Cabin in the Woods

HAED - Cabin In The Woods (Faulkner):

Page 19 Finished. 1 page (of 42 pages) stitched which is 3%

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.

Week 27

Thank you for your comments and emails I really appreciate them! Sorry I haven't been visiting your blogs this week but there are not enough hours in a day at present to fit everything in. I have undertaken a couple of large projects for both the business and home so when I finish work for the day I am only fit to stitch for a short time before bed. I will catch up with everyone as soon as possible.

I am keeping to my stitching rotation, but because of the above I am not getting a lot done on each project. This week I have been working on L&L's 'The Quiltmaker':

If you click on the image it will take you to see what it should look like when finished. I would have got more done on this if my scanner and PC were friends with each other. I always get an enlarged working copy of the chart so I can see it easily and also mark off where I am going or finished. It took a lot longer to sort out than it should have, but at least I have it now, so there should be more progress when stitching on this in the future.

I also managed to finish Waxing Moon's 'Hitchin' a Ride':

I altered the snowflakes and missed out the backstitching in the sky. I love this design; I think it is such a fun one for Christmas!

Yesterday evening I worked on HAED's 'QS Believe':

Again if you click on the image it will take you to see what it should look like when finished. It was just blocks of colour, so easy to stitch, just what I needed yesterday.

Tonight I hope to bring out HAED's Tomboy for a turn.

I won a HAED chart!

The Heaven and Earth Designs forum ran a game of bingo for fairy day and I nearly fainted when I won it! Two other ladies won as well and instead of selecting one of us to win the prize, HAED very kindly agreed to give all three of us a free chart. I chose Pirate by Selina Fenech. I am delighted to have won and to be able to select a chart that I love.

This week I worked on HAED's 'At First Sight' by Linda Tso. You wouldn't say I was addicted to HAED charts would you. Well here is my progress so far:

If you click on the image it will take you to see what it should look like when finished. I loved working on this design it has been the easiest so far of any of the HAED Charts I have worked on. I didn't spend as much time stitching this week so there isn't a lot done.

I worked on HAED's 'QS Believe' on Wednesday. This is my progress so far (again you can see what is should look like by clicking on the image):

I enjoy stitching this much more on the 18 count.

I am sorting out Lavender and Lace's 'The Quiltmaker' and hope to start stitching on it this weekend. I don't know why but every time I go to type 'Quiltmaker' I end up typing 'Guiltmaker'.

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.

This is my start on HAED's Cabin in the Woods:

I started on page 19 instead of the top left as I usually do. Sorry the photo isn't too good, it does look better IRL. I should get more done the next time I work on this as most of the gridding is done and all the threads are sorted ready and cut into workable lengths.

I haven't been getting as much stitching time lately, so not much to show in this post. I did put a total of 3 stitches into HAED's Seven Hearts on Wednesday. It was our 7th wedding anniversary and although I didn't have time to spend stitching I wanted to have made a start with this chart on the day. We got this design as we thought it was suitable for the occasion.

There are seven hearts hidden in the picture, can you find them?

Update Continued

Following on from my last post here are the two promised photos.

DMC - Tiger and Cub:

I had fun gridding the black and sorting the threads of the kit - not.   It was the worst kit I have had for sorting threads out. For example there were six or seven shades of grey with descriptions such as pale grey and light grey. Then there were the oranges etc.. The totals of the strands didn't help either as mostly they were the same quantity. Luckily I have a DMC shade card (and a fantastic husband, who helped a lot), as in the end I had to use that to work out which thread was which. This is the left ear which is 9.4% of the total. I was gradually getting used to stitching on the black before I moved on. I am looking forward to stitching on this again.

HAED - QS Believe:

I decided to try 28 count Brittney to stitch this but am really not enjoying it. Only 6.2% has been stitched so I've made the decision to restart it on 18 count Aida.

I am just starting HAED's Cabin in the Woods. Hopefully I will get the first stitches in tonight.

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!