Progress and Saturday SAL

 I wsa out of town over the weekend, and I got to meet my goddaughter. She is so cute!
While I was out, I decided to take the Palace Garden with me, since it travels really well.

Here is where I was last:

Here is where I am now:

I also realize that I haven't posted my Luminaro progress lately.
Here is where I was last

I hit some confetti areas around the circles, so my progress slowed down a bit. Here is where I am now.

I miss having a Saturday SAL. A few years ago, I remember having a Saturday SAL where 2 or 3 of us would be stitching the same project on Saturday, then post about our progress on it the next day or two. The project we did was Candy Cane Christmas, and it is one of the few finishes I have had with cross stitch.

Now, I know I can't do this with the huge projects I tend to gravitate toward, but I was thinking of doing this with smaller projects. I actually have one in mind to start with: my Mario project. In case you need a reminder, here is a picture of it:

I want to see if I can get anyone to join me on Saturdays stitching this one. Then all we have to do is just post our progress from that one day, then do it again the next Saturday.
I love seeing how different people go different directions and stitch things differently. If anyone is working or planning to start this one, let me know! I think I will begin my Saturdays with Mario next weekend on 2/2. Anyone is free to join me!

I even have some ideas of what to designate the next Saturday SAL project, once Mario is done. Thinking of Sleepy Hollow by Glendon Place.

Small Palace Garden update

After I had my page finish for Farewell to Anger, I picked up Palace Garden. I still hadn't received my new fabric, yet, so I needed something to work on in the mean time, and I wanted to give Farewell a rest.

This is only about a day of progress, but there does seem to be quite a bit done. Yay for not having to work over the holidays!

Here is where I left off last:

Here is after working on it a little more:

Starting my very first HAED

I got to dig into Farewell to Anger for a couple days, and decided to give my initial thoughts.

First, I decided to do this one on 28ct Easy Count Lugana Evenweave. I am stitching this 1x1, full cross. The coverage with this configuration is great. When I was first planning on this project, I was worried about coverage and the different options that were available. I am quite pleased with the coverage that I have with 1x1 on the 28ct fabric.
But, Oh my Goodness, these crosses are so tiny! I haven't ever worked on anything quite this tiny before, and it is super small to me. I have done several hundred stitches so far, but they are all in one small area because it is so small.
Also, because it is so small, I have issues with ending the tails. I really do miss my loop starts, and ending the tails has been a bit of an ordeal. Granted, I usually have some problems with this at the beginning of any project, but since I have to secure both ends of the threads, now, it is super noticeable. Since the count is so small, it is proving difficult to run the needle underneath the stitches in the back to secure my ends. I'll stick with it for now (what choice do I have, really?). I'll post more on this, later, I'm sure.

So, here is where I started, LOL!

Of course, this being a new start, there is no previous progress to post. I did just start a 100 day challenge, to stitch on one project every day for the next 100 days, so I'm hoping that I get a good amount done in that time.

Here is where I am:

I also have gotten a little bit more done with Palace Garden.
Here is were I left off last:

Here is where I am now. I got some of the blue done as part of a SAL and since I didn't have very good lighting when I was working on it at the time.

IHSW and color SAL

This weekend I was participating in not one, but two different SALs at the same time!

The first one is the International Hermit and Stitch Weekend (IHSW) where everyone just sets aside time on the weekend to stitching. The second one is a color SAL through Stitch Maynia, and the color(s) this time were of Libra, so shades of blue, pink, and pale green.

I got a lot more done on the Palace Garden than I expected (of course some of this progress is from the previous week, as well).

Here is where I left off:

And here is where I am after this week:

For this weekend for the SALs, though, I actually have a new start!
Yeah, yeah, I know I have several projects going on already, but this one is small (for me), and it was just screaming at me so loud, that I couldn't ignore it. I even used some fabric that had been allocated to a different project so I could start this one early.

This project is called Blue Bird, by Inna Peshkova. I have found quite a few Russian patterns lately that I absolutely adore! This one was the first one that I fell in love wit, so it had the honor of being my new start.

Here is what it will look like when finished (ignore the watermark, this was the only place I could find a picture of it online):

Here is where I am so far, after 2 days:

It may not look like much, but there are a ton of colors in this thing. I have been taking my time, too, to make sure all the stitches look really good. I have been inspired by all the people entering projects to the local/state fairs, that I really would like to submit something, as well! All of my normal projects are just too huge, though, and will take forever to finish. This one is just the right size for me.
The good thing about the pattern is that there are separate charts for the stitching, then for the backstitching, since there is a LOT.

I am still in love with it, and I can't wait to have it finished! I won't be able to stitch on it any more this week, though. My test is on Friday, and I have to cram this week for it. No time to stitch at all! It will be a little while until my next stitch update, but I do have a crochet pattern all setup to be posted automatically on the 1st.

Full coverage SAL

Normally I don't like to post progress so close to my last progress post, but yesterday was a full coverage SAL for Stitch Maynia, and I had to participate.
Honestly, the Stitch Maynia group has a bunch of different SALs, some that last just a day, some that last a month, some recurring and others not. It's enough to keep you engaged in your stitching, which is what I really need.

Every 5th of the month, there is a full coverage SAL, where you work on any full coverage piece that you have. Since my Palace Garden is a full coverage piece it was perfect to use!

Here is where I left off 2 days ago:

Here is where I am after 2 days (one of which was the SAL).

P.S. If you are interested in Stitch Maynia, here is a link.

Yay, stitchy time!

At the end of last week, coming into the holiday weekend, one of my projects caught my eye. Without even thinking about it, I just picked it up and started stitching. Let me tell you... it felt so good.
I realize that I haven't just crafts just for the enjoyment, lately. Yeah, I enjoy all the jewelry that I make, don't get me wrong, but there is always the underlying aspect that I am also making them for my business and am intending to sell it. With that mindset, I don't really form any attachment to most of it.

I was sitting in my recliner, and looked over at my craft chair (the chair that I keep a bunch of craft things in), and there was The Palace Garden, just looking at me. I automatically just picked it up and started stitching. Since it was a long weekend, I made the decision to spend as much time stitching as I could get in. It was so relaxing.

I managed to get a huge amount done, too! It's obvious where the progress is.
Here is where I was last time I stitched:

Here is the progress that I made, along with my overall progress:

IHSW was this weekend!

My schedule at work has finally changed, and I am back to working Monday through Friday. This past weekend was my first weekend off, and it just so happened to coincide with IHSW! I haven't gotten to participate in a long time. It was awesome!
For those who aren't familiar with IHSW, just click on the International Hermit and Stitch Weekend picture on the right side!

I had a great weekend with the husband, and I got some good stitching in, as well. I worked on, yep you guessed it, The Palace Garden, again. I want to get this one done before finishing anything else as a Thank You to Riolis for sending it to me.

Here is where I last left off:

Here is the section I had progress on, the beige "T" shape (don't let it fool you, there are several colors in there):

Here is my overall progress:

Week two done on my kit!

I had a craft fair this weekend, so I didn't get any stitchy time at all. I snapped a quick picture of my Riolis kit project last night before bedtime, though.

Here is where I was last week:

Here is where I was after the Orange color SAL:

And here is where I am now:

I don't know how I'm going so fast on this one! It could be the kit, or it could be the new Ottlite that I have been using, or a combination of the two. Who knows? All I know is that this will be done in no time, if I keep up at this pace. Since I want to make this my focus piece and work only on it until it is done, I'm glad it is going quickly, so I can move on to other projects! (Of course the only exception will be the beer project, since the opportunities for it are sparse)

Color SAL - Orange

I have been flying along with my new kit of the Palace Garden. I had a SAL come up where you only stitch one color on your projects for that day. This month is orange.  I didn't want to put away my kit, and it just worked out that there is orange in it, as well, so I can use it for the SAL! (Besides, I don't think I have any orange in any of my other projects). I would have had more done, but I had to stitch up another beer (post upcoming).

Here is where I was when I started: 

Here is where I am now with all the orange work I did on the right side:

Week one of my Riolis kit, The Palace Garden

Well, I have a week's worth of progress to show, now, for my new Riolis kit, The Palace Garden.
I am still loving this kit, a lot! I am not a fan of all the scattered confetti stitches, but the end result is amazing, and I have projects that are even worse about it.

My favorite part about this kit is still the thread! I did have to take a little time off from working on this to stitch up the beer from my last post, and as I was stitching it, my thread got tangled. That made me realize that I haven't had any issues with the thread in the kit tangling up at all. No knots or anything! It has been a joy to work with.

Here is where I was on day 1:

Here is where I am after week 1:

Day one thoughts on my Riolis kit

Thankfully with my test out of the way, I have time to stitch, again! Yay!

Previously I had posted about a Riolis kit that had been sent to me by the company. I finally got to start on it, and I wanted to post my initial thoughts on it. I have only had about one day to work on it so far, but wanted to share my thoughts and progress.

First, I have to admit that I love the way the thread was organized in the kit. If you don't remember from my previous post, here is that picture:

The thread itself isn't cotton, but rather a wool/acrylic blend. This makes it a little fluffier than normal DMC thread. Because of the fluffiness, it give great coverage on the fabric. Also, it's a little fuzzy once stitched, adding a little more texture to the project.
The only downside I have seen so far is that the ends of the thread fray a little. And by a little, I mean very little. It's slightly more than DMC, but not even anywhere near how bad metallic threads get. It's definitely easily usable and easy to manage. The fabric in the kit was just regular white aida, and the pattern came on 2 pages with colors and symbols.

Normally, I don't like having to deal with tweeding on a project (using 2 different colored threads as 1). So far, I haven't minded it so much with this one, which is good. I think almost half of the symbols are tweeded.
Here is my progress so far:

Ultimately, after one day I am still enjoying this project, and I can't wait to keep sharing my thoughts and progress on it.

All views expressed here are my own and are not influenced by the company at all. They wanted an honest review, so that is what I shall give! If you decide to check them out, their website is: http://www.riolis.com/.