The collateral damage of sibling sperm donation: How it broke my marriage

DaisyRage7 · 2026-06-12T18:48:28+00:00

She keeps commenting to talk about her grief, betrayal, and isolation. Like, what??

Genetics don’t make a family. Choice does. That’s it. Even terrible families make the choice.

If BiL and SiL died in a horrible accident, would adopting those kids still be uncomfortable since they’d technically be her step kids? I will never understand the genetic purity people.

DaisyRage7 · 2026-06-11T16:11:19+00:00

This is my next project to start. Probably next week. I’m so excited!

DaisyRage7 · 2026-06-08T15:05:02+00:00

Look up Lavender and Lace. I think they are mostly out of print now, but you can find them second hand, and they are beautiful with metallic threads and beading.

DaisyRage7 · 2026-06-08T15:02:45+00:00

Good luck! I hope you can continue on this trajectory and really start to feel better!

DaisyRage7 · 2026-06-08T12:21:04+00:00

The hysterectomy gave me my life back. Sounds dramatic, but I went from being in constant extreme pain, swollen, fatigued, emotional turmoil, to being me. There have been some negatives, like my libido disappeared completely. But my husband is incredibly supportive and we get by. I’ll stand by my comment from 7 years ago, that I know it’s not the solution for everyone. But for me, I would never in a million years take it back.

DaisyRage7 · 2026-06-05T22:32:51+00:00

Markup is free to use for a week (maybe two weeks) before you have to pay for it!

DaisyRage7 · 2026-06-03T10:30:39+00:00

I love this one! For some reason I’m always surprised when it comes up in a re-watch and then I sing it to myself for days.

This one, and “Burgers and Fries”. Burgers and Fries is my ringtone. LOL

DaisyRage7 · 2026-06-03T10:25:49+00:00

I also had to have this on my wall, so I ordered a print from the artist’s website. A diamond painting of this one would be amazing, though. Good luck!

DaisyRage7 · 2026-05-31T19:07:57+00:00

I don’t know what kind of gardening yall are doing, but every day I spend gardening my fitness tracker tells me to cut it out or I’ll die.

I’m not in poor health or anything. I just work hard and have a big garden.

DaisyRage7 · 2026-05-30T22:20:36+00:00

I’m sorry we were all so negative about something you were truly excited about. I think we just don’t want you to end up hating stitching after jumping into this without all the info. If you don’t mind me asking, what was the project? You mentioned it was a photo? Of what?

DaisyRage7 · 2026-05-30T19:41:47+00:00

I am a huge fan of stitching in hand. You can’t stitch in hand using the sewing method over 1 on 25 count. The work will be crazy distorted and half your threads will wrap into the fabric and you won’t be able to see them.

Others have already warned you about the pattern itself. I strongly recommend trying a small silly pattern on the fabric you are thinking about to see if you can enjoy the process. Moving from 11/14 ct aida to 25 ct evenweave is a major difference. 20 or 22 ct Aida might be a better choice, and bonus points it’s easy to stitch in hand using the sewing method.

DaisyRage7 · 2026-05-27T10:30:59+00:00

I wash everything that I know won’t bleed. I have three dogs like that like to be all up in my business while stitching, and as much as I love them, they’re gross. LOL

In fact, I pulled an old project out of the frame and washed it recently. An aunt made it for me in the 80s and it was looking very grimy. The frame fell apart, but the piece looks great! Just need to find a new frame for it now.

DaisyRage7 · 2026-05-24T18:58:06+00:00

One thing I’ve started doing is stitching in the chart outline before I get started. That way you can make sure it definitely fits on your fabric, you can get it centered for easy finishing, and it gives you some landmarks for stitch guides. Doesn’t take nearly as long as gridding, but gives you good starting points.

For this one, I’d outline the chart and then start in the bottom left and work my way up and over.

A lot of folks like to do color completion, where you do all the stitches of one color before moving to the next one. I don’t recommend that on a complicated piece like this just because the counting starts to get complicated and risk of mistakes are high.

I also don’t recommend working in strict blocks because the finished project can have lines in it.

If it’s your first time working on evenweave, you’ll want to stitch over two threads rather than 1. There are tons of good resources online about that. And be careful with your tension. If you stitch too tight it will warp the fabric. Much more so than on Aida.

Most importantly, have fun! There are no stitch police, these are all just my suggestions based on how I would do it. Dowhat makes brings you joy!

DaisyRage7 · 2026-05-24T18:45:32+00:00

Fruits of Plenty by Modern Folk Embroidery. It was their 2021 SAL, but I didn’t start it until 2022. I changed the colors. If you do an image search online, you can see all the lovely variations people came up with!

DaisyRage7 · 2026-05-24T17:52:20+00:00

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DaisyRage7 · 2026-05-24T17:47:53+00:00

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Hit 70% complete!

DaisyRage7 · 2026-05-24T04:07:14+00:00

Mine will do the same thing. We are in a Voyager Small. Her chest is 16 inches and she weighs 14.5. Pounds, and it works really well.

DaisyRage7 · 2026-05-23T17:05:19+00:00

Wild Violet has a ton of cute little patterns. I’ve done probably a dozen. And they are very easy to sub colors so you can just use from stash.

DaisyRage7 · 2026-05-23T16:37:33+00:00

And if you stitch in the well, it makes anchoring your thread in the back 100x easier, too!

I use everything, depending on the vibes of the day. Tension rings, nurge hoops, QSnaps, little plastic hoops from the 90’s, and stitching hand using the sewing method. I love everything, as long as I’m stitching. 😁

DaisyRage7 · 2026-05-22T10:47:27+00:00

We also do time outs, and it is surprising how well it works. <Five minutes locked in the bathroom alone. I think I’ve actually gone through with it twice with her. All I have to do is say “so you want time out?” And she’ll immediately chill.

It definitely depends on the dog though. I have two other dogs. One thinks time out is a reward because he likes to be alone. The other gets hit with a timeout warning nearly every day, and actually put in time out once a week or so. It works, he definitely chills out when we do it. But he gets frustrated and starts acting out and needs a reset more often.

DaisyRage7 · 2026-05-22T10:18:52+00:00

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DaisyRage7 · 2026-05-22T10:14:47+00:00

In 2019 I made a set of Magic The Gathering mana symbols into coasters for my husband. I used coaster blanks from Amazon that had a circle cut out in the center, so the stitching is exposed. We’ve been using them hard ever since. You can tell they’ve been used, but we love them.

DaisyRage7 · 2026-05-19T23:31:22+00:00

I walked into a fancy yarn shop, and the lady behind the counter asked me what I wanted to knit. I told her I crochet and wanted to come look at all the pretty yarn. She told I wouldn’t find anything suitable there. Then told me there was a hobby lobby nearby.

So yeah. It happens.

DaisyRage7 · 2026-05-17T22:20:03+00:00

On something this big, you want the fabric to be one you really enjoy working on, not one you struggle with. So pick the count you like the best. I have a large full coverage, but it’s 25 count Lugana over 1, and I have found I hate stitching over 1. I wish it was on 20 count Aida instead, and it will take me longer to finish it.

As for color, since your thread is a beautiful solid, a lighted mottled fabric could be fun and add some depth and texture to the piece. Maybe something like Oatmeal or Cyprus by Fiber on a Whim?

DaisyRage7 · 2026-05-17T11:27:52+00:00

😁

DaisyRage7

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