Sonntag, 24. Juli 2016

WIPocalypse - July

So, it's the end of July already. July was a very busy and exhausting month, I had a lot of work to do at university because the semester is endig now and exams are drawing nearer and I have a lot of people asking questions and so on. Along with that, it was my boyfriends birthday last week and we decided to celebrate it with some friends yesterday. So we spent a whole week planning and preparing and I feel like we can spent another week cleaning the place :D But we had a lot of fun last night, everybody was happy and the food was great. I am still very tired, so maybe this post will be a short one ;-)
Since I started with the Haed Challenge 3 with my Map of Middle Earth, I don't have that much progress to show and the same will maybe go for next month.

First up is Danielle. Last time, very close to finishing page 2:
And now, 2 1/2 pages done:
Absolutely lovey, I love all those colors and I'ma bit sorry that you can't see the sparkles on the pictures!

Apart from that I worked on my Supersized Ride of the Yokia. Last time:
And now, I did another partial page and started to work on the 3 pages above, so stitches are now 40 stitches high and 189 across:
I want to get to some of the detail, so I started stitching the 3 pages above and will try and focus on them next. You can already see the legs of one of the ghostlike animal (?). By now, I am a great fan of the 32ct fabric, I'm looking forward to picking this up again =)

This month has two topics - one is about challenges for the olympic games and one is a half-year goal report. I'm not doing any challenges for the olympics (not really watching them a lot and since I am doing the Haed Challenge, I don't want any more and just stitch what I feel like) and I didn't really set fixed goal for 2016. So I am doing a half year progress report and compare to my thoughts from the beginning of the year (like I said "I'd like to put more work into that") and so on:

First up is Kreimhilds Revenge by H D Johnson. At the beginning of 2016 I had 20 pages done:
There is an actual goal for her - finish row 3 (or more). I did 2 additional pages, 1 full page and a partial (just some 10 or 15 columns) left to do - next time she comes to the frame that row will be done! Especially since there is only sky with way less confetti there =)
Rheingold by Kinuko Craft - didn't touch it so far, maybe I will still get my butt up to finish the page I started:
Yule Angel by Anne Stokes - didn't touch it - still 7200 stitches left to finish the first row. Gotta do that!
Starlight by David Hoffrichter - didn't touch it. It's absolutely on the list of things to go on my frame next - don't have any anticipations or plans for this one, but I really want to get some stitches into it, it's so pretty!


Eternal Promise by Matt Stewart - nope, no progress (did I stitch at all this year??) - plan is to finish the page I started - that should still be possible:
Wolf Variant by Bente Schlick - oh, I worked on it! Still 4000 stitches to go to finish the 100x160 block I started, but I stitched!
Before:
And now:
Now that I look at it, I really want to pick it up again, it stitches up so nicely =)

QS Paddys Luck by Joanna Bromley - I worked on it! I wanted to finish the first page and did that, yay me :D I even made a start on page 2 and I put it on my frame tonight (just felt like it):
Before:
And now:
Danielle by Sara Butcher, I wanted to stitch page 2 or more and I did both, I am 2 1/2 pages in (see above). But here is her at the beginning of the year:
Supersized Iris Keeper by J Wall - big plan is to stitch all of row 1 this year. I'm on a good way (I think).  Here is where we started:
And now - half way through page 3 and I crossed the halfway mark of the page - so much fun to stitch!
Supersized Ride of the Yokai by Ruth Thompson - a new start for 2016 - I worked on it quite a lot :D You can see my progress above. No real goals for that. I said that it would be great to reach the halfwaypoint of my first row, but since I decided not only to stitch the last row of pages but also the above, this is not going to happen. But I am happy with my progress so far and I think I can put in another few xs and will be happy by the end of the year =)

QS Trapped by Melanie Delon - another new start. I wanted to stitch something I bought in 2013 (you know that - by see things, you love them, you buy them and then you don't start them :D gotta do something about that!). The dark colors are giving me trouble, but it's quite pretty: 1 1/2 pages in so far:
Apart from that I picked up my Dimensions projects
Paris Market went from here:
To here:
From an UFO to a WIP :D Love it!
And I even picked up Aurora Cabin for a few crosses, from here:
To here:
I guess I still forgot about a couple of things, but this is most of my progress so far.

Happy stitching =)

Samstag, 16. Juli 2016

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL - July

And it's the middle of July and so it's time for another GG SAL post. My plan to join every month is working out so far ;-) The SAL is hosted by Jo, so feel free to pay her a visit or take a look at the other entries for July =)
Unfortunately, I didn't manage to stitch as much as I wanted on my projects for this SAL, but I have some progress to show and that's still better than nothing.

First up is my progress on the Map of Middle Earth - I added another 1400 stitches and finished page 3! This also means that I have less than 400 000 stitches to go (399 100 to be exact :D), yay! :D
So here is Middle Earth as of last month:

And now:
I am so excited that the writing is appearing now, on the next page we will rediscover the lost realm of Anor. I think about giving this a try for the Haed challenge, so there will hopefully be a lot of progress next month =)

Next up is my Candy Cane Santa Stocking. It got way less love than I wanted, but I added at least a few stitches. Last month:
And now, I added some background and a few greens, but at least he is still psycho-Santa :D
Last but not least I worked on my Dog Bookshelf piece and added a few stitches. I am very close to finishing page 2 and hope to do that next month:
Before:
And now:
It was a lot of confetti lately, but the result is beautiful =) I'm looking forward to picking this up again =)

I'll share an update on Middle Earth in a few days (along with one for Ride of the Yokai).

Happy stitching!

Freitag, 8. Juli 2016

Page finish on SuSi Ride of the Yokai and a small new start =)

Well, I just wanted to stop by and show my latest page finish: It's another (partial) page on my Supersized Ride of the Yokai by Ruth Thompson. 3 pages down, only 167 to go, lol.
So here is what this looks like now:
I think it's really beautiful, the colors blend into each other so well and the colors are so lovely! 32ct and I are finally becoming friends, I got used to the small crosses and I currently manage 200-300 stitches per night on it. I decided to continue working on this for a few more days and made a start on page 137, which is the first page of the row above (I want to see a bit more of the actual picture so I decided to stitch the row above as well).

I also started one of the kits I got (smaller projects to get something finished eventually). It's called "Embroidered Morning" by DMC:

I think it's a really nice and cute design, I bought this 50% off, so it was quite a good deal. It's part of a series of four (I got another one in the sale) and if it stitches up as lovely as in the picture, I will surely get the other 2.  Here is where I am now, I started with the bird:
It looks a bit weird so far, but I think it will look better once I fill in the green and pink colors =) I'm hoping to do so during the weekend.

Since the 32ct and I are now best friends (coverage is truly amazing) I decided that the first GK I start will be Crossing the Stream. I figured out that I "only" need 105 skeins to kit it up (completely, I feel better getting all the floss with projects as big as that one), which is still less than the 281 I need for Beauty with Parasol. The floss is already ordered, as well as a few more colors I need to start another Haed (yes, another one...):
The Potting Shed by Aimee Stewart!!!!
This design is gorgeous. I love my garden with all my flowers, I dream about having a truly big garden (when I grow up = finish phd and start earning real money) and I love the design. I decided to go with the regular size, that is still 700x500 stitches, so big enough for me. I am in the Aimee Stewart Haed Group on FB and Aimee showed a preview of this design a while ago and the moment she shared it, I knew I had to get and start this as soon as it is released. I already have fabric and the missing 10 colors are on their way and there will be nothing to stop me :D

As some of you may have heard, Haed is running another challenge. It started July 1st and runs until Oct 15th. The challenge is to complete 1 full page (or 1.5 in large format) using their parking method. Unfortunately, their method is not the one I use. I use and love my waste knots, I seriously don't know how else to start a and end a thread on a higher count: I can do the pin stitch on Aida, but I feel uncomfortable doing that on 25ct or 28ct or even 32ct because it's so small and I don't was to damage the fabric by pushing my needle through the strands. I tried starting and finishing by running the thread under a few stitches on the backside, but I find it quite hard on 25ct (did that for Challenge 2) and can't imagine doing that on a higher count (it's quite tight). The challenge is to stitch row  by row using parked threads, but you are not allowed to tie off your threads if there is a possibility to park the thread somewhere below (most people are actually parking below when working the rows), but then my parked threads would mix up with my waste knots. So this might not the be the ideal technique. I prefer stitching and parking in one row only, so I don't have such a mess and use my waste knots as I am used to.
The previous challenges were things I never tried before and it was nice to give things a try. But the last challenge was rather huge with stitching at least 7300 stitches. I was very close to hating cross country and hating my project in the end. So I am not sure if I will do the next challenge. I just don't want to "ruin" my favorite technique for me. I think I will give it a try, but if I notice that I don't enjoy it, I will not continue with it. I think about taking QS Trapped out again, it's small enough to torn my frame to start and end threads on the backside. I would stitch pages 1 and 5 (the one below). I'll keep you up to date with my decision and my attempt to do the challenge.

Well, it looks like I have more to talk about than I thought :D But I will go and do a bit of stitching on Ride of the Yokai now =)

Happy stitching =)