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.

I'm not dead!

Meaning, I'm still alive. I've been around, mostly ridiculously busy. Work, school, housekeeping, etc. etc. But I managed to get a little bit of stitching in. Last Monday was my birthday, which was nice. Very low-key and not a big deal. My parents sent me a bouquet of roses, my friends blew up my phone and facebook, and Handsome Helpful AMAZING Boyfriend got me some Keurig cups and... drumroll... pearls! That's right ladies, I'm keeping him. We also went out to dinner and I got some cake.

Besides that, I have received the 22-count sample from Crafty Princess (THANK YOU!) but have yet to test it out. I'll definitely let you guys know when I do! I'm not in a particular hurry. This is because I'm completely insane and fixed up a schedule for myself - which projects I'm going to do when. Meaning, when I finish one, what am I going to do next, etc. etc. It's all a little bizarre, but has made me very happy.

Now on to the stitching. I took part in IHSW this weekend so I have some pictures and limited progress.

Before:

After but before IHSW:

After IHSW:

The last picture was taken in sunlight and most accurately represents the colors. Also, page 10 is an absolute confetti NIGHTMARE and considering how much of this piece I've done already, that's saying a lot. I'll be lucky to still be 26 by the time I'm done with it the way things look. I actually spent a good amount of time stitching on it this weekend, but what you see is all I got done - I really thought there'd be more! Ah well.

And, of course, TUSAL.

I know I'm really behind with all of your blogs. I've been working about 39 hours a week, doing the school thing, and cleaning, and by the time I'm all done for the night it's time to go to bed and wake up at 6am. No fun... But I'm doing my best and wanted you to know that even if I don't comment, I have been looking! I try to comment as much as I can but sometimes I only have a few minutes in front of the computer for non-school stuff. Either way, I hope you all understand. HUGS!

WIPocalypse, the Eighth Coming, Greek update, and more!

I'll  start with the WIPocalypse updates.

"College of Magical Knowledge" before WIPocalypse:

Last WIPocalypse:

Now:

College of Magical Knowledge by James Christensen from Heaven and Earth Designs
Stitching on 25 count antique white evenweave
1 thread over 1 with DMC


"Mario" before WIPocalypse:

Last WIPocalypse and Now:

Mario - darklilac.com self-made chart
Stitching on 22 count white Aida
2 threads over 1 with DMC


"Riding the Wave" before WIPocalypse:

Last WIPocalypse and Now:

"Middle Earth" before WIPocalypse:

Last WIPocalypse and Now:

Middle Earth from Heaven and Earth Designs
Stitching on 25 count antique white evenweave
1 over 1 with DMC


"Greek Mandala" was not started before WIPocalypse.

Last WIPocalypse:

Now:

Greek Mandala by Chatelaine Designs
Stitching on 32-count antique white Belfast
2 over 2 with DMC, various silks, petite treasure braid, delica beads, and Swarovski crystals


There's my update for Greek Mandala, which I've been working on for the last week. Not much, but getting there. I'm glad the edges of my border met up! I've been working a lot lately. In fact, I'm scheduled for practically every day in August except Sundays because we're closed. Besides Sundays I have a grand total of 4 days off in August. Tomorrow is one of those days, so I'm going to make an attempt to get my car re-registered (wish me luck!). Besides working an insane amount (part time, huh?) I've also started school so, to be honest, I'm surprised I got as much done as I did! But I'm happy with the progress. Still a lot of cross stitches to go and then specialties but getting there! That gap on the right side of the border is supposed to be there - part 3 fits in there.

The next item up in my list is I was a bad bad BAD girl. I got my first paycheck and, with the encouragement of Handsome Helpful Boyfriend, I picked a chart and bought it. May I present to you Thomas Cole's "The Past" by Golden Kite:

I was going to get "The Present" but decided I liked this one more. If you're going to buy a Golden Kite just be aware, this pattern is 105 pages. I'm not even kidding. The grids are larger than an HAED, though but still - when I saw that 105 pages I nearly had a heart attack. Still waiting on the fabby sample from Crafty Princess so no new start yet... but soon probably!

And last, but not least, here's a picture of my finished living room:

Still working on the other rooms. Been working a lot and Handsome Helpful Boyfriend was gone for 2.5 weeks on a rig in New Mexico. But he's back now and as Handsome and Helpful as ever! We're finishing up the rest of the apartment together.

Watching The Dark Knight now with Boyfriend in preparation of The Dark Knight Rises so I hope you all have a wonderful and stitchy night!

GUESS WHAT!

I finished page 9 of College! That was what I did during IHSW and I was so close to finishing that I just kept going instead of showing you guys. I keep doing that - sorry! But I was working, too, and Saturday I drove out to New Mexico to go to Carlsbad Caverns with Handsome Helpful Boyfriend. More on that later. For now, here's College.

Before:

After:

I think it looks AWESOME if I do say so myself. Granted I can't take credit for Michele's amazing charting skills. This puts me officially at 40% complete. Which isn't halfway. But it's closer to halfway than it was!

I was e-mailing the Fabulous Lesli, telling her about all my WIPs and who they are for. She insisted that I work on something for myself. I haven't worked on Greek in forever... and I really want to. Why not? I'll work on that for a bit and get back to do the next page of College. Hooray for progress!

I'm also late with my TUSAL post, so here it is:

Taken on our new coffee table (pictures to come soon) which we bought just for me, to be honest. It has a rolling top and drawers so I can get all my stitching stuff in there, take it out easily, and put it away to keep it clutter free. I'm a bit of a freak like that.

Went to Carlsbad Caverns on Saturday, which was AWESOME. It wasn't quite what we did in Iceland when we went into a lava tube:

It was a lot more tourist-y, with elevators up and down, hand rails and flat trails everywhere. But if you're in New  Mexico, I do recommend it because they're absolutely insanely gorgeous:

So yeah, insanely beautiful. We might do Slaughter Canyon Cave next if Handsome Helpful Boyfriend has to be in New Mexico for much longer.

In other news, I loathe FedEx. We ordered a bookcase for which I waited all day. No knock on the door and the tracking miraculously says "delivered." No note on my door either. So I go to the office and, of course, they left it there, not even bothering to check if anyone was home. I have to now lug all 80 pounds of this thing to my apartment and up the stairs by myself. The office let me borrow a dolly to get it to my apartment, but I still needed to get it up the stairs. Which I did. By myself. That thing was MORE THAN HALF my weight. I might be flexing at the screen right now. Ok, I totally am. HRRRR GRRRR ROWR!!!!

Happy stitching everyone!