Scranton's WNEP 16 News Backyard Train

There’s a funny story behind this one. I was watching This Week With John Oliver a few years back. If you have watched the show, you know that they end the show with "And Now..."- they usually feature something that’s sort of quirky or weird or somehow just ridiculous. On this specific episode, he featured a train that was part of a Scranton, PA weather report every evening on their local news. The train ran in the background, and people either loved it or hated it. People would call in and talk about how much they liked the train, or how stupid they thought it was. One guy called in and said the trolley was in the wrong place. Another guy called in, in response to that guy, that the engineer can put the trolley anywhere he wants to and “Shut up and go do your supper dishes!”. I laughed SO hard at that, for some reason, and of course… I had to make that into a cross stitch pattern. The trains are from Makoto’s Mini Cross Stitch book. It’s hanging in our kitchen (which is no longer green).

Here is a link if you want to watch a clip. It’s really funny. People are so weird. https://youtu.be/nqVgNvIiPxI

ScamGoddess Podcast

I listen to podcasts a lot. I have about a half hour or more commute to and from work, and I listen to them at work as well. I recently discovered one called ScamGoddess. I love it. Lacy Mosley is the host, and she is HILARIOUS. I’ve listened to several episodes and have already planned a few pieces from her quotes. She always has a different co-host and, of course, talks about scams. Recently, I listened to one and she said “Rules are for OTHER people! Rules are for other people so I can do what I want.” LOL perfect. So I created a pattern and stitched this up for my husband’s aunt. I posted about it on FB and she was like “OMG can you please make me one?” It was a quick finish, I think it may have taken an hour. I just need to get it wrapped up good so it doesn’t break and get it in the mail to her. I’m very happy with how it came out and will likely be making another for myself.

Tiiiiiny Stitches

Now and then, I like to drive myself crazy by stitching on 18ct Aida. I know a lot of stitchers use it, but it's hard for me personally to look at for long, because my eyes aren't great on up-close details, and it gives me a headache because of my football-shaped eyebawlz. Here's some madness I did in October of last year. They're super cute, yeah?

I made some wee needle minders out of a couple.

Mind The Needle

I am obsessed with needle minders. They are the cleverest daggone thing! When I realized I could make them out of covered buttons, I made a few! This tree is from Wild Olive. Rather than a face, I did french knots to make it look more like leaves.

This bomb is another Wild Olive design, and the F is my addition ;)

Not sure I quite like how this one turned out. Another Wild Olive one with the XO added by me.

Wild Olive coffee cup. I kept the face added dots and circles.

I drew this one. I tried the wagon wheel for the flowers with black Etoile thread. I like the sparkliness but I think using such dark thread doesn't really show the detail. Also, I didn't realize that I didn't cover my pen lines! I'll have to be more careful in the future.

SSDGM

I love the podcast My Favorite Murder. Karen and Georgia say the funniest things, and often, their quotes are made into cross stitch or embroidery designs by Murderinos. I did this small one a few years ago. I found this design on Pinterest with no credit and copied it, so if I find the artist in the meantime, I will come back and give them proper credit.

I have since collected a few designs but haven't gotten around to completing them. I did, however, complete this one by Jager and Yarn (Etsy) last year.

My sister is also a murderino, so I made her this ornament last year.

And I made this one for me.

One day, maybe I'll stitch up my other My Favorite Murder quotes... maybe.

The Time I Learned Needlework Isn't Just for Walls

There are so many cool things you can do with embroidery and cross stitch. One of my favorite things to do is making pins and necklaces. These are my first ones pins, and I am still trying to get the centering down. I recently came across them in a bin where I have a lot of my finished projects. This Domo-kun is one of the very first cross stitches I did about 10 years ago.

I stitched this pizza and word bubble up as well. These are Teeny Tinies from the Wild Olive Etsy store. Her patterns are SO CUTE! She usually puts little faces on everything, but I left them off and added the "XO" to the word bubble and some veggies to the pizza.

I did this one last year. Again, please ignore the crap centering...

I have a bunch of smaller cross stitches and embroideries to add to pins or pendant settings, I just need to get off my arse and do it!

Embroidered Pendants

I started doing these pendants last year.  I got the first ones from Amazon.  I think it came with 4 kits total for like $12.  They are quick little finishes, and I love how they look.  I did a few for myself, and I have stitched up several more to eventually sell.  I have also designed my own.  

These are from the kit patterns:

And these are from my own patterns.  I love making my own, it's really fun.  I'm working on several other designs as we speak!

Some of these are now in my Etsy Shop!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/StabCraft

. 

WTF Etsy?

I make these cool needlepoint accessories (or at least I think they're cool), and while they are definitely extra, they are also quite useful. I have had them up in my shop for a while but haven't sold a one.  The algorithm or whatever Etsy uses, I guess, is fucked up, because  when I search for my actual items, they never show up, so I'm sure no one is even seeing them. Maybe I'll try another site to sell on.  Etsy sort of sucks for selling.  

 1. Scissors fobs. These are meant for embroidery scissors because they're small and oftentimes go walkabout if you are stitching with a group. Or you lose them in the couch cushions and "find" them with your asshole later. I made a ton of these.

2. Needle threader fobs. I can't see for shit in my old age, and so it's very hard for me to thread needles. I bought a 20 pack of some really simple, really handy threaders, and saw an opportunity to also make fobs for these. This is really handy for the same reason the scissor fobs are. I remember before I made myself one, I was always losing my threader, since it's so tiny. But with a fob, it's much harder to lose!  I made this one to sell but started using it for myself.  I love these things.

3. Stitch pickers- basically these are long pins I stuck a bunch of beads onto. They really help when you need to carefully remove stitches you've messed up on. I love these.

4. Needle Minders. We have already discussed the badassery of the needle minder, and I sort of collect them as well as make my own.

I decided to open up submissions for the holidays. I used to do that and I really loved doing all the stitching, even if it was a lot of work. I haven't done that in a long time, and I had mild success with this sort of thing on Etsy a while back. It was a lot of fun! I did it on my terms as to not get overwhelmed and that worked out really well.  So, we'll see if I get any submissions.  If not, that's okay! (I bet I get zero submissions and then randomly during the year, I get tons.  Like if I don't say specifically "I can do stuff for you!" people hit me up at the worst times..)

This Wheel's On Fire...

I'm sitting here listening to a playlist of MTV's 120 Minutes from 1991.  That means all of these songs are at least 30 years old.  I used to watch 120 Minutes every week- it's how I discovered a lot of the music I still love today.  It's making me really sentimental...

Anyway, I have four WIPs going. FOUR. I usually only have one WIP, because I hate to start another project before finishing another. This is a rarity.

 

The first one is from MamaWitchCrossStitch on Etsy. I love the pattern, but I wish I’d picked another color of aida, because some of the colors don’t really show up. Oh well. I have been working on this a little at a time for like two weeks. It’s going so slow and I kind of wanted to work on something else. It’s TOTALLY me, this is not a reflection on her designs because they are SO cool!  As I type this, I've had a break from this pattern and I will probably pick it back up very soon.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MamaWitchCrossStitch?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=1042616322

 I stopped the mushroom rabbit to work on my Absolutely Fabulous piece for my friend. It’s gone pretty quickly. Here's Pats (I need to redo some of the leg stitches), and now I just need to get started on Eddie. The pattern is from 8BitNorthStitch on Etsy.  

https://www.etsy.com/shop/8bitnorthxstitch?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=920576695

 The third one is emabarssing because it’s been a WIP for like 3 years. It’s the Chopping Mall SAL from The Witchy Stitcher. When I started it, I didn’t have the patience to do it in one big piece, so I thought I’d just do each “store” and frame it separately. This is the first one released in the SAL and I'm actually not super happy with how it's coming along so far, so I'm not sure if I'll scrap it and start over or what.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/WitchyStitcher?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=1009379392

 

The last one is another face embroidery from Cate Anevski. I have been a HUGE fan of her work for years.  I've done this one before but I wanted to do in another color. I need to redo some of the stitches, but really, I can finish this in no time, do I don't know why I just don't get on with it...

https://www.beeskneesindustries.com/

Keep Stitching Weird

I found an Etsy shop called OddAnaStitch. Her patterns are so interesting. I stitched these up last fall.

I just love odd and unsettling cross stitch patterns... don't you?

So Hygge!

I stitched this one about a year ago. It was a cool and rainy Saturday. One of my FAVORITE things to do when it's cool and rainy out is put on a horror movie, drink some coffee, and do some stitching! Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. I think I was born to be in a cooler climate, because I just love the coziness of fall and winter! In Texas, we only get a short window of cooler weather, and while I was born and raised here, I have never liked that. This one is from an Etsy shop called ALIFERA. Her patterns are wonderfully weird and also very beautiful.

I love her patterns, and I plan to do more for sure.

Malcolm Tucker is My Life Coach

I have A LOT of cross stitching posts to catch up on. Today, I want to show you a couple of pieces inspired by Armando Iannucci's The Thick of It and In the Loop. It's a British show done in 2005 and the move (In the Loop) was done around the same time. It stars Peter Capaldi, whom I adore, Chris Addison, Rebecca Front, and Joanna Scanlan. It's a British policital comedy, and I instantly became a fan of Peter Capaldi's character Malcolm Tucker. He has THE BEST lines. One of them, which Malcolm refers to as "Tucker's Law", was sadly cut out of the show, but I saw it on some outtakes and knew I had to cross stitch it.

Here it is in action, along with my custom Malcolm Tucker Funko Pop figure!

Here are a couple more Malcolm Tucker quotes I've stitched up. Pardon the shoddy framing... I suck at a lot of things.

Loooong Overdue Update and Post

It's been almost 10 years since I posted in this blog. Life happened- we did another big move, I went through a lot of mental health issues (depression and anxiety that had gone undiagnosed and unchecked for YEARS finally caught up with me), I suffered the loss of my sweet cat and of my Grandad (who, if you know me or have read this blog, means the world to me), and I fell into a dark plae and I stopped crafting for a while. Well, I still did stuff but it was really sporadic, and I just stopped blogging and I don't know why. Maybe it's because it's sometimes hard to keep up with. AAAAAANYHOW, all is well with Jonesy, though I'm not longer a Jones. I married my sweet Allen and I decided to take his last name afterall (though I kept Jones as a middle name, because afterall, I am definitely a Jones!). But he still calls me Jonesy, so I am not changing the blog name. We purchased a house in 2015 in Hutto. I never thought I'd move from Austin, but I'm glad we did, because I don't like what Austin has become, and Hutto is much more affordable. What else.. oh, I got laid off from my job at Sears in 2017, worked at this cool company called Build A Sign for a few months and then my old Sears boss begged me to come back, so I did. The pay was good but FUCK that place and fuck her. I could write a fucking Tolkein-length novel about the shit show Sears is. I got furloughed earlier this year, and not trusting Sears, I found another job. The pay is a lot less, but it's better overall. And now you're pretty much caught up. I took some time yesterday and read back over my posts, and my life has changed so much, but one thing remains- I still love cross stitch, embroidery, and crafting in general. I basically do the same stuff, craft-wise. I also don't bake sweets any longer so the food will disappear from future posts, since I would like to just carry on with my crafty stuff. So expect to see some new crafty mediums, pictures of plants, my house, etc! Also, plan to see less obnoxious posts. Well, maybe plan to. Jonesy out!