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jaystarnaz.bsky.social
JayStarNaz
@jaystarnaz.bsky.social
330 followers 820 following 400 posts
Nerd who loves to read and craft. She/her. CR: Love Requires Chocolate (Ravynn K. Stringfield)
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jaystarnaz.bsky.social
Finished stitching my 2025 book tracker! Been very satisfying to catch up on at least one craft project. It's helping me find little sparks of joy in the world right now.

Pattern by thestircrazycrafter & purchased on Etsy. Genres & representative colors chosen by me.

#books #reading #crossstitch
A small cross stitch project photographed against a polka dot background. The project is a bookshelf with "2025" across the top of the bookshelf. Five shelves are filled with different colors of books. Each color represents a genre. Below the project is a cross stitched color key that lists the genres and corresponding colors. These genres are: romance, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, thriller, mystery, why a contemporary, essays, why a fantasy, y a sci-fi, memoir/ biography, history, literature and general fiction, and reference.
January 9, 2026 at 11:07 PM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
I started reading this Christmas gift. Twenty pages in I am completely charmed.
A pale hand holds the novel, Love Requires Chocolate by Ravynn K. Stringfield. The novel's cover is mostly in shades of pink and blue. The title is in the top third in large letters. The illustration shows a young couple on what looks like a rooftop in Paris. Off to the right is the Eiffel Tower, and in the bottom left is a shop sign that says "Chocolat Doré." The author's name is in large pink letters across the bottom of the cover.
January 4, 2026 at 11:52 PM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
Spotted at Dragon Con! #SaveWOT
On the corner of the Westin hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, digital billboard that wraps around the corner of the building advertises the save The wheel of Time campaign. The image has the character Rand al'Thor carrying the character of Moiraine with spears that have been shoved into the ground and are now standing on end all around them. The text on the billboard reads: Save The Wheel of Time. Savewot.com
August 29, 2025 at 8:39 PM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
I love how absurd this convention is. Warms my nerd heart.
The Dragon Con shrine for the Cult of Jon. A stack of decorated FedEx boxes with googly eyes glued on. And offerings scattered around.
August 29, 2025 at 1:52 AM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
Jinu shrine already has a start as of Wednesday night/Thursday morning at Dragon Con. Spotted by my husband in, I think, the Marriott. Or maybe the habitrail tubes connecting Marriott & Hyatt.
A photo of Jinu from K-pop demon hunters rests against a baseboard on a pale tile floor. Googly eyes have been added to the image. In front of the photo are offerings that are the beginning of an impromptu shrine. These offerings include electric candles, candy, a guitar pick, and some change.
August 28, 2025 at 5:26 AM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
Today's small joy: caterpillars chowing down on milkweed in my garden. 🤞 Fingers crossed that they survive!
A monarch caterpillar, striped in white, yellow, and black, climbs up the stem of a swamp milkweed plant. The long narrow leaves of the plant drape around it. A monarch caterpillar clinga to the underside of a long narrow leaf on a swamp milkweed plant.
August 17, 2025 at 5:25 PM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
Little buddy is living his best cat life. Maybe in my next life cycle I can be this spoiled and relaxed.
A white and gray cat is curled up in a tight ball and beige cat bed. Cat and cat bed are on a faux marble shelf in front of a sunny window.
July 10, 2025 at 4:58 PM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
I really love river oats. Sea oats. Whatever you call them. The seeds are so lovely and the drooping angle is so graceful.
A close up of the drooping seed heads of a river oats plants. The seeds and the leaves in the background are all green.
June 21, 2025 at 2:27 AM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
Cat snoozing on my lap and excellent novel in hand. I've had worse Friday nights.
A gray and white cat with a black collar is curled up sleeping on a person's lap. The person is wearing light blue pants. A pale hand is holding a mass paperback copy of the novel Prince of Dogs by Kate Elliott. The novel cover art has the title written across the top. In the center is a leeann brown or bronze-skinned man with dark hair and no beard wearing tattered clothes, and a collar and chains. He appears to be chained to a pack of very angry and vicious looking dogs.
June 14, 2025 at 1:00 AM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
I got started adding June reading to my cross stitch book tracker, and then realized that I'd never shared my May progress. Books read are in comments.
A small cross stitch bookcase with multiple colors of books stitched in. Top of the bookcase has the year 2025 stitched on top. The bookcase is currently at three shelves. Each book stitched represents a book read this year. And each color corresponds to a genre. A small cross-stitched genre key with color swatches sits directly below. The bookcase project. Genres listed are romance, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, thriller, mystery, Y.A. contemporary, Y A. fantasy, Y.A. Sci-Fi, memoir and biography, history, general fiction, and reference.
June 7, 2025 at 5:23 PM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
Post your first cell phone. This Ericsson or a very similar model.
A view of a dark green Erikson cell phone from the late 1990s. It is rectangular. It has a closed cover over the keypad that is openable. The phone's antenna on the right is short and stubby and colored black. The phone screen is very small and the background is green. Above the screen is the Erickson brand. At the bottom right of the phone is the model: AF778.
June 2, 2025 at 5:54 PM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
Had a friend stop by the milkweed this afternoon. 😍
An Eastern tiger swallowtail, wings open to easily see the yellow background and black striping, rests on the orange blooms of butterfly milkweed. In the foreground are The long narrow green leaves of several butterfly milkweed plants that are not yet in bloom.
May 30, 2025 at 8:12 PM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
I really love the orange of butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa).
In the foreground are the small orange blooms of butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa). Most of the blooms on this plant have opened, however there are some in the foreground and background that are still in bud. In the background are the green narrow leaves of other butterfly weed plants.
May 18, 2025 at 12:02 AM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
SUCH a great addition to my week. Totally worth losing a bit of sleep to "just one more chapter" my way though Daughter of Tides. www.kitrocha.com/book/daughte...
A screenshot of the e-book cover for the novel Daughter of Tides by Kit Rocha. The cover art shows a blend of kraken tentacles and ocean water. The color palette is greens and teals and blues, like the ocean.
May 9, 2025 at 1:06 AM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
Rain today changed the plans I had, so today is dishes, laundry, & reading.

I'm glad that a trip to the used bookstore last year ended up with me buying War for the Oaks by Emma Bull. I picked it up 100% because I like the cover art and it was a great choice.
A mass market paperback novel, War for the Oaks, by Emma Bull. The comfort art depicts a fae appearing humanoid's head on the left, with blue skin and sharp teeth. He seems to have leaves instead of hair. Patterned behind him is a background in browns showing autumnal oak leaves and mushrooms. He's looking to the right and down at a pale human woman with very short blonde hair and a red jacket. Silhouetted behind her is a snarling black dog. Patterned behind her are green oak leaves and green and blue mushrooms.
May 3, 2025 at 8:52 PM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
Caught up on stitching April's reading. Books represented are in the comments.
A cross stitch project depicting a brown bookcase currently with two shelves. Each book stitched on the shelves represents a genre of book red. Below the bookshelf is a cross stitch key of colors and genres.
May 3, 2025 at 4:10 PM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
Caught up on my cross stitch book tracking project! March books added: Exit Strategy - Martha Wells; A Blade So Black - L.L. McKinney; Lost & Found - Jane Glatt; Falling Free - Lois McMaster Bujold.
Too small related cross stitch projects. The one on the bottom is a cross stitch bookcase with the numbers 2025 stitched on top. The top two shelves of the bookcase are partially filled with books of various colors. The cross stitch laid on top is the key to the book colors. Each color represents a genre.
April 13, 2025 at 2:07 AM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
Best side effect of my slow re-read of The Shadow Rising is that I'm near the end of the book just in time for the s3 closer.

Just read this page. I knew in e1? (e2?) that the exchange sounded character correct but hadn't realized how much came straight from TSR. #WotShowSpoilers
#WotBookSpoilers
A photograph from a passage from The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan. The captured text reads: "You want me to confide in you, Moiraine? All right. Your Three Oaths won't let you lie. Say plainly that whatever I tell you, you wont try to stop me, wont hinder me in any way. Sat you wont try to use me for the Tower's ends. Say it plain and straight so I know it's true." "I will do nothing to hinder you fulfilling your destiny. I have devoted my life to that. But I will not promise to watch while you lay your head on a chopping block."
April 12, 2025 at 6:24 AM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
Probably my favorite WoT S3E7 post from Tumblr today. I snort laughed so hard. #WotShowSpoilers #TheWheelOfTime
A 3-image meme from Tumblr. Top image is a close-up of Gimli from The Lord of the Rings labeled: two Rivers folk. He is saying, we are not soldiers. We can't win through fighting. The second image is a close-up of Legolas talking to Gimli. He is labeled: Maksim. He is saying: what about through being stubborn? Bull-headed bastards? The third image is a close-up again of Gimli. Once again labeled: two Rivers folk. He is saying, aye, we could do that.
April 11, 2025 at 3:08 AM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
I'm someone who has multiple books going at once. This weekend's reading: The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan (in what might be my slowest reread ever), A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney, and The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez.
Three novels, one on a monochrome e-reader, one a mass-market paperback, and one a trade paperback, lie on a grided craft mat. The novel in the ebook reader is A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney. Recovery pics? A young dark skinned woman holding up a long knife or dagger. She is superimposed over a patterned spade - The spade iconography used in playing cards. The mass market paperback is The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan. The cover art shows an old style traveling wagon with three people in front. One man lounges against the wagon talking to another man. A woman is standing over a campfire. The trade paperback is The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez. The cover art is aged and yellowed to look like worn paper and shows a close up profile view of a black young woman's face. The edge of the cover appears to have blood splatter and bloody finger prints.
March 8, 2025 at 2:12 AM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
I finished stitching my February books read in my cross stitch book tracker. These are: A Psalm for the Wild Built - Becky Chambers; A Prayer for the Crown Shy - Becky Chambers; The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes - Cat Sebastian; Rogue Protocol - Martha Wells. Each color marks the book's genre.
A small cross stitch project. The cross stitch is of a light brown bookcase with the year 2025 stitched across the top. On the shelf are books of various colors, each color representing a particular genre. In front of the bookcase project is another small cross stitch project that shows the color of threads and their representative genres: Bright pink - romance; dark blue - sci-fi; bright blue - fantasy; light orange yellow - horror; bright orange - thriller; dark orange - mystery; lilac - YA contemporary; dark purple - YA fantasy; medium purple - YA sci-fi; light green - memoir or biography; dark green - history; cranberry - literary or general fiction; and beige - reference.
March 3, 2025 at 12:19 AM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
The more I listen the more horrified I am at how much influence these various societies have had on politics. Good grief.

When i eventually re-read Focault's Pendulum I'm going to scoff a lot less than I did on my first read.
A screenshot of the Libby app showing the audiobook/series of lectures in progress, The Real History of Secret Societies, published by The Great Courses. Lecturer is Professor Richard B Spence of the University of Idaho. The background color is blue purple. The book cover is a photo of a silver masonic pendant comprising a square and compass with a large G in the center.
February 16, 2025 at 2:21 PM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
Caught up on my book tracker for Jan. This represents 5 books, mostly audio books. A History of Native America - Ned Blackhawk; Artificial Condition - Martha Wells; A Grave Robbery - Deanna Raybourn; The Queer Principles of Kit Webb - Cat Sebastian; How High We Go in the Dark - Sequoia Nagamatsu.
A small incomplete cross stitch project on cream-colored Aida fabric. The project is lying on a black laptop keyboard. The project is of a light brown stylized bookshelf with '2025' stitched across the top. The shelf has five books in various colors: dark green, dark blue, orange, and magenta. Each color corresponds to a book genre. The color and genre key, also done in cross stitch, is laid on top of the bookcase project. Dark green is history, dark blue is sci-fi, orange is mystery, magenta is romance.
February 2, 2025 at 4:01 PM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
Honeycomb has been such a delightful read. This is already overdue at the library. I think I'll have to buy my own copy so I can sit with it, savor it, and take my time.
A pale hand holds the novel Honeycomb by Joanne M. Harris. The cover is navy blue with a golden illustration of what looks like a fairy with talons diving down over a man. The title and author name are at the top of the cover. The illustrator name, Charles Vess, is at the bottom.
January 24, 2025 at 5:10 AM
jaystarnaz.bsky.social
"Helping." Today was supposed to be professional development time, but...
A top-down view of a white cat with gray tabby markings sitting on a person's lap, and draped over that person's forearm as they attempt to type on a laptop. The black laptop is sitting on a bright blue lap desk that is covered in stickers.
January 19, 2025 at 6:58 PM