Continue reading »]]> The super speedy stitching continues still as I finish another page, this time page 2 on Snow Girl.  Just over a week to do but it was a very busy week with not so much time for stitching.  I’ve been getting back to my parking working it a little differently on this one because of it being on the magic guide fabric and the guide lines being every 20 stitches rather than the 10 that I stitch in on the others.  I think I got used to it though.

Snow Girl 12th May

In the bottom corner her hair is making an appearance, the main colour is black but there were lots of greys and blues to work around it.  I’m not sure if it comes out on the photograph but around the hair there are some lines of the darker background blues and they really look like stray strands of whispy hair.  I think it will stand out more as I get more of her hair in but it’s an amazing detail.

I’ve already consulted the random selector for the next page.  I’ve had a few pages switching between Whispers and Snow Girl but now it’s the turn of Computer Catastrophes for a page.  I’m looking forward to the bright colours which will make a change to the blues and blacks that I’ve been using recently.  I’m looking forward to having more time for stitching this weekend and after weeks of dull, wet weather the sun is making an appearance so I’m going to make the most of the natural light for stitching.

Continue reading »]]> Ouch my shoulders ache.  Spent all evening stitching because I thought I could get my page finished on Whispers.  Yes I did it and it only took me a week.  I’m not sure what it is about her but she really seems to stitch well and I barely notice the time on her.

Whispers 3rd May

This page I finally got some proper foreground to stitch.  I’ve had little bits of the wings on other pages but this time I got to do some of the feather detail and it looks gorgeous.  The colours in the wing are the same colours that I’ve been using for the background and the trees but they just stand out so well.  I did a bit of parking this time around as well so it could be that it felt quicker as I wasn’t starting and finishing colours so often.  Just another wing page and then I reach the page that has her face on it.

I tried some platinum plated needles.  Not entirely sure how well it lasted, the needle I finished with was dulled but I think I might have mixed it up with my other threaded needles and they got switched around a lot.  Not sure that I noticed a lot of difference so I might stick with my cheaper needles as I don’t feel bad about discarding them when they start to drag.

So my page is finished and the random selector has been used to see what will be stitched on next and it’s Snow Girl again.  It will be nice to get another page done on this as she is so beautiful and I really want to get her done but there is a little part of me screaming to stitch one of my dragons.

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Whispers 15th April

Page 16 of Whispers is finished and it only took a week.  No idea how I managed to get it done so quickly, it could well be the blocks of colour need less concentration and I’m able to just get into the zone on it.  This page was mostly dark blue with a few areas of other colours but they only seemed to stand out once I’d finished and taken the picture.  I can now say that I only have 40 pages left to stitch on this one and just two more pages until I get to the face.  But I start on some of the foreground on the next page as a bit of her wing starts to emerge.

I’ll be going straight onto page 17 now, Snow Girl was the first choice in the random selection but I don’t have everything ready for her yet so I had to re-roll.  It’s going to be a busy week next week so I doubt I’ll be able to get the page done that quickly again but the blocks does make it a lot easier to pick up and put down.  I’ll probably also spend some time getting Snow Girl ready so that if she does come up again after the next page I’ll be ready for her.

Continue reading »]]> I’ve had loads of time to stich this weekend thanks to the bank holiday and typically dull bank holiday weather.  Good Friday was a very long sewing session so I managed to get a lot done on Computer Catastrophes.  I knew that I should get the page done this weekend but that was before I hit all of the colour changing in the glass.  Once I got into it though it still seemed to stitch up nice and quickly.

Computer Catastrophes 8th April

So page 4 of Computer Catastrophes is finished and the whole thing is about 15% complete and it has been nice to work on it again as I hadn’t picked it up for a few months.  The colours have been a nice break too.  The random selector has been checked and the next page that I will be working on is page 16 of Whispers.  I’m pleased that this one has come up, it’s definitely the one that I feel bad about if I leave for any time.  I’ve had a quick look at the page, lots of blocks of dark blue on this one.

Continue reading »]]> The randomiser said that I should stitch a page on Computer Catastrophes and it feels like ages since I was last working on it.  I think it was just before the new year and I had got the face of the cat in.  I’ve started on page 4 and I’m over halfway through it now and very impressed with my stitching speed.

Computer Catastrophes 4th April

I’ve slowed up a little now because there is a fair bit of confetti on the glass of water that is just appearing.  As soon as I started it I remembered the confetti nightmare of the decanter in QS Curl Up With a Good Book.  It hasn’t been that bad yet and I keep reminding myself that it’s much more interesting than the big block of black that I stitched on Whispers.  The rest of the page is more cat and more glass but I’m hoping that thanks to the long weekend I can probably have the page finished soon and then it’s time to ask the randomiser to make the next selection.

I treated myself to a couple of jigsaw puzzles as well recently.  I’m not sure why I had the urge to do one and the main problem is being able to do the jigsaw without the assistance of Grumpy Cat.  So I got myself a puzzle store to keep it all safe and in one place.  Grumpy Cat was not impressed the first night I tried to do some and he went off in a grump.  I’m sure that soon he’s going to see me working on it and decide that batting the pieces across the floor and under the sofa is the best fun a cat can have.

Continue reading »]]> Just a quick update before I turn the pc off for the night.

System 4 Lapstand

First my new toy arrived safe and sound after a slight delay at customs.  It’s a System 4 lapstand and q-snap holder and I love it.  Seeing as I’d been getting on so well with my floor stand I decided to treat myself to the lapstand with the q-snap holder for working on my smaller projects.  The holder will fit onto my floor stand if I wanted to use it that way but I’m getting on so well with the current set up.  The lapstand comes with an extension piece but I haven’t found that necessary when I have it sat on my lap.  I think if I was using it on a table then the extension piece might be useful.  I can use the extension piece on the floor stand as well if I need too.  It’s an expensive system and it doesn’t help that I can only get it from the US so there’s postage on top of that and import tax if you’re unlucky enough to get it picked up.  But I have to balance that with the fact that I pretty much use either of the stands every day (almost every day) and I expect to get years of use out of it; so it’s a big investment but I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy with a stand and I’ve tried a lot of them over the years.

So as my new stand had arrived then it was only right that I spent lots of time stitching something on it so rather than swap back to Whispers I’ve been working on Couch Dragon and having so much fun that I’ve finished page 1.

Couch Dragon 27th March

I had already done the top half of the page but the bottom half stitched so much quicker once I wasn’t juggling the q-snap and trying to find a comfortable stitching position.  I enjoyed it so much that I’ve been really tempted to stick with it but then I got really guilty about the others I have started and not really having an organised way to spend time on each of them.  A screaming rotation doesn’t work when they’re all screaming.  So I’m going to let chance decide what I’m going to stitch.  I have a spreadsheet which will randomly select one chart from the four I have started, I then stitch a page on the chart that the spreadsheet (now known as the stitching fairy) selects.  Tonight I finished page 1 of Couch Dragon and the random chart selected is Computer Catastrophes so tomorrow night it will be back to my floor stand and page 4 of Computer Catastrophes.

See you soon for another update and thank you for the awards it’s lovely to know that you enjoy following my updates.  This one ended up a lot longer than I expected, goodnight everyone and happy stitching.

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Mini lost in you 22nd March

After all of those blocks of colour I fancied a change, I fancied changing colour every few stitches, I wanted confetti.  So this week I’ve been working on Mini Lost In You again, I’d just got to the hair on the guy in this picture so I was just in the right place to have something interesting to stitch.  I haven’t really spent that long stitching this week thanks to coming down with a really grotty cold and I was so bored as I couldn’t even get the energy together to do any stitching.

I like the way the page has come together.  At first I was a little unsure about her hand as it looked too much white but since I’ve got the rest of the shading in and got the page finished I’m a lot happier with it.  I really love the thumb.  The earring seems to stand out more in the photograph as well, I haven’t really had a chance to stand back from it properly yet so photos are really useful for seeing all of those little details properly and getting those colours to blend together.

And my new stitchy toy arrives tomorrow.  I’m so excited, I’ve been so impatient waiting for it to arrive but it was held up in customs.  At least I know it’s safe and it makes my what to stitch this weekend decision for me.

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Whispers 14th March

I think I spent more time dreading page 15 of Whispers than it actually took me to stitch it.  Thanks to a couple of days off work I managed to get the page done in six days.  I’m not sure I’ve ever completed a page so quickly but I’m sure it’s all down to the big blocks of black.  I really had to keep breaking it down stitching 10 rows of the black and then going back to fill in the dark blues and browns that were dotted about.  At the bottom of the page you can just make out a couple of light patches which are the top leaves of a bush.  I think for the rest of the picture the first page of the row is dominated by a big leafy bush and lots of colour changing – I know I’m going to be looking back in fondness at all of the blocks of colour I’ve been moaning about.

Still not sure what to do next, whether to pick up something else for a week or get started on page 16 and it’s big blocks of blue.  My new toy hasn’t arrived yet so I think I might spend the evening playing computer games and make a decision tomorrow depending on whether or not the postman brings me my parcel from America.

Continue reading »]]> My break from Whispers lasted all of two days.  I did get a little done on Couch Dragon but not really enough to be worth a picture yet.  I was just going to grid my page on Whispers ready for getting back to it this weekend and I told myself that I’d be switching between her and one of the others because of the amount of blocks of black that I have to stitch on this page.  Instead I ended up getting started and not switching at all.  I am just over halfway through the page though so I’m actually quite pleased that I’ve been able to get on with it.

Whispers 11th March

There’s a patch of different colours at the bottom of this page, I don’t have them threaded yet so I’m hoping that it’s a change from blues and blacks.  She’s rolled up a bit on the scrolls now which is why the top of the picture looks a little odd.  I think that I may unroll her for full size pictures whenever I finish a row of pages.

If I stick with this page I hope to have it done by the end of next weekend which should coincide with a nice new stitching gadget turning up which may be able to tempt me back to either Couch Dragon or Mini Lost In You. I really think I need a switch around at the end of this page.  There’s a lot of black on this page and on the next page there’s a block of one of the dark blue colours although it does seem to have a few more patches of colour changing.

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Whispers 4th March

Just grabbing a bit of quiet time to celebrate a page and row finish on Whispers.  Managed to grab a bit of stitching time yesterday to get the page finished off which takes me to 2 rows done and just over 25% complete.  Only 6 more rows to go.  That’s most of the background done now, well all of the sky, and now I start getting to the bits that include the angel/fairy.  I think it’s a couple of pages of background and then a few of her wings before I get to her face.  Next job is to scroll her up and start gridding the next row of pages.

I’m going to be taking a small break from her for now though.  It’s another busy week ahead for me so I’m going to decide between Mini Lost in You and Couch Dragon.  The dragon is favourite at the moment as I’m on a block of colour plus I’ve only spent a couple of days on it so far.  But then the mini has a lot less colours and so there’s a lot less to get out and put away again and once I’m through the confetti I’m back onto blocks of greys and whites.

Must dash lots to do before settling down with some stitching, I’ll be back next week with an update of something.