Progress Update

My stitching progress has been a bit slow this month, but it's beginning to come along. Mother is recovering from minor knee surgery, so it seems most of my time has been tending to her rather than my wips, but I suppose she's worth it. (And she'll be reading this soon...)

My Fern Fairy has been the most neglected, but over the last two weeks, I've managed to finish off her sash, do some backstitching on her arms and wings, and finish her hair. Haven't gotten to her leafy crown yet, so please pardon the blankness there. I know it looks odd with bits of her hair hovering in space...

Green Fern Fairy, Feb. 16

She's getting close to the finish line. All she really needs is her crown, the rest of her dress and shoes, and then the beads! I am looking forward to the beading, as it's something I've never done before and frankly never thought I'd be interested in even trying. But after seeing so many cross stitch videos on Youtube, I thought I'd give it a try. I'm still debating whether I should use the recommended DMC floss to attach the beads or try some invisible thread. Probably the invisible, as I've already got my eye on another Mirabilia (Cassiopeia!) and a Chatelaine.

Speaking of future projects, I plan on starting a big one soon. I mentioned back in January an idea I had about starting a new project at every solstice. The concept came about as I was searching for a compromise between my urge for serial starting (a very bad habit I picked up a few years back) and the need to focus on my current wips. While I don't want to completely deny the thrill of new starts, I also want to make progress on a few of my baps. So, why not have a few definitive dates to look forward to? That way I can practice self restraint and give myself a reward! :)

Spring solstice is March 20, so I'm starting something spring themed: Euphoria, by Melanie Delon, charted by HAED. The goal for my solstice start is to stitch on my new project as much as possible for the last 10 days of the month, guilt free. This means no worrying about my other wips, goals, etc. It's just pure indulgence. If you think it sounds nice, feel free to join me. I do love a good stitch-a-long! It doesn't have to be big, just something that's been screaming for attention. I am not good at these things, but I've made myself a badge for motivation.

I am already looking forward to March 20th. :) Until next time!

Finally!

Not sure how I managed it, but yesterday I was able to finish the first set of pages on Pavonia, my oldest wip. The confetti on these pages was so heavy, for the last several sessions I was crawling along at about 35 stitches an hour, a far cry from my normal 100. The pace was grueling, but finally, it's done!

Pavonia, Feb. 10

Over a hundred variations of green, black, brown and gold. Here's a bit of a close up:

So much confetti!

My favorite parts are the bits of red mixed in with the gold. So pretty! The white spots in the middle are actually flaws from the original image, transferred onto the chart. Golden Kite is nothing if not meticulous about detail. I thought about changing the colors, but I rather like the idea of having those faded, "scratched" parts in there. I hope it'll make it feel more like a painting when it's all finished. But maybe that's just a bit of whimsy. :)

Overall, you can see how much I still have to go. It looks a bit daunting, actually.

The big picture

She's 10 pages across, so 9 more to go... Her left eye will appear on the third page, which I should reach sometime late autumn (a long time, I know). I really can't wait to get there, but it might be kinda creepy with her peering at me like that. More incentive to get her fully stitched I guess!

Until next time. Keep stitching and smiling!

So here is Flora, with every color stitched on this page except the two background colors, black and very dark grey. I'm hoping to have a page finish this time next week. :)

Flora, as of Feb. 5

I was looking ahead to page 8 (full page to the left of this one) as noticed that out of the 86 colors included in this chart, page 8 has 83 of them! Every color except three yellows in that flower on the right. It should be a fun page to stitch.

Until next time!

Sparkly sparkly!

Last night I managed finish off all the kreinik in Fern Fairy's wings. So sparkly! The thread was just as scratchy as I thought it would be, but it wasn't too bad. The hardest part was threading the needle, but only 'cuz I was doing it the hard way at first. Not sure where to stitch next... Probably I'll finish part of the sash and then do some backstitching. Then maybe I'll work up the courage to try the beads.

Does she look halfway finished? I think she's halfway finished. Until next time!

Showing some skin!

Yes, finally I've got some skin showing on my Fern Fairy! No head yet, but some very nice arms, if I do say so myself. Mother keeps begging me to "sew the sparkly part!" so I've started in on the wings, soon to move on to the Kreinik. I've actually never sewn with Kreinik before, so I'm rather looking forward to it!

I've also got a teeny bit of skin showing on Flora. If you look real close, there's a patch of baby pink on her little hand. I've kinda been sewing all over on this one, stitching whichever color strikes my fancy. I want to sew the background last, so until then it'll probably look a bit strange.

A Bit of Progress

Not much progress to show for the first full week of the year I'm afraid, but that won't stop me from rambling. ^_^ Actually, I didn't get any stitching done at home this week, as I have been bitten by the yarn bug. Last weekend I just could not get the idea of re-learning how to knit out of my head, so I after watching Youtube for an hour, I promptly started a new lace scarf, something I've never before attempted. Unfortunately, I am still as slow as ever, so progress pics will follow when I'm farther along. I've also been auditioning yarn for a crochet cable afghan I want to do, so my couch is covered with little swatches rather than floss. It's quite a change.

However, I have been stitching at work, as planned, and have made a bit of progress on Flora. I started at the bottom right, and have nearly completed to two partial pages there. Once I get the second partial page done, I'll move up to the first full page on the right, where her hand is. There are lots of colors in this piece, and she's fairly confetti heavy in places, but I think I can manage to get this set of pages done in a couple months. Not bad for spare time stitching.

Flora

My progress as of Jan. 8

And I can't forget about my New Year's start, Green Fern Fairy. Haven't touched her since last Saturday, but I'll be getting back to her this week, I hope. It really is a difference, going from HAEDs to this, which has such large blocks of color. It's kind of boring stitching, but my weekly stitch count loves it. ^_^

Green Fern Fairy, Jan. 3

I'm hoping to get back to Moon Indigo today, which is on her new millennium frame (awesome). It will be my first time stitching on the new frame, so there will be some adjustments, but I think it will be fun. Hope everyone is having a good year so far. Until next time!

New Goals and a Happy Dance!

It was too late to post yesterday, but I managed a finish for 2014. Here is Achoo!

Isn't he adorable?

Pardon the wrinkles, of course I had to take a photo the moment the last thread was cut. He's just too cute to resist!

Ok, onto 2015. Right now, I've got 7 wips going and another 6 or 7 waiting to be started this year (plus 3 UFOs). Here are the goals for my wips:

• Pavonia: Sewing rotation will be every Sunday, with a goal of 16k stitches.
• Moon Indigo: My focus piece this year. I want to at least finish pages 3-5, though a top row finish (pages 6-7) would be really nice. Goal is 20k stitches (or 34k for a row finish).
• Favorite Bird: My darling IMP. Goal is a mere 3 pages, or 7800 stitches.
• Scale: Finish page 2, 4500 stitches.
• Madchen Am Strand: Finish pages 1 and 2, 4000 stitches.
• Flora: Gonna try something new with this and take her to work. Goal is at least on page finish, 4500 stitches.
• Green Fern Fairy: My New Years start. Goal is to have her completed by March 31.

Altogether, a total of about 65k stitches. I only managed about 44k for 2014, but I had a few distractions (*cough* art class *cough*).  This year I am very optimistic. =)

As for my new starts... I'm thinking of doing a big new start around every solstice, as it divides the year up neatly into quarters. So my first would be started in March, then June and September, then I'll probably wait til next New Years to start again. I've got a few little things I may pepper in along the way -- a stitch sampler and a couple by Ink Circles -- but those will be stitched as the urge arises. This year I just want to have fun!

I'll leave you with the first pic of my New Years start, Green Fern Fairy by Nora Corbett. I'd been waiting so long to start her, I spent most of the day stitching. Wish every day could be like that!

Wishing everyone luck on your new year and your new starts. Until next time!