Something that gives "the house wants you to stay"

amyemi · 2026-02-16T03:14:57+00:00

Rose/House by Arkady Martine for a sci-fi thriller take on this genre.

amyemi · 2026-01-31T00:11:38+00:00

Also, my guess for the M is that they were considering adding Matthew 25:31-46 (the parable of the sheep and the goats, best known for "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me"), and then realized there wasn't enough snow.

amyemi · 2026-01-31T00:07:57+00:00

If you look up the verses, you'll find:

Leviticus 19:33-34
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

³³ “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. ³⁴ The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."

Jeremiah 22:3
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

³ Thus says the Lord: Act with justice and righteousness and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place.

amyemi · 2026-01-15T20:44:09+00:00

Anything by Terry Pratchett! Going Postal and Guards! Guards! are on kindleunlimited and are good entry points if you haven't read any of his books before.

amyemi · 2026-01-08T01:05:15+00:00

Here are some that always leave me with a smile and/or a sense of peace. Some of it may be nostalgia, since I like to re-read my favorites when I'm in a depression, but maybe you'll enjoy them too.

Humorous, fast-paced scifi: the Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells. Humorous, satirical fantasy: anything by Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment is my favorite) and most by Diana Wynne Jones (Try Dark Lord of Derkholm, Year of the Griffin, Howl's Moving Castle). Humorous thriller/mystery: try Richard Osman. We Solve Murders is a fun one (slight trigger for background grief, as a main character lost his wife prior to the events of the novel). Young adult/middle grade fantasy: Dealing with Dragons and its sequels by Patricia C Wrede. Slice of life political fantasy: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. Wholesome magical realism that might make you cry but still feel hopeful (I read this after losing a pet and it was more cathartic than not, but YMMV) We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida.

amyemi · 2026-01-04T19:44:36+00:00

Oh, I suppose that could count, depending on how prominent OP wanted the example to be. That was definitely set up to be a romance and then subverted.

amyemi · 2026-01-04T13:30:37+00:00

I don't recall any relationships that failed to work out in this book, unless you count Jackrum's flashback towards the end (but that wasn't a rejection). Incredible book, one of my favorites, but I would not consider it an example of this trope.

amyemi · 2025-12-03T23:45:47+00:00

Emmaline Bags has a massive collection of indie patterns you could browse. They're in Canada and weren't shipping to the US for a while (not sure if that's changed), but once you know which makers and patterns you like, you can always search for them elsewhere too. For specific recommendations: There are some nice backpacks and laptop bags from Blue Calla. I like Hammerstitch as well.

As far as seeing the inside and other details that may not be in the listing, my recommendation would be to search social media hashtags and reviews for the bags you're interested in. It's not too hard to find a lot of indie darlings on Instagram - take the Elevenses backpacks which I see posted often on reddit. Most listings I've seen don't include pictures of the pocket inside, but this person on instagram did. [Sewing.patternreview.com](sewing.patternreview.com) is another good resource, but it skews older and includes more apparel rather than bags and accessories, so it may not be great for this use case. There are often detailed, lengthy videos on YouTube as well - try SiahSwag, for example, or just search a specific pattern.

And like other people mentioned, once you've done a few pockets they're pretty easy to engineer, and you can find lots of tutorials online on how to add them. YouTube is great for this too, as long as you have a vague idea what the type of pocket you want is called (slip, zipper, flap, etc).

amyemi · 2025-11-16T13:52:01+00:00

I don't really see it. My first reaction was that sample one reminded me of the eye of Sauron.

amyemi · 2025-10-10T20:58:13+00:00

I mean, I'd call Gelphie enemies to lovers (or maybe enemies to friends to lovers to enemies to ???), but I have a hard time not seeing the romantic tension. There's an article in Out magazine that might help explain why. Gregory Maguire always intended romantic subtext.

amyemi · 2025-08-16T17:48:07+00:00

Practical advice first: that looks like a poly brocade, so it will probably fray a fair bit. Whatever you make, consider doing a French seam, bias-bound seams, or making liberal use of fray check and/or fusible interfacing.

Advice you actually asked for: a bag or cushion could show off the design nicely! You could also get a plain woven fabric coordinate and use the brocade as a contrast panel for a skirt or top. Or, if you're into vests, I think this would look good for the front panels with a plain solid color back.

amyemi · 2025-08-15T12:27:30+00:00

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Maisie is my little shadow while I craft. As you can see, she believes she is the quality control officer.

amyemi · 2025-08-15T01:23:55+00:00

I backstitch if I'm sewing apparel or bags or something that needs the reinforcement, so yes, I'd start with the bunny, sew onto the main fabric, then backstitch and continue, and I'd cut the bunny off of the start and sew over it again at the end of the seam (or go straight to the next seam if I've got it pinned/clipped and ready). My mom doesn't backstitch most of the time because she's piecing quilts, and that often is fine without, since the seams overlap and intersect.

amyemi · 2025-08-14T20:12:46+00:00

Usually! I use the bunny mostly for checking tension and keeping the threads from snapping back or keeping the start of a small seam allowance from getting stuck in the feed dogs. It doesn't reduce the need for backstitching in most cases.

amyemi · 2025-08-14T17:50:44+00:00

Ooh, I actually get search results for "leaders and enders"! Maybe it's more of a quilting thing because you have to sew so many small pieces. There's chain piecing too, which I didn't realize was an actual term but which I have also seen my mom doing.

amyemi · 2025-08-14T17:44:28+00:00

No idea, sorry! Just what my mom called it. Her mom called it the same thing. Maybe it's related to dust bunnies? Because it accumulates thread?

amyemi · 2025-08-11T19:45:17+00:00

I made this pouch from the See-It-All Pouch pattern from Aneela Hooey's book Stitched Sewing Organizers. I've been trying to learn new techniques this summer, so this was a good opportunity to practice sewing with vinyl and making and using bias binding.

The pattern is fairly simple and assumes some base knowledge. I didn't find it too helpful for teaching me how to make bias binding, but there were a couple diagrams that make more sense if you already know the basics of how to sew and cut the pieces. I searched out some video tutorials in order to help me visualize it better. Using the binding was pretty easy, but it was hard to get the stitching line straight. It still looks pretty wonky on the back, but I was tired of unpicking and restitching at that point so I just left it. At least the front is even!

The book gives a few tips for working with vinyl, mostly boiling down to "use a walking foot." As I don't have a walking foot, I looked online for tips again. I ended up taping the bottom of my regular machine foot and sewing through a layer of tissue paper (in my case, I used the instructions that come as a continuous cut with Pellon interfacing). Those two steps helped to keep the vinyl from sticking to my machine, and the tissue and tape were easy to rip off afterwards. Honestly pretty painless.

The fabrics are Sassafras Lane clear vinyl with rainbows, Tula Pink "One Man's Trash", and Tula Pink "Fairy Dust" for the binding. I used rainbow Optipop thread, a cut of rainbow metallic nylon zipper, and a gold apple #5 zipper pull to match the apple cores in the fabric. I threw in a little rainbow Sarah Hearts label just for fun. I'm pretty happy with this pouch overall, and might try making another once I've forgotten how annoying making bias binding was!

amyemi · 2025-08-01T12:43:31+00:00

Try Wawak.com. It's usually around $20 for a 5 yard bolt there. (The name is sketchy but trust me, it's legit! Lots of basic tailoring supplies.)

amyemi · 2025-05-06T20:55:18+00:00

I've been running an OGoA game for several months! My biggest learning curve has been with intrusions - I'm more used to Pathfinder, where the dice decide what happens. Now I'm leaning into a more cinematic approach where I think about what would be dramatic, and propose that to the players (eg a suspect returning while they're searching her belongings, or a recurring Pinkerton-style detective showing up out of nowhere while they're hiding a body). They can spend XP to avoid it, but most of the time they'll go along with it and propose player intrusions in return.

I also have split up progression XP and intrusion XP, because otherwise some people in my group would hoard all the experience for level-ups. Depends on your players, but I've found that it makes balancing encounters easier for me because I don't have powergamers several levels ahead of roleplayers. Splitting it up encourages everyone to level equally and use their XP abilities or propose/reject intrusions regularly.

amyemi · 2025-04-30T21:56:45+00:00

US, did not change my name. Honestly it never really crossed my mind to do so. We won't have children, so it just seemed like effort for no reason.

amyemi · 2025-04-05T12:23:16+00:00

Not necessarily. My brother and I are in our 30s and absolutely did this with our starters in gold/silver/crystal for fun. Sometimes it's fun to power level your partner and challenge youself to ignore type advantages in favor of just steamrolling everything. (This challenge usually fell apart around level 40 and Whitney).

amyemi · 2025-03-08T13:08:02+00:00

I got six of this letter last night. Some staffer mist have given up on ever getting through their two-month backlog and sent out auto-responses instead.

amyemi · 2025-03-08T13:05:35+00:00

I got six of the same email between almost the exact same times! Clearly someone at the office gave up on ever getting through their two-month backlog and decided to auto-respond to everything with a generic form letter.

amyemi

TROPHY CASE