WIPocalypse, the 10th Coming

I managed to finish another rotation on College last night and start the next rotation on Riding the Wave today. I have stitched an unprecedented 4 hours today - only because I decided to stitch while watching video lectures for school. Super exciting - but 4 hours of stitching! That's almost halfway through my rotation and I've already gotten a ton done.

Anyway, here's my WIPocalypse post for the month, only a day late!

College before WIPocalypse:

Last WIPocalypse (and last update):

Now:

I feel like you can barely see the difference. I also feel like this is the most confetti-heavy page I have ever stitched. Ever. EVER.

Mario before WIPocalypse:

Last WIPocalypse:

Now:

"Riding the Wave" before WIPocalypse:

Last WIPocalypse and as of this morning, but not now:

"Middle Earth" before WIPocalypse:

Last WIPocalypse and now:

"Greek Mandala" was not started before WIPocalypse.

Last WIPocalypse and now:

So there you go. A little bit of progress. Not so much but considering school, not too bad.

I'm regulating my sleep patterns. Going to bed between 10 and 11 and waking up between 645 and 7, so not too bad. Feeling better about that. School is still crazy and Boyfriend is still Handsome and Helpful. The only exciting piece of news is the incredible flooding we've had here. I actually got chastised by my boss for coming in to work on Friday. I had watched the news and called the inclement weather hotline and there was no news about closures but my little car would not have made it through the streets, so we got in Handsome Helpful Boyfriend's truck and he got me to work (and picked me up when the county shut down early). The library flooded, too and there were 80 something (if not more) water rescues just that morning. Here's a photo I got in the morning on the way to work:

The water is flowing over the sidewalk. I definitely wouldn't have made it in to work in my car. I kept getting flash flood warnings on my phone all day and throughout the night. But it has calmed down now and is nice and sunny. Also nice and cool - in the low 70s. Kind of nice, for once. I have to say, though, it was scary.

Hope you're all having a great stitchy weekend. Take care!

I Have No Willpower

Both in the stitching world and in the personal world, though the title refers to the personal world, in this case. I'll go over that at the end of the post for whoever is here just for stitching.

I just finished up my 10 hour rotation on Mario, just in time for the IHSW post!

Before:

After:

Wow... last time was back in April. That's a world away. I'm pretty happy with how much I managed to do, and I think it's looking awesome! Maybe next rotation I'll have a page finish. Wishful thinking? Maybe, but hey, it's looking good! I may have been stitching while watching Lord of the Rings. When I should have been doing my homework. Oops.

Also, here's my TUSAL. I'm using my living/dining room as a background.

You can also get a rough idea of how big Mario actually is. Answer: Big. I'll take a picture with him (and any other BAP I finish) when he's all done. Still a ways off, but not as long as my brain thinks!

So what's up with the willpower? I've always been the kind of person who seizes the moment. I used to get up at 5:30 just so I could make it to the gym. I would go to the gym 5 days a week, no excuses. And go to bed by 10 every night. Now, unless I have work, I'm lucky to be in bed by midnight and up by 8:30. No gym. Plenty of excuses. I'm feeling... doughy. My productivity sucks. Something needs to change.

It doesn't help that I haven't had the best of times in Texas. I won't get into it, but it's been a little rough. I'm doing my best, though.

Change does not come easily to me, and I know this, and lately there have been a LOT of changes in my life. I haven't really been dealing with them well. Read: I'm SUPER WHINY.

I also know that if you try to make too many positive changes in your life at once, you're setting yourself up for failure. So, baby steps. Step 1: bed earlier, wake up earlier. I can get back on my schedule, I think, and be able to fit everything in. Step 2: get less dough-y. Ok, ok I know I'm exaggerating I'm far from dough-y, but when you study for 8-10 hours a day and don't move off the couch, man it gets to you.

That's it for tonight everyone. I've still got about 400 blogs to catch up on. I've been neglecting you all dreadfully.

Have a wonderful week and take care!

HAED and more

The past week has been HAED appreciation week. I meant to post sooner, but things just came up. The back story is that HAED has had a lot of problems lately with copyright infringement and a downturn in sales. Most of you already know I absolutely love HAED and support them whenever I can. I haven't bought any new charts lately, mostly because I want to finish what I have and start buying again once I have a few done. Also, I'm very budget-conscious and feel like I'm wasting money I could be spending on groceries when I buy charts I might never get to. BUT I still believe in supporting the industry.

It's not just HAED, of course. All cross stitch designers are facing hurt sales due to copyright infringement and illegal distribution of their charts. And the artists suffer, too. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, if there's a chart you've been coveting - buy it directly from the designer. Whether it's HAED, Chatelaine, Golden Kite, Gecko Rouge, anyone. If you do decide to take the chart plunge - buy it direct.

I personally plan on not taking advantage of the HAED reward program. I did at one point, but not anymore. I know, I know, free charts. But knowing what I know now, I would rather spend that $15 on a new chart after I've finished one than get my charts free. But that's just me!

Also, I know that everyone reading this blog already knows all this. But this is just my little attempt to make someone who is just passing through aware of copyright infringement, in case they don't already know.

~*~*~*~

It's been an interesting couple of weeks. Handsome Helpful Boyfriend has been gone for a while now, working. I've been working and studying. Basically, when I'm not at work, I'm doing my reading or writing a paper. I passed up a promotion at work so that I could focus on my school. Dumb? Probably. But also necessary.

The weather out here has turned on a dime. It was in the 100s about 3 days ago. Now it's in the low 60s. Kind of a shock to the system, but I guess autumn is coming. Personally, I like it. It's overcast and dreary and rain is coming down intermittently. Absolutely glorious. I think I would do well in Seattle.

Stitching-wise not much has happened on that front. But I'm determined! I'm about 3 hours in on my current rotation and I've been working on Mario. I plan to stitch more tonight since I'm off work and I have all day to study, so the evening should be nice and free to work on my favorite little Italian plumber. With IHSW this weekend I fully intend to have something to show you guys in just a few days. I'm excited since I've made a tremendous amount of progress in just those 3 hours. There probably won't be a page finish - but I might come close!

So, with that, I go back to studying. I hope you all are having a wonderful week. Happy Friday, everyone and with that, Happy Stitching as well!

WIPocalypse 8, #2

A little late on the WIPocalypse post. Also, I'm going to cheat because the only project that has changed since the last WIPocalypse is College, so that's the only one I'm going to post. Sorry, guys! I probably shouldn't even be doing this right now since I have so much schoolwork, but I'm a little tired of being responsible at this moment in time so I'm DOING IT. HA - take that, school.

College before WIPocalypse:

Last WIPocalypse:

Last Update:

Now:

I feel like I managed to get a lot done in 10 hours! Which reminds me, I realize it is absolutely impossible for me to finish this by Christmas. So I'm going back to 10 hour rotations, with the difference that College will be the focus piece, so that every hour rotation I'll go back to it. I'm going to admit, I got a little sick of it.

My last bit of news is that I got a birthday package from my sister the other day. Wanna see? I think you do:

Glorious, isn't it? I have an ALMOST complete set, just missing a few. I wind them on bobbins during my lectures. Multi-tasking achievement, ahoy!

Have a great day, everyone! I wish you all more stitching time than I've had lately.