Ihsw/ row finish on Paddy/ new start

The third weekend of the month is the International Hermit and Stitch Weekend where you are supposed to hermit and stitch. Most of the time I don't manage to join because I have a lot of stuff to do at the weekend (don't ask me what - the weekend just fly by!). But this month I managed to set some time aside and even got some stitching done =)

I could have done more, but I spent a lot of time reading and I decided to get Instagram and spent some time there. I decided to make an account because I hope to post updates more often and so far (I only added a few pictures) it's really easy and quick to just post a picture at the end of the day. I hope that by taking and sharing pictures I feel more motivated to blog and I definitely want to continue blogging. But if you are interested on (hopefully) daily updates on my stitching, feel free to find and follow me, I go there as lady_stitchalot ;-) I'm also sharing a few updates on my reading and my garden there, while this blog will stick with my stitching.

Anyway, back to topic. I managed to work on two projects this weekend.

The first is my QS Paddys Luck by Joanna Bromley (Haed). I only had a bit left to finish the first row of pages. I worked on the project for a few days before, so the first row was nearly done when the weekend officially started on Friday. 

Last time you saw Paddy:

Before Ihsw:

And now:

So since the last time you saw it, I added 1 200 stitches, but only about 300 where done for the Ihsw (did that on Friday).

On Saturday I decided to do some further work on my latest new start - Garden Gate by Dona Gelsinger. I started this a few days ago, but I only did 800 stitches. I am working on 32ct Murano and the amount of confetti is a bit complicated and takes ages (I think I am below 100 stitches per hour), but it looks awesome and is very addictive. The first picture show my first 800 stitches, which I did before ihsw and I must apologize - the colors in the picture are awful, the second update looks way better.

Before:

And now:

I am stitching this on a light green fabric, I think it's fitting for such a lovely garden design:

I think I will stitch another row before switching to something else, I really love this. I am currently listening to Stephen Frys Mythos while I stitch, so I am sort of glued to my frame anyway and hope to finish the next column during the week ;-) 

I originally thought about joining the Haed-challenge on Facebook, but I am obviously not getting the page done for June 26th, but I don't really mind, I am doing my own pace with this ;-)

So that's what I have to share for this month.

Happy stitching =)