Pentagram finish

It's been a while since I've posted.  I've been busy with other things, so I've not had a lot of crafting time.  

What have I been so busy with?  We have been working on the garden and just basically getting ready for spring in the front and back yards.  I have been going through boxes in the basement slowly but surely and pulling out my witchy/Pagan decor and finding places for it.  We have been going on evening walks and spending some evenings on our porch with some drinks.  We've also been going out every Thursday for music bingo.  So, I've not done a ton of crafting. I still have a cross stitch I've done about 60% of that I will be finishing.... at some point!  And I am currently working on the HUGE diamond painting Allen got me for Valentine's Day.  I've only managed a small corner, but again, we have been busy.  

Here is a picture of my magical back yard progress.  Excuse the fence- that will be replaced. 

Here is the diamond painting I most recently completed.  I got it from Amazon. It came out really well.  I can't wait to hang it but I'm really kind of financially tight since I have a BS doctor's bill I'm paying on monthly so I'll have to wait until I'm caught up to get the hanger for it. 

Another Flashback?

 I've been doing more flashbacks because I am working on bigger projects.  I have a diamond panting in the works and a really cool cross stitch as well.  

I started a Stitch A Day project last February, and I did not keep up with it, sadly.  I'm really not sure why.  But this is the progress I had made a year ago today.  

I've been doing work in the yard, though, so my crafting has taken a back seat for now.  We got all the roots and stuff cut out and we raked the dead grass.  Allen used the weed eater and I got all the cuttings up and in a bag and I put a few solar lights out.  It looks bare right now but this week, I'll be putting some grass and weed killer down to get the rest of the weeds gone, and then soil and then the pebbles!  It's coming together a bit faster than I expected thanks to Allen.  He has done so much.  I'm gonna get rid of the big slabs sitting around the edge of the garden and we are also gonna get the fence replaced this summer so it'll look a lot nicer back there!  Right now it looks pretty horrible.  The pic is a bit crooked so it looks like things are leaning, but they're not! Anyway, that's the update for today!

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!  

Christmas Cross Stitches in Action

I was able to decorate this past weekend and display some of my cross stitches!  I have a lot of them and since we don't have the same sort of walls or wall space as we did in our house in Hutto, I can't hang all of them.  I thought I'd display the new ones!

I'm very pleased with how this display came out.  I wanted it simple, but not so simple that it looks unfinished.  I wish the cord for the lights was silver or white.  

Lovely Cozy Weekend

 We had an absolutely LOVELY weekend!

Friday night, we went to our favorite bar here in Pueblo.  It's at a really cool food court-esque spot called Fuel and Iron.  We had a couple of drinks and then hopped down to our favorite vegan spot called The Cutting Board.  They have the best sandwiches I have ever put into my face hole.  It was drizzly and a little chilly, which I love!  

Here's a pic of the sandwich I usually get- this pic is of the first one I had back when we visited to look at houses in July and it doesn't look like much but HOLY SHIT- Confit portobello, shallots, pickles, spinach, vegan gouda (this man is a freakin melty cheese WIZARD- usually vegan cheese melts minimally if that), and some special chipotle aoili.  I've had a few other things there and always come back to this.  

Tardis Door and Tree of Gondor

I have been a busy bee lately!  Saturday through yesterday, I painted our new kitchen door.  The reason it took so long was because I painted the stucco patches and the stucco on the frame as well as the outside frame itself on Saturday and wanted it to be completely dry before I started on the door.  Then on Sunday, I painted the trim on the inside of the house and the door on the inside.  I wanted to make sure it was completely dry before taping things off to touch up and doing the second coat.  We were able to leave the door open to let the frame dry and do a second coat.  

Sunday I painted the outside of the door, but it starts getting dark kind of early now, so I didn't have a chance to finish second coat and inside of the frame on Sunday.  Monday is was SUPER SUPER windy and so I didn't do anything to it.  So yesterday, I did the second coat and finished the frame and it just looks so super beautiful and I am so happy to have a door that doesn't squeak and scrape super loud every time we open it and a door handle that's not janky!!  

How gorgeous is this blue?  It's Outer Space by Behr.  It's the approved color for "Tardis Blue".  

Other fun things- we went for a walk yesterday and look at this tree across the street from our house (that's our cute yellow house in the background)!  It's a natural Christmas Tree!  I wonder if they will decorate it for Christmas... I tried decorating a couple of times outside when we lived in Hutto, but it gets so windy that it blew everything all over and some days, we get wind like that here too, so I just have my solar faerie lights on the porch.  

Speaking of, when redoing my faerie lights (I had to move the solar panel on them so I had to totally remove one set and what a pain in the ass that was to get them back up!), I heard this loud squawking, like a goose, approaching me and I was like "What the fuck is that squawking?"  Then I realized it was coming from overhead.  It was a pack of geese flying south!!  In Texas, I never saw that.  Or if I did, they were already too high up for me to hear them.  It was really cool!  I didn't get a pic because I was too busy oggling!  

I also finished my Tree of Gondor cross stitch last night.  It was a pretty easy one, even though I used navy blue as the fabric, and I did it in glow-in-the-dark thread which to be honest isn't quite as easy as regular because it tends to fray a little, but I am happy with how it turned out.  I haven't tested the glow brightness.  

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.  

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. 

Friday the 13th!

 It's Friday the 13th!  Ooohhhh spoooooky! Why?  I don't know.  There are lots of theories as to the origins of thinking Friday the 13th is "unlucky".  It doesn't stem from the Friday the 13th horror series...

Anyway, I finished this cutie from The Bad Witch Crafts, once again!  I'm not trying to toot my own horn by claiming I'm deadly talented.  I just really liked this pattern.  The bright red is done with the sparkly Etoille thread, but it's hard to pick up in photos, sadly. 

I've had this pattern by The Colorful Coven for ages and rediscovered it while searching for another pattern on my laptop.  This is another one that will be hanging in our new home for sure!  I just put the last touches on it this morning.  I should have used gold thread for the knob but... oh well!

And for "tax" as the kids are saying... here is a picture of the new baby calf that was born yesterday, maybe?  It's a girl, so they will keep her.  They can't keep bulls because they fight, so they just have one bull and several female cows.  The baby is so cute!  Mom called her Missy.  She is cute, cute, cute!  I love watching the cows at my parents' place.  They aren't really afraid of us, but they don't want to be touched, so I can't pet them unless I'm giving them treats.  

It rained and thundered all day afternoon yesterday and it made me so happy.  I collected some rainwater and put it out this morning.  Allen was in Hutto last night to check on some things and he's coming home today.  I miss him so much when he's gone.  

Handfastings and Stitches

It's May!  Cinco de Mayo to be exact!  I officiated my first handfasting on May 1st which was really fun. I had some time off last week, of course, around that and got to see my friends who live in Taylor, Texas.  We had good food, lots of drinks, and lots of fun.  I got to love on some kitties and dogs.  Some last minute things for the handfasting were discovered that needed to be done, like very last minute, and when I say some, I mean a lot but... I remained so calm that I surprised myself!  I think of everyone, I was the least stressed, and I was officiating the wedding so I would have expected to be freaking out, but I just remembered, "Your job is to officiate.  That's all."  My parents came out for the ceremony too!  It was just amazing.  I hung out with them during the reception because I was just exhausted and they are not exhausting to be around lol.  

This is the lovely couple- my dear friend Anja and her soulmate John.  They are such couple goals!  The ceremony was at Old Taylor High- they turned the old high school out there into local shops and eateries, and there are a couple of cool bars too.  They decided to have it there because their first meeting was at one of the bars there.  They are the cutest and I was honored to be able to do the ceremony.    

All that preparation didn't really put me behind on my stitching, however!  I finally framed this up for my mom and it's hanging in her livingroom.  Pattern by The Gloomy Gremlin.

I also did this one by Black Waltz Stitching.  I love her patterns and I have hoarded many.  I really messed this one up in a couple of places.  I have learned to abide by the 3-feet rule- if it's hanging on the wall and people don't notice it from three feet away, leave the mistake.  It saves a lot of stress and frustration.  

Lowery Work Stand Review

I kept seeing people raving about the Lowery Workstand online and decided to treat myself. You clip your frame into it and stitch away.  It helps some people with wrist or hand issues and it allows you to sit more comfortably while stitching... or something.  

So far, I like it okay.  I will say that I don't think it's ideal for Q Snap frames, which is what I usually use, though it's supposed to be ideal for them.  Maybe I'm not using it right.  The issue I have is that I don't feel like it holds the frame tightly enough.  It seems to slip easily.  It doesn't slip OUT, but it slips back away from me sometimes, if that makes sense, while I'm stitching and it's annoying.  Maybe I'm not tightening it enough but I don't want to crack the frame so... anyway, it works well enough, but I don't think it was worth as much as I paid for it.  They are quite expensive.  I wanna say I paid almost $200 for this.  Maybe it will be better for bigger projects like my Stitch A Day (that I am totally not keeping up with. I knew I'd crap out on it) or if I am using a smaller frame (like a wood frame- it is NOT good with the smaller 6" Q Snap because the part that your frame slips into is too big and gets in the way of stitching).  

Anyway, here it is an action shot. Again, it's not terrible, and it works pretty well, but I kind of prefer holding my work in my hand.  Maybe when I get older and it hurts to hold things for long in my hands, I'll be glad I bought it.  It's very pretty at least!  I am working on a Subversive Cross Stitch pattern that I will post soon!

I Must Stitch!

It's already April!  Time has really flown this  year.  I've been doing a little better mentally, and have actually been cleaning up the patio so I can spend more time out there now that it's warming up.  I love Springtime!  

This past weekend, I got to spend with my sister from another mister.  Her name is Adrianne but everyone calls her Anan.  I went to pick her up in Huntsville and we hung out with my parents all day on Saturday up into the night, just talking!  My dad built a fire and we sat around it for a few but it made me sleeeeeeepies so we went back home and Anan stayed the night at Mom and Dad's.  I took her back to Huntsville on Sunday and then we spent Sunday doing adulting- grocery shopping, laundry, etc.  It rained this weekend, which was nice.  I just love rainy weather and there isn't much like a nice spring rainstorm in the woods!  

I saw this pattern on Instagram, and knew I had to do it.  It's so cute, and so true- stitching makes the horrors go away temporarily.  The pattern is by Beetleandthreads on Etsy.

And just look at this herb harvest!!  They are so happy out here.  

Val Kilmer and my Uncle Leon died last night. My dad’s cousin Lori’s birthday was also yesterday so that means her dad died on her birthday which is terrible. :( I always loved Uncle Leon when I was a little kid. He was fun. As I got older, I didn’t see him as much but I always thought it was cool how much he and Grandad looked alike. I think Uncle Leon was just a little older than Grandad, maybe a year or two. Granny dated him before she got with Grandad. He was in pretty bad shape. :(  

When I went out to have coffee with Mom and Dad this morning, every single cow was out there, and they were ALL laying down. It was so weird, I have never, ever seen all the cows laying down. Some were just relaxing and others you could tell were OUT, because their heads were on the ground. The tiny baby one was snuggled up to his mommy. He is the cutest little guy and I wish I could go pet him and give him love. He is timid, though. They are not petting cows. Ah well...

It's a Meh Time for sure...

I finished this piece at the hotel when I was in Round Rock... whenever it was.  Gosh, time is weird... was it last week?  Week before?  My mom loves it and wanted to know if I could do one for her in the same colors.  So I'm gonna frame this one up for her and she can have it!  I was just gonna put it in a portfolio anyway.  It really meant a lot to me that she liked it so much.  Pattern by The Gloomy Gremlin.

Cemetery Visit

Last night, we went to Magnolia Cemetery near Cleveland. It's off of 2025. It's in a cool area, you go a few miles down a winding wooded road and it's a small cemetery on the left. Right across from it are two huge gorgeous houses and a huge pond. We decided to try to find some memorials requested on FindAGrave. I found two! I couldn't believe it. We couldn't find the other 7, sadly. Getting outside, walking around and spending time with Allen was just what I needed! I felt great last night. We came home and I made a really good grilled cheese sandwich and then I finished a couple of small diamond paintings while watching The Sopranos and The Office. I read more of my Israel Keyes book and I actually remember what I read last night!

Here is a cute headstone we saw last night... Goober and Peanut!

My wrist is still hurting but it's not hurting to type today like it was yesterday. I am gonna try to finish a cross stitch and then try to make up my Stitch A Day project. I have like 4 days to catch up on. If it starts to hurt, then I'll stop. But I really want to cross stitch. I may have to start back on diamond painting or perler beads until my wrist feels better.

A slightly new direction

Well, Happy Monday!

I have decided that along with craft things, I sort of need a place to get my thoughts out so that I don't explode, so this may be boring. I am feeling a wee bit homesick for Hutto. I kind of miss my old office. I like my office now here at the house in Coldspring- it has a nice window, it's bigger... but I do miss my other one. I miss being happy in our Hutto house, without a lot of concerns about what's going on in the country and about money (we are fine now, but will we be in Colorado??). I am trying to keep away from social media and news as much as I can but still sort of stay informed, but every day, something horrible is happening. I miss when I didn’t have to worry about things. I miss being proud to be Texan and loving it here. Those days are gone.  It's not the HOUSE we are trying to leave, it's life in this state. I was happy in the house, not happy in the city, not happy in the state. Right now, everything seems so chaotic and up in the air and I don't deal well with that.

When we have gone back to the house in Hutto to work on getting it ready to sell, I have gotten really sad and cried every time except for this past weekend. I don’t know why… maybe I’m finally getting better. I will miss that place so much, but I know we will find another place we love too. We just have to get out of Texas. Will I be happier in CO? I don’t know, but we have to try. I have wanted to live there my whole life... so I am cautiously optimistic right now.

Anyway, good things... Friday, I went to karaoke with my parents. None of their friends were there and there seemed to be some sort of issue with the karaoke machine because the song I was doing kept messing up and the beat was way off and you could barely hear it. So they just played a bunch of shitty country music and everyone was line dancing. I can't really join in on that and so I was just kind of sitting there, so luckily I took my car and I was able to just leave. I took the car because I wanted to go but I didn’t wanna stay all night. I needed to get up early on Saturday to go to Hutto. 

I have a lovely witch friend group back in Central Texas and we have been trying to get together when we can, since we are moving, and also my friends Jennifer and Steven, who are part of the group, are ALSO moving to CO (whaaaaaat??? They will be in Denver for a while so we plan to get together when we can!) It was lovely to see my witchy friends and to spend time with them.

We stayed over at the Hutto house on Saturday Allen did a great job spackling the million little holes in the walls.

I went outside in the back and saw that despite the cold, my hyacinths have returned!!

We also brought some more stuff that we didn't really have a place for when we moved our stuff to Coldspring. We came home on Sunday and I finished a cross stitch piece, which I will post in a separate post.

I am enjoying living in the house I grew up in again it so far overall. I do miss my friends, but I am really enjoying the quiet out here. There isn’t a ton of crazy traffic every time I want to go somewhere. There aren’t dogs barking all night, people shouting, or our neighbors' idiot son revving his motorcycle at all hours of the night. I haven’t yet hung out on the patio out here but I think it will be nice to do some cross stitching out there at some point. I think my plants are okay out there, I guess we’ll see how they hold up. I have unpacked enough things to make it really feel a bit more like home.  

The Witchy Stitcher Cryptid Stitch-Along: Ahool

We moved out to Coldspring this weekend.  My parents are so fucking amazing, I can't even tell you.  They were such a huge help in getting us loaded and moved, and partially unloaded.  I hate moving and do not want to do this again.  Well, I DO want to do it again because I want to move to CO, but ugghhh not looking forward to it.

We are in the house I grew up in, which is both very cozy and very weird.  Allen's office is in my old bedroom.  My office is in the laundry/computer room.  I am really looking forward to spending all the time with my parents and seeing my sister more often before we move 13 hours away to Colorado.  

Anyway, on with the cross stitch.  I finished this one last Thursday.  It's the last cross stitch I did in our house in Hutto, which makes me a little sad when I think about it, so I won't think about it.  This is my latest installment of The Witchy Stitcher's Cryptid Stitch-Along.  I must have bought this Stitch-Along two or three years ago.  I rarely keep up with them because I just may not be in the mood to stitch a specific thing when they come out.  I also have her Supernatural one that I will start on after I get through these.  I'm thinking I may do a few of them on one piece of Aida rather than do them all separately.  You're meant to do the entire Stitch-Along on one piece of Aida but... I don't like stitching the big frame because one stitch off and you're fucked and I cant' handle that.  LOL Anyway, here is the Ahool.  

The Ahool is "a flying cryptid, supposedly a giant bat, or by other accounts, a living pterosaur or flying primate.  Named for its distinctive call A-hool (other sources render it ahOOOooool), it is said to live in the deepest rainforests of Java. It is described as having a monkey/ape-like head with large dark eyes, large claws on its forearms (approximately the size of an infant), and a body covered in gray fur. Possibly the most intriguing and astounding feature is that it is said to have a wingspan of 3 m (10 ft). This is almost twice as long as the largest (known) bat in the world, the common flying fox."

Weekend in Coldspring

Happy Monday!  I have a short week this week since I will be going on vacation and then I have all of next week off!  I haven't decided if I'm going to take some embroidery to do with me on vacation or not... I may take at least one project.

  

Pimp Stitch

 I used to LOVE the Pimp Stitch group back in the day.  They had a blog and featured embroidery designers, and also provided free (and some for sale) patterns that were just SO CUTE!! 

 

I’m taking you on a stroll with me… I was looking for my Kawaii Fruits embroidery pattern, because I discovered that I needed a password to access it.  I reached out to the shop owner and she no longer had the pattern or the password.  But I went down a rabbit hole that led me to my very old email address and there it was! 

I downloaded it to my computer and named it with the password as well because you can’t access it at all without the password.  I’m so happy to have it back!! Now if I could only get the goddamned printer to work…

Anyway, I was going through some of my old embroidery patterns that I have saved on my laptop, and I found one for a Holy Cupcake… by Pimp Stitch!  So I was like “OH RIGHT! I remember them!” I got so many free cute patterns from them back in the day when I first started embroidery in 2009.  Well, they have a Flickr page where people used to post their pictures. 

I haven’t been able to find another community like the ones back then.  Feeling Stitchy and Pimp Stitch were two of my favorite places to find patterns and inspiration.  The blogs are no longer active, sadly, but the archives are there!

And now I’ll leave you while I go down a rabbit hole of my own. 

R.I.P., Pimp Stitch.

Oh My God, I'm Back Agaaaain....

AHA! I'm back to do some more sporadic posting! Lots has changed, again. But for the good! I got a MUCH MUCH better job than the one I had last time. Better job, better location (work from home), and MUCH better pay. I've been here for about a year and a half. I'm often quite busy, so I don't have a lot of time to blog. However, I have had this in the back of my mind and I have wanted to pick it back up forever, so I will try my best! I have such sights to show you...

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 place 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 (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 to bring me back like they said they would, and because I needed money, 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.