So I realize I didn't quite make the end of October target - in fact I finished this piece just this evening, right in time for Christmas tomorrow (it's intended as a Christmas gift for my sister). I didn't get many early progress pictures, so all I have are some from the last couple of weeks. The whole thing is hand stitched, including the whipped edge.

Nearly finished piece without the outlining:
https://postimg.cc/kB5HYKnM

Outlined:
https://postimg.cc/7bHtb0Jh

Off the hoop, washed, cut, and whip-stitched.
https://postimg.cc/FfbGHH9C

I think I'd like to try some more variety on the types of stitches I use to fill areas next time. I pretty much only used basic back stitches and satin stitch for this. I tried a tight seed stitch initially for the dog's fur, but didn't like it and spent a whole evening picking it out.

I also found the process of washing the piece (this isn't strictly necessary but I had used water soluble pen to trace the image and needed to wash it to get the ink out) and cutting it very nerve-wracking. It took so damn long to sew and I was terrified I was going to fuck it up right at the end. There were a couple of spots where I felt like I didn't cut it quite as evenly as I wanted, but after adding the stitched edge you can't really tell at all. I also had no idea what I was doing when fusing the initial piece to the felt backing with interfacing, and the interfacing didn't fully adhere to the fabric in a few places, but it worked out fine.

All in all it took forever and there are a few noticeable mistakes, but overall I'm pretty proud of it and I'm hoping the next one doesn't take so long.

What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.

If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!

Hi, Tilderites! I'm looking for a system and/or tool to better manage my tasks and to-do's. I'd like to become more productive & responsive.

My current system is a mix of "mark as unread" for emails, physical "to-do" scribbles on post-it notes, reminders in my phone, and other digital notes. My problem is that once I add something to a task list, I inconsistently follow up on it. My other problem is that most of these tasks are unrelated, so mixing them together is confusing. My ultimate goal is to lighten my mental overhead without reducing productivity.

I need a clear, centralized place to commit to keeping all my atomic tasks outside my 9–5: my social life, family, volunteering, any freelance work, housekeeping, personal projects, and so on.

What tools do you use to stay organized? Do you have any advice for time management?

Extra preferences:

• I'd like to try tools designed for mobile and desktop.
• I love visual tools and benefit from something visually intuitive (but customizable). I love colors.
• Happy to pay for a productivity tool if it's effective.
• I'd like a "one-stop shop" because maintaining different task lists in different tools seems messy. I encapsulate all 9–5 work tasks in a ticket tracking system. That's fine for work, but I only want 2 task apps, not 5. And I'm not sure if an Agile-like system works so well for me in real life.
• I'm looking for something that can capture all my different categories or "tracks" of tasks without burying anything. I prefer to minimize context-switching, so I don't want everything to be visually mixed together; it'll distract me. But I want to make sure I don't forget a whole area of tasks. So this is partially a UI/UX question: what tools have the depth to do this?
• My calendar is neatly organized and color-coded. I rely on it to remember daily obligations. Perhaps I could tie a task management tool into my calendar better.

Maybe you can also offer advice on systems to maintain discipline and follow-up. My highly structured calendar is great and I mostly adhere to it. However, I haven't figured out how to utilize the calendar for oceans of teeny-tiny tasks, so I need something to complement it. In addition to a tool, I'm sure I could benefit from a new philosophical perspective or mental approach to staying tidy.

Thanks in advance! :)

These could be active skills or techniques you've found helpful, things you've built or bought that have changed an area of your life, or just something that brings you more joy than you had before.

A few subject areas that could spark ideas (but please share things outside of these if you have them!):

• Work / Professional Life / Networking
• Cooking / Baking / Food Prep
• Cleaning
• DIY
• Crafts / Hobbies
• Home Automation / Security
• Beauty / Grooming / Personal Hygiene
• Travel
• Planning / Scheduling / Memory Aids
• Fitness
• Relaxation
• Mental Health

So I asked this in the game giveaway thread and got some fun answers, and figured I'd ask the greater site at large!

So, what are the gaudiest, funniest winter yard decorations you can find or have seen? I'm talking giant inflatable leg lamps, Chewbacca's family dressed up for Life Day and other heartwarming scenes from the beloved classic Star Wars Christmas Special, Calvin-approved snowmen decorations, a crime scene around where Santa ran over grandma, a Calvin-approved snowman crime scene starring Olaf from Frozen as the victim.

If you have pictures, all the better! If not, we can still get a laugh out of hearing descriptions. And who knows? Maybe you can get some ideas for next year...

Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Thought I'd post the thread this year as I haven't seen it pop up yet.

It's been an eventful 2025, and we certainly live in some interesting times. If you made predictions for this year, how did they turn out? What are your predictions for the next year?

2019 thread

2022 thread

2023 thread

2024 thread

2025 thread

My current phone is about 6 years old and has a lot of signal problems and I replaced the battery about 6 months ago and the new battery is even worse than the original one was and I think it's time to get a new phone.

Things I want in my phone:

• Android
• I would love to have a microSD card but that seems impossible
  • if there's not microSD then I need min 512GB of internal storage and I would prefer 1TB if that's not like +1k to the cost
• Headphone jack
• If there's AI, then I can disable it
• Excellent battery life
• On the smaller end

Things I don't really care about:

• Camera quality (I'm a shitty photographer, the camera wont help)

Things that might be nice:

• Having a stylus but not at the cost of the phone being enormous. Reason I want this is because it gets cold in the winter in Chicago

I hope this phone lasts another 6 years and will be pissed if it lasts under 4 years; at that lifespan and amount of use I get out of it I'm pretty price-agnostic. I live in the USA but expect to travel to Europe a few times next year so it should do decently well when traveling. Network is T-Mobile.

This is not SUPER urgent right now so if your advice is "wait til January because the XYZ phone releasing then is probably better than anything available right now" I would be willing to do that. But my current phone is really not doing great.

Happy to answer any other followup questions if anyone has any!

Thanks!

Tildes is a very serious site, where we discuss very serious matters like the game awards.2025, devices.smart and gift cards. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was out of the loop.

But one of my favourite tags happens to be offbeat! Taking its original inspiration from Sir Nils Olav III, this thread is looking for any far-fetched offbeat stories lurking in the newspapers. It may not deserve its own post, but it deserves a wider audience!