Where Did Summer go???

I can't believe it's almost the last weekend of August, and I haven't done a single blog post! I will make it up to you I promise, I have lots of stitchy pics to show you!

Things usually slow down on the stitching front for summer, as I spend a lot of time at the cottage, but I have made some progress on almost all my WIPS, and started a few new ones, hehehe. Feel free to check out the side bar on the right of my blog for the latest stitch counts and what I am working on.

First up is still my favorite WIP, Ascendant. I have finished page 10, and on my way through 11. Glad to see I am finally close to finishing off her lovely face.

 

Next up is Sadness, still not enjoying this one much, but making some headway.

One of my new starts, this is SK Water Dragon, stitched on a studio session piece from Cascade Fabrics. After I finished QS Twin Peek, I realized it was nice to have something detailed, but a little quicker than my huge projects, to see progress on.

I also discovered another lovely cross stitch charting company, and of course, I had to order a few, and I figured it was only fair to start one as well! So this is All That Remains, charted by Bev at LoveThyThread.

Another new start, this is Asiria, by HAED. I absolutely love Nene Thomas's work, especially her Dragon Witch series, so I had to start one.

Ghost has gotten a bit more love, working on 18 count is a nice break after all the teeny stitches in my other projects!

Waterfall Dragons is definitely a SLOOOOOW WIP, lost my mojo for this one over the summer, I recently picked it up again last week, I do enjoy the bright colours though!

Finally, Tow Mater has gotten a bit of attention too, one of these days I will get him finished!

So that's pretty much it for progress pics. Some of you may have noticed that Lust-HAED, was dropped off my sidebar. I came to a hard realization after I did up my must stitch list, that I was never going to live long enough to stitch all the projects I wanted to, and I really do want to stitch the whole 7 Deadly Sins series. So, I compromised, as HAED released them in mini format...I re bought the whole series! And then I had a brilliant (but expensive) idea, how cool would it be to stitch each of the mini's on custom dyed fabric to match each colour of the "Sin"? So the lovely Tammy at Colour Cascade Fabrics is working on some colour combos for me, so excited! So expect to see some new starts shortly as soon as I get an order!

Hopefully I will be able to catch up on all your lovely projects over the next few days, as I catch up on blog entries. Sorry again for my absence, will talk again soon!

Hugs,
Nikki

Very sucessful hermitage...my first HAED finish!!!!

I spent the weekend furiously stitching, trying to get my first finish of the year, and I squeaked it in on Tuesday evening!

Without further ado, here is HAED QS Twin Peek, stitched on 25 count Magic Guide, 1x1, full crosses.

Completely thrilled with how it turned out, still have to give it a wash to get the grid lines off. It took me a little over 6 months, not bad considering the amount of projects I have on the go, lol! So that's 2/8 of my yearly goals complete, on to the next!

Hugs,

Nikki

Updates, goals, and Happy Birthday to me!

Wow, it has been a busy month! Have gotten some stitching done in between the crazy that is my life, so without fanfare (well, maybe a little) here we go!

Happy to say I have completed my first yearly goal, I have finshed the 2nd page of The Ghost, HAED.

Doesn't she look fab? Love the way her eye turned out, but kinda creepy to stitch her while she is watching me!

Next up is QS Twin Peek...soooo close to being done, only a tiny bit left on page 5, and a partial page 6 to go! I have been working like crazy on this one to try and get it done.

Love the colors in this one; it's pretty confetti heavy, but well worth it.

Finally, here is TowMater, who is almost complete as well, all his backstitching is done, just have the banner above him to complete, which is pretty boring, as it is all the same color!

So that is pretty much it on the stitching front, been trying to get Mater and QS Twin Peek done, as I am starting to feel a litttle overwhelmed with so much in my rotation.

Imagine my surprise when I checked my email, and for my birthday, the lovely Angie from Miamina's Musings sent me a pressie!

I got a RAK of Selina Fenech's Waiting, which is a stunning chart!



Thank you again Angie, she is gorgeous, I can't wait to start her!

I also got some money from my family, so I am trying to decide whether to be responsible, and use it to pay down some household stuff, or to splurge and go on a stash binge, lol. And if I do a stash binge, what should I get??? Decisions, decisions, lol!

Hope you all have a great week!

Hugs,
Nikki

I'm back!

Hi everyone!

Surgery went well, took a bit for me to start feeling like myself again, but so far so good! I have a follow-up appointment with the surgeon at the end of the month to go over my results, but if it was something serious, he would have told me right away, so that's good news.

I did get a bit of stitching done, but with the weather getting warmer, and the days getting much nicer, I have been starting up walking again in the hopes of losing a bit more weight. But I still have some nice progress piccys to show you!

First up is Sadness, which I am proud to say is now officially over 50% complete, yippie!

Next is QS Twin Peek, I have finished 4/6 pages now, only 2 more to go!

Ghost has gotten a bit more attention, almost done the 2nd page. You can see the dagger hilt and part of her arm now.

Ascendant has another 2 columns done, hoping to get to finish her lovely face soon!

My BB SAL piece is growing ever so slowly...the confetti is crazy, so I pick away at it between other projects, as I just can't seem to get into trying to finish a whole column at a time.

And finally Red Dragon is at a 1/2 page complete now, still doesn't look like much!

Phew, so that's pretty much it! Think I will work a bit on Ghost tonight, would really love to meet at least one of my yearly goals this month, I already feel so behind!

Thank you for all your thoughts and support, you guys are the greatest!

Hugs,
Nikki

Updates and a severe case of Startitis

Hey all!

Been awhile since I posted an update! I have not stitched as much as I have liked over the last several weeks, but I do have some progress to show you.

First up is TowMater. He is getting close to done, I have now finished all of the stitching on him, and have started the dreaded back stitching. I also haven't stitched the banner up top yet, I am leaving it until last, as it's all black, and should be an easy stitch.

Lust (HAED) has gotten a bit of love, sorry for the pic, but getting a decent shot of dark colors is hard!

QS Twin Peek (HAED) has come a long way, I am now finished 3/6 pages!

And this weekend I have been working on my BB SAL piece, which I am sooo far behind on! Here is where I am at now, I have done about 500 stitches this weekend; slow going as this piece is sheer confetti!

I am kinda sheepish to say that I have also made not one but two new starts! My rotation went out the window for awhile, but I am now back on track, so here is my progress on my latest additions!

When HAED released this chart, I bought it and started it the same day! I have an obsession with dragons, and even have a full back piece tattoo that looks very similar to this chart, so I had to start it!

Red Dragon:

And here is my progress after 3 rotations:

As a side note, I have to say how much I absolutely love Magic Guide fabric! Makes it so easy as I stitch per column, so much faster when I don't have to grid or count. Plus, the coverage on it is great; I was a little hesitant, but the dark colors look fine on it, and I have been told that it gets even better once the piece is washed.


I also fell in love with another chart designer, Sarah Paine of Paine Free Crafts. She has some fantastic designs, and I plan on many more purchases.
Here is the first chart I bought and started from her, its called Lyssa, Disturb at your own Risk. Dragons and oriental art, what could be better?

My progress after two rotations, hard to see as it is all fairly light colors:

So that's pretty much it on the stitchy front. Things are moving along slowly but surely on the medical front, I am booked in for surgery at the end of this month, so keeping my fingers crossed! Thank you for all your kind words and support, I will keep you posted!

Hugs,
Nikki

Final WIPocalypse, new goals, and lots of pics!

Phew, finally getting around to my last WIPocalypse post for 2012! I kept thinking about posting, then stitching or life called, and it was put off another day! lol

So time for the year in recap, all in all it was a very successful year of stitching for me...I think this was the most I stitched in...well...ever!

First up is Ascendant, here is where she was at the beginning of the year. My goal was to reach 20% for the year.

January:

And now, at 26% and counting!

I am so pleased with how she is turning out...even with all the stash I have bought over the last year, she is still my all time favorite chart, and a real pleasure to work on. Plus, I love sparkles!

Next up is Sadness of an Angel, the bane of my stitching existance. This is a chart my sister picked for herself for me to stitch. I don't know if it is the colors, or just the fact that I don't paticularly like stitching for other people anymore, but I really had to push myself to work on her.

January:

And now, with 45% complete, and 5% shy of my goal:

Even though I didn't meet goal, I am still really happy with how much I completed, since I dislike her so much! lol

I also had 3 kits listed as goals to finish, and here they are, all completed, and have since been delivered to their happy new owners:

Welcome Friends

Baby Hugs

Lightning McQueen

I also started TowMater, the companion piece to Lightning. I came close to a finish on him this year, but got caught up over the holidays. Here he is about 3/4 complete:

Several new starts found their way into my rotation as well. I didn't have any formal goals on any of them, but I did make pretty good progress.

Ghost:

Lust:

Waterfall Dragons:

So the plan for this year...

1. Finish current row on Ascendant. (pages 10-12 left)

2. Get to 60% on Sadness of an Angel. (currently 45%)

3. Finish TowMater.

4. Finish page 2 of Ghost.

5. Finish page 2 of Lust.

6. Finish page 2 of Dragons.

7. Finish the BB SAL piece I picked. (details below) 

8. Try to finish QS Twin Peek. (details below)

I think this will keep me stitching like crazy for this year!

I joined the HAED BB SAL for the first time this year. I picked QS Mystic Garden, since my boyfriend loves tigers, so I would love to finish it and get it framed in time for X-mas this year for him. Here is what it looks like:

And here is my progress after the first few days:

This is officially the most confetti heavy piece I have ever worked on...it will be a challenge to get it finished in time I think!

I am also participating in the NEW Years SAL in one of the FB groups I am in. I chose QS Twin Peek as my first chart to start:

And here is my progress, first page is complete!

This is my first time trying Magic Guide fabby, and I love it! So great to stitch the shoe collection on, since there is a lot of counting as none of the pieces have stitched backgrounds.

Phew, I think that is it for the stitchy front! I tried to keep my goals for this year fairly simple and easy, as I don't know when my surgery is going to be, or how long I will be down for.

 But, I did get a phone call! Thank you everyone for your positive vibes and thoughts; they must have worked, because not 2 days after my last post, I got a call from the surgeons office to book in for my surgical consult. My appointment is this Friday, and I am hoping if all goes well they will get me in ASAP for surgery. I will keep you all posted!

So I think that is all the news that is news; but again, a big thank you to all of your for the positive thoughts and comments recently, and throughout the year. I would have never gotten as much accomplished as I did without your support. *Big hugs all around!*

And as a personal goal, I am commiting myself to posting an update every 3 weeks, so I will talk to you all soon!

Hugs and a Happy New Year,

Nikki