Flashback!

I finished this cross-stitch piece a year ago today!  I dyed the aida myself.  The pattern is by Alexstitchinshop.  I think it's a quote from Josie and the Pussycats but I feel like it applies to my Customer Service life, so I stitched it up.  

Glow Forest Finish

 I finished this lovely diamond painting last night.  I started it a week ago on Monday, so it took about a week to finish and that was with not working on it for two days since I was traveling.  I really like it.  I'm gonna put it in the portfolio I got with a gift card I forgot I had.  

It's a bit pixelated but I paid $7.99 for it and it's a smaller one, so I'm not unhappy with how it came out.  I have one in my cart that's a pentagram and I'm super excited to get it and do it.  I will definitely hang that one.  

First Cross-stitch of 2026, Fabric Dyeing and a bit of yard work

Hello!  It's been a bit since I posted.  I went to visit my parents out in Coldspring for a week and just got back in yesterday, when I promptly decided to do some yard work and I am feeling it today.  I'm stiff and sore all over!  I am working on a space in the back yard where the previous owners had planted several rose bushes.  

The issue with doing this is that if you take care of your roses properly, they will bush out really nicely; if they are planted too close together, they will not bush out nicely because you can't trim and dead-head them like you're supposed to.  So I chose one rose bush toward the back and chopped the rest down.  I dug up a mini rosebush they planted right up against some bricks.  The area is a mess in general, since it was neglected over the summer so weeds and all kinds of crap grew in it.  I dug up a bunch of randomly placed bricks and slabs and now it's full of holes and looks pretty rough (and yes, so does that fence, and that is getting repaired this year as well).  

The next step will be to dig the rest of the rose bush roots up, and then apply some weed killer to get rid of the weeds and crappy grass.  Then I will pull all of that up, even the soil out, and put pebbles down.  I plan to put some potted plants in the area and I think it will look nicer that way.  

I digress.  My trip to Coldspring was awesome.  I drove it over two days there and also on the way back, which is the way to do it!  That way I don't have to wake up at the ass crack of dawn and drive into the evening.  I can sleep in, take my time, and still get there the next day at a decent hour.  I worked the first couple of days from the house we were living in for a while, and then had the rest of the time off.  I met my sister for lunch on Wednesday and then she and my nephew came to visit that Friday, so I was able to see everyone!  I miss them already.  My parents will be traveling for 6 weeks starting on Feb 16th so it was the last time I was able to see them before the trip.  My dad was down in his back and has been resting so that he can not be miserable on the trip so we just hung out in the house a lot but that was okay because I was able to do crafts and still spend time with them.

I managed to start and finish this cross-stitch.  I am honestly not sure who designed it, as it's in my old files from my laptop and I can't find any information on who did it.  

I also dyed a couple of pieces of fabric.  I found a new color (maybe new, maybe not, but new to me) of Rit dye called Hyacinth.  Funny, I was binging Keeping Up Appearances (where the main character's name is Hyacinth, if you don't know anything about the show), and I thought it was appropriate.  This pic doesn't do the color justice.  It's so pretty and I am going to make Allen's Valentine's cross stitch on one of these pieces. I dyed the glittery aida, and I love how it looks like stars!

I am about to finish another diamond painting as well, and I think this one will live in a portfolio.  I just have to get one, and I've spent just about all my extra money that's not gonna be used for food and bills on hotels, gas and food, so I will have to wait until I get paid again to get one!  I'll post a pic of the diamond painting when it's done!

That's the update for now!  

Finished Flowers

 I finished this one Friday!  I love how it came out and I really enjoyed working on this one.  I really love the colors.  

I have started another one that's a fantasy-ish mushroom print.  I'm out visiting my parents for the week and I started it last yesterday afternoon when Mom and Dad were napping.  I'm loving it so far and of course will post pics as I go!

Diamond Painting Progress

 I have been working dili
gently on my diamond painting, but falling back into the habit of "I must finish this before anything else", which is not healthy for me.  LOL  But, I plan to get it done and then next week when I'm at my parents' house, I have another I can start, as well as... at last... A CROSS STITCH PATTERN!  I have a couple I want to do, but will probably focus on one as well as the diamond painting.  I'm super excited about the diamond painting!  

Anyway, here is the progress on the canvas I'm working on now.  I'm quite proud of how nicely I've put these on!  I really love the colors too.

Crafts on the coldest evening and hungriest day of my life so far

 Now time for a better post.  This weekend, I experienced the coldest weather I have ever been in, in my whole life!  I loved it!  It snowed lightly all day Friday and we got down to like 5 degrees on Friday night.  I had to make a mad dash to Hobby Lobby because I needed one 0more skein to finish that shawl I was working on and didn't want to deal with the weather on Saturday, which was supposed to be pretty bad.  

On Saturday, I  think we started at about 5 degrees when I woke up and it stayed in the teens all day.  I only ventured out for ice cream later in the night and we had a snow squall, which I had never seen or heard of before.  Basically, there were bursts of intense snowfall and it was SUPER windy.  It was really cool!  I made these pretties on Saturday and then started on a diamond painting later in the evening.  I love making those faces, and I am especially in love with the little Frida Kahlo.  I'm going to make a pin from that one.  I also love the little ghost in a bottle, although someone in the Perler Bead facebook group I'm in pointed out that the cork looks like the caterpillar is taking a poop.  LOL!  

I finished these and started on a new diamond painting.  This one is on a canvas, and I have gotten pretty far since starting on Saturday because... well, maybe TMI but I had to do a colonoscopy prep on Sunday which meant NO food so I had to find a way to keep myself occupied, so I got a lot of it done since I took this pic.  I love this one!  

Diamond Painting Album!

 I wanted to share this cool little album I got on Amazon.  It's from a company called Forever Young, which appears to be an up-and-coming diamond painting company.  It's a great way to store my mini paintings!

The description says it's 80 pages, but I don't know if they mean it holds 80 paintings or that there are 80 pages in the book.  I haven't counted.  Regardless, it's a nice way to store my mini paintings!  That is all. 

Pennsylvania Dutch and a Small Ramble

I finished this one this past weekend!  I just ordered a little hanger for it and I will trim the edges and hang it on my office door!  I love it. It's a kit from Hobby Lobby, and I got it for cheap!  It was $5.49 and then 40% off so... come on.  How could I not?? (OH god, please disregard the lottery ticket in the pic lol!) 

So, let's clear the air about Hobby Lobby.  Yes, they are an crap corporation who donates to crap causes.  However, when they are all you have in the area, you sort of have to pick your battles.  I fight many others, and my philosophy is that you must protect your peace at all costs, and it's not peace-protecting to fight every battle with every shitty company.  It limits your choices, and it's stressful.  Approaching menopause, being in tears almost daily over the tiniest thing, and having an anxious personality that therapy and medication has not been able to control, I do not need unnecessary stress in my life.  So, yes, I do shop at Hobby Lobby, but only when it is absolutely necessary. 

I picked this one up when I was back home over the holidays and decided I needed a project to work on for the last day I was out there for the holidays, because heavens forbid I don't have a project I'm working on (I am my father's daughter, afterall).   I think this took me about a week and a half to finish, because I was doing other things in between working on this.  I don't have an ideal set-up for diamond painting, and it hurts my back after a while, so I have to take breaks, because I am a middle-aged woman.  It's a 12"x16" canvas, I think. 

Someone on one of the diamond painting groups on Facebook suggested this is a Pennsylvania Dutch style of art.  I can see that.  

Things in Pixels

 I may or may not have undiagnosed ADHD... maybe not but I am the poster child for hyperfocus.  

Right now I am hyperfocused on making perler bead sprites and on diamond painting.  When I am hyperfocused on stuff, I like to watch YouTube videos about what I'm doing, even if I know how to do it, but I haven't really been able to find one about perler beads that I like.