oishinythings

[oishinythings]

Peter Morwood

I am so sorry to have to tell you all about this. None of you, I suspect, will ever have any idea how sorry.

I am in utter shock and terrible pain to have to inform everyone that our friend, my dear husband and creative partner of nearly forty years, Peter Morwood, passed away suddenly early this morning after a brief illness that as late as yesterday (when his doctor saw him) had seemed to be on the mend.

I'm not in any position to say much more about this situation now, as you'll understand my current mental state is not up to the task. (I keep expecting to wake up from a bad dream, but it shows no sign of breaking.) I will let people know more about this in coming days.

There will be a postmortem shortly to determine the exact cause of his death. I'll share what details of this are appropriate as they become clear.

Meanwhile in the short term I'm very much going to need assistance with the expenses that in the days that follow will inevitably surround what's happened. For those people who want to assist, please feel free to use the Ko-Fi account here, and simply tag the associated messages, etc, "P expenses". ETA: Please choose the Stripe payment option at Ko-Fi rather than PayPal, as PP seems to be having some kind of obscure difficulties at the moment. I have disconnected PayPal until this is resolved.

My love will wait for me, I know, however long it takes. He's never minded waiting. (the saddest smile) My job now is to make sure he's not forgotten while I go on.

Meanwhile, can I just say to all of of you: I thank you all ahead of time for all the support and fondness for Peter that I know so many of you will express. He'd blush over it, I know. (He always did.) Please forgive me for being unable to do much in the way of answering messages, just now, in the wake of having to get to grips with this sudden and awful change in my world.

But also let me say, so urgently: Hug your loved ones now, while you can. Eventually a day will come when, expected or not, your opportunities end.

Thanks, friends.

--DD

[oishinythings]

Fidget Pendants Are Back!

I've been making fewer of these because they're harder on my hands, but I've just listed 5 - apatite, carnelian, citrine, tiger's eye, and blue goldstone.

[oishinythings]

TFW you're a small Canadian business and the country 90% of your customers live in just made exporting to them way harder 🙃 so you have to change your tactics up a bit

Now at my Etsy shop

I sell stick-and-stitch embroidery patterns that are extremely easy to follow. They're taken from medieval and 16th century embroidery, or designed by me. They can mend patches in your jeans, decorate your clothes, or help you build a new costume. Then when you're done, just wash the pattern away!

This is the biggest discount sale I've done yet. It runs until April 1!

[oishinythings]

That one found a home pretty quickly, but there's still plenty of ocean blues to go around.

Or perhaps I can interest you in a galaxy?

Calling all merfolk!

Can I interest you in an ocean?

This hand-wrapped beauty is just listed and looking for a home.

[oishinythings]

Calling all merfolk!

Can I interest you in an ocean?

This hand-wrapped beauty is just listed and looking for a home.

[oishinythings]

Status report: In the "Adventures In Staying Housed" department...

Greetings to the Bluesky folks who've dropped by! Just to confirm what's going on:

We're hoping to sign the lease on our rented house early next week, but we have some rental arrears that we're very much hoping to be able to deal with in the short term. Some extra cash flow in the short term would be a really big help.

With that in mind, may I possibly point you at the following SF and fantasy ebook bundles at our ebook store? All are DRM-free and come with our lifetime replacement guarantee if you lose the files or your reading device, change platforms, or whatever. (With this caveat only: due to Brexit, we can no longer sell into the UK. Our profound apologies.) And once you buy a book from us, you own it. Period.

Our store's full inventory of the revised/edited Young Wizards young adult SF/fantasy novels, and the interstitial works that go with them, is here:

All the current works in the LGBTQ-centered Middle Kingdoms adult fantasy universe are here:

And if you're feeling expansive, our entire store inventory—36 ebooks at present—is here:

Finally: if you're all ebooked up at the moment, but you'd still like to be of assistance... after some public-demand style noodging we've finally installed a Ko-Fi. If you choose to go this route, please consider yourself thanked in advance for your thoughtfulness! We very much appreciate it.

Thanks, everybody! ❤ ...And we very much look forward to enlarging your TBR pile. :)

[oishinythings]

Last week of the sale! Still plenty of pendant to go around - get your Valentine's orders in now.

Betwixtmas 2024!

As usual, am kicking off the "bit of the year no-one knows what to do with" with a sale - 20% off everything.

Over 30 different hand-wrapped pendants ready to travel the world! Free international shipping with every order.

Go on, treat yourself to a little magic.

[oishinythings]

Betwixtmas 2024!

As usual, am kicking off the "bit of the year no-one knows what to do with" with a sale - 20% off everything.

Over 30 different hand-wrapped pendants ready to travel the world! Free international shipping with every order.

Go on, treat yourself to a little magic.

[oishinythings]

The ACTUAL Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Want a tidy little sewing kit? The world's easiest embroidery patterns? Help conquering an ancient art form? For half off? You have the rest of the 12 days of Christmas to check out my Etsy shop!

God I love Boxing Day.

[oishinythings]

Shop updates, December 12, 2024:

Need an easy last-minute gift? I have digital gift cards up on my website! I keep a backup of my whole Etsy inventory there.

Needle threaders are back in stock! They aren't indestructible (rip, I was trying to thread a standard sharp needle with perlé cotton) but they're a damn sight sturdier than the aluminum ones in cheap sewing kits

(speaking of sewing kits, ours come with these needle threaders already inside them! And they're perfectly complemented with a leather thimble or thread conditioning wax)

So sometimes I look at Victorian stencils and designs just kind of... happen.

[oishinythings]

[UK Dec 2024] Cheap veg time!

[Posted on 19th December]

The supermarkets are doing their annual discount vegetables for Christmas - MoneySavingExpert has a list up of everything but it's your basics like 2kg bags of potatoes, 1kg of carrots, 500g of sprouts, parsnips, single swedes.

Morrisons are 15p each, Lidl are down to 8p. - so 1 swede is 8p, 2 kilos of potatoes is 8p, etc

For everyone: Aldi, Asda, Lidl.

With loyalty card: Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco.

Obviously, how much stock depends on your local but Lidl was piled high this morning and I know my local Asda has had plenty in previous years.

[oishinythings]

Last call for Christmas!

If you're in the US and shopping for Xmas, my last call for Christmas orders is *this Thursday night*, December 12th, so I can wrap and take them to the post office Friday morning. Tracked shipping only (free on orders over £70, available as an upgrade on smaller orders).

I'm all stocked up - over 40 different hand-wrapped pendants, mostly labradorite, but a couple of apatite, lepidolite, and agate available too.

Find me at Oi, Shiny!

[oishinythings]

You might have heard about Citizen Science, but you might not know how to get started. I'd like to offer a few links to Zooniverse projects that you can help with! Every project starts with a tutorial to teach you what you need to know, and you can leave comments and ask for feedback on your classifications. It's a whole community!

** Note: Green Links go to Zooniverse pages. Blue Links go to related organizations websites.

Don't worry about making mistakes, either. Every data point gets reviewed by dozens or hundreds of volunteers just like you, so working together we can find the best answers.

The link above is for a new Astronomy project called "Eclipsing Binary Patrol". You can learn how to read data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and help confirm the discovery of binary star pairs!

If you would rather help with Animal science, here's a project to help Western Australia's Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions' (DBCA) "South Coast Threatened Fauna Recovery Project" protect rare animals and birds like the Gilbert's Potoroo and the Western Ground Parrot by reviewing trail cams and identifying the animals you see:

Another timely project that lets you help people very directly is the "Sudan Road Access" project. **Note: The project team designs things to try and avoid disturbing imagery, but this works by mapping dry riverbeds (wadis) where they cross roads to help teams anticipate where supply routes for humanitarian aid might become impassable. Do not participate if you feel this might be upsetting to you. I promise, there are always a bunch of volunteers to help finish these time sensitive projects!

If none of these projects are appealing, feel free to browse the Zooniverse Projects List. There are category links you can filter by such as Arts, Space, Biology, History, Climate, Medicine, Literature, Physics and more!

I've been participating in Zooniverse projects for more than a decade. It can be a fun way to help with some fascinating science. You can donate a little time or a lot, and it's very easy to jump into when you have some spare time. Each project partners with a variety of Universities from around the world and groups like NASA and the ESA. Dive right in and find a project that interests you!

[oishinythings]

It's not always labradorite!

Branched out with this last parcel of cabochons and I've just added 5 neon apatite pendants to my shop:

Something a bit different!

...OK, and then I added some labradorite too. But it is the run up to Christmas.

I'm all stocked up on little boxes, envelopes, and customs slips, roll on the Xmas orders!

Fine me at Oi, Shiny! on Etsy.

[oishinythings]

Sending this out into the world again - my current goal is 30 bundles. I know it's an ask, but I'm trusting the power of the internet and tiny turtles to get me out of a pickle.

(Thank you to everyone sharing, you're awesome!)

FYI: The wallpapers are landscape and were designed for desktop, but plenty crop down nicely to make phone lock screens:

Tiny Adventures For All!

Good morning Tumblr! Have you heard the word of the tiny turtle?

[ID: 2 small stone turtles, 1 green, 1 grey, on the wavy back of a wooden bench]

Everything’s an adventure when you’re only an inch and a half high, and these little guys have been out exploring the world. (And by world, I mean Hampshire.)

[ID: 2 photos. 1st: Small green stone turtle on patch of white ice, walking towards a dirt bank. 2nd: Small green stone turtle examining a pure white feather caught on a hedge.]

From the hard freeze in January to this month’s rainstorms, Turtle of Calm has seen it all!

From just $2 you can take home a Tiny Adventure wallpaper, ready to brighten up your desktop and lockscreen. Or grab a bundle and get a big discount. 

[oishinythings]

Breaking down the sewing kit

This required the most work of all the notions up on the shop, since I got and assembled all the pieces individually. I've got six of them to sell right now.

Included:

The tin: It's compact, roughly the size of a playing card, with a hinged lid that fits on snugly.

Seam ripper: Compact enough to fit into the tin, sharp, and nimble. (Pro tip: Keep the clear cap around to fit onto the butt end of the tool when you use it, and make life easier on your hands!)

Needles: 5 assorted sewing needles, sharps with different thicknesses and eye sizes.

Needle threader: I went on a quest to find decent ones, since the little tin ones in your average sewing kits break easily and drive me wild. The plastic flower is easy to grasp, and it makes threading your needle (especially when working with crewel wool or embroidery floss) SO much easier.

Thread: 5 metres/5.5 yds of glazed cotton quilting thread. Choice of white or black. I am SO sick of crappy sewing-kit thread, which is usually flimsy AND a nightmare to sew with, so I've spun up spools of my favourite handsewing thread instead. It's smooth and sturdy, and less likely to snarl or knot as you're working.

Pins and pincushion: The secret ingredient is a strong and tiny magnet, which sticks to the tin but can also be taken out. It keeps all 20 of these sharp glass-headed pins in line without breaking a sweat. Once I discovered magnetic pincushions, I never turned back. You just have to throw your pins at them to make them stick.

The sewing kit on Etsy

There are also three things I think are good accompaniments to the kit, but kept them separate to keep the kit's price down.

Thread wax: 100% beeswax thread conditioner. Running your sewing thread through the wax will make it much tamer and easier to deal with. It saves SO many headaches if you do a lot of sewing by hand.

Leather thimble: The handsewer's best friend. Comes in small adult and large adult sizes. I use these myself to keep handsewing from causing inflammation and nerve issues when I have a lot of embroidery to do. Leather needles allow sensitivity and freedom of movement I find hard to achieve with metal or plastic ones.

October 2024 special offer: If you buy kit, wax, and thimble all together, you get 20% off. That's a $20 CAD value, and a $16 CAD price.

[oishinythings]

Okay, payday doesn't come soon enough and it won't be enough as it is. Because there's just too damn many little things to restock much less the much bigger things.

But, it's spooky season. And I have a stack of mask prototypes. So it's time for a Pay What You Will Sale.

Here's how it works. You message me about a mask yoh see here with the number or letter. I tell you what the minimum price is, and I'll generally be quoting just my materials and quarter time at most. You tell me what you want to actually pay, and I send you an invoice for it. You pay, it ships. That simple.

So, the masks we have this time around!

Yes with detail shots for each wave so you can get a decent look.

And wave 2:

See something you like? MESSAGE ME, PLEASE.