Tuesday, April 14, 2020

swish and flick

this is my wand for the Letters From Hogwarts Stitch-Your-Own-Adventure...

the wood that i was trying to emulate is beetle kill pine
when i looked for examples of beetle kill pine
 i found this 
and lottsa pictures of furniture that has been made from the lumber that has been harvested from our mountain forests
 which used to be gorgeous greens, but are now stained with hundreds of thousands of the red skeletons of pines the killing beetles have left behind...

anywho...
the current governor of our great state gives a COVID-19 update almost daily
and sometimes i listen to him 
if the tv happens to be on and i happen to be in the same room
which i was the other day
he stands behind a lectern and presents a PowerPoint slideshow
that shows the numbers of those infected
which is misleading, since testing is by doctor-authorized prescription and performed only on those who are presenting symptoms because, big surprise, there aren't enough tests
or the capacity to process the tests that there are - just sayin'
and those hospitalized
and those in ICU
and those who have died...
it's disturbing and i try to not listen
especially when he says, "Next slide, please"
because it sounds like he's saying, "Next lie, please"
it's true - try saying those words quickly and see if you don't hear the same thing
sometimes we hear what we hear, even if we don't want to hear it...

anywho...
the other day when he was saying
we're all in this together
 we will get through this if we stay home
 and practice social distancing
 and wear our masks
i looked up and saw this...
screen grab from Channel 7 news

and then focused in on this...



the lectern has beetle kill pine panels!!!

yep, that was my take away - which is pretty doggone cool, innit?!?

and that's the look that i was going for when i stitched my wand

the floss is DMC 4065 morning meadow and it is backstitched with DMC 898 very dark coffee brown

and i really, really like it!!!


What's comin' will come, an' we'll meet it when it does.
Hagrid in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Monday, April 6, 2020

i solemnly swear

that i am up to no good...

we've listened to all seven of the Harry Potter and the Fill In The Blank books 
and this is how much i've stitched...
in 117 hours and four minutes, give or take a minute or two...

liberties have been taken with the original design, lemmetellya

i've changed the castle
 and the wand
 and Chapter One's banner

and i'm gonna change the top border's owls 
and Chapter Two's quidditch 
and the bottom border's letters

and that's okay cuz this IS a Stitch Your Own Adventure

so far the stitching has been a lotta fun!!!

I am what I am, an' I'm not ashamed. 'Never be ashamed', my ol' dad used ter say, 'There's some who'll hold it against you, but they're not worth botherin' with.'
Hagrid in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire