Snow Stocking Page 7 Complete

44% Complete for this project.  It's like music to my ears.  This was my last full page, all the rest are partials, so it's all downhill from here!

Just a quick update tonight, because my husband is cooking pizza and that trumps blogging. I have about 20 minutes to get this up and posted and the clock is ticking! 

I'm back on Adrift, and I'm expecting this next page to be a quick stitch. 

I have to say, for Adrift, I'm working on Lugana, and for Snow I'm working on 18 ct Magic Guide. Although, for me, Magic Guide is less hassle as you don't need to grid, I find Lugana more pleasurable to stitch on.  I find with Aida I have to stitch a tighter stitch, and it strains my fingers. 
Has anyone else encountered this?

My next projects will be on Lugana, I think I'm pretty much done with Aida.

Curious to know what everyone's favourite cloth is to stitch on? Linen? Lugana? Aida?  Anyone have a preference?  I personally find Lugana softer, but the downside is sometimes stitches can slip under the weave and I have to really watch for that happening and correct it as I go.  Otherwise, I quite enjoy stitching on it. 

I'd love to hear what you like/don't like about your fabrics.

I smell pizza, so sorry to cut this short...but pizza!! 

Adrift Page 31

Not much of all to see, but it sure was a fast, easy stitch.  Here you see the finished length.  Only 4 more page to go!

As an early Christmas present to myself, I bought myself a Samsung tablet, so I can run Ezpdf Pro on it.  What a difference a device makes.  No more crashing, no more sucking the battery dry in 3 hours.  I don't know why I didn't do this sooner!  Although I did like Goodreader on iPad, I really, REALLY like the search feature on Ezpdf.  I reached out to Goodreader and threw all sorts of suggestions at them from asking if they would consider expanding their search feature to cater to the x-stitchers who use their app to publishing a Goodreader Lite, which focuses on the highlighting and search feature and market it specifically to the stitchers, but no bites, other than polite thank you's.  So, as the saying goes, if you can't beat em, (or convince them to cater to your niche), join 'em.  I'm really hapy with my Samsung.  Honestly, stitching is all that I will be using it for, so I won't suck up battery life using other apps, I will have my iPad for that. And it's given me piece of mind for when I travel, I won't have to worry about my app eating my battery mid-flight.

That's all for now. I'm fighting a cold and a slight ear infection, so it's back to the couch for stitching and cups of tea.  I'm back on Snow, so hopefully I will have an update for you in a few weeks.

Snow Stocking Page 6 is Complete

With a closeup by special request by Thistleberry!   Just the tiniest peek-a-boo of her wings and part of her arm.  I just noticed that my next page will be my last full page, the rest are all partials - some of which are more than 50% of the page, but still....   There are 5 pages left of this project and 5 pages left on Adrift.  Which means 2 finishes at once, which means TWO STARTS!!!!

It really is amazing how long these projects take to complete, isn't it? But I'm glad, because with Mirabilia's, which I loved to do, I could bang them off in 2-4 months, and it was just getting too expensive.  The upside of that was I could do whichever caught my eye.  But with HaED's, I have to choose carefully, because it will be a multi-year commitment, and I don't want to get stuck in the middle of one that I fall out of love with.  I'm stubborn, and would finish it anyway, but it would be arduous and not a labour of love. 

Well, the sooner I can get this posted, the sooner I can start my final row of Adrift.  So ta ta for now and I will see you in a couple of weeks. 

Adrift Page 29 and 30

Apologies on the quality of photo.  She is now so large that I have to lay her out on the floor, unfortunately it doesn't make for the best lighting.  In this photo, she looks a little monochrome, and in reality she is vibrant!  She is also very heavy.  I'm worried she is going to bend my stand.  I now only keep her on the stand when I am going to actively stitch.  You don't really think about how heavy these large projects weigh once you're nearing completion.  I can't imagine the weight of a 99 page pattern. 

We have a row finish!  The next row and a partial row is all that is left to do.  86% complete.  Next page I'm hoping to hit 90.  The light is now at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

The stitching for the entire row is going to be fast, because there is so much of dark ocean, which is only about 3-4 colours. Just a tiny bit of tail remains.  I'm so looking forward to having her done. I was going to just stitch her until complete, but I must admit, all of those dark colours leaves me needing to stitch some light colours, so back to Snow I go.   It's just a partial page, so it shouldn't take too long. 

When I'm done with Adrift, I promise to lay her out under proper lighting in order to get a good photo.

Hopefully I will have an update of snow in a week or two.

Snow Stocking, Page 5 is Complete

Her lovely face is now complete.    That being said, this will not be completed for Christmas, like I had hoped. Well, it could be, if I worked exclusively on her, but Adrift is calling and her calls are so loud! 

The best thing about working on a smaller project, is when you have a page finish and you update your Progress Bar, it jumps a huge amount.  With this update, I went from 28% to 35% finished.  I'm used to a measly 3% per page with Adrift.

Because I'm getting close to a finish, I'm seriously looking at what patterns I want to work on next. There are just so many, purchased and yet to be purchased.  But I've got my eye on one that I might request as a mini.  I think it will translate well into being a mini.  And I've got a couple that are serious considerations, including one that I have been sitting on for years.  I purchased it online before I ever knew what Heaven and Earth Designs was, and when I got it, it was so big and intimidating that she went immediately into a drawer.  A clean out of my old supply drawer to move into my snazzy new cabinet revealed her again, and I've gone back again and again to her. So she is a clear contender now.   No names as of yet, because I haven't made my final decision, but it's kinda fun looking through the HaED site and my own stash to see what I want to do next.  

As for today, it's Sunday, my Stitch-n-Bitch day, and it is going to be a full house. 

Happy stitching, kindreds.

Adrift, Page 28 is Done

Page 28 started July 27 and finished Sept 4.  To say that August was hot was an understatement.  It was so hot that stitching was unbearable.  But page 28 is done. I'm now 82% complete.  After the next page and partial page, I will only have a full row and a partial row and she will be done! 

She's getting so heavy, my little K's Creation stand is having trouble holding her up.  I hope I don't break my stand! 

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my little floss cabinet.  For those of you on Facebook, I've created a group for storage ideas for our floss and stash.  It's open to anybody who would like to join. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/647348965424758/  It's still in its infancy, and I'm hoping more people post their storage ideas.   

Now that the weather has turned a touch colder, I'm hoping to be able to get lots of stitching done.  In fact, my sister and I are having a stitching weekend this month in Pt. Angelas, which is about 1/2 way point for both of us to travel.   It will be good to see her. I love that she is stitching again.  

Well, that's about all I have to report at this point in time.  Hopefully I will have an update for Snow soon.  

Floss Cabinet Unveiling!

At the beginning of summer I had finally saved up enough to commission someone to build a floss cabinet for me.  The carpenter, Jim - who goes by Old Kranky (which is funny, because he's neither old, nor cranky), really listened to what I wanted and he build me the most beautiful cabinet.  I got a little over excited and ordered hand painted ceramic knobs from India (off eBay) and this is the beautiful result!

What I love the most about it is the notches in the bottom, allowing me to stand my bobbins, which means if I have to take a group of closely numbered floss out of the drawer, the rest of the floss won't fall over.  Such a simple and brilliant solution!

There are approximately 350 bobbin slots per drawer and I have 3 of them, and the bottom drawer is just a regular drawer for me to put my linen, and other odds and ends inside. For those who which to acquire one for yourself, Jim does ship!   He was utterly brilliant to work with, and I would recommend him in a heartbeat. Don't hesitate to contact him for quotes.

Currently it is sitting in my spare room as a night stand.  I had wanted to put it in the living room, but if my wood-chewing cockatoo were to take a chunk out of it, I think my heart might break.

On the cross stitch front, I'm only about 1/2 way through my latest page of Adrift. It's just been too darn hot to stitch.  But  with Sept on the horizon, I'm sure the cooler weather will come.