Tag: embroidery

Writ of Replevin

. . . which was the title we submitted the book now known as Trade Secret under.  Steve thought it was perfect, and as Steve was lead on the book, he got to title it.  Alas, Baen Management for some reason did not resonate to Writ of Replevin, though Madame owned herself to have learned something.

I am back from crafting. The cats are enjoying Happy Hour and I’m about to find something for dinner.

Got a busy few mornings coming up — COVID shot tomorrow morning, after which I’ll pick up a few things at the grocery store (being as I’ll be in the grocery store), come home, change out the cat boxes, and then maybe do some work. Or at least continue reading Trade Secret.

Thursday morning, I need to take the car in for an oil change and tire rotation, hoping that this time they’ll remember to tighten — no really — tighten the oil cap.

Friday morning, Sarah will be by to do her thing, and Saturday! There’s a Members Party at TJMaxx. As I find myself unexpectedly a Member, p’rhaps I’ll go.

All this to say that I’ll be in and out for the remainder of the week.

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe. I will check in as opportunity allows.

Starting the day with sunshine

Monday. Sunny and already warm. All the windows are open and the cats are lounging in the breeze from the sliders in Steve’s office.

The first load of towels needs to be taken out of the dryer and the second load put in.

The area rugs and runners are outside and over the rails, taking the sun. My deck chair and table are set up and ready for use.

Regarding the deck chair. When I got it out of the closet where it overwintered, there were five springs taking shelter beneath its skirts. FIVE.

For book club, I’m reading A Gentleman in Moscow, which I’m enjoying. It strikes me that this may have been what Theo of Golden was striving for, and, err, didn’t achieve.

Since I just recently read Balance of Trade, I started Trade Secret last night, wherein I note that the Young Gentleman reveals to us The Plan. I believe that Jen Sin reviled the Young Gentleman’s clan in Salvage Right, and also said something about The Plan, which I will need to check.

Honest to ghu, this universe is tight. The authors must’ve have a million databases. *cough*.

I have a couple titles that will fit in the small blank stars on the front of the Starry Shirt, so I’m getting those ready to be embroidered.

And! I have not yet heard from D2D customer service, which is not surprising, and I really don’t expect to hear from them this week.

I believe I need to step out for a few minutes to hit the TJMaxx in-town, and also the Hannaford. P’rhaps I’ll get the car washed. I have a pass, after all.

How’s everybody doing this fine Monday morning?

Sunday afternoon

I am out of cookies.

This cannot be allowed to stand.

In other news, spent this morning with a scrap fabric box that I adopted from the craft group. There were limited items that will be of use to me — ever, if I’m honest, so I’ll be looking to place the remaining contents with a group or person who will find them useful.

However! I have established that I can, indeed, embroider the titles of books legibly onto cloth, so I will be updating my Shirt of Stars (actually, I have two Starry Shirts, which emboldens me to pursue the update project) with, err, the 18? titles that are missing.

This? May take a while.

Firefly has been Very Attentive while I sorted fabric, and did a proving piece. We’ve been sitting quality in the living room, listening to a Sail North compilation, which has segued into I’m-not-exactly-sure-what-this-is, but it’s not offensive.

Starry Shirt and Proof of Concept Below.

On concluding projects

What went before:

Also, this happened:

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Saturday. Sunny and warm. I think. I haven’t been out. In fact, I not only slept late, I lay in bed, snuggled with cats, and read my email, so I’m just now getting up and around.

Today’s big plan is to make focaccia and maybe read or maybe… No, I don’t think I’ll write anything today. I do need to do some research but that can maybe wait. Maybe I’ll finish my embroidery project and see how that turns out.

As you can see my plans are firm.

How’s everybody doing today?
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Focaccia happened.  Yes, it tastes every bit as good as it looks.

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Had a very strange experience — I can’t get into either Bank of America or Discover to get my statements for monies due in early April, which is only a problem because neither one of those entities sent me a reminder that I had a new bill, and I happened to notice that now that my head isn’t filled up with BOOK.

Discover says that it’s really terribly sorry but it can’t complete “that operation” (which would be logging in) right now. Bank of America, ever charming, says that I phucked up my ID or my password or maybe both? And it might let me in if I give it my social security number, which, err. No.

So! I have two phone calls to make on Monday, lucky me.

In other news, I’m on what ought to be my last four meals from Cook Unity, delivered yesterday. Today, I had the shrimp grain bowl, which was…OK, I guess. I had six shrimp and got bored with them, so I chopped up the leftover ones, and I’ll be having a shrimp salad sandwich for the evening meal.

Also we here in Central Maine are under an Active Weather Advisory and warned to look out for between 3 and 6 inches of snow on the overnight. Honestly, March.

And now? I’m going to go embroider.
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So, I finished my first! ever! concept-to-finished-piece embroidery project and!

I learned some stuff.

The first thing I learned is that I made this too small, in terms of the current states of my eyesight and the steadiness of my hand. Next time, I WILL go bigger, even if it means I can’t get the whole design inside the hoop at once.

I also learned — actually, I knew this — white-on-white is hard to read. Duh.

But! and most importantly!

I learned that it Can Be Done.

Which means I can Do It Again.

I should report that Tali and Rook joined me in the living room while I finished this up. Rook sat on my lap and didn’t even try to mess the thread. He just kinda curled up and went to sleep.


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So, that was a nice day off-ish. Tomorrow, I will start to read Kin Right, and will also plan on clearing off the top of my desk — yes, again.

My next embroidery project is a pre-printed sampler — that’s it, just the design. So, my next step, now that’s in the hoop, is to make a yarn/floss card. Which means I need to dig out the Big Bag of Floss. Later.

For right now, I’m going to pour myself a glass of wine and see about making that shrimp salad sandwich.

Everybody have a good evening. I’ll check in tomorrow.

Tuesday and the adventures thereto

Tuesday. Sunny, already warm and heading for the 70sF. They say.

Trash and recycling are at the curb. Breakfast has been et.

Slept well last night. The cats all piled on top of me, set purr boxes on HIGH, pushed the personal gravity fields to the top and — it worked. Eight hours and change, and I feel much more human.

My second cup of tea is brewing. Once I’ve dealt with that, I’ll be doing errands, including getting gas, while there’s any left to get, and a Staples run — very likely my last at our in-city store, which will be closing next month. What else — ah, the usual: grocery, bank, post office, goodwill, CVS. Home for lunch and possibly catching up the filing before I leave again for the library and needleworking.

What’s everybody doing today?

I did try this morning to get a picture of all four of us, but Firefly refused to be photographed until she had gotten her eyes done properly, which means you guys get two pictures of three.

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LOCAL PEEPS OF THE FLANNEL SHIRT WEARING INCLINATION: I just bought two flannel shirts at Reny’s for $5/each, and the Word is that they’re being “put away” today. So, if you’re wanting to stock up on flannel — get thee to Reny’s, like, now.

Obviously, I’m home again. Not only that, I accomplished almost all of my errands (I did not manage to buy two things, not for lack of trying, but for lack of Stuff Being In Stock).

I bought notebooks, legal pads and folders at Staples. Mind you, I don’t need any more notebooks or legal pads, but — sale. Also — new notebooks.

Did my Smol grocery shop at the Elm Plaza Hannaford, not wishing to brave the KMD Hannaford, where the freezers and cold keepers were out for most of the weekend.

The oven is heating for my Very! First! CookUnity Experience, which is apparently … Mediterranean Chicken Shawarma Bowl with Mint-Tahini sauce.

Many thanks to everyone who admired my new haircut. I must, however report, that it was only wet hair dragged back into a ponytail. This is what it looks like, after I’ve been running around all morning. And, yes, I do need a haircut, but — not today.

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Report on my very first Cook Unity meal, Mediterranean Chicken Shawarma Bowl with Mint-Tahini sauce, and a crazy little side salad, made with pickles, cherry tomatoes, and something yellow and dense, in cubes (edited to add: I am informed that these were pickled turnips). I love cultures that treat pickles like a food, rather than an afterthought. Just by the way.

The main course was good, but a little more than I’m accustomed to eating for lunch, which is my big meal of the day. I’ll have the rest of it tonight, but this could be an unexpected downside to having a meal service. Or, not, if I routinely get two meals out of one.

Anyhow, no complaints of the food, for Meal One.

Onward.
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So, I just learned a whole new way to be rude. I forgot to go to the bank when I was out earlier (this is what happens when you don’t Write It Down), so I went out after lunch. And as the teller was counting out my twenties for me, I saw one that was taped together, and another, that Ought To Have Been taped together. So, when she was done counting, I pulled those two bills and asked for replacements.

Her: You saw those?

Me: (Not in the OutLoud voice: Obviously.) Yes, I watch when people count money out. Old Habit.

Her: You want different bills?

Me: Yes. I don’t want my money to fall apart before I spend it.

Her: Replaces the twenties. Sighs heavily.

Me: Thank you. Leaves. Sighs heavily.

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Finished my latest project

See me ride outta that sunset. . .

. . . on your color TV . . .  Am I the only one who ever wants to filk things like TNT for, oh, accountants?  or retail workers?  or well.  Sorry AC/DC

Onward.

Um. Tuesday. Jeez, yesterday was a long day.

Tuesday. Sunny and cool. Trash and recycling languish yet in the garage, but I’ve got time to get it out to the curb.

Today’s to-do includes filling out a form for adult ed, scheduling an interview for … Sunday afternoon, is what I’m thinking … changing out the cat fountains, and getting my needles ready for this evening’s meeting of the embroidery club. Might be time for a little entering of corrections. That would be nice.

But first! Breakfast! I’m going with hummus and naan and grapes again. I must have been in hummus deprivation.

What’s for breakfast at your house?
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And apparently I’m on short-thought today. I just last night finished reading The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams, by Mindy Thompson, which was a fine time-travel tale riffing off of the Change-one-Thing theory, and never in your face. Very well done. It is, for those who object to such things, YA, and the narrator is a young girl.

Link to today’s cat census and state of an art

Today’s blog post title brought to you by AC/DC, “TNT”

 

People of the Internets, I greet you!

Tuesday, chilly, damp, and dim. Trash and recycling at the curb.

Richard the Fidium Guy is on Upper Main Street and called to let me know he’ll arrive in the next few minutes. “Is this the Miller residence?”

Sigh.

Hopefully, my next communication with you will not be through the good offices of my phone.
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So, the problem was bandwidth piracy. Someone had gotten into the central box, took “my” cable, and plugged it into “their” feed. Richard has put it back, and all lights are green.

I hope he also rigged it so the next time the fiber thief tries to steal my bandwidth, they get a healthy shock for their trouble.

What a world we live in.

Firefly stayed right here in my office, and kept a Very Close Eye on Richard, from a distance, while he was here. Tali retired to the top of the bookshelf in Steve’s office, and I think Rook is in the closet in Steve’s office.

I — am sorting the thread and getting my needles ready for my next embroidering project. Yes, yes — I know. Stained glass. Embroidery. Writing. Is there nothing this woman can’t do?

cough

Today is election day in Maine. I voted via absentee ballot, as is my right and my privilege. Yes, it’s “only” a local election, but — please make time to vote today. Thank you.

So! How’s Tuesday shaping up in your piece of the world?

Communique to the Internets

Saturday. Cool and cloudy.

Before we get to the recap, someone — Alma? — had asked how you remove the stabilizer without damaging the embroidery. I had previously used stabilizer, which was impossible to wash out, but! Improvements have been made. The instructions for the stablizier on which the pattern for my embroidered shirt were printed said, “Rinse under a stream of warm water.” So, I took it into the bathroom, turned on the shower and stuck the shirt under the warm water. Somewhat to my surprise, because, I, too had expected A Fight, the stuff just melted away. It took — what? A minute. Then I hung the shirt up and let it drip.

Mind you, it was stupidly difficult to embroider through the stabilizer, which is too bad because apparently the kit-making people have latched onto this as The Answer, and are now sending a bit of linen, a pattern printed on stabilizer, thread, etc. So, the two kits that remain on-hand (both black-cat-themed, what was I thinking?) are both “affix the pattern to the cloth.”

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Feel free to skip from here to the next # # # if you’d rather not hear an elderly lady complain about her old war wounds.

You have been warned.

Yesterday was No Fun At All. I owe Patty Briggs for the timely arrival on my tablet of the chronicle of Asil’s yuletide adventures, which made the day somewhat less bad, but even a beautiful, doomed, ironic man can only do So Much. One does wonder what looms — well, but that would be a spoiler, and we already know what looms.

My back hurt sufficiently that I took the drugs, even though I knew that was probably a Bad Idea, as indeed it was. The drugs make me sick. I know this, but they do also, sometimes, work against the pain. Sadly, yesterday was not one of those days. Tali gave it her All, but even so . . .

At 9:30, I just fell into bed, exhausted, and slept for three solid hours, then off and on in hour-sized chunks. Firefly was on night-watch, and she, too did her All, including smacking Rook off the bed, when he decided that I would feel better if I played. (She did allow him to remain later, when he snuck up and curled against my knee.)

I finally got up sometime after 10:30, took a shower, made myself a mug of peppermint tea and sat down at my desk to write this communique to the internets.

Since the drugs were such a disappointment, I have decided to quit the course. Yes, my back still hurts. A lot. But if this is going to be my life, I guess I’m going to have to learn how to ignore the pain and do what needs to be done though it. You wouldn’t think this would be hard, since I’m pretty good at ignoring various other sorts of pain, but the back pain is my nemesis. So! a project.

Just what I needed.

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My Plan for the day is to find something non-threatening to eat after I’ve finished my nice mug o’peppermint, then go back to Steve’s office and get some writing done.

I have in my in-box two letters from the law firm representing writers in the Antropic settlement, replying to mine of several weeks ago. It looks like I’ll need to get Madame the Agent involved on account of Steve being dead like he is. I’ll look at those again when I’m feeling a little more the Thing.

So, that’s caught us all up. The cats, I believe, are in Steve’s office, and I — am going to make another cup of peppermint tea and a piece of toast, and go join them.

And how’re y’all doing today?

Sunny Friday with embroidery and glasswork

What went before: Finished embroidering my shirt:

Friday. Sunny and coolish.

Slept late because went to bed ditto. Woke up with a backache, because of course I did.

So my glassworking teacher came out and said last night that I had chosen a very difficult design, but that was good, because I could be an Example for the rest of the class. Which I guess is a thing you never outgrow.

Those who have been following along will perhaps recall that I broke the starfish twice while I was cutting it, the second time much less catastrophically than the first. I took what remained of that sheet of glass to class to see if I could be taught better.

The teacher took the glass and the pattern and broke the starfish three times during scoring, all worse than my second attempt, so! keeping my second attempt in the design.

I also learned last night that something that I had subconsciously been depending on — that any errors in scoring could be adjusted in the grinding stage — was … optimism. Apparently, grinding is only for roughing up the edges so the foil will stick, and not a fix for shoddy cutting.

Homework is attaching the foil to all the pieces, which I’ve already forgotten how that’s supposed to go, but that is, after all, why Google gave us Youtube.

I finished reading The Women last night, and am cleansing my palate with Blind Date with a Werewolf before going on to Remarkably Bright Creatures.

I have taken naproxen and baclofen, which is somewhat nerve-wracking, since the last time I had back pain severe enough to hit the drugs I wound up in the ER (because the drugs didn’t work on the pain though they made me plenty sick, and the shot of steroids administered by the clinic kicked my blood pressure into the stratosphere, so not doing that again). So far, neither drugs, nor ice, nor heat seem to be helping, so my next act will be to clean the cat boxes while I can still bend over, and then try to figure out what I can do to keep the pain in the region of “uncomfortable,” the goal being to not wind up, weeping, in the Command Chair.

Standing up and sorta leaning into my desk isn’t actually uncomfortable, so I may work on the Sekrit Project, if I can’t think of anything to do that will actually mitigate the pain. Clearly, wrapping a zillion small pieces of glass in foil is not an option.

Tali has been sitting on me when I sit or lie down, and purring, while Rook takes up a station in the same room. Firefly is off-duty and sleeping in the sunshine in my office.

So! How’s Friday treating you?