Time for a Taj Mahal update plus February 2015 IHSW report

Can't believe it has been just over a month since my last blog post.  Time flying again, we are almost 2 months gone this year already!

I've spent the last month blissfully progressing on  my Chatelaine Taj Mahal Mandala, I'm now well past the half way point.

Last time I updated Taj back in November my progress looked like this.

My progress from 23rd January to the 4th February.  I really started to make progress on the middle section. 

Then on the 15th February it looked like this. I didn't realise my needles had been smoking until I saw the before and after shots and how much of the middle I had got done in 11 days lol. 

I took another photo at the start the weekend of IHSW so I could see my progress before and after the weekend. My main focus was finishing the middle and getting some progress on the right hand Taj. 

February IHSW ended up being a very good stitchy weekend. In fact stitching was about the only thing I could do Friday night and Saturday day. We had two cyclones up north. One in the Northern Territory which had no real impact on us and the second was Cyclone Marcia due to hit up north Friday night or Saturday morning. Brisbane received heaps of rain.

Friday it rained all day so once I got home from work it was time to settle in for the long haul. It was predicted to rain all day Saturday and possibly Sunday too. I even made sure to have batteries for my little clip on LED lights and my rechargeable light charged in case of power loss. It was IHSW after all. Nothing was going to stop me lol.  My goal of finishing the middle section - cross stitches achieved and a good start on the right hand Taj. I so love this design. This is where I leave Taj's progress as of 22nd of February as it is time to catch up on the PR Mystery Sal before the next part comes out but firstly I'm off to check out everyone else's IHSW efforts.  

Happy Stitching everyone, 

Deb

Still plodding along with Taj Mahal Mandala

Hello my lovely stitchy friends :)  I hope those of you that are in the US are keeping warm in the very very cold weather you are experiencing and are hopefully safe and not snowed in too much.
Looks like you are all in for another super cold winter this year.  The perfect weather to stay in side and stitch! Unlike here as we enter  our summer we have just experienced a weekend of  very high temps of around 40oC or 104oF, makes for very sticky stitching weather.

I've been plodding along nicely on Taj since my last update and have made a heap of progress. slowly working my way through the middle section.
The detail in this design is simply  magnificent. I can see why many stitchers become hooked on Chatelaine's they are a challenge but a magical feast for the eyes as they develop.

My progress as of  14th November 2014

As you can see I have almost stitched a quarter of the middle square plus the left hand Taj Mahal is taking shape. The colours are simply glorious and I have really enjoyed learning some of the specialty stitches that I have never done before.  I worked some of the woven scotch stitch in the lattice type border around the middle square recently. While it  took me a little while to get my head around it, eventually with a little help from google and some tips online  I got there in the end :) I hopefully will get some close up shots next time I take some photos. 

Happy Stitching everyone, 

Deb

Taj Mahal Mandala Garden - 6 parts done 6 to go.

I can't believe it has been well over a month since my last update.  Since my recent finishes I have been steadily working on Taj again. I've completed 6 parts of my 12 part chart and slowly moving into the middle section.

I say slowly as I have taken to wasting more time playing computer games than stitching some nights.  While the will to stitch is strong.. getting butt of chair is not so I end up spending more time than I intend on the computer each night.  

This was where I was up to before

And this was my progress as of the 14th October.

I thought I would share this with you all. I saw this in my emails this morning.. sums up cross -stitching perfectly lol

Happy Stitching everyone, 

Deb

Finally a new Taj Mahal Mandala Garden update!

Yep the title above says it all,  finally I have a Taj Mahal update!   June pretty much became work on Taj month as it has been neglected since March :(  Having Taj now mounted on a scroll frame on my new lap base made things so much easier and quicker.
On the 11th June Taj looked like this. Top outside border and flower border almost half done.

Then on the 20th June 

Then as of tonight the top outside border is finished and the right side started and almost finished the top flower border. 

I so love this design, and can't believe I put off starting it for a few years as I found it a bit daunting. It is my first Chatelaine but I doubt it will be my last.. truly beautiful to look at and it is not even finished yet. 

Now to get Maggie back out and get that little bit closer to a finish this year.

Happy stitching everyone

Deb

Maggie the Mess Maker update

It's time for a Maggie update.  I have been working steadily on Maggie for well over a month and not following my normal rotation, this caused me to kind of hit a wall on Friday last week. I found I kept getting "lost" in a particular part of the chart and knew it was time for a change.
 I love many of the designs that come in the Dimensions range but I loath working with their charts.  In fact I have done two of their wizards in the past and took great delight in destroying the charts once I finished them as there was never a chance I would stitch them again!

I am now just under 3/4's of the way through Maggie and am hoping after some time this month on Taj Mahal I can get my Maggie mojo back as I would love to finish it this year.

On the weekend I put Taj Mahal Mandala Garden on a scroll frame and loaded it on my new K Creations large lap base.  Love it love it love it! It did take a little while to get used to after working with my hoop seat stand but it didn't take long at all to get back into using a scroll.  Now I have the perfect setup for all those many designs requiring beads. 

Happy Stitching everyone
Deb

March 2014 IHSW

I just realised I am a few days late with my IHSW report for the weekend.

Some stitching got done not as much as I wanted though. Mostly on Friday night and Saturday. Sunday I spent the day doing things with hubby, going out to breakfast, shopping and just spending time which was nice.

I did manage to get part 3 of my Taj Mahal Garden Mandala finished and start part 4. No update photo this week though as it doesn't show a lot of advancement compared to the last photo I posted just before the weekend.

Looking forward to next months one which I believes falls over the Easter weekend... Joyze please correct me if I am wrong. That means lots of time for stitching as we Aussies get a 4 day holiday weekend that weekend whoohoo!

Happy Stitching everyone
Deb

WIP's updates and its IHSW again yay!

I'm a bit behind in my Taj Mahal Garden Mandala  updates, and seeing as I get to rotate back on to Taj this weekend, there is no better time for a quick update.

I've almost finished part 3. Which means I will have part 3 finished and onto part 4 this weekend.  Notice there was no "should" in that sentence. Seeing as its IHSW **insert happy dancing here** I have major plans for nothing but stitching all weekend or at least most of it. For some reason the family does insist on me doing some housework,  plus the washing and ironing at some time over the weekend. Not to mention dinner on occasions. Maybe I should go on strike.. what do you think?

Ok here is Taj Mahal Garden Mandala at present. Progress photo as of the 2nd of March. Told you I was behind.

Now for Maggie. Heaps of progress made again and Maggie herself is starting to make an appearance.

DD number 2 asked me the other day why do I have more than one project going at once. I'm sure I heard a collective gasp from stitchers around the world that day! 

I explained that only having the two projects on the go at the moment was  better than my normal 10 or more. That I was trying to scale it down so I could get some finishes. 

But also that seeing as Maggie is so intense in colour changes at times and such a busy design I find it keeps my interest renewed every time I rotate back on to her after a week or so on Taj Mahal Garden Mandala. Not to mention it calms me from wanting to start new projects every few days! 

Officially I have 6 WIP started at the moment -  4 large, Maggie the Mess Maker, Taj Mahal Garden Mandala, The Sewing Room, and Fire Fly Fairies (not much stitches in this one) plus 2 smaller ones,  but only working on these two rotating every two weeks. Who's willing to fess up to how many WIP they have at the moment.?

Maggie the Mess Maker as of 21st March 2014.

Alas the hungry hordes will be wanting dinner soon. So I hope everyone who is participating has a good IHSW and gets to hermit like crazy. 

Happy stitching everyone

Deb 

February 2014 IHSW

I was so looking forward to the weekend because it was IHSW this weekend. Which meant I had an excuse to indulge in lots of stitching and not much else.

It also fell on the weekend I was due to rotate back onto Taj Mahal Garden Mandala for the rest of the month. I didn't get much time for stitching Friday night or Saturday, but did manage to get a good stretch of time to myself on Sunday for most of the day, so progress was made.

So without further delay, a before this weekend photo and an after progress photo.

 Before the weekend

Progress as of 23rd Feb. Please excuse the fabric colour in this photo as I took it at night.

Happy  Stitching everyone, 

Deb

Taj Mahal Garden - Part 2

Almost finished page 2 of Taj Mahal last night. If only my mind and body did not insist on sleep.
I had every intention of sitting up until it was finished but at 11pm my plan was foiled! Curses to getting older and not having the will power to pull an all nighter anymore!

I am rather pleased with the progress,  however I might have hit a bit of a stumbling block. I have the printed 12 page black and white chart and the scroll work backstitching is very hard to see and looks nothing like what I have seen on other stitched versions. Also the "mist" back stitching around the Taj's  only seems to go in one direction on my chart on both sides of the Taj's like this \\\\, where as I have seen it stitched \\\\ and then //// on the other side so I'm a bit confused at the moment.

Hopefully I will finish pages 2 and 3 on my next update. I am aiming for at least a page a month so I should have it all finished at the end of the year.  Should... but we will see lol.

Progress from 21st - 31st January 2014

The start of something beautiful - Taj Mahal Garden Mandala WIP

Last week I finished page 1 of my Taj Mahal Garden Mandala WIP. All I can say is I am in love! This is my first ever Chatelaine mandala and even after just 1 page it is breathtakingly pretty and I can see why they are so popular.

I love stitching with the silks, again a new experience for me. So smooth, they glide so effortlessly through the fabric. I am most certainly enjoying the thrill of seeing this piece take shape.

I reluctantly put Taj Mahal Garden aside to pay some more attention to Maggie the Mess Maker as I would like to see a finish this year after none last year. At the moment I am working on a 2 week rotating roster for the two projects.