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Saturday, November 7, 2015

Stitching bug is back!!

After months of feeling rather "meh" about stitching, my bug is back! I'm not sure why, but I suspect it has something to do with a challenge I joined on the HAED face book site, but whatever caused it, I am thrilled. All I know is that as soon as the day-to-day stuff is done, stitching is on the top of my list of things to do, so lots of stitching has happened the last week.

I do have a couple of SAL check-ins, but there is cross over in my projects so you'll be getting a twofer.  The HAP SAL is hosted by Stacy at Crossed Stitches and is designed to help us focus on those huge projects we may be stitching.  YOTA is hosted at Pull the Other Thread and is a WIP focused SAL.  The piece they have in common is Shakespearean Fantasy by James C. Christensen as charted by Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED). I am very pleased to say that I have a page finish!!

Stitched on 28-count antique white Jobelan with DMC 1 over 1
If you take all the stitches I have put in, I probably have two pages done but that block of black (with a few other colors) is a full page plus a couple blocks from the next.  My stitching style with this type chart is changing from cross country to parking so the next few pages are going to be a little strange looking as I make the transition.

Part of the reason for the transition is Christmas Presence.  I have spent more time than I care to think going back and filling in stitches that I missed while going cross country. I have finished two columns and hope to finish another one today.  When I put it up last night, it was here:
Stitched on 28-count antique white Jobelan with DMC 1 over 1
Because I am normally a one-color-at-a-time stitcher, I am using a low-tack tape to mask off the columns to the right of the one I'm working on so that my eye doesn't wander.  It looks funny but it does keep me focused and has the added advantage of pulling off the cat hair that has worked its way into my stitching.

The other reason for the switch is that I started Its About Time (the lack of an ' in the title is driving me crazy as I don't think the "its" is really supposed to be a possessive) by Ciro Marchetti and, again, charted by HAED using the parking method and it is sooooo much faster and easier than cross country. I was able to finish this:

Stitched on 28-count antique white Jobelan with DMC 1 over 1
in a little less than an hour with no missed stitches. I also saved time on the gridding as I am only doing the horizontal lines. I figured that if I was working on one column at a time I really didn't need the vertical lines.

Other than working on the three HAEDs, I also started and finished the November block for The Sampler Life's SAL.  It's Sampler Motif from Wendy KC Designs. It was charted for, to me, very spring time colors, so I switched them up and went more fall-ish. The colors are more muted than the photo shows.
 

Now that I have finished my small for the month, Sunday mornings will be devoted to the Plum Street Samplers Sunday Mystery SAL.  The HAEDs are put away for a while and I will be spending the rest of today and tomorrow afternoon working on Chatelaine's Secret Victorian Garden.

10 comments:

Heather said...

Yay! Everything looks great! Congrats on the page finish I couldn't imagine doing an entire page of a single color much less black

Robin in Virginia said...

Way to go on the page finish! Your HAEDs are looking good. Congratulations on your small finish! I like the colors you used for it. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Linda said...

Awesome progress and stitching Susan.

Linda

Ineke said...

Glad you got your stitching bug back! Your stitching looks good. And I am amazed about the difference in time between cross country (as I do as well) and parking. But don't you have to thread needles every time you switch colour with parking?

Annie said...

All your pieces are looking wonderful! So glad your stitchy bug is back:)

Leonore Winterer said...

I'm glad you got your stitching bug back, and it already shows! That small is pretty, and for some reason I'm really fascinated by that page of almost solid black, it looks amazing!

I haven't really found my way yet between cross country and parking...I guess I will have to tray a bit more to know what I like most :)

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

I'm so happy your stitching bug is back again.
I prefer cross country stitching but then I don't stitch computer generated charts like HAED so it works well.

The Fall block looks lovely.

Pull the other thread said...

Wonderful to see your stitching bug is back again. Well done on the page finish of SF and Christmas P. is looking fantastic. I tried cross country on Aveyond when I start stitching HAED charts and found that I kept missing stitches as well, it drove me absolutely crazy.

Sarah said...

Glad the bug is back! Everything looks great. I'm not sure if I could work on three HAEDs at once, but who knows I might try it some day. LOL.

Rebekah said...

Nice progress! I understand the concept of stitching all one color at a time but I know I would mess up so I've never even attempted it. What works for one stitcher may not work for another. I love that even people who have been stitching for 10 plus years can still learn something new and change their technique. :)