Latest Update

HAED - Tomboy (Fenech):

24 pages (of 36 pages) stitched which is 69.1%

HAED - Serengeti Glow (Schimmel):

10 pages (of 12 pages) stitched which is 77.8%

Kustom Krafts - Monarch Beauty:

Six parts of the Mystery SAL on the Kustom Krafts group. 36.6% complete.

HAED - Cabin In The Woods (Faulkner):

Half of page 19 (of 42 pages) stitched which is 1.8%

HAED - Sampler Letter R (Fenech):

Page 1 (of 4 pages) stitched which is 40.6%

HAED - Kustom Krafts - Blue Eyes:

Page 1 (of 9 pages) stitched which is 13.9%

Finishes:

Whispered by the Wind - Snow:

Finished on 24th November 2008

Stitched on 14 count Hand Dyed (by me) Aida.

Angel Stitchin - Candle Light:

Finished on 17th November 2008

From Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments 2008. Stitched on 18 count Blue Cloud Aida.

August and September Progress

HAED - Tomboy (Fenech):

22 pages (of 36 pages) stitched which is 64.3%

HAED - Serengeti Glow (Schimmel):

7 pages (of 12 pages) stitched which is 72.7%

Kustom Krafts - Monarch Beauty:

Three parts of the Mystery SAL on the Kustom Krafts group. 6.4% complete.

Shinysun - Shades of Blue (Marsh)

Half a page (of 6 pages) stitched which is 10.8%

HAED - QS Hang in There (Middleton):

Half a page (of 4 pages) stitched which is 15.4%

HAED - The Pink Rose (Lenoir)

1.5 pages (of 35 pages) stitched which is 5.2%

Two Finishes and Four Updates

First the finishes.


HAED - TT Snow Family (Raisch):

Finished on 19th May 2008

Derwentwater Designs - Cliff Top:

Finished on 28th June 2008

Now the updates.

HAED - Serengeti Glow (Schimmel):

6 of 12 pages stitched which is 58.5%

HAED - Tomboy (Fenech):

21 of 36 pages stitched which is 61.2%

HAED - Desert Princess (Bowser)

1 of 18 pages stitched which is 5.6%

HAED - Celestial Night (Fain)

1 of 36 pages stitched which is 3.6%

I’m back again – well sort of.

Thank you for all the messages and emails. I will get around to replying ASAP.

It was an unplanned absence due to a couple of things. Firstly out of the blue Richard talked about us moving and after a long discussion we decided it would be the right thing to do. We spoke to the estate agent who said he thought our house would sell quickly as there was a shortage of this size house on the market in this area. We rushed getting things ready, doing all the jobs that have been put off. I also had to go through everything I own and try and get rid of half of it as we will be moving to a smaller house. Wow, I have a lot of stuff! As soon as we put our house on the market things cooled down and houses are now not selling in the area (well this size anyway).

Well amongst that I had health problems. I am receiving treatment which is going well.

My stitching has suffered as although I am stitching sometimes, there have been a few weeks when I couldn’t do any at all. In fact this is one of them as I just don’t feel well enough, I am missing it though.

I don’t know how often I will be able to write my blog, but hopefully things will get back to normal (whatever that is) soon.

Even though I haven’t done as much stitching, I still have some to share with you as it has been so long since I last did an update. I haven’t stuck to the rotation, just stitched on whatever, whenever.

I have finished Lavender & Lace Celtic Winter:

This is waiting to be framed now. It looks better in real life, but then don't they always?

Next I worked on HAED – Tomboy:

I have reached the 52% mark which is 18 pages. This was my target for the year. There are only 18 more pages to go!

Lastly is HAED – QS Believe:

This is at 16%, which is just over half of the first page. I was surprised at how much confetti or isolated stitches this had on the butterfly. Maybe it was just I wasn’t feeling too good while I was working on it, so it seemed worse.

I have also just finished Lizzie*Kate Winter Boxer but haven’t taken a photo yet, will show that next time.

I am currently stitching on The Visitor, which is a picture of a fox. It reminds me of the foxes that visit our back garden. I am trying to get the first page finished before taking a photo, so hopefully I will be able to stitch again soon.

Well that’s it for now, thank you for reading my blog.

Second Happy Dance of 2007

I would like to share my second cross stitch happy dance of 2007:

This is 'Bring on the Snow' by Waxing Moon.

Here is my progress on Tomboy:

Another 1% done bringing the total complete to 43.2%

I re-started HAED's QS Believe last night on 18 count Aida. I only got a few stitches in after gridding so not worth a photo yet.

For those who would like to know where the seven hearts are hidden in the picture I posted last week, here is the answer:

I have just discovered that some emails are not getting through, so if you have sent me an email and not had a reply please re-send it, thanks.

Tonight I will be stitching on Celtic Winter.

Update - At Last

I didn't mean to be away for so long but time just slipped away. It was time to move HandsOnHobbies onto the new server but to do so the shop had to be closed and completely set up from scratch with new software. My DH and I had two weeks to do the job, including a lot of new features and adding thousands of products with larger images! To check out the new (UK) site go to http://www.handsonhobbies.com.

The following are photos of my stitching progress since my last post.

Tomboy:

I have stitched 14 of 36 pages which is 42.3%

Diane Graebner's - Christmas Eve:

Stitched 16 blocks at top left approx. 6.4%

Solaria Gallery – Girl from Alhambra:

Stitched half of page one. I love stitching this design! Stitched approx. 16%

Celtic Winter:

Widened fur on hood, stitched muff and start of dress. Stitched approx. 55.2%

I have two others to sort out photos for and will show them later.

HAED progress

This week I have two Heaven and Earth Designs WIP's to show. The first is The Pink Rose:

I finished page 1. It is just background so not a very interesting picture to look at.

The second is Tomboy:

I finished page 13.

I had to re-do a patch of the wall in Tomboy, as I had used the wrong colour thread! It was tempting to leave it being just a patch in the wall which didn't stand out as being wrong. Every time I looked I knew it wasn't right and was going to bother me unless I corrected it. With it out the way I am pleased with my decision.

I am working on Sleigh Ride now, but I am not enjoying it. I would prefer to be stitching on a HAED. They are much larger but easier to stitch in my opinion. I am not sure if all Dimension charts are the same, but I have been put off in case they are. I like to cross stitch in two threads (or an even number at least), so a loop start can be used. I hate blending and with Sleigh Ride sometimes you have to use one of each or two, three or four strands, it just doesn't seem possible to get into a rhythm. As stitching is my hobby, something that should be enjoyable, I made the decision to put Sleigh Ride in to my random rotation rather than a focus project. It means I will still be stitching on it and hopefully one day will finish; but not quickly.

After a couple of days on Sleigh Ride I am moving onto Celtic Winter which is remaining as a focus project. I am hoping to finish the cloak this time around and start the part of the design that was originally charted. I just need to figure out how the two parts fit together!

Weekly News

This week our main water tap into the house developed a leak. I noticed a strange patch on the wall (which was recently decorated) which turned out to be caused by the leak. What could have been a quick repair turned into a saga, but thankfully it is fixed now. Although the wall does need to be sorted out!

We decided to move HandsOnHobbies to a new web server but it didn't go well and we haven't been able to get it to work correctly so the shop has been closed since Thursday evening. We decided to move it back to the old server for now and then probably start the shop from scratch using new software, which should be fun! Watch this space.

On top of which my PC is still throwing tantrums. Considering everything that is going on I am somehow managing to keep calm.

My sister is starting a new chapter in her life as she has just got the keys to her new house and is in the process of moving in. I wish her luck with her new start.

I have adapted my cross stitch rotation. I wasn't enjoying stitching on Sleigh Ride and Celtic Winter for just one evening a week. I prefer to spend at least a few days on a project before packing it away. With Sleigh Ride in particular I never looked forward to starting it and when I had to pack it away I had just started to get into it, so it wasn’t progressing very quickly. I have therefore adapted my rotation so both Sleigh Ride and Celtic Winter have slots every month and I can spend longer on them than just one evening. Also I wanted to have Tomboy as more of a focus piece. My new rotation looks like this:

Diane Graebner - Home for the Holidays
HAED - Pink Rose
HAED - Tomboy
Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
L&L - Celtic Winter
HAED - Tomboy
Diane Graebner - Christmas Eve
Solaria Gallery – Girl from Alhambra
HAED - Tomboy
Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
L&L - Celtic Winter
HAED - Tomboy
DMC - Tiger and Cub
HAED - Cabin in the Woods
HAED - Tomboy
Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
L&L - Celtic Winter
HAED - Tomboy
HAED - At First Sight
L&L - The Quiltmaker
HAED - Tomboy
Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
L&L - Celtic Winter
HAED - Tomboy
CNSC - The Visitor (Fox)
HAED - Invariance
HAED - Tomboy
Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
L&L - Celtic Winter
HAED - Tomboy

I have now also got a list of "Office Projects" which are smaller designs that I will stitch on when I have a few minutes to spare. They are:

Waxing Moon - Bring on the Snow
Lizzie*Kate - Winter Boxer
CSC - Holly Cottage
Derwentwater Designs - Cliff Top
Lizzie*Kate - Flip-it Blessings

My progress photos for the week include Celtic Winter which I did still stitch on Tuesday as usual:

and Tomboy:

I stitched half a page.

As soon as I get a chance I am starting Diane Graebner - Home for the Holidays. I am looking forward to this one. It should be an easier stitch. I wonder if it will make me feel Christmassy in March!

I have been too tired this week to do a blog entry. I don't know why I have been so tired, but it has been such an effort to do anything.

Monday evening my mum came to visit, we had a great time. I did do some on Sleigh Ride, it was lovely having someone to chat to while stitching even though at times the conversation was reduced to "one, two, three, four ..." Here is my progress on Sleigh Ride:

Mum showed me some of the coasters she has stitched, they were beautiful and I am going to set her up an online gallery to show them off - just need scans.

Tuesday evening I stitched Celtic Winter as usual. This one is stitching up quicker as it is an easy stitch. I love working on this and watching it grow:

Yesterday evening I finished page 14 of HAED - Tomboy, that brings my total of finished pages to 11. It also means I have completed a third of the design, so only two thirds to go. I am pleased how it is stitching up:

Today I am looking forward to going back to my rotation. I have decided to work on the next three projects: Waxing Moon - Bring on the Snow; John Clayton - Mountains and Lakes and Mystic Stitch - Evening Lights before going back to HAED - Tomboy.

I hope this tiredness goes away for next week as I have a lot to fit in to the week. A lot of new stock is due and I need to find time and energy to enter it into the shop system. I am looking forward to it arriving as it looks good in the pictures!

Weekly Cross Stitch Update

I only managed to stitch on Sleigh Ride for around 30 minutes on Monday evenings SAL, so not much progress. I stitched the tree trunks:

I stitched for much longer on Celtic Winter for Tuesday evenings SAL. I finished all the darker blue on the page:

Here is the current picture of HAED – Tomboy as of 3 Feb:

I didn’t get around to taking the photo until now. I am going to come back and continue this page next week. I have really started to enjoy stitching this now I can see the picture developing.

Tomboy Update

Tomboy by HAED is my focus project and I am planning to stitch on this in between my other WIP. Here is my progress so far:

I didn't get as much stitching time this week as I started an exciting new project for the business and this is taking more of my time than I thought it would. The story of my life! I will give details of the project when it is closer to being finished.

New Year New Start

This year I am working on being organised.

I am updating both my blog and my personal website http://www.jthanson.co.uk . I still have loads to do.

I spent ages working out a layout for my cross stitch WIP gallery pages and am pleased with the result. I am receiving good feedback for it already which is great. To see what I have done go to: http://www.jthanson.co.uk/tomboy.htm

My cross stitch goals for 2007 are to have started:
Ladies
1 HAED - Tomboy
2 WOCS - Regency Lady
3 L&L - Celtic Winter
4 L&L - The Quiltmaker
5 HAED - At First Sight
6 HAED - Pink Rose
7 HAED - A Favour
21 Solaria Gallery – Girl from Alhambra
Christmas
8 DMC - Home for the Holidays
9 Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
10 Diane Graebner - Christmas Eve
11 Waxing Moon - Bring on the Snow
12 Diane Graebner - Home for the Holidays
13 Lizzie*Kate - Winter Boxer
Animals
14 DMC - Tiger and Cub
15 CNSC - The Master (Lion)
16 CNSC - The Visitor (Fox)
Scenic
17 John Clayton - Mountains and Lakes
18 Mystic Stitch - Evening Lights
19 Leisure Arts - Summer Breeze
20 New Stitches - Highland scene

I have made a webpage on my personal site for my rotation with links to the gallery pages to show ongoing progress. To see it go to: http://www.jthanson.co.uk/rotation.htm

My progress so far:

HAED - Tomboy

HAED - A Favour

WOCS - Regency Lady

HAED - The Pink Rose