Gifted Gorgeousness SAL

My first post for this SAL, yay! Since WIPocalypse and YOTA are both at the end of the month, I really enjoy having a SAL at the middle of the month ;-)
This SAL is hosted by Jo from Serendipitous Stitching, where you can also sign up or have a look at the other participants work here.
The idea of this SAL is to work on projects that have been gifted to you or which you want to give to someone, I thinks that's a brilliant idea =)

I worked on two projects for this SAL so far, one that has been a gift and one that will be a gift.

First up is the Map of Middle Earth, I have been RAKed with the large version of this chart some years ago. I bought the regular version and was unsure if I should buy the large version, after all it had more detail, but I already had the regular one (knowing I would not stitch that if I got the big one...). So I was really happy when I received this chart during the first Haed support event in the Stash, stitch and honking rakateers group on facebook.
I finally started this huge project last summer. I am working on page 2 of 60 now and added 1960 stitches aka 2 columns this month. I am fairly happy with that progress (getting that much done on it every month would be awesome!). I have a total of 9800 stitches in now and there is a total of 421,500 stitches.
So at the beginning of the SAL:

And now:

My second project is a Dimensions kit called "Wolf Kiss". I bought it last month with the intension to stitch this for my boyfriend, who really loves wolves. It's small compared to my other projects and it's really nice to have something where you can see fast progress. I only worked on it for a few days, but it already looks like something. It's weird to stitch on 14ct Aida, the fabric feels hard and the stitches are huge :D at least compared to 25ct or 28ct Lugana...

The project is a new start, so here is my progress so far:

And here is how it will hopefully look like:

I hope to get the first wolfs head done by next month (well closing that gap/stitch the part on the first side of the pattern).

Unfortunately it is going to stay quiet here for a few more weeks and I am not commenting on many blog entries these days. I have 4 weeks left to hand in my master thesis and so I am working a lot... When I hand the thesis in I will spent a week in my flat and stitch... :D

WIPocalypse and YOTA - April edition!

First of all, I hope everyone enjoys a happy Easter and has a few nice days with their friends and family!

It's already April and therefore it's time for WIPocalypse and YOTA at the same time. And I guess most of you noticed the Easter sale at Heaven and Earth Designs(which was launched early because a couple of people colored that lovely bunny above). Since I am preparing for my life after the master thesis I got a few charts which I will show at the end of the post.

First up is WIPocalypse, you can find all the information as well as a sign up page here.
Most of the month I spent working on Eternal Promise, on which I managed to finish on 31st March, but haven't shown here. So here is my progress
Before

And after:

The page was a lot of fun to stitch, the details in the flowers are just beautiful and the contrast to the darker colors is nice. Those trees are way more confetti than the border, but the outcome is amazing =) I will definitely return to this soon =)

After finishing the page I pulled out the Map of Middle Earth. I chose this for my first piece of the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL, so I want to get a bit of progress done until the 15th. I added one column so far:

Before:

And after:

It's fun to stitch as always, I stitched the 980 stitches of the column in just 2 days, so I am flying through this. But I doubt I can continue at this speed. 

All in all I am very happy with last months progress. I stitched nearly 6000 little crosses, not counting the lot I did on that Ornament (I guess I will finish the remaining stitching this month and maybe the rest like back stitches and so on as well). 

This months question is:"Which specialty stitches do you love doing on projects?"

Well, I mostly stitch Haeds, so there aren't any speciality stitches :D I'm not really missing them, but in case I am working on something that requires them (like some kits I have, they ask for back stitching, couching and french knots), it's ok for me. I don't love them overly much, but they usually add a nice finishing touch to the design. I wouldn't say that there are any that I really love or dread. 

Next up is the post for YOTA (you can find all the relevant information here), I managed to get some stitches into QS Theatre of the Absurd. Since I managed to sort out the issues with my Qsnap (it's a bit to tight now, but I guess that will get better as I use it), I am working on it again. I managed to finish the started column:

Before:

And after:

It's still not as much progress as it should be, but it's a start ;-) And finishing this in 2015 is still quite manageable!

And now... STASH!!! Heaven and Earth Designs has been releasing some lovely charts lately, so I got a few in the current sale (it's still on for a few more days, so some of you might take a look). At first I thought my new start reward for finishing my thesis (still not done....) was clear, but now I am not so sure anymore.

I got my first Josephine Wall chart and I am so in love with it! It's definitely a new start option. It's called "Goddess between Realms":

The Wall designs are always so detailed and colorful and they are amazing when they are stitched. I really love the oriental touch of the left side of the goddess, so I really couldn't resist it! =)

Then I got two charts from Jane Starr Weils. 

Wilde Wood Faerie was released just a few weeks ago and I totally love it:

I want to stitch this on some hand dyed fabric because you are going to see a lot the fabric anyway. Maybe something with pale green and yellow would fit. I plan on ordering the missing floss for this and then pay a visit to a lady who has a store near by to pick the right fabric (she told me this was the easiest way and she would dye the fabby for me). It's almost sure that I am going to start this when I am done with my thesis (I'm not sure about how many new starts I will have... Probably until my hands fall off, lol...)

Wild Honey is a bit older but I remember that the chart caught my eye when it was released. As I saw Wilde Wood Faerie I decided to brows through the other charts by Jane Starr Weils and found this again. The yellow colors are fantastic =) (there are so many more amazing charts by that artist, I was tempted to buy way more!). This would also make a nice new start....

And then I got a QS! I wanted a small chart so I can eventually start a small chart so I can eventually finish it (haha...). It's called QS Kimono Butterfly Mermaid by Nadia Tate and it shows a mermaid wearing a kimono and some butterflies:

Well, that's all the charts I purchased in the sale. But I was a really lucky girl because I managed to win a give away in the LotR stitchers group, the prize was a LotR themed chart from Haed! So I chose "The Ranger" by Matt Stewart:

So, that's it for today, thanks for reading. I don't know how often I will post this month because I need to work for my thesis a lot and get it done eventually!

Eternal stash, eh Promise!

Well, I went t a craft fair yesterday and I got a bunch of stuff there! It's not only stitching stuff, but I definitely spent the most on stitching ;-)
Here is a pic of all my new goodies:

Apart from stitching I got two shawls (one is going away as a birthday present), some wool for spinning, a pair of Earrings, handmade soap, honey (actually "espresso in honey" and "cacao in honey", they taste really funny, but extremely good) and some material for bobbin weaving. I heard of bobbin weaving earlier, but I never tried it. A good friend of mine wanted to try it, so we did a workshop and it's really fun, so we decided to get the basic material and give it a try.
As for stitching stuff, I got another yarn box along with a bunch of plastic bobbins, a new scissor, some needle (I actually got them for free because I bought so much stuff), a small kit with monsters and bookmarks which I will sent to my sister. And two kits, yay!
Here they are!
First one is called "Wolf Kiss", I think it's really cute. They had a finished one hanging on the wall at the fair and it was amazing! A friend of meine got this as well =)

Second one is "Twilight Bridge" from the Dimensions Gold Collection. I really wanted to get "Japanese Garden", but I was so drawn to this and after all, the Garden is a rather new design so I think it will be available for some time. I didn't have enough money to get both of them. I don't know why, but I really enjoy kits these days...

As for my stitching, I stitched another column on Eternal Promise during the week (next to working on that ornament and QS Theatre of the Absurd - there will be something to show for YOTA!). 

Here is what I got done, 8000 stitches in so far, it's a total of 442,175 stitches, so there is a loooong way to go. (Actuallay, I think this is my largest project... It's bigger than Wolf Variant and Middle Earth!)

I am half way through page 2 and I am going to continue with this for a while. It would be great to get that page finished. You can see, the trees are starting to appear. It's a terrible amount of confetti, but it looks amazing and it's a nice change compared to the border. 

I also signed up for another SAL called "Gifted Gorgeousness" hosted by Jo. It's about stiching things that were gifted to you or which you plan to gift to other people. I am entering with Middle Earth (which I was raked) and maybe a new start. The first post will be on April 15th, so I have time to work on something =) If you are interested, you can find all the information, as well as the sign-up page here.

Two finishes and an ornament

Yes, the title is correct. I actually finished something. Well, actually, I finished the stitching last year around Christmas, but I didn't take a picture or finish the whole project until last Sunday.

Since my boyfriend enjoy playing pen and paper role play games and has a small obsession for dices (all colors, all sizes, all numbers of sides....) he was in need of a new bag for them. So I thought it would be nice to combine this with his obsession for Starwars and make him a bag! So I spent some time searching on easy for patterns and found some in the end. I picked black cashel linen (28ct) for this project and stitched 2 over 2. I stitched one motif on each side and then just sewed it together into a bag (problem is I hate sewing... can't motivate myself to do so...).
 I am sorry for the bad pictures, the thing needs another ironing after I sewed it.
The first design is this cute Darth Vader holding a cookie. I once saw it on someones blog a long time ago and I always wanted to stitch ist. Since I was working on black, I left out the black stitches und added a white outline (I hadn't thought about this problem until the other side was done...). I got the pattern from dorkstitchs etsy shop.

The other side has this Darth Vader on it. This was the reason why I started on black fabric (it's horrible to stitch on... I first planned on going 1 over 1, but that wasn't possible...) I also got this pattern on easy, the shop/designer is called Kaplio

I will hopefully remember to take better pictures after ironing and before giving this away.

As of my recent stitching, there is not much to show on Eternal Promise yet. I stitched one column, but I guess I will stitch another one before showing it here, so there is something to see. The reason why I got so little on it done is, that I started stitching an ornament and wasn't able to put it down. I bought this Dimensions Gold kit more than a year ago and never found the chance t start it. 

I started the Ornament in the last row, right side in Febuary, stitches a few stitches and then put it down again. But last week(or the week before?) I suddenly felt the urge to stitch on this, so here we go

I think I made fairly good progress. It's completely different from what I usually stitch, it's small, it's on Aida, it uses different numbers of strands and varies between full and half crosses. Maybe that's the reason why I enjoy stitching it so much. I need to stitch the roof and the trees, then there is the sky, but that's all half crosses so it is done in no time. And then - backstitching! I haven't done this is ages :D I am sort of looking forward to it ;-) 

Anyway, I think this will provide me with a finish soon, that's motivating. 

Welcome to the castle of Stitch-a-Lot/Update on Eternal Promise

Well, a big hello to everyone out there! So here we go with a new blog!
After blogging for four years with wordpress, it was time for a change, I decided to change both blog-host and name.
I haven't figured it all out with blogger so far, I don't yet know how all the gadgets work and there will be further changes in layout and so on, so please be patient with me. Blogger is quite different from wordpress, there are many things I can add (which I enjoy!) which I didn't have before. But I am doing my best to make this an enjoyable place for my stitching =)

I decided to change my name as well. When I first started my blog under the name stitchstitchknit, I had no idea of a name to pick. So I chose something to do with stitching and knitting, but  I never really loved that name because it didn't really sound like a name for a person and after all, I want this place to be something personal and I am always happy when I can make contact with fellow stitchers and develop friendships. I'm not really sure if this makes sense, but anyway, I didn't really feel connected. So when I decided to set up a new blog, I decided to change my name as well.
So I will live in the castle of Stitch-a-Lot from now on!
(I love bad puns... I truly can't deny it...)

I hope that some who followed my old blog over the years will find their way here and accompany on my quest to stitch down my giant stash and of corse, I am welcoming everyone who gets here for the first time =) If anyone is interested in my stitching up to this point, feel free to visit my old blog, I'm not planning on deleting it. I will introduce my WIPs in this blog as I pass them in my non-existent rotation, so you don't always have to switch between blogs.

And we can as well start with that! Because I worked on Eternal Promise for the last days and have some 1200 stitches of progress to show!

Eternal Promise is an artwork by Matt Stewart, who is familiar to most for his Lord of the Rings inspired artwork. He was a Haed-artist a few years back, was retired and returned to Haed some time ago. Eternal Promise was recharted then and I am stitching this recharged version, which has a few more stitches and (it is said) has some more detail. Here is how it will hopefully look one day

The design is 525x843 stitches and the large format chart contains 99 pages (!!). It's one of the biggest projects I am working on (but I feel like the Haed charts are all increasing in size...). The chart contains 90 colors and uses the usual DMC cotton.

This is my first time working on 28ct even weave (usually 25ct). I started the project in January 2014 and only stitched one page then. The problem was simple - fabric count to small for my eyes. But I do have a daylight lamp now (which feasts on batteries) and most important - I have better glasses! Right now I can easily stitch for a few hours and I am enjoying it again. I must say, the coverage on 28ct is way better then on 25ct, so maybe I will start another project on 28ct.

As for my recent progress, I stitched the first 1 1/2 columns of page 2. It's mostly the border, it looks amazing, but the flowers are really confetti heavy. But it's worth it. In the lower right corner there are a few stitches of green and in the next column more of the trees will appear

I am really happy about how this is coming out and will definitely continue with this piece for a few more columns!

Apart from this I am working on a small ornament (felt like something really small on which i can see fast progress, lol). But there is not much to show yet, so I will wait a few more days to show my progress.

This post has become longer than I expected, so congratulations if you managed to read it all :D