Catch Up Stitching

Hello again! I know it's only been a week, but I've still got a ton to show you thanks to some catch up stitching I've been doing this week. It seems parts of the netherworld may be experiencing a chill because my work has actually shut down for a full two weeks. They said it was to comply with the city mandate, but I think it has more to do with a confirmed case of the virus, plus a few suspected. Either way, I'm happy to be home stitching! Hope all of you are staying safe as well. :)

First up is last week's morning project, Elizabeth Oliver. I didn't take a full pic again (getting really hard to do that) but I'm making good progress on my current row:

These two trees were quite fun to stitch, especially the second one. It's very asymmetrical, which was a welcome break from all the mirror image motifs. I really enjoyed stitching all those leaves. I've also put my initials in, though that was a bit tricky for me. There was an alphabet provided for this, but no designated space, so I had to go by the cover image and do a bit of guesswork. Picking a color was the hardest part, but I'm really happy with the gold I picked, DMC 833. It stands out enough to be seen, but blends in well with the design.  The lines you see to the right are actually my start on that massive house! It's going to take an age for me to get through that lawn, but I think I'm up for the challenge. (Famous last words!)

My first day off work was Thursday, and the first project I picked up was my Wonders of Space SAL. I was almost done with the March block, so finishing it off was quick and easy:

There's Pluto! I was really hoping for another pretty nebula to stitch, but I do like how this block turned out. I'm glad I'm keeping up with this SAL, but it's really hard to wait for the next block. Hoping we get a galaxy somewhere in there...

Next up was my R2 Silhouette, and yes, I managed a finish!

I've had 5 page finished this year on my full coverage wips, but this is my first project finish, so my wip count is now 71. I started this on June 15, 2016, but it actually took me 45 days to stitch. All that black was pretty tedious, but I love the effect. I plan to frame it some day, but for now it's stuck in a drawer until I can go frame shopping.

Since I was on a finishing kick, I decided to get Kabuki out again and finish off page 8:

Isn't she gorgeous? That confetti was super frustrating, but I'm happy to have the row done. She's now halfway done, which is awesome, but the bottom half is mostly a confetti nightmare, so it's might take me another 12 years to finish her. (I hope not!)

I think that's all for now. You might have noticed Luna has been missing for a while? Yup, she's been totally neglected. I'm hoping to remedy that next week and do a little focus stitching to catch up. Hope you all are staying healthy. Until next time!

March Update

Well, 2020 is definitely becoming an interesting year. Hi all! Hope all of you are well and hale and avoiding all the craziness. I had hoped to update sooner, but things have been hectic, and I'm pretty sure I had the flu last week. (Just the flu, thank you.) Here in Kansas City, we're about to go on city shut down mode this Tuesday. Unfortunately, since I work for a branch of the government the brings in revenue -- especially this time of year -- I am still on the job. So no quarantine stitching for me! (dang it) Of course, that may be subject to change in the next couple weeks. We'll see.

So, stitching! First I'll show off my new Leap Day start, which I'd been looking forward to for a couple months. This is, of course, Ann Tong Uffindell from Hands Across the Sea. I started in the bottom right corner and managed to finish a good chunk of the border (love all those fiddly details) and started on that big chunk of stylized grass:

I decided to be brave and stitch this on 46ct Parchment by Weeks Dye Works using Au Ver A Soie 100/3 silks. 46ct Zweigart really isn't much different than 40ct, so I'm really loving the tiny stitches. The silks took quite a while to get used to though, and I still can't really say I like them, but I don't mind finishing the project with them.

The color palette is a little different than the regular AVAS, but I'm okay with it. However, this silk tangles really easily, and it has a preferred direction: pull of the spool, cut the end, thread the end you just cut. If you do the reverse, it will fight you. I've already had to cut out a few knots, and I'm usually very good at untangling those. But this silk is very round and slippery, so a blunt tapestry needle just isn't up to the task. It's a little bit thinner than DMC, but the coverage is still pretty good. I had a problem at first with the thread constantly slipping out of my needle, but I've learned to keep a good grip on it. Like I said, a lot to get used to.

After Ann, I sort of broke away from my rotation and did some stress stitching. I wasn't feeling well, and the news was a bit overwhelming, so I picked up The Fireplace (aka Sofie) from Golden Kite and just stitched:

What I love about this project is the way it just consumes me. This is kind of true for a lot of full coverage stitching, but when working on all this confetti in the diagonal style, all I can focus on is making the next stitch, park the thread, make the next stitch, etc. It's perfect for tuning everything out. I spent 6 days on her and added about 1100 stitches, so she's up to just over 3300 so far. I also really like seeing all the designs in the carpet come to life. Just wish I could stitch faster. :)

I also made time for the February release of the Wonders of Space SAL by Climbing Goat Designs. This month was part of the Eagle Nebula, which is one of Hubble's most famous images:

To be honest, the colors used in this were pretty crazy. I had red, brown, burgundy, tan and aqua all right next to each other and thought it looked horrible. But stepping back on the finished image, it's really quite perfect. I'm almost done with the March block and looking forward to the next release already.

Finally, I made it back to my rotation to work on Kabuki, though it was tempting to keep working on Sofie. But I'm glad I made the switch:

I'm still about 6 hours off from finishing the row, but at least I got page 7 done. I'm still amazed at how well the colors blend together at a distance. Up close, it's all purple and tan and pink and gray. I may rearrange my plans and bring her out again next month. We'll see.

So that's it for the last 3 weeks. I can't believe March is almost over! Be safe everyone. Until next time!

So Many Projects

Hello again! I've got another long update for you since I've been too busy this month to post. Seriously guys, February has been crazy! But I've been bouncing around on a bunch of projects (15 to be exact) and managed some decent progress on a few. So here we go!

First up is Kabuki. I was hoping to finish off the second row this year, but the confetti is proving to be quite a challenge, so that might not happen. Still, I did get close to a page finish this time round working on her kimono sleeve:

She'll be back again in March, so the current page will definitely be done. The next page is a partial, but also a confetti nightmare. Still, I will stitch valiantly onward. :) I do love how the shading is turning out though. I just keep thinking, this will look great on my wall one day.

Next, I spent a week on Eliza Knight from HATS. I seriously love this sampler, but I had burned out on her a bit after those over 1 eyelets that you can't even see. (They're very light blue, and the light just over exposes them.) So I set the eyelets aside for now and tried doing some of the over 1 letters using tent stitch, since the AVAS silk is very thick, especially on 45ct. Turns out I love it! Tent stitches make the over 1 super easy and fast and even fun.

I'm doing the tent stitches in the same direction as my top leg on normal cross stitches, which is backward for me, but I thought it made more sense to do it that way. After some experimentation, I decided to still throw in a few full crosses to make the over 1 look more fuller where there is a single stitch, like at the end of the 't':

Can you tell I changed it as I went along? I didn't get much done on the few days I worked on her, but at least now I am looking forward to doing the giant over 1 verse in the center.

I was hoping to finish off my R2 silhouette this month, but I just couldn't do it. However, my Death Star is nearing completion, so it won't be much longer:

Hopefully I'll have this done next month. Another few sessions should do it.

I also made time for Elizabeth Oliver since I love her and can't stay away from her for long. I managed to finish off that giant arbor and start on the next very tall fruit tree (please forgive all the threads in the way):

I've been trying to make myself stitch more in those odd pockets of time where I usually don't bother to get my stitching out. But my time is so short these days that even 20-30 minutes is enough to get me stitching. In doing that, I stitched my lion, that cute little bird, and a few odd leaves. Not much, but it does add up.

I think that's all for now. I did have a new start today, but I'll talk about that next time. I'm really going to try to update more often, especially since work is already getting crazy (hello overtime!) and shorter updates are easier. Hope you all are stitching as much as you can! Until next time! :)

February Update

Hi all! I think I'm finally settling into the groove of this new year (still writing 2019 though) and feel like I'm getting a good bit of stitching done. I'm even getting used to my rotation again! (Probably because I can't think of a better option.) So, on with the pretties!

I say 'pretties,' but this first one is mostly black. It's my R2 Silhouette I got from Cross Stitch For You on Etsy. I worked on this the last week of January, but didn't get as far as I'd hoped:

I think that Death Star is going to take forever! Still, the goal is to finish it this year, hopefully this month, or at least early March.

Next, I pulled out Frosty Forest and stitched mostly white. (Beginning to think I've been falsely advertising these pretties...) I started block #6, and that border always takes a lot of time:

It was a short rotation this time, just 4 days instead of 5, but I got a good chunk of snow done, so I should be able to start the house next time round.

In my aim to get back to some of my older pieces, I pulled out Pavonia for 2 long stitching sessions and managed about 800 stitches. I'm converting her to diagonal stitching since I think it will help with all the confetti. Took me a while to get used to her again, but I'm still really enjoying her:

Sadly, this pattern doesn't work with Pattern Keeper, since older Golden Kite's didn't come with passwords and that somehow doesn't mesh with PK's programming. (Hopefully that will change in a future update.) But Pavonia is officially back in the rotation! My goal is to finish off the current page this year. (Small steps lead to great strides!)

Last, I want to mention this week's No Wip Left Behind project: Climbing the Dragon Gate from HAED. I started this chart on February 7, 2016 while recovering from a bit of surgery. The thought was that it was an easy chart, and easy stitching was what I needed at the time. I didn't think it would take me 4 years to finish a single page! But yes, on February 7, 2020, I finally managed it:

I remember having to put this down initially because I didn't have all the required floss in my stash. Then later, since it isn't a priority chart, I just never found time to work on it. But I still enjoy this one, and it would be nice to make more progress. I just keep struggling with that urge to stitch on all the things versus my limited ability in what I can actually manage. But I won't be discouraged! Somehow I'll find a way to balance progress and quantity. I know the solution will never be ideal, but I'll take what I can get and enjoy the process. Hope you all do the same.

Happy stitching everyone!

January Update

Why does January always seem so long? Yet somehow, I also feel like I can't get anything done. One of those great mysteries, I guess. :)

I've been trying to get into the groove of my rotation, but I'm being difficult. I sort of rebelled against my rotation for most of the year last year, and now I'm trying to do it again. The benefits of sticking to my rotation are obvious: I get to touch all my wips in an organized fashion and make decent progress on my focus pieces. The downside is I'm not always ready to switch projects, so it takes me a while to get accustomed to the new piece. I've thought about longer rotations, but I don't think that's the answer either. Hopefully I can stick with it this year, but next year there might be some changes.

Okay, on to the good stuff! First up is Kabuki, by Mystic Stitch. I think this is my oldest wip, and my first full coverage piece. Shame I haven't finished her yet, but I'll keep trying. I did manage to finish a good bit of her face finally, and she's looking good:

I really do admire the way Mystic Stitch charts things. There's a ton of confetti and "weird" colors everywhere, but stepping back, the effect is amazing. She will be out again next month. Hopefully I can finish a page or two this year.

Next is Elizabeth Oliver, which you'll be seeing a lot of this year. I've started a new row, and will eventually get to that house in the middle, hopefully around May. For now, I've got the border and a good start on the first arbor:

Those flowering plants take a long time to stitch, but I'm really enjoying this. Hopefully I won't feel burned out when it's time to stitch them again on the other side.

I am participating in another stitch along from Etsy this year, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. This is the Wonders of Space SAL from Climbing Goat Designs, and will feature 9 blocks of images from space. I have no idea what to expect, but the first block was the Ring Nebula, and it is really awesome:

I had a lot of fun stitching this, and can't wait for the next. They come out on the 15th every month, so if you wanna join, you won't be far behind. Each block is 30x30, so it's not too big, but it does call for 45 colors. There's also a description of each wonder in the pdf, which is pretty cool. I was really in to astronomy for a while, so of course I couldn't resist this project. :)

Last but not least, I managed to finally finish page 17 on Moon Indigo:

Isn't she awesome? I am super excited to be stitching her dress at long last. Hopefully this next page will not take as long since there's not as much confetti, and I'm using Pattern Keeper! Truth be told, I'm not looking forward to her hair and the moon as that always stitches slowly, but maybe it'll be better with the app.

Quick note about Pattern Keeper: if you stitch full coverage charts, get it. End of story. No debate. There simply is no comparison to any other app. Hope that helps if you're still thinking about it. :)

Seriously though? This is the first time I've really been able to stitch without paper and been comfortable with that. It really has made a difference and made things so much easier. Especially with my diagonal stitching. (Should I note I wasn't paid to say that?)

Well, I guess that's all for now. I'm still working on my No Wip Left Behind project, but I think I'll keep those updates on Instagram, at least for now. One hour of progress isn't really much to look at, and if I post them here, I'll ramble on and on about each project. Unless I made separate posts about them... Hmm... Anyway, back to stitching. Happy Lunar New Year! :)

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!