SAL 8th post - Last SAL post of year 2013

Hi folks

So it has been 8 months since our first post on SAL 'Autumn' by Jacek Yerka. And this is my 8th post.

8 months gone, wow.

During 8 months of stitching 'Autumn', I realize how grateful I am to have Pull the other thread as my SAL partner, for every amazing stitch that she put and her brilliant companionship. I am also thankful for all the comments that all of you, my fellow stitchers, made to encourage me to continue stitching this (this is a mad one, you know that).

Looking back again at all I have done so far, I feel proud. Having said that, each month I only have more or less than one page done (one page done each month is my minimum goal). I do really wish that I could have done more. I see some people got their HAED done in months or within a year. But others in yearSSS. So I think, well, just forget about the time frame. I have committed to it, I will fight with it Lol

And this is my 8th page done:

I think it comes together nicely and I know you guys want to see more of it. I really cracking my head right now to come up with a neater plan for next year, for how much I can pull it off. I do really want to see the whole picture too.

In summary, 8 pages down, 46 pages to go. With my minimum goal of one page each month now, I assume i will have this finish in 46 months which is 4 years later? NO WAY Lol (eyes popping out) O.o

To see the development of this piece when I first started until now,please click the Tab 'Autumn SAL' at the Top of this page.

To see the progress from my fellow stitcher, Pull the other thread, please click here.

I hope you enjoy and I will come back with my stitching goal for next year as well as some new stash! Yay!

xoxo
Gwen

Exciting updates on 'Harvest Moon', extravagant stash enhancement from Love Thy Thread, Tilton Crafts and Pain Free Crafts

Woohoo Hi folks

I think I got dusted by fairies in my dreams. That's the only explanation why I stitched 'Harvest Moon' by Love Thy Thread so fast. And I even forgot to tell you guys. I am HALF WAY THRU~~~ So I guess I should post something here to celebrate. I started stitching this from November 9. Here how it looks thru each stage:

Stitched on 26 count white canvas. 2 over 1 tent stitch

As of November 11

As of November 13

As of November 18

As of November 24

So now I am officially half way thru. Another half to go. Though the center contains a lot of confetti but I do hope to get this finished within this month. Don't you think? The bunny is just way too cute to resist.

Love Thy Thread is relatively new chart company run by Bev, an experienced stitcher from UK. I first heard about her when I read Thea's review on her blog (you can read it here). I found her charts are very lovely, especially her bunny collection from Lisa O'Malley or portraits from Elena Berezina. The other thing I like about is that her charts contain less pages in comparison to Heaven and Earth Designs (so that I can finish faster lol). The only thing I feel skeptical is the chart symbols are a little bit confusing to me). But overall, very worth buying. Last week, to celebrate her 40th birthday, she ran a 40% sale on her website. And I can't help but to buy another 5 lovely charts from her, all from Elena's artworks.

Daenery

Elf

Little Mermaid

Mermaid 2

Summer

After trying out Love Thy Thread's chart, an idea came to my mind that I should I try out other chart companies other than HAED as well, to see how it goes. So I bought some charts from Tilton Crafts and Paine Free Crafts. Though their collection is still limited as they are relatively new, their charts are both adorable. And their customer service is flawless.

Shelley from Tilton is such generous person. After I joined her group on Facebook, as many other stitchers, I got offered 'buy one get one free' (she will choose one from my wish list) which resulted in my 4 new charts (bought 2 got 2 free lol) below:

Dunlee Darnum

Free chart: Sanctuary

Free chart: Music Room

Upon the Roof Top

I haven't stitch any of these charts yet. But it's likely that i will start on 'Danlee Darnum' right after I finish my 'Harvest Moon'. The chart symbols from Tilton is very similar to HAED which is quite easy to my eyes to stitch. The only thing scares me is the number of pages, more or less than 70 (O.o)


Another company that I attempt to give a try is Paine Free Crafts run by Sarah Paine. Her charts are mostly fantasy and animatic theme which I really like. I have not seen any sale from her site yet but she offers loyalty points for each chart that you buy so I think it's great. I was obsessed by artworks by Esmira in her chart collection from the very first time I saw it. I love to have them all, but my bank not allow me to go further than one. So here you go, 'Magic Fire'.

To sum, I do really think that though Love Thy Thread, Tilton or Paine Free are relatively new charting companies, their chart collection are great and their customer services are flawless. As you might notice, while most of the artworks used in Love Thy Thread and Paine Free Crafts are from deviant arts.com, a very very famous site contributed by many talented illustrators, Tilton Crafts offer more charts on gothic and vintage theme by miscellaneous artists. I have not much thing to say about the charting quality since I have not stitch either Tilton or Paine Free but I really really hope that it will worth every penny I spent.

Ok guys, that's it for today's post. Hope you guys enjoy and happy stitching!

SAL 'Autumn': 7th post!!!

Hi guys

I hope this post finds all of you well.

I had good and bad weeks which caused my stitching bug flied in and out. But I fight to have one more page finished (I wanted to have 2 finished thou but I just can't hold the needle all the time).

I really hope you guys like it. I personally felt a bit disappointed with how the clock in the tree turns out not so clear. But oh well, what can I do to fix it. I just hope that it will look just fine when I admire it from far. Or maybe it's just because I overthink about it. Let's see.

So i have three pics this time, to show how I go on with the confetti madness. Yes, 'madness'. They were taken from different lighting so that you can see the depth of it.

You see the clock at the very top left corner?

The clock looks better from this pic, not sure why.

I think this is the best pic I ever taken Woohooo

Absolutely can't wait to see the flying books from Pull the other thread. I know you are just like me. So make sure we take a good look on her blog!

Happy birthday and wedding anniversary month!!! A sinful stitcher becomes even more sinful.

Hi folks

November is such a meaningful month for me. It begins with my birthday (which make me realize how 'young' I am) and continues with our upcoming 1st wedding anniversary. A month to celebrate!


I decided to make myself more sinful for this month by kicking 3 new starts LOL

Follow your Bliss by Aimee Stewart, will be stitched on 25 count even weave

Impossibilium also by Aimee Steward, will be stitched on 32 count linen

And Harvest Moon by Love Thy Thread, will be stitched by 28 count linen

 To make things even more extravagant, I bought new charts LOL

Low Tide by Jacek Yerka

Merlin Temple by Selena Fenech

Breath Autumn by Tiffany Toland

Hare Bells by Joanna Bromley (always love her works!)

Witching Hour by Lisa Parker

Canopy by Jacek Yerka (Him again!) 

At Schwartz by Pauline Pacquin (you can find it here)

Last but not least, some necessities for my stitching. Pako thread and needle organizer (I have never used them before but hope they will make me stitch faster???); a pack of highlighters (LOL), a pack of floss, clip-able magnifier and light and a cone of 3799! Love cone! I bought cone of 3371, 310 and 413 the other day as well. Very very useful.

PS: I feel happy but sinful after all. my DH might cry when he receives the bills (^o^)/

DEAR MOTHER OF FAIRY....

Dear mother of fairy,

Please help me speed up and finish this. I feel extremely energetic start stitching it in the morning and terribly frustrated when the day is over and nothing much done T.T I feel super depressed :(

Before

After

AND WHEN CAN I HAVE THIS  ↓

A bad bad week with stitching and lost floss package

I have been struggling on making progress with DCD. While stitching page 10, I realized that I gridded wrongly and as a matter of fact, I have to frog and frog. Oh I can't tell how much i hate frogging. It really make me feel less interested in stitching this. So I gave it a good wash and gridded again.

BEFORE

AFTER

Another bad thing come to me is the post office lost my floss package worth nearly 100 bucks. And they claimed that they delivered it 3 days ago! oh what a shame for them cause I have been staying at home the whole day and received nothing. Should I expect to receive my stuff back? Maybe not... what a bad week. Sigh


For those who are curious what kind of pen I used to grid my fabric:

To wash, I mixed a small amount of shampoo with luke warm water, let the fabric absorb and the color will be gone within 1 hour. 

'Autumn' SAL 6th post: You'll see more roots and fire!

Stitching 'Autumn' is not an easy job. Probably the most complicated piece I've ever put my hands on. But I hope it does pay off. I can see every single root appears with all the lights. I feel like I can nearly touch it. Another page finished and my journey still continues.

And as a matter of fact, I decided to buy a cone of 3371. Best thing I've ever done :D

Hope you guys enjoy and don't forget to visit Pull the other thread blog to see more!

Yo' guys are wondering what am I up to? New start and Updates

Hi folks

I have been disappeared for a while. You know it's hard to keep your blog updated when your stitching mojo went for vacation! Hang on, summer is over. it's autumn, you've gotta come back to me LOL.

So as you might know, I have several of W.I.P now but not all of them get my hands on it all the time. I know it's a shame but people's taste change and I know I can't focus on it if I find no interest. So in the mean time, I focus on what interested me most: my SAL 'Autumn' with Pull the other thread, Dandelion Clock Dance and my brand new start: "Ryo" by Haruyo Morita.

Here you go the picture and the link to HAED website:

This has been chosen as my new start thanks to some of my fellow stitchers on Official fan page of HAED on Facebook. They said I should give it a go, and here it is, my first page done:

And I am glad I did make this start cause the color changing is amazing. You might not see it vividly here due to the quality of the picture. Please STITCH it to FEEL it. And I am loving it.

To the very last note of this post, here is my little current progress on DCD:

And I will see you soon in the next post to tell you about the updates of 'Autumn'. Please come back on 15th!

xoxo

Gwen

Autumn, a season of love

Hi guys

Autumn has finally arrived here in NJ. I see squirrels jumping everywhere with their favorite acorns! I have not seen anything like this for such a long time. How lovely!

Autumn is a season of love for me and today is our 1st wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, my DH got to be at school the whole day so I am celebrating alone with my threads and needles lol. I managed to finish this today after several days struggle. Yes, a finish - a non-haed.

I have not been stitching anything other than HAED these days so this definitely makes a come back! This beautiful pattern is from one of my subscribed cross stitch magazine called CROSS STITCHER (Issue Sept 2012). Designed by Lesley Teare, these cow parsley really a hidden beauty. It is relly simple to stitch. Even with only 3 colors, it brings the delicacy and the brightness to my beautiful autumn day. An absolute comfort.

So here is it

Stitched on 28 count vintage linen
2 over 1 including full stitch and back stitch
Finished design: 14" x 14"
They said it will take 32 hours, ugh, it only happens in my dream. it took me 5 days of stitching

You may see some stain on the top. I accidentally dropped my pen there! What a shame right! Oh now it needs a good wash and hopefully it will be ok (cross finger). After my pillow form and backing fabric arrive, it should be transferred into a beautiful Oxford pillow ... if only I find out how to make it lol

Have a lovely stitching season my friends!

xoxo

Gwen

SAL 5th post: Autumn by Jacek Yerka

So I continue my journey with Yerka from last month. Here is the result:

This is where I ended last month

and result of this month.

Do you think it looks more and more interesting? I can't wait!

For a minor thing, I realized that putting it on Qsnap made me stitch so much faster, just because the tension and the focus area was just right. I do not think Millenium frame is bad, just that the fabric is much bigger than the frame I had and it will loose the fabric tension when you fold fabric from both sides.

Please take a look on Pull the other thread 's blog to see the other edge of this piece!

Best,

xoxo

Gwen

P.S: To compare the progress of each month, please click on my SAL tab or here

An Update on Dandelion Clock Dance

Hi guys

it took me a long, long time to settle down here and another long, long time to pick up my needle and start stitching.

I wanted to finish DCD so bad but at the same time, it made me feel so much pressure to continue :-( Therefore this piece was abandoned since my very last post and here it goes after I took my breath back. I do really hope that I will enjoy it more than before.

So as you can see, a dandelion's leaf and the rest of the fairy's wing appeared. Can't wait to see more of it?

xoxo

Gwen

SAL 4th post: Autumn by Jacek Yerka

This is a quick post on my SAL with Pull the other thread. As I mentioned before, we are moving out so I have to admit that I did not have much time to stitch. Many apologies for any readers who are expecting for a better result. Anw, here is my 'Autumn' before it was packed :D

Only 2 columns were stitched T.T

Bonus my messy stitching place. I have to switch to Q snap since my Millennium  frame is too short.

Hope you guys enjoy!

Gwen

HAED 53% Sale! What could be better?

Hello there

HAED is having crazy birthday sale with 53% off. How could I resist this? I have been surfing HAED website quite a lot but I have never seen anything quite like this before. The biggest sale I know is 50% which is quite beneficial for us but 53%???? Holly stashhhhh, here I go:

Japanese theme: Newest chart from Haruyo MORITA: 'Ryo'

She looks gorgeous, doesn't she?

Bear theme from Hidden Eloise:

War of the Rose

Seduction

Supernatural theme: Rose Spell by Amy Brown

And last but not least, QS

ancient theme: Hunter by Ancient Stone Wall Painting

Blodeuwedd by Gyseman. Love the owl!

How about you, any new stash so far????

xoxo Gwen