First full week of 2013

Here she is, I finally finished the top row of the Passione Ricamo SAL, I even finally got round to getting the colour that was missing from her wings! I've still got to do her beads, but I'm going to do those last as I don't want to accidently crush them with whichever frame I happen to be using at the time... I'm now only 3 pages behind, for now! 

And Heather, I love working on her... even after I had a major meal down where I'd done most of the page and realised that half of it was wrong and needed to be frogged... I seriously considered chucking her and starting again, but I was good, I unpicked it all, moved it one stitch across and stitched it again. This is the first page and the beginning of the second, and Hannah Lynn charts are just such a joy to stitch when you're working on the black, (I haven't tried colouring one in yet, so I can't really comment on that)!

It was Ben's birthday this week so I made him a cake (cake post to follow), and took him to Xscape which is a real snow slow not that far from where we are. I'd bought him a couple of hours on the slope and me a couple of hours of being made to feel stupid by a snowboard instructor. It actually went a lot better than I expected it to. Skiing was such a disaster that I kinda expected snowboarding to go the same way, but, while I was still pretty terrible. I was less terrible than I expected!

First post of 2013

I said I was going to finish this page by the end of the year, as you can see, that didn't happen! However I am close, and I would have finished it by now, if I hadn't got distracted by my New Year start. I'm now 3 and a bit pages behind (chances of me ever catching up = zero) as the latest page was released on the 1st of Jan. I'm a little concerned as the latest page has the beginning of some writing on it, and I don't know what it's going to say, and I don't know if I want there to be writing on my stitching. I'll wait and see what it says, but it has put my off a little bit!

Secondly, my new start for the New Year, shes lovely! Another Hannah Lynn by HAED (as you can possibly tell by the bold black outline and nothing else). I'm tent stitching over 1 on 28, and had forgotten how fast that goes when you're doing blocks, I feel like I'm flying through this. I know it doesn't look like much, but I've only had 4 or 5 hours on it, and by my standards this is really fast! I've set myself the goal of the top row of black (5 and a bit pages) by the end of the year, and at current pace I might actually achieve it. It's not often I set myself a goal that's actually achieveable!

Now some other bits and bobs, I don't know how many people have heard of TiltonCrafts run by the lovely Shelley, but she does some gorgeous charts and has recently mentioned that she's found some lovely Sailor Moon inspired artwork that she's thinking about charting, but she didn't know how popular they'd be. I think they're great and said that there are a surprising number of geeky stitchers, but I'm curious, how many of you would be interested? Also, while I'm sharing cross stitch designers who are incredibly bad for my bank account also head over and have a look at Sarah's painefreecrafts who also has some gorgeous charts. Sarah's only been running for a month or so, so she hasn't got many up on her site yet, but she's got three that I'm going to end up buying pretty much as soon as they're on the site because I'm already absolutely in love with them, and many more that will make their way on to my bucket and wish lists.

Thanks also to those of you who showed an interest in a stitchers retreat and said you'd be willing to help me out by answering questionnaires and such, I'm really grateful and will contact you when I've got my butt into gear and started sorting stuff out.

Finally, there is apparently a slight issue with blogger at the moment where you can't upload pictures if you use Internet Explorer. Blogger are aware of the issue and are apparently dealing with it, but as it's now the weekend the general advice is to not hold your breath for it to happen any time soon. In the mean time, it's only a IE issue so if you're feeling brave download another browser temporarily and that works fine, I'm currently using Google Chrome. I know that may not be relevant to many, but it took me a while and a lot of getting frustrated with blogger to find out why it wasn't working and how to work round it, so I thought I'd share

I'm slightly less behind!

The title says it all really, I'm still behind, but it's slightly less behind than I was last week. I'm still hoping to get the top row finished by the end of the year, but seeing as I'm also wanting to get the black of Clara finished by the end of the year (and she's calling to me more), this might fall by teh wayside ever so slightly. It's been quite nice stitching this week though, the gold work always surprises me by being much easier and quicker to stitch than I expect it to be, and I've also been doing some nice easy block stitching, thus why it actually looks like I've made some progress this year.

I was starting to catch up...

I was starting to catch up (not much I know, but a bit), I was working on pages 3 and 4 together and was starting to get somewhere, then the new page was released this morning, and I'm still about 3 pages behind. But she has grown this week, and that makes me happy... and she's on my new Millennium Frame, which I'm loving! The new page released today is very exciting, it's got her face on!

 

I don't update on this project because she lives under my desk at work, but as I'd finished the first one, I couldn't resist bringing her home to take a pic. She doesn't look that clear because the flash has bleached teh paler colours, but I'm quite chuffed to finally finish one of them.

More tininess

Another tiny update, I miss having time to stitch, there's difference, honest there really is! I'm hoping to actually show some decent progress next week, you know, the sort of progress where you can actually tell that I've done something, when I actually have had time to do some stitching... well, it's bound to happen one of these days.

 

And a little upate on the Passione Ricamo, her wings are starting to take shape! Woohoo!

I've also decided to set myself some 'to the end of the year' targets, although I'm also trying to take into account my now, rather limited, stitching time.

• Finish current page of Dragon Rider
• Finish the black on Clara
• Finish the top row of Passione Ricamo SAL
• Hopefully the current page of Chakra Fae

I'm possibly being a little optimisitc, but you never know, I might manage it!

Lots of Tiny Updates

As the title says, I've got lots of tiny little updates this week due to stitching as and when I can in between shifts. You can barely see the difference on Dragon Rider, barely anything to see, but I honestly have worked on this, even if it was only for an hour. I'll try and put a bit more work into it this week so that I've actually got something to show.

I've done more on this page than it looks like I have. Due to being an idiot I'd done the white and lilac on her wings in the wrong colour (it should have been sparkly and it wasn't), so I had to unpick it all and re-do it to put the sparkle in, and unfortunately you can't see the sparkle on the photos so it doesn't look and different. It's only a couple of hours work to re-do and get me a bit further on at crafting group last week though, so I don't fee like I've lost loads of time. I should have received the next page on Thursday and for some reason I don't seem to have received it yet, (and yes, I did check my junk folder as well), so I've had to drop her an email and ask if she can re-send it to me... although I'm so behind that it's not like I'm going to need it any time soon.

 

And finally, my work lunchtime project gets a little update as well, she doens't come home very often, but then she also doesn't get worked on very often as my lunch breaks have been surprisingly dry just recently. But I had to bring her home this weekend to exchange the colours that I've used to ones that I still need to do so i thought I'd get a picture at the first time. I'm not far off finishing the first girl, and more importantly she actually looks like a girl now, rather than a sunburnt sea lion and a devil, which are stages that I seem to have gone throguh just recently.

IHSW October

Did everyone have a good International Hermit and Stitch Weekend. Mine's been pretty good, but I was predicting that it would be. Ben was away and I didn't have much planned, so I was hopeful that I've have something decent to show. I've been good though, I haven't just stitched. I've managed to make it to the gym and go out for a coffee with a friend as well. But here's the progress that I have made. Firstly my progress on the Passione Ricamo SAL, I finished page two. Granted I'm still two pages behind, but it's progress all the same. And I can see the beginning of her wings, so she's starting to look like something, which is good. I'll have to try and see if I can get another page done before the next one's released in a week or so, it seems unlikely, but you never know.

Secondly, I've managed to get back to Dragon Rider. I didn't think I'd have much to show on this, but it looks better than I expected to. If I compare it to the last pic I can see a fairly major difference. Although you guys, my poor follwers, probably won't actually be able to see much difference, I'm afraid you'll just have to take my word for it. There's more castle than there was in my last progress picture, and you can also see a but more tail than you originally could, well, I'm happy with it anyway.

I finally finished the page

I finally finished the first page of Pride and Prejudice, and I love that it's finished becuase it makes such a difference, and has really bought the page together. I actually finished this while watching Persuasion, so not quite right, but it was close. I do love how this is turning out actually, it'll look great once it's finished! I can see the beginning of his eye now, and that's her forehead at the bottom. It seemed to take me quite a while to do the easy stitching on this page, but I love the outcome so it's all good.

Secondly, an update on the Passione Ricamo SAL, there's not a massive difference since my last post, I've basically done some more blue! The advantage is that the blue is very easy stitching, and I should get the rest of the blue finished today (if I dont' I'll be seriously worried about my stitching speed). It's International Hermit and Stitch weekend this weekend, and Ben's away, so I'm planning on having a proper hermit and stitch. I want to finish this page (including the start of the wing on the right, which'll probably stray into the next page as well), and then planning on moving back to Dragon Rider who has been long neglected and feeling unloved.

It's been a long week so I've been really looking forward to this weekend. It's been my first proper week in my second job this week, so that's been three evenings working to 10, then we went to see Jack Dee in York after Ben's parents bought us tickets, then it was Harrogate Craftwork Group on Thursday, where we all (I hope) had a lovely night gossiping and crafting, and Sandra kindly offered to jab me with her needle everytime I dozed off, which is how I was feeling by that point. So a weekend of napping, dvds and stitching is in order I think. Along with Merlin and Stirctly Come Dancing of course... Ooh, I did a bad thing. I bought another kit from Serenity Designs. I've been umming and ahhing over another kit from Serenity Designs the last few weeks, and I got some money from my folks for my birthday, so I ordered the Merlin kit, and I'm so tempted to start it during Merlin tonight, but I really don't need another start. I've also ordered some beautiful fabrics from Polstitches from the same generous family given money, so I'll post of photos of those when I get them. Jo's away at the moment at a craft fair so she won't be able to post until Tuesday ish, but I'm already stalking the postman because I want to get my beautiful fabrics, I know he won't have them yet, I'm just getting some practice in.

A plethora of updates

 As you can see, I've got many updates to show this week, it's been a surprisingly productibe stitchy week this week, I'm quite proud. Firstly Clara, and I've discovered her gravity defiant boobs. I do love Clara, and I'm absolutely loving working on her, but I really do need to put her down and work on something else at some point, I'll wait until I finish this page though, and maybe I'll just do the bottom partial page so I can see how big she's going to be... you can see where this thought process is going to end up can't you? Thus far I've managed to resist the HAED sale (apart from running a little competition on facebook and sending a chart), although I don't know how much longer I'm going to last.

Passione Ricamo Mystery SAL, the third page arrived today, so last weekend I decided that I ought to get my ass into gear and get some progress in on page to... I'm trying to never be more than one page behind, but I'm sure that it'll get worse as the year goes on. There's lots of filling in left to do on this page, although that dip in on the right side is the beginning of her wings (I was looking at the chart this morning), so I feel like I ought to get started on those.

 

And finally, a tiny little update on a much neglected project. This lives under my desk at work for cold or rainy lunch breaks when I don't want to go out, and, despite how miserable the weather's been this summer there haven't actually been many rainy lunch breaks, so it's just got absolutely no attention at all. I did manage to get a little done this week when the weather was pretty miserable, and she she's almost started to resemble a person instead of a sunburnt teddy bear I thought I'd put a little picture up and show what's happening with her.

The Minx that is Miss Clara and the PR Mystery SAL

I've managed to do a bit more on the Passione Ricamo SAL. It's really odd stitching something when I don't know what it's going to look like.That little unstitched in the bottom corner that I thought was going to be wing is actually the moon, but I think the next page shows the start of her wing. I'm still behind, but I'm starting to catch up, and hopefully I'll be able to get a bit more done on her this week. The border is actually really glittery, but my camera hasn't managed to pick that up at all.



Clara started calling to me. She's developing a bit of a habit of doing that. It was stitching group on Thursday and she seemed like a nice project to take with them, and then I didn't want to put her down again yesterday.

It's International Hermit and Stitch this weekend, and I'm debating whether I'm going to be able to spend enough time stitching to finish this page. We haven't got much planned, so it is a possibility.

Happy Stitching!

Hmmmmm

Here's my latest Chakra Fae update, I have an admission to make, I think I've been getting bored with her, that why there isn't much progress, every time I pick her up I just get really distracted, so I've decided to put her away for a while then come back to her before I completely lose my mojo. She is lovely, I don't know why I can't settle on her at the moment, but I figure a bit of a break will probably do the trick.

I also had a slight stitching crisis with her last weekend,  I decided to unpick a little bit of where the line was between the two pages, but I accidently cut a slight hole in my fabric. I think I've managed to mend it (honestly, if you think you can see where I did it, let me know, cos I'd much rather know), bur I think I've managed to cover it up in such a way that you can't see I did it. Fingers crossed anyway.

So, here's one of the things that I've been distracted by... and I can't believe how long this little patch of blue has taken me to stitch this week. Some of you may have noticed my tiny little post a couple of weeks ago that I posted about the Passione Ricamo Mystery SAL, which I signed up to, well this is the start of her. There will be a gold border round the top and left side of this, with many purple beads like bunches of grapes, but I think half the stitchers in the UK must have signed up for this because when I went to order the Treasure Braid from sewandso they were out of stock, so I've got it all on back order. I have got the pretty purple beads, but as I'm using Q-Snaps for this I want to leave all the beading until last, as I'm a bit scared of what the Q-Snap might do to the beads. Also, it's really weird stitching something and having absolutely no idea what it's going to look like when it's been finished. Because it's a mystery SAL there hasn't been a picture released of what the final design is.I'm assuming that little white bit that's missing Treasure Braid is going to be the start of her (? - I don't even know that for definite) wings.

Finally, one of the groups I'm on on facebook (HAED Addiction if you're interested) recently set up a list of email addresses so that if you wanted to RAK someone from the group you could go onto the list and find their email address so you could go on to the HAED site and find their wishlist, which was a lovely idea. Anyway, I put my name on this list not really thinking that anything would come of it, but one of the kindly ladies sent me this lovely Faces of Faery by Jasmine Beckett-Griffith. I absolutely love her (the kindly lady and the Ninja). It was the two Ninjas that converted me to JBG's designs so I'm loving this. But I think it'll be a while before I get her started. I'm thinking that she might be started when Clara's finished.Although I'm also thinking that, as she's a bit smaller I might try her on 18 count instead of 25... I figure that (after Clara, which I've already started on 25) when the designs are a bit smaller it might be worth doing them on the 18 count, for the sake of my eye sight. I'm fine with 25 count at the moment, but I'm also aware that the last time I went to the opticians (my glasses are like bottle bottoms they're so thick), she reeled off a list of things that could go wrong with my eyes, and that there wasn't really much I could do about it, other than go and see them as so as I spotted anything wrong... anyway, that was an unexpected moment of 'poor me', I'm honestly not, I figure that I'm fine and if it happens then it'll be resolved, so please don't think this was a pity plee, it's just part of, when I can work on bigger fabrics, I'd probably be doing my eyes a favour if I did.

It's the Wimbeldon Final tomorrow and there will be a definite split in our home. Ben will be supporting Murray because he's British and so you support the British player... I however think that Murray is a rat faced monkey boy (it's surprising how many tennis players I'm willing to describe as rat faced monkey boy), who is continually grumpy, and I'm quite a big fan of Federer, so that's who I'll be supporting. So, along with antagonising each other, I'm also planning on getting some stitching done. I went back to Dragon Rider last night, so I'll hopefully have a bit of progress to show next week, maybe the beginning of the tiny little wizard, or, there could even be a tiny showing of tail!

This is a very long and whittering post by my standards, I haven't written a properly whittering post in ages (the blog was originally called Random Ramblings of a Kim), so I'll stop now, go and do some exercise (once I can get Ben off the Wii for long enough to get him to hand it over, to let me do some toning along with my run earlier), then have dinner and have a stitchy evening.