Ghostwind and Part 2!

Today my car had a puncture so I had to stay at home until DH could fix it for me, I can't possibly get nasty dirty car grub on my lovely clean stitchy fingers! This meant I unexpectedly got in a day of stitching.  As I had put away Forest and Part 2 of WWG wasn't out I got Ghostwind out.  This has been my only ever long term WIP but I'm determined to get him finished this year.  Today I finished up a section which had been bugging me for ages so my mojo for him feels well and truly boosted.  Just slightly less than the last 3 pages left to go with him now.

But he is back in his box again now because Part 2 of WWG has arrived, and bugger!!  would you believe it I'm short of a silk AGAIN.  And it is out of stock like the last one.  I think stitching a Chatelaine in the UK must be one of the most frustrating things ever!  It is so hard to find all the fibres and I haven't even started on kitting up the beads yet.  I think there is a bit I can be getting on with so a photo in the next day or two for sure I think.

Thank you for your lovely comments on our party frocks, but you would have laughed if only you could have seen the back of the gowns and all the pins holding them on!!  We had nearly all got a little bit bigger since our wedding days, only one of the dresses was actually done up.

Forest Progress and a Party

This week I have been stitching Forest Goddess.  I'm still really enjoying her but I can't help but get excited about the next section of my Chatelaine, I can almost count down in hours now until Part 2 is posted.  I just hope that I have all the things I need to start straight away, it is only about 70% kitted up and I have no idea what materials will be used in Part 2.

This is Forest after the weekend.....

11 in 11 progress.

As this is the end of the first month of 2011 I can report that I am yet to post a finish towards my 11 in 11 target.  However Forest is 70% done, Cranes has a solid start and my Chatelaine is upto date so I'm generally still optomistic.  I'm not sure yet how Chinese Garden Mandala is going to fit into the 11, but I have a couple of months to think about it.

I went to a 'Wear you wedding dress again' Party last week, it was hilarious.  I'm on the right of the picture, my sister in law is second from the left.

Wow wow wow!!!

Wow Wow Wow!!  Look at this design......

This is the latest Mandala garden from Martina, for more info check out the website.  Even though I've only just started my first ever Chatelaine, there is NO WAY I'm not stitching this!  Its incredible.
I got so excited when I saw it that a little bit of wee came out!!!!!

Last year we honeymooned in Malaysia which is one of the most incredible countries I have been to.  There is a strong chinese influence, as well as Indian, and the food, Oh My Goodness the food!!!  For me this mandala will also be a beautiful reminder of that trip.  These are a couple of photos I took....

IHUAS Day - Part 2

I had a lovely day on Saturday, all snuggled up and stitching and made good progress on my cranes.  I have got over my problems with this as I have realised that my first stitches weren't bad at all.  Its just when the crewel is not tight after a day or two it dis-shapes itself in a way cross stitch simply doesn't.  But as soon as it is tight again it sorts itself out perfectly.  I just need to make sure it gets well framed when it is finished (and stop looking at my stitches on the bits not on the q-snaps! 

I don't think crewel is very popular, (I don't get many views or comments on my blog for crewel updates), and I admit it isn't quite as enjoyable as cross stitch because the wool is a little frustrating, but the stitched effect is just stunning and I would like to encourage people to give it ago.  Hubby loves the cranes and they will have pride of place in our house.  I can't get him to agree to having any cross stitch up at all :-(

Here is my photo after the weekend......

I admit I haven't quite met my goal of 40% but I think 30% is now complete and I putting it away again now for a little while.  So any crewel weary followers take heart!!  Next updates will be Mirabilia and Chatelaine!!

IHUAS Day 2011 - Part 1

Saturday is International Hermit Up And Stitch Day!!  Spread the word.  This has started on Joysze's Blog who is in cahoots with Kim.  It's the best idea I have heard yet this year.  I hope they don't mind me promoting it here too.  I love it!!  Check out their pages, and get stitching.  In order to motivate everybody to 'hermit' I have posted some lovely cozy photos. (Copyright free of course) Good Luck!!

Cranes Mini Challenge

The thing about my Cranes at the moment is that, much as I love the design and my recent stitching, I keep getting distracted by the few early stitches I don't like.  I figure that, once I have a load more stitching done on it I won't even notice the looser/wonkier ones.  But its a Catch 22 situation, when I go to stitch I just end up staring at the bits I don't like and make very little progress.  The progress I do make is far away from the 'bad' bit so it is still there staring right back at me.
This won't do, if I'm to complete 11 in 11 I can't afford to spend every evening staring at my stitches!  I need to make progress and win back my enthusiasm for this project.  So I have a plan.  I am going to set my self a mini challenge.  I am going to complete the area of the design around the bogey bit in as few days as possible (I'm currently thinking by next Monday the 24th January) then if I'm still unhappy I can frog the leaves I don't like, because I will have a much better idea of whether I have enough spare wool in the kit.  If I ccomplete my challenge I will be 40% throught the design and I will have broken the back of it.  This plan work well for my other projects to; after Cranes I can stitch Forest for a week then Part 2 of my Chatelaine will have arrived!!  I love planning!!!!

This is the bit I'm doing.......

Part 1 Complete

Here is my part 1 finished, can't wait for the next part.  I spent ages trying to get a good picture of this but I can't.  No picture I take can show how loveky it is IRL.  Martina is a genius!  I'm thrilled that Andie will be stitching this too, I love having stitchy friends.

I'm going to do a bit more of my cranes now and try to get over this loss of mojo currently have with it steming from my angst about my first few crewel stitches!  I'm telling myself how much better it will look with some more progress.

My Poor Husband

My poor husband hasn't had much attention since I started this project on Monday.  (I did cook duck for him last night as a bit of consolation)  But every cloud has a silver lining and this is it.....

Part 1 isn't quite finished yet but I wanted to share, I'm like a child in a sweetie shop with this, all the different fibres and stitches!!

Winter Watergarden - A Start

I have started my first ever Chatelaine!  Its fun stitching with the speciality threads, I've used Dinky Dyes silk Perle, some Waterlilies and Treasure Braid none of which I had even seen before. Kreink used to be adventurous for me! I'm still 1 colour down which is on back order so I'm really hoping it arrives and I can finish part 1 before part 2 is out in February.  In the mean time I have plenty to do.  The 'pond' needs filling in, there is quite a bit of blackwork and about 100 tiny silver snowflakes to stitch. 

I don't think you can see much from these pictures but I was so excited that I wanted to post my very first few hours.

Breaking News!

(Most of) the stuff for WWG has just arrived.  I'm starting tonight!!!! (Can you tell I'm excited)

Forest has a face

I tried to make the most of not having my new start this weekend so I have stitched forests face and an arm.  I always feel that ladies feel much more complete when they have their faces so I'm awarding myself with 45% complete on her now.  I did make a few minor changes to her face because I wasn't totally happy with it as charted, but only about 12 stitches were changed and most were fractionals.  I did change the colour of her lips too.  As charted they were filled bright pink! I thought about doing it over 1 but decided that 11 projecst this year would be hard enough with out making it any more tricky!

I'm frustrated

I had planned to start winter watergarden (WWG) (chatelaine) this weekend.  I ordered the stash I needed on Tuesday next day delivery and it still hasn't arrived.  I won't get it until at least monday now and one of the threads is out of stock and isn't coming anyway.  I will have to stitch something else.  I've got lots of stitching to do but I had somewhat 'geared up' for the chatelaine. 

My second frustration is with my crewel project Sacred Cranes.  As I had expected would happen I am now finding that my first areas look a bit shabby compared with the areas I have stitched now I've got a bit more practice. Its such a shame as the design is just stunning and if all my stitching looked like the bit I have done today and yesterday I would be thrilled.  I was pleased with my first stitching until I saw how much neater my recent stitching had got! This is the picture of is as it is at the momment....

I have loaded a page of my final 11 in 11 projects with pictures, I don't normally have more that 2 or 3 WIPS at any one time and I currently have 4 (including WWG) so this weekend I will likely be doing more Forest or Cranes.

Sacred Cranes - A Start

Here are my first few stitches in Sacred Cranes, a crewel work kit I received from my Mum and Dad for Christmas.  I haven't done as badly as I thought I might for my first go and think I'm getting the hang of it.  It stitches up much more quickly than cross stitch but the wool is a little frustrating to work with after DMC!

It's Love!

I'm in love. I've never had so much fun stitching as I have with Forest, I think she would be a great mojo booster for anybody having a bit of a low.  And to top it all she has given me a bit of a giggle because I think the green robe looks a bit like a willy!!! (I am such a child!)  I have zoomed out a bit for this photo because I wanted to share more of this lovely fabric. 

She is going to have a break now as I'm desperate to start a crewel kit I got for Christmas.  Haven't done any crewel before so its quite exciting. I promise to post pictures, even if my stitching is rubbish.  And the first part of Winter Watergarden (Chatelaine) is posted so tomorrow I will order stash, I can't afford to kit it up completely before I start, and I hope to start in a week.  I am thinking of joining in with friends who are stitching 11 projects in 2011.  I'm having a think about which ones I will do, check back in a day of two for the final list with photos.