Early Start on Snowflakes

 I love to stitch snowflakes!  I did these using 16 ct aida so they would fit into 2" hoops for ornaments.  I got the patterns for them from SamplerCrossStitch on Etsy.  I used variegated thread on the one of the left and I like how it looks!  I don't have room on my tree for these this year, I don't think, so I'm not sure what I'll do with them but they sure are cute.

A Blithe Yule

 It's a bit early for Christmas stuff in our household but I wanted to start on some Christmas stitching anyway.  We won't put the tree up until after Thanksgiving, and in the new place, there are far less places to put Christmas decor.  But I will definitely frame this up and hang it somewhere.  Pattern is by SirenStitchWorks on Etsy.  It says "A Blessed Yule" in Scottish.  I'm actually shocked at how quickly it came together.  I finished it in two days while watching true crime documentaries after work and on my lunch break!

I kept my 2024 Ort Ornament out last year so I could fill it after I had done all the cross stitching for the year, and since all my Christmas was packed up, I didn't wanna lose it. I just grabbed it and labeled it with my paint markers and I also found, while unpacking craft stuff, the empty one I purchased for 2025 and painted "2025" on it. I can't remember if I started the ornaments in 2021 or 2022... I'll have to wait to fill the new one until the final stitch I do this year. What will it beeeee....? At least I can hang 2024 on the tree this year! It's a little less filled than I remember... but not to worry, I've done more cross stitching this year than any other in the past and so I feel like 2025's MAY be a bit fuller!

More Perler Sprites

This week has gone by kind of fast!!  

I texted Mom and Dad like I always do in the morning and Mom said they covered the pool today. So the summer days of pool time are officially over for 2025. I don’t think I got into the pool as much as I thought I would when we lived there. And I can’t believe we’ve lived here for a month and a half already!  

 

The end of another era- I closed out the first UFCU account that I opened back in…2009? So the only account we have left in Texas is the bills one, which we are slowly moving over. I think we should move it all over except what is due soon, with maybe about $100 extra in there, and then we can move that over after those other bills are paid. I’ll figure that all out tomorrow maybe. Then the ONLY thing left I have to do is get my car registered and since I can go to the DMV in Coldspring and get a copy of my registration, I should be able to get that done next week. I hope so, I’m ready to take these Texas plates off and hang one up in the garage. Allen hung his up in there already.  

 

I found some more pics of some Perler Bead Sprites I've done.  I also can't remember when I did these but I found them on my IG so thought they needed posting!

I did this one a while back and lost the top black bead.  I found it when I was unpacking my office.

I made two bows- one with regular beads and one with smaller ones.  

These are done with the mini beads.  Here we have P-Chan from Ranma 1/2, a little Totoro, a tea cup, and a bow.  

Totoro and friends made from mini beads.

This One's Dedicated to the Squirrels

 In Hutto, we had rabbits all over the place to watch and fawn over.  In Pueblo, it's squirrels.

The squirrels around our house are brave.  They will get sort of close to you on the fence.  They will come up onto the porch.  They will chatter at you and then run across the top of the fence when you are trying to nail something onto the boards.  When you throw a hammer onto the ground in frustration, they will laugh at you. And they also respond when you talk to them.

They're super cute, though, and I love watching them.  I completed this cross stitch last night while watching Monk with Allen.  The pattern is by lagodartgento shop on Etsy.  

Perlers Revisited

 I have been thinking about doing some more perler bead art lately and it reminded me that I haven't posted a lot of my perler bead art.  I did post most of it but there are some I didn't post that I did later, or just didn't get around to doing.  

I made my nephew some little minecraft guys'  heads one year just for the heck of it.  One of the zombies didn't turn out so well, so I kept him for some reason.  He's below, along with some candy, pizza, an onigiri and a cute bow I made.  I was gonna make barrettes from them but never got around to doing it.  

I'm not sure what Perler projects I'll do next but I alwasy get the itch at the end of the year and beginning of the next.  Weird how that happens like clockwork every year!

I Survived- Again!

So apparently, there was another rapture that was supposed to happen last week.  They are always going on about "The Rapture" and then nothing happens. Not that I'm complaining, it's just funny.

I did this to commemorate the occasion and finished it last night.  Pattern by Subversive Cross Stitch.

Now my issue is, what cross stitch piece should I do?  Or do I wanna do an embroidery pattern...? 

It’s been cold in the mornings and warming up into like the 60s or low 70s. I love it! We have been doing yard work and just other things around the house. I think soon, we'll get one of those dumpsters and clear out the garage. There is so much crap in there the last owners left. I'm still floored.

So, these adorable little shits called "squirrels" are digging holes in all my pots so I got some soil to refill the holes and then lava rock to go on top. So far, it’s worked and they have only dug holes in the pots I didn’t have enough rock for. I got more rock yesterday, along with a nice new pair of pruning shears for which I can get replacement blades, and added it to the last pots. Hopefully it’ll keep them out. If it doesn’t, I read you can get mesh or chicken wire and put it on top of the soil. Hopefully that isn’t necessary. I didn’t see them dig like this in Texas, but it may be because it doesn’t get as cold and they will have food all winter. They’ll have to find somewhere else to hide it.  It is definitely fall, y'all.

Settling in with the Faeries (Not really craft-related)

 We are really enjoying Colorado!  I am still getting used to the fact that we actually moved here.  I have wanted to live here my whole life but never thought it would happen.  The mornings have been cold and then it's been warming up into the 70s but without the humidity, it's REALLY lovely outside and I have finally been unpacking all of my faerie garden stuff and decorating the back yard.  I'll have to get some pics of it later.  I'm really excited about putting all of my solar stakes and lanterns and lights too.  

I have also found some great places for some of my indoor faerie stuff I had at our old house, along with these cute mushrooms my sister painted for me and gifted me last Christmas!  I feel more like we are settling in with all of my little magic stuff.  

The Witchy Stitcher Cryptid Stitch-Along: The Hodag

I finished this one last night.  I think he is so cute. I'm obsessed with his little feet!  This is one of the last cryptids in The Witchy Stitcher's Cryptid Stitch Along.  I have Bigfoot and the Popelick Goatman to do and I'll be done!  These have been so much fun.  Then I will start on the Supernatural Stitch-along!  I think for that one, I'll just use regular aida.  I had to keep getting this oatmeal aida and sometimes it was hard to find, and I did want them to match somewhat.  Anyway, here is Hodag. 

"In the heart of the Northwoods near Rhinelander, WI, lucky visitors may come across a mysterious, mischievous beast known as the Hodag.  The Hodag resembles a large bull-horned carnivore with a row of thick curbed spines down its back.  It was said to be born from the ashes of cremated oxen.  The Hodag is rarely seen but often blamed for cheeky tricks involving missing keys, sunglasses, and helping the "big one" get away from anglers."- The Witchy Stitcher

Nesting... (Not really craft-related)

 Since moving into our little home, I have tried to make it as cottage-y and possible!  I loved our home in Hutto, and it was much bigger and newer.  This house was built in the 1940s and is small.  I adored our home in Hutto.  I really bonded with the house's spirit, and it was gutting to leave.  But I really think that I will bond deeply with this house too.  It has a lot of character and it's small but so homey!  

I have been in the mood to bake and cook a lot lately, and not just convenience food, which is what I often go to after work if I'm tired or have a lot to to. One of my favorite comfort meals to make is Zuppa Toscana and bread.  The soup I made, but the bread in the pic is a take and bake bread.  I also made the garlic butter, but of course, didn't make the butter itself from scratch.  I think this may be the best batch of Zuppa Toscana I have ever made and I think it was because rather than making cashew cream, which tends to get thick when you cool it and then you have to water it down to heat it up and that dilutes the flavor, I used vegan cream, and didn't have to water it down when I reheated so the flavor remained.  This is such a great comfort meal!

I made these hobbit pies for National Hobbit Day, which was September 22nd.  That's Bilbo and Frodo's birthdays.  We ate these while watching The Fellowship of the Ring.  Allen gobbled his up, but I had  half of mine left for lunch the next day!  

And I baked these low-sugar oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  They are so easy and so goooood. 

Happy October!

Well Happy October!!  The move was... rough.  The movers were AMAZING, but there was just a lot of other bullshit to deal with.  If I get into it, this will be a mini-novel so...

But, we are here, and we are settled! We have done a ton of things around town, and found all the good food!  Also, we are not live-out-of-boxes people and we are not procrastinators, so we are mostly unpacked (well, the boxes we are going to unpack for now anyway) except a few personal boxes here and there.  The essentials are unpacked and settled.  I have a few boxes in my office and in my office closet, and we actually do have a ton in the basement but they are out of sight or on shelves until we can get to them,  and we will keep them there until we figure out what to do with the contents.  

One thing that's a bit of a bummer... most of the walls, you can't get a tack or even a nail into.  We had to get a concrete drill to drill holes for screws for hanging pictures, so I will not be able to put all of my stitches up like I had at the last house.  In a way.. I'm not too mad about it because we did have A LOT.  It was a much bigger house, too, almost twice as big as we have now, and I think maybe having the walls covered would make it look cluttered.  Right now, we have big art on the walls, and it looks great.  Nice and clean, and not overwhelming.  So I'm okay with it and one day, I may find a place I want to hang some of my pieces.  for now, they are in boxes or in my art portfolio (Which is just about full!).  I MAY be able to hang a bunch in the bathroom but it has the CUTEST crane wallpaper on one wall, and I don't want to cover it, and the rest of the walls have some sort of covering that makes it look like brick.  I tried to get a tack in... nope.  Oh well!

I finally sat down to do a cross stitch a couple of weeks ago and between still getting settled and having downtime, I worked on it.  It took a while, only because I was also distracted by other stuff.  But with all the shit going down in this country, it sums up how I feel right now.  The pattern is another collab between Subversive Cross Stitch and Very Cross Stitching.