Flapping Parrot & Game of Swannes update

 I've been making an active effort to have more me time and thus have been stitching more. I have the next two weeks off so hopefully that's even more stitching time, even factoring the traveling I have to do. Without further ado, here are the updates.

Flapping Parrot before:

After:

Game of Swannes Before:

 After:

 I'm pretty happy with my progress on both pieces. They are both really pleasant to stitch but in wildly different ways. 

I'm on a bit of a kick lately to clear out my stash, both in knitting and in stitching. I just finished knitting my first sweater with yarn I've had for close to a decade. IT was really satisfying to cross that off my list. Now my focus is on a commission piece, which I really want to finish as soon as possible and move on. There's something really motivating about actually finishing something, especially if you've been working on it for a while. As a result I'm trying not to start new stuff and just focus on what I have going on, finish it up, and move on to the next thing I have going on. We'll see how it goes, but so far I'm really enjoying it. 

Some of you asked me what I'm reading. I just finished A Shadow in the Ember. Then I took my Goodreads "to be read" list, ran a random number generator, and picked up whatever book it landed on. That turned out to be Credible Witness: Paranormal Police Stories which I must have heard about on a podcast or something and added it to my to be read after which I promptly forgot about it. It's kind of a fun way to decide what to read next. 

So that's basically it. I'm much happier with the way things are now. I hope I can keep it up.

Happy stitching, everyone!

Big Update (Flapping Parrot page finish, Game of Swannes, Faery Tales)

 I have been really bad about blogging lately, which is on me. Work, as always, has been exhausting and I just haven't been in the right frame of mind to blog. But I've been stitching, so here are the updates!

Finished a page of the Flapping Parrot!

Before:

 After:

Put some more stitching into Game of Swannes!

Before:

After:

And inching toward a page finish on Once Upon and Faery Tale!

Before:

After:

I've really been throwing myself into crafting lately. My stress levels have been pretty intense and my health is suffering for it. I'm cutting back on work to the extent I can, but the effects are still there, though lessening day by day. I took the week off work so hoping to do a lot of relaxing, reading, and stitching.

I hope you're all well. Thanks for bearing with me through my ups and downs. 

Happy stitching!

Snow Bears Stocking - Finish

 I have been so bad about posting. Between the house, work, and everything else I haven't been crafting nearly as much. Good news is that construction on my office/craft room is complete and now I can start moving my stuff in there, once I acquire furniture. 

I also had LASIK eye surgery just a little over a month ago, which has been a quality of life game changer. It's not without its side effects, but generally I'm really happy with the results. 

I did, however, actually finish a stitching project. My Christmas stocking is finally done!

Before:

And finished:

I even ironed it! So that's something. 

I'd like to get back into the habit of blogging. Usually I'm so tired it just doesn't even cross my mind. But blogging right now reminds me how much I used to enjoy it. 

Having a finish also send a bit of motivation to keep working on my projects. 

So hopefully this is a restart of some good habits. On to the next!

Faery Tales - Page 19 Finish

 So it has been forever since I posted. We moved into the new house and a lot of energy has been put into fixing basically everything. I absolutely love the house, though, and I'm so happy we bought it. It's a different world having a place of our own. It doesn't come without its difficulties, of course, but we're working through everything. 

Work continues to be absurd and at this point I have to set as many boundaries as I possibly can otherwise they'll keep taking advantage of me.

I've been knitting a lot lately, and stitching on my Christmas stocking. I'll post a photo when that's done. Lesli and I have returned to our Faery Tale SAL (last week of every month) and although I forgot to take a picture last month, last night I managed to finish a page.

Before:

 After:

 The new house has much better lighting than our old place, hence the difference in colors. 

This project is an absolute beast to stitch, but I'm really enjoying having something new and exciting on each page. I'm going to try to put in a few stitches on the next page today even though I have company coming soon and need to tidy the house a bit. 

Once I finish my Christmas stocking I'm going to go back to my rotation. Hopefully that will mean more posts here! I didn't mean to abandon this blog honestly, life just got a little too hectic and before I knew it, it had been months!

Glad to be back, now. Happy stitching, everyone!