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!

   

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Another Update

Yes that's two updates in just a few days! Last week I was working on Eternal Promise. I thought I would get a lot done as I was off Uni for reading week but I got distracted by video games (and I did do some uni work too). I think I'm only a few weeks off another page finish on this. It's looking really good when you look at it from a distance, still looks a mess up close though!


I also got some work done on Call of the Unicorn over the weekend. Still working on lots of very bright pink, getting close to half a page done now, might start to see some of the Unicorn soon.

Eternal Promise Oct

So only one update this week as I have done next to nothing on Blue Moon over the weekend. Did manage to put in  about 500 stitches on Eternal Promise. More done on the trees would like to be done with the trees now. Lots of colour changes, lots of greenish, brownish grays for this part.

Eternal Promise and More

It's a bumper crop of updates this week. First up is my Eternal Promise HAED, which has now been re-released as an even bigger chart. Quite upset about that  - If I had known they would eventually release it again wouldn't have paid out for the expensive original! Although on the plus side the old one is considerably smaller meaning I might actually finish it at some point. More work on the trees and I see lots more trees in my future for this one. It looks really pretty now but just appears to be a crazy mishmash of colours when stitching. As it's been a couple of weeks since my last update I have managed to work on another HAED. I have been working on Severeielle for about 3 weeks out of the past 18 months or so. She's big, 63 chart pages. Not sure about the  colours in it yet, they just don't look right all pinky colours where it looks like it should be greys but I'm hoping they will blend more as I stitch more. 

I also have two weekend projects to update, Little China and The Wave. Little China - the kitten's face is beginning to take shape now, might get some eyes soon. Just looks a little spooky at the moment. The Wave - it's been a wile since I updated this one, I've worked on it twice but still doesn't look to be much progress, mostly just more blue. Hope to get the main part of the left side done soon, then I'll be about 1/6 done on it. Yay! Double yay because I've managed to juggle this update and the farrier(who arrived halfway through writing), should really go out and see how he's doing... 

Body! And Legs!

Two projects this week, both of which I did not update after the last time I worked on them so this is two months progress not one. I should do this more often as it makes it look like I've done loads! First up is Enchanting Pegasus. Not only have I now managed to start and complete the main body but the legs as well. Even made a small start on the background. Most of what is left to do on this now is all half cross stitch so might come along a bit quicker now.

Second project of the week is SK Blue Moon, the HAED SAL piece. Another row completed this week. Odd mix of larger blocks of colour (on the right in the moon) and insane amounts of confetti (on the far left, by her arm). Not sure I could stand to work on the detail of this one for more than a couple of days, driving me a bit crazy!

Kitty has a Face!

This past weekend I have been back working on my Monty cat kit. Kitty now has a face! And a body! lots of white on white for part of his chest so for most of Saturday felt like I was making no progress at all whenever I looked at it. Only after adding the other colours on the chest did it start to look and feel complete. Just need to do the flowers/greenery/butterfly and that dreaded back stitch before I'm done and can start the next in the series.

Earlier in the week I worked on a HAED I started a while back. It's half of a chart called L'Amethyste and Motley. I plan on stitching this design as two pieces rather than one. At the moment I'm working on the Motley half of the chart. I have include a before picture as well as a picture of where I am now. A lot of the background has a mosaic tile effect. Makes for very hard work as there is lots of confetti, the colours are just scattered everywhere. Looks really good stitched up though. 

Back Again

Been MIA for the past few weeks to to being away/not around on a Monday/not having anything to show but I'm back again now with an update on a couple of projects from the last week. First up is my latest progress on Eternal Promise, my Lord of the Rings HAED. Have most of the border on page 2 done now and working on the trees. Lots of colour changes going on here, feels as if no progress is being made as there are no big blacks of colour but comparing it to last month's update have done more than I thought. Don't think I'll be making as much progress next month as I'll be playing LOTR rather than stitching it. The new Riders of Rohan expansion comes out next month for the Online game, complete with mounted combat so stitching may have to take a back seat for a while.

My latest weekend project has been the Unicorn cushion design by Julie Hasler. Still just stitching the white on this one. Think my tension mush have changed or the white floss I was using thinner as my coverage doesn't seem to be as good this time round, but I'm sure it will sort itself out once washed. 

Another HAED

Time to introduce another HAED that I have been working on - QS Lavender Venice Night by Ching-Chou Kuik. I Started this one a while ago. I think I had done 3 weeks of work on it before I came back to it last week. Managed to get a lot of this one done as it stitches up really easily. Love the colours used in it, so pretty! Have included a before and after picture for this just to see how much progress I have actually made. Think this is now about 9% complete.

For my weekend project I was back to working on my Mystic Stitch Cats, Artwork by Jeff Spackman. Finally reached the bottom of the page on this one. Still finding the chart just made up of letters quite hard going. You have to be so careful to keep looking at it closely to not miss a stitch, hopefully it will get better once I move off the dark blues that are just randomly jumbled together and on to the bits that actually look like something!

Another (Tiny) Finish!

Yes, I have managed another finish! I went to London in the middle of last week to see Marilyn Manson play at the Brixton Academy. When I go away I take little mini projects with me to stitch on the train or in my hotel in the evening. The project for this trip was a little Heritage kit of a bay horse ( I think it's just called Bay Horse or Bay Pony). I managed to get most of it done while I was away so just finished the last few stitches and the back stitch once I got home so I have another finish to add to the pile.

I also worked some more on my Eternal Promise, but there is not a lot to show on it due to my being in London. I managed to get 400 or so stitches in while I was at home which hardly looks like anything. Over the weekend I put some more work into my Blue Moon SAL piece. I've now done 12 days on it and have somewhere over 1600 stitches, I'm not sure exactly how many as I only count completed 10x10 blocks. It doesn't sound a lot but it's over 7% complete.  I think I only have 3 HAED WIPs that have a higher % complete. These small charts really do make you feel like you're making progress!