An Apology

My husband and I play Super Smash Bros. together a lot. We started playing with Brawl on the Wii, then the one for the WiiU/3DS on the ship, and now Ultimate. All that playing, and I’m still not great at the game. At least with the newest installment, I’m doing more than mashing Down+B with Pikachu. I’ve been branching out with characters along with exploring combos. I have even legitimately won a few matches!

However, there is something about this game that really gets a rise out of me, and even though I lose a lot, I get so riled every time it happens. I am not good at a lot of games, but losing at this one really gets me for whatever reason. But I don’t want to shout insults at my husband, and I’ve been banned from yelling insults at myself. As a result, I have started coming up with insults for the characters we’re playing, and often it’s loud and vulgar. We haven’t been playing much because of the baby, but we recently set up a TV and dock in the basement, so we might start playing more.

This piece speaks for itself, and will likely go up by the TV as a reminder to both of us, I think.

It ended up being a bit bigger than I thought it would be, but that’s likely because I had 14 count available instead of the 18 count I originally intended. It was fun to stitch up, and I didn’t let my husband see the full message until it was done. He laughed, and I think he likes it.

Dice Bag

It feels like forever since I actually finished a project. I haven’t felt too much like crafting over the last year or so…

…but then inspiration hit, and I spent the last week making a new bag:

It’s modeled after a real d20; I had one handy when I was sewing all the pieces together. I wanted the 20 on top toward me always because I’m a winner all day long lol.

Originally, I was just going to do a loop and button closure, but a friend of mine was like “a zipper closure would be cool” in an offhand way. I was like challenge accepted. This is the first zip I’ve ever installed, and man, was it a major pain in the ass. It would seem that zippers don’t like being sewn around a 60° angle. I ripped that thing out like 4 times. But I’m pleased with the result.

The strap is just paracord that I crocheted a little bit to give it a more textured look.

I also made a video about making this bag, and you can check it out over on tiktok:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeccrCLQ/

EDIT: The pattern was requested A LOT. It’s just a bunch of triangles, but you can find the PDF here.

Life and Loss

I love watching the seasons change. Sometimes (like a month into it…) I’m kind of done with a long winter, but for the most part, each season has its own charm. When I lived in Florida and on the ships, there were only two seasons: cooler in the morning but warm in the afternoon, and unbearably hot which coincided with hurricane season. Now that I’m a little more North, I get the more stereotypical ones again.

So I had the idea for this piece and started with a tree I had designed before. I started with it bare, and worked the different trees until I had a full tree for the summer.

The fabric was hand-dyed by MadXStitcher, back when they were hand-dyeing.

And it’s not perfect, but…I couldn’t resist | || || |_

Wearing Stitches

The time at home has given me some time to work on some other projects now that daycare has started up again. I’ve started baking bread again (just like everyone else lol) for a start. Got a sourdough starter and everything.

But I got a wild hair one day while I was in Joann’s. There was a sale on dress patterns, and I decided to go for it with a pattern that literally said “easy-to-sew” on the envelope. I inherited a sewing machine from my mother-in-law, and I dragged it out to make masks at the beginning of the lockdown, but decided to branch out a bit. I got some fabric, watched a few YouTube videos, and got to work.

Now, some of the seams are a bit wonky, and my measurements were a little off at first, but I think my very first dress turned out pretty well!

It even has pockets!! And a headband!

I loved the fabric so much that I bought another yard and made a tiny one! (Though it still might be a bit big for the baby.)

So far, I’ve worn it out in public twice! And then it got a bit cold for dresses. I have another dress cut out and ready to be sewn, and another pattern I’m looking at. It’s nice to be able to make something like your own clothes.

Also, shout out to oVertone for my temporarily pink hair!

Fake Doctors, Real Fanart

So, one of the things I’ve been doing throughout the lockdown is rewatching all my favorite shows, and a couple of those shows have some rewatch podcasts by the stars of the shows. So, I’ve been watching along with Office Ladies and Fake Doctors, Real Friends. It kind of keeps me from blowing through a series like I usually do, which is somewhat of a challenge. Now, The Office is a show I love and have been watching on my own since I first got a copy on the ship. Scrubs, on the other hand, was something Frank and I started watching together in high school and throughout college.

Anyway, all this to say, today I caught up with both podcasts, and am now up to date, and I was inspired to make a little fanart for Fake Doctors, Real Friends during the last couple of episodes. This piece is based on a running joke in the podcast.

Fully stitched from stash, DMC and some leftover 18 count, and finished in a couple hours. I have stitched this piece to procrastinate on another piece I’m working on, or the laundry, or my actual work I’m being paid for… But at least I’m getting my stitching mojo back.

Full Stitching Alchemist

During the shut down, I, along with millions of others, had nothing to do other than find new shows to watch. Well, Frank had me watch an episode of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood ages ago, and while I liked it, I wasn’t feeling it at the moment. But a couple months ago, I decided that it was time. So I started it again, to his delight…and the delight on one of my Discord servers as I live messaged the “chatter” channel on an Animal Crossing server lol.

I devoured the FMA:B series on Netflix. I had to take two breaks. I don’t think I need to tell you when. If you know….you know.

So when I finished the series, having avoided ALL SPOILERS (!!), I devoured some fan art and other media. I decided to make some of my own!

Quick and easy couple of pieces to get me back into it. Stitched from stash, as well! I really liked working on these, and I really loved the series. Full recommend!

Quarantine, Mental Health, and PPE

2020 has been…a year. With the quarantine and a new baby, I didn’t do…anything, really for months. I’ve already been kind of neglecting my hobbies when I got pregnant, and it just got worse with a newborn. 3D printing was relatively easy to keep up with, because once the machine was tuned and the model made, you just leave it to do its thing.

Then, you know, the ‘rona hit, and suddenly, I was home all the time with the baby, and worried about my husband, who works in an essential field now. So I didn’t do anything for myself. I barely could get my WFH work done, and just went through each day as it came. I felt pretty useless. The 3D print groups i belonged to exploded with PPE prints, and I so wanted to be a part of that, but how to know what hospitals would accept? I didn’t want to spend a bunch of time and money on things people couldn’t even use, so I waited. In the meantime, I gathered some fabric from other projects, and made masks for Frank and me. Elastic was nowhere to be found, so my mask is held on by hairties on my ears, and Frank’s uses an elastic hairband cut in half. The aren’t the prettiest, but they work, and have a pocket for a filter.

Then in a local group, someone from the university where I work now was putting together a team of local makers, and I leapt at the opportunity. Finally! I am useful! They provided the files and filament, and I think I ended up printing the frames of roughly 75 masks by the time we stopped production.

Throughout this time, Animal Crossing:New Horizons took up quite a bit of my time. I’ve poured quite a bit of time into the game, and it reminds me of when I played New Leaf on the ship. The other day, I printed a little Roald. I’d like to print all our faves. I also made one of my houses into a full on theatre, which I can post a video of or a Dream Code if anyone is interested lol.

Personally, I am working on transitioning back to work. Even though we’re back with daycare, and I’m working from home most of the time, I’m still just…blahhhhh. My stitching bug is slowly peeking out, and I’ve finished a couple new small pieces. So I hope to be posting those soon. And my best friend just commissioned a piece, so I need to get on that. I’m also printing some more stuff like jewelry or things for my D&D group. In order to not fill my whole feed with 3D Printing for the next 6 months, I’ll be posting some completed projects on its own page until I get caught up with what I’ve done so far.

So: all this to say, I’m back! I hope!

Another hobby!

Okay, so Chrismakkah 2018, Frank got my a 3D printer. I was glued to it…and then the pregnancy took over. Moving the office to the basement made me take it apart and put it back together (minimally…it’s a small printer), and now I’m back up and at ’em.

The first few things I printed were at the library. Especially if you live in a city, I would recommend seeing if a local library or school has one to tinker around with if you’re interested. I played with the library one a couple of times before I realized I wanted one at home that I could use whenever I wanted!

So. Whats the first thing I print? Pokemon of course!

This little growlithe was my first ever print, and it was done at the library. Looking back, I can see the mistakes and fine tuning I would have done. Still though, It has a place on honor on my work desk.

So if a growlithe was my first print ever, what was my first at-home print? Another pokemon! Or at least part of one!

A little cubone keychain!

I’m working on some upgrades for the printer and some other projects, so stay tuned for those!!

Natural doesn’t mean safe!

Okay, so this one might need explanation. Several months ago, a woman came to the university to talk with the theatre students about workplace safety. I was the tech for this presentation, so obviously I listened to it. She talked about theatres and the various safety violations she has come across. At one point, she got on the topic of “all-natural” products, like cleaners and essential oils. She spoke about how all of nature is in an arms race to survive and noted all the natural things in products that are caustic, poisonous, or otherwise harmful.

Then she ended this section with the following quote and I just knew I had to stitch it.

(And honestly, it kinda felt like this when I was having my baby lol)

First stitch of 2020!

All Those Chickens!

Remember back when I stitched Vine references? Did you think I was finished? lol

I have one more, and it might be my favorite one of all, to be honest. It’s got everything: vine reference, Legend of Zelda/Final Fantasy mashup, hand dyed aida…

I’m pretty proud of this one. You’d think after the Cucco Avalanche piece, I’d be done stitching bird sprites for a while. You’d be right.

But look at all those chocobos chickens!

If you’d like to stitch one of your own, the pattern is now available in my etsy shop!