Saturday, August 25, 2012

IHSW results and did I mention stash?

So I didn't get much done for IHSW, so hence the late post. I decided to finally start Lightning McQueen's friend, as for some bizarre reason I wanted to work on something different.

So this is what he will look like when done:


And this is where I got to:


Not too bad for just a weekend of work! But, since I don't have as much stitching to show you as I usually do, I decided to make up for it by showing you my new stash! I went a little crazy during the HAED 50% off stash enhancement at the beginning of the month!

QS Aspidistra

QS Aspidistra

QS Fierce

QS Fierce

My Darling

My Darling

Lirielle

Lirielle

Regal

Regal

Stealth

Stealth

Now I am only $6 shy of the $200 I need for my reward chart...and guess what? There is another sale on! So I will probably have some more stash additions to show you next post, lol. I think I am hopelessly addicted! But on the plus side, I have enough stash now that I will never ever run out of things to stitch, I just need to figure out a way to live long enough to stitch it all.

Hope you all are doing well, I am so behind on blog reading! Off to do some stitching so I have some progress to show you for the next WIPocalypse update!

Hugs,
Nikki

Friday, August 17, 2012

August WIPocalypse Take 1! And pre-IHSW update

Wow, I have been a bad blogger, almost a month since my last update! I will try and make up for it though, as I have lots of progress to show you!

Ascendant-before WIPocalypse:


My goal on this piece was to get to 20% completion, which I met awhile back, so I am just going to carry on with keeping her in the rotation and see how much I can get done this year.

Ascendant-August WIPocalypse:


Top row is complete, and pages 7-8 are done with a partial on page 9 so far. I am getting so excited to get further into this row, more pretty wings, and more of her face!

The only goal I have left for WIPocalypse that is not complete...reach 50% on Sadness of an Angel.

Sadness before WIPocalypse:


Sadness, August WIPocalypse:


I am currently around 27% on this project, and still struggling to make any significant progress. I found the easiest thing for me to keep motivated is to have her in my rotation between 2 pieces I love working on, then I try to get her worked on until I can switch to something else! I will let you know about my rotation in a little bit.

A piece I started after WIPocalypse began, The Ghost.

Ghost, current progress:


Page 1 is complete! Loving how this one is stitching up, and out of all my projects, she is the smallest with a mere 75250 stitches, lol. I have decided to add her in for WIPocalypse, and my goal will be the same as on the HAED BB, to complete 2 full pages this year...I am well on my way!

Another piece I started after WIPocalypse began, Lust, one of the 7 Deadly Sins, by Marta Dahlig.

Lust, current progress:


Page 1 complete, and finally, a better picture! Now you can see all the pretty shades of blues, black, and reds and pinks, and the coverage really is quite good on the 25 count fabric. I will also add her to my WIPocalypse goals...my BB goal was to get the first page complete, so I think for here I will set it for the first 2 pages.

So, Melinda asked a really good question with my last update, and that was how to stay motivated to finish a project that you really have no mojo for. I find the easiest thing for me is to stick to a strict rotation. Mine is a little different than everyone else's, as I stitch my HAED's by column, rather than cross country. This allows me to switch projects fairly frequently, and to celebrate the small finishes of columns. I find I get too overwhelmed if I work per page or cross country...maybe it is my OCD, but I just find it more orderly for my brain if I stitch per column. So, my rotation is as follows:

Ascendant>Mystery Project>Lust>Sadness>Ghost

The only exception is Sadness, as I am working the full design column instead of per page column, so I give myself a little wiggle room on not finishing a whole column before switching, as a full one would be 2970 stitches compared to 950-980 for a full page column.

I hope this makes sense, if any of you have any questions, please just ask, as I love to hear from you all!

Ah, and before I forget, some of you have noticed the "Mystery Project" progress bar at the side of my blog...so, a little bit of background.
A good friend of mine has been helping me out a lot recently with yard work and housework since I hurt my back. We have been friends for awhile now, and I know his family as well. His father is pretty eccentric, but he absolutely loves a certain sport, and I found the perfect pattern to stitch, as I loved it too! So, it is now in rotation, but I don't want either one of them to see the progress, as I want it to be a surprise for both of them, so I can't post progress pics as my friend checks my blog. So for any of you who are member's of the HAED BB, I will be posting there once I finish a full page.

And finally, I wanted to send out 2 huge thank yous to two lovely ladies!

First is Alicia, from the Crafty Princess. She was so wonderful to RAK me the lovely chart Ravene, by Marta Dahlig, as she noticed that I absolutely loved it! I was so excited, and she really made my day! The two of us are going to try and stitch all of the 7 Sins, and hopefully do a Ravene SAL in the future.

Ravene

And Angie, from Miamina's Musings, sent me a lovely message and the chart Hope, by Rebecca Sinz! The chart she picked couldn't be more perfect, as mentally, things have been pretty rough for me with my back still being bad, and not being back to work yet, so it was so appreciated that she RAK'd me just to let me know she was thinking of me. She is such an angel!

Hope Sinz

So I am not sure if I am going to be carrying on with my usually rotation, or working on something different for IHSW...decisions decisions! For those who haven't signed up yet, head on over to Joyce's blog, Random Ramblings, to sign up!

I promise to be a good blogger and post my update on Monday!

Hugs,
Nikki