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My notebook for work...

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Got the brown felt mask I’d made, but seldom use, and fixed it up: Put the elastic under the chin, so it was snug there. Replaced the elastic ear loops again. Then, made a mouth outline with white yarn and my felting needle. Felted some white felt teeth onto the outline. Then backstitched glow-in-the-dark floss outline to secure the teeth down… But trying on the mask again, the mouth feels low and crooked. Maybe next time, or something?

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My mom’s latest game of choice, though her preferred rules are on their 3rd+ set of scratch paper. Thought this would be a more durable addition to her deck box/baggie. (Also, wanted to make suit icons at a max of 2x2, but am rethinking my Clubs. Perhaps just a boxed/gridded in Spade will read as Clovers more satisfyingly.) Edit: I gotta rethink these lowercase As also; Maybe I’ll try some upsidedown lowercase e’s instead...

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Cut up some pants, using the scraps to practice on... I’m still not understanding something. I ought to practice my satin stitch more. Also, should use less strands when outlining; Ought to try 2, no more 4. Watercolor pencil seems less stainy than regular pencil; Will have to try it on white aida next time.

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Dumb Earlier Thoughts: Maybe I’ll have enough time to make this thing before Christmas. Current Thoughts: Well, it’s outlined and that’s probably all the time I have for it, assuming I can sew it into a little satchel tomorrow after work... Already bought backup beer, but think I have enough time to do some chocolate dipped ritz peanut butter cracker thingies I saw online somewhere...

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Despite telling her, year after year, that I don’t Christmas, a friend gives me an annual HolidayTupperware of cookies and I have nothing in return for her.

Also, it usually includes a pecan+rolo+pretzel thing that I’m not supposed to eat because of allergy sensitivity, but I still eat it because it’s delicious and I’ll pair holiday depression against anaphylaxis everytime! So, I made her an unthoughtful trinket to exchange should I receive cookies this year; A Thank You, but also, Watch Your Back. edit: I wonder, should I have spaced it different? I’ll burn... your shit... down. I’m not sure I care for “shit down” on its own line now.

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Completed my cross stitch... was hoping it’d distract me from getting zero jobs despite many applications. Well, the pencil still shows through in the light areas. Yellow outside fill is half stitch 4 strand, and white inner is 4 strand full stitch, and I can still see the lines. - I know I should just get the washable markers, but I think I’ll try a light blue sharpened watercolor pencil out first. Finishing the edges before working seems to hold up, though I think I should blanket stitch maybe 3 strands? I still have no idea what to do with the corners, though; Mine always look shaggy. Working diagonals to prevent diagonal skewing worked out, but I feel like the result is bulky and used a lot of floss. On the face only, I experimented doing the diagonals to fill, but doing the full stitch row by row (or column) to see if the previous would stop the skewing; Works so far. Good to know! In sum, not bad for scrap fabric.

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Well, if it’s not blood it’s usually red wine. Having to take a break for the night as it seems a loose thread picked up some staining mystery fluid, and I have to try to extract my idiocy with a damp cotton swap (lower right corner). Oh, and apparently I started the piece with the only shade of brown I had one bobbin of. I’ve matched it as best as I could with another brown, but while the value is the same, it lacks a slight red hue. Whoops.

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Revisited a pattern I’d never completed, and had even thrown away the previous attempt of. This time: Used a scrap fabric; Mathed and counted that at 14pt per inch, I’d need like ~4″ x ~6″ I drew a grid with mechanical pencil, since I’m going to cover it all with stitches anyway. Finished the edges before finishing the piece, so the fraying shouldn’t happen, and I shouldn’t have to try finishing it at the end.

Also!

First time I worked without a hoop; However as I take a break for the day, I will be starching and ironing the back so that it’s not so floppy as I work.

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So, @hexermeister gave me a Target $1 Witch Stitch Activity kit, and I tried it out during work to keep my hands busy, but mind working... The instructions were literally “With a permanent marker (not included) trace this picture, and fill it in. You did it! (Example stitches on back.)” So, I tried it... but the biggest hassle was that I had to supplement my own purple background thread; I maybe could’ve made it if I did single-strand half stitched it, but my minimum is usually 2-strand. (I soaked it in rubbing alcohol once finished to eat the marker that was still showing. It’s alright, but...)

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Inktober 5 Build

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Inktober 4 Freeze (I redid this in b&w and really liked it, but didn’t save it as a dimension divisible by 4... and lost it.) (... but I ran it through a corrupted image thingy, screencapped its attempt to fix it, skewed the image back to upright and... It’s at least better than my flirtation with color, IMHO.)

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Inktober : 3 Bait

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Inktober : 2 Mindless

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Inktober : 1 Ring

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Guess who has been consistently broke, but has a boyfriend, @hexermeister, who has a birthday coming up? Spoilers to him, but I wanted to try a process out on something I thought he’d like. Tracing papered his favorite line from a comic. Lightboard traced that onto fabric with pencil. Tried to seal fabric back with white puff paint to eiminate my obvious thread carrying. (Decided to just use black backing since it was only black floss.) 2-strand split stitched the center image. Single strand *“split” stitched the lettering. (*erratic backstitched) Folded edges under, cheated and held them in place with a glue stick. Punched ACCIDENTALLY asymmetric grommets in black felt. Looped a piece of striped baker’s twine through (so he can customize the length to his liking, and tuck away the knot). Poorly running stitched the pieces together with single strand white thread. Happy Birthday! Now to think of something you actually want... unless you would like to receive a creepy box of corn husk voodoo poppets; I can afford corn husk voodoo poppets.

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Internet was out this morning, so... Knocked out a visual “Evil-Robot-Alien” motif. My mock-3/4 stitches are seeming to work out, but 4 strand was too bulky at this size. But my procedure is set; Do the main stitch, do half the loop and pull taut: Finish loop. (It bows less and makes a triangle if/when done right.) I should learn to keep my blackwork way down to the 1-2 strand range. The 4 strand eyes on the alien look too bulky, and and outline satisfies me for the most part; I’m mostly surprised that the 1-strand black cross-stitches in the demon eyes look clear when surrounded with the 4-strand yellow on top of the 4-strand red too. My big experiment here was using cling film and an iron to try to lock the stitches down on the back. I’ll be carrying this dude in my pocket in the meantime to see how durable it is; So far it seems like less of a lint-magnet when compared to rubber cement, doesn’t bleed through the front like hot glue, and didn’t require all the effort of actual iron-on fusible mesh.