Samplers, and Fairies for the months of April and May 2015

Hello everyone,

It has been a while again, Life has been a blur since I went back to work and only now have I found time for an update.
Last post I was back stitching on Twisted band sampler still on limited duties at home.  In 10 days I had gone from this

to this on the 18th of April

Heaps of progress and so glad those greens where over.. I was getting so tired of green lol.

By this stage I decided I needed a break from stitching on the black. My eyes are not what they used to be, and grabbed my Red Quaker Sampler for a quick update for Aprils section, which I managed to get done in a few hours on the evening of the 19th of April.

After this I decided some time on Firefly Fairies would be fun so switched projects again and spent a month with the fairies again. The green fairy is now complete minus a few beads.

 I have found a rotation on a monthly bases keeps me stitching and I get a fair bit done before I rotate onto the next project,  and I don't burn out constantly switching.  I've previously tried the 10 hour stitching rotation.. this got tedious fast, then a weekly rotation.. now I do a loose month long  rotation and found this to be the best.  Would love to hear from others who have a rotation and hear what works for you.

Happy stitching everyone, 

Deb

A bit of this and a bit of that

April already, Easter has come and gone and the weather in Australia is cooling down. We are entering Autumn (Fall) here though you wouldn't know it,  as it is still fairly warm during the day just a little cooler in the morning and at night.

My last update was a while ago and a heap has happened since then. I have progressed on the PR Mystery Sal - photos below and forgot to update you all about it and March's IHSW which kind of didn't happen, the reason being is that on the 25th of March I went into to hospital for surgery.

All went well and I was home after a few days. I don't resume work until the end of April and I am on limited housework duties which gives me a heap of stitching time, so I will have lots of updates on WIP and some new projects.

Before my op I had been working on my PR Mystery Sal. I have now completed up to part 10.  Parts 11-14 are waiting for me not sure when I am going to get around to them. Too many WIP not enough time lol.

I'm still not sure about the long beaded rows. I picked up some DMC white satin thread the other day. I am going to do a few stitches next to the beads and compare and decide which way to go next time I get this project out. 

While recovering from surgery I decided to do a new start something a little simpler while my head was still not quiet into complicated stitching.  Some of the Aussie girls on Facebook are part of a Sal and one of the two design choices is The Red Quaker Sampler a free design  available from needleknowledge.com which I have chosen as my Sal piece. I'm not normally into traditional samplers but one of the other ladies is doing this in purples and it looks simply stunning.  We have split the design into 12 parts for the year.  I  have selected to do mine in two Dinky Dyes silks. Rosewood 176 and Pink Diamond 160 stitched on 32ct white linen.

I started stitching on the Sunday evening after coming home from hospital - the 29th,  once my brain had de-fuzzed some what and by Good Friday I had managed to get January - March complete. 

Since Easter I have been working on Twisted band sampler again. My last up date on this WIP was back in December last year 

Yesterday morning (Wednesday 8th) I took a quick photo to see my latest progress as sometimes it feels I'm getting no where with some of the specialty stitches and was quite surprised. 

Since then I have finished band 6 and 7 and half way through band 8. Told you I wasn't allowed to do much of anything but stitching at the moment.. total bliss :) 

Well that is it for the time being hopefully it won't take me another month to post an update. 

Happy Stitching everyone, 

Deb

July 2014 IHSW - A new start

Can I hear a collective cheer from across the globe?  It seems we are back in hermit mode again for July :) Our fearless leader was MIA  last month.  I think many of us suffered withdrawals, while some attempted to hermit in spirit that weekend even if we didn't blog about it.  Let's face it any weekend spent stitching and not doing housework has my vote!

For those that do not know what I am talking about and think I have gone nuts, or nuttier depending on your point of view take a visit over to joysze's blog and she will explain what the IHSW is all about.

For July I have decided to honour this weekend with a.....   NEW START!

Yes yes.. I know for those that know me personally I said no new starts until I have had a finish!  But since when have you known any cross stitcher to keep their promises of  "no new starts", and "no more stash until I have used some". It takes an iron will to keep such  promises and besides,  when my pack of Rainbow silks arrived from Eileen over at Threadpickerz during the week,  I knew this weekend was the perfect time to start Twisted Band Sampler from Northern Expressions Needlework.  I decided not to use the recommended Au Ver a Soie's after I saw the Rainbow pack.  I'm also stitching it on Black to really make those colours pop.

Black I hear you gasp!  32 count at that.. oh my poor eyes, but there is method in my madness lol.  Eileen also have a pastel version to her rainbow pack called sparkling prism. Another 18 beautiful silks, the perfect number to stitch the now being designed sister design to Twisted Band Sampler called Twisted Rainbow which I will probably do on Black also as I'm crazy like that.

I just can't help myself I love anything rainbow. I think that is why I'm a stitcher we get to play with a rainbow of colours every day. Life would be so boring without such wonderful colours at my fingertips.

So here is everything all ready to go.

And here are my progress photos after the weekend - Stitching 1 strand over 2 threads.  

Almost 2 bands done. Two colours done and onto the 3rd. Let me just say those eyelets on 32 count black.. had me questioning my sanity for picking black! Might be time for another trip to the optometrist for stronger glasses! 

Now I'm off to check everyone else's weekend efforts.

Happy Stitching everyone, 

Deb