A... Frame?! And TUSAL!

Hello, wonderful world~ There is actually a picture of stitching this time; don't y'all pass out at once! ;) I'm also including the July TUSAL (wat. it is still July thankyouverymuch.). Not much went in there as I went on a vacation and forgot to bring my travel stitch box (*cry*)!

Yet another C&H book! :D

I think I may have found a frame for a finish! It's (of course) a thrift store find and I thought it might be suitable for Miss Christmas Moth. It was found at the same thrift store the kit was picked up which is kind of amazing! Sorry for these horrible cell phone images but I was way too excited to wait for the weekend, haha. Don't mind the sticker gunk on the frame or the wrinkles on the stitches or the crookedlyness of it -- this was the "does it work?" test. I think it looks kinda nice in this frame (or am I decoratively challenged?) so yay!

The scrolls are cutout, not shiny!

I'm so pleased to have found a frame but now I have the problem of washing, mounting, centering, etc. I've never done anything like this before so any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for looking! Yay, frame, yaaaaay~

Edited on August 05, 2012!

Blog Hop #5: To Season or Not To Season... (& TUSAL!)

I can't believe I forgot the last TUSAL! Anyway, here's the update, haha. There is more floss in there, I promise. I still smoosh it down at every opportunity. :D

June TUSAL

Mostly more black as I've been focusing on the lettering in FFVII. I try to do a letter in a sitting and as it's been quite hot, I've had a bit more stitching time, hah.




Now for the latest installment of the blog hop! It seems I've become more or less hopeless about posting updates on FFVII so I'm glad for these prompts to keep me from disappearing off the face of the planet~

I don't think I'm very seasonal, but that might be the lack of patterns I personally find stitchable for seasons! Since I like quirky sorts of things, I usually have to design my own patterns if I want to stitch holiday-themed goodies (Halloween example here). Otherwise, it's whatever tickles my fancy at the moment. A new game came out? Gotta commemorate it. Something unreasonably dorky someone said? New idea for a pattern!

The exception seems to be Christmas; I'll stitch almost anything for that holiday, haha. There are usually tons of patterns I like involving Christmas / winter, and it doesn't seem to be limited to cross stitching either! I did a cute crewel kit last year (see here), and picked up another for this year. I mostly focus on ornaments and one very mini aspiration is to stitch one ornament for myself by December 25. So far they've been just little kits I've picked up in various thrift stores.

Oddly, my favorite to stitch for (Christmas) is not my favorite holiday (Fourth of July, yay!). I don't dislike Americana, but I haven't found any designs I'm willing to stitch myself! Perhaps someday I'll create a pattern for the best holiday ever!

Visit all the blogs in this round of the Stitching the Night Away Stitching Blogger Blog Hop:
Find the instructions on how to participate in this round by clicking here.

Blog Hop #4: Society Assumes

Hooray, another blogging prompt~ This one is quite a sensitive topic for me as I find myself on the other side of the spectrum. Without further ado, the question:

• Do you experience this same assumption from society in general that just because you’re being crafty you're also driven by some unseen force to be in constant 1950s housewife mode? And then... Who actually does the cooking and the cleaning in the household? I’d also really like to hear some words from the men in the crowd who stitch on this topic. What sort of societal reactions do you get and what ridiculously wrong assumptions do people make towards you when they see you working on needlework?

Well, I'm weird. I am a housewife, but as one that is under 30 years old, I find a lot of pressure, disbelief, and/or ridicule for my choice. "Don't you get bored; what do you do all day?" "You're so lucky, you just get to sit around all day!" The snide hints that I'm unable to do anything else with my life. It's incredibly frustrating and painful. "Just do what makes you happy" only applies if other people are happy with your choices.

As for who cooks and cleans, well, I do everything~ I like to cook and as cliché as it sounds, I love having supper ready when B gets home from work (though it's hard to get the timing right as he'll come home at a different time every day). I like that he can come home from work, eat food, and then vegetate the rest of the evening (as do I). I also do the yard work which includes all the lawn mowing (love to do that) and gardening. The only thing that's "his" domain is car maintenance. Obviously if there's something beyond my physical ability (hey, I can't move all the furniture by myself), he'll help out. I try to keep the house sparkling and as we don't have kids (do the crazy cats count?), I might have it quite a bit easier than others, but that still doesn't mean I sit around and do nothing. There is ALWAYS something to be done around the house, but that doesn't mean I'm not allowed a break! And if that break involves stitching, so much the better!

I'm certainly no 50's housewife though. Can you imagine the dress and heels? I'd faceplant all over the house while being strangled by pearls, haha! I have gotten some strange looks from B when he comes home from lunch and I'm in horribly dirty work clothes which are anything but glamorous. I'm much too practical to wear clothes to look nice while scrubbing floors and whatnot. I need to be able to move comfy as I'm wriggling all over the house. :D

Perhaps because my other interests include video games, computers, etc., I haven't encountered too many "old lady hobby" dissenters for my crafting desires. I can be a crafter, just not a housewife.

Visit all the blogs in this round of the Stitching the Night Away Stitching Blogger Blog Hop:
Find the instructions on how to participate in this round by clicking here.

S.E.X. Update!

I apologize for the radio silence; near the start of the month we had a trip to Chicago for an extended weekend of family and dinosaurs! We had a lot of fun in the Windy City (I didn't find it windy, how sad~) with going to the awesome Field Museum, eating epic pizza, and finding a Jamba Juice near our hotel.

If I had planned it better, I would have inquired about nifty needlework/craft shops up there as I was completely unfamiliar with Chicagoland. Despite my unfamiliarity, we managed to find a number of Goodwill stores up there, and they yielded a number of exciting finds for my Stash Enhancement eXperience!

Because the phone pics load up so tiny with the app, I'll list what I dug up! :D

I managed to find some white hardanger (12" x 18") for $1 and that is what I use for the Final Fantasy stitches! Next is a piece of ivory 11 count Aida (also 12" x 18") f or 50 cents. I haven't a clue what I'll use it for, but hey, 50 cents! Next is a sheet of navy blue 14 count AidaPlus (9" x 12"), something I've never heard of before. It appears to be regular Aida with interfacing on the back. It's quite nifty but I need to think of a suitable project for it. Lastly, I picked up two small kits, both Christmas decorations. One is a cute Santa crewel kit with a plethora of French knots, and the other is a little kitty under a Christmas tree.

Goodies from Goodwill~

While I had fun with the needlework supplies, I also managed to enhance my "everyday" plate set! I love the Spring Blossom pattern from Corelle and I'm working on acquiring service for eight. I found the large and medium sized plates, and already had the saucers. It seems impossible to find the bowls and dessert plates! Maybe one day! I also found two Farberware saucepan that match the lonely one I picked up at a yard sale a couple of years ago. I love that saucepan so finding the others was squee-inducing! :D

Well, that's all for today's rambles.  I have the next blog hop prompt addressed but I have to wait for the weekend to post it correctly. Too much extra coding necessary to post from the phone. Until then! :D

My new old plates!

Edited June 24, 2012!

Blog Hop #3: Setting Goals

I found this nifty blogging prompt from Julie's blog and Heaven knows I need more to ramble about, ahaha. Here is the current prompt (can I go back and do the other ones too?!):

• Do you set stitching goals for yourself and how do you plan them out? (Weekly, monthly, annually?) What are your current stitching goals (if you don’t mind sharing)?
  
  
• In addition to setting goals for yourself, do you have a special reward that you reserve for when you reach a stitching goal?

Hmm, do I set goals? I suppose in a rudimentary sort of way, I do a daily sort of goal. I'm quite content with my goal being "finish this piece" before starting a new one. I've found that's rather... odd in the stitching world, ahaha (I have only two on-going projects and one is back on UFO status). I don't know if that contributes or alleviates my random stitching blahs. In my current piece (FFVII), I'll try to get a "section" done. Usually that means a single color filled in or a whole letter fully stitched. I do tend to make yearly goals although they're a bit more like "let me see, I think this and this and maybe that would be nice to accomplish but things usually happen so I won't get my panties in a knot if things don't work out." I might be a little lackadaisical. :)

I don't reward myself for completion because I've honestly never thought about rewarding myself for any goal! Maybe if I started bribing myself with Skittles for successes, things would explode with stitches.

My train of thought derailed as I thought about this. It made me realize that out of all the things I've ever stitched (apart from tiny kits), only ONE piece was ever framed. All the rest are neatly rolled up in scrap fabric and stored away! I think a new goal needs to be "get those things framed and displayed, you silly hobo!" Don't you agree?

Visit all the blogs in this round of the Stitching the Night Away Stitching Blogger Blog Hop: Find the instructions on how to participate in this round by clicking here.