Playing catch up

Lily of the Valley fairy worked on Sunday & Monday

Tuesday and Wednesday were for Sleeping Beauty, but because of Monday I didn't do very much, just a little bit of the white at the top of the pale green blob and some of the lilac colour just to the right of it - its difficult to be descriptive about this one but you know what I mean!


Thursday and Friday were the turn for Celtic Winter, but I was out both evenings so didn't put in a stitch - she is skipped for this round of the rotation - but she is further ahead than the other large projects so that is ok.

The weekend was devoted to Waiting for Neptune, I got quite a bit done. I need the camera to get a pic of this one and I've no idea where it is, so I will post a pic as soon as I can.

Yesterday and today is the turn for Fantasy Triptych. Not a stitch went in yesterday. Not quite sure why, too much else going on I guess. I didn't play a note on the piano either but will make up for both later today.

I've recently won some Vonnie & Hilda kits off ebay - I'm very excited! This company which produces quite trendy fairy kits, appears to have all but disappeared - they were all over ebay a year or so ago and I wasn't sure if I liked them back then. Of course, now they're much more difficult to get hold of I want all of them! *sigh*. I'll take some photos when I find the camera.

Fantasy Triptych & Taj Mahal

I worked on Fantasy Triptych on Wednesday and Thursday and this is the result. Sorry about the wonkiness of the picture but you get the idea! The work I have done this time was on the far right of the castle wall and the turret that is sticking up on the right hand side. FT is time consuming because it is all confetti stitching but its ok - I'm really looking forward to doing the backstitch on this one - it'll make the castle come to life.

And here is Taj Mahal. I worked on this Friday and Saturday - I did a lot of work on it on Friday because I was off work but found a big mistake & had to do a fair bit of frogging. I got quite a bit done though - most of what has been done on the reflection.

I feel as if I've had Taj Mahal on the go forever! Can't quite remember when I started it but it was before my last finish which was in August last year. I'm due another finish! Roll on Lily of the Valley Fairy!

Today is my birthday. I'm not sure how I feel about being 40 now - I thought I'd got used to the idea but now it feels strange. I was in my thirties for such a long time! I'm mentally compiling a list of things to do before I die - I'm feeling the urge to achieve something in my life - a list may appear in the not too distant future!

My one stitching related birthday pressie was a 'proper' pair of embroidery scissors. On the HAED website they say one of the must-haves to stitch these designs is a decent pair of embroidery scissors since frogging something on such a small scale is near on impossible without a decent pair of scissors. My old pair are in fact nail scissors and they've been chewed by the dog so I was well overdue some proper ones.

Today I've done a little bit of work on Lily of the Valley Fairy. Pic to come soon!

Celtic Winter & Waiting for Neptune

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...I lied slightly when I wrote that I can't post photos. Its a bit of argybargy, but I can upload them via my son's laptop. He's fiercly protective of it and doesn't like anyone else to go near it, but I sneaked on before he got up this morning and uploaded these two. The one of Celtic Winter looks a bit strange because I took the photo over the top of the mousemat which you can see underneath, but I was right, the sparkle of the metallic thread shows up a lot better with the camera and gives a much more accurate representation of her. I've changed my mind about the fabric, it is the right colour, its almost exactly what the model was stitched on. What was giving me doubts was the way the light blue of the letter 'N' almost blends with the fabric - but I think it'll show up better when the B5200 is on. My Father-in-law took notice of this one the other evening, I can't remember him ever making a comment about my stitching before, I think he likes it. You can't always tell with men! We held it up beside my completed Celtic Christmas but he still seemed more impressed with the white version. I'm pleasantly surprised!

Monday and Tuesday's work was on Waiting For Neptune. I had been missing DMc3072 so it was looking patchy because this particular shade features fairly heavily. I've bought a skein of this thread at least twice before and they just disappear as soon as they enter my house. One day I will find lots of little Hobbycraft bags with single skeins of DMC3072 in them. I'm sure they will be used eventually. I also filled in lots of other little gaps - many of them single stitches. Now I have all the colours I'm going to try & not leave gaps - its much more satisfying working a patch and seeing some progress instead of lots of individual little stitches.

Tonight I move onto Fantasy Triptych. I think the worked area still fits on the scanner so fingers crossed there will be another picture within the next couple of days!

Celtic Winter

Last time I wrote about Celtic Winter I said I was going to use the camera to post the next picture because the sparkle of the Anchor Reflecta metallic thread I'm using looked so dull - like it isn't metallic thread at all. Well I can't - I can't connect the camera to this computer - it doesn't work anymore. This has partly been my stumbling block at keeping this blog up to date. Cross stitching blogs really do need pictures. I can use the scanner but Celtic Winter is too big for it now. So, despite the fact I can only post pictures of smaller amounts of stitching (for the time being at least), i do still want to keep some sort of log of my progress, and this blog is as good a place as any.

I have been in full stitching flow since the beginning of the year. I am working through my six project rotation, working two consecutive days on each one. It seems to work quite well, I get a reasonable amount of stitching done, but don't have a chance to get bored with any one project. The only time I strayed from this was 4 consecutive days on Lily of the Valley fairy when I was away from home for a few days and took her with me. Currently Lily is the closest to being finished, followed by Taj mahal, then Celtic Winter. Fanstasy Triptych and Sleeping Beauty are still a long way off and Waiting for Neptune has an estimated date of completion some time in 2016!

The past two days has been on Celtic winter - lots of work since its the weekend. She started off with an almost bald head - all the dress and face was done, but not the snowball, or any beads, I',m leaving them 'til last. I've now completed the hair, except the beads and the bits with Wisper Thread - The blue line down the left hand side and the first horizontal line of the top border - the letters W and I (except beads) and half of the letter N. I am still not in love with this project and will be glad to see her finished. My thoughts - I won't use Anchor Reflecta again, if I'd used two strands instead of one it probably would have looked better but the worst thing about it is it frays. I also used the wrong fabric, the pale blue is too close to some of the blues in the design. I will continue with CW, and finish her, but I will have learned some lessons from my impulsive decisions.

In other news ...... a week to go until my 40th birthday. Aaaaargh!!! I already have two birthday presents - Yamaha clavinova - electric piano ..... love it! All those piano lessons my parents paid for when I was a child are being put to use! Aaaaand .... a bicycle! A real one that goes along rather than one of those that sits stationary in the living room. Exercise with a purpose! I only got it today, and I will use it, and I will get thin. I will!