Faery Tales (SSMC) 008

 I should have posted this update earlier since I kept saying I would do it and then I .... didn't. But I'm doing it now, so that's something.

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The new rotation is really working well for me, especially because work has just been so busy lately and I definitely don't have time to stitch every night. Most weeknights, now, I knit and then on the weekends I have more time to stitch. The result is I end up working late almost every night (sign off anywhere between 8pm and 10:30pm) and maybe get at least 30 minutes of knitting in a night. I make an active effort not to work weekends (which is why I work so late on weeknights) so that's more time for stitching with an occasional video game thrown in.

 I've been receiving some requests from friends for small stitching projects. Not sure how I'll sneak those in but I'll try and post the results. Stay tuned.

 On a personal note, we're doing well. Have some major life events on the horizon, if the stars align, so crossing my fingers that they all align. H³ and I have both been vaccinated now and although we're not exactly bar hopping or anything, I am looking forward to hugging my mom for the first time in a year. 

Flapping Parrot 31

 It has been a while since I posted. Work has been absolutely insane, and then some things went down at work that were so blatantly unfair to staff and insulting to us as members of the "team" that I told management if they actually went down in the way they had planned, I'd be giving my notice without hesitation. Suffice it to say management backtracked and I am still employed. 

But because work has been so busy lately I have been doing more knitting than stitching as it's a bit easier to pick up and do a row than set up my hoop, threads, stitching space, get the tension right, etc. That being said, I have managed some stitching, I just haven't had the time to post it here. I took some PTO from work, though, since I'm almost maxed out (use it or lose it) so I took the opportunity to video game, stitch, write, relax, sleep, etc. I have today off, too, so going to stitch some more and run a few errands. Back to work tomorrow.

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I have also taken the opportunity to re-vamp my rotation to work in a manner that made sense to how much time I actually have to stitch. Previously, I was working it by date i.e. March 1-7 stitch this, 8-15 that, etc. That meant that I was basically getting maybe one day of stitching on a project. So now I go by "sessions stitched" instead. 7 session on the Flapping Parrot, then 7 on Game of Swannes, back to 7 on the Flapping Parrot, then 7 on Faery Tales, rinse repeat. It's working out really well and I'm making progress. I just have to make the time to blog about it!

I hope everyone is doing well and hanging in there. 2020 and 2021 have been wild rides. 

Happy Stitching!

Flapping Parrot - Page 13 Finish

 Work has been, to put it bluntly, kicking my ass. Doing my best to keep my head above water but it's just not going well. I have never seen it this busy in the 5+ years I've worked there. My supervisor hasn't been this busy in the 20+ years she's been there. It is busy. I'm doing my best to get a little relaxation in here and there and sneak a few stitches but some nights it feels almost impossible.

Nevertheless, I persevered and finished page 13 of the Flapping Parrot.

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This is my focus piece for this year so we'll see how far I can pull this along. The current plan is the first two weeks of the month stitch this, the next week stitch a smaller project that's not full coverage, and the last week stitch Fairy Tales, rinse, repeat. Sprinkle in some knitting which I've been really into lately.

Which reminds me I owe you a Fairy Tales progress picture. I'll try to take care of that this weekend. If I remember. 

That's about it. I signed off of work for the night but back to it tomorrow...

Legendary Creatures Finish

 Happy New Year! May your 2021 be better than 2020!

Per tradition, I'm going to make a bunch of grand and unreasonable claims of goals I'm going to meet in 2021 and then I'm going to not meet a single one of them:

- Catch up with my podcasts. I'm currently in September 2017 and have a ton to catch up on but hey, stranger things have happened
- Wash up the kitchen in the evenings before bed instead of in the mornings when I wake up
- Go to bed on time and try to get around 8 hours of sleep a night (this one will be very, very difficult for me as I average about 6 hours of sleep a night)
- Fold my laundry when it's done instead of leaving it in the hamper until it gets all wrinkly
- Be kinder to myself
- Finish at least one stitching project and one knitting project
- Gal Godot bod
- Read 27 books
- Bill 2,000 hours at work

Obviously some of these are more attainable than others.

I've been silent the last few months mostly because I haven't had much time to stitch. End of year is always the busiest at work for us and I've been working 10-16 hour days, daily since October. I have a week and a half off in January so I'm excited for that and all the stitching and video gaming I'll be doing. H³ got me Hades and I have been obsessed with it. It has been a nice escape (that's a pun for those of you who know what the game is about) but I try to only play on the weekends and stitch or knit on weekdays. My friend commissioned a gorgeous blanket (that will take me forever) so that's been on my needles for a while. 

 In other news, I did finish the Legendary Creatures SAL (from 2018 whoops)!

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I think it turned out really nice! I have already had it framed and it will be given to my nephew (2 years old) to hang in his bedroom. I felt like it was a nice kid gift. 

I've also done another week of stitching on Fairy Tales but I'll post that soon. 

With that, I'll wrap up this post. Again, happy new year. Happy 2021. Happy end of 2020. I hope everyone is healthy and safe. Here's to a better year.

Happy stitching!

Flappping Parrot 29 + Once Upon a Fairy Tale Page Finish

 Whew, a whirlwind the last few weeks. Thing at work are going back to normal which means no more pay cuts and no more capped hours. It also means the floodgates have opened for work-related requests and I was working until 10pm last night (I start at 8am). So that was fun. But I took Monday and Tuesday off so hopefully a bit of a stitchy / video gaming weekend ahead for me. 

First up, a bit of progress on the Flapping Parrot.

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 And then, during this month's SAL, I managed to finish another page of Once Upon a Fairy Tale. I had to cheat an extra day of the SAL but I was 202 stitches away from a page finish so feel justified in doing so.

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SSMC is fun in a masochistic sort of way. There's so much confetti that while you're stitching the picture doesn't really come together until POP! and there it is. 

I'm sorry I don't have anything exciting to report. We're still sheltering in place. H³ is picking symbols diligently. Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary. Usually we treat ourselves and either travel (I was in AUSTRIA this time last year!) or go to some fancy Michelin star restaurant (once a year, we're allowed, I think). This year we're hanging out at home. But we've been together 24/7, just about, since the pandemic started and we haven't gotten on each other's nerves yet so I take that as a win.

Happy stitching!

Medieval Shelf 16 (Page Finish)

 I was stitching away late into the night last night thinking maybe I could finish the third page of Medieval Shelf but around 11:30 I gave up and decided I valued sleep over a page finish (blasphemous, I know). But I finished this page by 10:00am today! So here it is.

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I've been jumping around pages a bit on this project so I'm not sure where I'm going to go next but once I decide I'll go ahead and grid the page and then move on to my multitude of Christmas stitching and baby blanket knitting. And since I have the day off I'll probably also be playing extreme amounts of video games today.

So much to do!

Stay safe and healthy and happy stitching!

Once Upon a Fairy Tale (SSMC) 6

 This post is a bit late mostly because, after 8 years on my old grad school laptop, I caved and bought a new one. There's been a bit of a learning curve as I have to do things a little differently than I did on my old machine, mostly because this one actually works. The biggest thing to get used to was that the SD card slot on this laptop doesn't fit the SD card to the camera I use to capture stitching photos, so I had to dig out the cable. Which is fine, but it explains why this post is so late!

Without further ado, here's the August progress on One Upon a Fairy Tale (my once-a-month SAL with Lesli).

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I'm hoping to finish this page during this month's SAL. And I'm hoping to finish the current page of Medieval Shelf I'm working on today or tomorrow. Only 400 stitches to go there.

Other than stitching life has been pretty uneventful. My best friend is pregnant with her second and due in October so I'm knitting a baby blanket as fast as I can. I've been reading a lot, writing a lot, and I have a whole batch of Christmas stitching I need to attend to (nothing overly ambitious this year, thank goodness). Other than that I'm still working, we're both still healthy, and that's really all I can ask for.

I hope you're all staying healthy and safe.