A Bit of Everything

Hi y'all! I'm back to show off another page finish! This time on Moon Indigo. That means four pages done, all nice and neat, and one more to go to meet my goal for this year. Here's how she looks:

Moon Indigo, Sept. 10

The moon is definitely on a downward curve, which means it's getting bigger and much more confetti heavy. I think it'll be tougher work on the sky though, which is down to two colors (mostly one, actually). Easy stitching, but kinda boring, so the moon will be a nice balance.

Also, since things are finally slowing down at work, I've managed a few other little finishes: some crochet critters and another hat.

The elephant pattern is one of my favs, but this is actually the first time I've used worsted yarn to make him. Usually I do a smaller version with sock yarn, which makes him about two inches tall (perfect for my desk at work). This one is about four inches, and sooo cute!  I'll definitely be making more in the future. If you'd like the pattern, he's from Denizmum on Etsy.

 Of course, I love the giraffes, too. I was experimenting with eyes a bit here, as safety eyes aren't really safe for small children. I call them Winky, Blinky and Pinky. :) This pattern is from djonesgirlz.

And of course, there's my hat.

This is a design by Knit Kid. It was supposed to be a woman's hat, but thanks to my laziness (not checking gauge) it's now a kid's hat. But it's still pretty, so I'm happy.

This Friday, I'm looking forward to my New Season, New Start for Fall: Mirabilia's Cassiopeia!

I fell in love with this design almost a year ago. I originally planned to start her in January, but decided to "practice" with Green Fern Fairy. But now it's Cassie's turn, and I'm super excited! I don't think I'll be getting much done this year, as I need to get back to Luna, but hopefully I can make a dent in that gorgeous dress of hers.

But despite all my current lovely ladies, I had to purchase one more. Yup, new stash, though the first in a while (and only one!)

White Queen, by Cris Ortega

This was another instant love piece, though I couldn't say what it is exactly I love about her. Probably the knife. It's kind of gruesome, but it makes her seem desperate, like she's just made a very drastic decision. And there's a lot of little details I like in this piece. The man's palm is bloody, but I don't know if he's dead. She's just cut her hair (it's on the floor) and there's a bit of blood at her nape as well. And then (totally random) she's holding a chess piece. (The White Queen?) It just raises a lot of questions. I've seen on the artist's website that this is actually an illustration from a book called Forgotten 3: The Hills of Silence. I'm tempted to read this book just to see if it matches the picture. (If anyone has, please let me know!) I'm hoping to start this one soon, like this year, hopefully, as I already have the perfect fabric in my stash. Of course, that's if I get another page done on Luna first, and then there's Pavo, and I could work more on Cass....

Wishing everyone abundant stitching this week. Until next time!

August WIPocalypse

I know I'm a day late with this post, but I wanted to wait for a page finish on Pavonia, and I made it! So here she is with her second set of pages done! :)

Pavonia, Aug. 30

This is the first month I've stitched on her since April, but I've managed to make up for some of my slacking.
August Goal: 1,550 stitches. Actual progress: 4,261 stitches.
YTD Target Total: 10,850 stitches. Actual total: 8,531.
So the good news is I actually doubled my stitching total for the year. (Very pleased with myself about that.) The bad news is I'm still short by over 2,300 stitches for the year. But hopefully I can stay focused and have it done by December. (Here's to hoping!)

I haven't stitched on Moon Indigo since May, but she'll be making her appearance next month. (Yay!) I did manage a page finish on The Favorite Bird earlier this month, but the pic is boring, so no need to repost. It's on my Wips page if you really want to see it.

Now for this month's topic: Pick one of the WIP pieces you’ve stitched on this month, and tell us about your stitching journey with the piece.

Of course, I have to talk about Pavonia. This is really the piece that started it all, as far as my obsession with large scale projects goes. I remember at the time, I really wanted to stitch something epic, but couldn't find anything in local craft stores that took my fancy.  I happened upon some online cross stitch stores by chance, and had a lightbulb moment to look for charts as well. Eventually I found Golden Kite, and saw Pavonia (and a few others...). It was pretty much love at first sight. My mother laughed when I told her the size, but I wasn't intimidated.

I had to change everything about the way I stitched to accommodate Pavo. I had to order a huge piece of fabric on a count I hadn't known existed before, then get a frame large enough to hold her. (I knew my hoops wouldn't work at all.) Then I had to figure out how to deal with all the thread. Normally I kept a box full of bobbins and just wound excess thread back onto each one when I finished a color. Couldn't do that with blended threads. So I got a bunch of Pako organizers to keep it all sorted (those things are a lifesaver!), plus clipboards for the pages and pages of charts, plus highlighters and markers to know what I'm stitching. This turned out to be a very expensive hobby. But my only regret is that I didn't find these charts sooner. I still stitch smaller charts and kits, but my passion is with BAPs and IMPs. It will be a while before I complete any of them, but for now I'm really enjoying the journey.

Pavonia is charted by Golden Kite, originally painted by Frederic Leighton. The portrait is of a "Roman Lady," shown in two other paintings below. Pavonia is latin for peacock.

 Happy stitching, all. Until next time!

August IHSW

Have you ever rekindled an old friendship after a long separation and wondered why on earth you stopped hanging out in the first place? That's kind of what I'm experiencing with Pavonia. I know I was dang busy this spring and got crazy sidetracked with knitting, but I've really missed stitching on her. She's been my only wip this week (and I actually stitched all seven days!), so the progress is really starting to show. For this month's IHSW, I managed 1,040 stitches. Not bad for three days work. :) Here's before and after:

I'm hoping to have this part done by the end of the month. It might be a stretch with all the confetti I'll have to deal with, but I'm gonna be optimistic. After all, on the next set of pages I'll *finally* get to start her face!

Wishing everyone amazing progress. Until next time!

Page Finish!

As I warned you earlier, this really isn't much to look at, but I have indeed completed one more teeny tiny page on my largest project, The Favorite Bird. I've started at the bottom right, so it's just a bit of a table leg (if you squint, you might see it) and lots of floor. But it's progress! Only 218 pages to go! (sheesh...)

The Favorite Bird, Aug. 13

Total stitching time for this page was 7 days, which makes me sad to put her away, but away she must go. For now I am focusing on Pavonia, trying to catch up all the stitching I missed this spring. Same goes for Moon Indigo, who should be making an appearance sometime soon.

I'd like to leave you with something pretty to look at, so here is my now framed Green Fern Fairy! I finished her way back in February and now have her back from the shop and ready for my mother's wall. (She does tend to claim all my finished projects.)

Green Fern Fairy

It's really nice to see something of mine framed for a change. I hardly ever finish anything, so it's kind of a big deal for me. Motivation for the future, I guess. :)

Hope you all are doing well in your stitching endeavors. Until next time!

Page Finish!

Yes, today I am dancing the funky chicken, because I have finally finished page 2 of Scale! :D This last week of stitching has really been an uphill battle though. The lower lashes of her eye were really confetti heavy, and I wasn't sure I could finish today. But I persevered, and here she is!

Second page complete!

I can already see the shadowy outlines of the fish by her temple. It was really tempting to continue into page three, but I've got some other stitching that has to be done to meet my goals for this year, so she will have to say adieu until 2016.

Next up, I'll be putting my IMP on the frame: My Favorite Bird. I've kind of squandered what should have been her stitching time this year, but hopefully I can at least get one more page done for the year, again, the second page for the project. (Sheesh, I started a lot of wips last year!) It should be a quick stitch though, if boring to look at. The next page is almost all one color. :-/

Only five months left in the year! Are you meeting all your stitchy goals? ;)

July IHSW

Hello again! Thanks for dropping by. I'd offer you tea, but this darn computer screen is so limiting. (Okay okay, on with the stitchy stuff...)

It feels so good to get back into the swing of things with my fellow Hermiters. I did manage to stitch all three days, not as much as I'd hoped, but I'll take what I can get. All three days were spent on Scale, as I'm still trying to get the page finished by the end of the month. I didn't quite finish the eye, but its very close. All told, I got in 976 stitches this weekend. Wanna see?

Here's before:

*gasp!* I actually did some stitching during the week?!

And after:

"Here's looking at you, kid" -- Scale, as of July 19

It's going to take a little getting used to having her stare at me now, though at least she's not glaring directly at me. More like she's miffed at me for not being further along. (C'mon, I know your stitching talks to you as well...) My fingers are still crossed for a quick page finish. And of course, I'm wishing fantastic progress for everyone else as well.

Until next time!

Everything but stitching!

Whew! I did not expect to be gone for two months, but as the title implies, it seems I have been doing everything except stitching lately. Yarn is mostly to blame for this -- at least for June. I've kinda caught the knitting bug, and have been keeping my needles moving, just not the right ones. (Yup, that was a pun. Sorry.) May was, as always, a jumble of a month for me, but I did manage one week of stitching, all of it on Moon Indigo. It was meager progress, but I still like to stare at her wistfully and dream...

Moon Indigo, where I left off in April

May's meager progress

I was hoping for a page finish, but it just wasn't meant to be. Getting close, though. Unfortunately, she has been set aside for now (but she'll be back later this year, I promise!).

June was a pathetic month for my stitching. I only managed one day, a whopping 175 stitches on Scale, which is still begging for a page finish. But I'm really really hoping (fingers and toes crossed!) that this will be the month! I'm already halfway there, so I really don't have an excuse. Here's where she's at now:

Scale, as of July 6

She's looking kinda strange, I know, but the rest of that space is her actual eye. It's gonna be weird watching it fill in, but beautiful at the same time. So here goes! Cheer me on! Hopefully I can bug you with more meager progress next week. :)

That's really all I've done for stitching since Spring. Terrible, I know, but I've been completely obsessed with yarn to a hazardous degree, as it's now filling every available space in my house. I don't have much to show for it yet, as I'm still pretty slow and easily distracted, but here is my first finished hat, though it hasn't been blocked yet...

Here's the crown. Pretty fancy, eh?

I must say, this turned my on to hats, so I've even started another one. Not quite done, but getting there.

My hats, side by side

I'm working on a cardigan (for my mother, if it fits her) but that will take me a long while yet. Eventually I hope to make a few scarves and shawls as well. Gotta do something with all this yarn. :)

Something else I wanted to share with you, especially for HAED fans, and definitely for art fans. Every May here in Kansas City, there's a big art fair, called Spectrum Fantastic Arts Live. This was its fourth year here. I've been every year, and plan to keep going. This year was a little different, but still great, as many awesome artists were there, several of whom have charts on HAED. And you get to meet them in person! Annie Stegg was there again this year, and I must say she is one of the nicest, sweetest people you could ever hope to meet. (She's really beautiful, too!) Jasmine Beckett-Griffith was there, also Meredith Dillman, Omar and Sheila Ryyan, Scott Gustafson... You get the picture? So if you're looking for a good activity for next May, keep Spectrum in mind. You will definitely have fun! 

Annie Stegg's newest release, Moon Goddess

Until next time, happy stitching!