#heart stitch markers

[gay-ppl-real]

Did y'all know I have a pair of absolutely ancient jeans that I use as an embroidery canvas.

No, you didn't, because turns out I've apparently never shared my Layton or Encanto patches on here I guess??

Well, I made a Welcome Home patch on them!! My buddy was kind enough to help me take some pics wearing it while I was in town today.

What symbols for which characters under the hood :)

Wally: apple, eye, his lil face! Barnaby: his pawprint and his hat Julie: pink and purple flowers Frank: their tie, butterflies (plus hearts) Eddie: a multicoloured letter (plus hearts) Howdy: a caterpillar Poppy: the little wings she draws next to her signature, and a cupcake Sally: Stars!

Having more things dedicated to a specific character doesn't have any significance, it just means I had more ideas for them or they fit nicest to fill in a space haha

[aku-crochet]

Started off this month making this super cute heart shaped holder! A really cute place to store my stitch markers in💕💕

🍄 Pattern Credit - gratiaproject_crochet on Instagram / GratiaProject on YouTube

[homesweetgoodneighbor]

It's Spooky Month; therefore, it's officially time for:

AUNTIE KAMI'S THE DO'S AND DON'T'S FOR FIBER ARTISTS AND THOSE WHO LOVE THEM DURING THIS MOST AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH TIME OF THE YEAR:

PART ONE, For Fiber Artists:

(Most of these will have been said before, but they bear repeating because a year is enough time for people to forget why their beloved fiber artist has now lost their damn senses once again.)

DON'T Work Through Pain: If you're starting to hurt, STOP. Every single one of us exist in an art that is a repetitive motion injury in the works. If you start to feel discomfort, STOP. I don't care if you're in the middle of the row, that's why the gods of fiber created stitch markers! Repetitive motion injury will take your art from you. Don't let it.

DO Stretches For Your Hands And Wrists: As I said above, we are nothing but walking repetitive stress injuries. There are lots of resources out there on how to stretch your hands and wrists. DO THEM EVERY HOUR. DO NOT SKIMP ON THEM. IF YOU TRY TO WRIGGLE OUT OF IT, I'LL BLESS YOUR HEART WITHIN AN INCH OF YOUR LIFE. (Southern people understand this curse.)

DON'T Ignore Your Bladder: Do you really want to explain to your doctor that your URI might be because you wanted to see how many rows you could finish before your bladder bursts? Look, yarn/thread/etc. chicken is one thing, but bladder chicken is just not acceptable.

DO HYDRATE: I don't care how you do it. Just do it! Look at it as turning your bladder into an internal alarm clock so you'll take breaks. (see above)

DON'T Assume Your Non-Fiber Oriented Loved Ones Are Aware Of Anything You're Doing: All they see is you are Mr. Hyde now. You are the Dark Side. You are the Thing That Snarls And Sometimes Cries. If they are hiding under the furniture, they are just giving you some space. They still love you...they just want to be out of the blast radius.

DO Feel Free To Maim And/Or Hunt Anyone For Sport Who Calls Your Art "Grandma Craft": Grandmas (and Grandpas) created fucking art and deserve fucking vindication. I suggest the use of your art as new and adventurous ways in Social Correction. Have fun!

.

.

--------------------- Tune in next time for Part Two: What Should Our Loved Ones Do Besides Hide! Same Bat Time! Same Bat Channel!

[kisskiss-slashslash]

Can I request jason voorhees, bubba sawyer, Thomas hewitt, and Vincent sinclair and how they would react to finding a message on the inside of their mask that says "rember, I♡U ~ Y/N" from their S/O other, and maybe another angst version where the find it after the reader died but for now just fluff please?

Yes you can <3 and I did both for all of them. First fluffy, then angsty

So yeah content warnings: Death

Masked Slashers when they discover that their s/o wrote a message on the back of their mask

Jason Voorhees

If he discovers it during your lifetime, he becomes downright giddy. He knows what it means, despite being unable to read. He has seen the same thing carved into way too many trees around camp. But this isn’t harming a tree or defacing the camp, it’s just you reminding him that while he is out there killing people, you are at home, waiting to lovingly welcome him back. And to return the favor, he may carve or write the same thing on something of yours, so you will also always know he loves you. Should he not discover the message before then, however…

-

His days have become so dark since you left. And since then, he also stopped taking off his mask so much. While you were alive, he had made it a habit to not wear it around you. After all, you loved all of him; there was no way to hide. So now, if he needed to eat or drink, he usually just lifted it a bit and put it back in place immediately after. So it took him a few weeks to discover your message.

Jason never learned to read, but he sees the little heart scribbled next to the message and that says just as much. His heart breaks all over again. For a good while, he just stands there with the mask in hand, bitter tears dripping onto the rough plastic.

Bubba Sawyer

You make this particular mask for Bubba, after watching how he maskes the masks himself many times. It really is a bit gross, but you’d do anything for him, so there you are, carefully stitching the flaps of skin together and finally using a permanent marker to write the message inside. Once he discovers it, he is over the moon. He will immediately drop anything he is doing and come to you to wrap you in a bear hug. Depending on the time of day, Drayton may chase him back to work with some choice words, or just roll his eyes and tell you to get a room.

-

Bubba has many masks, for every one of his moods. But he rarely swaps them out anymore, now that you aren’t around. While your body has been treated like the rest of the Sawyer-family’s deceased loved ones, sitting upstairs as well-preserved as possible and treated as if still alive, it is just not the same. You aren’t laughing and smiling anymore.

This mask that he wears now has been your work; you had insisted on making one for him a while ago.

When family bath day finally rolls around, he finds himself forced to take it off, and that’s then he finally notices it. A message for him, written inside of the mask, right on his cheek like a loving kiss. The other Sawyers can only watch in bewilderment as Bubba breaks down, sobbing and clutching the mask to his chest.

Thomas Hewitt

Making his human masks is grizzly business, and one he normally wouldn’t want to involve you in. But he remembers you sneaking downstairs not too long ago, citing simple curiosity as the reason.

He will most likely find the message fairly quickly, while washing up after a hard day of work. Once he sees it, he will smile to himself. While his reaction is fairly subdued, he will definitely be extra loving with you for the rest of the day, causing Hoyt to tease him about it.

-

Now that you’re gone, Thomas just tries to move on with his life, as painful as it is. He still has the rest of his family to provide for, after all.

During his work, he briefly takes off his mask to wipe off the sweat that gathered underneath, only to find the message inside. His heart cramps up at the sight, and he bites down on his lower lip to stop the tears flooding his eyes from making their way down his face.

Carefully, almost reverently, he puts the mask back on a dummy head, now deeming it way too precious to wear. Instead, he grabs another one, but before he can put it on, he freezes, realizing that his one also has the same message from you. Holding back the tears becomes even harder. Another mask. Same thing.

He finds that every single one of his masks has the same message scribbled on the inside. Overwhelmed by it, he sits down at his desk and buries his face in his hands, hoping it will conceal the hot streams of sorrow pouring from his eyes.

Vincent Sinclair

Leaving this kind of message in a wax mask is a bit difficult, but possible. You got yourself some gold foil from a craft store during your last trip to town, and while Vincent sleeps peacefully next to you, you quietly get up and carefully work the message into the wax with the foil. When Vincent wakes up and discovers it, he will look over to you and smile. That day, he works with even more vigor than usual, and come evening, presents you with a small wax figure he made especially for you.

-

Vincent considered himself almost immune to grief for a long time; even his mother’s death had made him determined to continue her legacy more than anything. But then you suddenly pass away, and he feels like the ground underneath his feet is crumbling.

Then he discovers the message, and he just… shuts down. It takes days for his brothers to coax him out of bed, and even then, he only gets up to stop his brothers from pestering him. Should any victims come to town during that time, he will go after them with the ferocity of a wild animal. In his head he is screaming “Why should you get to live?! With what right are you still breathing while they are gone?!”

[kisskawa]

— in love and war cw alcohol, intoxication, reader has bad friends and a loving ex

oikawa’s already frowning when he pulls up next to you, hazard lights highlighting your face in blinking orange. the apples of your cheeks seem softer in this light, bunching together and causing your eyes to curve into happy crescents as his name tumbles easily from your lips.

“why are you by yourself?” oikawa demands as he nears you, outstretched hand meeting yours.

“‘m not,” you grin at the contact, letting yourself tiptoe closer to oikawa until you’re leaning against his chest. “my friends are over there,” you point up the road where oikawa can only just make out a gaggle of people, “see?”

a hand sits on your shoulder, heavy and grounding and serious. you look awfully pleased under its warmth. “why aren’t they with you?”

you look up at oikawa with a thoughtful hum, genuinely trying to remember as your brows furrow. “didn’t want to be with them,” you exhale, shrugging. your friends have never been as kind as they should be, you know oikawa doesn’t like them. you lighten up again, “’sides, was waiting for you.”

it feels like a punch to the stomach when oikawa shakes his head at you. and suddenly aching, you let him tug you back to his car and settle you in, having precariously parked in all his concern.

the drive back is quiet, nothing more than the mindless rattling of a late night radio host and the gentle purr of the engine. oikawa can feel you staring at him, trying to gage whether or not he’s mad at you.

the passing streetlights make your head swirl, a little dizzier than out in the street where fresh air filled your lungs. but you’re not alone now, and the leather seats of oikawa’s car are worn and familiar. your fingers run across the thick stitches and you use them as markers to count the flickers of orange that dance across oikawa’s face one by one. they make him look handsome, drawing long shadows across his sharp features and warming his eyes.

by the time oikawa’s pulled in, you’ve fallen asleep, chin tucked into your chest with your last thought being the driver beside you. it could’ve been worse, oikawa muses, you could’ve been sick.

he allows himself a moment. a sliver of peace to watch the way your chest rises and falls, air punctuated only by soft exhales. you really did look pretty, routine of dressing up for a night out long since perfected. oikawa can’t forget the way you’d shone when you’d caught sight of him. he leaves the car before the thought can stick any longer.

he’s only away for a split second, rounding the bonnet to get to you. the door opens and suddenly he’s surrounding you, leaning close to pull at the seatbelt, fresh linen and vanilla. 

oikawa freezes when your fingers curl around his wrist. “i miss you,” you murmur. his heart stutters painfully.

you half think you’ve imagined the mumbled confession, oikawa continuing to work at the seatbelt until you’re free and easing yourself into his arms. you stumble a little as you get out the car, it’s ok, oikawa’s got you.

“let’s go inside first,” he finally responds, voice taut.

oikawa’s flat is just as you remember, down to every last detail. the framed picture of his high school volleyball club that greets you at the door, and the blue umbrella that he never remembers to take by the shoe rack. the slightly wonky kitchen cupboard door that houses mismatched mugs collected over the years, and the blanket you’d made together on the arm of the sofa, his fabric intertwined with yours. knowing it all like the back of your hand, you walk a familiar path to his room.

“i miss you,” you repeat, firmer this time as you perch on the end of his bed, trying hard not to get overwhelmed by the comfort of his sheets. it’s so much stronger here, fresh linen, vanilla and the faintest touch of the ocean air.

oikawa shuts his eyes, “you’re drunk.”

“i’m not,” it’s true, you’d sobered up quickly on the ride back, “i had a few drinks but i’m not drunk. i mean what i said, i swear i wouldn’t lie to you.” you wouldn’t be this coherent drunk. and under the effects of alcohol, you’d never approach such a serious topic as you and tooru like this. you both know that.

“i know you wouldn’t, but you’ve still drank, you wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t. and i can’t listen to you say you miss me when i can’t tell you how i feel in return, knowing your head’s all hazy and your judgement’s wrong.”

your fingers wind in oikawa’s sheets. “you don’t have to believe me right now, i’ll tell you in the morning and every day after if that’s what it takes. but you can tell me,” you urge, “you can tell me anything.”

the floodgates open.

“you can’t keep doing this. you can’t keep calling me and asking me to pick you up, because you know i will, you know i care,” oikawa’s voice is low, defeated, as it expels the truth, “it’s not fair.”

the wobble in his words makes your heart hurt and you rub at your chest, hoping the pressure will ease some of the pain. it doesn’t. instead, it comes out in your response, more unfair than anything, “i only ever call you, i only ever want you. and it’s the same reason why you still care.”

a call of your name shuts you up, sternness stopping you in your tracks. oikawa’s never once said your name like this, always honeyed and warm and fond. the ache swells.

you crawl into bed, pulling the covers up tight to your neck and trying to hide the glassiness in your eyes. you wouldn’t cry, you couldn’t cry. oikawa was right, it wasn’t fair. because you had broken things off, you hadn’t been able to deal with the drowning comfort of oikawa’s love, and yet, you were the one calling him when you needed someone to rely on. each and every time. “’m sorry,” you whisper, the thickness in your voice comes through anyway.

“i know,” oikawa sighs, tucking in next to you, one hand around your waist and the other running through your hair, the position you’ve always liked, “i’m sorry too.”

when oikawa wakes in the morning, the glass he left on the bedside table is empty and a single painkiller has been punched out of the foil packet. the bed too is cold, a collection of wrinkled sheets and pooling blankets. your presence in the room is barely there, only evident by a trail of absences.

oikawa curls up, bed suddenly too big, too lonely, as he tugs the duvet up and over his head. he lies there for a long time, a lump as he reprimands himself. it was true, what he said last night - this wasn’t fair, he couldn’t keep doing this routine. and yet, he couldn’t do anything but care for you, its like he was programmed to. you can’t keep waiting forever, his brain commands and the twinge in his heart pulls his knees closer to his chest.

“oikawa?” the gentle call of his name forces him out from his mind and underneath the covers. his head pokes out from the duvet, brown hair messy and eyes bleary. you notice the downturn of his lips first at the sound of his surname on your tongue. it seems clunky, awkward.

your stomach churns and your hands grip cruelly at the cup inbetween your hands. it’s coffee, half milk with two heaps of sugar and caramel syrup. not the way you like it at all. you hold it out and oikawa’s kind not to mention the tiny tremble of your arms. “if you’ll let me, i owe you something,” you pause, “i miss you, tooru.”

tooru beams. not forever at all.

[ghoulie-67-baby]

Tally- Doctor Who.

Summary: You’re running from the silence. You’ve been separated from the doctor and the Ponds and life seems to be slowly coming to an end. What if the madman doesn’t come to save you?

Warnings: Fear, pain, mentions of death, dehydration, exhaustion, pet names, mentions of hallucinations, crying.

Pairing: Eleventh Doctor x GN!reader. (Platonic or otherwise.)

Word count: 1,151.

The rushing of blood echoed in my ears and my limbs ached with exhaustion. I had been running for god knows how long and I just seemed to get more lost. I allowed myself a break, falling to my knees in the fine, desert sand, chest heaving as I caught my breath. Dizzying pain ripped through my ribs from the stitch I had; I knew I couldn't stop for long. I didn't know what I was running from, but the fear that had acclimated forced me to run. Whatever it was, my body was in fight or flight and my senses told me it was something life-threatening.

An assortment of tally marks stained my skin, and though I knew I was the one who put them there, I couldn't remember why and that chilled me to the bone. The marker pen in my pocket seemed to dig into my flesh as my ears caught a gurgling sound behind me. My head turned slowly to face the noise as my hand grappled to pull the pen from my jeans as the creature came into view. My body felt as though it was sinking into the ground as I scrambled against the ground.

The wind seemed to pick up out of nowhere as it lumbered closer to me, kicking sand into the air around us. I groaned in pain as it blew into my eyes, blinking furiously.

My mind felt fuzzy as the sand finally cleared and I sat up, shaking my head to clear it before standing. My heart was beating a million miles an hour, but I didn't understand why. Fresh markings littered my skin and I stared at them, questions and fears rolling around in my head. My eyes watered as I scraped through my mind to work out what was happening but all I could work out was I was terrified and whatever I was terrified of was causing me to lose my memory.

I let out a few sobs as I fought off my panic before huffing out a long sigh. Now wasn't the time to break down, now was the time I needed to run and find someone who knew what was happening. I had to keep moving. I was in a desert with no food or water and was constantly moving. I wasn't stupid, I knew I had days to live in this condition and I didn't know how long I had been running for.

In the past hour, I had gained a total of 11 extra tallies despite the empty desert around me. My legs were barely holding me up, knees trembling with exertion but I forced myself to keep going. I longed for the wheezing of that beautiful blue box to fill the dry air, desperate to feel the cold metal of her interior on my scorched flesh. And that madman's voice to just tell me everything was okay, that he had fixed everything and I was safe but I had slowed to a stumble.

I didn't have the energy to run anymore and soon I would collapse, the sand would cover me and I would be forgotten to the world. There was no TARDIS on the horizon, no Doctor to save me and no Ponds to make me feel better.

Precious tears streamed down my face as my body gasped for breath, pain flaring through my body as my knees buckled beneath me. I didn't want to die, not like this and not in such a beautifully dangerous place but as hope drained from my body, I was slowly coming to terms with it.

"Y/N!" My head snapped up at the voice and my eyes zeroed in on the gorgeous blue monument ahead of me. "Don't give up, keep going," I scoffed at the hallucination of the Doctor, of course, it was him my dying brain would imagine. "You're nearly there now, Love." I clambered to my feet unsteadily, if I was going out then I might as well use every ounce of energy.

The sun glared into my eyes as I trudged along, feet slipping against mounds of sand. The TARDIS seemed to get closer and I had a horrible feeling that as soon as I reached her, I was going to die. She was like my light that people warned you not to walk into. So be it, I'd die happy if they were my afterlife.

"Nearly there, come on, you can do it." He coaxed me closer, holding open the door as I kicked up sand in my fight to reach him. I held my hand out towards the Timelord, his hallucination blurred by tears as I closed my eyes to welcome death.

But death never came. Instead, my hand was met with the calloused skin of another as fingers curled around my own. He was never a hallucination.

My eyes shot open as the hand pulled me forward, the familiar creaking of the TARDIS door behind me, as I all but fell into the police box and into waiting arms. The pen in my pocket clattered to the floor as I gripped the tweed jacket and buried my head against the time lord.

"I know, you're safe, Love, just breathe." My sobs echoed through the console as my body became overwhelmed with relief and pain, dragging me through a tidal wave of emotion.

I gasped as we sunk to the floor; pain, exhaustion, confusion, fear, relief, and happiness all at once. The chest beneath my head vibrated as softly spoken words carried me through the feelings.

"I've got you, you're safe," he whispered into my ear, my gasps settling to shuddering breaths. "I'm so sorry Y/N," my body leant against him bonelessly as his hand smoothed over my hair, the other rubbing gentle circles into my back. "That's it, good job, Love." Silence followed as I clung to him, the ambience of the TARDIS comforting me. After a few minutes, I tilted my head to look into those beautifully old eyes and smiled weakly.

"Knew you'd find me," I whispered, ignoring my hoarse throat. "Cutting a bit short weren't you." I teased, his green eyes glazed with tears as he smiled down at me, wiping my cheeks gently.

"We had some trouble," he chuckled, "Someone didn't want us to find you but I couldn't let that slide now could I? Not for one of my favourite humans eh?" I forced my arms to wrap around him, gripping the back of his jacket in a hug and buried my head in his neck as the past few days caught up with me.

I was safe now, my body had clocked on to that fact. I couldn't help how my eyes slipped closed as I relaxed into the Timelord's grip, finally letting my body and mind shut down to recover from the ordeal.

He would always save me, no matter what.

[skyrim-forever]

Beading: A Year's Progress

Hi everyone, I thought I'd do a little retrospective as I began learning to bead 1 year ago! Here is a timeline of my progress and projects :)

June 2023 Pomegranate 1st project -This was the first project I tried, design freehanded by me. I practiced a few stitches and then just started! Figured it out as I went, still proud of this turned out way better than I expected. Materials 6/10 seed beads, glass pearls, and glass semi-transparent beads in 4 different sizes for the seeds; polyester backing and thread.

July 2023 Twin Snakes -Project number two is where I decided to play with a more complicated design and use colour. This was definitely a learning experience but it gave me confidence to try more intricate designs. Materials 6/10 seed beads, glass gemstone beads for the eyes, polyester backing and thread.

August 2023 Scared Heart and Eyes -For project 3 I decided to try working with more different types of beads, design inspired by adobe stock images of scared heart tattoos :P Materials 6/10 seed beads, glass pearls, czech crystal beads, and semi-transparent glass beads.

September 2023-Janurary 2024 La Pietà di Neravar -A lot of developments! I decided to try working with smaller beads, 10/0 seed beads and began my most ambitious project. Taking over 50 hours, spread over 3 months, it was wonderful to document this process on tesblr. I also decided to combine my love of TES with beading, a theme that would continue. Materials 10/0 seed beads.

February 2024 - March 2024 Mask of Almalexia -Something about Morrowind just inspires me so much and for my next project I decided to do Almalexia's mask as she is my fav Tribunal member. This was complicated and I ended up colouring the background with markers to make sure I put the beads in the right places. This isn't my fav but I learned a lot and it didn't turn out too bad. Materials 10/0 seed beads, czech crystal beads, and metal cones with rinestones on the tusks.

April 2024 - July 2024 Ayem -More of her <3 I love my wife :P I decided I wanted to learn portraiture, in fact the reason I started beading was because I was so inspired by artist Rachel EllenBogen and her stunning beaded portrait purses. I hope to make this into a purse as well! Quite proud of this as it's not bad for my first stab at portraits.

Thank you everyone for your support, in particular I'd like to shoutout @thequeenofthewinter @throughtrialbyfire @ladytanithia and @your-talos-is-problematic for the incredibly kind comments on my wip wednesday posts <3 Many weeks I made progress because I wanted to show you all :)

[crochet-the-night-away]

Enoch (Over the Garden Wall) Crochet Pattern

Disclaimer:

This pattern has a lot of sewing. You've been warned! I couldn't find a way to minimize the sewing and still have the same color changes and composition I wanted.

Materials

Two different greens (Green 1 and Green 2) and orange yarn (I used a Medium sized yarn) Appropriately sized Crochet Hook (I used a 3.5mm hook) Black, soft brown and off-white felt to make the face details (If you can't find off-white felt, like me, buy white felt and paint it off-white with acrylic paint) Stitch Markers Tapestry Needle Fiberfill Scissors Sewing Pins

Techniques

Magic Ring (mr) Chain (ch) Single Crochet (sc) Increase (inc) Decrease (dec) Skip a stitch (skip)

Head

----- Using ORANGE Round 1: 8sc into a magic ring [8] ----- The next two rounds are worked on the stitches from Round 1 Round 1.5: FLO 8sc [8] ----- Attach a stitch marker to the first stitch of Round 1.5 for later Round 2: BLO 8inc [16] Round 3: (sc, inc) * 8 [24] Round 4: (sc, inc, sc) * 8 [32] Round 5: (3sc, inc) * 8 [40] Round 6: (2sc, inc, 2sc) * 8 [48] Round 7: (5sc, inc) * 8 [56] Round 8 - 16: 56sc [56] Round 17: (5sc, dec) * 8 [48] Round 18: (2sc,dec, 2sc) * 8 [40] Round 19: (3sc, dec) *8 [32] Round 20: (sc, dec, sc) * 8 [24] ----- Stuff ----- The next two rounds are worked on the stitches from Round 20 Round 20.5: FLO (sc, dec) * 8 [16] ----- Attach a stitch marker to the first stitch of Round 20.5 for later Round 21: BLO (2sc, skip) * 8 [16] Round 22: 8dec [8] ----- Stuff

Fasten off and leave an extra long tail. It should be able to wrap around your head 10 times.

Pass the yarn under a stitch from round 20.5. Wrap the yarn over and around the pumpkin and divide it in two. Pass the yarn under another stitch from round 20.5. Pull the yarn tight and secure it with a knot. Repeat this two more times until your pumpkin is divided in 6 parts.

Pass the yarn through the pumpkin from bottom to top to work on his top embellishment.

Starting from the stitch marker on the head's round 1.5

Round 1: 8inc [16] Round 2: (2sc, inc) * 5, sc [21] Fasten off and weave in the tail.

Body

----- Starting with GREEN 1 from the stitch marker on the head's round 20.5

Round 1: (sc, inc) * 8 [24] Round 2: (sc, inc, sc) * 8 [32] Round 3-24: 32 sc [32] Round 25: 32 sc [32] Round 26: (sc, dec, sc) * 8 [24] Round 27: (sc, dec) * 8 [16] Round 28: 8dec [8] Fasten off and weave in the tail.

Arms (x2)

----- You can crochet around a wire to give the arms more structure ----- Using GREEN 1 22ch (Skip the chain if you're using a wire) Skipping the first chain from the hook and 21 sl st Leave a long tail for sewing

GREEN 1 Stripes (x9)

----- Using GREEN 1 27ch Skipping the first chain from the hook and 26 sl st Leave a long tail for sewing

GREEN 2 Stripes (x11)

----- Using GREEN 2 27ch Skipping the first chain from the hook and 26 sl st Leave a long tail for sewing

Assembly

Using sewing pins, attach all the stripes and the arms and stripes alternating greens. Once you're happy with the placement, sew everything.

Using felt, cut the following shapes: 2 soft brown circles 2 black circles (smaller than the brown ones) 1 skinny black heart that will serve as a nose 1 soft brown oval 1 off-white oval (smaller than the brown one) ----- To make the teeth, I just cut the smile and then vertical lines. When it was time to glue it on the brown oval, I separated them a bit for that teeth effect. Glue everything and you're done!

[blasphemous-lies-and-deceit]

Flufftober Day 28. Lucky Charm

"Oh, you little fucker."

"You called?" Gerry replied, sticking his head around the corner to peer into the living room, finding Michael on his knees peering under the couch. "What're you looking for?"

"My stitch marker," Michael called to him, slightly muffled by the furniture in the way. "I swear, the second I took my eyes off it, it bailed on me."

"Need a new one?" Gerry offered, ducking to unhook a safety pin from his trousers. "You usually just use one of these, right?" Michael raised his head to give him a look over the cushion. 

"It's not just a safety pin, Gerry," he said mournfully. "It's the safety pin." Gerry raised an eyebrow, and Michael quickly elaborated. "It's the one you gave me on our first date. I've been using it as my stitch marker ever since, and I haven't had any major slipups since." He sighed unhappily, slumping down on the floor. "That was my good luck charm, and your first present to me, and now I've lost it."

"Oh, Michael." It was such a little thing, but Gerry's heart twinged in affection. He'd had no idea that Michael had kept the pin that he'd gifted him in a nervously playful moment, much less that he considered it such a crucial part of his craft. Gerry quickly rehooked his trouser pin and hurried to Michael's side, grabbing the arm of the sofa and shifting it aside. "Does that help?"

Michael immediately squealed and dove forward, snatching up the safety pin so fast that Gerry nearly didn't see it. "Thank you!" he cheered, springing to his feet and kissing him on the cheek. "You're a lifesaver, my love, thank you so much."

"Don't mention it," Gerry laughed, catching Michael's hand and bringing it up to his mouth. He kissed his fingers and then kissed the pin sticking from between them. "Now you can have your luck back." 

[gradientdescent-does-it-all]

Sewing Journal: In Which My Embroidery Projects Become Increasingly Unhinged In Scope, Scale, and Content

Oh boy oh boy, I’m really excited about this one, y’all. After that series of smaller-scale experiments, I’ve finally pulled it all together to set up this fabulously visceral, gory panel by @barbatusart into the embroidery project that I’ll be doing off-camera for the next 2 months of Zoom calls.

In case it’s not clear from the picture, this thing is BIG. Like, 2 feet tall “big”. And although I can generally fit the embroidery frame onto my desk just off-camera, my coworkers have gotten used to knowing I’m always sewing just-offscreen and are in the habit of asking me to show what I’m doing. So I, uh, may need to keep a decoy project on hand to show them. Showing this one to my colleagues may qualify as ‘oversharing’.

If you wanna watch the daily progress pics of this one, I’ll have ‘em up over on the side blog @gradientdescentthreads . And if anyone’s interested in the combination of quilting and applique that went into setting this up, check it out below the cut!

Ok so this project started by slightly editing the original comic panel to pull out just the black and white line art into one layer, and the geometric color blocks into another. The original image used color sparingly so this wasn’t a very difficult task. I then printed both out to the exact same scale; these form the basis for the 2 layers of patterning that went into the overall composition.

Cutting up the print-out of the background was an easy route to a quilting pattern.

…And then, heart-breakingly, I cut up that nice quilt panel, using the paper print-out of the foreground as a template. Taking the lessons I learned from my smaller test projects, I used double-sided iron-on interfacing both to reinforce the fabric as well as attach it to the white underlayer cleanly. Then I got busy with a washable marker and a light box to trace the design. Finally, since the colored fabric was too dark for me to see through the light box, I printed out one final version of the design onto Stick-n-Stitch and overlaid it onto the red and black areas.

Why not save the time and just use Stick-n-Stitch for the entire design, you ask? Well, purely personal preference, but I feel like hand-tracing a complicated design helps me understand it better, kind of a dry run for rendering it in thread next. And also drawing those big gnarly teeth is just FUN.

[schemmentisjacket]

Chapter 5 - First Day pt 2

Authors Note: Little something something about non binary queer new teacher coming in, leading to Melissa finding the one.

The thing about kids is, as much as they’re interested in something, that interest moves on quickly. They’re also open minded and untainted by the world.

So when Charlie tells them they can call them ‘Dr Flinn or just Flinn, no need for Mr or Miss’ they do. When they’re interested in the gloves Flinn wears and they say ‘They keep my hands warm’ thats also enough.

And like that the lessons pass, some kids wrangle them into a ball game during break, Melissa and Barbara watching from their spot on duty.

Jacob calls you over to sit with him during lunch exchanging more details of the potential first date with Ant and his excitement about that.

The day seemingly uneventful until story time, two periods before the end of the day. The four graders are quietly invested in reading to themselves when a shout echos from across the hall. Suddenly a student bursts through your doors ‘Miss Schemmenti is hurt!’ They exclaim, eyes tearful in that way kids get when they’re faced with something unexpected.

You’re immediately on your feet, directing two of your pupils, ‘Fetch Mrs Howard and Mr Eddie,’ you instruct them calmly, knowing they’re the closest classrooms to yours and Melissas.

‘Everyone keep reading, I’ll be back.’

You walk briskly across the hall, despite your heart pounding in your chest, you hide the panic from the children. Heading into Melissa’s classroom, you spot a board pen on the floor near to the front desk, and the fiery hair on the back of Mel’s head just above the surface. You head towards the desk quickly and drop down behind it next to her away from the kids view.

Melissa was looking at you with slightly unfocused eyes, blood running down the side of her face from a gash in her hairline.

Without thinking you pull off your gloves and toss them on the floor, followed by removing your jumper, that you bunch pressing it up against her head carefully. ‘You know I’m not this kind of Doctor?’ You chuckle to her quietly, as her eyes run across your exposed arms and hands, with your jumper off you were left in a short sleeve shirt, your heavily tattooed flesh exposed to the world. She reached out to touch you. ‘I just wanted to get your top off,’ she chuckled breathily, before the classroom door bursts open and Barbara and Gregory enter.

You carefully pop your head above the desk, ‘Mrs Howard if you could take Melissas class and Mr Eddie if you could take my class please, that would be wonderful, could you let Ava know that Myself and Miss Schemmenti will be unavailable for the rest of the day.’

You turn your attention back to Melissa as the students file from the room.

‘Well it worked. You want to tell me what happened?’

You could see the shock off the fall wearing from her face as she looked at you intensely ‘Kid must’av dropped a marker and I slipped, caught my head on the desk on the way down.

You careful moved the jumper from her head to access the damage. Stitches would be needed. You took her hand and used it to hold the jumper back in place.

‘Looks like you get the rest of the day off and a trip to the accident room with me.’ You smile and stand, tucking your gloves into your back pocket. ‘Stay there and keep that pressure on, I’ll go grab my coat and bag and then we’ll get out off here.’

You sprinted out of there returning a moment later. Coat and backpack on.

M:

You couldn’t believe the last five minutes. Going from teaching to being on the floor bleeding. Then the new teacher you’d began to crush on comes running in like a knight in armer. Whipping off their jumper without a second thought other than making sure you were okay. And they were even hotter than you had imagined beneath those hoodies and jumpers. Tattoos running from their finger and hands all the way disappeared beneath the tight short sleeves of their dress shirt.

Your head was throbbing, but you were subtly aware of a dull throb stirring much lower down.

[smallpotatoknitwear]

The Valentine's Day Gradient Heartigan!

Wow, that's a bit of a mouthful, huh!? As I continue my quest to make sweaters for all of my favorite holidays, I'm so excited to have finished my Valentine's Day cardigan--partly because Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday, and partly cos this sweater came out so frickin' cute!!! Click on the keep reading link below for all the details on how I made it!

Items used:

Red Heart Super Saver in Burgundy (red). I used just under three skeins for all of the squares and joining the sweater.

Caron Colorama Halo in Cranberry Frost. I used less than a full O'Go donut for all of the hearts, so I think you should be able to use a single cake for them if you want to make your own version of this sweater, and I used part of a second donut for the ribbing--so even if you don't get all of your hearts out of one cake, if you have a second to do the ribbing as well you'll be all set!

Even though the Colorama Halo is listed as a bulky yarn, it's really a worsted thickness, so I used a US size I/5.5MM hook for the entire project, including the ribbed border.

I used the pattern for the Little Heart Square by Raffamusa Designs for the squares, and added an extra row of double crochet around the outside (with 2DC, ch2, 2DC in each corner). I used a total of 60 squares for the sweater.

This sweater is, at its core, just a basic granny square cardigan, meaning that I built it by measuring another sweater that I like the fit of (this one, if you're wondering), making a single square, measuring it, and figuring out how many squares I needed for each section of the sweater to get measurements as close as possible to the model sweater. That may sound a little confusing or even daunting, but it's really not as hard as it sounds! Let's break it down a little further, piece by piece.

To start, here are some measurements:

Each heart square is 5x5 inches, and I blocked each one to make sure my measurements would be consistent and that my squares would have nice, even sides.

On my model sweater, the sleeves are 18 inches around and 15 inches long. So, with 5x5 in. squares, I made 4x3 square tubes, so that my sleeves measured a total of 20x15 inches.

On my model sweater, my front panels were 10x20 inches, so I made two 2x4 panels.

On my model sweater, my back panel was 26x20 inches, so I made a 5x4 panel.

I used a total of 60 squares for all of these panels.

To get the gradient, I made all of my hearts in order through a skein of Caron Colorama Halo yarn (technically I was using one of the O'Go donuts they were originally released in, not one of the cakes that yarn is available in now, but there was a good amount leftover, so I think you'd be able to make a sweater approximately the same size with a cake of the yarn, even thought the yardage is different). Once I had added the red border around each square and blocked it, I laid them out on a table starting with the top left corner of the back panel and working in a spiral from that corner, across the back, across the top of the right sleeve, over both front panels, and across the top of the left sleeve before moving down. Then, I used stitch markers and safety pins to attach the corners of the squares together in each panel so that I wouldn't mess up the gradient as I moved them to attach everything.

Once all of my panels were finished using flat slip stitch seams, I seamed the fronts to the back at the shoulders and sides, made the sleeves into tubes, and attached them to the armholes in the "vest" made from the fronts and backs. Then, I used a second skein of the Colorama Halo to add ribbing to the front and bottom, using a 6-stitch SC FLO rib worked directly into the edge of the garment and beginning in the front right corner of the sweater. I was able to make the front and bottom ribbing all one piece by just turning a corner in the last row of the front ribbing (the left bottom corner) and working along the bottom. For the sleeves, I started with the same color red I used to finish the squares and seam them together, and worked a row of double crochet (I decided I wanted the sleeves just a hair longer, for a slightly more dramatic poof), then worked two rows of *SC1, DEC1* before breaking the red yarn and attaching the pink. I did a 12-stitch SC FLO rib around the ends of the sleeves to create the cuffs.

[pikolswonderland]

Morley picked up the crumpled piece of paper, covered in old crayon and marker, left behind by one of the children no less. She inspected the child’s drawing, only to be met with a pain in her heart. This was Toby’s drawing, she knew his art style and handwriting far too well. It was a crudely, but wholesomely, illustration of what was clearly labeled as Toby, Claire (who’s name he spelled wrong), and…Captain Fiddles? As in the mascot? No…the closer she looked she noticed what appeared to be stitches on the monkey’s face and torso. This was clearly the experiment of Fiddles.

“He and his friend must’ve found Fiddles and are travelling with him, there’s no doubt” spoke Banban, crossing his arms as he turned to Morley.

“Fiddles was always a sweetheart, he’s the youngest out of us that wasn’t from the offspring experiments. Don’t worry Morley, we’ll save Toby and the children, we swear on it!” Banbaleena reassured Morley, putting her hoof-hand on her shoulder and giving a warm smile.

Morley nodded in appreciation, folding up the paper and slipping it into her bag.

Don’t worry Toby, I’m coming for you…

[forevergazingatstars]

okay I get that losing stitch markers is just a part of the deal when doing yarn crafts but I cannot believe I misplaced the entire bag of my new pretty heart-shaped ones :(

[the-names-quinn]

Sidequest Sunday has returned to the Ralsei costume once again. I added some fun little sleeves and also DIY'ed the crap out of an underskirt to give the robe some more life!

(More details under cut)

I went to Goodwill and also a craft store with my besties to go look for random stuff and I found a black dress shirt and also another green dress!

I rubbed my two braincells together to cut off the dress shirt sleeves and turn them BACKWARDS for the baggy look that I really wanted for the sleeves! (Pls ignore my stitching. I haven't taken a single sewing lesson in my life, I was using what little knowledge I picked out of the dumpster that is my memory of other people discussing it.)

The green dress was originally going to be a replacement for the robe I had(color matches the hat), but it was too large, the wrong shape, and way to difficult to work with, so I removed and altered the skirt to give the outfit a little volume. Once again, TONS of amateur but very fun stitching.

Still a bit on the large side so I have some belts to keep it in place. It makes such a miniscule difference but I'm proud of it either way lul.

I also went back over the heart with an actual fabric marker, and it looks worlds better than the sharpie I was using. This whole "costume on a budget" activity has been a BLAST! Doesn't help that my intro to theater class just finished the costume designer unit so it's feeding my delusion lmao.

[ddpej]

Arts + Crafts Dump

I have not had a lot of time for stitching of late, thanks to a mix of my own choices, work projects, and general tiredness/burnout, but have a roundup post of everything y'all haven't seen since last September!  It’s mostly cross-stitch, with a few art pieces at the end.

There won’t be proper image descriptions, just keywords; I’m sorry to those who use them but I just do not have that many words in me. =(   If anyone would like more information on a specific piece, though, by all means please send me an ask and I’ll be happy to do that for you!  Answering an ask is much easier for my brain than posting from scratch.

The first two images are stitchbits from my Jan 2024 winter cards, which go to select family members and close friends+coworkers.

Color-variant poinsettia triplets and five dessert-inspired patterned hearts:

Domestic rabbit, stylized poinsettia, dragonfly creek, and elegant cat:

Next up are a variety of other-cardified stitchbits. On top, an eclipse for Mother's Day plus a pi pie and fossil for (Grand)Father's Day, all from @mathysphere's patterns. On bottom from a variety of places, a lavender bunch birthday card, a blue blossom wedding card, and a blue bird w/beads for another birthday card.

The rest of the stitching is some misc stitchbits, many embellished with beads: golden retriever, tiny pink bird, cardinal, galaxy pi (also from @mathysphere!), assissi flower, heart of roses, blackwork window cat, snowy pine, and antique evergreen.

Last up are the art pieces -- two watercolor versions of a picture of the Sandias (included for reference), and a tiny marker coloring of Dale Ray Deforest's Perry Rodent lineart from my Bubonicon badge.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for looking! Please feel free to ask me about any of these, and as always I hope you’re doing ok out there. For those of you in the US, check your voter registration status and please do make sure you've got a plan in place to vote in November. <3