Final WIPocalypse and GG SAL update for 2015

Well, it looks like December is already over so I thought I would do a final update on all my WIPs. Since I was so busy around Christmas I didn't manage to blog for the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL so here also an update on Middle Earth.

I hope all of you enjoyed a wonderful Christmas time with you family and friends. My Christmas consisted of a lot of eating and visiting family and friends and I got a few nice things as well =).


I guess this will be my last post for 2015, so here is a big update on what I accomplished this year =)

First up are my WIPs I started before 2015:

Kreimhilds Revenge by Howard David Johnson:
At the beginning of 2015:

I am currently working on this one. I stitched 3 1/2 pages so far and I guess I'll finish page 20 before the year is over ;-)

Next up is Das Rheingold by Kinuko Craft.
At the beginning of 2015:

I stitched only half a page on this, I'm not really happy with my progress but I somehow lost my mojo on this one =/ Maybe 2016 will be better.

Yule Angel by Anne Stokes.
At the beginning of 2015:

I managed to stitch two pages this year, on the pictures it looks like way more progress and I am really happy with my progress =)

Eternal Promise by Matt Stewart.
At the beginning of 2015:

I stitched one and a half page on this:

Starlight by David Hoffrichter:

I stitched one page this year. I hope to make more progress on it in 2016 since I really love working on this design:

The Map of Middle Earth Large (Retired)

I worked on this during the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL and did 10000 stitches ob this one. I plan to continue with this as a part of the SAL (which will hopefully be hosted in 2016) and hope to do at least 12000 stitches on it.

And I also made some progress on my non-Haeds, both are from the Dimensions Gold Collection:
Paris Market got a tiny bit of love:

 

I really hope it will grow somewhat in 2016 ;-)

I just noticed that I didn't work on Aurora Cabin at all? Well, I should change that :D
It still looks like this:

I could have sworn I worked on this,e specially since I really love this designs!

And here are my new start for 2015:
First up is Wolf Variant by Bente Schlick, which was my Jan-1st start. I stitched 1 1/3 pages on it:

QS Paddys Luck, I started this after handing in my master thesis and did 3000 stitches:

Danielle by Sarah Butcher, my big new start after handing in my master thesis :D the first page is done:

Supersized Iris Storykeeper by Josephine Wall - my first supersized pattern! I'm really happy with it, I stitched nearly two pages:

And I also started another non- haed by Dimensions called Wolf Kiss:

And last but not least, I had a finish this year! =) QS Theatre of the Absurd by Ciro Marchetti is done!
Before:

And now, in all it's glory:

So I guess those were all my stitches from this year, if I didn't miscalculate I did nearly 90,000 stitches this year which makes me more than happy =)

I hope to see all of you happy and healthy in 2016! =)

YOTA - I have a finish!!!

Well, it's finally done! I managed to finish my QS Theatre of the Absurd! I am about two years late with this since is was the 2013 SAL piece from Haed, but it's better to finish late than not finishing at all.
I am very happy that I managed to get that finish this year and I hope that I can make some progress on my Dimensions projects which I love (but I am addicted to Haed) but I haven't made much progress on them.

But here is my finished QS Theatre of the Absurd by Ciro Marchetti:

I hope there will be a YOTA SAL for 2016 since it really helped me to get my butt up and finish something =)

WIPocalypse - November edition

It looks like the end of November is already here (how did that happen??) and so it's time for another WIPocalypse! It's the second to last WIPocalypse of 2015 already and Christmas is nearly here. The Christmas markets around here opened last week and we already visited a few (we had a lot of delicious food and drinks and bought some things to decorate our home for Christmas).
We had some snow here in the last days and it already feels like Christmas =)
And like every year, I am still hoping for a white Christmas (I only remember this happen once...)

But now for WIPocalypse!

First I want to answer this months questions which is:
Which designer has inspired you to stitch the greatest number of designs and why do you think that is?

Okay, it's obviously Haed. I have a ton of charts and most of my WIPs are Haed lol.
I really love their charts. They are very detailed and I just love those moments where you fight a ton of confetti and you only feel like stitching a giant colorful bubble and then you step back and it looks amazing.
I love that Haeds don't have backstitching or speciality stitches so they are easy to work. Haed has a lot of artists and designs I like and I love that they carry a wide range of designs (I mean you can find everything from landscapes and animals to fantasy and the style varies from anime like to realistic). I am also very happy with their costumer service, whenever I had a problem with a chart I got a friendly and helpful reply in no time.

Apart from Haed I like the Dimensions Kits. Sometimes I just feel like stitching something with backstitching and french knots and half stitches and something on a lower count (with Aida I even stitch in hand). I like their designs, especially from the Gold Collection. So I have a couple of their kits in my stash and stitch them then and again.

Ok and now for my updates. The last WIPocalypse I did was the September edition, so here are some more updates:

First up are the updates on the two pieces I worked on for the Haed challenges on facebook.
I worked on Das Rheingold by Kinuko Craft:
Last time:

And now, 1600 stitches added:

I will try and finish the page I started during December but my mojo to work on this is not really back yet..
I also did some work on Iris. Last time:

I added 1200 stitches during the challenge and I am very close to finishing page 2:

And I did some work on Eternal Promise. Here is how it looked last time:

And now, about 2000 stitches added:

I am currently working on QS Theatre of the Absurd. It is so close to a finish (about 300 stitches) so I will try and finish it today (I planned on doing so yesterday but then we spent so much time on a Christmas market so I was to tired to stitch...). I know I should try and finish the page I started on Rheingold but I really feel like working on Yule Angel since it's a Christmas design.... So maybe I will work on that for a few days ;-)

So I hope all enjoy the weekend and spent some time with your stitching and I will be back in a few days with a finish on QS Theatre of the Absurd! =)

Gifted Gorgeousness - November

I don't really feel like blogging or writing a lot of stuff. So I will just share a quick update on my Map of Middle Earth for the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL.
I only got 1000 stitches into this one, which is ok. I used to get about 2000 stitches in per month earlier in the year and I hope that I can find my pace again to do that much. I want to pick up Wolf Kiss for a few days this month and so there will hopefully be a little update on that next month. But here is Middle Earth:

The last time you saw it:

And now:

Back online - a ton of updates!

I am finally back in blog-land, yay!
We had a lot of chaos while moving and but now it's done and we are settled in our new place. It's a lot bigger than my old place (more than twice the size) so I have a lot of room for all my crafty stuff lol. We have a bigger couch now so both me and my boyfriend can sit on it without squeezing and there is still room for my floss boxes (and there is still room on the couch left!). So stitching here is way more comfortable then before and I feel like I made a ton of progress during the last weeks. Another reason could also be that until last Saturday we didn't have internet access here (which is also why you didn't hear from me).
But now I am back online and can share my progress with you and read all your blogs and watch flosstube and procrastinate and do many many things instead of housework :D

Since I didn't make it in time for YOTA or WIPocalypse or any updates at all during the last five weeks, this is a combined post updating on everything I did during the last weeks.

First up is what would be my YOTA update. I worked on QS Theatre of the Absurd during the last week of October and I am NEARLY done with it. I am actually missing a partial column but I will definitely finish it in this months UFO week!
Here is where I got in October:

Then, as I mentioned in my last post, I did some work on Eternal Promise. It's just two and a partial column so far but it's still 1600 stitches:

I really love this piece and will pick it up for another column or two soon. I love the contras between the blue border with those amazing flowers and the dark and green colors of the forest and it has a very nice and manageable amount of confetti =)

Michele from Heaven and Earth Designs put up two stitching challenges on facebook. Both involve doing 100 per week on a chosen WIP. One was launched in the supersize group, so the plan is to stitch on a supersize (since I only have one so far, this was an easy choice) and one was for the official Haed group and one could pick any project. I chose Das Rheingold because I haven't worked on it for ages and it needs some love and maybe I will get my mojo back to work on this. The plan is wo work on those two projects from Friday to Sunday and see how much I can get done. From Monday to Thursday I will work on a different project and I am currently planning to change that weekly. During the first week I worked on Eternal Promise and now Middle Earth is on the frame. I am unsure if I will turn to Eternal Promise for another one or two columns or pick up something else (maybe Yule Angel?).
Anyway, I did work on Das Rheingold on Friday and Saturday morning. I stitched one full column (wich makes me happy, one column is a good goal to stitch in two days and it will ensure progress on Rheingold). So another letter appeared and here is how Rheingold looks now:

On my goal list for 2015 is to finish page 5 on Rheingold and I hope this challenge will get me towards meeting that goal (apart from that I only have to finish QS Theatre of the Absurd and a few more stitches on Kreimhild).
From Saturday evening to Sunday I worked on Supersized Iris Keeper and did 300 stitches. It's not that much but I am putting my focus on Rheingold. Iris is a lot of fun to stitch but now that some confetti is coming in the progress is slowing down. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture before putting Middle Earth on the frame, so the pic to follow is new to you guys but not up to date. I finished the first 10 columns at the end of October and I originally planned to put this away for some time and work on something else because I had so much Iris in the last weeks. But now I am working on it again... Anyway, here is Iris as of the end of October with 8000 stitches complete:

I really love the colors. They are so vibrant and it's completely amazing to see how well they work together. I am very pleased with my work on Iris and it is always hard to put her down. 

And by the way, I did request the SK Wine Shelf to be supersized and it's on Micheles List :D I don't know why I like supersized SKs, but there seems to be something with them. After all, I also have SK Storykeeper as a supersize in my stash :D

And since we are already talking about supersizes, I ordered my first Haed Kit! The shipping was very expensive but I desperately wanted one of those beautiful frog swords and a laying tool and I think the kits also come with one of those nice needle threaders? And since I needed the material anyway I decided to got with a kit as a christmas present for myself =) I am sure I will also have to pay taxes, so I don't think I will order all my kits from Haed all the time but I really wanted to give this a try. 

But it's late here in Germany now and I am off to bed. I will be back in a few days with a Gifted Gorgeousness SAL update (I'm working on Middle Earth, so there will be a few stitches to show! I hope I can manage at least 1000). So I hope you haven't forgotten about me and there is someone out there reading this (and hopefully enjoying ;-)). I guess I'll update more regularly now =)

WIPocalypse September and YOTA

And again I didn't manage to do a WIPocalypse post in time and now it's Ocotober already.

This also means that things are getting busy here. I'm moving in two days time and it's pretty chaotic by now. We will get the keys later today and will paint the new place in the next days (the main color is 3770 and there are some areas in 816 - yes I picked the colors and we went to the shop and had them scanned and they could reproduce the colors lol). A lot of my stuff is now packed in boxes so we can finally move on the tenth. I am excited an nervous because things tend to go wrong these days (like my boyfriends car broke down yesterday... but maybe we can get it fixed in time). There is boxes everywhere now and there is still a lot of stuff noch yet packed (basically all my kitchen stuff but there is no room for more boxes here - we will take a few with us over the next week). But in one weeks time it will all be over and all will be fine and there will be a lot of room for me and my boyfriend and my stitching stuff :D

But as for the updates!
First was WIPocalypse:
I did a few more stitches on Iris (about 400) but it was not worth another picture. I will stitch on her for a few more days before we move (app until Tuesday?) and I pack her in a box. I fear there won't be another update before that move, but her next post will include a page finish (800 stitches to go).
Here is how she looks now:

I truly love the blue colors that are coming in now. It's so much fun to stitch, if only I had more time these days...

And I also worked on Kriemhild, I finished page 19 during the month:

Here she is as of last month:

And now:

The big plan is to stitch page 20 before the end of this year and then there will be more of my actual Kriemi to see =) I'm looking forward to that, but I need a little break from the sky...

I fear that's all I did during the last month. A lot of work and a lot of packing and organizing and I will be so happy when the move is done and I still have a few days off work and can just sit there and stitch. 

As for YOTA, I am extremely proud of my progress. I am still working on QS Theatre of the Absurd and I am finally getting something like a finishing rush. I worked a lot on it during the UFO week on facebook (another reason why Iris hasn't grown that much) and managed to stitch 1190 stitches in one week, yay me!!

Here is TOTA as of last month:

I thought that if I just finished the column I started on the first page it would be great (that was 700 stitches of confetti hell) but then I got a rush and stitched the column also on page 4. So I managed to finish the entire column! This means there is one full column left and one nearly full column. The last column doesn't have so much confetti in it. I will try and add a few stitches over the month (like 300 or so would be great) and hope for another finishing rush in UFO week. Anyway, I am very confident that there will be a finish soon!

Here is TOTA now:

I am going to do a few stitches on Iris now while my boyfriend is still asleep and the madness of painting begins :D

I hope you all enjoy a great and stitchy weekend =)

Supersizes and a new start!

So, here a little post bout the famous supersized designs Haed has been releasing during the last month.
For those of you who aren't that familiar with them, they are 999 stitches in the biggest dimension and have a lot more detail than the regular charts. This results in charts that easily have 700000 stitches or more, so they are really huge. I think the biggest design there is is 999x999 stitches!

When they first came out I was not sure if such a size was really "necessary" for me, I mean the designs are so huge and I am not such a fast stitcher so they would take decades instead of years to finish. And after all, many Haed charts already have a lot of detail in them.

Then someone requested a QS to be supersized - QS Ships and Shells by Josephine Wall. I was totally amazed by the detail this gained (ok it went from 175 stitches wide to 999 stitches wide). So that's how I got my first supersize. And then there was no turning back. I already requested three supersizes myself and bought two more and have my eye on a couple of others. I guess I will join the SAL on the Supersize Haed group on facebook which will start in January 2016 with one of those huge designs, lol.
And after seeing a lot of WIPs of supersizes I also think that there are a lot of charts where it makes sense to get things supersized. For example the designs by Josephine Wall, they are really rich in detail and color. I sometimes feel like Haed increased their designs sizes over the years. A lot of the old J Wall designs are 450x300 stitches or so, whereas the "newer" charts are easily over 500 stitches in the "smaller" dimension and over 700 in the "bigger" dimension. So when I come across one of the "older" charts by J Wall I often think that those designs would gain a lot of detail when supersizing them. But for example with Godess between Realms I decided not to go for the supersize version because the regular was already 525x704 and the mock up looked really good (another point about those old charts: they are often missing a mock up. I know you can request a mock up, but it makes me nervous when there is none).
I'm quite happy that there is now an option for requesting any size! You know, I would really love to stitch a few charts that are to small for my liking, but for me it's absolutely fine if the biggest dimension is 700 or 800 stitches (I think in most cases you can get a lot of detail with that). Another point is, that my millennium frame is only 36". I prefer working on 28ct (still a bit nervous about 32 ct, but I will try in January) and I really can't fit a design that is 999 stitches wide on that count. I once calculated that I can easily fit about 800 or 850 stitches on 28ct, so this is more to my liking.
I will do a supersize in January which is 999 stitches wide and I will go for 32ct for that one. This size just fits, I would feel better with a bit more spare fabric but I am even more afraid of 35ct, lol.

And since I already talked about my new start for 2016, here is what I will do:
Ride of the Yokai by Ruth Thompson!

I instantly fell in love with this one and requested a supersize for it. Someone else requested a max color version, but I don't know if I will pick that. 202 colors really is a lot and this means a huge increase in confetti. But then again it will add more depth to the picture. I am still torn and will try decide by the end of the year. I guess I will get myself a kit for christmas (they look so beautiful!). I would love to try the silk gauze Haed is offering, but it is really expensive. A piece of 40x36" is listed  for $121, whereas 32ct Murano is about $27 per yard (the murano is 55" wide). So no silk gauze for me, this is just to much. 

And now about the new start part of this post. I made a start on a supersize! It doesn't feel like a real supersize because I decided to get a Storykeep supersized (if someone does it with a QS, I might pick a SK). I picked a SK by Josephine Wall called "Iris Keeper" and it's a section the "Iris Keeper of the Rainbow" design. The original size was 75x248 stitches (about 20000 stitches in total) and my supersize is now 302x999 (total of 301698 stitches), so it really grew in size. But for a supersize it's still really small (just 65page in large format, most of my regulars have 64, so it's not that bad).

Here is a picture of the finished design and you can find it here:

The mock up is amazing and I really enjoy stitching this. I did the first 5 columns (started the 6th tonight) and here is how it looks so far:

Not much to see yet, but in column 6 there are a few more colors. I'm working on 28ct Brittney Lugana in what should be a very pale yellow. The fabric was a left over piece from Eternal Promise (which I should pick up again soon!) and just had the perfect size for the design. I will continue with this for a few more columns.

I am already thinking about requesting another supersized Storykeep. There is that wonderful SK section from the wine shelf by Aimee Stewart:

I truly love it, it's a perfect section of the shelf, but the mock up looks a bit blurry. It's now 112x329 stitches so supersizing this should roughly triple the dimensions (to about 340x999 stitches). So this would also be a supersize still manageable in size, lol. I'm seriously thinking about it because I happen to have a really nice piece of fabric in my stash :D

Anyway, before I am to tempted to by more supersizes and don't get any stitching done at all, I will return to watching some flosstube videos (they are addicting) and stitch a bit on my UFO for next week.
Happy stitching to all of you and I hope you enjoy a great weekend! =)

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL - September edition!

So here we go with another update on Middle Earth! I added some 2000 stitches since last month, so we are making progress again =)

I finished page 2 this month and there are a total of 16000 stitches in now.

Last month:

And now:

Kreimhilds Revenge - page 19 is done!

I somehow forgot to post about this, lol. I finished page 19 on Kriemhild a few days ago. On the next page there will be some of her hair, so the end of the sky is near!

I'm still not stitching that much these days. I'm doing my best to have something to show for the GG SAL (which is due tomorrow, but I guess I won't blog about it until thursday or so). The page on Kriemhild just took ages to stitch, but at least I am at 86050 stitches now, which means that I officially met the 1/3 mark, yay!
I'll do my best to arrange at least one more appearance for her this year =)

YOTA - September edition

I totally forgot to post an update for YOTA! I have quite a lot to do at university these days, so I mostly forgot about posting here. I'm not stitching that much either (but I am trying to finish page 19 on Kriemhild tonight).
Anyway, here is my update on QS Theatre of the Absurd:
Last time:

And now:

I added about 1000 stitches, so I am getting there! I will try to finish the next column by October =)

WIPocalypse - August editon

Well, it looks like August is over and it's time for WIPocalypse. Well, actually I am two days late with this, I somehow didn't notice it was time for it again. On the health side, I am feeling better by now. I am still rather tired and want to sleep a lot but it's getting better. I didn't have much energy and concentrating was rather hard during the last days, so I didn't stitch that much. Anyway, here is my update.

This months question is a task: to pick a project I stitched on this month and tell it's story.

I worked on two projects this month: Starlight and Kreimhilds Revenge. Since I already talked about Kriemhild two months back, I want to tell you something about Starlight.

Starlight is an artwork by David Hoffrichter, it will hopefully look like this one day:

It's 450x605 stitches, which makes a total of 272500 stitches. In large format, this results in 64 pages. I'm stitching this on 25ct ivory Lugana, 1 over 1, full crosses. 

As for the story behind this:

I started this in September 2013 (so it's nearly 2 years old). I had a pretty hard time back then and I had lost my stitching mojo. I didn't stitch for a couple of months and when this design was released, I immediately fell in love with it. I bought it a week after it was released (or so) and noticed that I was only two colors short, so I made a new start and found my love for stitching again. 

I guess this is one of the most challenging projects I have because it has such a lot of confetti. Especially that brown tree-bubble-thing in the upper left corner took ages to stitch, so progress on this went rather slow. But I am past that thing now (at least for the first row) and I am confident that I can speed up on this one now. I really enjoy the colors and it always amazes me how all those single stitches turn into something that beautiful. I only did 4 pages on this one, so there is still a long way to got. Here is what I got so far:

I am now stitching some of that swirl around that brown thing and I am very much looking forward to stitching the blue color in the upper right corner. I stitched 15120 stitches so far and I am nearly at the halfway point of the first row. I guess I will return to this in a while and stitch until I reach that halfway point.

After finishing page 4 on Starlight I returned to Kreimhilds Revenge. The sky is quite annoying and boring to stitch (especially since the colors are so similar to the fabric color). But there are only a few columns left until some more of Kriemhilds hair will appear, so I push myself to finish the sky columns. 

Last time you saw her, she looked like this:

And now:

Page 19 is nearly done and I hope to be back with a page finish soon =) I will also take a full shot of her then =)