WIPocalypse August (and July...)

 Ah it has been a while, I was in absolutely no mood to blog in July, so this is my update for July and August and I am even late for August. I am still buried in work, but I decided to get my butt up and write a bit here. Despite all my work I got a lot of stitching done. A good deal has been done in the second half of July, where I had two weeks off from work (and I really needed them). Since the beginning of July I am using Pattern keeper and I am really happy with it. I tried a different PDF reader some years ago and was very unhappy, so I continued to use paper charts. But int he beginning of July I finally decided to dig out my extra-old tablet and give Pattern Keeper a try. After I reset my tablet (it kept crushing when I tried to access my dropbox where I stash my digital patterns), things went rather well and in August I did not only purchase the full version of Pattern Keeper, but also a new tablet (one that has a battery that lasts longer then 3 hours and doesn't take 6 to reload...) and now I am only using the app. So far I imported patterns from Haed, Tilton and Goldenkite and it seems to work well. Unfortunately my Gecko Rouge patterns are all printed charts, so I need to look into that and see if I can get digital copies (at least for the charts that are still available) - especially since Gecko Rouge doesn't have overlapping pages and it's quite annoying to switch between pages.... Anyway, enough rambling, prepare for pictures!

The first thing I want to show is my now framed Cliffside Beacon from the Dimensions Gold petites collection. I am really not that good at framing, but it could be worse:

In July I did another one-per-day challenge, I did not manage to work on my Sloth (Gecko Rouge) every day, but I still got a lot done. I went from here:

To here

And I am at 7 743 out of 23 986 stitches now, so nearly 1/3 done now and added 4 350 stitches!

In early July I picked up Garden Gate by Dona Gelsinger (I had my nails done in lavender [dmc 26 to be precise] then and the color just reminded me of the hydrangeas in this piece...) and I stitched two columns on it. I went from here:

To here:

The second project I worked on Das Rheingold by Kinuko Craft - a project that I started some ages ago and did not work on for ages. But I love the design and hope it won't take another 3 years for me to pick it up again. I went form here:

To here:

I got 4 842 stitches done in July and I am more then happy with that =) I hope to get the first row done soon and that my mojo to work in this is back for good =)

Next I did some work on my Wolf Variant by Bente Schlick. I didn't work on it for a long while, I don't know why because it stitches up in no time and I love the purple colors. I went from here:

To here:

As you can see, a lot has changed. When I started this, I didn't zig-zag my edges (to avoid gridlines) and it has bothered me for a while now with this project. In the beginning I wanted to stitch 100 stitches across and then down (jut for a little change) and then I didn't want to start zig-zaging in the middle of the column, because I am weird. But not I just decided to add another column and now I have a proper zig-zag edge there. On top of that, I also filled in the gap and now I have a nice 110x250  stitches block done. That's quite a bit, but the design is huge and so there is still no sign of the wolf. The whole design has 409 500 stitches, so the 5 800 (!!) stitches didn't really move the percentage on Pattern Keeper ;-) but I thing the progress is more then visible.

After that I decided to work on Kriemhild again, I went from here:

To here:

I am now a bit more then halfway through page 42 and I plan to finish that page in September (and make a start on page 43). I did less then 10 000 stitches on her this year and want to focus on her a bit more. By the way, I did not only encounter the first flowers (very pretty), but I also found her helmet. I have been stitching on it for a while, but it was only in the full shot that I could recognize it (the typical haed-effect). 

Now this brings me to my current WIP, Supersized Ride of the Yokai by Ruth Thompson. Once again I must say how much I love Pattern Keeper, it just makes my stitching more organized and there are less ninja stitches now. Since I am working on 32ct here, organized stitching and starting/ending threads is important to me here. I went from here:

To here:

Since I no longer need to stick to my pages, I decided to stitch 50 stitches high and the current block is 333, so exactly 1/3, across. I already did a good deal on the next row and plan to finish this block before I switch to something else.

This brings me to future plans! I have 5 more Haeds on which I last worked in 2019, so I am on a good way there. Among those are Yule Angel and Noble Spirit, which are typical winter motifs for me, so I guess I will work on them in November/ December. QS Trapped and Whispers are a bit gloomy, so they really fit in autumn and then there is Starlight, which also fits the gloomy time of the year. Then I have 6 more other projects, which did not get any love this year (one is my Christmas Eve, she will come out for Christmas as usual and one was only used to show a friend how to stitch, so it's not really started). After all, I am very confident that I can get some love into all my projects this year. In September I definitely plan to pick up QS Trapped, I might  do some sort of one-per-day challenge on it (maybe not for a whole month, but 2 or 3 weeks also add up). I plan to do a bit of work on Kriemhild and then I will see what I pick up next.

I also have a new start coming! I decided to join the Pandemic by Longdog samplers stitchers! You maybe know that the pattern was available for free at the end of June, I then ordered some fabric (40ct Newcastle Linen by Zweigart in creme) and a couple of threads for teststitching. I decided to try the threads from a German company called Vaupel&Heilenbeck, they have hand dyed cotton and silk. Since the thread is expensive, I wanted to be sure with my choice.

The colors are really hard to catch, in real live they are really vivid. The smaller skeins are silk and the two bigger skeins are cotton.

In the first row you can see the two cotton colors, the others are silk. I am stitching over 2, so it is like 20ct. The cotton thread is a bit thicker and has a slightly better coverage. I was really torn between the red cotton (no 1, row 1) and the re silk (no 2, row 2). The cotton was a bit fresher, the colors reminded me of berries and it has a bit more variation, so in the end I went for that (I did a bit more test stitching with smaller designs from the pattern, but I did not take a picture of that). Testing the threads already was a lot of fun, so I guess this won't be my last time working with these threads. The silk was a bit easier to work with , it's very smooth and shiny. But the red silk varies a bit into brown (very good for autumn) and I decided that a pandemic a tragic enough, so I wanted to stitch the design with happier colors =) The whole process of ordering the threads took ages, but today I got an email that the rest of my threads finally shipped and they will arrive soon =)

Last but not least, if you want to see more updated for August, just take a look at this months (ah well last months) link-up page, where you can find all other entries and information regarding the SAL.

Happy stitching =)

WIPocalypse June

Hello lovely fellow stitchers,
I didn't make it to post on Sunday and then we were out of internet for two days, so I am making this post today. But you have to look at the positive side of things - I have an additional update for you because I am doing the One-per-day-challenge and already worked on this challenge for two days.

This being the June update means that we are to take a look at our goals for the year and see how we are doing. I honestly don't really want to take a look, I fear I am far from accomplishing anything this year. But if I remember correctly, I didn't put my goals to high. Anyway, let's have a look.

First up is my Kriemhild, she is (as every year) my focus piece and I try to work on her every month and that's what I did (even if I missed one WIPocalypse, I still worked on her). My plan is to finish the 5th row of pages and make a start on row 6. I am not yet done with the row, but on a good way. I also made some progress on her during the last month. Last time I was at the end of page 37:

Which I finished earlier:

And I made a tiny start on page 38:

And she is also still on my frame and I think I will add another column or two before switching to something else. Since January I did 10 083 stitches on her, so we are on a good way. I am joining the next Haed challenge on Facebook, which is to put in 10k stitches between now and 24th December, to finish the 5th row on pages would be 10 010 stitches. If I do about half a page per month, I should have this done by the end of November.

Next up is QS Paddys Luck, which you recently saw. My goal was to finish the first row of pages and that's what I did in June. Last time you saw Paddy:

And now, the first row in all it's glory:

I did a total of 5 440 stitches on Paddy this year and I am very much looking forward to start the next row because I can get back to stitching the rainbow again.

The next one is QS Trapped, on which I didn't work at all. I think this would be a good project for another one-stich-a-day challenge, but I still have a few months to try that (maybe in August or October?)

Next up is my Golden Kite called "Crossing the Stream". I have 3 pages done and want to stitch at least two pages this year. I have chose this project for the one-per-day challenge, which means that I want to work on this daily and stitch one square (at least). If work on this through the month, I should be able to stitch (at least) one page. I already worked on this twice and went from here:

To here:

Indeed I stitched two squares today because I loved working with the greens so much. So a total of 270 stitches done with a lot more to come =) I will share some updates on this one on my Instagram (@lady_stitchalot), not on a daily basis (I guess everyone would be sick of this after a week), but I will share a picture every few days. If I remember, I will also update on Facebook and maybe do a midmonth update here as well.

My second Supersize project is also on the list. I want to get Ride of the Yokai past the 15 000 stitches mark. I already did a bit of work on this one and I have now 12 550 stitches done, so I added 1 860 stitches to it. Another round of working on this should do the trick.

Last but not least there is a project I want to finish, which I actually "want to finish this year" for like 3 year now, which is since I started it. You see how well it works. I am talking about Cliffside Beacon from the Dimensions Gold petite collection. I went from here:

To here:

I just forget about this project all the time, but I vow to put a few stitches into this in July!

That's all the goals I posted at the beginning of the year. Another "plan" was to stitch from my stash this year (which is huge), well this didn't work out. As mentioned last month, I got a new pattern called "Garden Gate" by Dona Gelsinger and I started it =) I wanted to give the Haed challenge a try, but I didn't have a chance to stitch a full page by the end of June, but I still got half a page in:

I still have a long way ahead of me until it will look like this:

I am stitching on light green 32ct Murano, 1 over 1, full cross. All the confetti takes ages to stitch, but the result is so lovely and a real joy to stitch! I did 2 400 stitches on this one so far =)

As for my stitch count, I am currently at 31 633 (including my work on Middle Earth, which I share for the GGSAL and not counting my work on my Dimensions projects) and I worked on 11 different projects so far, if my count is correct I have 26 projects in total running, so still a way to go!

So all that is left for me to do is to share this months link-up with you, so you can check out more lovely projects!

Happy stitching =)

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 =)