I Don't Even Remember...

I can't actually remember what I was stitching on last week without looking to find the photos of it. Turns out it was mu Pharaoh's Hound, I also worked on my Pegasus but have done managed so little it isn't worth taking a photo. Looking at the photo of Hound I have just realized I've missed a bit out of it too and managed less than I thought on that one too! I only have a couple more hectic weeks before I get to have a break for a week or so. The end of this semester really can't come soon enough so I can actually find time to stitch.

A Few Updates

I seem to have got a bit out of sync with my stitching updates over the past few weeks so here is everything that I have been working on in the last week and a bit. First up is Eternal Promise - managed just over 600 stitches on this in 5 days and now up to 6.5% complete.

Next up is Mystic Garden, my project from last weekend. not much to show on this one really, only 198 stitches in 2 days a bit disappointing. Brings me up to a total of 3.6% complete for this one.

Finally my project from last week and one I don't appear to have shared before - Rendezvous by Selina Fenech. The top of the first page was quite slow going on this one but it has sped up now that most of the tree has been done. Have just over half of the 1st page done now with over 900 stitches put in last week.

Trying to Stitch

Well I'm still trying to find the time to stitch but it's not going terribly well at the moment. Very busy with Normannis and Uni stuff at the moment. Suddenly have a whole bunch of deadlines to write for and loads of prep to do for our big show. Doesn't help not living on campus. I also went on a trip to Carreg Cennen Castle near Llandeilo. One of my assignments features Llandeilo so it wasn't all pleasure. Very pretty and nice views of the snow up in the hills.

Last week I was working on my Cancer Chesterton. Managed to get a fair amount of confetti done on the pearls and shells. At the weekend I did some more work on my Little Partners Reunion, this one still just looks like blobs of brown to me, hopefully sometime it will start to look like a horse!

   

It's my Blog And I'll Spam if I Want Too, Also Fighting

Yes, that's right a double post! One of the reasons for my lack of stitching is that my Medieval re-enactment group Historia Normannis is starting to gear up for our show season. As well as fighting I have been practicing new crafts such as hand spinning with a drop spindle and finger and lucet braiding. Finger braiding I think is a lot like making friendship bracelets while lucet braiding uses a lucet as seen in the picture.

Finger Braiding 

Our big task now is raising the funds to actually get there. We've even resorted to creating a Kickstarter Project to try to raise the funds. We have fun things like photos, calendars and even a shield to give to pledges so take a look. Think you know someone who would think this cool? Please share the page with them.

Lucet, spindle and hand spun wool 

Several Shades of Grey

A couple of updates this week, not got a lot done though as I've been busy doing other things.
First up is Summer Horse Sion, been working on the trees on this one. Lots of half stitches so when I did find time to work on it quite a lot of progress was made in a short time.

Second up is Little China, more greys and off whites on this one. Doesn't look like a lot of progress but I only really had a few hours on it.

Bad Stitching Blogger

Ok so I've been really bad at both stitching and blogging about it for the last month or so. I blame re-playing Skyrim! That and various trips with Uni. I've been to Tenby, Aberystwyth (twice) Llandeilo and Strata Florida Abbey recently and they've all been very time consuming.

But I do have some pictures of stitching to share so here goes! The first is a page finish on my Mystic Stitch Cats, still lots of blue on this one and I think the blob in the corner is an ear.


Second is Eternal Promise, not much done on this one, the same with Blue Moon not a lot done here either. I have worked on some more but forgot to take photos before I put them away.  Hopefully I'll find some more time to stitch over the coming weeks  but I'm not holding my breath - Skyrim is just too addictive!

Confetti!

The last weeks worth of stitching has felt like really slow going. Lots of confetti and detail stitches, I haven't made a lot of progress on either of the pieces I have been working on. My weekday project was Cancer Chesterton. Only managed about 650 stitches in 5 days. Currently at 11.3% complete with lots more confetti to come the next few times I work on it. I'm back at Uni now and that coupled with work and training means I'm not likely to get much done on any stitching for the next few months. Charts like this are going to end up even more slow going than normal!


My weekend project was the 2013 HAED SAL QS Mystic Garden, did slightly better on that with 250 stitches in 2 days. I have managed to get up to 2.6% complete on this one. I'm really looking forward to working on something with some larger blocks of colour in them soon.

Kitty Ears

In the last week I have finished one set of kitty ears and started on the second ear of another cat.

Last weekend I was working on Little China and finally got the head/face area finished and did some more work on the chest area. Lots of confetti greys to do on this one now before I get to the nice bright colours of the background.

My weekday project was one of this years Focus HAED pieces I'm working on Vampire Cat Vlad. Most of the sky on this page is done now and I have made a start on the wing area and his right ear. I managed just under 1000 stitches in 5 days bringing me up to 20.4% complete.

Summer Horse

I'm going to try to switch my update days to a Sunday now so that means I only have my weekday piece this time round. I've been working on my Permin Summer Horse kit last week. Have completed another chunk of green and got to break out two new shades of blue. Exciting! I always like it when I get to use a new colour.  The blues are quite hard to see in the photo but they are there, honest!

Cats and Snow

For the last week I have been working on two cat themed pieces. My weekday piece was the 2011 HAED SAL SK Phuan. I managed to get quite a bit done, helped by the fact I got snowed in on the Friday so didn't have to go to work. I actually have part of the cat done now, seems to have taken me ages to get to those ears! I wasn't the only one enjoying the snowfall - the horses loved it too!

My weekend project was the Design Works kit Southwest Cat. I think I've worked on this about 3 times since the last update for this one and I finally get to stop working on the green of the table and get to the the pot with the nice bird design on it.

Eternal Promise Page Finish

As previously mentioned in my TUSAL post I finished my second page on Eternal Promise. I have also done 600+ stitches on the next page and reached the center point of the top row of 10x10 blocks. I can tell because there is a pretty little flower marking the middle of the top border. Looks like there will be a lot more browns and greys and confetti on this page but there is also Aragorn's  head to start right at the bottom. I might finally be able to stop stitching background and work on the main focus of the design.

TUSAL Jan 2013

So it's time for the first TUSAL post of 2013. I'm continuing filling up my jar from last year. I hope one day to be able to fill it completely and start a new one but that may take a while. I have also made some progress  on Eternal Promise with a page finish but I'll update with that next week.

New Year Green

So I've been stitching lots of green for the last week. Mt last project of 2012 was the HAED SWIP Tickle my Tummy. Managed over 1000 stitches in 5 days bringing me up to about 2% complete. This one is working up quite fast as there are lots of blacks of 939 on the first page, just a shame I'm not a fan of the 939 shade.

My weekend project has been the 2013 SAL QS Mystic Garden. On this I have managed about 500 stitches. But as I only count my completion by 10x10 blocks I'm still only at 0.5% complete on this one.

End of the Year

So this is my belated last post of 2012. Over Christmas I worked on Enchanting Pegasus. Very pleased to have reached the right hand edge of the design so that I now know it fits onto the fabric in three directions! hopefully that means the bottom will fit on too. never quite trust that the fabric will be the right size in kits or that I wont make a mistake centering the design when I start. Will be putting this one away for a while so I can work on more HAEDs on a regular basis.
 

Over the last weekend I was working on Tinker, from the same set of kits as Monty the cat I finished a few moths back. Had about 100 stitches done in Tinker before this weekend and made good progress on the little cat in two days.

Border and Water

So since my last update on Pharaoh's Hound I've managed to finish the sky/moon and get to work on the border. The top is done and 1/4 of the sides, only have the remaining 3/4 to do before the finishing details get added and I'm done. I think this is 10 days worth of work since my last update. The border is full of fiddly little fractional stitches, they're worse than HAED confetti! They also seem to be charted full of mistakes - on the cover of the chart the 3rd glyph down is a different colour on the bottom than I have stitched it, only noticed after I was done and can't be bothered to correct it. Also the little chap 6 down has the wrong colour charted for his arms and legs, I think someone forgot to proofread the chart before it was published!

Worked again on The Wave at the weekend. Lots of water stitched this time. I have now reached the halfway point on the main part of the design, need to do the whole of the right side now and beach at the bottom and sky at the top of the left side now so that means I'm about just over 1/6 done in total.

Cancer Chesterton December 2012

It's been a while since I updated this one but I've finished page 3 (which was confetti hell) and made a good start on page 4 which has some confetti heavy parts and some nice larger blocks of colour, I plan to work on this one regularly next year and hope to get a page finish. So far I have about 10% completed.

Eternal Promise December

Just a quick update this time of my progress on Eternal Promise. Only have the last row of the page to do now for a page finish, then I can make a start of the page that has the top of Aragorn's head on it.

Pegasus and Blue Moon

Well I think the title nicely sums up what I've been stitching this last week. I've made some nice progress on the sky on Enchanting Pegasus, think this update photo shows two weeks worth of work, but it's really coming along quite well. I think the clouds in this look really nice. My other piece has been the 2012 HAED SAL Blue Moon. I have been looking at the progress others have been making on this and they have all got so much done! Got quite a lot done myself the last two days because I finally got to work on a non confetti bit.

Summer Horse

So this week I have been working on my Summer Horse from Permin AKA Sion, got lots more green done in the 5 days I worked on it. Think I have actually worked on it twice since the last photo I took so it looks like I've done even more in the last week than I really have. Nice to do some half crosses as they stitch up really fast compared to everything else. The only downside is that on such a low count fabric it has really poor coverage, not sure what the kit makers were thinking there! Looks even worse in the photo than in real life.

For my weekend project I worked on Little China. The little face on the little kitten is now showing signs of having ears. Might get the whole of his head done soon. Then all I need to do is to stitch the rest of the body before I can move onto the nice bright colours. I figure If I do it that way if I never get round to the background at least I have the kitty fully stitched and that could be finished on its own.

And Yet Another HAED

So as it it once again poring down with rain and I've finally charged my camera battery I thought I'd write the update I was going to do Monday but failed at due to a dead camera. First up to show you is yet another HAED. This one is Wolf Manor by JBG. Started it as a new start in July and have only done about 4 days stitching on it in total so far, the greys and blues have been nice and easy to stitch but the colours in the candle light were starting to drive me crazy, so many colour changes! This was one of the first charts I got from HAED so it's nice to finally see it being worked on. It's stitched 2 over 1 full crosses on 25ct linen. 

My weekend project for last week was the Julie Hasler Unicorn from here Fantasy book. Still working away on all that white, glad I'm only doing it for two days at a time. I find as it's all one colour it looks like I'm making no progress at all on it until I compare photos.