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Live, Laugh, Love

Until now, I have had only patterns available on my GameCrafts store. I have decided to stitch some pieces to sell as well, with any free time I have to make them in. For my first one, I’ve designed a custom pattern to fit a frame I purchased with the standard “Live, Laugh, Love” saying beneath three windows. I have been nostalgic for Donkey Kong Country recently, so I’ve planned to have an extra life balloon on the “Live” frame, a goofy Rambi (Rhino) for “Laugh,” and the pair of DK and Diddy for “Love.” The biggest challenge for this one isn’t the pattern, it’s the size! To make it fit the frame with the level of detail I wanted, I am stitching single squares on 28 count evenweave. This will make your head hurt! See my starting stitches, with my thumb for scale:
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And the finished balloon:
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Update 8/17/12: Finished!!
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GameCrafts is on!

After a long week of commuting and classes, I decided to start an Etsy store, GameCrafts! There isn’t much on there yet, just a few cross stitch patterns I created today. It seems to have a fair bit of traffic, over 80 views today, so I’ll just hope that someone interested in buying a pattern will find it. I will also put completed items on there, not just patterns, whenever I have time to make something.

I have also updated the “Crafts” tab on this page with pictures of some of my favorite projects. Check them out!

Here’s an update on school, now that I’m a week in. I ended up adding a discrete math class, so I have had a lot more work to do than I thought I would. Everything’s been easy enough so far; I am learning a lot though. I also think I really want to continue with a Master’s degree. It may be a little early in the game to commit to 2 more years of school, but after talking with my advisor, I think I’ll be able to finish my background courses in a year, which means I either seek employment or continue school, and school sounds pretty good right now. I definitely plan to do well enough in my classes to make an impression, either at Texas State or UT, so here’s to hoping the rest of the program goes as well as the first week has.

In other news, Tasha got a hair cut this week. Exhibit A, and B:
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First Post, First Day of Grad School!

tx-stateWelcome to my new blog. Today was another big day in a series of big days. Friday was my last day as a teacher, Saturday was my brother-in-law’s wedding (hooray!), Sunday I got quite sick with a cold and had to drive three hours back from the wedding (maybe not as life changing, but certainly notable), and today was my first day of graduate school! I’m only taking one class this summer, so I don’t really feel like I’ve returned to student-dom yet.

In case you haven’t heard my master plan and care to, I’m studying computer science to hopefully develop music software. I still plan to compose/arrange, and if that turns into something of its own, that would be ideal. In the meantime, I hope programming will keep me employed until either I become rich and famous, or raise my future family. This blog will keep you up to date with my latest crazy project, instruments, etc., and take you along with me on my meandering path toward sanity. Won’t you join me? I know I have no idea where I’ll end up; should be fun. 🙂