disalarming

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This is by far the simplest cross stitching project I have completed, but it might just be my favorite. I love the message of “Hope Dream Wish Believe.” The dandelions look great throughout the piece; the different shapes and sizes add detail to such a simple design. The fact that the silhouette is making a wish on a dandelion looks absolutely perfect, too.

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

I definitely got the quiet, relaxing summer I hoped for back in May. I think I may have gotten a little too much of this particular type of summer, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Here are some of the few things I accomplished in the last few months:

• Failed my self-assigned summer reading
  To be fair, it was a very ambitious summer reading list, especially as I don’t read as much as I’d like to anymore. I didn’t fail it altogether, though. I did reread all seven of the Harry Potter novels, read three quarters of the complete works of Sarah Dessen, and read two of the books in Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series. I just didn’t read any of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares or A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.
• Did lots of crafting
  Those of you that followed my blog this summer will know about my various ventures into crafting. Sewing, knitting, cross stitching… I dabbled in lots of it this summer and have a lot of finished products to show for my work. It was definitely a way to increase my summer productivity!
• Actually began writing a novel
  Longtime readers of this blog will remember a few casual mentions of “my novel” here and there. This summer, I finally got around to actually writing it and even launching my online writing portfolio, amandaosborn.com.
• Failed to find a job
  I talked about how it sucked to be unemployed in May, and unfortunately I wasn’t able to find a job for the summer due to the increasingly poor job market. However, being unemployed this past summer wasn’t all bad. I made conscious efforts to not spend money unless absolutely necessary, and I was able to spend time doing things I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to, like crafting and writing.
• Experimented more with cooking
  I’ve always loved cooking, and for a portion of this summer, it was my job to do the cooking and making sure no one in my house starved to death. I had lots of successes, like my seafood paella, red velvet cake, and mac and cheese. I had one disaster where a carrot cake turned into a carrot souffle… but I’d rather not talk about that

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

After some “sneak peaks” here, here, and here, I am proud to announce that my Celestial Gathering by cross stitch project is finally complete.

The sun, moon, planet, stars, and borders were all done in a cross stitch, while the constellations, galaxy, and other background detailing were done in a half cross stitch. Outlining was done in a backstitch, and the little dotted stars were done with French knots.

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but damn, this looks amazing.

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

This past Saturday, May 23, was May’s day for Every Hour on the Hour (EHOTH), a monthly event hosted/run by Vegetarian Option. Essentially, you take pictures every hour on the hour of your day to give a visual representation of what it is like a day in the life. Here are my EHOTH photos for May!

First thing of the day is to brush my teeth and wash my face, of course. I use the Proactiv line for my facial cleansing, Clinique’s moisture surge for my facial moisturizer, and Neutrogena’s Norwegian Formula for my body moisturizer, in case anyone was wondering.

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Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

Well, I was all set to post my photos for Vegetarian Option‘s Every Hour on the Hour, but it seems WordPress decided against that. So, here is my plan B for today!

I started cross stitching in July 2008. I’ve always been into crafts like sewing and knitting, and I decided that cross stitching would be fun to learn. I started out small, with little projects so I could get the hang of the whole thing, and I found that I really liked cross stitching, even more than I liked knitting! I decided to branch out with a “bigger” project in November 2008, and I slowly worked away on it during my winter break. And ta-da! It’s finished, and is just waiting to be framed. I’m so proud of it!

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.