Happy June!
Hello, hello, friends, and happy Pride!! 🌈✨
Whether you've been out forever, came out recently, are still in the closet, or are exploring your identity and asking questions, Pride is for you, and I'm so grateful to be part of this amazing community with you! The world is truly so much more fun and interesting with you in it 🥰 I hope you have a wonderful month and stay safe! 🌈💖
I’ll sprinkle in a few of my older, blatantly queer and trans pieces throughout today’s newsletter in celebration!
This is one of the first pieces I made on my tablet when I first got it— it was fun to explore top surgery thoughts like this. And those glasses came out crisp!
I don't think I've shared this or the next one online anywhere before, so y'all get a special peek here 😁
If you're eager for more queer and trans art or comics, I'm happy to say that my 2023 Comics Collection has these and a few more queer pieces and comics in it! I've also got some NSFW queer originals in the shop, too 🫣 You can check them out in the shop!
Good News!
Okay, I'm delighted to share some positive news-- my partner got a new job!! 🥳🥹💖 It's even a remote one, so he'll be working from home, safer from COVID exposure, too! He starts very soon, and we're both so relieved and eager to put this stressful time behind us. While I know we'll have some new challenges as we adjust to yet another new routine, I'm so grateful he'll be here and able to avoid so many of the hassles of NYC travel.
We can have lunch breaks together even! 😃
We're both hopeful that this will enable us to move outside the city still, but we definitely need to wait til he has time to settle in before we continue looking into that. In the meantime, I've been slowly making progress on our lil moving planner I made last year to help us prepare.
May Reflections
May was actually a really lovely month for me! My brain was itching too much from the neglected piles of sewing and household projects that needed doing, so I took a few weeks to give in and get them taken care of. It felt so good to get so many things taken care of and to watch my pile of things to do dwindle week by week!
Another reason it felt so good was because I’ve been a bit burned out, tbh. The age old disabled tale of trying to do too much and push past my limits too often caught up with me again, so I— well, my body lol— decided it was time for a break.
My therapist and partner have been gently chiding me about not doing more than I should, but I’ve always struggled with doing less. Part internalized ableism, part pressures of capitalism, and part ADHD and never wanting to sit still, this is something I still have a hard time with.
I often joke that the universe HAD to disable me to this degree because if not, my energy couldn’t be contained and the world wouldn’t be able to keep up with all my plans lol
It’s tough, but I’m gonna spend the next few months doing things differently. I’m going to take a break from the newsletter for the summer, for one, and I’ll return sometime in either September or October, hopefully freshly rested and with lots for you to see!
I’m already noticing the positive impact of this rest on my body and mind, and I think a bit more time like this will help me quite a lot. It’ll also be necessary as we adjust to my partner’s new schedule and change things up once again in our daily lives.
Queer Comics Bingo!
Okay, you know I love a good comic recommendation and talking up other artists' work, so of COURSE I have some comic recommendations for you for Pride! I also want to leave you with a nice, long summer reading list while I'm on break 😁 So here’s a Queer Comics Bingo card!
You can download the PDF with its clickable links on my website:
If Bingo’s not your jam, I’ve also included a list in that PDF of the same comics for your summer reading pleasure 💖 Feel free to share this, too!
In the Studio
The studio has basically been a giant ball of orts and scraps and ironing the last few weeks. I made so many things that I had to add more room to my crafting log I keep in my planner!
It’s been such a pleasure to still create while dealing with this burnout. It feels good to use my hands to make things that are helpful, that are fun— and especially that use up what I have lol.
Here are a few highlights from last month (I wish had been able to photograph some dino stuffies I made, but alas!):
Okay, so technically I made these in April and forgot to share lol. I made us some new produce bags to replace our old crochet ones I made years and years ago because I was tired of playing catch-the-runaway-jalapeño at the store when they slip out 😂
We also really needed some larger ones for potatoes and such, so I used some scrap fabrics that I really love to color coordinate the sizes. I think I made about 12 or so total, and they’ve been AMAZING so far!
I made some mini quilts for my oldest favorite kiddo for her toys. She loves to tuck her stuffies in, so I'm hoping she'll enjoy these! They’re all bound up now with purple around the edges, but I forgot to take an updated photo lol.
Both quilt tops had over 200 pieces each on them, so it took a few days to finish, but I’m so pleased with how they turned out!
I made some drawstring bags from scraps of fabric. It’s a nice project to have at hand, and they’re really handy for giving things to people. I often use them for when I give items to people on TrashNothing. I’m hoping I’ll get to see my favorite kiddo this year to stuff those Halloween ones with because sadly, we don’t get a lot of or sometimes any trick-or-treaters here!
One of the skills I’m often trying to improve at is mending. I’d like to get more into visible mending, but that’ll be a future project, I think. For now, I’m pleased with how this sleeve came out on my partner’s hoodie. His cuffs were half off from poor construction, and the dog we puppy-sat for my partner’s parents earlier this month tore some additional holes in it lol.
I also mended a giant hole in my petticoat where I sleepily put my foot through it by accident one night 🥲 It was about a foot long! (lol pun unintended but delightful)
Do you do any mending? Lemme know if you’ve got a favorite resource to turn to if you do!
And finally, I made my partner a couple of linen coasters to replace his ratty old one I crocheted for him years ago. I kept this super simple to suit his tastes, and I used some black linen scraps I’ve had for over a decade! Man, that feels good to use up!
(Also, side note, if you sew or are interested in picking it up, I seriously recommend getting some of these WonderClips— I don’t get stabbed to death anymore by pins while hand stitching! 🥲 Joann has been running a ton of extra sales and coupons since they went into bankruptcy recently, which is how I was finally able to afford some lol)
I’ve been making and mending other things this month, too, like some design boards (similar to these), some quilt blocks for my own reference library, and some secret projects that won’t get shared til after the winter holidays.
It's such a pleasure to create, and taking time to make things that aren't for making profit has been really restful and restorative for me. I love making things my loved ones and I can use. It brings me such joy!
Comics Read in May
Here are the comics I read in May-- no surprise the list is short again lol:
- Something's Wrong with Us, Vol. 19 (the final volume! 🥹)
- In Limbo
Minis + Micros Online:
- Feel your feelings - or else!
- Beware of Toddler May 5, 2024
- Cliche
- a post-breakup comics thread from the past couple months 🧵
- i promise i'll stop grieving after this
- My hungry ass could never be a surgeon
- A comic about feeling overwhelmed 🫥
- See You!
- I'd rather be alone with a bear than a man
- Things I like about awkward people
What have YOU been reading lately? 😃
Recent Favorites
Here are some of my favorite things from May:
- my friend having her babies and making it safely through the birth!! 💖
- the trees all being full of beautiful green leaves again
- sticker sheets from OchMonika for my planner and this Hellmo sticker from HoneyHamstore for November's election season lol
- reading quilting newsletters from indie designers like Satomi Quilts and Kindred Quilt Co.'s Scrappy Quilt Along
- watching Ugliest House in America with my partner-- Retta is hilarious!
What have you been loving lately? 💖
See You Next Time!
Well, that's all from me for a couple months! Hope you enjoyed the extra bits today and have fun checking out the Queer Comics Bingo. Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you have a fantastic Pride month and summer (or winter)! Stay cool (or warm) and stay safe! I'll talk to y'all in the fall 💖
With love,
they/them
