Who Are the Cylons in Outlander?

When I moved into my current house, I decided to forego a giant cable package and bought a ROKU box instead. I haven't regretted the decision, as I've been able to catch shows that I can't watch on the box via other means.  Honestly, I haven't missed cable. Most of what I had watched was pure trash, like the Real Housewives shows, or I watched the same shows repeatedly. Now I've been catching up--and adding to--my list on Netflix and haven't looked back.

I've also taken advantage of free previews from Showtime and Starz. I binged two seasons of Penny Dreadful and am currently making my way through Outlander. I had attempted reading the book and it hadn't drawn me in like it had much of the fandom. I figured binging would be quicker than trudging through a book that I was marginally interested in, because with watching TV I could also work on my many crafting projects.

As I watched the first few episodes, I realized that the narration was not only the problem I had with the book but with the show as well. Claire narrates a lot. Most of her narration is heavy with her feelings, with how she needed to return back to 1945 from 1743, as if the action did not make these things obvious at all.

Really, who would want to stay in 1743? I understand that 1945 is no joy, but at least the clean-up from WW2 has started. 1945 has electricity, running water, and more comfortable clothes. 1743 has none of those things and corsets. Corsets! I do not envy Claire her task. Get back to 1945, girl! And stop that infernal narration!

http://battlestarfanclub.com/photo/portanida-bsg-episode-cast
(The real Moore is third from the right; the random Moore is the far right.)

Enough of the plot. When I was watching the opening credits in one episode, I noticed a name--Ronald D. Moore. Where had I heard that name before? That's right! Portlandia! In the Season 2 episode "One Moore Episode," the main characters hunt down Ronald D. Moore to write one more episode of Battlestar Galactica after they finished binge watching the show. It's the same guy! Except they find a random Ronald D. Moore and hijinks ensue.


I started thinking about Battlestar Galactica. I was surprised that I liked it because I am so picky about science fiction. But then I noticed something interesting, something the shows had in common.

http://www.gamesradar.com/battlestar-galactica-movie/

https://latfusa.com/article/2016/3/first-look-poster-step-inside-outlander-season-two/

It's The Last Supper Layout! One has sexy space people and robot assassins, the other has powdered wigs on Scots and murderous Sassenachs! Red dress front and center! Lots of side-eye in both posters! Suspicion....

So, who are the Cylons in Outlander? The English? Definitely Black Jack Randall. Claire? Possibly. It could explain her time travel.  I'll probably have more ideas as I watch more episodes.

Finished Object: Route 66 by Little House Needleworks

Little House Needleworks has a variety of different types of patterns, though Diane does have a certain style that can be seen in all patterns regardless of topic. I'm usually drawn to her houses and samplers, but I did like the "Route 66" pattern when I saw it! I loved the vintage car and trailer that harkened back to the days before Interstates.

I finished the design into a pillow. I used Route 66 fabric for the piping around the pillow and a blue travel motif fabric for the back. Both were from previous projects I had finished.

For this pattern I used Newport Antique White/Khaki Linen on 28 count. I liked the fabric because it reminded me of a picnic table cloth, but then a fellow stitcher pointed out that it looked like the grid on a map. What an even better idea!

I only converted two colors.
DMC 597 --> Gentle Arts Tutti Frutti
DMC 603 --> Classic Colorworks Pink Champagne

I did make other changes in design elements due to the fabric. Most notable is the change in border from cream to yellow. I did this to mimic the lines seen on two-lane highways. I also finished the United States with full cross-stitches instead of the half the pattern suggests. With 28-ct fabric, too much white was showing through.

I finished the design into a pillow. I used Route 66 fabric for the piping around the pillow and a blue travel motif fabric for the back. Both were from previous projects I had finished.

Finished Object: Pin Money Pocket 2015 Limited Edition by Summer House Stitche Workes

Samplers and projects inspired by the 18th century are among my favorite patterns. I love the look of antique-inspired stitching accessories, especially if I can have a hand in creating them. I bought this lovely pattern from my LNS after the Nashville Needlework Market showcased this Limited Edition for 2015! If there is one lesson I learned from stitching is it would be to buy a pattern I like when I first see it because it may not be there the next time! (I've had several disappointments over the past year because of that!) 

This project came will all of the supplies needed, and each kit was slightly different. The ribbon and fabric for the exterior varied according to the kit, but each were perfect for the 18th-century inspired pattern. 

Minimal sewing was required to finish this project. If you can sew a pillow, then this is an easy project! 

Photo of Exterior

Photo of Interior

"Around the World in 80 Days" by Little House Needleworks

I did make some changes in the speciality threads, substituting what I had in my supply that was similar or using a different color to show better on the fabric.  Instead of Crescent Colours Desert Mesquite, I used Poblano Pepper. My dye lot of Desert Mesquite was too close to Weeks Dye Works Juniper to have any contrast with the grass. The dye lot I had was much different than what was shown on the model. Instead of Crescent Colours Eggshell, I used Weeks Dye Works Parchment. Instead of Crescent Colours Manor Red, I used Weeks Dye Works Brick.

This pattern also had quite a bit of errata, probably the most I've ever had in one pattern. Luckily the corrections can be found on Little House Needlework's website.

Life Changes

I was a bit embarrassed when I came back to this blog and realized I hadn't posted in nearly 18 months. Those months have been chaotic and unsure at moments, but wonderful and uplifting at others. Regardless, I've made some major life changes that I've been quite happy with.

I made a decision nearly three years ago to change the course I was headed on. I had a wake-up call in the form of two very dear friends who called me on my BS right before Christmas break. I went home, spent time with my family, but more importantly spent time with myself, rethinking my priorities. For a long time I let my job as a high school teacher in a low-income area define my worth as a person. I'd go months without seeing my family who lived three hours away, on the other side of the state. I was unhappy and isolated. I received very little validation from my job and much criticism on little things I wasn't doing right (like submitting lesson plans five minutes late). I took out my anger on those closest to me, and they were finally fed up with me.

Of course, once I made the decision to move, that wasn't the end of the matter. I still had a house to sell in a market that wasn't the best, and I am a Planner. I am not spontaneous. I think too much. So, I decided that I was going to move in 18 months--finish out the remainder of that school year and one more so I could pack and sell the house, save some money. Even with that decision made, I still had fights with depression. It would take another moment, in my home-town Cracker Barrel, to realize that just making the decision wasn't going to be enough, that I'd need help, and I made the decision to find a therapist to help me set my mind back on the path forward.

I won't say that the last year at that particular job was easy, because being a high school teacher is never easy. I went about writing a resume, applying for jobs, and networking online to find a social studies position closer to family all while trying to sell an unsellable house. Not signing a contract that year was a load off my shoulders in regard to one job, but it was also scary. I had never been unemployed in my entire adult life. I spent ten years at that school, collected some wonderful memories (I don't want to appear that it was all miserable, because it wasn't), made some wonderful friends, and learned a lot about people and my profession.

So, in August of 2013, which was my last post here, I was at a crossroads. My house had not sold. Despite interviews, I did not have a job. I was disheartened, especially after an interview where, ten minutes in, I realize that the principal had already picked his candidate and I was just there to fill in numbers. (The clue was that he didn't want to talk about my teaching philosophy, but my time spent in England. Did I go to soccer games?) My friends were going back to work, and I was not. I had a house, but in the wrong town.

Finally, my dad calls and asks when I'm moving up, forcing my hand. (Someone had to.) I moved most of my belongings to my brother's house, where for a month I did nothing but cross-stitch and watch television. I visited friends I hadn't seen in a long time. I spent time with my family, especially my niece and nephew. I applied for substitute teaching jobs, thinking that would get my feet in the door. Eventually I landed in a long-term teaching position in a middle school, which could have turned into a permanent position if only I had been English certified. At the end of that job, I ended up interviewing in another district for the position I currently hold.

The last three years have been full of ups and downs, but I feel like I've finally landed on my feet. I have a job (albeit teaching eighth-grade varsity--9th grade), I have a new house, and things are looking up.

I hope to post more, especially my many finished projects from 2014.

Finished Object: Sarah Ann Wilcox Sampler

Lately I've been motivated to finish some cross-stitch projects before I begin any new ones. I'm not always successful, but after two years, I finally finished this one!

Yes, two years! Two years ago I last posted my progress here after five weeks on the Sarah Ann Wilcox reproduction sampler. This is the finished project:

Genealogy: Storing Negatives

For the past several years I've been sifting through old family photos and trying to make some sense of them. I've scanned them into the computer, labelled them, and made a spreadsheet of information. For the most part, I've tried to keep them in the books in which I found them. In most cases, I have duplicates spread across three books, but I know from experience with my own photos that my descendants are going to be having the same problem as they sift through my boxes.

In the digital age, negatives are no longer an issue. Film is no longer an issue. Anyone can print a photo  on their home printer, or they can share it through any number of social networking sites. When dealing with pictures from the 1920s through the 1990s, negatives are just a fact of life.

I was blessed with a grandmother who was meticulous in labeling photographs. Most of the photos have her handwriting on the back, with names, dates, and locations. Duplicates were given the same care. She placed negatives behind the photos in case a copy was ever needed, and most of these negatives were the same size as the picture.

In an effort to preserve some of the pictures, I've moved them to better albums with acid-free paper. The negatives I've moved as well, labeling them with the number and placing them in special, archival-safe plastic sleeves.

Much better! (The label colors have no meaning.) I found the negative sleeves on Amazon.com. They come in different sizes for differing types of negatives. 

Genealogy: What Not to Do When Making a Photo Book

About two Christmases ago I received a promotion from Shutterfly for a free Photo Book, 8X8, hardcover. These can generally run $29 for a basic book, so of course I took advantage of the opportunity. The first one I made for my dad included pictures from his family. Appropriately, I named it "Cook Family Album." 

Except in one place. Do you notice it? 

That's right. THE SPINE. According to the spine, we're part of the Johnson family. I didn't notice this until I had placed an order for the third copy of the book.

So, word to the wise, when you go to make your album on any site, make sure to check the spine.

Update: Paula Vaughan's "Thoughts of Spring"

I just noticed that I never updated my progress pictures of "Thoughts of Spring." I finished it in time to gift it to my mother for Christmas 2012.

I'm currently working on another Paula Vaughan for this Christmas.

Movie Remakes: Star Trek and Jane Austen

I've been a Star Trek fan since I was in middle school. Equal blame falls on my mom and my best friend: my mom bought a boxed set of the movies on VHS, and my best friend was a big The Next Generation fan. I thought TNG was silly (I still do, at times). But The Original Series (TOS)? That was a different story! It was so... cheesy. I liked the special effects that had once been cutting edge. I liked that it was pushing an agenda before the age of political correctness. By the time of TNG--well, I can thank Wil Wheaton for his rather snotty Wesley Crusher in the episode "The Final Mission"--I eventually came to dislike the pushy PC agenda of the show as well as the cruise ship design. The Enterprise-D looked like a space-worthy Caribbean cruise-liner.

As a result of watching TNG and the movies, I got back into watching TOS. To this day it is my favorite of the series, and that's probably due to my background in history. I was excited over the first TNG movie, Star Trek Generations, until I saw it. Since the movie came out years ago, SPOILER ALERT is all you will get, but the movie lost me when they killed Kirk. I was done with the creators of this movie, and I was correct in thinking that because, with the exception of Star Trek: First Contact, the other movies were weak. I was sick of the action around Data and Picard. Ooh, Geordie has new eyes. Riker and Troi? Yep, still taking bubble baths together--and I wish I was making that up.

Imagine my excitement when I heard a new Star Trek movie was being made in 2009, a reboot of TOS! Everything was so secretive, like who was going to make a cameo appearance (Nimoy) and who wasn't (Shatner) because JJ Abrams was directing it. Of course, die-hard Trekkers (I considered myself a Trekkie, which seems to be a less-serious fan) were aghast. Since I never understood the techno-babble and the science, all I required was a good story and a good Doctor McCoy.

And this is what we got. A younger crew, younger even then the characters were when TOS first aired.  And how do we explain away the canon? A rift in the time-space continuum, and they didn't even have to sling themselves around the Sun! And Karl Urban's Dr. McCoy? Yes, please. (He's a doctor, not a physicist.)

The characters are slightly different due to that time rift in the 2009 movie, Starfleet is slightly different, and I find that to be perfectly fine. In fact, this summer's Star Trek: Into Darkness pays the perfect homage to an earlier, classic Trek movie. (Spoilers!)

So, where does Jane Austen come into this? Well, Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books, and the 1995 adaption with Colin Firth is my favorite production. It's perfect in every way, from the language, to the costuming, to Colin Firth in a wet shirt... so I was not too thrilled when I found out Keiera Knightly was going to play Lizzie Bennet. No! She was all wrong. Wrong wrong wrong.

I couldn't help but compare it to the 1995 version, which was a mini-series. It's hard to pack that entire book into roughly two hours, but I was appalled when I saw that Bingley was allowed into Jane's sick-room. That would NOT have been tolerated in Jane Austen's time, and I didn't tolerate it, either.

And this is where Trek comes in. My feelings for this inferior Pride and Prejudice is similar to some people's distaste for the Star Trek reboot. I can more easily understand their intransigence at accepting it, much like I have difficulty in accepting how Matthew MacFadyen's wooden Mr. Darcy could fall for a toothpick with hair.

[You can check out Wil Wheaton at his blog, WIL WHEATON dot NET.  I look forward to each of his appearances on The Big Bang Theory and have forgiven him for looking like Wynona Ryder in one of those Tiger Beat magazines from when I was in ninth grade. We all make mistakes. ]

WIP: American Sampler by Sandy Orton

I've been cross-stitching for a long-time, ever since my seventh-grade home economics project. But within the past few years I've really fallen in love with the idea of the sampler mainly because of the variety of stitches.

I stumbled across Sandy Orton's "American Sampler" about two years ago when I was searching for patterns. I fell in love with it, and luckily for me, it was reprinted in an issue of Cross-Stitch and Needlework Magazine.

This is my current progress on the project. I've been working on it for about a year and a half and picked it up again after a year hiatus. I've prioritized projects that were slated to be gifts, and this project is just for me. 

I've committed myself to finishing it by the end of the year. 

A close-up of a wee man. 

WIP: Paula Vaughan's "Thoughts of Spring"

Normally, when I have a project that is a gift for someone, I won't post pictures of it. Since the giftee has already seen it in progress, I'm not as worried in this case. I just won't post the final picture with all the tedious backstitching on it.

One thing I've done differently with this project is the gridding, a technique I found from one of the Teresa Wentzler boards that I visit. I didn't initially grid the fabric but did it after I discovered a mistake and had to tear a good portion of the armoire out. Several hours of gridding have really saved me a lot of time as discovering a mistake early is MUCH easier when I go in 10 x 10 stitch squares.

This is a progress picture of my attempts to discover the mistake after gridding. The diagonal lines are squares that had no mistakes in them and didn't have to be torn out. Pretty much everything above that had to be torn out and redone.

The time between the second picture and the first picture is about six weeks. I'm pleased with how quickly it's going now that I have little goals to reach.

Sarah Ann Wilcox Sampler WIP Week 5

Another week means another progress picture! I have really enjoyed stitching this one. It has just the right combination of ease and challenge. I also like the use of the over-dyed cotton threads that I've been using as well. (See the first update for the list of threads.) 

This is where I was at by the end of Week Five: 

I'll be doing the one-over-one stitches very last, mostly because they are tedious.

Here is a close-up of the lowest band I've completed. It has a combination of stitches, including satin and eyelet. I love how the satin stitches show off the over-dyed characteristics of the threads! I've really enjoyed seeing how that came out!

William + Kate Royal Wedding FO

I got this cute little pattern from Wee Little Stitches on Etsy. The shop has all kinds of cute little geeky cross-stitch patterns for the geeky stitcher and I LOVE them! (And I'm hoping for a Trek: TOS one day!) I've bought a few of her patterns, and they're quick little stitches that are a nice break from the more intricate ones I've been doing lately. 

This is the Royal Wedding pattern. I stitched it on evenweave I dyed with RIT purple. I was looking for something that was a nice royal hue, and what is more royal than purple? I've dyed a few pieces to date, and I really like the variety I can give myself, because it's very hard to find different colors that aren't the usual ivory and white. 

So, this is the finished product. I made a few changes, such as the hair (I miscounted stitches) and Wills has fewer buttons than the pattern. That's mainly due to the fact that I am incapable of making a demure French Knot. 

Sarah Ann Wilcox Sampler WIP Week 4

This is actually two weeks worth of progress because I skipped a Week 3 progress picture. I also ran out of thread, like the red, brown, and olive, so I had to wait until I was able to get to the needlework shop to pick up some more.  

I was able to finish the house (except for that one window!), and the band of flowers. I actually made a mistake on that row, but it's not as visible as I thought it was. It can probably be picked up on a larger picture. 

The band two below the flowers is going to be  a mixture of eyelet and satin-stitch.

I'm not too worried about the mistakes since this is a reproduction sampler and some of it is a bit "off." It's not symmetrical, so as long as I can fix the mistake through other means, I don't see a point in pulling out my hard work! Besides, this mistake will make the sampler completely mine.

I also love how the over-dyed aspect of the thread comes out in the satin stitch. The directions call for the stitches to be one-thread thick, but because I'm using a larger size cloth (32 ct/inch v. 35 ct/inch) I feel that using two threads gives it a finer look.

The USS Yorktown and My Family Tree

A few weeks ago, I went on a field trip with my Advanced Placement US History class to the Patriot's Point Naval and Maritime Museum, which has a pretty awesome website. If I'm not mistaken, it's playing the theme to The Pacific, which makes sense considering the USS Yorktown was in the Pacific Front during WW2. I've been watching a lot of WW2 documentaries (to the chagrin of my friends, who worry about my mental health watching all this war stuff), and seeing the Yorktown in action is pretty awesome. 

The field trip was cool, and the pictures in this post are from that trip. The students enjoyed themselves,  which is what matters. But I'm going to move on from that trip (because I don't want to violate privacy of the youngsters, they do well enough on Facebook on their own) and talk about my family tree and my first trip to the Yorktown. 

When I was fifteen or thereabouts, my parents took the family to Charleston. I think it was December, and it was very rainy. That is what I remember apart from the fact that my parents took us to Patriot's Point. The only thing I remember is going about the USS Clamagore, a WW2-era submarine, and being petrified of the enclosed space. 

I didn't like it. I don't like sleeping bags because my legs get tangled up, and I can't get out. I don't like submarines. I don't know how anyone on a submarine manages it, and I totally understand why they have to go through psych tests to determine if they're fit enough. That would be one test I wouldn't mind failing. 

Now, this was before the age of the internet, and my parents were intent on figuring out which submarine my great-uncle Ned Charles Cook was on when he went down in WW2. In the middle of the sub is a great room with plaques of the fallen submarines. My memory of the time thinks there was ten, but when I went a few weeks ago. I was wrong. There were at least thirty. This would explain why it took so long to find his name. I just wanted out. OUT! OUT! The sub was closing in, my brother was running around, my sister was probably trying to find a hiding place, and I couldn't breath. But no, I had to stay inside that tin can while my parents systematically looked for his name on thirty different plaques. 

And they finally found it. 

USS Barbel 

Cook, Ned C. 

I was so happy. We could leave now. I could breath sweet, fresh air, and harbor a grudge against my parents for the rest of the weekend and generally act like an ungrateful 15-year old.

Having been back on the sub, it is very much every nightmare I have in reliving my first experience. But, being an adult, I suck it up, quickly move through the ship, and ask everyone else for their photos.

As for the family tree, the internet has afforded a lot more information on Ned Charles Cook, MoMM, and the USS Barbel. I know that if my grandfather had the internet at his disposal while he was working on the family history, my grandmother would have been hard pressed to pull him away from the computer. It is a true labor of love.

Welsh Guard FO

I've gotten a lot of small cross-stich projects out of the way this spring. Some were smaller than others, but I got tired of seeing kits lying around. I don't know why, because I always have a pile of them, but since they were so simple, it was an easy jump to working on them in order to segue from knitting (a winter project) into stitching (a summer project).

This is one of them. I love the Welsh guards--who doesn't see one and doesn't want to make them crack a smile? And the amazing thing is that they don't--even when they're throwing up they still keep marching.



That's dedication that I know I don't have. If I were on the job and needed to throw up, I'm gone. I'm going home and eating toast and drinking tea.

And for those who know me well, no, that is not Dr. Who's TARDIS in the background. It's the wrong color, and there's no door. It's just the little house that they keep their keys in. (I think that's why it's there, I honestly have no idea.)

As for the frame, that's from Hobby Lobby, procured during one of their frame sales, and the matt as well.

Sarah Ann WIlcox Sampler WIP Week 2

This is my progress as of April 10, 2011. I have even more accomplished now, nearing the end of Week 3, so more pictures will be up soon. I really enjoy working on samplers--I get bored of colors really quickly, so the variegation in the hand-dyed threads as well as the variety of colors has helped with my staying on track.

The one-over-ones, though, are driving me crazy. I can tell my eyes are getting older. When a student hands me work to look at, I'm struggling a bit more than I did when I first started teaching. I used to not be picky about bad  handwriting, but now I find myself asking them to rewrite things more and more. (That's for the ones that are just being sloppy, not the ones that have true handwriting issues because of an LD.) I much prefer the two-over-two because it's also quicker to stitch.

Name Changes

I decided to change the name of my blog to "What Had Happened Was." This catchy little phrase is uttered by my students when they try to tell me a story. Usually this story is either a) an out-and-out "story" (their word for dirty lies) or b) a story with some basis in the truth and smothered in a healthy heap of exaggeration.

Usually it comes out sounding like this:
"Miiiiisssss, wha' ha' happ'n'd was...."

They tend to lengthen some words and shorten everything else. If I had made THAT the title of my blog, then all two readers of my blog would be wondering what language that was.

This title fits me a bit better. Any number of weird things happens to me and the story is best told with this beginning. It's a clue to the reader that you're going to get a big dose of exaggeration.

And I hope you like the new template. I wanted something different, and at the same time I wanted to pick a color that was easier to read (the purple was my favorite, but I found myself squinting a lot).

Sarah Ann Wilcox Sampler WIP

My current cross-stitch project is the Sarah Ann Wilcox Sampler. The chart is available from the Charleston Museum, where the original sampler is part of a collection. I like samplers because of the variety of colors and stitches. When I get bored with one part, it is very easy to move on to another part (which you may notice!). This is not as easily done on some other projects that I've done.

This is how much I've completed in a week:

The patterns calls for the use of silks from Needlepoints silks, but it also has a DMC conversion. I had the DMC colors picked out, but I liked the idea of using something different. I chose to stick with cotton as opposed to silks because of the price point. I ended up going into my local stitch store and just browsed. I ended up using threads from three different lines because those colors matched up best with DMC.

From Crescent Colours I am using Finley Gold and Cupid. Both are hand-dyed and have variations in the colors that give a very vintage feel to the stitches. From The Gentle Arts Sampler Threads line I am using Nutmeg and Gold Leaf. The majority of my thread comes from Weeks Dye Works, and include Molasses, Caper, Charlotte's Pink, Mascara, Deep Sea, Parchment, and Juniper.

Of course, this means that my finished product will be different from the original, but I've seen pictures of the original. It's old. It's brown. It's faded. I'm not worried. :)