Day 7, 8 & 9 storykeep

Storykeep update. I've been listening to my first audiobook while I stitch and I am really enjoying it. I chose 1776 written and read by David McCullough. I already plan to get his John Adams biography next month. Here is day 7...

Day 8...

And day 9 (tonight's progress)...

Restart, again

I have restarted Boreas so many times I have lost count, so I figured one more time can't hurt. The 18count oatmeal colored aida I am using for the storykeep has been so relaxing and the coverage so nice I began thinking of Boreas. I have been dreading working on it because it just hasn't been enjoyable. The amount of fabric I cut off for the storykeep left just enough to do Boreas with 2.75" all around. My floor stand and scroll frames have been torturous for me to use on this so I gave them up and have resorted to a hoop and rolling the extra fabric. There is an enormous amount of color changes in this one so over two days I have only been able to get close to finishing the first column of page 1. I do have to say this I am very happy with this, finally. Another plus, I haven't broken any needles yet.

Day 1

Day 2

On a non-stitching note I have potted a few plants to go by my front door, columbines, violas and snapdragons. Love the way these look but I have a notorious black thumb so fingers crossed they survive. I am hopeful.

Storykeep day 5 &6

I would have gotten further along on this except I came down with a stomach virus yesterday that really knocked me out. So here are days 5 & 6 .

Day 5:

Day 6:

3 columns of page 1 finished with a little over 2,400 stitches completed.

Storykeep day 3 & 4

With so few colors this storykeep is working up fast. 

Day 3

Day 4

I really like my new needleminder. The color was a surprise, when I ordered it the picture looked black. The green is really pretty actually so I am happy with it. With the needleminder came my order of the fabric and floss for Mini Warm at Home. I ordered 20ct lugana for it. The fabric looks nice and I am looking forward to trying it. I will start this when I finish something I have already started...at least that is what I keep telling myself, now I just hope I listen.

Day 7, other progress and a new start..

First here is day 7 of Mini Kathleen and Summer.

After getting this far I lost one of my floss organizers for this project. So while I waited for this to show up I went back to stitching on Hit Any Key by Randal Spangler and I got his far....

I had transferred my paper highlights to my Kindle before continuing with it and it really has increased my stitching speed. 

Next, another new start. I came across a storykeep called Strength on HAED. I thought this would be a wonderful project to do for my son and being so small with so few colors I started it on Friday late at night. Here is the little bit I got started the first night...

And here is my progress up to Saturday night...

I am almost done with the first column already. I am stitching on 18count aida 2 over 1 full cross and I think the coverage is the best of all my HAED projects. Fingers crossed his is my last new start till something is actually completed.

 

Day 4, 5 & 6

Lot's of progress this weekend. I have started stitching this with my Kindle PDF reader. Except a small glitch where 800 stitches of progress weren't saved, I have really enjoyed It and I have noticed I seem to be stitching faster. The colors are so vibrant and I love seeing it come together. 

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Another new start

I must have starteritis with how many projects I have going and I started yet another one two nights ago. Mini Kathleen and Summer, a Hannah Lynn design charted by HAED. This is far from my usual style but the colors are so bright and I love the mother mermaid snuggling with her daughter. Struck a chord with me of my relationship with my little girl. I love her to pieces so this is being made with her in mind. Here is a picture of the finished design 

I hope to catalog this one's progress each day it is worked on. So here are the first three days...

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3 Lot's of color changes so it didn't work up as much as the previous day.

Lots of stitching

It's been a very long time since I last posted. I haven't done any miniatures lately, although j did get some furniture for Christmas for my large dollhouse, but mostly I have been cross stitching. I finished 3 felt stockings before Christmas and almost got a 4th done. Besides those I have also gotten 3/4 of the way done on my daughter's afghan and worked a lot on my cross stitching. I have multiple projects on the go in the cross stitching department and have a loose rotation of working on whichever one is the loudest. Here is where I am at on these as of this morning.

Pansies is working up fast. I have a very small portion of the chart left that will fill in the vase and one flower and leaves at the bottom.

This is Boreas by John Waterhouse, a Heaven and Earth Design Pattern. I have lost count how many times I have started this one. This one is for my husband.

This one I hope to finish and hang in my office at work. It is titled Hit Any Key by Randall Spangler, another Heaven and Earth Design pattern.

I finished the first page of 12 dancing princesses. HAED, I absolutely love these patterns. I have another one I will be starting called Mini Kathleen and Summer by Hannah Lynn HAED. This one struck a chord with me and I will be stitching it with my daughter in mind. I have two projects that I am fighting becoming UFOs, Moonlit Waters and a SODA pattern that I started as a match to the one I finished of my kids. MoonLit Waters I still love but I have been unmotivated to work on it. The other one I haven't worked in in months, so I dragged out yesterday and put in about 20 or so stitches before setting it aside.

And finally, the embroidered phoenix. An Anchor freestyle embroidery kit that my husband got me for Christmas two years ago. This works up quick. In fact I have most of the stump done and the first section of the tail feathers completed but apparently forgot to take an updated photo. It only took me a few days to do this.

On an non stitchy or craft topic I bought myself a 19" TV for my bedroom so I now have my own TV to watch while stitching. Much better than fighting for the living room. As a birthday gift my parents bought me plugin speakers for it and a bluray player with built in wifi so I have access to all my favorites like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Vudu and YouTube. He speakers are amazing, makes the sound so much better than the TV. I think my setup is now the best in the house. Plus my kids can come sit on the bed and play board games while I stitch. Very cozy. 

Another birthday present to me was a trip alone to Phoenix to spend the weekend with my sister-in-law. It was wonderful. Full of laughs and stitching and shopping. I had my very first professional pedicure and I now know what the draw is. That was relaxing. I also made my first trip to the Attic Needlework shop in Mesa. I have wanted to go for about 2 years now and finally had the opportunity. Oh my! It exceeded my expectations. We ended up spending hours there and I could have stayed all day. In fact we ended up at the checkout counter 11 minutes after their closing time. We didn't realize how late it had gotten and they were kind enough not to remind us of their closing time. I will be going back with a large allowance. So many wonderful things to see and patterns to buy. I bought quite a few things but I didn't take pictures to share yet. Untill next time, let's hope it's not as long a wait.