WIPocalypse Challenge #2

Hi everyone! Back with an update on the WIPocalypse Olympic Challenge. I've been having lots of fun switching through projects every day, though it's sometimes hard to put them down so soon!

Monday I worked on Death by Cross Stitch, which is still lots of fun:

The lighting at work is really bad, but you get the idea. :) Making good progress on my unicorn!

Tuesday I got back to my R2D2 Silhouette. Forgot to take a "before" picture, but I added 294 stitches. Pretty easy since it's all black:

Today I picked up a newer start. This is from the Frosty Forest series, from Country Cottage Needleworks:

I plan on stitching all 9 in the series on the same piece of fabric, so I've got a loooong way to go! But the little critters are so cute, I think it's worth stitching all that endless snow. Stitching this on 32ct Belfast in Touch of Gray.

Still plugging away on Scale, but progress has been a bit slow. Starting to get down to all the little confetti stitches, but that means I'm closing in on a page finish:

She's finally got her nostrils! Well, most of them, anyway. But I think it really makes a difference. It would be nice to have a page finish this weekend... but we'll see. :)

Guess that's all for now. Until next time!

Steadily Stitching Along

Hi stitchers! Hope everyone is having a good week.

I am still upside down at work, but I've now been temporarily assigned to a new department. It's still a heavy workload with high expectations, but a different environment, so it's much quieter and less hectic. Hopefully it will be less stress for a while, and I can concentrate more on happy stitching. :)

Last week, I pulled out Flora again, though by Friday I was so tired I barely got anything done. Still, I made a decent amount of progress:

Lots of red this time, as I was trying to get the red flower done at the bottom. Hopefully next time will see that done.

I also managed some meager progress on Scale, though I seem to be stagnating on her a bit:

For a while, I had a good rhythm going with the white, then filled in some ecru so I could see my progress better. I'm trying to alternate white with colors, but the colors were being fiddly and uncooperative for a while. Still, she is starting to fill in. I'm about halfway done on page 7. I'd love to finish the page by the end of the month, but we'll see.

I would probably make more progress on Scale if I could stop stitching on Death by Cross Stitch. This piece is absolutely addictive, and I've spent a few late nights with this when I should have been sleeping (though I regret nothing):

The first border had a really nice rhythm to it, and it was hard to put down. I'm now working on the first "scene" which is the unicorn, and part of why I was so intrigued by this piece. It's very unusual, in that the background is stitched, leaving blank fabric to "color" the unicorn. I think it's a lovely concept, and would love to see this stitched on hand dyed fabric. But I am quite content with my boring Aida. :)

Also, a tip I would like to pass on. Someone on Facebook (can't remember who) mentioned that for long borders stitched Dutch style (i.e. lots of first legs, then crossing them all later) counting can be made much easier by crossing each tenth stitch in the line. A simple concept, but it has really helped me on this design. You can see where I've done this if you look close; I've still got some uncrossed bits in there. Hope that helps someone else down the line. :)

That's all for this week, short and sweet. I've got Luna back on the stand (yay!) and I'm hoping for a page finish this week (fingers crossed!). Until next time!

Slow Progress

Hello again!

Seems like my stitching has been all over the place the last couple weeks. I've been stitching every day, but on lots of different things, so I haven't had much progress to show. Until now. :)

I pulled out my Tigers again last week, and managed to finish all the greenery, including the backstitching. I also finished up mama's other leg, and did the backstitching there:

Not bad for a week's work. I've still got some finishing to do on mama's front leg, then the faces, then a bunch more backstitch, then it's done! Hopefully I can manage a finish by the end of August, or there abouts.

I also pulled out my much neglected favorite, Pavonia. I haven't touched her since December, so I was glad to finally show her some love. Part of the reason for the hiatus was the confetti. Sometimes it just gets to be too much, searching ten minutes for those two or three stitches, and doing so for days on end. (Sounds awful, I know, but it's totally worth it.) But now the worst of the confetti is over for a while, and I'm getting a good start on her forehead:

It is so nice seeing her starting to develop. Her hair and face should be relatively easy stitching, so maybe I can get that much done this year. :)

I've got lots of smaller projects going at the moment, though few of them enjoy regular stitching. But I thought I'd show a couple that have managed to get 10 days worth of progress. I figure that's a good benchmark.

First is one by Moira Blackburn, called Three Things Sampler:

I really love this pattern. It has lots of little details, gentle colors, and I really like the verse. I started this in February, but only work on it a couple times a month, so it'll be a while before I get any significant progress.

A few weeks ago, I began a Star Wars pattern from Cross Stitch For You on Etsy:

I love this image! Of course it's R2D2, but it's also the Death Star, the forest of Endor, and a little Ewok in the center. (Yeah, I like Star Wars, can ya tell?) It's a ton of black, but I'm lucky enough to have one of those DMC cones of 310, so I'm happy to be using it. :) I'm not sure if I'll end up giving this to a friend of mine whose birthday is in October. I honestly don't think I'll have it done by then. But I'm thinking about it.

I've got Scale out again, but haven't made much progress yet. I've been shopping a few sales and stashing like crazy, buying a lot of patterns that are outside of my normal style, which I mostly blame on Flosstube. :) But I couldn't resist putting a few stitches into one of my newest stashquisitions, Death by Cross Stitch, from Long Dog:

 I'm doing this on 20ct Antique White Aida, with one strand of Thread Worx Deep Sea Blue. It's a variegated thread similar to 939, but with touches of black here and there. It's really subtle, but quite lovely.

Well, that's enough rambling for now. Hope everyone Stateside is having a good holiday. Until next time!