Of Bibliophilia and White Thread

My worsened health lifted for a couple days last week, and on Thursday I left the house. For something other than doctors. *gasp* First, my mom and I went to the library....... and I may have gotten a couple more books than a intended. Just a couple.

But they were so beautiful and I couldn't resist! And really, I would've gotten wayyyy more if I could have carried anymore.

So this large stack of reading... plus the four or five books on hold... just might mess up my May Goals for Reading. We'll see though. So far this month, I've read The Catcher in the Rye, How to Save a Life, and Looking for Alaska. I'm like 600 pages into the Autobiography of Henry VIII, too.

Then, as if my day couldn't get any more exciting, we went to Barnes and Noble to spend my $25 gift card! (The only money I've had in months, and I get to use it on books. Guilt-free.) So after much deliberation on getting the most good books that I hadn't yet read for the least money, I came out quite thrilled with my three wonderful new-smelling books.

We also picked up a bit of white thread while we were near Michael's. Just a bit.

Okay, or as much as my various coins could afford. Poor check-out lady. I did not have many quarters.

In this first week of May, I have managed to stitch a bit, particularly this past weekend.

I am simply adoring Poinsettia Place so far. It's such a delight to stitch! I have a feeling this series is just going to keep picking up for me as I get over the stress of the many firsts it is bringing (first stitching on non-Aida cloth, first stitching with overdyed floss, first French knots....).

Happy stitching!

TUSAL and Books and Stitching!

February has been so busy! I celebrated my birthday (Warm Bodies was funny and cute, and my boyfriend didn't even think it was torture!) and then the next day went to Clemson for a best friend's birthday (WE SAW SNOW FLURRIES) and then came the Super Bowl (crushing, absolutely crushing). Then came a week that flew by in cross stitching (while listening either to War and Peace or one of my new Great Courses lectures), giving in to my mild addiction to the Sims 2, being in pain, reading, and seeing my Ben (<3). So here's the meager stitching from this week!


I finally steeled myself to stitch with overdyed floss for the first time. Santa's House is providing me with all sorts of fun challenges!

I also finished Mario on February 4th. So cute!! 

I read a good bit, too. I finished reading Northanger Abbey on February 3rd. It was a delightful book to read! Oh, Jane Austen's wit and vivacity at its highest. I'd call Northanger Abbey my favorite novel by her - of those that I've read, that is (Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility). This novel has the awareness of its being a novel about a hero and heroine, and it's all the funnier for it. Speaking of Jane Austen (<3), I saw the movie version of Emma (the one with Gwyneth Paltrow, if there's others). It was wonderful! I also saw Joe Versus the Volcano, with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. A bit quirky, but wonderful nonetheless.

I also read The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green. On February 8th. In one night. Almost in one sitting. It was amazing. I laughed out loud a ton (and I never laugh while reading), then I sobbed for like an hour, at least, some while reading and some in the wake of finishing. It was the most amazing book and I know I'm going to have to own it, and read it all the time. I also felt healthier than I have in a long while after reading it, because, hey, I'm not dying. Anyway, READ IT. EVERYONE. Laugh and laugh and cry and sob and stay up until two.

In the currently reading area, I've got This is How You Lose Her and The Casual Vacancy, but I'm mainly focusing on Walden for now. Thoreau is tossing and turning in his grave right now, I bet. Poor guy thought things were bad then - they've gone even further from his ideal. Of course, I'm not that sure about his ideal being actually ideal. Seriously, this guy has spent fifty pages railing on everything and everyone and acting like he knows better than everyone ever, and I'm convinced he'd find cross stitching a terrible hobby. Thoreau also thinks there's no reason for telegraph communication between Maine and Texas - and now there's the Internet. Anyway, interesting book.

To wrap up this very long post, it's TUSAL time! I found some jam jars, so now I have real glass jars for my ORTs! :) The framed cross stitch was made for me by an aunt for the Christmas I was two.

And all my ORTs this year:

Happy stitching!

Brisingr and Stitching

I just finished reading Brisingr today. I read while I eat breakfast, and I have a habit of just pushing my empty bowl to the side and continuing to read for hours when there's no rush. The only thing that stops me? Finishing the book, like today. Christopher Paolini has a tendency to have Eragon (main character) sit down with someone and be told lots and lots and pages and pages of information, all of which was a huge major secret for the hundreds of pages leading up to that moment. It's both hard to put down and a little... blah. Knowledge dumping is hard to make interesting. This series is pretty good though. It's reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings, which is always a good thing. Paolini creates an interesting world that I want to be in, and I consider the series worthwhile and the plot of interest. He is an amateur writer, but a reasonably talented one, and the Inheritance cycle is a fun, easy read so far.

On to cross stitchy goodness! Here's my progress on both Mario and Flowers in Purple Vase. Hoping to have them finished soon! :)

And now to get off the computer quickly, because my head is hurting rather a lot. Happy stitching!

Anna Karenina

I just finished this novel today, and it is quite possibly the most incredible book I have ever read and will ever read. Leo Tolstoy is absolutely brilliant. His characters are so complex and real; we see layer after layer of intricate feeling and thought that shifts easily and drastically. No characters in any other novel seem real compared with Levin and Anna and all the rest; in fact, sometimes this novel seemed more real than life. Tolstoy has an amazing ability to capture the human experience, even the parts of which we are hardly conscious and which we can hardly put in words. Furthermore, this is not the traditional cheerful novel - there are not happy endings, just real endings. People are unhappy and do not become happy. Marriages aren't happily ever afters; they're just beginnings of even greater adventures. People fight and suffer and wish they were not alive. Feelings are complex and love is not perfect and clear. Leo Tolstoy explores the piece about which we all are curious; okay, so these people think they're in love and are going to marry. Now what? How do they live their lives? Truly, a most amazing novel. Everyone ought to read Anna Karenina.

New Year's Eve!

I'm back! Life just keeps taking over, it seems. Doctors and Christmas and family and boyfriend... Haha, it's a busy life. And cross stitch, of course! :D

 

 

Here are the Festive Word Ornaments, all finished and on our tree. I gave them to my mom for Christmas. :)



 

And here's Quoth the Raven, which I finished stitching on December 23, 2012 and gave to my brother (a huge Edgar Allen Poe fan) for Christmas. :)



 

And here's the Rhodes Tile from the October 2012 issue of Cross Stitch Collection. I changed the colors and fabric based on what I had lying around. It was really fun, learning a new stitch. :) I started this on December 15, 2012 and finished it on December 21, 2012.





 

 

And here's Santa's House, which I've hardly made any progress on.



 

 

I got some cross stitch goodies for Christmas, and one of them was this adorable stocking stuffer. I started Flowers in Purple Vase, a Bucilla kit, on Christmas Day. I just couldn't resist!



 

 

Aaaaand finally, here's my little bit of progress on Snowman and Friends. :)

 

 

 

I would go into lots of detail on my Christmas, but this post is quite long enough already. I'll just say, I got the complete novels of Jane Austen in this gorgeous box set. I love it!! I immediately started reading Northanger Abbey, and I am loving it thus far. :)



I'm back! With a slightly late TUSAL

Wow, it's been a while. I've hardly touched my laptop for almost two weeks... I blame my health and my self-imposed busyness. I have been going crazy in my room, organizing things and getting rid of things that seemed so important in high school and suddenly don't matter a bit. I even moved a bit of furniture around! I've had lots of appointments as well... even acupuncture! :o I've gotten some stitching done too, whilst listening to War and Peace. I absolutely love War and Peace and Anna Karenina. If I had to pick a favorite thus far, though, I'd definitely pick the latter. It's delicious.

Here's a late TUSAL update. :o I definitely would've posted it yesterday, but I was a bit nonfunctional. :/ 

It's more thread than it looks like, I promise.

And here's all of my 2012 ORTs!

I was a bit diverted from cross stitch by the discovering of this incomplete latch hook project in my closet, "Sunflower":

So, naturally, I immediately threw my energy into working on it:

Quite tragically, there was some manufacturing error and I ran out of both brown thread colors. However, the company was wonderful and yesterday I received this, for free, in the mail:

 The company shall no longer receive my wrath. :)

I've been working on Quoth the Raven quite a bit, since it needs to be finished and framed in time for Christmas. I love it. :)

I picked up Snowman and Friends for a bit, too.

I even started something new! How could I resist beginning Santa's House when I had the materials gathered? :) I love the pattern, I love stitching on linen, I just love it all. :D I'm thrilled to be stitching the entire series on this great big piece of linen!

Santa's Village: Santa's House
Began December 1, 2012

And I shall leave my fellow cross stitchers with a picture of my darling dog, who has taken over my bed since it was moved near the windows. :)

Starting and finishing and mounting, oh my!

Wow, busy days! Forty-eight hours after deciding to take a medical leave of absence from college, I was back home with all my stuff. Twenty-four hours after that, I was hanging out with my family in Myrtle Beach. A few days later, I was back home and busy with lots of cross stitchy fun, despite my body deciding that this week ought to be extremely painful (at least it made me remember why medical leave is a good idea). I then embarked on a crazed purging and organizing of my room, which is currently in a state of chaos. And now, on to the cross stitchy fun! :D

I spent Saturday (with the aid of my mom at times) washing, ironing, mounting, and framing "Darth Vader" in preparation for my darling's birthday on Sunday. He was quite happy and hung it up in his room as soon as we went to his house. :) But without further ado, here 'tis!

 

The mounting was quite an ordeal, but I think it ended up looking quite nice. I used a foamboard and a small army of straight pins. Simple materials, pleasant result. I'm quite excited to have had my first taste of finishing!

I also purchased lots of fun cross stitch supplies on Saturday at my local needlework shop, which I have newly discovered and which is the most wonderful place.

And on Sunday I bought this magazine from Books-a-Million! I simply could not resist. And I have been loving pouring over it, so no regrets. :)

I've also finished "Live, Love, Laugh." :D

"Live, Love, Laugh"
Began October 5, 2012
Finished November 30, 2012

And while in Myrtle Beach, I explored my grandmother's knowledge of stitchery. She has some lovely cross stitches hanging up around the house - how had I not noticed them before? And she even let me borrow several wonderful old books on stitchery!

Look what came in the mail a bit earlier this week! :) I'm quite thrilled. I jumped up and down when I saw the envelope with "Crazy Annie's Stitchin" on it.

Aaaand, I have a new start! This'll be for my brother for Christmas. It's on some red 18 ct. Aida from my little needlework shop down the road. :)

"Quoth the Raven"
Began November 29, 2012

In the world of books, I finished listening to The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton, which is an amazing novel. I absolutely loved it! I'm nearly done with Brisingr, by Christopher Paolini. And December shall be the month of Russian novelists, so I am starting Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy) on Saturday and shall be listening to War and Peace (also Tolstoy) while stitching. I hope to have time for The Brothers Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) during December, but if not, January shall get a taste of Russian novels as well.

Happy stitching to you all! :)

Accountability and extrinsic rewards. :D

Inspired by my psychology lecture of the day, yesterday I tried out some accountability and an extrinsic reward system as a means of limiting my procrastination problem, and I met with great success. I gave my sewing basket to my hallmate Anita, and she was not allowed to give it back until I had completed a set amount of schoolwork. I did so with hitherto unheard of rapidity and was allowed my precious cross stitching back.

My dear sewing basket and home of all my cross stitching supplies. :)

 I received this kit in the mail with the utmost joy Monday night...

...And of course, took the first opportunity yesterday to begin it. I was overwhelmed temporarily by the detail and skill level of the pattern, but I am determined to press on and gain more experience. Snowman and Friends is on 18 count Aida, whereas everything else I've stitched is on 14 count, and this pattern uses a great deal of color and half- and quarter-cross stitches.

 "Snowman and Friends"

Began October 23, 2012

And I've made a bit of progress on Live, Love, Laugh, despite having to go back and undo several stitches because of an early error in counting. I love the prettiness of this piece. :)

 "Live, Love, Laugh"

In other news, I finished listening to Sense and Sensibility while stitching Live, Love, Laugh today, to my greatest delight. Surely such a lovely novel, and such a satisfying ending, was the only way I could be lifted out of my low spirits. I have developed a rapid adoration of Jane Austen that I cannot believe was not earlier in beginning, for I first read Pride and Prejudice many years ago and loved it. Perhaps, as with Great Expectations, I was not ready then to fully take it in, and so did not pursue my interest further. I was also quite busy with school reading. I still am, but my student employment and my stitching allow me much more leisure time for audiobook delights nowadays. :) And now I shall stop babbling on, and leave you to your own stitching, dear reader. Have a delightful Wednesday! Eat some chocolate. It makes everything better. :)