So

I thought I had fulfilled the requirements . . . not quite . . . oh and Doorway is bigger than I thought it was at first. Ooops 18" won't work for that.

Well

This was disappointing. The eBay seller claims she didn't know she didn't have the size 20 platinum lugana, that it was size 25. Huh? Like, um, shouldn't you know what you're selling on eBay? So now I have to find another piece of 20-ct lugana in something that will work well - or at least ok - with the colors for Strength. I have no idea what I'll be using now for Doorway and I so need that for January! I'm not even going to worry now about the 3rd piece, I'm not even sure what I was going to stitch anyway. But those 2 pieces need fabric! I'm not so tied to 20-ct for Doorway, but I definitely neeeeeeeed it for Strength, since that's what Courage is stitched on.

Speaking of Courage, I did make some nice forrays into the unstitched bits. I went around the dragon with the ( color, which was kind of neat to see how big it will be. I'm kind of looking forward to the 817's which are in the middle bits that show the dragon curving over. I can see the end of the middle page in sight!

oooh a 15% off the total on everything coupon at AC Moore (Sunday 4 - 10 pm)! I never usually get to use those because it's always during the game times and we're not gaming until after the new year. Actually, I think it's the day after page 1 of Doorway is sent out.

Edit: I wrote this a couple of days ago, but stupid internet explorer doesn't "publish post" and I kept forgetting to get on Firefox.

Progress on Courage and Tannith

Ok so I have been working on QS Lotus Wood aka Tannith as well as SK Oriental Courage. It's a bit hard to get a picture of Courage because it is black/red. I decided to try to fill in the background green bits on the first row of pages. So here are the latest pics:
Tannith:

Courage:

It's been a while, I know.

Ok so it's been a while since I last updated my blog. I had really meant to keep up with it more. I have gotten more done on the Courage SK. And my friend Julia wants it and the Strength one which goes with it when I'm done. As she says, she needs both courage and strength (while she's going thru this difficult time). I found a piece of platinum 20-ct lugana I can use for that, the Forbidden Doorway SK, and will maybe be able to get another SK out of it! Sweeeeeet! Maybe Logan? That might be a bit tight width wise, but if I don't do a 3" border for the height of the other 2, I might could squeeze him into the excess . . . waiiiiit . . . what about QS Queen of Swords Owl? I'm guessing it'd be 10 by 3.15 . . . that might just fit . . . oh well, I don't know. Oh back to Courage, sorry, I have gotten a bit further, but not enough to take a pic. I think I'll wait until I get the middle page done. I so want to get Courage done by the reward program on HAED.

I got some more done on Night Shade II, but I sort of lost steam on her. But here is the latest on her.


I had joined the HAED Bulletin Board several years ago, maybe 2008 or 2009? I had heard they did SALs on there, but I never seemed to know about them until too late to join. And I would have loved to be in the 2011 one - they did Ice Wind 1 as a SK. I have a particular fondness for that one, as she is who I picked for Corsira, Tannith & Corsaire's daughter. Ah well, I've got the actual picture. So . . . this year, I actually, finally heard when they were taking signups! Yay!
Basically, I have to post 4 pics (not the same pic) of my work on the SK (or if I'd picked a QS, 6) on the bulletin board sometime during the year and I'll get the other 5 charts for free. Aaand if I finish it, I'll be in a drawing for a free chart. Yes, please? I decided to not do any of the QSs, tho if I were to have picked one of those, I'd have picked Lovers.

The most popular of all the SAL charts is this SK - Blue Moon:


Here is the one I picked to participate in! It's called Forbidden Doorway and has the fewest participants stitching this one:


The floss lists were sent out, last week, I think. And people are picking their fabric and getting ready. I'll be using part of that nifty platinum 20-ct lugana I found. I think once I get it, I'll grid it up and get my flosses all ready to go. We won't get the first page (there are 3 dates they're being released - there's 4 pages but not much on pg 4) until January 6th, but I can get as much ready as possible ahead of time.

I thought Yarn Explosion was going to be ordering me some 20-count black lugana. Evidently, I was wrong. I never got a phone call either telling me that. I called and left them a message last night and they finally called me back today. :( You'd think they'd want to help their customers. Evidently not. I can get my sparkly threads and beads and such elsewhere online, I just liked supporting a local business. I think I might go make friends with that place in Lynchburg I heard about, called Backstitches.

I finally got pics of the pieces I made for my dad over the years. He told me "you're the only one who gives me cross stitch".
I made this for when he got married (which didn't last). He was asking if I'd mind it if he had it re-framed. He said he wouldn't bother if he didn't like the picture. I told him if he wanted to, sure. The background boxes are all blackwork - and yes, they do look almost identical to the front. I want to restitch it on black with grey floss and silver thread, so this is a day scene and that will be a night scene. lol I've been saying that for years!



There is a nice thing on the HAED website called the Birthday Club. Basically, you pay $10 and then on the person's birthday, they pick a chart and get it on their birthday. I asked Michelle from HAED - who btw, sent me a fb friend request [squeal!] - and she said yup more than 1 person could do this. So these are the ones I definitely want for my birthday:
Fright Night:


and Judith:

I love Fright Night, it's the only Halloween piece I've found that's not cutesy or nasty/gory. It sort of reminds me of the Addams Family, yet whimsical at the same time. I know I'll eventually get it, even if I don't get it for my birthday, and it'll be my annual piece to go up in October.
Judith was just released last week. And yes, that is a head in the corner. Yes, I know it has nudity, but its biblical nudity, so it's ok. Evidently there is much confetti, but she will be worth it. It's based on Judith from the bible.
This is what wiki says:
The Book of Judith has a tragic setting that appealed to Jewish patriots and it warned of the urgency of adhering to Mosaic law, generally speaking, but what accounted for its enduring appeal was the drama of its narrative. The story revolves around Judith, a daring and beautiful widow, who is upset with her Jewish countrymen for not trusting God to deliver them from their foreign conquerors. She goes with her loyal maid to the camp of the enemy general, Holofernes, with whom she slowly ingratiates herself, promising him information on the Israelites. Gaining his trust, she is allowed access to his tent one night as he lies in a drunken stupor. She decapitates him, then takes his head back to her fearful countrymen. The Assyrians, having lost their leader, disperse, and Israel is saved. Though she is courted by many, she remains unmarried for the rest of her life.

I do think I'll use the Mystic Stitch pattern I got called Belladonna as what my Star Wars character will look like. I like her enough she'll also be my fighter/warlord Bella (Bellasaria) and my paladin, Gwennie (Brangwen).

It's been a while

Ok so it's been a while since I did any updates to my blog.

I haven't been able to work on the Courage SK as much as I thought I would. I sort of thought I'd be further along or even done. I'm about a third of the way through the middle page. I did take it to the Sunday games the past few weeks, but didn't do much on it there. Well some is better than none.


I wasn't going to start this one any time soon, but one of the ladies on facebook was talking about the fabric she'd bought to stitch hers on not getting there. She later picked out some other fabric and we decided to do a SAL. That's a Stitch-A-Long. They're fun because you can encourage each other. She did get her replacement fabric - it's nice, a blue/purple color with some nice white streaks that look like lightening.
Here's Night Shade II again for reference:


I started it 11/1/11 and this is how far I've gotten so far! I am definitely looking forward to having her done.

HAED sale and I was bad

I was bad because I spent money . . . tho they were each 31% off, so it's not as bad! I wasn't originally intending to take advantage of the Halloween sale, but I couldn't resist. Plus, all 3 are Quick Stitches, so they're only $9 usually.

I'd had my eye on this one, QS Rose Fairy, for quite a while. I'm not usually one for these fairies with ginormous heads, they look a bit animeish and a bit strange. Buuut I really like the colors, it makes me think of fall. All of a sudden, the other night, I realized it reminded me a bit of my granny, who'd passed away in April 2011. The colors make me think of fall, and more particularly, of November, which is when here birthday was. Also, she used to grow roses, and she adored butterflies. So . . . I want to get to stitch this in memory of her.


I love how this one is only 63 stitches high, 200 wide, but only 63 high. Which is just kind of cool. Plus it just looks neat. But the last sale, I had decided I didn't reealy need it, but this one, since I was already being bad, one more wouldn't hurt much, right? This is QS Queen of Swords Owl.


This little beauty is named QS Forget Me Not. She was an impulse buy sort of, but I'd liked her for a while, she kind of makes me think of my friend Stefy (she looks a bit like her, well I think so). Plus . . . blue . . . my favorite color!

Courage update

Well I have finally finished the first page of my HAED Courage SK!



It took me quite a bit longer than I thought it would, but that's because we've had so much to do at work with the indexing project (I look for 8-digit account numbers, all day, every day), I've been doing up to 10 hour days to try to catch up, plus like 6 hours last Saturday and this Saturday. Whew! It's kind of exhausting, but nice to be getting paid for all that time. Which is how I got to buy the floss for the eBay aqua-haired mermaid, House Work, and Nightshade II. That, btw, finally did get here (they had sent the wrong version of Nightshade and then it took another bit of time for the correct one to get here - but I did get a free pattern). I did pick out the fabric I want for NS2 - Picture This Plus's Masquerade. It's green and blues, mottled over it. It will go well with the Voodoo from them I had picked out years ago for HW. There are two other ladies on facebook in some of the groups I'm in which also have Nightshade (one has II and the other has the HAED version, it basically looks the same). So I told them to let me know when they wanted to stitch it as part of a SAL. That's a Stitch-A-Long, where at least 2 people stitch the same pattern at the same time, they're kind of fun. Well, that is if the other person(s) don't crap out on you like the one I tried with a former best friend did. Oh well, I eventually finished that piece. So I think I'll take Courage with me to the game and hope I get some done.

latest on Tannith

This is my latest on my Tannith. I've been sort of working on it at work, well trying to at any rate, while on lunch. I got this batch of #310/black done, so it seemed like a good stopping/picture place!

The latest on Courage

I have totally just given up on trying to track how long I've worked on Courage, I just decided to wait until I had a significant amount of stitching done. So here it is! I'm probably 2/3 done with the first page and you can see where the symbol is.

2 days of stitching

Ok first, I must say, getting a picture of this project is not easy at all! It wants to be all blurry or whatnot. Booo. But eventually, I got a picture clear enough to not be random blobs of various shades of red.



This is actually 2 days of stitching as I didn't take a pic of it last night. I was going to keep track of how many hours I stitched . . . eh that didn't happen. This might have been 10 or so between yesterday and today? Not really sure tho. Weekend stitching is great for getting a lot done. I do very much like being able to take the + color and saying, "hmmmm where's the next bit of that? Oh I see 2 blocks up and one over to the left." It's still a lot of #817 . . . but I'm doing some of that, then some of the confetti colors. I guess all the other colors are confetti since at least 2/3 of this is 817. lol


Don't think I've forgotten about Snappie, since I haven't. I just got wrapped up in Courage, plus being a bit disappointed with the measuring. I do want to pick her back up tho and try to get close to being done by Sunday's game. Probably won't happen tho.

New HAED, Courage

Ok so the first piece I tried gridding was a piece of 20-count black lugana I got on eBay. It was big enough to use for 2 different pieces, the mermaid with the aqua hair and a HAED storykeep, Courage. I've had this pattern and the corresponding one, Strength, for a while now. Actually a little over 2 years, since 9/22/09.

This is what Courage looks like. It's actually only got 11 total colors, one of which is black. So since I'm using black, I'll just have 10 then.


This is after about 8 or so hours of stitching! The gridding does seem to help find where to start things, provided, of course, that the gridding is accurate. But so far, so good.

There is a looooooot of #817 or the # symbol. I mean a looooooot! I definitely will need to go to the store and get some more of that color! I've done a good start to it, most of what I stitched was #817 and I only have 1 1/3 pieces left. (Meaning a full piece and 2 strands.) But unfortunately, AC Moore did not have any 817 today. :P I suppose I'll go on my way home from work Monday to Michael's, I think I may get 2 skeins as there is so much of that color used. I think this is going to look gorgeous! I might think about filling in the dragon at least, possibly with maybe 2 strands of black blending filament? Not sure about that tho. I do think I'll need to possibly do a running stitch or a backstitch along the outside border as the framers would maybe not get it right otherwise. It's supposed to have a bit of a black border.

Now . . . onto the "new HAED" portion of the blog entry. They have released a map of Middle Earth! As in from the Lord of the Rings books/movies! And the super cool part of it was that I had gotten The Hatchling (the one which makes me think of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern) and QS Pirate Dragon (which makes me think of Girdlekrep the kobold from the Pathfinder game I play in) and it said on there to email Michele if there were any design ideas I'd like to see. So I did just that. And I got an email reply stating she's had one for a while and it was just released! omg . . . just like Christmas! I hopped on, even though I was not planning on buying another one, and THERE IT WAS!!!! omgimusthaveitNAAAOOOWWW! So yeah, it had to come home to me.


I think once I stitch this (no telling on how long it will be before I can even consider it!) I will be the envy of cross stitchers, nerds, and gamers everywhere. They will bow in awe of my nerdness . . . I will be queen of the nerds . . .
(ok maybe not)

Latest on Snappie

Ok so I did get some more done on Snappie. I had actually done some on Saturday and yesterday, but didn't really feel like taking a pic/updating the blog/etc. I figure I've done another 9 hours into her. I have found that the fabric is not really the size I needed for this . . . sigh . . . it will only have about an inch of space on the bottom edge and I'm trying to find out how much there will be for the top, especially that the top has a selvedge edge (or whatever it's called). But I'm really too far into this project - over 1/3 of the way done I'm guesstimating - that it's too far for me to scrap her and restart on a different piece of fabric. Oh well.



18 hours into this project now.

The latest on Snappie!

Ok, so after going back to Michael's again . . . and spending my 37 cents for a skein of 939, I then discover it is a very dark blue, hmmmmm that seems to match very well to one already in my bag . . . oh crap. I had already had it out and I couldn't find it because I was looking for a green instead of a blue. Well crap. I did the same thing with Fragile. oops

So I did decide to stitch for another 3 hours, bringing my total to 9 so far. I didn't get nearly as far as I thought I would, I will blame it on watching tv, there was a new series (Secret Circle) which I was watching . . . yeah I'll go with thaaaat. Oh well, it still won't take me long I think. So here's the latest:



9 hours into the Little Snap Dragon

Update 2 for Little Snap Dragon

Ok . . . so I picked up the skein of #798 today on my way home. Good, right? Yes? Ok . . . took a shower and started work on the piece. I was going along fairly well until . . . 939? Where's 939? I see 989, look again. I realized I think I misread 989 as both 989 and 939 . . . ugh! So I go to my box expecting to see it. No 939. And not in the bag-o-leftovers either. Sigh, one more to pick up. But I did go ahead and do all I could on the head/neck without it and aside from the gaps for 939, that bit is done. And I had stitched for 3 hours tonight. So that's 6 hours into the stitching. (I'm not counting the time I put in to de-scenting the fabric!) But even with the missing color, I'm rather pleased with this. Plus, this batch had more confetti to it, and that always takes more time. I'm looking forward to both a) getting the 939 to fill in the gaps and b) to doing the arms/hands and then the rest of the body. And of course, to get the whole picture done. I wonder how long it will take.


Started 9/13/11, 6 hours of stitching.

The Little Snap Dragon and smelly fabric

Ok so I had found a piece of what I thought (according to the listing, the pic was not good enough to tell) was 22 count Hardanger. And it would be a perfect size to stitch Rendezvous. And the whole thing cost $4.49. Well it was not 22-count Hardanger, it was 25-count lugana. While I do very much like 25-count lugana, I don't think I'll probably ever stitch on 25 over 1 again (with possibly, just maybe, the exception of maybe Dad's commissioned piece). Oh and plus . . . what a stench! Blech! So I sent the eBay seller a message saying hey, it's 25-ct lugana and it's very smelly, like cat pee or something, but I can wash it tho. So she replies saying she'll refund my money and to keep the fabric. Which - yay. So I was looking at my bookshelf (not thinking "oh what can I use the smelly fabric with once it's washed") and the first one I pull off is the Little Snap Dragon by Kustom Krafts. And lightbulb! This will be a perfect size piece!

But first . . . time to de-smell the fabric . . . far easier said than done! I'd been keeping it in the envelope it was mailed in, it was that smelly. Oh I did get that piece of 20-ct black lugana - no stinkiness - and have 2 projects in mind for that - the HAED SK Courage and a pattern of a mermaid with aqua green hair I got on eBay years ago (lots of confetti I think . . .). But anyway, back to the stinky. I washed it twice in cold water with my, well it's not soap, cleaning agent I guess to call it. It's this nifty stuff called Mountain Mist Quilt Wash. You never, ever should use Woolite - that leaves residue on your fibers. I've only ever had to wash 2 items in the 19 1/2 years I've been stitching, but I got a bottle so if I ever had to, I could. There's also something called Orvus, but I've never used that. And when I wash something like this, I swish it around and then let it soak for a while, at least 20 minutes. Ok . . . more like 3 hours because I forget to go back and take it out/change the water.

So . . . after 2 washes, you'd think that'd be nice and clean-smelling, right? Wroooooong! No it still smelled awful! So after consulting with Mom and finding out we did indeed have OxyClean, I decided to add some of that. I remember Grandma K used that on the hummingbird piece that my aunt's dog stole and stepped on it when I was still working on it for my other aunt. I don't remember how many washes, but she finally got it soooo light - and it's on the back - you could barely see it. Plus it did help that most of his paw print was in the border area which was not stitched, so it was covered by the frame. I got that same Hummingbird Society picture last year I think on eBay. So I combined the OxyClean with the MMQW . . . oh noes! Still somewhat smelly! Ack, cannot win! Tho now it smelled musty/moldy. So I took that darn piece of fabric and laid it out on the tub floor (it was clean) and sprinkled 2 whole scoops of OxyClean on the thing, one on each side, and scrubbed at it. Then after that soaking, I rinsed it really well and let it soak. Ok . . . is it good now?

sniff . . . sniff . . . nooooooo! Still smelly!

Dammit, I didn't want to use Febreeze . . . since one of the ingredients listed is perfumes. But at this point it was getting - ok already past getting - ridiculous! So I hung it up and spritzed the heck out of it! Then I let it dry. I went back and . . . almost the whole thing had no smell! There was just oooooonne little bit left. Febreeze bomb it!!!! Let it dry. sniff . . . sniff . . . omg . . . there is no smell. No smell?! Wooooooooo! So then I washed it one more time with the MMQW, rinsed/soaked it 2 more times and let it drip dry. Then it was time to iron it and it could then be a home for my Little Snap Dragon.

I think I earned that piece of fabric.

So after that whole debacle, you probably want to know what this Little Snap Dragon looks like?

This is what the Little Snap Dragon will look like:

It's sooo cute! I have a definite penchant for little, cute dragons! I think she'll kind of go with the little sad pink dragon (HAED SK Fragile that I submitted for the rewards program), he might like a friend.

This is how far I have gotten after a little over 3 hours of stitching.

Wow! Sooo much faster than a HAED! lol

So she'll be about 14 by 20 according to my calculations, perfect for this piece of fabric - 20 by 27 (well ish, some of the strands frayed off with all the washing). It won't matter tho if it's not exactly 3" around since I'm centering her. I'm stitching her on this piece of 25-count ivory lugana, stitched over 2 with 3 strands. Yes, I usually do stitch 25 over 2 with 2 strands, but I wanted a lot of coverage. I mean it wasn't bad with the 2, but I much prefer the 3 for this particular piece. Oh . . . I should have done 2 with 2 strands of blending filament! Never mind, I have already started her. Oh well. It's sooo funny to be stitching on 25 over 2 after having worked on Tannith for quite a while on 25 over 1 . . . these are HUUUUUUGE! I think I may see how long it takes for the dragon to be stitched before going back to Tannith. Don't worry, I'm not setting her down (and will still take her to work in case I actually eat lunch, I can work on her then), I just think that this will be sooo quick to stitch.

Ugh

I am so disappointed in the piece of fabric I received today. The only good things I can say about it are that it a) only cost $4.49 and b) it shipped relatively quickly. That's about it. I mean ok don't get me wrong, the fabric is not bad fabric but it is NOT what I paid for. The eBay listing clearly stated 22-count ivory Hardanger fabric. I did not get 22-count ivory Hardanger fabric, I got 25-count ivory lugana fabric (or possibly jobelan or monaco fabric, but I don't think those come in 25-count. Oh . . . and it gets better. The seller mentions they have cats. Well it smells like they peed on the fabric. I really didn't want to use 25 over 1 for Rendezvous. :( I suppose I'll have to just suck it up and buy the yard of it that's listed. I did send the seller an email/message telling them that they totally sucked. I mean I was nice and all, but that is definitely misrepresented. Plus . . . stinky cat pee smell. I said something like I'll have to wash it before it can be used for anything. But it's just disappointing. :(

Ok so I was a bit bad

Ok so I was a bit bad. I spent money. Buuut on the other hand, I did get a temp job, so I could justify spending some money.

I found a nice piece of 22-count I think ivory colored fabric which will be big enough to stitch Rendezvous on.
In case you forgot, this is what Rendezvous looks like:

It reminds me of Tannith & Corsaire. It also only has like 50 colors (lol "only" . . . I suppose references go a bit skewed when stitching HAED's). But I counted up, and I have probably half of the colors from this in the Tannith one. I'm waiting to put up a pic after I get a significant portion done on that one. It's going to take me a bit longer now that I'm working again. Plus I've not even worked on Heart of the World for a while. But hey, $4.49 is an excellent price for the piece of fabric I got for Rendezvous.

I also spent money to get a piece of 20-count black lugana. I've used 25 count, both stitched over 1 and stitched over 2. But I was thinking 20-count black lugana might just be what I'm hoping for for Healers Touch. I don't really want to stitch almost 40,000 black stitches, so black fabric sounds like a plan . . . buuut I don't like the look of aida and black 25 count will be a pain to stitch, so 20 count black lugana might be the best of all possbilities. :)

(I also won a nightmare mini on eBay - I cannot find the one I had bought before and while I think it was at home, it could possibly be in the pod. If I find it, I can always list this one.)

I also couldn't find my Mystic Stitch chart for Housework. I had gotten it a couple of years ago, but wasn't in any rush to stitch it. I even got the 32 count lugana in the "voodoo" combination - it's a bit softer than the linen colors, but still maroon and orange. The fabric is sitting on my shelf of videos. But I cannot find the pattern anywhere! I've looked for months around the house and still cannot find it. :( I don't think it was in the pod, but I'm starting to think I've lost my mind (also I can't seem to find the Robin Hood/Sherwood Forest one either, but I don't want to stitch that now)

Soooo . . . what to do to remedy this? I bought a new one. I just have to work 3 hours to pay for the Mystic Stitch order. I'm ok with that.

This is Housework. She'll be stitched on that voodoo fabric, so instead of a black background (which is supposed to be stitched . . . yeah right so not gonna) it will be a maroon/orange one.


This is the other one I bought - Night Shade II - this is the smaller version. There's also a HAED, but that's bigger than either one and I want her to go with Housework really well, so I'm doing the smaller one. I don't know what color I want for her background tho. I kind of think a blue. I think they'll go really well together, like opposites - red/blue, facing opposite ways, etc. I didn't see any other designs like that and I kind of like that they're a pair.


And Mystic Stitch is running a sale where if you buy 2 patterns, you get 2 free. So since I decided to get both my backgroundless witches and that made twooooo . . . I could pick 2!

So I picked Belladonna. She would be a good character picture, I'll have to remember that.


And the other free one I picked was Lissander.


I didn't get this one, but I think it's very striking. There's a 3 baby ghosts one I like too . . . I'd need to pick another 2 for the sale, tho it'll probably end before I get more patterns . . . tho that 3 baby ghosts would go well with that one ghost chick pattern that reminds me of Helena Ravenclaw aka the Grey Lady. Oh well . . .

Ok . . . monkey bib!

Ok now I can put up a pic of the monkey bib! It's all done! Woooo yay me! Done and on it's way to Brigette. I have to say this is the most akward piece of stitching I've ever done, and that includes a pocket of a hot pink t-shirt I stitched a pair of bunny rabbits on many years ago learning how to use waste canvas. I remember stitching that . . . I was visiting my granny and watching the series after "Are You Being Served" it was their PBS fund-raising bits. Ah yes, memories . . .
Ok so back to the monkey bib. Yeah, I had to hold my hand in a weird sort of way to be able to reach the back of the stitching area. Plus I'm not sure about this whole pocket thing, but hey I'm not washing it, so I don't care if it gets food in there. So I thought it would take foreeeeee-ver to stitch the second monkey. I just kept getting soooo bored with the first one, like "are we there yet" with little kids/road trips. But Brigette, who was never like get it done NAOW, did gently ask how it was coming, since said baby was due soon. So I buckled down and told myself "no Tannith until the monkey bib is done!" And 8 hours later, the second monkey was totally done and the 3 little hearts I added as well. And it was funny, I was like I think this will take me about 8 hours. And it did.



So I can't remember if I posted this or not, but this is the butterfly UFO I finished a few weeks ago. So I decided I'd send this with the monkey bib, since Brigette loves butterflies! :) One more finish for 2011 and a home for it, yay.


So because I was working very hard on the second monkey, as well as on the internet a while, I just haven't worked as much on Tannith as I thought. Plus . . . on that gold medalion bit on her skirt, I have hit confetti! I mean it's not uber-bad, like evidently almost every page of Mystic Stitch's Once Bitten (according to the lady stitching her, who btw, I think my "I want to stitch as fast as Angella" whinging has helped me get faster, has reported it is). But still there is confetti. But once I get that and maybe some of the green on the right side done, I'll take another pic. I do want to find the black on that part, I'm almost nervous, not really, maybe more a bit iffy, to just count over from the left bit, near the top of her butt. Like I'm afraid I'll count a bit skewed. Plus . . . a lot of black isn't that much to stitch in a block, even if it's best to do that first if possible.

I'm not sure how fast she'll be stitching up now since I'm supposed to start a new temp assignment on Tuesday [crosses fingers] so I won't have as much free time. But that's ok, I need a job. (I missed the temp agent lady's call and she was gone by the time I checked my vm so I hope I still have a job.)

:)

Ok . . . so tonight's blog entry is a much happier one! Michele got back to me this morning and Healers Touch was waiting for me! Yay! There are a looooot of black threads, like it says it needs 35 skeins of black. Um . . . couldn't I just use black fabric? Oh wait, I do dislike black evenweave and I don't think Hardanger comes in black . . . hmmmm will take a bit of thinking . . .

But I finally decided this was a good stopping place to take a pic of Tannith. So here she is:


I do need to work on the other monkey, I've been so very bad . . . just procrastinating because it's hard to stitch. But I really do need to do that tomorrow, no matter what. And I really should get up in the am, not 11 am either.

:(

*sniff sniff* I just tried to download the large chart version of Healers Touch and the HAED website told me that it had already expired (well ahead of the 14 day mark) - I just purchased it like 10 minutes ago. And when I emailed Michele, it didn't go thru (I did contact them on the HAED site and Michele on fb). :( I really wanted to get my chart, even tho I know I really probably shouldn't have bought it, it's been like forever since I'd gotten anything fun/new (well ok other than the 2 reward charts) and I've just been very down lately, I was looking forward to getting that one. Plus, it just makes me think of my Tannith's beloved husband, Corsaire, so it'd go in my collection of character charts. Hopefully, she'll get back to me tomorrow.
I reaaaally want this one.

Update/rewards

Well I got a lot done on Tannith - I found her butt as well as the lower right corner of the picture! And #336 is kind of hard to see on 25 count over 1.


So I did decide to try submitting both the Alien Cat SK and the Fragile SK. I made sure to let Michell at HAED know that I had forgotten to take a pic with my name and got my friend to send me a pic with my name.

Her response:
No worries and your work is lovely, thank you so much for sharing and I have attached your charts here, enjoy :-)

Yay!

I had well ok, more than just two on my wishlist, but these are what I picked out for my rewards:
Dragon Moon:

Artist: Nene Thomas
100 by 309 stitches = 4" by 12.36" on 25 over 1 or 5.56" by 17.17" on 18 count.
There are 90 colors, including 3,488 which are 032 #4 braid on the moon. I like the #4 braid, so I'm good with that.
This will be 30,900 stitches . . . kind of big for a SK, but the design is soooo pretty with the colors.

Logan SK (there is a full picture as well):

Artist: Carrie Hawks (same artist as the alien cat)
75 by 262 stitches = 3" by 10.48" on 25 count over 1 or 4.17" by 14.56" on 18 count.
Only about 50 colors, some of which are 023 #4 braid, but unlike the other one, I don't know how many stitches of which specific color there are. I got this one to do for my mom, she loves ladybugs.

Latest update

Well, I'd been kind of depressed lately due to the whole job situation. I got my hopes up and they were dashed since I didn't get the job - I'm like a backup in case someone quits or screws up. Ugh. But I did get more done on Tannith.

Nearing the right side

Ok I didn't get quite as far on the big blue dots as I had wanted to. They extend above the section where my needle is, sort of filling in the ledges, as well as quite a few in that beak-like section to fill in her abdomen below her arm/sleeve. But the good thing is that the part I did work on last night did get me halfway across the right-most page, so yay!


Ok so today is game day, so I will probably leave her at home, I took her last week but didn't even take her out of my bag. Plus I sooo need to work on the monkey bib or the Christmas present for Dad. I think I might just need to think about that for next Christmas. It's not . . . well, very interesting and has a loooot of stitches in it. It looked like a good idea, I just didn't realize how much work it would be.

Not quite as far as I wanted to get

Ok so I didn't quite get as far as I wanted to, but I did get close to being done with the H's . . . which is where I wanted to get, so not that bad. I do want to do the large black dots next (#158) because that's a nice big patch. Also it will get me closer to the right side of the picture, as well as you'll then be able to see where more of the dress is. I'd love to be able to get this done by my birthday for the reqard program. Rather than being like "oh I need to stitch this amount per day", I'm taking it one bit at a time, like the H's or the large black dots or things like that.

New update!

So I had originally decided to work mostly on Tannith through Saturday, neither on Sunday, and then back to Heart of the World on Monday. Yeah . . . that didn't happen. I just kept finding more to work on on Tannith. But I got some really good progress done yesterday and today!

well I am teh ossom

as the lolcats would say. ("I am the awesome" is the translated version.)
Why? Because I think I've gotten more done in the last 5 days than I had since I started the pattern September of 2009. Plus . . . this evening, I had a migraine. Yup. I took some meds for it (otc stuff) - one and then waited half an hour or so and took another. The only bad thing was the aura where I couldn't see very well but somehow in a way, it was almost easier to stitch? I mean not really, but in a way, it almost helped me to concentrate on my stitching. Tho this time, I got kind of dizzy and nauseous, which doesn't usually happen. :(
Buuut I did still get a nice bit done

I worked until 8 am on 8/13/11 - I had a tiny bit further than this, but just didn't feel like taking another picture.


This is how far I got tonight:
This is a bit further back, so you can see relatively how far along I am - about halfway or so on the width. There's more length-wise not shown, but it's nice to see I am almost halfway to finding the right side of my picture!


And this is a better picture, more close up of my progress. I found y's and #'s (both greens) which I want to stitch, buuut I did start on a section of h's (#553 - violet) . . . oh so much to do! Everytime I think I'm done, more to go! Plus, I think I'll blame it on the migrane, but a section of the green/gray bit I've had to restitch like twice, grrr. Oh well, I'll just stitch over the mistake. It's not nearly as bad as the mardi gras mask, where I had to re-stitch 3 feathers (left purple, right green I think, and left blue)!

I think my motivation to stitch this is because this is my Tannith picture and we go back to the Hollow tomorrow . . . less than 12 hours from now! (I've been very much looking forward to this!) So I'd like to see her stitched. I wonder if I could get her done by the January deadline for the HAED reward program - I know I won't get her done by August 30, 2011. lol I mean, hey free HAED chart? sweeeet. I think I'll take a new pic of Fragile storykeep with my name on a piece of paper next to it - they don't say I need to have that in the wip pic, which is good since I didn't do that whenI was stitching it. Then I could maybe get either Logan SK (storykeep of a cat who looks like a ladybug and some big, fluffy purple flowers) or SK Dragon Moon (scantily clad chick with a red firelizard (or maybe a tiny dragon) sitting on her shoulder in front of the moon).
Logan SK:
http://heavenandearthdesigns.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=85&products_id=1775
SK Dragon Moon:
http://heavenandearthdesigns.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=85&products_id=7066
Darn you HAED for having a 30% off sale and me not being employed and wanting certain charts!
This one I really want - The Hatchling:
http://heavenandearthdesigns.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=160_416&products_id=7562
it looks like something from an Anne McCaffrey novel and I so would love to stitch that and also that one I got from ShinySun of the chick in the lavendar dress with the green dragon. I think that one looks Mirrim and Path. Speaking of ShinySun, I would loooove to finally stitch the 3 Baby Dragons one I had also gotten. Ok, yeah I know, there's only 24 hours in a day right?

This is the details:
http://heavenandearthdesigns.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=24&zenid=nmr21nm1eaqe65e7vref1pbqb1
Reward Program
For anyone that completes a HAED design we will offer a free chart of equal or lesser value to the finished piece.

Simply send us a good quality picture (see guidelines below) of the finished piece with all the details such as fabric, design name, artist, how long it took you to stitch, any special comments (this is required to get your free chart and essential to giving you proper credit) and we will email you the chart of your choice of equal or lesser value. The following are the guidelines and each of the items must be included with the finish.

The program will be running twice a year with the next session starting June 30 to August 30 2011 and the next will run from December 30 through January 30 2012 and the same schedule for following years.

In order to receive your free chart you must provide the following with your submission:

* Picture of the front of the piece
* Picture of at least one wip
* The picture must be taken straight on and of good quality
* Picture with your signature on a piece of paper placed on or near the piece

Please keep in mind that we do reserve the right to use the image in a catalog with proper credits to the stitcher of course. All of the above criteria must be met in order to receive your free chart.

Have fun everyone!




Ok, so, I'm fairly sure there won't be enough light to work on Tannith at tomorrow's game - I have 2 40-watt (or the equivalent I think) bulbs in my overhead light and also a small desk lamp I use. So, I'll have to pick out something else - maybe the monkey bib? I found I can work on that if I stitch it upside down. Weird, yes, but it works. Strange thing? I can't stitch from the pattern upside down . . .

Tannith/latest update

I did some work on Tannith aka QS Lotus Wood today/tonight. I actually have lost track of how long I worked on her this time . . . probably another 8 or 9 hours. I was able to find a few patches of nice big color and worked on those. All those little x's . . . I think this will be the last HAED I do on 25 count over 1 with full crosses. I do still have The Moon I've not yet started, and yes, the fabric is 25 count. However, I'll be using tent stitch (which is like a half-cross stitch) with 3 strands. I do like how Heart of the World is turning out (granted I've only been stitching it for 2 days . . . I think I might wait until Monday to go back to it) on the 22-count Hardanger. I think that might be an ideal size to do more HAED or HAED-like patterns on.

Latest update

Well I did a lot of work on Heart of the World today. I actually have lost track of how much time I actually worked on it, but I suspect possibly close to 8 or 9 hours. There's just always something more to stitch. Like oh here's another patch of this color! I did stitch more on the monkey bib, tho that seems to take a long time to stitch a small area because of the whole pocket thing. I really should work on that a lot more tomorrow. I also probably should work again on Tannith.

Heart of the World - started!

I got my fabric today in the mail - it's the 22 count Hardanger I got off of eBay. I worked on it for 3 hours and this is how far I got:

This is what the whole thing looks like so far.

I definitely am hoping it will stitch up fast. It will look totally awesome once it's done. Gilee told me it would look epic. lol