December IHSW

It's that time of the month already - yay!  Hermit and stitch for all you are worth :-)  I'm hoping to get some major stitchy time in as DH isn't home yet so it's just me and the girls.  Just click on the hermie link to the right and that'll take you right to where you need to be!

Happy hermitting everyone! 

... and the blogging is still behind!

I don't seem to be getting the hang of this, do I? ;-)

I am waaaay behind with my stitchy questions and I have now received the travelling pattern and a really lovely Christmas card from Jo.  I really must get my stitch on with that pattern!  Life has rather got in the way with school finishing and Christmas coming but I am very conscious that I need to get it done - sorry everyone!  I am still in two minds what to do, whether to follow the pattern or go for something small and different - I think something different might win.

Anyway back to the questions for now:

Day 5: How long did it take from the time to learned to stitch, to finish your first project?

eeek, can't remember how long that first piece took me .. it must have been a few weeks.  Well it was 20 odd years ago and didn't make a note then of how long things took me.

Day 6: What is your favourite piece that you've stitched?

It's a toss up between the birth sampler I did for my DD2 or my HAED finish, Porthole of Fantasy.  The sampler for sentimental reasons and the HAED, well because it's a HAED!

Day 7: Your least favourite?

Well, it's one of my UFOs.  It's a picture of Valentino Rossi on his bike that I decided to stitch for DH for our wedding anniversary about 4 years ago.  There is 27 different shades on blue and it's on 14ct aida *shudder* needless to say, that's why it's a UFO! 

Advent Calendar 14 December 2011

Hello everyone joining in the fun with the blogging advent calendar!  Today is my turn and I have chosen a picture of a cushion I completed last year to add to our Christmas decorations.  He was really quick to stitch and the pillow came ready made but I think he looks great!

Our tree has been up for some time, my three girls couldn't wait.  Since then our two kitties have been making whoopie with my ornaments - luckily the precious ones at at the top :-)

As the girls are still quite young, we are still 'developing' our traditions.  Some things that I have continued from when I was are a present at the end of the bed (keeps them quiet for a bit in the morning) and waiting until they have eaten breakfast before opening presents - mean I know but let's face it once they get started it all seems to be over in minutes!

Best wishes for the Christmas season to you all!

Ok Ok .. I know

I've been AWOL again, and I haven't kept up with my question of the day either :-(  BUT I have got some news to share ... I will be the next recipient of the travelling pattern!!!  You can see it on Jo's blog here and check out how gorgeous Jo's version of it is!  I'm looking forward to its arrival :-)

Hopefully normal service will now resume, and I will try and pick up where I left off on the questions ... well I'll try anyway lol

Hasn't worked very well, has it!?

The whole point of these questions was to try and encourage me to blog everyday.  Well .. uh .. nope, that ain't happened!  Here we are on 4 November and I've missed three days' worth already .. oops!  Right, catch up time.

Day 2: What is your current stitching project?

At the moment I am working on one of my HAED projects, Tranquility.

Day 3: Do you have any other WIPs?

Seriously, is this a loaded question or what lol !  Of course I have other WIPs, or should I call them (slow)WIPs?  I have - actually I am not going to say how many - other HAEDs on the go and also some kits that are in my 'deep storage' that really ought to be finished at some point.

Day 4: How did you learn to stitch?

I bought a kit and followed the instructions!  So totally self-taught as no-one in my family, or none of my friends come to think of it, were stitchers.  My Nan used to knit and crochet and my Mum can knit and is great with a sewing machine, but at the time she wasn't a stitcher (although I have now turned her to the dark side, along with my sister!).

Not really much else to blog about today and, most boringly, no photos :-( I've been making steady progress on Tranquility and had hoped to have half the page done by now but I'm not quite there yet.  Hopefully I might get caught up a bit over the weekend, children allowing.

We've had the final page for the SAL today too, so I really ought to do some more on Curl Up as I think I am a couple of posts short of the requirement to qualify for the remainder of the SAL charts.  I  also need to do some more work on Ice Wind, but I just can't seem to tear myself away from Tranquility.  On the plus side though, I have met - quite unintentionally - some of my yearly goals on the HAED BB!  Yay, go me!

Trying to get back in the blogging groove ...

I've been in a bit of a blogging blackspot for a while now so, finding inspiration from my fellow stitcher and blogger Kerry, I am going to try and answer one stitchy related question a day and what better day to start than the first of a month?  Thanks to Kerry for the questions - you can find her fabulous blog here and if you want to know what other questions there are, you can check them out in the "Coming Soon" section of my blog.

Although I may not have been blogging, I have been stitching, and got a page finish on Tranquility which I am very excited about.  It took me exactly four weeks - not bad considering that the little bit of butterfly was a confetti nightmare!  Still, it was mostly lots and lots of blue - disappointingly I haven't been able to spot the butterfly shapes that are apparent in the background of the original art. Perhaps they will become more visable as I move through the next page.

I've been having issues with iPhoto and can't get photos from my camera to my lappy which is frustrating to say the least.  I shouldn't complain as this is the first problem I've ever had with my Mac - perhaps Mr Jobs is having the last word ;-) RIP - such a cool guy.

So, here is a picture but it was taken on my iPhone so you will have to excuse the quality :-(

I have moved on to page 2 which is lots more blue and a whole butterfly this time.  I'm hoping to get through it quickly because I want to get to her face on page 3!

Finally, today's question of the day :-)

Day 1: What was your first finished project?

It was actually my first start and my first finish (I obviously was a lot more disciplined then lol) a Country Companions kit of Tom Mouse and he wore a stripey jumper and wellies.  Luckily it was lots of blocks of colour and I stitched it as a present for my Nan.  I framed it (very badly) and it hung on her wall until she died and I think one of my cousins has it now.  If I looked hard enough I could probably still find the chart in my stash!

IHSW

I had a great hermitting weekend!  Despite the girls being around and DH not going back to work until Sunday morning, I got loads done :-)  I worked on one of my HAEDs - Tranquility by The Vintage Angel.  She is being stitched one over one, full crosses on 28ct bone jobelan.

The only problem I have now is that iphoto has let me down and just crashes everytime I try to import a photo :-(  I have taken one with my phone and have posted this for the meantime, so sorry no before shot just yet ..

There has been an awful lot of blue but bizarrely I have enjoyed stitching it.  You will see that one of the butterflies is starting to appear at the bottom :-)

It's almost that time again ..

.. so don't forget it's International Hermit & Stitch Weekend starting this Friday.  All you need to do is click on the crab at the top of my page and you can sign up.  It's a great way to meet new blogging friends and is the perfect excuse to sit and stitch all day long - like we need an excuse, right?!

I'll be back later in the week with a proper stitchy update but in the meantime, a big "hullo"! to all my followers, old and new - I can't believe 65 of you read my blog! Thank you!


** edited to add that I've been having blogger issues - it took 5 attempts to get this published and I think that the comments section may still be having a crisis!  If you cannot post a comment to this post, please let me know by commenting on my previous entry and I will try and sort it out! **

.. sigh ..

aaaarrrrrrgggggghhh what is it with me and new starts at the moment??  Why can't I just settle down and get something done ... or maybe even *gasp* finished! I have another newbie in the pipeline - Tranquility by The Vintage Angel.  I couldn't resist and finally bought her in the sale.  Here she is again (I know that you've seen a picture here before but she is sooo gorgeous she is worth another look):

It seems like fate that I have a piece of my favourite bone jobelan in *exactly* the right size so I have to do it ... yes?  Completely dire on the thread front though, I think I have about 6 of the 90 I need - so another order has gone off to Donna at Cross Stitch Heaven.  But, after looking through my stash, another! Ta-da! some of the threads I need for the first column are in Dragon Charmer!  I could "borrow" them and put them back when the order comes from Donna.  So ... fate strikes again ... yes?!

That means I'll have had 3 new starts in just over a month!  Yes I know no-one is counting but seriously??  These are HAEDs we are talking about ... it's not like they are a short term commitment .. I *really* need to get a grip on myself!

IHSW 16-18 September 2011

No before picture for me this time as I had yet another new start ;-D Gypsy Firefly by Aimee Stewart charted by HAED.  This is how she will look when she is done:

And this is my progress after the weekend.  Stitched on 28ct light moss jobelan, one over one and full crosses:

I didn't get as much done as I had hoped, far too many things going on and the girls didn't give me much time to stitch.  Hey ho, tomorrow is another day!

I've had to have a little re-organise :-)

Since we added Missie and Jess the kittens to our family, my stitchy stash has been increasingly in danger!  At first, they left it well alone but now Jess has decided that she rather likes the taste of DMC, Missie likes to swipe my needles and they both like to sleep in my workbasket!  

I am so used to be able to leave everything as I left it that it has come as rather a shock that I will now have to pack away each night.  So, never one to miss an opportunity to spend money on stash, I have made a couple of purchases to make the tidying away a little easier! :-D

First of all, I invested in a little unit with drawers in.  The gap between the wall and the sofa is so small that I really didn't think I would find one that would work.  But this little unit is perfect - I picked it up in Argos (and it comes in other colours too).  The top drawer has my threads and wips for my QS, the second drawer my BAP and the bottom one has my spare q-snaps and bits and pieces.  The top is also useful for standing my ORT tin on ;-)

But, not content with that, I decided I wanted needed something to pack away my current wip each night.  I didn't want to have to rummage around in the drawers to get everything together each time I wanted to stitch.  So, I found this!

Cath Kidston

I first saw it when I went to London at the beginning of the holidays in another colourway but this one has just been released and I just had to have it. So now I have my very own caravan - it really does make me smile everytime I look at it! 

Wow, it has been aaaages!

I just looked at my last post and it was 11 August!  It just goes to show you that the summer holidays really do nothing for your free time.  I had so little time to stitch, let alone blog :-(   But it was good to have fun with my girls, even if the weather was - as usual - disappointing!

Now the girls are back at school, DH is back at work for three weeks and the perfect time of year for staying in with your stitching is on it's way, it's time for a little me time.  So, in an effort to get my stitchin butt back in gear I am going to join in with the International Hermit and Stitch Weekend!!  I found out about it on Joyze's blog right here and I've posted the IHSW button here on my blog too.  Just click on the button to take you to the information page :-)

I think I am going to use the opportunity to make a new start - yes another one!  BUT this new one is a big love for me and I've waited quite a while for Michele at HAED to release it - it's Gypsy Firefly by Aimee Stewart.  I totally adore this one!! I often dreamt as a child of having my own gypsy caravan and travelling the highways and byways in it.  One of my favourite books was Danny Champion of the World, which if you have read it you will know that Danny and his Dad live in one!  Here she is:

I'm also adding another gorgeous chart to my stash this week and really must resist the temptation to start her too.  It's this one - Tranquility by The Vintage Angel.  Totally gorgeous and sooo peaceful!

But what have you been stitching, in those rare moments you have had to stitch, I hear you say?! Well, I am ashamed to say, it was another new start!  I had one of those weeks where nothing was calling to me (Really? Out of the all the wips I have? Yeah right!!) so I started Moonglow by Hannah Lynn.  Well my justification was that I didn't have a Hannah in my wips ;-D  Here is my progress so far, please excuse the gaps, but I was missing some threads.

Isn't it great - I just love the colours in Hannah's work.  And, now that I've got a picture, I can really see the moon coming together, up close it has just looked like a blob!

So, that's me caught up except for the blog I drafted over the summer with my new storage stash which I will add pictures to and post in a bit.

Finally!

I have at last finished page 1 of Curl Up! It has taken me weeks! I have never, ever struggled with a page as much as I did with this one! Here he is:


It has been busy chez moi just recently. DH home, kids off school and I enjoyed a couple of days in London seeing a show and doing lots and lots of shopping! A friend and I wandered around Covent Garden for hours, and of course spent a few hours in Selfridges too ;-) We saw Pygmalion with Rupert Everett (cor!) and Kara Tointon and Diana Rigg. Totally brilliant, one of my favourite plays. It doesn't matter how many times you see it, it is still fresh and relevant today.

But now that it's settled down a bit and that ****** page is behind me, I can get on with something else for a while so I am going to do a bit on FF150. I've not stitched on her in ages so she fits nicely into the slow wip sal on the BB this week. This is how she looked when I left her last, just over a page done:



Still not sure about the green, but I'll keep going!

An icy wind blows in a page finish!

After the SK SAL week I am pleased that I am on course and have finished the first page of Ice Wind! The first time ever on a SAL that I am actually keeping up. Of course, now that I have said that I will now fall woefully behind! Here she is in all her first page glory:

I am avoiding the themed SAL this week - which is new start! New start?! I really don't need another one right now lol (but more of that below) so I have gone back to Curl Up with a hope of getting at least the first page finished and hopefully a bit more too. It's nice to have some bright colours after the tans, blues and creams of Ice Wind.

Now, a bit of news, but I won't go in to too many details right now - at least not until I have the project in my hands. I have signed up for a memorial stitch for a fellow stitcher who sadly passed away this last week. She was far too young, only 26 and had undergone a heart/lung transplant last year. She died very suddenly and has left a huge void in the lives of her family, friends and online buddies. I hope that the project that is being planned will be something that her family will treasure. RIP Chelsea, God bless.

A little update this time :-)

After my last mammoth post, a smaller update this time. I worked on Portrait of Ophelia this last week as part of the HAED ufo/swip SAL. I've been itching to get back to her, even if all I am stitching is black, black and more black! I managed to get a fair bit done, so am now 6 columns down and just 2 away from the page finish. Yay!

So back to Ice Wind this week for the SK SAL. I'm aiming for a page finish this week so that I am on track to finish her in time.

I've decided not to join in the themed SAL next week as it is a lethal one - the new start SAL! I so do not need another new start! So, I will use next week to make sure that I get my page on Ice Wind done, and will go back to Ophelia to get her page done too.

well, I am a busy blogger :-)

I must be a bit like a bus - nothing for ages then loads come along together :-D Lots of things have been happening for a change!

First my update for Curl Up after the July SAL. I have, at last, got through the worst of the decanter - whoop whoop! I can honestly say it was absolutely painful to stitch and I'm glad it's done. It took sooooo long to get through those columns. But now he is 5 columns done. Still nowhere near being on target but hopefully progress will be a bit faster now.

So now I am going back to Ophelia. She's been shouting at me for at least a week so once I had finished with Curl Up she went right back on the frame. I'm still stitching the first page, so lots and lots of black with the odd splash of dark green and dark grey!

I finally invested in a laying tool (one that sits on your finger) and I think it has helped with my tension which I was struggling with on the dark colours. I'm enjoying trying it out. I thought that it would be really annoying sat on your finger but tbh once it's been on for a few minutes, you don't even notice it.

I submitted my Porthole finish for the HAED reward program this week - such a fabulous and extremely generous scheme. You finish a HAED, send your pictures to Michele and she sends you a free chart! How amazing is that! I chose QS Dahlia by Hannah Lynn. Don't you just love those fizzy summer colours?

And, I won in the Fairy Day 2011 draw! I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened that thread and saw my name! I was expecting to congratulate the winners but I had won!!!! I got to chose a QS as my prize :-D I was trying to choose between Tag Alongs by Hannah Lynn and the QS of Amethyst Moon by Nene Thomas BUT the winner was:

QS Moonglow by Hannah Lynn!

I just love the tat on her back and the colours - purple of course and the colours in the moon are so cute!

Finally, it's my blogging birthday today! One whole year already since my first blog post :-D Thank you so much for reading my blog and here's to another stitchy year!

So that's it! More excitement than I can handle in a week that's for sure lol

Jasmine Becket-Griffith is so cool!

Jasmine

When I completed Porthole of Fantasy 1, I sent a photo of her to Jasmine as I thought she might like to see how she turned out. Well, I got a reply today and here it is (I'm pretty sure she won't mind me putting this here):

"Hey Jo!!

I was going through my ancient Spam folder and for some reason this was in here! =)

I wanted to thank you so much for sending this pic over - she looks awesome!!!

Hope your summer is going well!!

Jasmine"

I really wasn't expecting her to reply so this was a great surprise and really made my day :-)

Half year total ...

For a bit of fun, we record our hours stitched each week - and then each month - on Bubble. It's really interesting to see just how much, or how little, stitching you manage to get done each week. My hours are noted each day in my stitching diary (where I also make notes about what I'm stitching that week and how it is going) and then posted on a Monday on Bubble.

As we are now halfway through the year (already! now where has the time gone?) I thought that I would post on here how I am doing so far. So, drum roll please, to the end of June I have stitched for 415 hours and 50 minutes!

I can't believe I've got that much done. Last year, from March to December (I didn't note January and February's hours) I managed 578 hours and 45 minutes so I am catching up on that one already!

Anyway back to stitching, this week is the year long SAL - so Curl Up again. Here is how I left him after the last SAL:

I am still in the nightmare that is the decanter :-( It took me 90 minutes to do just the first 10x10 block! So sloooow going but I will beat it LOL I am aiming to just get this one column done this week, so as not to put too much pressure on myself - I'll only get annoyed if I think I will do more and then not get it done!

Another Fairy Day has been and gone ...

so here is my post-Fairy Day SAL update ....

For Fairy Day itself I was working on SK Sunny (from last years SAL!). I'm still on the dreaded confetti that is her hair and boy is it frustrating! Over the four days I had allowed for her I only managed to complete the column I had left her at in November 2010, so still a long way to go :-( Here she is:

After that, I made a start on Ice Wind for this year's SK SAL.

Opinion was divided on this one and the wonderful Michele at HAED has, as a result, done a rechart of her face and neck as some stitchers thought she didn't look enough of a 'English Rose' with the colours she had used. I have both versions and originally intended to stitch the alternative version, but after I had put the first few stitches of her neck in I have now gone with the original. It seemed to me that the neck colour was just too similar to her hair. So, we will see how she goes.

I had hoped to get half the page done but I ran out of steam halfway through the week, so managed just three columns. Hopefully next month I will be able to complete the page and will be back on target. Here she is stitched one over one, full crosses on 28ct ice blue jobelan:

So SAL week this week is the QS, so back to my little draggie on Curl Up. Fudgey has sent page 4 through this month but I am sooooo far off that it is untrue lol. I am hoping to get page one done this week - but we shall see ...

By jiminie ..

... I think it worked! My stitchy bug has returned :-) After a terribly long (for me) absence, he has finally made his way home thanks to my joining in with the HAED swip SAL!

I worked on Early Visit this week and I managed to complete the whole page, so I actually stitched 5 columns. I've now got to her hair, so the next page should be a little more interesting. Here she is:

The next two weeks are the Fairy Day and SK SALs. So for those, Sunny as I really need to get going on her and, of course, Ice Wind (a lovely new start).

Here is Sunny how I last left her in November 2010!

I'm going to give her my full attention for 4 days and then will settle her into the regular swip SAL each month in the hope that I can get her done. Page 2 is confetti mad but page 3 should be a quicker stitch. She is being stitched on 25ct, which I have now decided is NOT my thing. I don't really like my coverage on it but it does make a nice change from the 28ct and is giving my eyes a bit of a rest :-)

Finally, Ice Wind. No before picture but I will make a start on her on Friday. Hopefully by then I will have the rest of my threads so that I can start her fully kitted up.

A little progress

but not much :-( the ole stitchy bug is still mostly absent, but it is probably not helped by me having jetlag after visiting NY last weekend (which was fab!).

Anyway, in an effort to kick the little bugger up the butt, I've decided to follow the SALs on the HAED board for a bit. So this week it was the freebie SAL week and some progress was made - YAY! That's three columns now done and so only one more of that painfully slow decanter to go.

Curl Up after the June 2011 SAL

So, this week is the swip SAL and, let's face it, most of my HAEDs could qualify for that one! I've decided on Early Visit as she has been sadly neglected for a long time and to be honest, I need a break from the confetti. I'm hoping that the blocks of colour will stitch up quickly and give me some visable progress on something!

Early Visit at April 2011

The week after is the confetti SAL and that will have to be Sunny as I need to complete her for one of my yearly goals.

Speaking of yearly goals, it's review time already! Looking back I think that I may have been overly optimistic lol! So far I have only achieved one of my goals - to finish Porthole. I think that if I follow the SALs I may be able to meet the others, but hey who knows!

Where oh where ...

has my stitchy bug gone, where oh where can it blardy well be!

Stupid stitchy bug has got up and done a runner :-( I think it must have been the decanter on Curl Up which sent it running for the hills!

If anyone has seen it, kick it's butt back here please!

Not feeling quite so guilty now ..

... that I have at last made a start on the SAL Curl Up piece :-) I've managed to get in just over a thousand stitches and despite the numerous colour changes, I am enjoying stitching him and wish that I had started him sooner!

After plugging away for a couple of hours with brown, brown and brown I was starting to get a little - shall we say - annoyed. But then I pushed my frame away and lo! there were all the little details that you really just don't see up close and yes, all of a sudden all that work was soooo worth it. Here is progress after the May 2011 SAL week:

SAL Curl Up with a Good Book

(c) Spangler and HAED

He's a bit messy with my parked threads everywhere but you can see the detail coming out in the book. You wouldn't believe the colours in the decanter - pink purple green and more!

Anyway, I've decided to carry on with him for a bit and try and catch up. I've got the first three pages to work on and I don't think page 4 will come until July so I've got a bit of time ... I'll see how it goes.

It's that time of the year again .. already

And the sign up for the HAED SK SAL has started. It only seems like 5 minutes ago we were signing up for the QS SAL but we are already 5 months in! As entry for the new SAL doesn't close until the end of the month, I'm not going to say here what I'm doing and you will have to wait until sign up is closed before I post a picture lol! As usual I have signed up despite already having sooooo many wips! 

The one good thing to come out of it though is that I have at long last made a start on the QS SAL Curl Up with a Good Book. I felt so guilty even contemplating another new start when I hadn't even started my draggie, that I quickly gridded up and got started. Some of the threads have been pinched for other projects but they were easily found. 

So far it is a little slow going as there is quite a bit of confetti and colour changes, but not too bad. I've managed to get about 700 stitches done in the space of the last three nights so I'm quite pleased with progress. I'll post a picture when it's worth showing. So far, when you are looking up close, it looks like nothing but already from a small distance you can see the swirl on the book. Very clever charting as usual from HAED.

And now for something completely different ...

What with the girls' Easter holidays from school and the extra long Bank Holiday weekend for the Royal Wedding and DH going off to Italy for training before he starts his new job in Saudi, it's been a couple of weeks since I was here last. I have been stitching ... honest gov! But I have also been doing something else - my completely different - running.

I have long battled with self-confidence and depression and one thing the doctor always said was "do something for yourself, it will help". Well yeah whatever I thought and promptly ignored her. Then, I set up my little stitching corner and lost myself in lots and lots of tiny crosses. I carried on doing this for a long time, but the problems never quite went away. Then I realised, I really needed to get up and do something else for me ... something that was outside the house, where there was no "mum! I need a drink!" or "muuuuum, I'm hungry"! So 10 weeks ago, I started running around the footpath on the estate.

To start with, I could just about manage to run the distance of 3 lampposts. I managed to get round 2.5K doing this but would be just flattened afterwards. So my running buddy and I decided we needed to be told what we needed to do, both being running novices and also having, in a complete moment of madness, signed up the 5K Race for Life. Couch 2 5K was the answer and, although it has been a struggle, in the space of 7 weeks I have gone from being able to run for a minute, to running (in the loosest sense of the word) for 25 minutes at a time.

We run 3 times a week - even when we don't feel like it lol! With just 2 weeks of the training programme left that time will gradually be built up to 30 minutes and the elusive 5K! So, has it helped with the 'me' problems? I don't know yet ... somedays my doubts kick in and I struggle (like today when I actually gave up because I just couldn't run any longer) but there is a great sense of "yay, I've done it!" when you finish. I haven't lost any weight yet, which of course would be fab, but I am definitely more toned and fitter than when I started! And yes, I am ever so slightly hooked :-) So, I'll carry on.

Anyway, back to my first love, my stitching :-D After kitting up and gridding Ophelia I started her last Tuesday. Two and a bit columns in and I am going insane already. It's just black, black and more black! I don't mind block stitching but I know that I stitch slower with black, trying to ensure that my coverage is good. On 28ct it looks patchy when under a daylight bulb and close up but once you get a normal distance away, it looks good. Here is progress so far, as you see, not much.

Portrait of Ophelia (c) JBG and HAED

So as that black is driving me crazy, I'm going to swap projects this week .. to my Wall. Talk about one extreme to the other lol! I've not stitched on Dragon Charmer in what seems like forever but seeing her finished by another stitcher on the BB recently has put her in mind. No doubt my next post will be about how much the confetti is driving me mad - but lets face it, us stitchers are never happy are we?! Here she is as I left her last (threads all over the place) I think in October of last year. Stitched on 28ct light blue jobelan, one over one, full crosses.

Dragon Charmer (c) Josephine Wall and HAED

Finally, FF150. I stitched on her for a bit for the themed SAL last week but starting Ophelia got in the way. I have managed to make good progress on her though so here she is. Not sure about the green on her face, it looks a lot brighter in real life but I'll trust the charting and go with it!

FF150 (c) JBG and HAED

Lastly in an effort to clear away some cobwebs, I've changed my online profile pic. The old one was taken last April and has been there far too long. The new one was taken on our 10th wedding anniversary last year at 15 (Jamie Oliver's restaurant). I've put a photo filter over it to jazz it up a bit because it was a bit grainy. How long will this one be around for I wonder?

At last!

.. the gorgeous Ophelia by JBG has been released! I requested her a while ago (it seems like forever) and yesterday she arrived. And during sale time too! :-D Needless to say, she jumped straight into my basket, I think within 10 minutes of her hitting the HAED site lol.

Now I am just debating fabric choices for her. I did think I might try 32ct but my common sense eventually kicked in and I think I will stick with the 28ct. My coverage is great on 28ct, except for the usual black. There are occasional spots of fabby showing through. Not too bad in small patches, but Ophelia has 47,088 stitches in black, and a fair few of those are on the first page which is almost entirely black! I usually stitch on bone jobelan, but this time I am thinking something slightly darker like tan or english rose or prairie grain. Hopefully with a slightly darker fabby behind any show through will be less noticable.

Back to my current wip, FF150. This is the supercute JBG HAED released for their Japan fundraiser. Here she is 5 columns done, so just over half a page. I wouldn't normally post until I had a complete page, but it's been a while!

FF150 as at 15 April 2011

Don't you just love that eye? JBG always does good eye!

Naughty, naughty!

I've done it again *blush* I've made ANOTHER new start.

I had started Early Visit (aka Talia) last week and got a couple of thousand stitches in but then HAED released a JBG as a fundraiser for Japan that was sooooo cute! Straight into the basket and off of the printer :-D

I had the fabby already and when I checked my threads, I had all of them except two! Definitely fate that I start her ;-) So, last night, I got enough gridding in to make a start and put 300 stitches in. Here is how she will look when she is done:

Totally fab yes?!?!

And it's a ....

... finish!

After furiously stitching to get her finished all night last night and then having to give up at 1am with just 50 or so stitches to go, Porthole of Fantasy is finally done! I started her on 2 December 2010 and 100's of hours and 1000's of stitches later, here she is:

She's a little crumpled, but then she is hot off the Q-Snap so it's not surprising. Now I just need to put her up on the HAED board and I think I might email JBG a picture, just so she can see what her work stitches up like.

Well I think she's turned out great. It just shows what a great job Michele at HAED dones. I think I'll miss her a bit :-( BUT onwards and upwards, I now need to prep my fabby for the SAL and also my new start, Early Visit :-D

Themed SAL week

Well, I joined in with the themed SAL this week on the HAED bulletin board. The theme was creatures, which fitted Porthole brilliantly. So, here is my before:

And here is my after:

I didn't think that I had got much done, but it amounts to about three columns - so not bad at all!

Not much more to go now and I will have finished the page. And then it's just two and a half columns to the finish!

Page 4 done!

Well, it seemed really quick, but I think it took about the same amount of time as the last page, but page 4 is done! I've just starting stitching the green in her tail and the colours really are stunning - the photo just doesn't do them justice.

I'm still waiting for some threads to come, so I think that maybe I will skip the SAL again this month, and start Curl Up in April. I really really want to get Porthole done!

ooops I did it again ...

HAED have a sale! And I've added to my stash again!

First, I bought Early Visit by Rachael Tallamy. Not an artist that I have looked at before, but this one popped up on the review on the HAED site, and I just loved it. She looks so chilled out! I think she will be my next BAP start - which has been taken into account in my goals for the year - so she is guilt free! lol I've already ordered some fabby - my usual 28ct jobelan, this time in wood lilac - from sewandso and I'll check my threads later and then order the rest with Donna.

Early Visit by Rachael Tallamy (c) HAED

Second up, Faces of Faery 141. Another JBG :-) This one is just too cute! And one that I have been waiting for. Safely in the stash ;-)

Faces of Faery 141 by JBG (c) HAED

I'm still working on Porthole 1, I'm now about halfway through the fourth page, so well over halfway. I will have to try and resist starting Early Visit until Porthole is done!

Ta da!

Here she is, my pretty Porthole mermaid - halfway done. I am loving stitching her!

Porthole as at 3 February 2011

I have at last ordered my threads for the 2011 SAL (stitching Curl Up with a Good Book). I only needed 21 colours which was a great bonus! I just need to grid my fabby and then hopefully I can make a start for the March SAL week. I'm not going to be able to keep up with those that have already started, but hopefully I will be able to make my yearly goal of at least getting one page finished :-)

In the meantime, onwards with my mermie!

ohhhh we're halfway there ...

Just a quick update - I've finally got halfway with Porthole! 18,130 stitches and 52% complete. Hooray! I've taken a photo and will post it up tomorrow.

New Year, new project, new goals

It's been a long time! I just couldn't face anything for a while after the disaster on FF88. I ended up having to just bin her :-( I knew that I wouldn't be able to carry on stitching when I knew there was a messy bit - my OCD just wouldn't let me lol

So, on 2 December I started a(nother!) new HAED. This one is Porthole of Fantasy 1 and I love her! She is being stitched whole crosses, one over one on 28ct bone jobelan. I finished the first page last night and I'm really happy with progress so far. It's a good mix of blocks of colour and confetti stitches and there are also some sparklies in her. I'm looking forward to page two as that has the beginning of the pink dragon on it. Here she is:

Porthole of Fantasy 1 JBG at 4 Jan 2011

So .... the New Year is upon us already. Last year went sooooo quickly! Therefore, time to think about new things - new starts and new goals.

First, the new HAED sal has started, this time it's a year long and I have chosen to stitch the QS of Curl Up with a Good Book by Spangler. Surprisingly for me, I haven't started him yet and, in fact, haven't even got my threads! I really want to get some more done on Porthole (and hopefully finish her) before I make a start and if that means joining the sal in March, then *hey* whatever. As long as I post six wip photos through the year then I will be eligible for the other charts, so perfectly achievable :-)

Talking of the perfectly achievable, it's time to think about my stitching goals for the year. My addiction to HAED is as strong as ever and I cannot see myself stitching anything other than them again this year, their pull is just to hard to resist! So, I need to decide what my goals will be. So far, I've got these in mind but I do have a few more days to make my mind up:

• To complete Porthole 1, currently one page done of six (two of which are small partials).
• To complete the Sunny SK sal from last year. I've just started page 2 of 3.
• To start Curl Up and complete at least one page and two pages if possible.
• To complete at least two pages of my Wall, Dragon Charmer. Currently at about half a page done.
• To start and complete at least one page of a new BAP start. This will probably be The Three Fates by JBG but could change nearer the time lol!

More than enough to keep me going for a year I think!