Diamond Painting (FO and a New One)

I finished a larger-than-usual (for me) diamond painting, since last time.  There wasn't much left to do, after I filled in most of it while Donald was travelling in July.  (He went to a figure-painting show in the Netherlands, then visited his family in Sweden.)  I needed a break from it, so set it aside.  The last 1.5 inches or so went pretty quickly, once I got it back out again.  

It's a 40x60 cm diamond painting, with an image of jars of wildflowers against a dilapidated wall with peeling paint-- I mean, against a shabby chic wall.  😜  

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Sidetrack! 

Is shabby chic still "a thing"?  I'm sure some people are still decorating in that style.  In fact, I recently saw a decorating magazine where many things looked like the "primitive" or "country" style I remember from the 90s.  Are those things back in style or did they just never go away for the people who love them?  

I think I've officially reached that point where things are already going out of style by the time I get around to adopting them.  Grey paint is "out" (according to some), but we'll be keeping ours, because I still like it.  (And also because painting is a pain in the behind.)  To be honest, I'd already heard that grey was on the way out, when we selected our "new" wall colors... And that's probably been four years ago or more, already!  Then there's this trend of using warm-tone metal for doorknobs, etc.  We just (well, 2 or 3 years ago?) changed our doorknobs from shiny brass to ORB handles.  Let me guess-- ORB will be considered tacky in the next few years?  (Okay, maybe not...)  I don't care.  I never really liked the shiny brass, even when it was new, and I do love the ORB!

The same thing happens with clothes.  Now that I'm finally wearing skinny jeans and leggings, I think I've heard that straight-leg and even boot-cut jeans are back-- which is a tiny bit sad, because I probably prefer boot-cut, but now I have mostly skinny jeans, and they're too new for me to want to replace them.  😖  Ah, whatever.  Skinny's okay.  The tiny ankle holes bring back memories from my youth, when anything that wasn't tight around the ankles looked utterly ridiculous.  I was never big into fashion, but now I really don't care if I'm dressed stylishly, as long as I'm comfortable, clean, and decently covered-- but it does still strike me as funny.  Being a recluse and a late adopter of fashion go hand-in-hand!  At least I managed to completely bypass the "cold shoulder" tops craze and didn't stock up on them right before they were deemed unfashionable. 😆  (I'm probably wrong, and they're actually still solidly "in".)

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Back to the diamond painting!  There's never much to say about these, really.  I already did a smaller diamond painting of a similar picture.  That one has a bird or two along with the jars of wildflowers in front of the shabby chic (or just shabby?) peeling-paint wall.  If I ever get around to mounting them or framing them, I could hang them together.  

The next diamond painting is already underway.  It's a pretty picture of moths.  I think the dark background will be striking.  Not much progress to show, but here is is, anyway:

Otherwise, the main crafty progress I've made since last time is piecing enough crumb strips to reach my goal for that project.  I think I've calculated correctly to get the quilt size I want, but if not, I'll just sew some more.  Here's the stack of crumb strips:  

The next step is choosing a fabric for the background.  If I have enough denim that isn't too heavy, I might use that, but I'm not sure... Most of them have phone book pages on the backs.  I might go ahead and tear those off, now, before settling on the background fabric. 

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This last bit is another product review.  I thought I might have written about this before, since I've been using it since 2019, but I guess I never did.  

I had started having problems with wrist pain.  I don't remember exactly when/how I noticed the pain, if it was worse at certain times of the day or after specific activities-- but I do distinctly remember waking with tingling and painful wrists/arms/hands, which was very unpleasant! 

Around the same time, I saw a knitter on Twitter mention using a wrist brace to combat pain, so I thought I'd give it a try.  Again, I don't recall how long it took before I noticed a difference-- whether it was overnight or if it took a few days, but I don't think it took long, because according to my purchase history, I bought one for my right wrist on November 17th, then ordered one for the left wrist on November 29th-- and I'm sure I wouldn't have ordered the second one until I was convinced it made a difference.  

These wrist braces have made a major improvement in my wrists.  I put them on right before going to sleep and take them off in the morning.  I no longer wake up with wrist pain, and I don't remember the last time I had significant wrist discomfort during the day, either.  Now, if I spend hours doing heavy weeding, I'll probably have some pain, but in my day-to-day life, wrist pain is a thing of the past.  I spend a lot of time typing/using a mouse and doing other repetitive motions with my wrists as part of crafts, and (knock on wood) the wrist braces have been enough to eliminate pain from these activities.  If I do ever have sore wrists during the day, I can wear these then, too, for a little extra help.  They do restrict your range of motion, but they're not uncomfortable to wear.  

I'm not sure why I settled on the ones I bought, but it was probably based on ratings/reviews and price.  I think there are more options available, now, so these might not be the best deal out there, but I'm happy with them.  They're "Mueller Sports Medicine Green Fitted Wrist Brace" and they're currently sold separately for under $14 each on Amazon.  (I guess it's good that they're sold individually, for people who may only have problems with one or the other of their wrists-- just make sure you're ordering the correct one.  Wouldn't want to end up with two left hands. 😅)  They're unisex and come in two sizes-- small/medium and large/extra large.  I don't have particularly small hands, but the small/medium fits me fine.  (There's a sizing chart to help you decide which will be the better fit.)

Here's an affiliate link, if anyone's curious:

I've been using the same pair nightly since late 2019, and they're still working well.  The velcro has needed to be cleaned/de-furred (thanks, Eskies!) a couple of times to keep them working their best, and earlier this year, I purchased a replacement pair for when the velcro finally gives out.  (That's how much they've helped; I really don't want to be without them again!)  However, I'm sure it would be possible to replace the velcro or attach snaps or something, if you wanted to extend their usefulness even longer.  

If you have mild-to-moderate wrist pain, I'd definitely try some wrist braces.  They may not work for everyone, but they're worth a try to see if they lessen your discomfort in an easy, completely drug-free way!