Gifted Gorgeousness SAL - November

Sometimes I think I should try and schedule the GG SAL updates for like the 12th or so in my mind, so I can be on time for the actual update, lol. It looks like I am 6 days late for this and in 4 days there is WIPocalypse (I expect to be late for that, too). I so much wanted to finish page 7 on Middle Earth first, but since my hand still hurts, I took ages to do so. On some days I can do about one or two hundred stitches (spread over one day), on some days I did not stitch at all. Compared to the fact that before I was able to easily do 600 to 800 stitches on a free day, this is really depressing =/
I had a few more appointments at various doctors over the last to weeks and some of them were truly awful. But at least I am getting some medication now, so the pain will hopefully lessen soon (the medication take a few days to work). I am currently off work and will stay so until the end of the month, but I hope to go back to work by December. I won't teach, because I have trouble writing, but I want to try and continue my work on my phd thesis. But enough for my health troubles, you are here for my stitching, right?

As mentioned above, I worked on my Map of Middle Earth and I am finally done with page 7, yay! I added 1 300 stitches since last month an the total stitch count is now 54 300.
Last month:

And now:

I also put a few stitches into my Candy Cane Santa, not much but every stitch counts, right? I went from here:

To here:

Well, that's all I have for this month. I really hope that with the new medication I can get a bit more done (I was told to try and use the hand from time to time, so the muscles would not stay intact, so I try and stitch for a few minutes then and again). I merely forgot to add this months link-up, a lot of great updates can be found over there ;-)

Happy stitching =)

WIPocalypse - October

Well, it looks like October has been renamed to Octover by now (pun-alert, sorry...) and I haven't posted for WIPocalypse by now. I don't know, time just flies by and I really have to kick myself to post at all (most of the time I feel like I don't have much to show anyway...). I'm pretty busy with my work right now and the issues with my hand are quite unnerving. I am going to hospital tomorrow and I sort of hope that they can finally figure out what's wrong, running from one doctor to another and everyone is telling me that I am perfectly healthy (except for annoying pain in my hand that doesn't let me sleep at night that is) is truly unnerving by now...
But back to business. I read 9 books during the last month, but I still managed to get a few stitches in as well. I have two bigger projects and two mini finishes to show (can't believe it myself!). But first, I would like to answer this months question:
Do you prefer to stitch on a rotation or one project at a time?

Well, I guess that's easy. I rotate my projects. If it's a really small design (like my two finished this months) I finish them in one go, but that go also takes one or two evenings. But apart from that, I rotate my projects and I can't think of any other way for me. Those who watch this place know that I love BAPs, I do a lot of Haeds and they usually have like 250k+ stitches. I think I would go crazy otherwise. If I have enough time and I am in the mood, I do about 1500 stitches per week (I am picking rough numbers to make the calculations easier). So a project with 300 000 stitches would take 200 weeks to finish, that's nearly 4 years! I truly can't imagine working on just one project for 4 years! I have my two focus projects (Kreimhild and Middle Earth) and I am doing my best to work on them every month and even that is sometimes exhausting me. So there is clearly no way that I am stitching one project at a time.

Since I already mentioned two smaller projects, here they are! I stitched two mini Halloween designs, they seem to go by the name of "Make me for Halloween". They are small, cute and pretty cheap, so I ordered three (so I need to stitch one more) of them last month. I chose some hand dyed fabric from a grab bag that I got from Polstitches. Unfortunately, I don't know the name, but it's a nice and light purple/blue/green shading. Also, the colors don't really show in the picture:

I also got some small frames and I already frames the pumpkin and still need to do this with the witch. The third design I have is a little spider and I think about getting a fourth one since I still have some fabric for another design. 

Apart from that I worked on two of my Haeds. The first one I chose is Whispers by Melanie Delon, my New Year start from 2017. I decided to finish page 2 and went from here:

To here:

The red bubble still looks pretty strange to me, but I guess it will get better once I am starting on page, I think this is going to be another flower. I always love to work on this in autumn/winter. The colors are dark and gloomy in the back, but the flowers are warm and I absolutely love red! I am torn between taking this out again this month or working on another project that hasn't gotten any love this year (like Starlight or Rheingold of Wolf Variant). Since I am currently into audiobooks (currently listening to Steven Kings It) again, I sort of hope to squeeze in a few more projects in a month. 

The second Haed I worked on is - as every month - Kreimhilds Revenge. I managed to make a start on page 35, not much but enough to get me past the 150k mark, yay! I am at 150 730 stitches now, so I met another goal for this month. I went from here:

To here:

The colors are a bit boring, I mean there is some confetti spice things up, but it's all black and brown and I fear it's going to stay like this. As far as I can see, we are going to encounter some of her dress in the middle of page 36, I am not sure if I will get there this year, but definitely early next year. I am keeping her on the frame for a few more days, so I can hopefully finish page 35 this year. 

Since it is already November, I am starting to think about next year. I usually do a new start for New Year, but during the last months, my focus turned from stitching to reading and so I am unsure bout ne new start. I currently feel like I am not getting as much done on my current projects and maybe I shouldn't start something new. But then it is also a kind of tradition for me and I always enjoyed them. I usually have a few days off after New Year, so there is enough time for stitching. Maybe I will watch out for a few Black Friday deals for threads and kit something up. I think I will go through my stash or maybe buy something new. I currently have my eye on "Memories of Venice" by Alex Levin:

As I said - I love read and I absolutely love the golden embroidery! But I also have a few nice things in my stash, maybe I will just do another post on this matter. 

This blog post turned out longer than I thought. You can find all other entries at this months link-up here. Measi just announced that WIPocalypse is also going to continue in 2019, that is already going to be the 7th year! 

Anyway, that's all I have for this months WIPocalypse, I guess I will really do a post on my new year start thoughts ;-) 

Happy stitching =)

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL - October

Hello lovely people and welcome to another GG SAL update. Thank you for all your comments regarding my hand, we are slowly getting better now ;-)  I am only 3 days late this time, so it's my usual amount of being late :D The days are getting shorter here and it becomes more complicated to take a decent picture now. The picture below is my progress from Monday evening, but I got home quite late during the last days and it was just to dark to take a picture and even with some natural light through the window, I had to use my phones flashlight because the colors looked so off.

So here is my tiny update for GG SAL, I worked on my map of Middle Earth. I managed to catch up with 500 stitches missing from last month and added another 1 000 stitches for this month, so this time I am actually happy with my progress. Next goal is also to make some progress on my other GG SAL projects.
Before:

And now:

So this is all I have for this month. As every month there is a link-up (and as every month a good amount of people already signed up for it) =)

Happy stitching =)

WIPocalypse September

So this is a September post in October, I know, but I was on holiday and just didn't make it on Sunday, which is weird because this post is going to be extra short. I talked about the issues with my right hand a lot and still I don't know what's actually wrong with it. I went to a ton of doctors and I have a few more appointments to go. But I did get some medication to fight inflammation and that actually worked (well, the pain in my hand has come and gone for about 10 years now, so I am not really convinced that I'm done with it...). Anyway, my fingers still feel a bit stiff, but the pain is gone now, so I am back to stitching and hope to have more progress to show for Octobers WIPocalypse. I even bought a few small Halloween kits, they are super tiny but cute =)

Well, back to topic, WIPocalypse and stitching and stuff. I actually only worked on my Kreimhilds Revegene and I am nearly done with page 34 now. I went from here:

To here:

I am at 149 190 stitches now, so I am super close to my 150k mark, yay! I think I added 4 columns since you last saw this, so I actually got something done. Also, her spear looks absolutely awesome so far =)

Well, that leaves us with this months question/ topic:  How do you keep your stitching stash organized?
Ah well, I am not doing anything special. My fiance would probably say that my stuff is all over the place, lol. So far, my stash still fits in a cupboard in my living room, but my DMC boxes usually are near my stitching spot and everything looks a bit chaotic. I have a couple of kits and fabric, but mostly I own patterns from Haed and Golden Kite and so on and they are stored on my computer (and online just in case).

So that's it for today, I guess I will see you soon with my 150k stitches on Kreimhild ;-) In the meantime you should check out the link-up for this month, a lot of people already signed up =)
Happy stitching

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL - September

Another GG SAL post after another month with hardly any stitching...
I think I mentioned before that I sometimes have trouble with my right hand, it usually happens if use my hand to much or lift to many heavy things and so on and it usually get better after a few days. But this time it's different, since a few weeks both my hand and my right arm (and part of my back) hurt like hell, I spent the last week running from one doctor to another, but so far it's a mystery. So I don't stitch much, or at least I don't get a lot done because I mainly stitch with my left hand only and that takes ages.
Anyway, I managed to get a few stitches into Middle Earth, it's only 500 and I am super behind on my monthly and yearly goal, but every stitch counts ;-)
I went from here:

To here:

And since I am again late for this SAL, a lot of people already signed up for the monthly link-up here, so take a look over there as well =)

I hope the situation with my hand will improve soon and I can catch up a bit.
Happy stitching =)

WIPocalypse - August

And here we go for another WIPocalypse, it's the 31st of August, so at least it's still August. I really didn't feel like blogging, so I guess this will be a short post. As every month, there is a link-up and you can find it here =)

This months question is also short to answer for me: Which is more satisfying to you and why – the process of stitching a piece, or the finish?
Well, it's definitely stitching. Yea, finishing something is also nice, but I love to work on my pieces. Thinking about finishing my bigger projects makes me happy and sad at the same time, because I know that I would miss working on them ;-)

I have a tiny bit of progress on Kreimhild to show - I don't know, I seem to be a bit sick of her by now. During the heat wave I just couldn't work on her, the darker colors put me down, so I switched to something more powerful. I went from here:

To here:

I added two columns, so I have a total of 146 880 stitches done. Therefore I am still positive that I can reach the 150k mark this year ;-)

Since I needed to work on something more colorful, I decided to pick up The Potting Shed by Aimee Stewart and that was just the right project for this weather.
Before:

Now:

I stitched a whole page on this one, it was just so much fun! The colors and the detail are sooooo beautiful =) I am super happy with my progress on this one =)

The third project I worked on is my Cliffside Beacon by Dimensions Gold petite. I had a hard time stitching the white on the fence, this was a lot of counting, and I was quite happy to be done with it.
Before:

and now:

The white is hardly visible, but quite a bit has been added and one day this will be finished ;-)

Well, I guess that's all I have for this month. I am currently stitching on Kreimhild, finishing page 34 for next month would be great. I am not sure which project I want to pic up next - maybe Starlight or Sloth or Whispers?
Anyway, I will find something pretty.
Happy stitching =)

Gifted Gorgousness SAL - August

Well, I am not sure if I have ever been this late for the SAL. The simple reason for this is that I don't really have a lot to show, so I thought about skipping this month, but over the last couple of years I posted for this SAL every month and it just didn't feel right to skip this month and after all, there is one project on which I worked. And it's not Santa or Middle Earth!
I did my best to work on Middle Earth, I was on the frame for 4 days or so, but whenever I sat down to work on it, I found myself doing everything but stitching, even staring at the television like a dummy (I usually watch TV or listed to audiobooks when I stitch). I just didn't feel it. In those days I did like 30 or 40 stitches on Middle Earth, some of the days I couldn't even bring myself to work on it at all. Well, I checked back, since last June I have been working on ME every month and I think I was just so sick of it... My stitchy bug is a bit weird these days anyway and I don't want to loose it completely, so I put Middle Earth away for this month.

After that episode, I decided to pick up another of my GG SAL projects - Wolf Kiss by Dimensions. I haven't worked on this for ages and it doesn't have so many colors, so I thought is would be a good and easy project to get over Middle Earth. I worked on this for two evenings and went from here:

To here:

I actually am fairly happy with  what I did in those two evenings. You know the pattern consists of two pages and this month I managed to finish the upper half of the first page (this is why the male wolfs face looks so funny, I wanted to finish the upper half so I don't have to flip over the pattern all the time). It also helped me to get my stitchy bug back again ;-)

Well, this is all I have for this month. Lucky me, the link up is still open and you can find it here.

Happy stitching =)