Just One July-Week 2 & TUSAL

The worse work gets, the more I stitch and, considering I surprised myself with this week's progress, I guess it's not hard to figure out what a HORRIBLE work week I had, even in just four days. I left off on Lilo and Stitch Otherwise here last week:

And I made it to here this week, passing the hundred hour mark for a total of 115.38 hrs:

I will admit one thing though, she sure is pretty! I think the best thing about this project is that every single row has something to look forward to, unlike most projects which have one or two (or five) sucky rows. But it's not all good...the final two pages of this row are gonna suck. Once I get back into that bloody curtain, it's confetti-dithering hell again and I'll slow down quite a bit. At least I have Stitch himself to look forward to in the next row and the biggest surprise of all in the final row (although it still freaks me out a bit and I can't figure out why it's there).

On the Ort jar front, how about my cast-off's get a little motivation courtesy of my second-favorite princess:

If only I could go live my dream...guess I need to figure out what my dream is first (or at least one remotely resembling something realistic). Asper's aren't known for making life goals, let alone reaching them so I might be better off dreaming about the lottery and moving to Disney World than trying to figure out a life path. Oh well, it's time to start preparing for my destined week of misery and stress. Yea me. Oh well, on a positive note, at least I'll get a ton of stitching done!

June TUSAL and other things

Is this a post for June or May? Confusing, but either way, here's this month's ORT pic:

I was feeling a bit Disco Mickey.

For some weird reason, I got the gumption to make my own needle minders to see how it would go. I ordered a small pack of magnets, got the glue, and proceeded to torture some duplicate Disney pins trying to get the pin back off. I really only succeeded in nubbing it, but I guess that's better than nothing and I just covered it up with extra glue anyway. I gave it plenty of time to dry, and voila! I've got new needle minders!

I have the feeling that I'll end up buying all kinds of stuff during the next Disney trip just for the purpose of making needle minders, and not just pins...I'm thinking magnets, small nick-knacks, maybe even little plushes or vinyls like tiny Tsum Tsums! The possibilities are endless and I can see myself never having to buy another needle minder again!

I also hit Etsy again (although not nearly as bad and nothing from Neni). I finally broke down and got the Hocus Pocus chart from Tilton Crafts:

I've never really been a fan of the way they chart their patterns due to their chosen method of dithering (don't get me started on that again, but a detailed description is HERE), but I've been watching some FlossTubers who are working on this and it seems to look OK, so I caved.

I also broke down and finally got the Captain America chart I've had my eye on for a while. I haven't really cared for the preview of this pattern from other sellers, but I found a new one (well, at least new to me), Diana70, and her's was exactly what I was looking for!


And last, but not least, the second I saw this pattern, I immediately new it would be a good one for me to have in my office at work. Granted, easier said that done when it comes to the message...forgiveness is almost a four-letter word in my book, but maybe seeing the message everyday will inspire me to at least try to forgive (or at least learn to fake it better).

TUSAL, stitching, and a bit of a brag

First up, as per usual, I'm late for this month's TUSAL post. Since it didn't manage to make it into the A to Z Challenge, how about a bit of my pirate-land?

The ORTS really grew this month because of Rainy Wedding's words. It's really hard not to waste a ton of variegated thread and waste I did.

Speaking of which, I finally got Rainy Wedding mounted. I went with the words at the bottom, although I part of me still thinks it might have worked better on top:

I'm pretty sure we'll go simple...black mat and black frame, but when will be a bigger question. I'd like to get it done before Jessica comes back from maternity leave in the next couple of weeks, but I'm just not sure.

On the stitching front, I didn't start back until Saturday and only stitched for about 20 minutes (more on that in a minute). Sunday was much better though, I managed a full day. I was going to work on Suteki, but I figured I'd better work on something I like if I wanted to get my stitching bug back, so I went with Night Wish instead. I left off on her here back in January (has it really been that long?):

and finished here tonight, FINALLY finishing the first page and a good chunk of the second:

I didn't realize that the light gray specks were stars until I was putting the finished page in the binder and I saw the original mock-up picture. Funny how you don't notice details sometimes, even as you are stitching them. I plan to continue on her for the rest of the week and then see where I feel like going next weekend. I'd like to get back into my rotation of projects, but I need to get my mojo back first and now I have yet another complication to distract me.

The reason why I barely got any work done on Saturday was because my Sister came over to discuss our future Disney plans and we managed to get our fall trip booked! I'M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!! It was pretty complicated because Am and her husband are going to fly down and he's only able to stay 4 days, but I'm driving and she and I are staying for a total of 8 days. Plus, since free dining is happening then, it's hard to book anything at that time of year.

We ended up having to book them in one resort, and me in another, but my long time wish to stay at the Beach Club Resort at Disney World is about to come true! They are in the Yacht Club, and after that 4th day, she will move to the Beach Club with me. This will be an amazing trip! I'm very curious to see if their Yacht Club experience will be better than mine was. It will also sway our individual resort counts...I won't have stayed anywhere she hasn't, and she will have stayed at two more than me...Boardwalk Inn and The Grand Floridian/Indian Burial Ground Resort (and it's not like I will EVER stay there anyway, too many bad ju-ju vibes).

We also already got our Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party tickets bought (since there is only one day of our trip where we all three can go), so I have to come up with a schedule around it and get our dining reservations booked ASAP, but that's a task for next week.

And now for the brag...when my Sister arrived, she had a gift with her:

I have wanted the Haunted Mansion Dooney since they came out, but the cost and the hard-to-get nature of them had made it impossible (at least for me). It's just so pretty! I can't stop looking at it and it smells like a new car! She also bought one for herself, so we have matching bags, but I'm totally cool with that. Thank goodness for the Shop Disney Parks App. She's been stalking it ever since we got back from Disney World in March, and she managed to get lucky one day. I have an AMAZING Sister!

I've also been binge watching The Avengers movies this weekend...I am determined to go to the movies this week and see Captain America: Civil War if it kills me. It will take a tremendous effort for me to go by myself, but I think that Cap is worth it (or at least I hope I do or I will never get out of the car). I guess it's pretty sad that the only side-effect of the loss of a 15-year friendship is the lack of a movie buddy. We Aspers are pretty cold-blooded creatures, that's for sure.

April TUSAL

In the vein of my A to Z Challenge post for yesterday, this month's ORT jar found its way to more Haunted Mansion stuff:

Thanks to the A to Z, I'm ending up with even more ORTs than usual. The loop method wastes a lot of thread!

Sunday Stitching and February TUSAL

Let's get this month's TUSAL over with first (and a day early, no less). For some reason, I was feeling a bit "ducky" this month:

Looks like a meerkat we all know and love is peeking around the corner!

I stuck to Maleficent like you guys suggested and, it took a ton of work, but I managed to finish the third row (finally). I left off here last week:

And here is the row finish at 388.07 hrs:

And here are all three rows together:

For all the hell that this stupid dithering is giving me, I do have to admit that it does look really good. I wish I could say the same for Suteki (but that's a post for another blog at another time). My goal is to finish the fourth row of Maleficent by the end of the year, but I might just get into the fifth if I keep up at this pace.

I debated on working on the wording for Rainy Wedding next week, but right now, at least until my Disney trip is over with, I think I'll put it off a while. I decided to complete the rotation and go back to #1: Snow White.

Just to help matters along, I got a needle minder just for her:

Since she's not the typical Snow White, I didn't want to get a Snow needle minder, so I went with the next obvious choice. I think I'm getting a bit addicted to these things! Let's just hope the plans of the week don't interfere too much with my stitching progress.

January TUSAL 2016

I almost forgot to post my ORT jar pic, so this will be a short post:

I just ordered a new Captain America needle minder and Cap has been on my mind lately, so I thought this would be a good background for this month's TUSAL post. Not a lot of ORTs yet, but it's still early!