Once Upon a Fairy Tale SSMC 3 - Page Finish

I stitched like a fiend this weekend and over the last 7 days of this SAL managed to meet my goal of finishing page 33!

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The little confetti stitches in the SSMC charts are killer but I have to say I'm quite happy with how the page turned out. I'm not quite sure which page I'll tackle next. To the right will be more sky/castle/moon, to the left, castle wall with some gorgeous ivy, above is the shelf border with some mushrooms, and below more grass and a shelf border with a scroll. I'll make H³ decide and you'll get to see next month! My goal will be to finish a half page. I'm not a particularly fast stitcher so that in and of itself is a bit of a lofty goal, but it'll give me something to work toward.

I think I've mentioned it on this blog before but I do creative writing on the side. I'm not a great writer by any stretch of the imagination, but I really enjoy doing it and publish my stuff on FictionPress. Either way, lately I've been completely consumed by a story idea. It has infiltrated my dreams and basically every waking moment. I write via Scrivener, so when I'm not working or stitching (my brain has a tendency to mull things over when it's occupied elsewhere so stitching is extremely conducive to my writing) I have Scrivener open and I've been world building and outlining like no one's business. When I'm not writing character profiles or plot outlines I'm reading other books for research. It's all a little overwhelming. I kind of feel like I'm not actually writing anything but discovering something that was already there.

I hope you're all well and staying safe. Until next time, happy stitching!

Legendary Creatures - August

My stitching dreams are coming true. I'm getting more stitching done and meeting my goals. With that, I finished August's installment of Legendary Creatures just in time to start this month's installment of Once Upon a Fairy Tale SAL.

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I actually had a really rough week, emotionally, this week. In the middle of it I screwed up on the "P" in this piece and I just wanted to throw it right in the bin and give up. H³ convinced me not to and I worked around it. But yeah. I know there's a mistake in there. I hate that there's a mistake in there. But it is what it is. I'll be giving this piece away when it's done anyway so that's that.

I finished the above Saturday night and the Once Upon a Fairy Tale SAL starts today so yesterday I worked a little bit on Medieval Shelf. I'll go back to it after this month's SAL but have it timed out for number of stitches so that I finish it by next month's SAL. Hopefully I can make it!

With that, I gotta get to it! I want to finish the current page of the SAL this month which will require some hunkering down! Happy stitching!

Flapping Parrot 28 - page finish

I finished page 12 late last night! It was too late to post here, but it was a relief as my goal was to finish the page before the next round of Once Upon a Time SAL and I finished with a week to spare. Maybe even enough time to finish August's installment of the Legendary Creatures SAL. I'm not sure, but I'll try!

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I took a much needed day off today as a mental health day. I haven't been sleeping well and, naturally, my emotions have been all over the place. Honestly I can relax as much as I want but if I'm not sleeping everything goes to hell. So I took an extra day today, I'll have two three day weekends in a row, and I already feel loads better. Today I was a potato and alternated between video games (Spyro remake) and reading a trashy romance novel. H³ made me an espresso (that espresso machine is the gift that keeps on giving) - I had it with some ladyfingers and just feel like I've been living my best life today. Back to work tomorrow, but so glad I just TOOK a day. I also have so much PTO I'm going to max out soon so I should take the odd day here and there anywhere.

Tonight I'll start work on Legendary Creatures again for the week before the next Fairy Tale SAL, but for now I'm going to walk the dog as she's staring at me and urging me on.

Until next time, stay safe and happy stitching.

Flapping Parrot 27

Now that we're not working overtime anymore due to the cuts at work I've had more time to both read and stitch so, best of both worlds!

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Page 12 is about halfway done so the next time I update I'll have a page finish! The whole project is almost a quarter of the way done!

I've been reading House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas and I'm addicted. I can't put it down. I'm always looking for that thrill - the book that calls to me and when I'm not reading it all I want to do is read it. So mission accomplished on that front.

Today's plan: alternate between reading and stitching. I just hope H³ is ready to pick some symbols today.

Happy stitching, everyone!

Once Upon a Fairy Tale SSMC 002

I had another round of Fairy Tale SAL with Lesli!

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It was an extremely productive 7 days and I had a great time. I'm hoping to finish this up next time around.

I don't have much new to announce. We're still on shelter-in-place so there's not much to be done. But I have been working out more and more in the pursuit of "abs" as I call it. I've been keeping up with my workouts, been sensible with my food, and even got a PR running today (fastest mile pace since the lifetime of acquiring my running watch ~3 years). I take progress photos once a week. Whether or not I get "abs" or not doesn't matter at the end of the day. I'm at least keeping myself busy.

My stitching goal is to finish the current page of the Parrot plus August Legendary Creatures before the next Fairy Tale SAL and then finish the current page of Fairy Tale during May's turn. We'll see how I do! I'll check in at the halfway point of the current page of the Flapping Parrot, which should be pretty soon.

Happy Stitching!

Legendary Creatures SAL Update (May, June, July)

It has been a while since I've posted an update to my woefully behind Legendary Creatures SAL. That being said, I HAVE been working on it, usually between page finishes of larger pieces. I've finish May, June, and July and will now be turning back to the Flapping Parrot for another page.

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Quite a few letters added! This is a fun one - I finish each letter over 2-3 days of stitching so it feels like a little mini finish with each one. I think I might give this to my nephew when it's done.

Other than that we have had cutbacks at work. Nothing too terrible and I still have my job, but we'll see what the future holds. Just keeping my head down and trying to stay off the radar in any bad sense while turning things as fast as I can in as high a quality as possible.

Today's is H³'s birthday. I made tiramisu last night (which will be enjoyed shortly) and we're just spending the day enjoying each other's company. Bit of a crap time to have a birthday, but we'll make the most of it.

I hope everyone is well and stays well. In the meantime, happy stitching.

Once Upon a Fairy Tale SSMC 001

My SAL with Lesli ended, a new month started, and I'm back to my queue (Legendary Creatures SAL from 2018 - July).

I realize I didn't post the SAL photo after February's round but I'm posting one now. So here is roughly two weeks of stitching, granted I didn't get a lot of stitching time in February. It was before the shelter-in-place order went into effect and I had a lot of plans. March was quite different. So, without further ado, here is my progress on page 33 of Aimee Stewart's Once Upon a Fairy Tale:

This is outside my typical realm of comfort as I'm stitching it on 28-count instead of 25-count but since it's SSMC I figured it's still going to be huge and the piece is so detailed that 28-count would work well. Either way, here it is. I'm really enjoying stitching on it so far. Aimee's shelves are great because you usually don't have a huge expanse of sky to get through but instead get to see details emerge on every page. I started on page 33 because a whole lot of people are stitching this and I wanted to start somewhere not a lot of people were stitching, just for a change of pace. Not sure which page I'll move on to from here, but I'll let H³ decide which course to take.

I'll post an update from Legendary Creatures when that's done. I've stitched one of three letters for the July portion and I realize I also haven't updated the progress on that one in a few months so it looks quite different from the last time I posted.

Besides that life is fine, albeit a little frustrating. H³ are both homebodies to an extent so staying at home isn't a huge change of pace. We miss our friends and seeing our family. We did a zoom meeting for his mom's birthday a few days ago. His birthday is coming up soon, too. We've been expanding our board game collection, at least with games for 2+ players and passing the time doing that. I've been reading but as I still have my job I've also been working normal hours. I had my annual review on Friday which went well so it seems I'll have my job for a while longer. I am concerned, of course, but taking things one day at a time.

I hope you are all well and staying safe. Happy stitching!