Sew Dance

 Clearly I haven't been posting too much. Lots of other things I'm doing and not as much crafting. As it's colder and I won't overheat from crocheting. I put Royal Games II away. I'm about halfway done with the stitching. Made these three Halloween shelf sitters. Using the anniversary cakes, made this blanket. I'm currently working on another one in brown and red. And this is the Western Skies afghan that's been in my stash since before I moved. And Clyde:

I haven't updated in a while. Oops. Started with Cirque des Circles. Switched over to Once Upon a Fairytale for a while. I was stitching along and got to an 09 in the blue which looked odd. So I ripped out most of the 09 I had already done and restitched. By that point I wasn't into the pattern anymore. Started a new one Lord Melton the Stitching Dragon. I didn't get very far because of all the quarter stitches plus being somewhat braindead that week didn't mix. So onto RTO's Tango. Worked on this for about two weeks while trying to finish the latest draft of a script. Finished the draft and now want to work on something else. So I picked up Royal Games I just now. Also got a dragon on a spellbook. Rather large at 18x18.  

I'm finished with the DMC on my mermaid. I have four caron waterlilies and four Kreinik #4 braids to add before backstitching and then beads! Lots and lots of beads.  

Her top half is done, minus specialty threads and beads. Also was asked to make two baby blankets, so I did those this week. Back to writing. I'm a little stuck on one piece, but started another. Hopefully something will jog loose for my other projects.

Had to change projects a few times this week. Started with Dragon Carousel which I had been working on for a while. I got bored and tired of dealing with blending filaments. Picked up Fox for a day. But the thread is a wool/acrylic blend and I felt a little itchy. So far Bluebeard's Princess is keeping my attention. And here's Clyde.  

So, clearly I haven't been keeping this blog up on a weekly basis lately. I've been writing and doing other things at my computer rather than watching TV and crafting. I did however just about finish the first page on Dragon Writer. And I cut out the fabric for the dress. Most of it's sewn but currently in a bit of a ball. I'll get around to finishing it eventually. But this is how I laid out my pattern using my figurines as weights.  

Someone wanted a snowlady like the one my mom had on her desk, so I made one. Nose came out cuter than the original. And here's the current progress on Dragon Writer. You can see one of the books on the shelves.  

 I've mostly been writing, not a lot of crafting, but I made my parents matching hats for Christmas and the ball for Clyde. Also made one ornament for the tree. Had to have a new one. And I started on a dragon shawl. Lots and lots of crocodile stitches...   Lots of photos of Clyde in the past month.   Silly kitty.

So, I have been working on something. Just a bit. Page 3 of Dragon Dancer. I'm rather entrenched in NaNoWriMo this year. With nothing else to do and an expansion of my 2017 novel, I'm just under 78,000 words at the moment. That is the most I've ever written on one story. And it's not done. Even if I finish the first draft by the end of the month, I'm not entirely certain this won't be split into two books as I add scenes and descriptions I've skipped during this draft.  I know I'm not reaching one of my beginning of the year goals of publishing. The story I thought I could do that with became a bit difficult with Covid and the fact that the beginning period was supposed to be taking place this year. I'll hold off on it. Maybe another time. Or turn it into a screenplay. It might work better if I don't have to fill in every detail of the late 1950s. I can let set design and costuming take care of that.

Did you miss my weekly updates? I was dancing around my living room, caught my foot on something on the floor and fell backwards onto my butt and the heel of my left hand. Didn't really hurt at first, but I did something to my forearm near my elbow, over my radius. Needless to say crafting was out for the week as it hurt. Crochet and knitting is still out for the foreseeable future just so I'm not twisting it unnecessarily.  Luckily I'm able to cross stitch. I can also finally share the video I was working on most of the month. The recipient loved it and quote tweeted me. :) Also made this one, while waiting for his birthday.

So apparently I've been doing everything but stitching this week. Very little progress on Alcazar Castle.   Instead I put two wooden puzzle kits together. The carousel spins. And I made another video. Today I played around with After Effects and created a fireworks display for a video that's more of a commission. Might have to roll the dice again as the castle isn't holding my attention. I do need to get yarn for a commissioned afghan, but haven't quite gotten to the store yet. The Leverage Reboot starts filming tomorrow (officially, not sure if they did anything beyond the table read last week) and it's been making me happy for a month. Thus the videos. 

I had to redo the top left corner because I had messed up on the brown quarter circle. Wasn't that interested in the colors after I redid them. Dice brought up Alcazar of Segovia Castle. A new start. But my focus this week was other projects. One, I got to my 45 page goal for my spec script. Now I just wait for the reboot to see how much I have to change. And I made two Leverage videos. So... Keeping some skills needed for my 2nd career choice from rusting. Bonus if you made it this far, Clyde.