January Blahs

Hi all! Hope everyone is having a good start to the new year. (Although Australia is on everyone's mind, and it's really terrible.) My stitching feels like it's off to a slow start this year, probably because I'm getting over holiday vacation blahs and trying to get used to working again. But I'll go over what I've done so far.

First off is my 12 Days of Christmas by Jim Shore. I managed to finish the stitching on 4 Calling Birds, and it turned out pretty nicely:

I was really happy with how my french knot turned out in the bird's eye:

The flowers were kind of fiddly, but I do think they're pretty. And of course, everything will be better once the beads are in. So here's a look at the piece so far:

And that's my start on 5 Gold Rings. I'd hoped to be a bit further along than this, but I had a major frogging incident on my first ring (about 100 stitches) and I missed a couple days of my rotation just from being too busy with holiday stuff. But hopefully #5 won't take too long. My goal is to finish 5 and 6 this year.

Next is my New Year's new start, although this one didn't exactly go as planned. I guess I'm out of practice with new starts? :) I had originally planned on starting the Village of Hawk Run Hollow, from Carriage House. It's been on my list for several years, but little things keep setting me back. Meanwhile, I'd been prepping another huge Golden Kite piece for several months (like the 6 I've got going isn't enough) and couldn't keep from starting it any longer. So here she is! This one's called The Fireplace, artwork by James Tissot:

Tissot is one of my most favorite artists. I saw this chart about 5 years ago and thought it was too big to do. I bought the chart anyway about 2 years ago. And now I've started her. This one is 562x849, 156 pages total. I started at the bottom right corner on 18ct Aida using my diagonal stitching method, which is slow, but a great method for heavy confetti. It doesn't look like much since I'm just stitching carpet, but I'm excited to see the different bands in the design appear. (I'm working on filling in the first red band now.) I've stitched 1180 stitches so far, and would love to keep working on this. But, I'll be moving along in my rotation, so I don't know when this will be out again. (sad face)

Last week, I spent my mornings working on Angel of Grace, but I only made minimal progress, probably because I kept oversleeping. Still, it's a start on her lower skirts. I'm hoping to fill in the ruffles this year:

I am happy to have the last bits of garland done on her skirt. Most of the stitching is pretty simple blocks, which hopefully won't take too long (if I can actually devote some time to her).

Last is a project I started this year to help me work on all of my wips at least once this year. I'm calling it "No Wip Left Behind." Each week, I'm pulling out a wip that otherwise wouldn't fit into my rotation to work on it for at least an hour (hopefully). First up was one I hadn't touched since January 2014. This is Tea Party, another from Golden Kite:

In all honesty, I thought this would be a give up. I stopped working on this one because I wasn't happy with the detail in the wallpaper. When I first started this, I thought I would be a little more realistic and go with the smaller version, but that strategy seemed to backfire since I became really unhappy with it and put it down. Now though, I'm thinking I need to stitch on it a bit more before I can really decide if I want to stop, because looking at it again has made me really happy, and working on it was unexpectedly fun. In fact, I managed to finish off page 2 (first page finish of the year!) and would like to finish the page beneath it. Now I'm thinking I need to reorganize my rotation (again) and fit this in. Ah, dilemmas, dilemmas...

Well, I think that's all for now. My first post of the year and I'm already super rambly. I'm trying to get back to posting on Instagram again (@impstitcher) so you can follow me there if you'd like more pictures with less rambling. I'm still not good with social media though, so we'll see how it goes. Okay, back to stitching. Until next time!

December Wrap Up

Hey guys! December was another all over the place kind of month for me and I've got another ton of projects to share. I hope I can keep them all straight. ;)

First, I managed to meet my goal with Elizabeth Oliver, and I finished off another row:

This one took a lot longer than expected. That tall plant alone took about 4 hours to stitch. I don't know if I'm that slow or if she's just that big. She is now technically halfway done, but realistically, that house is gonna take forever! Still, I'm aiming to get the next row of pages done next year.

I've been trying to work on my Marquise de Caumont a few days every month, so I've managed to finish 3 pages this year. It's still all background though, which is why I never show her:

I really like stitching this diagonally, as it keeps it from being too boring. One more row would actually start the top of her head, but I think I'm gonna dip down to the second row and keep working on the background for now. I'm still organizing her threads, so sticking to the background is super easy.

I can't remember the last time I've shown my Angel of Grace. I do know I've neglected her again this year (a sad affair that will likely continue) but I've managed to finish off this middle section that I've been stitching on for three years. (Can you sense the eye roll there?):

I'm not sure when I'll get around to making her a focus piece (maybe 2021?) so I'll just keep plodding along on her for a while. It would be nice to finish off the bottom section next year. sigh

I don't think I've ever shown my Palazzo con Personaggi. This is a massive Golden Kite design that I started back in May 2017. Unfortunately, that was just before a lot of major life stuff happened, so I just got around to a page finish this year:

I started on page 96 for some strange reason, which is the top of the bench on the left side. I don't expect I'll ever finish this design, but I'd really like to stitch the woman in green and the man in blue next to her. If you look closely, you can just make out the edges of the lady's fan and her sleeve.

On Christmas Eve, I pulled out my Chatelaine again. I don't know why, but I always want to work on it this time of year. I had a goal to finish part 1 this year, but then I haven't touched it since January. But I was a lot closer than I thought, and now I've got a good start on part 2:

The funny thing is, part 1 still isn't done. I just need to backstitch the leaves around the lily pads in the middle, and then there's another border outline to do. But since that is intertwined with part 2, I'm just stitching them together. And who wants to backstitch when there's so much awesome stitching to do? Hopefully I can finish off part 2 next year, and then the really fun stuff will begin. :)

The last thing I want to share may be kind of surprising, especially if you've been following me for a while. Back in 2016, I started a really awesome design by Omar Rayyan called Crystals & Crows from HAED. I couldn't decide if I wanted to stitch it on 18ct Aida or 25ct Lugana. I went with 18ct, which seemed fine, but as the years have passed, I've kept thinking how blurry the design was looking. Going back to it in November, I just felt really dissatisfied, so I thought, why continue if it makes me frown every time I see it? So, I restarted it:

18ct version

25ct version

I had around 12,000 stitches in on the 18ct, which was about 3 years of stitching, so it will take me a while to get back to where I was. However, I have no regrets about the restart. I do wish I had gone with 25ct the first time, but I think the confetti would have overwhelmed me. Stitching diagonally, the confetti makes it slow for sure, but it's relatively easy for me, and it keeps everything nice and tidy. The image is still a bit blurry -- it's just part of the design -- but I definitely think it looks better, and I'm enjoying it more. But maybe I'm just biased. :)

Wow! I really need to stop making these posts 10 miles long! Hopefully I'll get better at that next year. I hope to have a goals update soon -- if I can decide what to start on January 1st. :) Happy Stitching!

A Frosty Finish

Hello again! Hope you all have had a great stitchy week. :)

Last week when I showed my update on Blood, a couple nice ladies mentioned they'd like to see her picture. I thought, well, that should be on my Wips page, right? Wrong! Somehow I'd completely overlooked her. So that's fixed now. Blood is now on the sidebar (you might have to scroll a bit) and on my Wips page, where she belongs. I added a few more pictures while I was at it, but it's hard to know how best to organize things. Even with just my full coverage pieces on the sidebar, you'd have to scroll forever to see them all.

The good news is, I still haven't started anything this year! I've been really tempted though, especially because yesterday was the kickoff for the Year of Starts. And I had a dream a last week that I was digging through my stash for fabric to start another HAED -- a particular one that has definitely been on my mind. But in the dream I thought, Wait, I can't start this now! It's No Starts 19! But when I woke up, I almost started it anyway. :)

But I've found that a good antidote to startitis is finishing things. And I have another finish this week! It's small, but it still counts. This is Snowy Deer, the third installment of the Frosty Forest series by Country Cottage:

At first, I wasn't thrilled to be working on this again. (It's the fabric. Wichelt, you know.) But then I thought, why prolong the misery? Just power through it and get it done! And that actually motivated me. I finished it on Thursday, so Friday I was able to start on Snowgirl's Cottage, though the border was already done:

All that white is not my favorite thing to stitch. I find my mind wandering a lot because it's so simple, and then I lose steam while I'm stitching. But I filled in the mound on the left, so I could start the house if I want to next time (looking very forward to that). And here's the full pic after I moved the qsnaps:

Aren't they cute? :)

My evening rotation has settled down a little bit, but I'm still all over the place. I know I mentioned picking up last year's New Years start in lieu of starting something else this year. Instead, I went back to 2017's New Years start, my Angel of Grace. I've decided to try and get at least her bottom half finished this year. It's been a while, so here's what she looks like:

And here's my progress this month:

I worked a bit on the green part of her dress, and started the first color in the tan part that wraps around her. (What is that called? I think of it as her bustle, but I don't know if that's right.) I also did as much of the ribbon as I could before I move the qsnaps. I really love how flowy and shimmery it looks. :) Hopefully I can work on her a few days each month, as I really want to finish her someday. I always forget how much stitching goes into that dress, though. It's really huge, but at least it's easy stitching.

Okay, I think I've rambled enough now. I've got more stitching to do! Until next time!

Making Plans

I'm a day late for my usual update, but I just ran out of time on Sunday. Too much to do! Anyway, it's all good, cuz today was the last day for my rotation on A Stitcher's Prayer:

My goal was to get her halfway done, and I think I just about made it. I wish I could have filled in the details on my little stitcher lady, but again, I ran out of time! Hopefully I can finish this the next time I pick it up, but I don't think that will be this year. ;)

I took a couple days off work last week, and realized I hadn't touched my Angel of Grace yet this year. So that had to change:

This piece is really addictive once I get going. I was glad to carve out a few days to sit and stitch on her, but of course I'm never satisfied with my progress. I really wanted to finish a few more chunks of green and fill out that ribbon. But oh well. She has to go away for now, but she will be back, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Stitching on Grace cut into my time for Luna, but she's getting there. I've passed the halfway point for this page, and have stitched the cutest little curlicue in her hair:

Isn't that adorable? I just love it. I had hoped to finish this page in May, but now that's looking doubtful. Still, I'll give it a try. :)

It looks like I got my wish for colors on my Temperature charts. Lots of yellow! We've warmed up nicely (finally!) so my charts are looking much happier:

Today is the last day of April (already!) and I know I'll get to stitch orange for today. We're having a small heat wave, so I'll probably have another blob of orange to start off May. Not complaining though! Much better than snow! :)

I know everyone is talking about Stitch Maynia, so I thought I would kind of participate this year. I'm not doing 15 starts though! Instead I'm doing the Monogamous Maynia, where I'll attempt to stitch on one chart for 15 days. That's really tough for me, so we'll see how that goes. I've chosen the Museum Celle 1826 Sampler by Permin, which I've been dying to start for almost five years now, so I'm really excited to begin this piece. Here's a pic of the chart:

Also, I'll have a new big piece to focus on for May, and I've chosen Wisdom. I was really close to a page finish last year, so that will be some instant gratification waiting for me. I'm kind of playing with my rotation a bit, so we'll see how it goes.

Okay, gotta get back to stitching now. Until next time! :)

Trying Really Hard

Hey stitchers! This year has been off to such a rocky start, I feel like I'm still spinning in circles, trying to find my direction. Moving in with extended family has its own headaches, but I still haven't had time to get things set up just right, including my main stitchy spot. But I am slowly getting there, and things are beginning to settle down. My mother injured her knee just before Christmas, but now she's well enough for physical therapy and she is finally able to walk with just a cane! So that makes a huge difference in how much I do for her, and gives me lots more time to stitch. :)

I've kinda been all over the place with stitching, but I've managed some decent progress on a few projects. I never got around to solidifying my goals for this year, but there is one goal I hope to stick to. I've decided to try and stitch Every Single Day this year, even if it's only 30 stitches. After barely stitching at all last Autumn, I feel like I lost a lot of potential progress, even if I'd only managed 10 minutes of work. So, this year, it's stitch every day! I've already had a couple nights where it's the last 10 minutes before bed, but I feel so much better the next day, knowing I made that small effort.

So, February started off with Flora, though I only managed 4 days of stitching. Last time I focused on the purple iris, so this time it was the pink shawl. There's also a pink/red flower toward the top that's slowly taking shape:

I also pulled out Crystals and Crows, which has been calling to me since last year. This project is so large, it's difficult to get it all set up, but I managed to put a pretty big dent in the sky on page 2, with a little bit trailing into page 3:

I really love that hint of lavender at the top. The colors are blending so beautifully together. There's a lot of sky on this page, so I hope I can get through it fairly quickly and make a start on page 3 later this year. But we'll see. It still amazes me that the original version was done in watercolor.

My Geometric Bunny saw a week of progress, and is now doing a fair imitation of a chipmunk. :)

This one is very relaxing to stitch, and feels good on a stressful day. All the symmetry and solid blocks makes it so easy, I'm gonna miss him when he's done. But that's still a ways away.

Angel of Grace also got 4 days of work, though I was sick for two of those days. However, yesterday turned out to be a really good stitchy day, my first all year I think, so that kind of made up for a bad week. I worked mostly on the flare of dress to the left, and I'm close to finishing some of those pretty pleats and ruffles:

I am so tempted to keep working on this project! I may keep her out a few more days, we'll see. The dress is supposed to be edged with DMC Metallic gold, but since no one has ever had a kind word for that thread, I want to substitute in something else. I thought of using Kreinik, but now I'm thinking Petit Treasure Braid? (I've never used that.) Only they have so many shades of gold! So now I get to have fun picking and choosing, which give this project an added personal touch and makes it even harder to put down. But alas, other projects are calling...

Luna got some love as well, but I think I'll save her for WIPocalypse so you don't get sick of tiny bits of blue. I've been struggling with my Stitchrovia SAL though, since it was an unplanned project. (I haven't even started the quotes yet!) Hopefully in March I can get my act together. I'll also be pulling out Scale pretty soon, as I've really started to miss her. Hopefully I can get another two pages done this year and finish off her lips. :)

In the meantime, I've been kitting up a new project. Another Massive project. And yes, it's a Golden Kite.

This is Palazzo Con Personaggi. It is 896x654, or 585,984 stitches. I plan to tent stitch this on 25ct Magic Guide. I don't know that I'll ever finish it, which I'm fine with, but I really want to start and at least stitch that couple on the left, the woman seated in green, and the man standing in dark blue. I think just those two take up 30 pages or so, but the pages are half the size of a regular HAED. So, for the last couple weeks, I've been slowly amassing materials and making lists of symbols for my Pako organizers, which really help in sorting those blended threads. I had about half the floss on hand, and thanks to a very convenient sale at Joann's, I now have the rest. So now I am slowly bobbinating before I start snipping lengths of thread and filling needles. It's a very labor intensive process, but very worth it once I begin stitching. If you're curious, I'll try to show more of my setup process in a later post. :)

Well, I think I've rambled enough for one post. Thanks for reading. Until next time!