I have some good news.

For 4 years I've been working as a casual in home support. If you don't know what that is, I go from home to home and help people stay independent. It's a very lovely line of work, and every day I am out in my community I get to help people.

Every week I worry if I'll get enough hours. Every week I fret and try to make casual hours work to cover my bills. I hope that my vehicle doesn't break down or need work, because I wouldn't be able to afford it if it did. 

A job position opened up for my area for full time, which is 35~ hours a week. I decided, what the heck, I'll put my name into that hat. I was shocked when I got the call today from my office telling me I got the position. I literally started crying I was so happy.

So here I am, about to become a full time Community Health Worker, with health and dental benefits, real vacation time, and a guaranteed income of at least 35 hours (give or take a couple hours, I still realize I'm very low seniority so they'll do their best to honor the 35, but I do understand when they can't.)

I can breathe a sigh of relief :)

Spamming my blog!

Aryll is stitching up SO FAST!

I went to Michaels today to pick up yet more thread for something, I can't even remember now and surprised they had the colours I needed. Shocking, I KNOW!

I also picked up some DMC variations, which I haven't used before but I figured what the heck. I picked out a nice variegated green that I think I'll use when I stitch Link and a Purple/bluish for when I stitch Medli. Of course I should have taken a picture of it but I only thought of the green for some reason!

Aryll waves hi! She's pretty cute. I packed up the Zebra Moth Dragon and Tribal Whale for tomorrow. One will be mailed off to England and the other to Winnipeg, Canada. My projects see more of the world than I do!

Anyway, that is all for now. :)

IHSW (part II)

Yay for my second one. :) This is the last of my time off for the year, boo!

I started Aryll pattern by Dorkstitch this weekend. I'm using 16 count AIDA and Threadworx Lavarocks (a dark gray). I'm undecided about her flower right now. Think I should do it in orange to match the orange in the flower of her dress? Or should I leave it completely monotone? Help!

The reason I'm making it is because I watch Wind Waker speed runs a lot. I'm going to offer it to one of the speed runners, but it might be a bit awkward since he has no idea who I am, nor that I am even doing this! HAH. I'm weird, I know. Even if he declines it, I'm sure I can find someone else for it. Nice having so many gamer friends, that's for sure!

Oh yeah, guess I should post the picture of what I've done so far.

I'm stitching it in hand because the fabric is SO STIFF. Makes me realize why I stitch with Jobelans and Linens lol.

Don't you hate when you think you're happy with where your stash is at, and then you see more that you think you just HAVE to have? Yeah. That happened to me On Thursday last week. I came across all these 5x7 Disney kits from Candamar Designs and now I want the Little Mermaid, The Lion King ones, Beauty and the Beast, and the Snow White one. My brain is wondering how I am going to get them now. Christmas is coming.. but I went and told everyone not to buy me anything hahaha. I think if I still want them by the time my Birthday rolls around in March, I'll get them ordered. :)

I've counted 15 projects done this year, and that's the most I've done in a long time. Granted some were small, like the Pokemon, but still they count!

I think that is all for tonight. I hope everyone had a great IHSW! :)

things and such

I was talking to my friend the other day, the one I made all the pokemon for. He was going to IKEA to get some frames for them. We got into the topic of selling my craft, and I just don't see the point in it. I'd never get what I put into it, and if I started doing it to sell.. it would become less of an enjoyable hobby and more of a job. He told me he would pay me 50 dollars EACH for 4 more pokemon, which is basically all the Eevee evolutions. I downloaded the patterns and went through my stash to see if I had all the colours, which I didn't. I told him that I wouldn't charge him for making them, but he would have to pay for the threads I don't have, and the fabric.

The threads and fabric are on the way, and I'm left wondering why I agreed to do this haha. Probably because he's my best friend. :)

I hang out on the 123 Stitch message board, and they have a Christmas wishlist thing going. I've been browsing the list hoping that I'd be able to find something someone wants that I have. I also decided to add a wish to it, which is a little out of character for me. I really like giving, and always tend to feel bad when someone gifts me something. I got an email today from someone on the board saying they would like to grant my wish. I'm pretty floored because I wasn't actually expecting someone to actually grant it. It's also pretty exciting, and I do have feelings of guilt lingering. I have to keep telling myself that it's OKAY to accept kindness now and then.

I am trying to decide what I want to work on next while I wait for the threads to arrive. Maybe I should take a bit of a break, I've been stitching like mad lately. But still, I feel lost without something on the go. :) I can't decide between Wind Waker's ARYLL pattern, or something else I have kitted up. I am super glad I kitted up everything, it makes it easier to just start stuff!

I have 5 days off coming up soon, so hopefully I've decided on something by then :)

Kitty finish

This was fun to work on. :) Lots of different threads and metallics make it interesting, and I love the little button! so cute.

I adore orange tabbies :)

It's feeling a bit like Christmas up in here

After rummaging through my kitted up projects I picked up Christmas Kitty Moon by Stitchy Kitty. It was on this year's bucket list and I figured I could get it done pretty fast. This is how much I've done this weekend

It uses both Fuzzy Stuff and Whisper thread which I've never used before, blending filaments (Love the stuff!) and #4 braid. My first time doing Lazy Daisy stitches as well. I had to look those up lol. They could probably be a bit neater :) This will also be my first time making something into a decent ornament. I cheated and bought those finishing forms for this. :D

Oh, and since I had you guys ask, I need DMC # 3753 and 831. The reason I'm not ordering them online is because I have very limited use of the credit card, and I don't want to spend even MORE money on stash. I'm happy where my stash is at the moment lol. So ordering 2 threads and paying more in shipping seems rather silly to me.

If anyone can help a sista out, I'd appreciate it very much! :D

and another finish.

My needles seem to be smoking. At least I like to think so. So about that 310 DRAMA. I actually looked in a box neatly labeled "DMC FLOSS" and found a baggie filled with 310. I don't remember being so organized, but apparently when I wound all the bobbins this year I put all my doubles/extras into this box.

Who'd a thunk?

Tribal Orca has now been completed and I didn't lose my stash street cred in the process. That my friends, is a victory.

Now what to work on? I have Tribal Maple leaf with Honky Tonk Threadworx kitted up and ready to go. It's a project for a dude in New Zealand. I also want to do DREAM, but my Michaels is out of 2 DMC thread colours I need and I don't know how to get them. I can't order online just two colours. :(

Anyway, I think I will fret away the rest of my day thinking of what I want to start next. Oh those first world problems :)

Every day I'm Pand-a-ren

Except I'm not a panda. Undead fo life, yo! Finally got my character to level 90 and have been spending a lot of time working on my in game farm. Think Farmville but in WoW! I was up til 3am last night getting a cat for my farm. This cat does absolutely nothing. Was it a total waste of time and sleep? Yes. Was it worth it? YES haha.

My friend Adam in the UK has finally got his streaming computer up and running and I can thank him that I'm getting any stitching done at all. When he tells me he's about to stream I stop playing WoW and settle in for a couple hours of stitching and watching :)

Orca is looking a bit more like a whale.

I'm using 3 strands of 310 because the coverage is horrible with only 2 strands on this 28 count fabric. What is up with DMC lately? It seems like the quality sort of sucks now. I may have also ran out of 310.


... for shame. What cross stitcher who has any pride at all in her stash runs out of 310? I'm only telling you guys this so that you don't end up in my predicament. Go buy more, tomorrow. Even if you have 10 skeins already. DO IT.

That budget I said I was doing early this year is finally being put in motion, but I think I can spare a couple bucks to buy more black and 2 other colours I'm missing so I can do Joan Elliott's DREAM.

And that is all for now. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving if you're celebrating it today (or tomorrow in my case!) Om nom nom turkey. :)

Tribal Style

My World Of Warcraft character is leveling very, very, slowly. I just hate leveling alone and it seems all my friends went crazy and are now max level. Woe is me.

The good news is that I'm getting a lot more stitching done than I thought I would. I introduce you to Tribal Orca. :) I can't remember what colour the fabric is but it's probably somewhere on this site. I do know it's 28 count jobelan.  I bought it was before I saw this pattern, but when I did finally come across it, I knew it was the fabric to use!

I love the tribal style because they tend to stitch up very quickly, and you're free to use whatever fabric and fiber you want with it, so you can use up what you have in your stash. :)

That is really it for now. :) I'll probably get him done in the next week or less with how much I've been stitching. Then it's on to the tribal maple leaf which has a home already in New Zealand. :)

Finished!

And She is done :)

I think that makes finish number 12 this year, which is up from last year!

Next up is Tribal Orca. :)