Making and Digitizing Free-Standing Lace with an Embroidery Machine | Machine Embroidered Lace

Still hard at work on the skirt for my Sakizo Frau cosplay and easily the most time consuming aspect is digitizing and stitching out all of the embroidered applique detail. Because the skirt is velvet I didn't want to embroider directly onto the skirt, and honestly that seems like a big headache trying to get everything lined up correctly in the hoop so I decided to do the lace as an applique. There are so few resources for digitizing free standing lace for an embroidery machine, so I hope this is helpful! It's definitely not the most comprehensive tutorial so hopefully it's still useful and as always I'm happy to answer any questions I can!
✨Materials + Tools
○ gold embroidery thread Gutermann 24 - I could only find this color at Joanns
○ bobbin thread - amzn.to/34Ey3Ji
○ Brother PE770 - amzn.to/3opctPS
○ tear away stabilizer - amzn.to/3gooLDJ
○ water soluble stabilizer - amzn.to/3sfvsgQ
○ spray adhesive - amzn.to/3rrZBdO
○ hatch embroidery software
Skip Ahead:
0:00 Intro
1:59 Planning embroidery
4:01 Digitizing embroidery
10:37 Stitching Out Free Standing Lace Applique
14:04 Dissolving Water Soluble Stabilizer
16:08 Stitching Out Embroidery on Satin
18:07 Embellishing Lace Applique
21:34 Outro
🧵Other Videos in this Series:
○ Sakizo Frau Mockup - • Sewing a Fantasy Tudor...
○ Tudor Kirtle - • I Made a Tudor Kirtle ...
○ Farthingale - • Making a Renaissance H...
○ Tudor Petticoat - • Making a Tudor Pettico...
○ Sewing a Renaissance Smock - • Sewing a Renaissance S...
○ How I Choose a Time Period for Historical Cosplay | Frau Project Introduction - • How I Choose a Time Pe...
📷 Filming Gear:
○ My camera - amzn.to/3sQBLrb
○ Microphone - amzn.to/3sQC3hL
○ Lighting - amzn.to/3kvMVxF
○ Softbox - amzn.to/3BfEj52
All Music is from Epidemic Sound:
(www.epidemicsound.com/referra...)
"Sincerity" - Gavin Luke
#costube #freestandinglace #machineembroideredlace
Insta: / minjalinjee
Links included in this description might be affiliate links.

[@jessib6837]

I am in awe of your talent, patience, and commitment to these projects. Just amazing.

[@anastasiamaliuha5481]

You'd think machine embroidery is to make your life less complicated, not more! Your designs look so pretty. I really like how it looks already and with gems it will probably be out of this world. Looking forward to your next video!

[@moth.faerie]

aah haha i tried to think about time saved doing the embroidery machine and i think it does save time over hand embroidering everything so still worth it? at least micah can help me out by babysitting the machine whereas he definitely wouldn't be able to help me with the hand embroidery 😅

[@greenecrayon]

I feel like you and Christine (aka Sewstine) should get together on the whole digitizing thing. She does a lot of digitizing for her sewing projects.

[@marciapierce2341]

Here’s a tip: you can buy WSS thread and sew those waste strips together and reuse. Just remember to fill a bobbin with it and keep it stored in a baggie.

[@AstaDarling]

Thanks for sharing! This is incredible!

[@marciapierce2341]

Wow! Incredible. Congratulations on learning this difficult endeavor on your own! It’s a huge learning curve. Great job! I’m doubly impressed you did all this on a simple PE770.

[@mjuarez808]

I love you channel. I’m so glad KZbin recommended you.

[@wanderlustism]

stitching out lace in metallics is always a huge pain, especially for detailed designs, but it's always so satisfying once it all comes together! my advice when you're using metallics is to use a needle with a slightly wider eye so there is less friction to shred the thread and also some silicone spray to help keep it moving easily through the eye. doing hoopless embroidery is a must for continuous designs but the adhesive can also make the needle slightly tacky, which will lead to fraying and breaks, so if you're gonna do detailed pieces and applique later anyway, lean into that for the really dense/complicated designs. i'm so pumped to see more people getting into machine embroidery in the cosplay world! good luck and keep making beautiful things!

[@moth.faerie]

ah thank you so much for all of the advice, I really appreciate it! I'm using the widest eye I could find already but hadn't heard about the silicone spray at all so I'll definitely look into getting some. I've used the embroidery machine for small pieces before but this is my first large endeavor, and I'm really happy with how it's turning out! cowbuttcrunchies with their princess bubblegum and pitchfork cosplay with their squirtle squad have also done really great things with machine embroidery if you haven't seen those, i'm super inspired by them!

[@wanderlustism]

@@moth.faerie i follow CBC but i'll have to check out pitchfork! i do a lot of fire emblem stuff so there's always lace and embroidery i need to put together, sometimes for entire cloaks or coats, and always in the same antique gold metallic thread. i think you're actually semi-local to me, so you might wanna check out allstitch's sprayway 946 silicone spray (which is apparently on sale rn!) for a quick ship/pick-up if you're REALLY local. i got the tip off on that when i was doing a digitizing/test stitch stream!

[@moth.faerie]

@@wanderlustism omg that's so close to me!! i might go check them out literally tomorrow..

[@wanderlustism]

@@moth.faerie double-check but the last time i went, they were counter service only, so i just placed an order and then swung through a couple hours later to pick up, but it's been a godsend for same-day embroidery supplies. glad you're close enough to use them too!

[@lilacclorceta679]

It's really cool to see how all these little details are done and how time consuming they are.

[@moth.faerie]

ah i'm glad you enjoyed it! the little details are definitely my favorite part of making costumes!

[@whimsicalmusedesign]

I love how you worked with the size of machine that you have! I don't think many people can think outside the box like that! I'm excited for the resin video!

[@moth.faerie]

ah thank you! haha limitations definitely help force creative solutions

[@lazygirlprocrastinatingmas9886]

Some year ago that kind of video would have given me the desire to aquire the same machine so that I could have such beautiful details on my cosplays.... Now I work on professional embroidery machines and I realized that it's a melting pot of all that I hate when I saw, AKA constantly rethreading the needle, changing broken needles, changing bobbin threads too often and trying to understand why that machine from hell decided to stop without reason!!!! So yeah, the result is beautiful but too much for me. I have the utmost respect for your dedication and patience.

[@moth.faerie]

aah i would lOVE to get a professional embroidery machine sometime! we had one at school that I didn't know how to use very well but the embroidery field was giant and it had tons of needles but uhh yeah the thread definitely broke just as frequently as my machine's thread breaks unfortunately 😅 it's also the combination of everything i hate in sewing as well, except maybe cutting fabric, but i'm willing to put up with it for the product! maybe someday someone will invent an embroidery machine that you can actually walk away from and return to with everything just nicely stitched out

[@lazygirlprocrastinatingmas9886]

@@moth.faerie yeah, I have 15 needles by machine, so great when you have lots of different colors, and as we make them turn at 800 points by minutes it's a lot quicker than on a familial machine. I also operate on the embroidery machine that does 6 identical embroidery at the same time, so you can multiply by 6 the number of times the machine stops.... That being said, it's usually the metallic threads that break the more often, so when using more simple threads some embroidery turn pretty well, and compared to hand embroidery the result is a lot faster obviously (being lazy, if I have to embroider by hand I will probably stick to bead embroidery as I think it will be faster!) I think that when I will need to get an embroidery on a costume, I will just make an order at work, it will be cheaper than to buy a new machine that I will never be patient enough to use at home more than a couple of times! But I understand that sensation of accomplishment by doing all of this work yourself, so really I'm impressed by your work and the quality of your results.

[@moth.faerie]

@@lazygirlprocrastinatingmas9886 ah yeah if i was more familiar with the area and professional embroidery i might get the files stitched out professionally, but i don't know if there are any around me! it does end up faster for me than hand stitching because I can still do some other hand sewing while I babysit the machine

[@giovanninasuluh]

I have been doing machine embroidery for over a decade and finally found the best metallic thread: Madeira! It doesn't jam like Gutterman/Sulky/Robison-Anton. I have switched from those brands to Madeira because it's just so much better. I used to swear at my machine because the thread would keep breaking. Now not so much.

[@moth.faerie]

aaah that's so good to know, i'll look for that for my next project!

[@ericathefae]

This amount of work is insane!

[@moth.faerie]

Haha I agree I just love how it all turns out 😅

[@coreygilles847]

Wow! The layers of lace and beading details come together into a gorgeous whole! Very cool information and I am excited to see how it all looks when it is finished. And I hope everything gets better (and no worries if things take a bit longer. I am sure it will be worth the wait)

[@moth.faerie]

thank you so much! i'm really happy with how its turning out even if it takes forever 😅

[@mybluevelvetcat]

Thanks for sharing this very nice project. Can't wait to see the next video!😍

[@moth.faerie]

thank you for watching!

[@Goforfink]

Beautiful designs

[@moth.faerie]

thank you! i will make sure to give them a hug from you haha

[@coopermom2605]

Love your work!

[@moth.faerie]

aw thank you!

[@KatBen2-uy3tw]

The reason that its difficult to find information on designing your own fsl embroidery is because it is difficult to learn. You are doing incredible! I don't know how long you have been doing machine embroidery, but I have been doing it for at least 30 years. I am impressed with what you have accomplished. I do wish there was more information or that one could read a book on digitizing it would be an incredible world. Good job! 🙂

[@KellyCurses]

Thank you for this!! The price point for entry on machine embroidery is insane. I use the sofware InkStitch from Inkscape, because it's free, but your tutorial helped me translate it anyway. Also, $11 hundred and it doesn't work with Apple computers?? Clutching my pearls.

[@rockencheesepuffs]

This was super interesting! Your designs are great and I'm so excited to see them all put on the skirt!

[@moth.faerie]

ah thank you i'm glad you liked it!

[@rachelash6325]

Looks beautiful--I love all the textures you're bringing.

[@moth.faerie]

thank you so much! it takes sooo long but I love layering everything 😊

[@kmscheid3303]

It will be so beautiful! I'm glad to learn about this, and it sounds - I don't know, I'm just astonished. More respect!

[@moth.faerie]

thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@RockinTheBassGuitar]

Amazing! I guess I need to start saving for an embroidery machine, lol. 😍

[@moth.faerie]

yesss it's so worth it, it's kind of a pain prepping and digitizing everything but it's much faster than doing it by hand! plus it's also useful for more obvious embroidery applications like patches or embroidering directly onto fabric

[@KellyAK]

The embroidery looks so beautiful, especially with the beading added!

[@moth.faerie]

thank you!

[@juniperscostumery]

The end result is SO lovely!! I really love the applique on the slash and puff!

[@moth.faerie]

thank you!!! yess i am sooo happy with the slash and puff i'm so excited for when i really finish that section and it's all sparkly too!

[@dariaorme1282]

Take your time! Don't run yourself ragged :)

[@moth.faerie]

thank you!

[@doemtij]

it all looks so pretty! really love the bit you're showing in the outro with the slash and puff and the embroidery!!

[@moth.faerie]

thank you! the slash and puff is going to be shown in the skirt video when I finally get that done 😅

[@madzikdek]

So much work, very impressive it makes me appreaciate my traditional embroidery more

[@moth.faerie]

haha thank you, yeah i definitely enjoy making hand embroidery more, but I think if I did this all by hand it might take me all year 😅

[@CloverFoxCreations]

Your skills have me in awe. I have no idea where you get this inspiration! I LOVE watching you create!

[@moth.faerie]

aw thank you so much!

[@minjiyoon7525]

Your work is so amazing! Thanks for sharing the process

[@moth.faerie]

thank you! and aah another minji how exciting! I've only met like two other people with my name ever, nice to meet you!

[@minjiyoon7525]

@@moth.faerie same, ive only met one other in person before!! it seems pretty rare even amongst koreans hahaha

[@furlizard]

This was very interesting

[@moth.faerie]

thank you for watching!

[@m.maclellan7147]

Just started the video. Thanks for your honesty for costs going into this. It is eye opening ! And, yes, it's crazy that thry don't include at least BASIC tutorials?! Perhaps you should contact them & offer to DO tutorials for them (for a fee!) ?

[@moth.faerie]

ah haha thank you for the vote of confidence, but I don't think I'm really qualified (yet?) to do paid tutorials on embroidery 😅 hopefully eventually! but I'm glad you like the video so far, thank you for watching!

[@m.maclellan7147]

Just finished the video. Completely blown away by those sashes ! Amazing amount of detail ! Love the beading on it ! This piece is going to be stunning !

[@giovanninasuluh]

When I bought my machines, my dealers gave classes included in the price of the machine. I think it depends on where you purchase from.

[@moth.faerie]

@@giovanninasuluh mine was a birthday gift from my parents so I don't think I had classes included

[@CharredFibers]

You have way more patience than I do. Your embroidery looks great!!!

[@moth.faerie]

haha thank you!

[@jac_and_the_making_of]

I hope you managed to get the pipe & heating sorted out! I work in restoration, so I understand what kind of chaos those things can bring into your day. There's something rather calming about watching your little machine go and I commend you on your patience with all of that beading. holy cow!

[@moth.faerie]

we got the pipe and heating fixed! still have a hole in the wall but fortunately my backdrop covers it 😅

[@jac_and_the_making_of]

@@moth.faerie it's now where you hide the extra candy 🤷‍♀️

[@moth.faerie]

@@jac_and_the_making_of perfect idea

[@secundrabeasley855]

I am very impressed with this video. I have heard of machinery embroidery, but I did not know how it was used. I appreciate all the time you have put into having this become part of your dress. Thank you for filming the videos as you go along.

[@moth.faerie]

thank you for watching, i'm glad you liked the video!

[@BethAge95]

The amount of work that goes into this pretty lace is just insane! Very impressed by your skill and patience!

[@moth.faerie]

ughhh it takes so long haha it's definitely wearing on my patience, but thank you!

[@datumzinememories]

You would think machine be easier... I am definitely in awe when it see anyone who wants to try to fight with a machine and bonus metallic thread. Also all the pieces do look amazing put together can't wait for more.

[@moth.faerie]

haha i think it still does end up being less time, since the beading and embroidery i did on alice was so. much simpler but still took more time per motif than digitizing and stitching these appliques is. it did take quite a bit of start up time to learn everything but i won't hold it against this project specifically 😅

[@e.1914]

This looks SUPER cool! 🤩All of the time and effort that you have been putting into this project is spectacular. It really really shows as each step is completed, and is added to the overall project!

[@moth.faerie]

ah thank you so much I really appreciate your enthusiasm 😊💕

[@TheOmNomGirl]

I really liked this video! Seeing the effort you actually have to put in to the final results is super interesting and makes it that more impressive. All this boring stuff is part of the process and since this is a series it will all balance out content wise. Plus the embroidery is super pretty!

[@moth.faerie]

thank you so much!

[@abundantlyinspired]

Oh my GAWSH, what a treat this was to watch!!😍I have had a Baby Lock Eleganté for years but was always too chicken to do any of the digitizing embroidery. I just settled for the mostly lame designs that came with the machine. Now I'm thinking I wanna give it a try!! Thanks for the inspo and your resulting work is GORGEOUSSSS. 💛💛💛

[@moth.faerie]

aah you should totally give it a try, it's so worth all the effort!

[@GracefulEmbroidery]

So fascinating to watch. Well done. Where do we get to see the finished dress?

[@Cassiterit3]

I love the freestanding lace! Thank you for showing us the basics of the process.

[@moth.faerie]

thank you for watching! i'm glad you enjoyed the video!

[@Cassiterit3]

@@moth.faerie Very much! I have dabbled in handmade lace in the past, so getting to see it done on machine was fascinating.

[@moth.faerie]

@@Cassiterit3 ah cool, I really want to try handmade lace sometime!

[@HexxWhat]

I'm in the process of saving for an embroidery machine and this was a nice little bit of information that I had been anxious about figuring out. Your lace looks amazing and I bet it is so satisfying to look at in person.

[@moth.faerie]

thank you! I'm definitely not an expert, but if you have any questions please feel free to dm me on instagram or ask questions here!

[@giovanninasuluh]

Brother and BabyLock machines are your friend. If you can get an embroidery only machine, I highly recommend it since the combo machines aren't awesome. Bernina software is crap but the machines are great. Viking's older software that didn't require a subscription is good, but their machines are not. I use a Brother for work and it is amazing. I use the old Viking software because it came with my previous machine, but Hatch is pretty good for machine agnostic software. There's also another one I've heard of that is supposed to be really good and not terribly expensive. Can't recall the name.

[@SunshineStationery]

This was fascinating!! I can’t wait to see how it all comes together. And good luck with house stuff; I’ve had my share lately and it’s always more stressful than it feels like it should be 😳

[@moth.faerie]

thank you I'm glad you liked it! ughhhh it's so frustrating it seems like one thing after another with house stuff TT but still better than renting i guess 😅

[@raevynwoods9403]

This was superinteresting to watch! I love seeing how all the different materials and layers are coming together, I can't wait for the next video with the resin. I think the different materials make a costume so much more.. i dont know... real? Textured? Well, anyway, I like it! Good luck with the house trouble as well!

[@moth.faerie]

thank you i'm glad you liked it! yess i love putting lots of different materials together, i think it really helps when translating illustrations to real life bc they can be so flat if done really literally

[@caitlinmchugh839]

Have you finished this work? I can’t wait to see the final product

[@AlysianaHunter]

Ooohh! This is looking really lovely! And good on you for thinking to dry out your stabilizer bath, I would probably have poured it down the sink without thinking about it honestly. The amount of effort you have put in for mastering all of these skills is incredible and admirable, and I love that you believe the information you need to start with machine embroidery should be free. That is really good of you. Gosh this is going to look so cool when it's all done! Exciting! Also, I love that both of your little fur babies made appearances in this video, that was really nice. Is your little man behaving better now?

[@moth.faerie]

thank you! tbh if I was still renting I would probably have poured it down the drain without thinking about it, but now that I own a house everything I mess up costs SO MUCH to fix so I'm super paranoid! Sewing and all it's accompanying skills have a huge startup/education cost and I think that's so absurd! sure, charge classes for more advanced techniques but when it costs so much just to get started it really deters people from even trying and it makes me so mad!! i get very heated about this haha. honey bee was behaving pretty well! up until yesterday lol when he tried to eat my thread then unwound a spool by dragging it all around the house 😭i don't think he ended up swallowing it though so that's the important part I suppose.. wouldn't want to have to take him to the vet for this for his sake or for my bank accounts 😅

[@lorainerosesheppard4942]

Hi would you sell your sell your digital designs , you have done a great job. Your project is coming along beautifully

[@mythlover20]

Machine lace is really cool, but now I'm wondering if it really is faster than just doing it by hand, and if so, at what point it does so? Since you have to take the time to digitise and then babysit it, there must be a point where just going in and doing it the design by hand is faster.

[@moth.faerie]

i think it is still faster! my motifs for alice were a lot simpler but took so much longer for each individual motif than this is taking even with having to draw, digitize, and stitch it out. plus if i'm sitting with the machine i can still get some other work done like editing or hand stitching so it's annoying but it means i can multi task a little more effectively

[@KittieRoses]

Might be mis remembering, but this is the same process in one of the previous videos when you made lace but you were having trouble with it not falling apart right? Because WOW you've really got this process figured out now. At the very least at least the classes are useful. Still as you said, seems kind of exploitative that you get a product with no good instruction on how to use it. Everything is looking wonderful, with each new piece I get more excited to see how it turns out. Hopefully everything else goes smooth for you, and also here's to hoping no other house mishaps.

[@moth.faerie]

yeah it is! haha i've now gotten lots of practice since then so that's definitely helped me get the hang of it

[@AlexaWilson12]

I had a ton of trouble finding how-to info as well! Embroidery software companies are SUCH a pain in the ass. That on top of a lot of hobbiest as well as professionals being gatekeepers is super frikkin stupid. I don't have a YT channel but I'm an open book on Insta/Twitter if you want my info? If that's not weird to offer. x'D You probably know more than me technically since I'm self-taught - but I'm going on 5 years now so maybe I could be a little helpful? ^^; This is so incredibly impressive!! I haven't started any of my lace projects because I'm way too intimidated.

[@moth.faerie]

ah sure i'd love to chat about it! you can message me on ig also under minjalinjee, i have a twitter but i don't ever use it 😅

[@pauln2661]

Whoo do I understand your pain. I use the Inkstitch plug in for Inkscape because both are free, but little support. 2) I have a Brother PE-535 with a 4x4 hoop but, a multi position hoops is available. This allows me (if I get one) to embroider larger pieces without unhooping. Linus tech tips does a video on using a 5x7 multi position hoop here ---> kzbin.info/www/bejne/rWOxfGdtiNSBrLM 3) I use inkscape to digitize images I like into .svg files, then convert them for use as embroidery files with Inkstitch. I still have to do a lot of manual tinkering to stitch orientation and to stitch order. So there is no escaping that, even with paying more for the software. Sorry :( 4) metallic thread is notorious for the difficulty in embroidery. There is some videos out there that give some tips like choosing a large eye needle, using a thread tower to unkink the thread, spool orientation. 5) Kitten is getting to be a big boi!

[@moth.faerie]

i've never tried inkscape but it sounds interesting! free is definitely good. i thought about trying to maneuver multi hooping but went with digitizing and stitching separately since everything is going to be applique anyways. i've tried eeeverything for this metallic thread, the only solution i've found is to manually unwind it and let it feed into the machine with absolutely no tension which unfortunately means i have to sit with it while it stitches out 😅

[@stevezytveld6585]

*Dispatch from Ottawa* - Friends. As I sit and type today I am surrounded by Domestic Terrorists, Nazis and "confederate" fans. They have guns. Yesterday they attacked our 73 year old neighbour who walks with a cane. Earlier this week they ripped the mask off of our 13 year old neighbour. She is black and her parents don't yet speak English because the family just got here. Only her teenage brother was there to defend her. The Terrorists are dominating the land that is Ottawa's Rainbow District. Anything with Pride Regalia is covered in human shite. Windows of businesses with Pride Flags are getting shattered. People are followed, mocked and threatened. There are confederate flags. Dear America. That's your flag. Not our. Get it the (expletive's deleted) OUT of my country. There are Nazi flags. There was a Nazi in my convince store yesterday. He had the right tattoos. I get harrassed every time I leave the building. Going to the grocery store to pick up my prescriptions is a literal walk through the mutants for the entire 30 minute walk. They have fire pits in the middle of the street. They're having cookouts. They are day drinking - every single liquor store in this city is empty. The new game of Centretown (downtown) when we see shite and piss in the snow is a round of what we're calling "Trucker or Dog". Police do nothing. They are waiting for one of us to die before they do anything. I know I'm not yet suicidal because I realized that walking through the multiple checkpoints to get to City Hall (normally a 20 minute walk) with a sign reading "For the Honour of Nathan Cirillo Get Out" would get me killed. And there's no TV cameras around so my last minutes would be turned into a shaken phone video meme. He was the young man killed while standing Honour Guard for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I fed him his last meal; I was part of the food contract looking after his unit (and I've been on Disability for PTSD ever since). Multiple people have been filmed jumping for joy on top of The Tomb. Yesterday I had to call in threats that I was reading in the comment stream of their You Tube live feeds. The first "Hang Tudeau from the Crain" that's parked in front of the Parliament Buildings. The second, while I was on hold for the first, was "Blood will run in the streets". I have a police record number to prove it, if anyone is stupid enough to argue with me. They. Have. Guns. Pray for us, eh. - Cathy (&, accidently, Steve), Ottawa/Bytown/Pimisi PROUD

[@stevezytveld6585]

There was the sound of (what I hope) was fireworks just now.

[@moth.faerie]

are you ok??? idk what i can do to help but if you need anything please let me know! and if you can leave for somewhere else temporarily that might be for the best?

[@stevezytveld6585]

@@moth.faerie There's not anywhere to leave to. They are all over the city and staying in the hotels all over town. They're showing their kids around town like 'effing tourists. The liquor shelves are bare everywhere because of the amount of drinking that they do 24/7. The city feels like it's on the verge of something very large happening. We're all just holding our breath until then. Thought is was going to be yesterday for the counterprotest - but it was a small turnout; too many of us are trapped behind their lines. Unlike the rest of the city, I was actually born here. Centretown has been my neighbourhood for the past 25 or 30 years. I know every cut through, hidy hole and surveillance camera is in this place. I know where the dead zones are that are the government office sections. And I know just about every formation the police can come up with and what that implies of their tactical plan. I don't think there's much anyone can do right now. Except maybe ask Enchanted Rose for an e'ffing apology? Her neighbours are double parked on my street. She posted a video on Thursday about some sort of underwear project. I about lost it for a day. I posted the details similar to above. She blocked me. Nothing like yelling into the void to get your blood pumping. She compared mask mandates to the Holocaust. Keep seeing Nazi and confederate flags as either flags or face masks. More windows with Pride flags in them have been shattered. But, in all seriousness, there's nothing you really can do. Keep wearing your mask. Get the update shots when you can. There's about to be an Ottawa variant according to the poop analysis by the water treatment people. In the meantime, they've set up a bouncy castle for their kids in front of Parliament... I was part of the food contract that was looking after the Honour Guard for the Tomb of the Unknown Solider. I fed Nathan Cirillo his last meal - he was the one killed by the nutbar who thought he had converted to Islam without ever successfully walking into a mosque. Idiot thought he was starting a race riot when he pulled the trigger... Been on Disability for PTSD ever since. A man literally died for that teenager they dug up at Vimmey Ridge and interred in front of the Cenotaph. These people were jumping up and down on the grave. There are no words for how angry I am. But I know walking down the street with a sign "For the Honour of Nathan Cirillo Get Out" would get me, at least, beaten the hell up. So that's not an option... Thank you, Kiddo. It's nice to hear a friendly voice out there.

[@moth.faerie]

@@stevezytveld6585 so I looked up what's going on in ottawa and I had no idea until I specifically went looking for it, it doesn't seem to be filtering in through the normal places i see this kind of news which is scary itself! i'm so sorry you're having to deal with this rn, it's horrible enough that tr*mp incited all this garbage in the US, I would've thought canada would be pretty ok and people like enchanted rose were more of outliers but it seems to be spreading to the entire world. please stay safe! and as hard as it is, definitely take breaks from the news for your mental health. I'm fully vaccinated and have gotten the booster, and always always wear masks inside/near people! they just lifted our mask mandate a few days ago and it makes me so anxious seeing people without masks in stores, but I try to stay away from them. again, stay safe! we can only help change things if we stay alive

[@stevezytveld6585]

@@moth.faerie Yes, Mam. Staying as safe as we can. Unfortunately Steve was attacked earlier today when he was coming home from the Chaplaincy (he's a Vocational Deacon with the Anglican church). He was at the elevator at the nearby subway stop. Got in. Young guy in his 20's, no masks literally pushes past Steve (who's 6 2"). And the assault began. They got up to ground level. Steve was able to get outside to the street. And, in the greatest of all ironies, a group of Truckers came over to see if he was OK. Go the f figure. He's OK. It looks like he'll have a bit of a shiner, his neck is sore from taking it on the jaw several times, his right eye is a bit red because he thinks a piece of rock salt (they lay this stuff down to keep the ice off) bounced into his eye. I. Am calm. Don't think I've processed anything yet. Don't think that will or can happen until these people are out of the area. Enchanted Rose is not an outlier. She's the cheering squad to these people. Do you know she blocked me? Tried to have a conversation with one of my internet friends on the you tube. Robin couldn't read my replies because they were hidden from sight. Which is malevolent of Ms. Rose. Unfortunately for a very long time there have been fans of the confederacy in this country. You'll see the flags openly in the more rural areas. They've always been here. Didn't see a Drumph hat on a protester, but I'm sure there were some in the crowd. Because there's apparently more than one guy who was wearing a 'confederate' face mask. New one on me...