Avoiding gridlines

Well, I wanted to do this post for a while but I always forgot about this. So finally, here we go. I haven't got much else to show because somehow my stitching bug is rather lazy these days and I spent a lot of time with other things (I'm going to move in October, so there were a lot of things to deal with like organizing things and buying furniture). I hope this will get better again, I really miss my stitching ;-)

Well the topic of this post are gridlines (or page lines). If you have a lot of block stitching to do and you are parking your threads there are sometimes some nasty lines showing up between the columns or pages. The reason is that the tension in the stitches at the right edge of the column/page is sometimes different from the tension on the left edge, so a line forms. I have this problem on my Kreimhild, when I changed from cross country to parking (didn't have a idea about those lines then):

(if you look at the close up you can see the lines)

 Some people say that those lines will disappear when you wash the project and let it soak for a while, but I am not entirely sure about that (maybe I didn't let it soak long enough) so avoiding these line in the first place would be something.
So I read about doing a zik-zak line instead of a straight line:

I tried this with Kreimhilds Revenge and it looks really good so far and I guess I will continue with this. It was a bit complicated at first because I tended to skrew up my markings on the chart, but I thinks it's working now.The tension between left and right edge of the column may still be different but since the line all have a different length now the line disappears =)

I'm using this technique now whenever I come across block stitching and I can only recommend doing this if you have trouble with grid oder page lines =) Maybe this is helpful for some of you =)

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL - July

Well, it's already the middle of July! Time just seems to fly buy and it is time for my update on the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL again. This awesome SAL is hosted by Jo and you can take a look at this months stitchings here.

I didn't get as much done on Middle Earth as I had hoped. I was aiming for another 2000 stitches this month, but I only got 1500 done:

And I also did some work on Wolf Kiss, now you can actually see that this is a wolf ;-) I am quite happy with my progress for this month on this one =)

I'm now working on Starlight for a while because it didn't get much love in the last months =) Let's see how long it take the confetti to drive me mad, lol....

YOTA - July update

Well, here we go =) It's time for YOTA and as usual I didn't manage to post on YOTA-day (Saturday)  ;-) I haven't been at home during the weekend and had therefore no access to my computer.
We were suffering from an enormous heat wave here in Germany (we hit 40° Celsius which is due to google 104° Fahrenheit) over the weekend wich some thunderstorms in between (the weather is freaking me out right now...) so I didn't get anything done.
Saturday was the worst day, I stayed at my boyfriends house because they have a garden and the air is better there. In the morning we decided to buy a small pool (best decision we ever made, lol) and spent a few hours driving around to get one (they were sold out everywhere, but we finally got one with all the required stuff) and set it up and it was really nice to cool down ;-) The weekend is going to be sunny as well, so I guess I'll spent another few hours in the water again =)

But now for YOTA! I am still focusing on QS Theatre of the Absurd (didn't put a single stitch into Paris Market or Aurora Cabin). I am fairly happy with my progress, some 760 stitches. I am kind of speeding up with this one, so there is a good chance to get this finished this year =)

Before:

And after!

If this months progress is as good as last ones I will be truly happy. At least I am ready to face the confetti again ;-)

If you want more information on the YOTA SAL or join us, please pay a visit to Pulltheotherthreads place, she is hosting this SAL and her blog is surely worth a look or two =)

WIPocalypse - July

Well, July came way faster than I thought it would. The temperatures are rising (it's really hot here in Germany and it will get even hotter) and I finally get to start working. I must admit that it was quite nice to have a few weeks off, but now I am also looking forward to start working now =)
I spent my last weeks at home (mostly reading and stitching) and now I am ready to get back to university again ;-)

As for WIPocalypse, here is what I managed to accomplish this month.

First I managed to finish the first page on Danielle, she is very nice to work on. The confetti is real fun after so much block stitching on Kreimhild.
Here is Danielle as of last months update:

And now:

I also managed to stitch one page on Kreimhilds Revenge:

Before:

And now: 

As for this months question: 

Reality or Fantasy? Which do you prefer to stitch? Figures or Abstract?

Well, that's hard to say. I guess I prefer fantasy, but I also like a realistic style (like my Kriemhild or on Yule Angel). I actually like Faeries and things with pointy ears or wings, I love working on designs that are somehow "magical". But I prefer a realistic style. I don't like the comic or manga style (I love to see people working on the FoF designs or the Hannah Lynn designs, but I can't really imagine stitching them myself). Designs that look like painting are fine for me as well (like Starlight does) =)

Abstract designs are very interesting as well and I love to see people working on them, but for my own stitching I prefer to stich a person or an animal.

But at the very end, it's still up to the design itself, some artwork just calls to me to stitch it =)

I'm not entirely sure what I will work on next. Maybe I will pick up Yule Angel for a few stitches to show you my "new" technique to avoid gridlines (you can't really see it on Kreimhild because the floss color is so similar to the fabric color) and then I will give some love to Middle Earth. 

My next post will be YOTA, I'm not sure if I will manage to post during the weekend, but on Monday I should definitely manage ;-)