Stars, And Then...

A day later than usual, because my sense of time is way off this week. We had an unexpected day off on Wednesday, which was very welcome since we were also on overtime all week and I've been working like a crazy person. (Crazy in need of funds, to be precise.) So working Saturday made it feel like Friday, and Sunday just got lost in the shuffle. I'm still not quite with it yet, but I'm really looking forward to Friday!

Okay, stitching. Last week, I pulled out Stars by The Drawn Thread. This was my January start for the year of starts, and I really enjoyed it, so I finagled it back into my rotation this year. I left off with the top portion finished, so this time I continued on with the verse:

I am still super loving this piece! It's a very relaxing stitch, and the silks are beautiful. Those stars take a lot of counting, but they are super easy, and I love having something different to stitch. I'm hoping to finish this one next year, so you'll probably see it again soon.

And then, I was naughty.

Sometimes, I just can't help myself. I'm supposed to be focusing on my end of the year stitching and meeting my goals (which I'm very close to achieving) so of course I would scrap all those plans and indulge on a new start. Makes total sense. And you know how I love those insanely massive projects, right? So why not start one of the biggest projects I own? (sigh...)

This is The Awakening by Jonathon Earl Bowser, the Supersized Max Color version from HAED:

The stitch count is 623 x 999, so total stitches equals 622,377. I bought this chart about a year ago and have been fighting the urge to start it ever since. I just decided to stop fighting. Originally, I'd planned to get some 28ct Easy Count fabric to stitch this on, but I had a full yard of 28ct Antique White Lugana in my stash that wasn't going anywhere, so on my day off, I just grabbed it, gridded it and made my start. It was all very spur of the moment.

I decided to be even crazier and stitch this one diagonally as well, so progress is at a snail's pace, but I am so in love with this -- obsessed is really the word -- that the slow pace doesn't bother me. Besides, I'm still "setting up" all the colors, so a lot of time is spent just cutting threads. I'm sure I'll speed up once I find my groove, but that confetti is definitely a challenge. Totally worth it though, at least to me.

Here is a photo of my tiny start (upper left corner), just 370 stitches in 4.5 hours so far. I'm working on the 3rd diagonal, and just starting to see some bits of sky through the leaves. You can see how many colors I've got going so far, which is about a fourth of the colors on this page:

In hindsight, I probably should have stuck with 25ct for this one because of all the confetti, but the diagonal stitching really does help manage the bulk and make it neat. And really, I'm loving how this looks. These stitches are so tiny and so smooth! It makes me grin just thinking about it. :)

Realistically, I don't expect to finish this piece, but just this tiny start has made me crazy happy. I think my lifetime goal with this one is to get about 4 pages done, at least. That would be enough to stitch that cool orb thingy on top of the first pillar, plus a bit of the archway and a chunk of sky.

I know some of you may consider such a random goal as pointless, but I stitch for the process, not the product. This is my form of meditation, so whatever gets me "in flow" is worth my time. I don't know when I'll get to stitch on this one, but hopefully I'll have more to show by this time next year. So, until next time! ;)