Valerean

Here's something you might not know about my novel series tricks: I get photographs made of body models (people that I think look like my main characters) and keep them in my series notebook to look at while describing them. These are also good memory jogs when I'm writing as to what that particular character looks like. Before my arthritis got severe I used to sketch and paint them. I don't know any other writer who does this. The Iris throw is coming along nicely, but I'm also doing a mini side project. I do not like boucle yarns, as they're fuzzy and crinkly and the stitch definition when I crochet them is absolute crap. So of course as the most contrary person on the face of the planet I'm currently experimenting with three boucle yarns (two in colors I really dislike) to get over myself and see if I can make them into something useful and attractive. Last night I deconstructed an ivory canvas bag for my Feburary tote, and now I'm lining...

To get started on the February tote for my calendar project I pulled the vintage scraps I've been collecting along with a bigger tote bag than I usually use for these type projects to serve as the foundation. I don't recall where I got it (probably in a lot of thrifted fabric), but I'm not going to do a lot of embroidery or any beading on this one, so I figured I'd have time to do a bigger tote. One of the handles was stained, so I decided to wash it first. It's canvas, so no problem, right? Yes, well. The stain unfortunately did not come out in the wash. The tote, however, ripped itself apart. I can salvage some of it to use for scrap, but otherwise it's a total loss. That will teach me to assume canvas doesn't need to be hand washed. I'm starting over with a smaller but clean and hopefully sturdier canvas tote. Wish me luck. :)

The other night I noticed I made a pretty large mistake in the throw I was crocheting. I made it two hours before I noticed it, in fact, which meant if I wanted to correct it I would have to rip out two and a half very long rows. My other choice was to keep going and hope it wouldn't be noticeable. I'm not lazy. I ripped out two hours of work to fix the mistake. I didn't curse myself for making it. Back at the end of November I completely wrecked myself and the holiday projects I'd planned by spraining a finger while taking a shower. At the time I was working on, of all things, a silly little dollar store crochet kit. Honestly, it was a bit of a relief not to have to work on holiday projects so much. I splinted up my finger and did the best I could for the rest of the holidays. I didn't kick myself for the accident. I made this crochet bear from baby blanket yarn, and misread the pattern, so it turned out like I'd given it thalidomide. My fi...

Watching the Chinese racing romantic drama Speed and Love took a while for me, frankly, because aside from the length (29 episodes) the storyline had an abrupt disjointed remaking of itself about two-thirds of the way through which almost ruined it for me. I came away thinking someone majorly messed with the script at that point to make the series something else, and it suffered a lot because of it. The premise is the story of two non-blood-related siblings Jiang Mu (Esther Yu) a pampered little girl, and Jin Zhao (He Yu), an abandoned boy who becomes her older brother. Mu's parents get divorced, and her dad and Jin Zhao move to Thailand. As soon as she grows up, Mu heads to Thailand to find her brother, who is now a really handsome thug who races cars and fights in underground boxing matches. The attraction between them abruptly shifts from siblings to lovers, and then Mu learns that Zhao is risking his life in dangerous races for very noble reasons. Up to the point wh...

I started watching a video on YouTube by a woman warning other women over 50 about what not to wear. Sometimes these fashion no-nos are funny, but this time it really annoyed me so much I shut it down after only a couple minutes. Why do women always try to establish rules to make other women feel bad when they're doling out advice? I'm a be comfortable, live-and-let-live non-fashionista. My wardrobe is basically jeans, sweat pants, leggings and oversize t-shirts, all of which I thrift now. I do have a few dusters and dresses I can wear for formal occasions, but I don't have to deal with many of those any more. I could care less about what other people, especially other women, think of what I wear. That said, I also have some opinions. I think a lot of women of a certain age (why can't we just say older women?) try to cling to their long-lost youth with how they dress. I know someone in RL (who shall remain nameless) who is my age but dresses like she's ...

Last night I finished the embroidery on my January tote, which due to my diminished dexterity took a couple weeks. I think I'll have to be a little less ambitious with embroidering in the future. It's actually a little easier to see the stitching from the back. :) I'm quite happy with it, although I have only three days left for the beading. Hopefully I can wrap it up before February 1st, but if I go over a few days it's okay. I don't think the calendar project police will throw me in jail. :) Added on February 1st: Going right down to the wire, I finished beading, lining and assembling the tote at 11pm on January 31st. I am very happy I completed such am ambitious design, especially considering how messed up my hands have been with all the winter arthritis flares. I'll probably try something a bit simpler for February's tote. :)

I finally watched all 36 episodes of the Chinese office romance drama series Shine on Me , which really did teach me more than I ever wanted to know about the photovoltaics industry. It also does qualify as one of the slowest of slow-burn romances with one major misunderstanding, a bunch of minors, and a very odd secondary romantic plotline that still seems a bit enigmatic, and that is something the Chinese are definitely not known for at all, so there you go. Song Wei Long did a fantastic job as Lin Yu Sen, a former neurosurgeon and member of a high-powered family, who is haunted by the accident that ended his career. He blames Nie Xi Guang (Zhao Jin Mai), the beautiful daughter of another high-powered family, for the accident, as he was going to meet her when the crash happened. This is the major misunderstanding, btw, and it's kind-sorta plausible, although it casts Nie Xi Guang in an unfavorable light for rather too long. Meanwhile, Xi Guang has this whole other un...

Anyone who embroiders and loves history like me has heard of the Bayeux Tapestry. An embroidered length of linen that is 20 inches wide and nearly 230 feet long, the tapestry dates back to the 11th century, within a few years of when William, Duke of Normandy, invaded England and became king. Technically it's not a tapestry, but an embroidered cloth, but everyone just calls it that, so okay. Tubi has a free to watch documentary about the conservation and research being done on this marvelous and mysterious artifact, so of course I jumped right on that. The documentary is absolutely fascinating. I had no idea the French and other researchers were actively researching the tapestry, or what they've been able to accompish. Seeing the tapestry in its original colors was stunning. So was the fact that these folks have managed to save a cloth that is basically a thousand years old, and one of the oldest embroidered works still in existence and intact. The only down side for...

I seem to be in the mood for a mystery binge, as I thrifted a copy of Real Murders by Charlaine Harris (the author of the books that inspired HBO's True Blood .) I'm not a huge fan of mysteries, but I do like this author, who is a very accomplished and quite readable writer. The premise: a small town librarian, Aurora Teagarden belongs to a club of townspeople who study and discuss true crime, and as she's preparing to take her turn in presenting a case she discovers the body of one of their members, a victim of a copycat murder. One by one the members start dying, and Aurora must solve the mystery while being romanced by a handsome cop and a suspicious novelist and dodging at least one attempt on her life. My thoughts: it's a fairly generic mystery, but well-written enough to keep me engaged. I kept stumbling over the protagonist's overornate name in the text, so that didn't work for me (that's my problem; I am very picky about names.) I also tho...

To start off 2026 I finished the fifth and final project of 2025 for my day job almost exactly at midnight on New Year's Eve. I crocheted a big beautiful basket out of scrap variegated yarn to hold some thrifted skeins I want to work with in January. I crocheted a shelf liner basket out of thrifted bulky yarn to hold my blood glucose log and testing supplies. I completed my first big crochet project for 2026, this throw made from seven skeins of thrifted Mandala Ombre yarn in Serene, which really set the right tone for the year. Among other things during my annual spring cleaning I got my home office sorted, tidied up and reorganized. I discovered how many emotional support chickens I can crochet out of bulky and super bulky yarn in one night: three! I made a big beautiful crocheted basket out of variegated yarn in colors I'd likely never otherwise use plus some white to hold some yarn for Valentine's Day projects. Finally with one hour to sp...

My plan to have a no-spend year got off to a non-start when my health insurance premiums only increased $200.00 for January and February*. Hopefully that remains the case for the months that remain until I go on Medicare later in the year. Although I had no reason (yet) to curtail my spending, I still watched every penny, and did not spend as I usually do. Aside from the $418.23 I spent on food and medications, books for research for my day job (didn't think about that) pet supplies (ditto), and Sunpass funds for our car's transponder ($50.00 which was reimbursed by my guy), I spent $90.31 on yarn and fabric (I should note that half of that was paid in cash with money I'd saved from last Christmas.) Compare that ninety bucks to the nearly $2K I paid out in December for gifts, yarn bargains and other non-necessities, and I'd say I did a fair job in reducing my spending. What I discovered is that it's really difficult not to spend money. Even though by using c...

I'm currently watching the Chinese office romance drama series Shine on Me , which may teach you more than you ever wanted to know about the photovoltaics industry, and has possibly the slowest of slow-burn romances with a side of worrisome complications and major misunderstandings, but weirdly I didn't mind. It's nice to see Song Wei Long acting as a modern romantic male lead again versus all the historical and SF stuff he's been doing, as I think the former is where he shines best. Disclaimer: he's one of my favorite Chinese actors. Zhao Jin Mai plays one of the most realistic and grounded of rich-girl female leads I've seen in a while, and unlike most she's not super scrubbed clean or annoyingly wonderful. Both lead characters have emotional problems and (admittedly minor) character flaws, and the series isn't hesitant about showing that at all. I'm about two-thirds of the way through the 36 episodes, and I'll have more to talk ab...

While my guy and I were out wandering last week we stopped in the new Wildwood Antiques in Lakesquare Mall (which we also walked), and I used some of my leftover Christmas money to pick up a blind date with a book. I've been a little frustrated with myself over how slow I am at getting things finished this month, so I needed a little fun. I've bought several of these mystery bundles from the same seller and they're always good. I also like the little extras tucked in the packaging. This bundle was $8.00. Two Catherine Anderson novels! I do know of her (she got into the business about ten years before I did) but I've never had the chance to read her work. Now I will. :)

My spring cleaning is going so well I'm way ahead of schedule with that; last night I knocked out the sewing room in a few hours. I'm trying to keep myself restricted to having just one week of posts written and ready to publish for the blog, but I'm a day ahead of that as well. I think the new blog is helping me with my excessive need for online journaling. It's been fun coming up with posts just about crochet over there. A small yarn lot I thrifted came with 26 hanks of needlepoint yarn, and I don't own any at all, so I'll have to come up with an embroidery project or two for that. Another reason I'm so productive is the completely unexpected happiness that 2026 has brought me. I knew having our nephew living with us would be a delight, as the three of us get along perfectly, but it's turned out to be even better than I imagined. He's like a son to us, and such a good houseguest. My guy is so happy that he's here and they can wor...

I was cruising through my photo archives and wondered what I did during January over the past few years. In 2025 I also made a big beautiful basket out of scrap yarn -- obviously one of my favorite projects to crochet. In January 2024 I was working on an art quilted tote much like the one I'm making now for my calendar project, too. 2023 saw me repairing this Fabscrap sample sweater in January, which I later donated to the church thrift as I don't often wear sweaters. I have some trousers I thrifted that I'll probably alter this month, too. Finally in 2022 I took these two pieces from a cut-up crazy quilt and repaired them to make a pretty mat holder for my vintage brooches. I have another damaged crazy quilt piece that I want to use to cover some gift and storage boxes this month.s I often do the same projects over and over, I admit, which may seem boring. I am limited on the complexity of projects I take on; they usually involve making something usef...

It's January 15th as of the writing of this post, and once again I've gotten almost two weeks ahead of myself on blog posts. Like spending money, it's hard to stop journaling, especially since January has been such a nice month. Last night I finished adding some trims to my January calendar tote, and today I'm going to start the embroidery. I didn't think I had much in the way of pretty threads to use for this project in the color scheme, but actually I do -- mostly specialty, but what the heck. This is special. :) After the embroidery (which I am planning to keep simple) I'll get into the beading phase, which is the most fun for me, then sew up the tote and add the lining. I'm really happy with how this first tote for my 2026 calendar project is turning out, too. Onward!

I often find patterns for quilting projects online at quilter's web sites and blogs, but only recently have I started looking at fabric sites. I was kind of blown away by how many free patterns are out there to be downloaded and printed out for free from these sites. Art Gallery Fabrics has a very nice collection of free patterns , including this one for a Sunshine Kisses quilt by Katie Skoog. I've always wanted to make one of these diagonal rectangle quilts, the Cobblestone pattern for which I found over at Robert Kaufman Fabrics among the almost two thousand pages of free patterns. I fell in love at first sight with this Office Cats pattern by Wendy Sheppard over at Windham Fabrics free quilt pattern collection , which also offers many filters to help refine the results for what you're searching for. When companies are selling lines of fabric prints they often offer free patterns as an enticement for quilters to buy the fabric. So if you're looking f...