I cannot say how long they'll take me because I'm taking a class this year at our local adult education center that started this week. I've always wanted to learn how to crochet (doilies, doilies on every surface). A few years ago, my mother started showing me how and that worked well enough that I could do a chain. She has muscular dystrophy, however, and cannot hold a hook. I am hopeless at those diagrams in books and never bothered with youtube videos. But now! I can sort of do a single crochet and a half double in addition to the chain! We have homework -- make something using one (or two, or all) of those stitches. I feel like I'm going to start with the traditional potholder, hah. If anyone has any other suggestions using those stitches, I would love to hear them as I'm a total newb at this!

practice makes perfect...?

Here is my little practice piece from in class. More experience crocheters are probably writhing in agony at that poor thing ahaha~ I tried. :) Now I'll stop talking for a little bit and get back to work~

Jo's 500 Followers Blog Hop - Vickie!

In celebration of Jo over at Serendipitous Stitching reaching an amazing 500 followers, she's having a little blog hop! A birdie (budgie?) pulled Vickie at A Stitcher's Story out of the hat for me to ramble on, how awesome is that~ :D

Vickie is new to me so after taking a peek at her blog the first thing I noticed was pink and poodles! I cannot escape pink!! ;) I must admit I don't have much experience with poodles as I am a Crazy Cat Lady. When I was a wee Rosey, my auntie had a mini one. Her toenails were always painted, usually a stunningly brilliant red. I'm not sure if that is advisable in the dog world but Missy lived to be a ripe old age and was spoiled rotten so I suppose it didn't bother her!


Another thing I noticed is that she loves her flowers! Yay!

African Violet - Pink!

A dear neighbor had the most magnificent collection of African Violets. Since they can be started from a leaf, she gave me a handful or two -- this is my only pink one!

Martha Washington Geranium - White & Pink!

And here we have a Martha Washington geranium. I also have the pinker version but it is currently very grumpy about being in a new pot and not showing off its lovely colors for you, Vickie!

I haven't stitched any poodley things and I definitely don't have anything that compares to the awesomelygiant Theotokos she stitched (without going crazy!) but all the beading on that project reminded me of Ruby Angel.

Framed, and in sunlight!

Beading was an interesting experience and I should probably be kept away from beading needles for my own safety. Ow!

I hope y'all enjoyed this momentary break from your productive fingers. I need to get back to the Magical Fall Housecleaning (a bit late, but I was waiting for the farmers to plow under the fields... and it never happened!!). I'll get an update on MMMM sometime this week when I can sit down again~

MMMM #1

Aloha new (and old) friends~ I think I have you followed back but if I don't, feel free to kick me in the pants with your URL!

At the end of September (wasn't it just May?), I went rummaging through my kit drawer to figure out just what I'm gonna stitch for Mega Mini Month Madness. I pulled out anything and everything that looked "mini". Then I went through my stash of magazines/books/leaflets and marked interesting small things. Then I went into my Internet folder.


I don't have a huge stash (unless one considers the online folder) so there's not much to choose from. Even still, I probably shouldn't make any particular goals. One a week would be great but then y'all would have to be watching for those flying pigs again. ;)


As you can see, I started with the tiny kit on the bottom right. I decided I needed to torment myself and "adjusted" the white to contain a strand of light effects floss. Which I cannot for the life of me railroad. !@#$%&

Anywhoodle, despite my first world floss problems, this is a super simple stitch that will hopefully be done over the weekend. Fall is always a busy time of year for me so I am glad to have an excuse to sit down and stitch... assuming I don't fall asleep when I sit down! :)

Hope y'all have productive fingers again~ ZZZzzzzzz...