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tinalbion · 1 day

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"You Reap What You Sow" ||

Part 2

𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: Cooper "The Ghoul" Howard x fem!Reader

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄! Mentions of death, decapitation, abuse (physical and mental), implied (but not mentioned) sexual abuse, manipulation

𝐋𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡: 4.5k

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: You had a bounty on your head and a familiar Ghoul has taken that bounty, so upon catching you, he escorts you back to the compound you escaped. Will you be able to convince him to let you go, or will it be for nothing?

You were already exhausted with the sun so high up, causing your skin to feel as if it was melting, but you continued to make your way through the wastes beside your bounty hunter friend, and he hadn't been in a particularly friendly mood today. When you tried to ask him something, you were mostly met with silence, so you just dropped it altogether and continued to walk. As the sun began to sink again, you had distanced yourself from the Ghoul, wishing you had more of a plan to escape from his hold.

Sure, he hadn't tied your hands together and pulled you along forcefully since you'd given him no reason to, but that didn't mean he wouldn't end up doing so at one point or another. He still kept a watchful eye on you and made sure to match your pace, ready for anything that was to happen.

But neither of you was prepared for when two strange men approached you both from the left, catching you off guard as you hid behind the Ghoul for safety. He looked down at you, confused as to why you'd seek comfort and safety from him, but he hadn't given you a reason not to.

“‘Scuse me, but we want that,” one of the men, the taller one, pointed directly at you. “Heard there was a bounty on her, and we ain't one to turn down some caps.”

The Ghoul scoffed and stared at them, obviously not amused. “She's already taken, as you can see, and I ain't got time to deal with lowlifes such as yourselves. Finders keepers.”

You tugged on the sleeve of his decaying duster and caught his attention. “Those two belong to the Condemned, the compound Axton is a part of, where I ran from. He probably sent them to kill you since you brought me this far, keep the money for himself…” You wouldn't have put it past the asshole, but You did recognize the two men even though you couldn't place their names or occupations.

Upon hearing this new information, the Ghoul lifted his head and stared at the two men, reading the situation. “Well, my little friend here says you work for the asshole who put the bounty out, and I normally don't have a problem with disposin’ of those who stand in my way, but now I feel downright disrespected with what's goin’ on here.” He placed his hand gently on the hilt of the gun and watched them both start acting nervous, their eyes darting back and forth from each other to the bounty hunter.

“Look, either way, Axton is getting his little whore back, so–”

With speed you'd never experienced firsthand before, the man's head had exploded. Blood, brain matter, it all shot out and projected far as his now lifeless body crumpled to the ground. You jumped, your hands still holding onto the Ghoul's coat as his gun shifted over toward the other man.

“Now, you got somethin’ to say against all this, or are you gonna run back to your compound and tell your man Axton that I better get what I'm owed?”

The man looked terrified and slunk back until the Ghoul had placed his gun back into its holster, then he looked down at you. “You're okay, girl, stand up,” he instructed, and you obeyed him. “C’mon, let's get you back before anything else decides to irritate me.”

You stuck close to the bounty hunter and although you could have easily done that yourself, the fear of seeing people that were under his pay, people that you've seen speaking with him, it caused you to freeze in the moment you needed to be clear-headed. As silly as it seemed, this man who was going to turn you back to where you ran felt like more of a safer option.

“Mister Bounty Hunter… please, I'd rather not be given back to him…” You said, your expression was sullen.

“Look, sweetheart, I ain't got much of an option right now, these chems you see me inhalin’? These keep me from goin’ feral, you understand? And that's where the bounty comes in, a man’s gotta survive one way or another. I got more important things to worry about right now, as awful as your situation is.”

You did understand, you wished you could have done something to make both your lives easier, but there was only one way to do that, and it would be easier said than done. Before you spoke up further about it, you felt a hard tug at your ankle and you went flying to the ground.

You fell hard and let out a yelp, the Ghoul spun around and watched as the man who you both thought retreated had roped you by your ankle and was struggling to completely bind your legs together. You had been thrashing around, kicking and screaming at the man as you landed your foot against his jaw, but he reacted quickly and punched you in return. You were slightly stunned, but you had thrown your bag off your back and reached for the pistol in your pack, then shot him square in the neck. There would be no time wasted, you weren't one to take it lying down anymore.

The Ghoul had stared at the scene in interest, a smile grew across his face as he walked over and rolled the limp body off your legs. “Well, seems like you're a little killer, huh?” He chuckled and removed his knife from its sheath, then cut you free of your half-tied bindings with one quick thrust of the knife upward.

“I do what I can to get by, much like yourself,” you said, your voice a little shaky. “Thanks…” You stood up and dusted yourself off, then looked around before you grabbed your bag, gun still in your hand.

“You're a curious one, you know that?” The Ghoul said, staring over at you. When you didn't answer and only greeted him with a puzzled look, he scoffed. “Had a gun the whole time and you didn't think to use it on me?”

You looked away and slid your pack on, then you looked back at him. “Told you, I don't got a shot against you.”

This made him laugh, he let out a belt of laughter and shook his head. “Been on this planet for over 200 years and yet I can still be surprised.”

His back faced away from the seemingly dead merc, but you took notice of the movement a little too late. The man lashed out toward the Ghoul, but you leaped at him and pushed him out of the way, your gun still in your hand, but the way the man threw himself had knocked you back. He plunged a knife deep into your shoulder, and you let out a howl of pain.

“Can't wait to see what he does to you, you bi–”

You brought your gun up to his head and blasted him. He dropped heavily into your lap, his blood splattered all over you, the ground, and your gun.

You were shaking as the Ghoul got you to your feet, but you clung to him as if your life depended on it, you were just so tired of Axton and the bullshit he constantly put you through, and it finally caught up to you. You sobbed as you buried your face against your captor's chest, just wanting to live a life without Axton, but he'd haunt you until one of you died.

“I'm sorry,” you groaned, the knife still lodged into your shoulder as you bit your lip. “Dammit.” You sniffled, wiped your face, and slid your pack off your shoulder carefully, hoping not to aggravate your wound.

“Why’d you do that?”

“What, kill him?” You asked in confusion, tears still welling in your eyes while you dug for a stimpack.

The Ghoul scoffed and looked at you in disbelief. “You pushed me out of the way, you fool,” he admonished. “You ain't got healing like I do, why'd you do somethin’ so stupid?” He placed some pressure on your wound and grabbed the stimpack from your shaking hand. “Breathe in,” he instructed.

You did as he told you and that's when he administered the stimpack, then you winced at the pain of him pulling the knife out, but immediately holding the wound to slow the bleeding. You looked up at him with a small smile despite all that. “Thanks.”

“Don't pull nothin’ like that again, you hear me?” He began to help you dress the wound as expertly as he could, though he was a tad rusty with having to deal with mortal wounds.

“What, you'll still get paid regardless. I'm only gonna get worse when I'm back there…” You looked down at the ground and felt the closeness you both shared, but you didn't comment on it.

He was the first to pull away, but it took him longer than expected. “Come on,” he urged. He had nothing more to say, he had to think.

More time had passed and you finally stood before the poorly constructed walls of the compound, and you were visibly distraught. “Mister, please,” you said as you turned toward him. You were no longer afraid to release the tears that threatened to fall. “I can't, you saw just a small sliver of what he's capable of, he will beat me senselessly, string me up. I just wanted freedom…” You looked back at the compound and tried your best to remain composed. “What if we take them out? All of them? I know the combination to his safe, I know where everything is stashed, I could help you.”

The Ghoul stood there in silence, listening to your words, words of desperation and bargaining. And as much as he wanted to simply ignore it, he knew he couldn't. Not anymore. You'd stuck your neck out for him, you'd not given him any trouble as he escorted you back, and somehow you managed to grow on him. How, he had no idea, but the sound of killing all these bastards seemed more than satisfactory. Killing them all so they didn't hurt anyone else like you, take their earnings, it all seemed fair, especially after sending someone to take him out and keep the caps for themselves.

“Even if I were to entertain the idea, sweetheart, there ain't a guarantee you'll make it out of there. I can handle gunshots, you're gonna be a walkin’ corpse riddled with holes.”

“I know their shifts. I paid attention when I was keeping track of when and who would be where. I can make it happen, I promise. Just please, help me take them down and you can help yourself to whatever you want.”

The Ghoul looked away from you and brought his attention back to the compound, his eyes stared into the area as he mulled over your words. He let out a sigh, hung his head, and smiled a little. He was going to do this for a smoothie, a human, and for what? Maybe it didn't sit well with him that you took a stab wound for him, that he felt like he owed you for something you didn't need to throw your life on the line for. After what seemed like a good, long while, he turned back to you and sighed. His eyes wandered over your face as he recalled his past, something he tried not to do regularly, and a small smile played at the corner of his mouth.

Again, he just sighed. “You better come through, you hear?” He warned, his hand raised and his finger pointed at you. “But if anythin’ happens, I ’spose you could call me Cooper…”

Your eyes lit up and you stared at him in awe. “Like…Cooper Howard…?” You gasped and smiled so wide you thought your cheeks would hurt.

He scoffed. “Yeah, that's me, just don't go tellin’ people, you understand?”

With a burst of excitement and a lapse in judgment, you threw your arms around him despite feeling the sting of your wound, and you hugged him. He didn't realize how big of a deal this was to you, your heart soared with delight at the news, and it was almost like an old part of your life was here, comforting you in tough times. “Oh, I'm definitely loving our chances now.”

The Ghoul just sighed and patted your shoulder awkwardly, wanting to support you in his change of heart. “I hope I don’t regret this…” he whispered to himself.

The ringing in your ears was causing you to squeeze your eyes closed as you tried to focus on anything other than the sound, but it gradually increased and you did your best to try and remain out of the crossfire as you hid behind one of the walls inside the compound.

You and Cooper had gotten halfway through the building already, both of you easily working together when it came to taking down the men you knew so well, but you felt nothing except a growing sense of freedom the more men fell. You'd grown up with a lot of them, sure, but none of that mattered once they had begun to follow Axton's orders and put you in harm's way. You wouldn't admit to it, but the satisfaction you felt when they would fall to the ground as they bled out almost was too wicked for you to take any joy in, but deep down, you relished it.

According to your memory, you and Cooper had taken down about fifteen of them so far, and you only had fifteen– bang– fourteen more to go. Axton would be holed up in his pathetic excuse of a ‘panic room’, which you knew the code to, so he'd be the best to save for last. You peeked around the corner, your pistol in hand as you looked for any more on this floor.

“I think they're all running up to protect their stash now, they're gonna be crowded in a room on the top floor. Axton would want all his riches to be the top priority, the greedy bastard.” You stepped out and pushed on with the Ghoul right beside you, following your lead as you guided him through the compound.

“There any coverage between us and that door?” He asked, his gun still raised as he looked over at you.

“Yeah, there's a double wall up there, no doors,” you replied and paused when you saw someone cowering in the corner. You gasped and ran to that person with a relieved expression.

“Oh my gosh, Toby?” You knelt beside them and placed a hand on their shoulder.

Cooper was about to interject, afraid to take up too much time dwelling on checking on survivors, but the person known as Toby looked up at you and their expression was shocked. It was a Ghoul, just like him; not yet feral. Toby smiled and stood up, greeting you with a tight hug.

“Oh, you're back, you're back! I thought you would have been killed, or worse!” Toby sobbed as they hugged you, pulling you tighter and tighter.

“Toby, you have to get out of here, go outside the compound, and stay hidden till we come out.”

“You're doing it, aren't you, you're finally taking him down?” The Ghoul looked relieved and terrified, and yet the smile that spread across their face spoke volumes.

You smiled in return and nodded. “Yeah, Cooper and I are, now come on, go, I'll find you after, okay?” You gave him one last hug and pushed on with Cooper by your side.

You'd finally made it to the last floor, and you were both greeted with heavy gunfire. You pressed back against the wall with Cooper on the other side, and he looked at you as he counted down on his fingers from five. After it ended, he spun toward the door and just began to blast the mercenaries, all shots landing where they were supposed to. You followed in behind him and tried to keep up, taking down any stragglers with your pistol as you kept it aimed high. Whenever you shot another, they'd look at you in horror, realizing that you were finally fighting back. Some of them seemed to know it would have happened eventually, others seemed betrayed that it was you, but you wore the same expression as you gunned them down.

Remorseless.

You’d been counting down, naming each one of the men in Axton’s employ as you shot them, remembering their faces, recalling all the times they’d done you wrong. With each bullet put into them, you felt lighter, a heavy burden was released from your shoulders. But you knew you needed to get to your main problem before you would feel any semblance of comfort. But now that you thought about it, you felt comfort being here with Cooper, which was an odd thing to say considering he was there initially to bring you back to this hellhole. But you’d both grown on each other, though he would never admit to it, but you hoped that he would after all was said and done.

Once the last man had fallen from a shot to his leg, Cooper walked up to him as he crawled away, then stepped on the wound and stepped down hard, and he laughed as the blood came pouring from the wound while the man cried out. The Ghoul didn’t let up as he leaned closer to the man.

“So cowpoke, where’s your boy, Axton, huh?”

The man who you knew as Luther had looked up, horrified to see the hand cannon he held pointed directly at his face. “L-L-Look, he’s in there,” he pointed to the right where his room had been, “I don’t got nothin’ to do with what he did to her! I swear!”

Cooper looked over at you for confirmation, but you looked away from him, your face filled with unwanted recalled memories. All of his men stood by and turned a blind eye to the things he’d done to you and many others, you wouldn’t soon forget. Cooper turned back to the bleeding man and smirked slyly.

“Seems that she says otherwise, partner, guess it ain’t your lucky day,” he said with a faux frown as he raised the gun to his head and shot without hesitation. He walked back to you and stood beside you, looking at you in silence for a moment. “You ready to take on this son of a bitch?”

You swung your pack around and dug for your box of ammo, filled your gun, and then looked into the Ghoul’s eyes. “I’ve been ready. But you gotta be careful, he’ll have heavy weapons on him, so don’t let him get you off guard.”

“You don’t gotta worry about me, sweetheart, I think I already established that.” He reached a gloved hand toward your face, and it lingered there for a moment as it hovered near your cheek. Cooper decided against it and sighed, then looked back in the direction of the room.

You wondered what he wanted to say to you, but maybe it wasn't something meant for right now, instead, you two had something to deal with. You walked toward the room and typed in the code you distinctly memorized despite not being allowed inside, and the door swung open to reveal Axton with a large turbo Plasma rifle, the only one in his collection. He pointed it directly at you with a smile on his face.

“Shoulda known it was you,” he scoffed. “After all I gave you here, a place to stay, food to eat, safety?”

“You didn't give me anything other than scars inside and out,” you spat back. “You had this coming, whether it was from me or someone else. You get what you get.”

His eyes darted to the Ghoul and he let out hearty laughter. “Oh, this is even better, what, employing a Ghoul to help you? Always were obsessed with them.”

“They're friends! Toby is my friend!” You yelled and shot off a round straight at him, but he immediately dropped and dodged it before it could hit him. He just laughed at you and shook his head.

“Always were a lousy shot. So, Ghoul, she employed you, promise you that you'd get whatever you want in here?” He waved around the room and scoffed again. “She lied. She ain't shit, and neither are you.”

“Well, actually…” Cooper said with a playful smile on his face, “I was the bounty hunter who planned on turnin’ her in but after seein’ so much of who you are? Gotta hand it to the little lady, I ain't impressed with how this is goin’.”

Axton just laughed and shook his head. “Oh, so you're betraying me, too? Damn, what did she do, give it up to you to get you to change your mind–”

Cooper let off a shot that hit him in the shoulder and blood spurted out, but he didn't go down, not yet. “Better watch your mouth, boy,” he warned.

Axton groaned but laughed and shook his head. “Oh man, she did, didn't she?! It's all she's good at anyway.”

“Enough!” You screamed out as you began shooting at him, not taking into account that you should have kept a level head of things. You tried to hit him, but he shot the plasma rifle at your feet, which caused you to stumble back and fall on your ass.

Axton laughed and grabbed a pistol, then aimed at you to finally silence you, but Cooper easily shot it out of his hand, causing it to stumble and fly off somewhere. He ran up on the man and slammed his foot hard into his stomach, and Axton lost his footing and fell. Cooper didn't give him time to recover, instead, he ran up and kicked him again, this time across the jaw.

Axton let out a yell and spat blood out onto the floor, but he was just laughing, and as he looked back at you, sneering. “You think this is gonna make things better? I own you,” he said as he pointed at you, “and you ain't gonna finish this.”

“She might not, but I will,” Cooper said as he held his hand cannon up to his head.

“No!” You shouted, your hand reaching out toward him as you stared at the Ghoul. Your face was soft as you looked at him, and sure you hadn't known him long, but the lengths he was going to just to protect you… it meant more to you than you could put into words. you walked up to Cooper, who stared over at you quizzically. “I wanna do it.”

Axton just laughed again. “You're gonna do it? Better off letting the Ghoul do it.”

You swung your gun around toward him and aimed directly at his forehead as he sat on the ground, trying his best to pick up his pride. “I don't need anyone to do my job for me, Axton, you think I'm weak? But I'm not, I've taken out more of your men than you've taken out bounties. I'm better than you in every way.”

This got the man howling in laughter as he sat there below you, staring up at your gun. He felt that you wouldn't do a damn thing, and you would just fall for his ways again. You would let him live and he'd take you as his captor once again. “Sure, sweetheart, whatever lies you fed yourself, you can keep on believing them all I know is I'm gonna fucking kill you–”

Your finger pulled back, the explosion of his head and brain matter splattered everywhere, and his body fell back. No more words, no more threats, no more danger. You stared at the man who once beat you, hurt you, did unspeakable things to you, and you finally felt that weight release from your shoulders. Your body suddenly felt weak, you stumbled and almost fell, but Cooper was there in an instant. His arms enveloped you as he lowered you to the ground so you could take a moment.

You stared down at him and huffed. “Only he can call me that,” you spat and continued to stare down at him.

Your eyes didn't leave the scene of Axton's decapitated body, it felt too good to be true, like a sick dream that you'd wake up from. But your companion placed a hand on your cheek, pulling your attention away from the gruesome scene and made you face him. There was contentment in the way you looked up at Cooper, a small smile tugged at the corner of your mouth as you stared up at him.

“I did that, right?” You asked him in disbelief.

Cooper gave you a small smile. “Yeah, you did ya little killer, c’mon, let’s get you out of here.”

“What about your pay? There are chems too, you’re gonna need those, please, get what you need. I’ll be okay… I’ll sit over here, you grab all of what you can.” You wandered over to the corner and sat down on the floor, away from the large pool of blood slowly making its way around.

You waited for Cooper to grab all that he could and gathered a large amount of chems, caps, and whatever else he could fit into his pack, then he sauntered up to you and grabbed your hand to pull you to your feet. “Alright then, I got all I could hold, got some for you too, you ready?”

You looked over at him and seemed taken off guard by his question. “What do you mean?”

“Well, are you comin’ with me or not? Didn’t think you’d wanna stay here.”

Your eyes stared at him for a good while, but you weren’t sure what to say now that you were here, and now you had the opportunity to leave. “Really? You’d want me to go with you?” You asked softly.

Cooper scoffed and looked off at the destruction you both caused. “I ain’t gonna leave you here alone, sweetheart. Not gonna lie, you’ve grown on me, and as much as I’ve done in this lifetime, I ain’t that much of a monster.”

You couldn’t help but laugh and look around the room, then back at him. “I guess that’s the best choice I could ever ask for, huh?” You asked softly, smiling wide. “So… you really mean it?”

Cooper turned around and shook his head with a smirk. “I mean if you’d rather stay here, then-”

You grabbed him and pulled at his shoulder, causing him to turn to face you. He looked surprised, but his eyes widened when you pulled him into a soft kiss. He didn’t pull away, he just stared at you as you pulled away from him, but you seemed much more reserved now.

“Sorry… but yeah, let’s get going, if that’s still on the table…”

The Ghoul just laughed and reached up to ruffle your hair. “Well, it ain’t all canned peaches and marmalade up here, but I ‘spose havin’ you as company will lighten it up a little.”

You placed your gun in your pack and sighed as you slipped it over your shoulder, but the smile you wore after kissing Cooper was one that you’d wear for quite a while. “I think I can agree with that.”

#tinalbion writings #cooper howard #cooper howard x you #cooper howard x reader #the ghoul x reader #the ghoul x you #fallout series #fallout show #cooper howard oneshot #cooper howard fanfiction #cooper howard imagine #fem!reader #angst #angst with a happy ending

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vinceaddams · 7 months

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Any tips on learning to make buttonholes? I've been putting it off for.... *checks notes* like three years.... but better late than never and all that. I don't have any fancy machines so I gotta do it by hand but that seems right up your alley.

Thanks!

It IS up my alley, yes, I do most of my buttonholes by hand!

I'm actually part way through filming an 18th century buttonhole tutorial, but I expect it'll be a few more weeks before I finish that and put it on the youtubes, so in the meantime here's the very very short version. (The long version is looking like it'll probably be about 40 minutes maybe, judging by how much script I've written compared to my last video?)

Mark your line, a bit longer than your button is wide. I usually use a graphite mechanical pencil on light fabrics, and a light coloured pencil crayon on dark ones. (I have fabric pencils too, but they're much softer and leave a thicker line.) You may want to baste the layers together around all the marked buttonholes if you're working on something big and the layers are shifty and slippery. I'm not basting here because this is just a pants placket.

Do a little running stitch (or perhaps a running backstitch) in fine thread around the line at the width you want the finished buttonhole to be. This holds the layers of fabric together and acts as a nice little guide for when you do the buttonhole stitches.

Cut along the marked line using a buttonhole cutter, or a woodworking chisel. Glossy magazines are the best surface to put underneath your work as you push down, and you can give it a little tap with a rubber mallet if it's not going through all the way.

I'm aware that there are some people who cut their buttonholes open using seam rippers, and if any of them are reading this please know that that is abhorrent behaviour and I need you to stop it immediately. Stop it.

Go get a buttonhole cutter for 10 bucks and your life will be better for it. Or go to the nearest hardware store and get a little woodworking chisel. This includes machine buttonholes, use the buttonhole cutter on them too. If you continue to cut open buttonholes with a seam ripper after reading this you are personally responsible for at least 3 of the grey hairs on my head.

Do a whipstitch around the cut edges, to help prevent fraying while you work and to keep all those threads out of the way. (For my everyday shirts I usually do a machine buttonhole instead of this step, and then just hand stitch over it, because it's a bit faster and a lot sturdier on the thin fabrics.)

I like to mark out my button locations at this point, because I can mark them through the holes without the buttonhole stitches getting in the way.

For the actual buttonhole stitches it's really nice if you have silk buttonhole twist, but I usually use those little balls of DMC cotton pearl/perle because it's cheap and a good weight. NOT stranded embroidery floss, no separate strands! It's got to be one smooth twisted thing!

Here's a comparison pic between silk buttonhole twist (left) and cotton pearl (right). Both can make nice looking buttonholes, but the silk is a bit nicer to work with and the knots line up more smoothly.

I've actually only used the silk for one garment ever, but am going to try to do it more often on my nicer things. I find the cotton holds up well enough to daily wear though, despite being not ideal. The buttonholes are never the first part of my garments to wear out.

I cut a piece of about one arm's length more or less, depending on the size of buttonhole. For any hole longer than about 4cm I use 2 threads, one to do each side, because the end gets very frayed and scruffy by the time you've put it through the fabric that many times.

I wax about 2cm of the tip (Not the entire thread. I wax the outlining/overcasting thread but not the buttonhole thread itself.) to make it stick in the fabric better when I start off the thread. I don't tend to tie it, I just do a couple of stabstitches or backstitches and it holds well. (I'm generally very thorough with tying off my threads when it comes to hand sewing, but a buttonhole is basically a long row of knots, so it's pretty sturdy.)

Put the needle through underneath, with the tip coming up right along that little outline you sewed earlier. And I personally like to take the ends that are already in my hand and wrap them around the tip of the needle like so, but a lot of people loop the other end up around the other way, so here's a link to a buttonhole video with that method. Try both and see which one you prefer, the resulting knot is the same either way.

Sometimes I can pull the thread from the end near the needle and have the stitch look nice, but often I grab it closer to the base and give it a little wiggle to nestle it into place. This is more necessary with the cotton than it is with the silk.

The knot should be on top of the cut edge of the fabric, not in front of it.

You can put your stitches further apart than I do if you want, they'll still work if they've got little gaps in between them.

Keep going up that edge and when you get to the end you can either flip immediately to the other side and start back down again, or you can do a bar tack. (You can also fan out the stitches around the end if you want, but I don't like to anymore because I think the rectangular ends look nicer.)

Here's a bar tack vs. no bar tack sample. They just make it look more sharp, and they reinforce the ends.

For a bar tack do a few long stitches across the entire end.

And then do buttonhole stitches on top of those long stitches. I also like to snag a tiny bit of the fabric underneath.

Then stick the needle down into the fabric right where you ended that last stitch on the corner of the bar tack, so you don't pull that corner out of shape, and then just go back to making buttonhole stitches down the other side.

Then do the second bar tack once you get back to the end.

To finish off my thread I make it sticky with a bit more beeswax, waxing it as close to the fabric as I can get, and then bring it through to the back and pull it underneath the stitches down one side and trim it off.

In my experience it stays put perfectly well this way without tying it off.

Voila! An beautiful buttonholes!

If you want keyhole ones you can clip or punch a little rounded bit at one end of the cut and fan your stitches out around that and only do the bar tack at one end, like I did on my 1830's dressing gown.

(I won't do that style in my video though, because they're not 18th century.)

Do samples before doing them on a garment! Do as many practice ones as you need to, it takes a while for them to get good! Mine did not look this nice 10 years ago.

Your first one will probably look pretty bad, but your hundredth will be much better!

Edit: Video finished!

youtube

And here's the blog post, which is mostly a slightly longer version of this post.

#ask #buttonholes #sewing #hand sewing #sewing tutorial #I've been procrastinating on the video this week #I want it done! I don't want to work on it I want new projects! I want to cut out more gloves!#currently forcing myself to do the last few buttonholes on these pants and then maybe I can cut out new gloves? as a treat?#but I hope I get some filming done tomorrow too

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icewindandboringhorror · 8 months

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I have found a beautiful perfect humble rock specimen that is light yellow with a weird dark yellowy brown lining, somewhat resembling a chunk of smoked gouda cheese... effervescent

#I am still very into trash collecting at the moment and even went out and got one of those grabby sticks for cheap and a little #bucket I can carry around and put trash in. so I am going on walks in nature a bit more (not really to enjoy nature but more to play the #very fun Real Life Hidden Object Point And Click Game that is 'hunt for bottle caps and cans' .. but eh.. whatever gets me out of the #house lol).. anyway.. some nature places near water will have cool rocks #Which I know you're not supposed to take them and I MOSTLY dont.. but every once in a while it's like... when else will I ever find a #gouda rock... I have cleaned up 4 buckets of trash today.. I have helped the environment.. mayhaps.. i could take a One Single Rocke as a #treate... ANYWAY. but yeah. I don't know the names of rocks but there's a rock that's a matte muted marigold yellow sort of #color and I call them 'cheese rock'. I'm pretty sure this one is of the 'cheese rock' species but it just has weird brown coloration #like maybe it got stained or something on one side of it. Most of the other cheese rocks have no markings. though sometimes there will be a #auburn reddish sort of hue on a corner or something.. hrmm.. curious. I also got a Beginner's Hobby rock tumbler and some supplies #so I might try polishing some of the rocks from my enormous rock collection. even though they're all street rocks I picked up from sidewalk #and stuff. I saw a video where someone put random gravel and stuff in a rock tumbler and none of them were Stunning Gems or whatver #but some still turned out cool enough that I would be pleased with the result... OUgh.. I want to post more I need to like do costumes and #sculptures and stuff and be Active On Social Media and think about my Future and Career and how it always benefits artists to keep an #active social media or etc. but I just feel so tired and bad lately. I think the summer heat waves have really exhausted me. I also have #been trying to make new friends + on a weird schedule so I've been socializing and also watching media too much. I notice I always start #to feel this kind of unsettled stress of not making any forward progress in my life if I do that for too long. like 'Okay this week I've #done nothing but meet up with two friends & watch like 10 episodes of tv and only worked on a few projects on the side.. this is HORRIBLE!'#(ppl who follow me here that I talk to on discord: this isn't about you! Im specifically just referencing being tired of introductory talks #with a new round of random strangers during my Friend Hunt. Just clarifying so it couldn't be misinterpreted as vaguepost implying that I'm #secretly bothered by talking to you or etc. lol.. anyway) . Which I know to MOST people 'I talked to a lot of friends and watched some cool #stuff!' sounds like a GOOD relaxing time but.. to me it is not ghhj.. Those are 'external' focuses on things outside myself which bothers #me if not moderated. Like.. i MUST retreat internally to work on my worldbuilding and my own thoughts and etc. at very regular intervals or #it will really start to bear on me too much. Brain Mandated Hermit Isolation lol. Just being too detached from my world and stuff for #too long feels increasingly bad. PLUS. every day I don't make tangible progress towards my goals is a day wasted that I could have been #investing in my future by working on novels/games/sculptures/actual career relevant stuff. Not even in a Capitalism way i just genuinely #enjoy Completing Tasks & feel miserable if I don't for too long. EVEN the media I'm watching I turn into A Task since I rank in a detailed #google doc list after viewing lol.. Like EW movie too boring on it's own. NEED to turn it into something I can categorize and analyze ghghj #LOVE to make things more complicated than they need to be. like YAAAY organizational tasks! yaay meticulous sorting!! BOO ''mindless fun''!

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miodiodavinci · 3 months

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oscillating rapidly and producing a low tone in the note of c

#on the one hand i am dying because i am not catching on in this new internship placement #all whilst my professors are already asking me to have my ducks in a row and send them like.#a detailed plan of what i'll be doing for my big final exam #when i don't even know what the schedule is around here or what's already been done and what still needs to be done #on the other hand my brain is so so desperate for goofing around time after spending basically the whole break working #(i took like a week off to be sick in december and then another 5 days to be sick in january)#(and then i Meaningfully took three or so days off to just. relax. in between stages of this other project)#but now i really just want to like. slack off entirely for a whole week.#(i can't do this)#(i need to start writing planning documents and making progress towards my big final exam thing)#so essentially i am weeping and dying #but at the very least a cool thing should be coming around either tomorrow or wednesday so #be on the lookout for that w #a a a a a a a a i hope it goes over well #a friend and i have been working really hard on this since last june . . . . .#(with a huge break in the middle on account of the internship hell)#but wauuughghgh save me from the hell i reside in (burn out from last semester is now following me into this one waughgh)

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48787 · 1 month

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New Transmission The fucking Scientific Instrument Class Pseudocons apparently developed what they're calling "Hetero Sapience" and are corrupting the brainmodules of the non-Pseudo 'cons around them by using annoying xenophilosophy words. Soundwave tells me they're 'Greek' and 'Latin' words, apparently. Cool, I guess? Anyway, if you see any SI Class 'cons causing... issues, just try your hardest to turn your brainmodule off before you start getting infected with their weird lingo, alongside all the other issues pertaining to letting the SI Pseudocons transmit data into your brainmodule in their own weird ways. Thundercracker, on a bet with Starscream, tried to get into an argument with one of them and his head literally exploded when it started talking about Alpha Trion's "Mythological Origins" in its weird dialect. He's mostly fine, CR Pods are working at 'peak' efficiency, but the facial reconstruction is apparently impossible due to some kind of corruption. I thought it was just some weird prank but there weren't even any scorch marks or anything. Just exploded. So yeah, just avoid optical contact and auditory contact to the best of your ability and you should be fine. Otherwise, try to force-shutdown your brainmodule if you can. Shockwave is working on a cure right now, mostly because I know he had something to do with this in the first place so he's going to be the one to fix it. He probably wanted a greater justification to do that weird data-transfer idea he mentioned previously. But it also explains the weird Thunderwing hypotheticals he's been asking me lately... Can I go one fucking cycle without someone trying to "Perfect Thunderwing's Work" or whatever other idiotic drivel that I keep finding our limited energon reserves siphoned into?? It's not even a Shockwave thing, it's like every damn Cybertronian these days thinks they have the "Missing piece of the puzzle" or whatever. In fact, Shockwave might be doing this as a weird threat against the other R&D 'cons to cement himself as the one and only Decepticon "Allowed" to have resources wasted on projects like that. Ugh, now that I think about it, that's probably a correct assumption and he's probably gonna expect me to thank him for it later. Ugh, and he's probably literally right. Ugh. At least his repairs both to himself and to his lab seem to be mostly complete so further research into the SI project should hopefully come along a little faster. Both Shockwave and Soundwave think the SIs could potentially be used as some kind of specialty weapon, but we'll have to see how they work on sparkless lifeforms, like biological lifeforms or xenomechanical lifeforms. The SIs don't seem to corrupt each other, but Shockwave keeps reaffirming that they're not "Sparkless Lifeforms" because they "were never lifeforms to begin with"... but I think he's trying to hide something. Usually Soundwave is the one to pick up on that kind of technological obfuscation, but he actually agreed with Shockwave and offered to send Ratbat to try to work out exactly what each "sapient" SI is now capable of on a personal level. We could have just had regular Cybertronians aboard to fill the role SIs fill. I would've preferred K Class to fill any role an SI could fill in all honesty!! But no, constructing cold wasn't enough, we just had to try to learn how to "Construct Frozen" and the "Absolute Zeroes" just had to be put on my ship. Whatever. I've probably said too much already. This was supposed to be a warning for my ship crew, but it's looking like it'll end up being transcribed on the golden disk as well so when this new Scientific Instruments of Destruction project backfires in some absurdly bombastic way there will at least be something remaining that says I was right. End of Transmission

New Transmission Okay so I was right, but so was Shockwave and Soundwave. Or, well, they were right just enough to make sure the backfire is postponed for at least another handful of cycles. Ratbat is still in CR from the investigation, but the cure Shockwave developed seems to be effective and Thundercracker is out and aiding the repair effort. Shockwave is now in contact with one of the SIs digitally and the other few are... integrating due to the personal efforts of Soundwave. I suppose now would be pertinent to mention not all the SIs developed the "Hetero Sapience" condition, many of them are safe for interaction. Soundwave is also currently monitoring their presence, Ravage is tasked with the regular SIs and Laserbeak is tasked with the "Sapient" SIs. Shockwave probably knows exactly what caused this event but he is preoccupied with the one he no doubt is either indoctrinating or ruthlessly interrogating. Report to Soundwave if you see any suspicious behavior, he has been working very hard to ensure the SIs have their purpose clearly defined (And closely monitored). And, Starscream, stop trying to convince the SIs that you are the leader of this ship. Not only have the majority of your efforts been wasted on subsentient automata, the only one you have actually found who possesses the ability to truly listen to you immediately came to the bridge to complain about you. They were the first sapient SI I communicated with directly and it was because they felt the need to complain about you. I almost feel embarrassed for you. Come back to the bridge so you can apologize to it or so I can teach it how to laugh at you. It's practicing right now actually! This moment of chaos should hopefully be largely under control now, the actual "population" of Scientific Instrument Class Pseudocons was actually quite fewer than initially expected due to an indexing error incorrectly labeling certain shells as SI class. At the very least, we have some more specialty warriors because of it all. End of Transmission EOF

#yippie peace through tyranny!!#nemesis posting #Decepticon High Command Slice of Life rambles #Matrix Visions #I like this “chat” font I think it's cool #spacebridge still needs more time in the oven unfortunately #I'm also procrastinating on that because I can't seem to wrap my head around guestmount but do not want to send backup files one at a time #wegh. It'll get done. Eventually.#I'll have so much more bullshit once I actually finish the damn comic my wife radically altered my life with hehehe #I cannot wait to start posting about Alpharius Trionicon. He's the fucking worst if you couldn't tell by name alone and I love him so much #Anyway I just had a very specific joke/pun in my head in the shower then it turned into a whole *thing* like it usually does.#I usually don't explain shit but the shower idea centered around getting the SI acronym to work for hyper specific jokes.#Still can't decide if I want to lock in on “Scientific Instrument” because it fits *so well* for *so many reasons*#But “Synthetic Intelligence” is more generic in a more understandable way... Eeh.. It's a little *too* generic. “Instrument” is cooler.#Once my wife helps me understand her lil fucker more I'll come up with an even shitter joke using “Y/N” so I can do Y/N x SI x SI bullshit!#Oh! The matrix triune project is coming along slowly as well!! I think I mentioned that microphone project once or twice now hehe #I'm gonna make so many shitty covers of songs once I get the soundproofing to start focusing on vocal training stuff #It's been quite a fun time aboard the nemesis!! There's so much to “Blog” about that it's hard to really know when to start *or* stop hehe!#And the fact that all these projects are all interwoven is so fucking wonderful!! I FINALLY feel able to fully grasp my own focus!!#My brain is like a particle collider for certain interests now. I can reliably just.. Spit things out and tie it into the other interests!#It's sometimes exhausting but in such a new way. Like a relieving exhaustion?#Still figuring that part out!!#Anyway that's enough personal project vagueposting I should really be getting back to work hehe this was fun

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alectoperdita · 11 months

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all I ask is for one day, one day where work doesn't leave me feeling subhuman and completely drained of motivation/creative drive/will to live

#ngl I could use some cheerleading but all my immediate friends are also going through even greater work stress #don't want to ask them to use their limited time/energy on soothing me #but alas I also have nothing to share for head pats because of the funk #so I will listen to RE4 playthroughs as I contemplate wandering into the woods and vanishing forever #I'm done with working on 'new projects to challenge myself and grow my skills' let me be comfortable instead #I've been challenged until I'm just crispy now #ask for help? I rather die literally #toxic self-reliance I guess #personal bullshit

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leaphia · 4 months

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My resolutions for 2024:

work more on my comic and finish the first chapter

maybe also write more on project: Thaumaturgy again

More artworks of OCs (which I haven't drawn often)

Be more annoying about my OCs on here (share more random notes/facts, nothing too story related idk yet)

#also... work on a new tag system maybe #and don't care so much about numbers (likes/reblogs)#I don't want to put too much pressure on myself #The only important thing for me is my comic project which I really really really wanna get done!#for me and me only #and when there's no inspiration/motivation for that that's fine too!#I also thought about to reblog other's art I like on here too #to keep this blog more active

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girlscience · 2 months

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Last paper I was going to read has been read... it was the most interesting to me. It was about low-head dam removal and it's effects on the community make up of the fish populations in those streams. It was not a study performed by the guy I am talking to tomorrow, it was actually a grad thesis by a student that worked with him in the aquatic sciences center. Now I just have to figure out the answers to a couple questions I was recommended to have answers to because they seem likely to be asked.

#I still don't have any good questions to ask him though *sobbing*#I have questions about like the timing of the research because mostly everything I saw was longer than a grad degree will take #I want to know how they pick their research projects because there are so many things that could be researched #but otherwise its just statements #I want to learn fish dissection and identification. I want to learn how to use R. I want to refresh/understand statistics #I was most interested in the studies that were done on things like the dam-removal effect and riparian vs agriculture streams #the studies on fish population demographics were interesting and important but didn't quite capture me the same way #I guess I can just say that these were the things I found interesting and would like to study and be involved in #but that because I don't have much (any) experience creating my own experiments #or with aquatic ecosystems I am not really sure what a good research question would be but that I want to learn #..... I don't know if that's great though because it might just make me seem inexperienced #in a way that would not be beneficial to a lab. like that I wouldn't be bringing anything to the table #but on the other hand if you are expecting a brand new grad student to have all the answers what are you doing #but also I have been out of school and been working for 4 years so I should be more mature and have a better grasp of science #AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA JUST WHAT IF IM NOT GOOD ENOUGH #i am so stressed

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gatheringkeepsakes · 4 months

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#need a new job so bad #this one makes me violent #spend all my time either waiting for shit to do #or doing the most asinine and pointless things that just don't matter #and i'm not learning anything new and there's no room for growth and it's so fucking boring #and the communication and project organizing is so unbelievably bad #i wanted to go to an emergency protest against what's going on you know where #i was all wrapped up and ready to head out early for the day #and then 20 mins before I have to leave I'm given another hour+ worth of work that could have been done earlier #but they weren't clear enough with the instruction #saw some article floating around here the other day about how your boss has more of an impact on your health than your doctor #and yeah #i could be drawing or doing work that actually matters to me #but instead i'm changing 0.001 of a decimal point in engineer manuals and not allowed to go march for smth a million times more important #GRUMBLE GRUMBLE MAD

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opens-up-4-nobody · 1 year

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...

#sometimes u have a day thats just so. i cant even. its seems 2023 is my year of rage #directionless rage. i guess im mad at me but instead of being directed inward it just goes out into empty space #im just fucking. im at my saturation point #its a good thing i stopped taking measurements yesterday and went to the store tomorrow bc im so fucking #mostly bc i noticed a problem with the code for a paper that is fucking less than a day away from being locked in on acceptance #and now its like fucking i have to go through and change a lot and im also less than 48hrs away from another massive project starting #that will occupy my whole fucking waking nightmare of a life. so its a good thing im level headed. its a good thing i can accept my fuck #ups with honestly. bc im so fucking. ive had it. im up to fucking here with everything and i just want it to be done #im fucking full of bitterness and black bile and i want to break things. and whose fault is it? fucking mine #bc im too fucking exhausted constantly all the time to fucking pay attention to what im doing and notic that a fucking function isnt #working properly. fuck u fuck u fuck u. so what r we gonna do abt it?#idk well see what my boss says. i already texted her that news and its good bc at least i caught it but god its so fucking irritating #god. will i b told off for this? maybe. i probably deserve it. haha if so that will send me for an absolute tailspin. i cannot stand to #feel ive done something wrong. even when i kno i have. last time i had a total freakout meltdown and made v bad choices and that wasnt even #this bad. so its a good thing im currently fairly stable bc the desire to make bad choices is very strong #im just so sick and tired of everything and i want to let things implode bc im vindictive against myself. but we must not do that we must #be reasonable. so idk we may have to withdraw the paper. whatever i dont give a fuck. itll get accepted elsewhere. i dont fucking care #leave me alone to dissolve into the dirt and set my data ablaze to be helpful to no one. erase my Prospective impack. i don't fucking care #anyway today sucked. i might have to stay up all night trying to fix this. ensuring that i fuck up the start of the looming project yayyyyy #i hate it here. i stopped having fun over a year ago #itll b fine. im just fucking. im full im impotent rage #unrelated

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hmantegazzi · 7 months

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hi! i think you meant well but also i don’t think it’s realistic that the renovated warehouses are anywhere near as accessible to homeless people as you’ve suggested. any housing of the homeless project is the EXCEPTION 9.9/10 times the renovated places are not accessible and exclusively marketed towards people of higher class. it is a fact that real estate developers have the interest of the market, not the general people in mind

also,, housing projects are almost always government funded while re developed d warehouses and the like are renovated by private companies who are only for profit. I think you also made quite a few assumptions in your line of thinking as well .

Sure enough, the exercise was to make *different* assumptions, while keeping them realistic, to show that there are more than two possible alternatives: market-oriented development that ends in gentrification and a fragile status quo.

Given that we aren't talking about a concrete case, I cannot say for sure what would be the most credible way to campaign for some sort of social housing, and just mentioned alternatives that I know have been tried successfully in cities around the world, but I guess that showcasing at least one of those concrete cases could drive the point more clearly.

This photo is super fun because it showcases how weird this whole housing project is, so I wanted to put it even before showing what it's about. The guy in the middle with the big carboard key is Felipe Ward, a far-right Chilean politician that was Minister of Housing and Urbanism in 2020, and most of the people surrounding him are members of a radical left-libertarian homeless activist movement called Ukamau, who were receiving their newly built apartments in a warehouse district in Santiago, a housing complex that they don't only fought for but literally helped to design, and the right-wing government had no other option than to follow through, finance and built it.

The place on which the project was built was a corner of the San Eugenio railyard, the main maintenance workshop for the trains serving the city, which was already under heavy stress because of dual plans to expand commuter rail operations from the neighbouring station (I should write about that some day!), and to sell to private businesses and redevelop parts of the lot that were in disuse, to help finance the aforementioned expansion. Their bet was to ride the wave of gentrification caused by the construction of the Line 6 of the Metro across the southern side of the railyard (which ultimately was displaced about half a kilometre more to the south, to a more populated avenue).

The Ukamau movement, formed in 2011 on the basis of many organisations that went back as far as 1987 anti-dictatorship fighters, and comprised of 'pobladores' (people that occupied empty plots of land and built precarious sheds there) and 'allegados' (people that live precariously in spare rooms of neighbours or family), decided to make their bet on the railyard plot, under the premise of building there a project that actually satisfied the needs of their inhabitants without requiring them to migrate to the periphery of the city, which is where most social building development was happening at the time. The proposal was soundly rejected on the basis that the space was required for the trains, but they insisted, for years, facing continuous acts of repression by the police every time they protested the decision.

Meanwhile, in the same neighbourhood surrounding the Central Station of the city, huge apartment towers with terrible building standards started to be constructed, abusing a legal loop, so that some towers are comprised of cruelly tiny apartments of 21 sq metres and have no access to sunlight at all:

The contrast between this monstrous prison-like buildings that were being sold as an "investment" for prospective landlords and the proposal of Ukamau made the latter more palatable every time the first protagonised the news because of the inherent clash with their environment, and lately, because of the living conditions of their residents.

One of the key ingredients of their success is that Ukamau didn't just demanded housing, but presented a concrete project to be built, something that was aided by their early collaboration with the architect Fernando Castillo Velasco (I really have to write about him as well!), one of the biggest figures of the modernist movement in the country and lately famous for his "communities", little collective housing projects designed and built for his students and friends. Even if Castillo died in 2013, just a few meetings after their initial encounter, his son Cristián, also architect and a former member of the Revolutionary Left Movement that fought the dictatorship on its earliest days in clandestinity, took the post under the same premise: letting the future residents have the last word on the design of their residences and their environment.

Aided by the government change in 2014, Ukamau and their architects managed to convince the Ministry of obtaining the plot from the State Railway Company (EFE), granting their members funding of the order of 38,000 USD (of the time) per family, and letting the movement act as the main contractor of the building process to control the assigned times, let their members work in some of the stages of the construction, and reinvest the profits into the provision of community amenities and the fabrication of furniture. This, of course, meant as well that EFE had to absorb the extra costs of not counting with the space in their railyard anymore (which is being a little of an issue right now).

Their project was presented in 2016, comprises 424 apartments, and looked like this:

Even then, the construction process wasn't without their complications: in one episode in 2019, the company tasked with the main edification works tried to delay their deadline talking directly with the Ministry (now in hands of the right-wing government elected in 2017), and instead of getting themselves trapped in a legal battle, the members of Ukamau went and occupied the central offices of the Ministry to demand the full compilance with the original terms.

Eventually, in october of 2020, just days after the first anniversary of the Estallido Social protests, the Maestranza Ukamau Neighbourhood was finally received by their residents, and it looks like this (you might notice that the colour palette is obviously their favourite):

But maybe the most important result of this project was that it proved that such a thing was possible to do. It didn't require lengthy legislative discussions or the full attention of a government, just a very clever strategy, tons of decision and insistence by an organised movement, and a bit of help from people in the know. So successful was this model that, by the end of 2021, twenty housing projects modelled after this one were already being presented for financing and construction.

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ninelivesart · 10 months

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2023 Draw My Reads

Here is a full list of all the books I read in 2023 and links to the art I’ve made for them.

Just a few quick notes. I didn’t make art for everything I read. I also fell off the wagon a bit toward the end and went through an art block. Not sure if I’ll continue this project into 2024 but I might do some variation. We’ll see.

Also, I read some absolutely filthy (and ridiculous) stuff sometimes. So be warned.

*Sequels will have an asterisk. First book in series will be in parenthesis.

January

1. Alpha Wolf* by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti (Caged Wolf)

2. Feral Wolf* by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti (Caged Wolf)

3. Constantine: Distorted Illusions by Kami Garcia and Isaac Goodhart

4. The Ballad of Never After* by Stephanie Garber (Once Upon a Broken Heart)

5. Wicked Beauty* by Katee Robert (Neon Gods)

6. Vicious by V.E. Schwab

7. Hell Bent* by Leigh Bardugo (Ninth House)

Total (so far): 7

February

1. How Y’all Doing by Leslie Jordan

2. Vengeful* by V.E. Schwab (Vicious)

3. A Court of Mist and Fury* by Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Thorns and Roses)

4. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

Total (so far): 11

March

1. Kingdom of Flesh and Fire* by Jennifer L. Armentrout (From Blood and Ash)

2. The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

3. Cinder by Marissa Meyer

4. Scarlet* by Marissa Meyer (Cinder)

5. Cress* by Marissa Meyer (Cinder)

Total (so far): 16

April

1. Winter* by Marissa Meyer (Cinder)

2. A Soul to Keep by Opal Reyne

3. Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

4. Lauren’s Barbarian* by Ruby Dixon (Ice Planet Barbarians, spinoff series)

Total (so far): 20

May

1. Harvest House by Cynthia Leitich Smith

2. The Song of the Marked by S.M. Gaither

3. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

4. Fable by Adrienne Young

5. Bea Wolf by Weinersmith

6. Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes

Total (so far): 26

June

1. A Ruin of Roses by K.F. Breene

2. Veronica’s Dragon* by Ruby Dixon (Ice Planet Barbarians, spinoff series)

3. Willa’s Beast* by Ruby Dixon (Ice Planet Barbarians, spinoff series)

4. Over My Dead Body by Sweeney Boo

5. Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey

6. A Court of Silver Flames* by Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Thorns and Roses)

7. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Total (so far): 33

July

1. Zodiac Academy: Beyond the Veil* by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti (Zodiac Academy: The Awakening)

2. The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen

3. The Traitor Queen* by Danielle L. Jensen (The Bridge Kingdom)

4. The Little Library Cookbook by Kate Young

5. Sheets by Brenna Thummler

6. Cackle by Rachel Harrison

7. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

8. The Borderlands Princess by Ophelia Wells Langley

9. Bride of the Shadow King by Sylvia Mercedes

10. Vow of the Shadow King* by Sylvia Mercedes (Bride of the Shadow King)

11. Angie’s Gladiator* by Ruby Dixon (Ice Planet Barbarians spinoff series)

12. Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

13. Gail’s Family* by Ruby Dixon (Ice Planet Barbarians spinoff series)

14. Hanna’s Hero* by Ruby Dixon (Ice Planet Barbarians spinoff series)

15. Devi’s Distraction* by Ruby Dixon (Ice Planet Barbarians spinoff series)

16. Destination Alien Bride by Dee J. Holmes

Total (so far): 49

August

1. Destination Alien Mate* by Dee J. Holmes (Destination Alien Bride)

2. Gilded by Marissa Meyer

3. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

4. Cursed* by Marissa Meyer (Gilded)

5. Nadine’s Champion* by Ruby Dixon (Ice Planet Barbarians spinoff series)

6. Callie’s Catastrophe* by Ruby Dixon (Ice Planet Barbarians spinoff series)

7. Ice Planet Honeymoon* by Ruby Dixon (Ice Planet Barbarians)

8. Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell

9. I’m in Love with Mothman by Paige Lavoie

Total (so far): 58

September

1. Cryptid Club by Sarah Andersen

2. Radiant Sin* by Katee Robert (Neon Gods)

3. Ice Planet Honeymoon: Raahosh and Liz* by Ruby Dixon (Ice Planet Barbarians)

4. The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner

5. Throne in the Dark by A.K. Caggiano

6. Ice Planet Honeymoon: Aehako and Kira* by Ruby Dixon (Ice Planet Barbarians)

7. A Soul to Heal by Opal Reyne* (A Soul to Keep)

8. Ice Planet Honeymoon: Rukh and Harlow by Ruby Dixon* (Ice Planet Barbarians)

9. The Barbarian Before Christmas by Ruby Dixon* (Ice Planet Barbarians)

10. Penny’s Protector by Ruby Dixon* (Ice Planet Barbarians spinoff series)

11. Mari’s Mistake by Ruby Dixon* (Ice Planet Barbarians spinoff series)

12. Raven’s Return by Ruby Dixon* (Ice Planet Barbarians spinoff series)

Total (so far): 70

October

1. Bridget’s Bane by Ruby Dixon* (Ice Planet Barbarians spinoff series)

2. Steph’s Outcast by Ruby Dixon* (Ice Planet Barbarians spinoff series)

3. Sam’s Secret by Ruby Dixon* (Ice Planet Barbarians spinoff series)

4. Daisy’s Decision by Ruby Dixon* (Ice Planet Barbarians spinoff series)

5. Flor’s Fiasco by Ruby Dixon* (Ice Planet Barbarians spinoff series)

6. R’jaal’s Resonance by Ruby Dixon* (Ice Planet Barbarians spinoff series)

7. Forged by Magic by Jenna Wolfheart

8. A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow

9. A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber* (Once Upon a Broken Heart)

Total (so far): 79

November

1. The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

2. Namesake by Adrienne Young* (Fable)

3. Blackwater by Jeannette Arroyo and Ren Graham

4. Surviving Skarr by Ruby Dixon* (Ice Planet Barbarians Spinoff series)

5. Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Lisa Sterle

6. Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson* (Sorcery of Thorns)

7. Destination Alien Treasure by Dee J Holmes* (Destination Alien Bride)

8. Zodiac Academy: Origins of an Academy Bully by Susanne Valenti and Caroline Peckham* (Zodiac Academy: The Awakening)

9. When She’s Ready by Ruby Dixon

10. When She’s Married by Ruby Dixon* (When She’s Ready)

11. When She Purrs by Ruby Dixon* (When She’s Ready)

12. When She Belongs by Ruby Dixon* (When She’s Ready)

Total (so far): 91

December

1. The Dreaming Forest by LB Black

2. Gold by Raven Kennedy* (Gild)

3. Chained to Krampus by KL Wyatt

4. Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell* (Series of standalones)

Total Reads For 2023: 95

My goal was to read 90 books and I beat that by 5. I think I’m going to set my reading goal to just 80 this year. Just to give myself a little more freedom. I did read a lot of really short books just to get my number up and I’d rather just focus on reading whatever I want.

Shortest book read: Ice Planet Honeymoon: Raahosh and Liz by Ruby Dixon

Longest book read: Winter by Marissa Meyer

Current read started in 2023 but will finish in 2024: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

#drawing my reads #drawing my reads masterlist #drawing my reads 2023 #giving this a full update at the start of a new year #i don't want to give up on this project completely in 2024 #but i might change how i do things #i'm thinking of picking a scene from the books i read and drawing that #but i want to give myself a little more freedom #last year i drew book characters even when i wasn't super into the book #and i don't want people coming to my page expecting more fanart of that book #only to be disappointed when i choose not to continue the series #so that being said #i'm reading ten thousand doors of january right now #i haven't found a scene i particularly want to draw just yet #and i'm currently working on a non book related art piece #so hopefully i can get that one done today while i'm off work

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