#BloodThreadShears

[bloodthreadshears]

Going live at 3:30 p.m. EST

Gonna do some fiber spinning and maybe some more progress on the bodice. Link is here. 

See you then! 

[pinupac87]

Psst...I stream...I swear it’s fun.

Since twitter was in the mist of a dumpster fire, I decided to make a side blog for my streaming. I’ll be doing go lives and random shit that doesn’t fit here. 

@bloodthreadshears <----- That me. 

[creations-by-chaosfay]

I begin this commission tomorrow, but this is all I'm sharing until it's done. The blocks will be made with the green, pink/purple, and blue fabrics in the hearts and thr background will be the swirls as will the border.

This will be a very busy quilt, but a good chunk of it will be covered. Oh, and my client is @bloodthreadshears a longtime friend of mine and repeat client. Thank you!!! This is gonna be soooo much fun!

The last time I used this block was in 2018, and it was for this quilt:

Quilting will be done on my machine and it will be heavy quilting. This needs to lay very flat with as few bumps as possible. Machine quilting works great for that, and more stitching means less volume. It will also be stiffer, which is actually ideal for the purpose the quilt will be serving.

Next pics will be taken and shared after the quilt has been washed, so probably on 10 days.

As of this post, there are four slots left in my commissions!

[anotherdayforchaosfay]

Hats by @bloodthreadshears and I looooove them!!!

No more cold head! I have the sides of my head shaved, and it gets real cold reap quick. Not anymore!!!

I love them!

Thank you!!!

[bloodthreadshears]

Now Live!

I’m doing my thing over on my twitch channel, so if you got presents or stuff you need to do, come over and hang out!

[bloodthreadshears]

I’m doing some co-working and sewing prep. If you need some body doubling while you work, come on by and enjoy the chill vibes. 

[bloodthreadshears]

Home Adventures: The Heart Chair

You know how some projects seem easy at first but turn out to be more difficult the longer you work on them? That's this project.

In short, this chair that my family call the Heart Chair has been in my family for decades. From Mama Shears tells me, she's not sure if Grandma Shears (paternal grandmother) got it from a yard sale or if Papa Shears built it. So those posts of me saying dad built it may be inaccurate, but it's hard to tell.

The one thing I do know is we use it for everything, stool, step ladder, I've used it while I would spin yarn, and many many other things. And it has seen better days.

For one, the stain on the chair had worn away from years of my family using it. The wood went grey on the seat from exposure. It was rickety from the nails coming loose, causing us to use a mallet to get it back into place. It would rock anytime you sat on it or used it as a step ladder. Last year the top where the heart shaped hole is broke off (I think the wood just said NOPE) and had to be hastily glued back. The bottoms of the chair were badly chewed up.

Needless to say, it needed some work.

After working on the desk I found on the side of the road, mom asked if I could do something about restoring/revamping the Heart Chair. I decided to give it a go, but not before finishing a table I salvaged to practice on for staining (That's another post for another time).

Initially, I was going to sand it down all together and stain it. Call it a day. However, since it was wobbly as hell, I made the decision to take it apart. You can imagine how shocked my parents were on that.

I had to carefully take out the nails, sand down the glue, and VERY carefully sand down the chair to the bare wood. After I did that, I had planned on using a darker stain than what it was originally. Mom asked if I could just keep it the same, I wanted it to match our furniture.

I did do a couple of passes of pre-stain conditioner after learning my lesson with the table to avoid splotches. Then, I did a test pass with Minwax's poly stain in Ebony. I thought it was nice, Mama Shears did not. Welp.

So I sanded it down again and this time I remembered to plug in any holes from years of use with a combo of wood glue, sawdust, and bamboo skewers so things would be secure. I used wood filler to fill in any cracks.

Then I did a pass in Minwax's Pecan color stain. There was still some evidence of the ebony in the cracks, but I just went "This is fine." I then saw splotches from the wood filler. Dammit.

I did my best to sand that out. I had this issue when I did the table. So after a couple of passes, I knew it was just gonna have to stay. Note to self: don't use that wood filler anymore.

So now, everything is out in the sun drying. The back is on it's first pass, the smaller pieces on their second. The pecan stain is taking very well. For the feet, I'll put in some felt protection to preserve the chair.

Photos to come when I can.

[bloodthreadshears]

Home Adventures: It’s SO PRETTY

Short post but THE BATHROOM IS DONE!!!

It’s PRETTY! And ACCESSIBLE!!!! It’s got pretty grab bars with grippy pads on them!! It’s LORGE!!!

I cannot understate how sweet this bathroom is. It’s got a chair height toilet. Humidity sensor exhaust fan. Two shower heads-one for when you want to stand, the other for sitting. 

IT’S. SO. PRETTY!!!!

[bloodthreadshears]

House Adventures: The Contact Paper Saga

So I’ve made it known that I absolutely haaaate contact paper. More on the removal of it. Like, why. Dear gods, why.

A heads up: I will be swearing and this will be a rant. Long post incoming!

For those who don’t know what contact paper is, it’s kinda like wallpaper with very strong adhesive on it. It’s used as shelf liners (and occasionally wallpaper) as a quick way to line your cabinets. I get the why. It’s fast, cheap, and can come in an assortment of colors and patterns. And it can be easy to clean. 

But what happens when said paper is to be removed?

(Kagome from Inuyasha twitching her eye and hand in annoyance)

That is where my annoyance comes in. Unless you have a hair dryer to make things easier on you, you have to scrap that bastard out and it can take a while. And if it’s clear??? HAHAHAHAHA good luck. 

I had a busted shoulder (Sore as hell) after removing the clear contact paper from one shelf for over an hour. Took a spackle knife to it to dig it out. Granted, I managed to have some music on to keep focused and not want to say eff this halfway through. But holy shit. 

Ya know, I once thought of using contact paper as a improvised wallpaper to make the laundry room look nice. But now? No. Absolutely not. What the absolute hell was I thinking. 

But WHY was I removing it, when I could have just ignored it and went about my day? 

Food particles under the damn thing. It was driving me to distraction and annoying the hell out of me. My goal was to sterilize and disinfect the kitchen cabinets to my standards before lining the rest of the shelves. 

Since last Wednesday (at the time of writing this, I have rested up and recovered so I don’t do anything to my shoulder that would cause permanent damage. That is how bad and sore it was, neverminded the stress I was going through outside of that. Like, holy balls. 

I’m fully aware all the work I’m putting in will be done away once Mama Shears and I can afford to fully renovate the kitchen (Then I’ll be learning to make extra shelves and line those SOBs) but I want it to look pretty in the meantime. So that contact paper has to go! 

***

I’ll be talking more about my adventures in the new home here and on my ko-fi (On there I’ll post photos of my progress to paid supporters), so do expect to hear more when I have the spoons to do so. 

*Grabs spackle knife* I’m off to remove more of that stuff. 

[bloodthreadshears]

Twitter is down and I’m craving cookies.

Just what the title said. Went to go on bird app and poof! Changed my password to be safe and everything. Turns out there’s a bug. 

Outside of that, I’m just chilling and enjoying the fact my laptop has 16 gigs of memory now (upgraded it today) and it’s working so much better. It’s nice to see OBS, Chrome, Spotify, and whatever thing I’m working on not overload my memory. I think the next thing to help it live longer will be getting a terabyte of storage to accommodate for all the stuff I do. Moar space will always be welcome.  

[bloodthreadshears]

Doing all the things.

So this has been a bit of a ghost town. Needless to say, I’ve been busy with the move and trying to find a steady job. But I wanted  a place to chronicle my progress with helping Mama Shears get our new home in order. I do little burbs/rants/raves over on twitter, but I figure I could do a more detailed thing here.

I do have ko-fi, but some things I’d rather not have behind a paywall. And I figure tumblr would be a great place to just be my regular cave troll self and shout into the void about stuff I’m passionate about that I can’t normally do on my other blogs.

So, without much of a transition to go for, welcome to the not so regular updates on Home Adventures. Don’t know when or how often I’ll update, but hoo boy when I can it is gonna be fun. 

There will be cussing, some injury talk, dramatics, DIY, and absolutely no HGTV nightmare shit here. (If that is your thing, this is no slight at you. It’s just not my thing.)

[bloodthreadshears]

I’m live with some knitting and celebrating the return of my fixed up laptop! Grab a mug and come on in.

[bloodthreadshears]

Going live on twitch at 1:30 p.m. today

Getting more knitting done and celebrating the return of my fixed up laptop, Betsy Henderson! 

[bloodthreadshears]

Live with some knitting and project planning, laptop willing. Grab a mug, cozy up, enjoy crafty vibes. 

[creations-by-chaosfay]

My commission for @bloodthreadshears

It's a 20.5x20.5 inch mini quilt made using foundation paper piecing, machine quilting, cotton, and variegated pastel thread. I absolutely love it. The hearts looks like gems!

[pinupac87]

Autistic Organizations You can Support Instead of That Other Organization...Because Eff Them.

Okie dokie! So since this month is Autism Acceptance Month, I am sharing some resources for folks to use and organizations to support instead of Autism $peaks. Because eff them. This is by no means an exhaustive list (I do not have the spoons for that, nor am I responsible for doing that leg work for ableds for free), but it's a darn good start. 

NOTE: I will be as informative as possible, and if I can’t describe very well, I’ll link the about pages and let their words speak. I also inject some humor and wrote this while I was hungry. And had no caffeine. You’ve been warned. 

First off is Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN for short). They are founded by autistics and have Autistic members on their board. They provide resources such as information, articles, and are responsible for the consultation in the creation of Julia, the first Autistic Muppet on Sesame Street (until the network decided to screw them over for A$ once she was created). They oppose eugenic programs, "curing" rhetoric, and are very outspoken in terms of supporting autistic folks.

ASAN's Links and Socials: https://autisticadvocacy.org/ Their twitter: @autisticadvocacy (Same with Tumblr and Facebook)

Next is Autistic Women's and Non-binary Network (AWN). Here's who they are, in their own words: https://awnnetwork.org/about/

Women, Non-binary, trans (both femme and masculine of all genders), Two Spirit People, and other marginalized genders are under diagnosed, if at all when it comes to autism and the official diagnosis, ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). They provide resources on education, dispel stereotypes and myths, and personal view points from Autistic folks. And they have grown and learned as our knowledge of gender is expanding. Which is a great thing! Organizations that are willing to grown and learn is a sign they are doing something right.

AWN's Links and Socials:  https://awnnetwork.org/ Their Twitter: @ awnnetwork_ Tumblr:  @awn-network (I think it's the same on other sites, too.)

Next up is Autism and Race and their fund, The Autistic People of Color Fund. This came on my radar (I didn't discover this, but I saw it being shared on Autistic Twitter) last year when many of the BLM protests were (and still) going on. In their own words: https://autismandrace.com/autistic-people-of-color-fund/ 

They are a vital organization. I cannot say this enough. Even in the Autistic community, our Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous Autistics are underdiagnosed and more likely to be overlooked. And the systems in place to help them grow are either not there, or too expensive. They offer micro grants to help out. And this vital. So yeah, I’m very passionate about seeing more folks donate to this organization. 

Autistic POC’s Website:  https://autismandrace.com/ The Fund: https://autismandrace.com/autistic-people-of-color-fund/ Twitter: @     AutisticPOC

As for what you can do in the mean time, you can unlearn a lot of ableist words and look up the history of them. And learn that ableism and racism are connected. 

AuTeach on TikTok is a great and funny resource for education. And memes. So many memes. She’s a PHD candidate who’s Autistic. And she’s got an Autistic kid who’s adorable. 

@annieelainey (She/They) is an amazing vlogger, writer, and advocate. She’s on youtube, twitter, IG, and here on tumblr (I think she is more active on twitter and IG these days). 

There are hashtags on Twitter where ableds can ask questions to the community. #AskingAutistics is used. Just remember that we don’t have to answer if we don’t want to. 

For Autistic BIMPOC there’s #AutisticWhileBlack #AutisicWhileBrown. It’s not exhaustive, but remember that the Autistic community is not a monolith, and racism is very prevalent and a maaaajor issue in the community. The community excludes Autistics of color a lot. If you are a Black, Brown, Asian, Indigenous, and/or Mixed, it is a frustrating and exhausting thing to deal with both ableism and racism from a community that is supposed to be supportive. 

This is just a starting point of where you can find good organizations to support. I would also like to say that these three are the ones I’m doing fundraising for. I am trying to raise $150 for each foundation this month. Like I said, I’m passionate about this because I’m Autistic. And I want to give back to my community. So if you want to donate, and have the means, you can here. And I’m streaming on twitch while I do so. 

So, yeah. Go support Autistics by educating yourself and eat cookies. Or donuts. Or tacos. Or ramen.

Now I’m hungry. 

Bye.