Stitchy Adventures

Hello there May! I have been quietly stitching my way through a glorious sunshiny spring here in Ireland. April was wonderful. A blaze of sunlight on the river water and bright green leaves bursting into the blue skies. I don't like to be indoors too much in this weather, so I have mostly been working on hand stitching and knitting projects.

I recently tried some of Wild Olive's sweet embroidery patterns. Embroidery other than cross stitch is something fairly new to me, but I loved stitching The trees start whispering and these cupcakes. I turned my cupcakes into a needle book, much easier than a pincushion for mobile needle storage. I also finished my Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery burger as a cute scissor fob! No more lost scissors, yay! Burger is part of the Summer Sampler chart. I used Crafty Kitten opalescent Cashel linen in Tropical Seas.

Most of my springtime machine sewing time has been spent stitching up sock sacks (sweet little drawstring bags specially designed for two-at-a-time sock knitting. I have listed them in my etsy store along with a few other project bags. Hoping for lots more sunshine weather and outdoor crafting in the coming months :)

Wrapping Up February

February was awesome! Seriously, a wonderful month here.

Happy highlights:

~ Getting engaged!

~ Hanging out in Camden.

~ Cradle of Filth.

~ Paleo venison chilli.

~ Cookies and scream!

~ New heart tattoo.

~ Frosted pumpkin stitchery patterns.

~ Getting my sewjo back.

~ Winning at free motion quilting.

~ Hedgehog fibres sock yarn.

~ Finding and cleaning up my very own cat skull.

~ Fancy dinner out for Valentine's Day.

~ Finishing the Volume quilt.

~ Feeling hopeful about derma recovery.

Ready for March now :)

Happy Kitchen Adventures!

This week I have mostly been making gluten free comfort food. It has been ages since I had a burger in a bun. I'm honestly happy without one (a few great burger restaurants around here make their burgers gluten free and serve them in yummy salad bowls), but sometimes a proper burger bun and the whole works are  just perfect. Served with pineapple, bacon, mature cheddar, Jack Daniels BBQ sauce, jalapenos and the absolutely necessary sweet potato mash.

And the next day I made a pizza. Managed to make it look like actual pizza this time, not just bread with stuff on top :) I use a pre-mixed gluten free bread mix and bake it 1/3rd pack at a time to make my pizza bases.

I'm doing a draw-a-day project throughout February, along with my brother and his flatmate. We are 25% through today (eeek!) and I am keeping up so far :) Will photograph my drawings once I'm back from the UK. I hadn't really drawn in years so I'm pretty rusty. I mostly draw food, with smiley faces.

Off to London tomorrow for our Black Metal Valentine's Weekend! So very excited!!!

January

Hi there! It's been a while. I'm going to be brutal, random and contradictory right here, as I have a fair bit to catch up on.

Winter is always hard for me. This one has been the saddest I can remember. It is strange though, as right now I am dealing with my dermatillomania addiction better than ever. I quit completely on New Year's Eve and have only had a few minor slips since. No full on relapse. It is fucking amazing and I am amazed. So much so that my vocabulary has been shot to pieces :)

So... it has been a month and I have skin now, regular skin like other people! My face looks much the same to me but Dan assures me it is clearer. I have started wearing make-up most days to stop me from touching my face. But my legs are majorly improved! Hardly any scarring at all. So good that I am going to have a Blythe portrait tattoo on my calf just as soon as I can afford it.

Dan has appointed me 'Minister of Fun' in the household. My job is to scout for entertainment and suggest fun stuffs to do. So far I have scheduled plans for February and August. Both involve Cradle of Filth gigs. It has been too long.

I asked Dan to marry me. He said yes. Though we are still in negotiations regarding rings or other token. I feel very happy that we have each other. We'll be enjoying a fantastically fun trip to London next week for Cradle/Behemoth show, plus hopefully Camden food! Then a fancy meal out on Love Day. (I'm celebrating Love Day this year, for real.)

I'm stitching along with the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Once Upon a Time Sampler. There will be a different fairytale for each month, and January featured Snow White. I'm aiming to use each months team as a starting point for all my artwork/creative stuffs, and the above portrait of me is my best attempt at Snow White. I'm leaning more towards the Elizabeth Bathory / wicked queen character than Snow White herself. Themes of power, beauty, control. Very much part of my own life with dermatillomania.

I *think* I would like to try to take a self portrait for each fairytale all year. My original plan was a drawing/other artwork, but this might just work better. I love the challenge of portraying a story.

I do have fluff/dust in my hair. We moved the bedroom to the studio yesterday, and the new studio/former bedroom is looking pretty raw. Hope to get it sorted soon. New bedroom is amazing though!

Autumn Woodland

I am catching up with my Woodland Sampler this week. So excited to see the little falling oak leaves appear for the October block. The October block will also feature an owl!!!! This is possibly my favorite of the Woodland Sampler months, so I'll be working on it any moment I can until it is done :) There will also be a pair of hedgehogs frolicking in the maple leaves for September.

Off for my walk now, need to see the autumn colors for real.

WIP Wednesday

So far this week I am trying my best to be productive. My plan at the moment is to work at a bit of everything all at once. I'm currently knitting socks, cross stitching samplers and piecing a new quilt. This way I don't get stuck if I loose interest in any activity. Having a back-up plan means I am less likely to slip back into my skin picking. I had been pretty bad last week and am really really trying to improve on that front. So... more making of the things, yes!

This morning I *finally* finished a month of my Woodland Sampler! The July block is literally all there is so far, but I'm really hoping to get September and October stitched up before October ends. The previous sections will likely have to wait until their month rolls around next year. I'm enjoying living in the right season right now, and don't want to work on Summer until the season feels right.

I'm making a birthday quilt for myself. Bear Paw blocks in my current favorite colors with a low volume background. I have pieced nine so far with lots more in progress. I'd love to finish this quilt top by Halloween and then hand quilt it during the colder weather. I'll be making 29 bear paws, as I am 29 now. With one blank block for a 5 x 6 layout. I work on this mostly at night when it's too dark to cross stitch.

I have a pair of socks for Dan on my circular needles, and a pair for myself on my dpns. They generally get worked on in bed just before sleeping time. I hope to actually finish both pairs in the next week or so.

Progress!

Farmer's Wife Catch-up, and R'lyeh

As soon as I saw this canning jar block I absolutely had to make one for my Farmer's Wife quilt. I have officially left the book now, and intend to make any 6" block I fancy until I reach my goal of 63 blocks. Currently on 24, I think. I also stitched up this mini  Sparkle block using a Sarah Jane pirate ship print I bought in London. I'd like to have a go at a few paper pieced blocks for this quilt too, but feeling just a little intimidated by paper piecing at this point. I have a few patterns printed out I intend to practice with though, so hopefully there will be progress there soon.

Last night I taught myself to knit two socks at once on a circular needle. It's not perfect yet, but I'm still rather impressed. Waiting for longer needle to arrive and I'll have another go.

My brother came to visit yesterday and gifted me this rather fantastic painting of R'lyeh, complete with hand finished frame. I love it. I also really really appreciate the fact that it is framed as I am really really bad at finding frames for things myself.