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.
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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!
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| 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!
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| 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 Chรขtelaines 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!
