Lady Godiva

For Christmas I received a RAK from Liz, over on the HAED BB. It is Mini Gypsy Firefly, straight from the top of my wishlist! I started on Christmas Day, but after a couple hundred stitches I decided I didn't like the way it looked. Restarted in tent, but didn't like it either. Retarted on a totally different fabric and count and thought I could live with the results. Nope. So now I've put her away to cool off until I get a new piece of fabric. I really hope a fresh start will keep my love of her alive!

Meanwhile, Lady Godiva insisted on some attention! Here she is where I started back last week.

I am a slow stitcher, but hopefully I'll find my way back here much sooner with an update on her!

Happy stitching to you all!

Sabine

Faces of Faery 177

Hello stitching friends!

Allow me to introduce Faces of Faery 177 by JBG. I started her late October, but then put her away a few weeks for Cirque. The two are now "rotating". She is my first attempt at tenting, and you can see the tension problems, in spite of my effort not to have that happen!

(Blogger won't let me insert pic here :-( )

Stats: 28ct ash rose Lugana, 2x1 tent
Please excuse the Q snaps, it's just too hard for me to get the fabric back on!

Happy Holidays everyone and please take some time for yourselves and stitch!!
Sabine

Such a Long Time...

...since I've posted, and I've missed you all! Life has gotten in the way. I had major abdominal surgery and all is well now. My son was bitten by a venomous snake which took 2 trips to the ER, 2 hospitalizations totaling 3 weeks, and finally a surgery to save his foot. He is still having many problems with it. And now we have a new puppy!

I really needed to get back to stitching! I have a new start, but that will have to wait. This week I joined the themed SAL (people) on the HAED BB so I pulled out QS Stella. Here she is at the start of the SAL.

With the holidays fast approaching, I hope you all find quiet moments to stitch!

Sabine

Who Thought this Day Would Ever Come?

After countless new starts, numerous starts that have remained WIPs, and my inability to focus on any one piece, the day has finally come...I have my first HAED finish!

Yes, it's the smallest piece I was stitching on, but it is also the one I thought I would not finish because I simply wasn't enjoying it. But the closer I got, I knew I had to finish her.

So here she is:

SK Mermaid of the Deep (2010 HAED BB freebie SAL) 28ct Lavendar Lugana, 1x1 full crosses, Kreinik in tent

And yes, it took me over a month to post my finish! I was in the hospital for gall bladder surgery and had to return to work only four days later. I am so tired, but looking at all of your wonderful progress pics has kept me stitching, even if only 20 stitches a day.

Sabine

QS Stella

Last week was the detail/confetti SAL on the HAED BB. I joined in with QS Stella as her face needed a lot of confetti work! Almost finished her face, but I had to travel while a color was threaded...

Happy stitching everyone and keep up the great work!!

Sabine

QS Terra Fairy Sprite

I too joined the QS freebie SAL on the HAED BB. I chose Terra, stitching her on 32 ct antique white Lugana. She is supposed to be my 1x1 tent experiment (stitching on the left), but it looks thin, the colors seem pale, and I hate the diagonal white lines of the fabric showing through. So I tried 2x1 tent (right stitching), but it is lumpy with twisted threads on many stitches, and it's already so thick on the back it's hard to get the needle through!






I don't know what I am going to do. As she is small, I wanted to try tenting to see if I like the final result. If I have to go back to full crosses, I don't know if I like her enough to put in that much time and work. There are other pieces higher on my to do list.


I'm open to your comments about what you "see" when you look at them.

Sabine

QS Stella and QS Aurora's Garden

Hello all my stitching friends around the world!

Here is the second pic of QS Stella. I have not finished fixing my color mistake...just wasn't in the mood!



The weather has been gorgeous here in Texas and I really felt like I needed to stitch on QS Aurora's Garden! I started with the greens above her head and then wanted to finish her hair, but apparently I have "stolen" her floss for another project!

Hope everyone has a productive stitching week!

Sabine

Suggestions- Thank You!

Thanks to everyone who responded to my post with their suggestions! I made a new, clean working copy and highlighted all of those stitches on the page. There are four areas for a total of about 75 stitches. Around her eyes and mouth I will try to pick and restitch because I want those areas neat and sharp. There are some single stitches here and there and around the outside of her face which I may try to just stitch over in the right color. Monday will be fixing day! Updated pic soon after that. Thanks again!!!
Sabine

Suggestions?

I've been stitching on QS Stella's face since my last update. Last night, to my horror, I discover what looks to me like the same symbol being used for two different colors. No matter how hard I looked, I could not see a difference between the two symbols. Problem is I have stitched them all in one color already!

So I e-mailed HAED in the wee hours of the night and by the time I get up, there is a response from Bob. The symbol is the same, but one is smaller. I still can't see the difference so Bob offers to rechart the whole thing for me! One customer, one symbol and he reworks the whole chart!!!! How awesome is that?

As it turns out, the color I used is not the one I should have used. These stitches are securely tucked in, with other stitches all around them on 28 ct. Simply frogging isn't going to work.

I think I will snip each leg of the stitch in its center, pull it up tight with tweezers, snip close to the fabric, push the ends through to the back if necessary, place the new stitch, and maybe use a drop of Fray Check on the back. Any better ideas? The color difference is between light antique violet and light beaver gray, so it's not huge, but I can't leave it either! Suggestions welcomed!!!!
Sabine

QS Stella

Hello dear stitching friends!


Two weeks ago I spent 3 days sick in bed with the flu, and several more days trying to recover. Now my boss is out of the country and I have to work extra hours. I did not want to pull Lady Godiva into that craziness so I did what any (in)sane stitcher would do. I started a new piece! Afterall, I've been wanting to try the opalescent lugana and I had the perfect pattern for it...



This is QS Stella by Selina Fenech. She is stitched on 28ct opalescent white lugana, 1x1, full crosses. I loooove those sparklies!



The fabric has a learning curve. It is stiff and scratchy, like Kreinik. I have to keep the floss much shorter because it frays very quickly. I also need lots of new needles because many of the holes are closed. There are also many areas where I have to make the hole based on the stitches around it. Frustrating at times, but I can't seem to put her down!


Hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of Fall!
Sabine

Hello Out There in Stitching Land!!

It's been a long time since my last post!

Several weeks ago I told my buddy that I had put away all of my HAEDs because none of them were bringing me any joy. I spent some time stitching on CDC and another piece, but soon I missed HAEDs. How could that be? So I thought about the difference between patterns I like and those I would like to stitch and eventually hang on the wall, about stash, and how I go about stitching HAEDs. I learned a few things...

Then for my birthday I received this chart: Lady Godiva by John Collier.

How could I resist a new start? I find that I am enjoying her very much! It is a peaceful piece. I want to stitch on her every day, but it's more like wanting to spend time with an old friend, rather than feeling the pressure to get so many stitches in. I think something clicked in me about enjoying the process of stitching a HAED.

So here she is! The upper left corner has so many shades of browns and tans and even purple! I wish the picture would show how beautiful it really is, but even in daylight I could not get a good shot.

Thanks for looking!!!

Sabine

SK Mermaid of the Deep

For the last two weeks, the HAED BB has been buzzing about the next freebie SK SAL. I felt guilty that I hadn't finished Mermaid yet, so I pulled her out. Well, a day later my guilt was gone and I was on to something else! A few days after that, the final SAL weekend rolls around and I figured that since I did sign up for this, I should participate! Right now her face is under one of the snaps and I find I am enjoying her much more!

Before and after:


Happy stitching and have a great weekend!
Sabine

A Little Bit of Everything

Hello all my stitching friends!!!


Even though I have not updated in a while, I have been stitching, a little on this, a little on that. Just call me schizostitcher!


I spent a week experimenting with tent stitching. I stitched the same 100 stitch block on different counts of fabric and with different numbers of strands of floss, only to decide I did not like any of them! It is definately faster, but I can see the "slant" and will never be happy with it.


I was very good and did not buy any new charts during the last two sales!!!! I pulled a new one out of my stash. Here is Rhyme and Reason by James Christensen. This is the center panel, starting in the lower left corner. Not much to see yet, except the special appearance by my dear friend # 310!!!!



I also pulled out a freebie, QS Fairy Tales by Selina Fenech, that I started a while back, but tossed aside in frustration. I love the color of the fabric and therefor had to make peace with stitching on 28 ct. The stitches look like little bumps, but I'm getting over it. But the fabric is giving me a headache! It's like stitching on wet gauze, constantly pulling out of shape at the slightest touch. The fibers vary greatly in thickness and thinness, with some closer together and others further apart. My biggest problem? Look at those light stitches just to the left of the red. They're a mess! No matter how carefully I place them, they look horrible! Any ideas how to fix this?




Hope everyone has a great week!
Sabine

Could This Be The One????

My heart is skipping beats and I'm drooling! I could write two pages on everything I love about this piece! The wallpaper, the beams of moonlight, the candlesticks, her dress, the carvings on the couch, the stone window...oh my!!!!!!!

Impetuous Arrival (one of yesterday's new charts)

Sabine

Aurora's Garden and Mermaid of the Deep SK

Since my last update, I spent the first week working on Aurora's Garden. I am nearing the completion of the first page...soon...

Before and after:




Then I went to the WIP drawer and ended up with Mermaid of the Deep (SK) in my hands. Now usually when I haven't seen a piece in a while, it feels like, "WOW! I did this? It's so pretty!" and I want to work on it because it's great and wonderful and all that. Well, not with this one. I looked at it and thought, "That's it? I worked so hard on this and this is what it looks like?" Since it was the week of the freebie SAL on the HAED BB, I worked on it, but put her back 2 days early because she just wasn't doing anything for me. I'm not that into the big eyes of JBGs and I HATE the 28 ct fabby!

Before and after:


Sabine

Aurora's Garden

I admit, I've been a bad HAED stitcher! Since my last update, I spent a week reading and not stitching at all. Then I spent a week finishing up Salem Sisters, a Plum Street Sampler. The following week, I finished Big Girl Panties by Dolly Mamma. Both were such old WIPs they were still on Aida!!! I also stitched a little on my Monopoly board.

Then the weather was suddenly beautiful and out came Aurora's Garden! Apparently, I haven't stitched on her since last November. She is in the big Q Snap right now because I was playing around with propping it on the edge of the table and stitching two handed. Good thing I wear glasses, I nearly poked my eye out a couple of times pulling thread up with my left hand!!!!

Before and after:

Of all the HAED patterns I have, this little freebie is my favorite. But I am still looking for "that one" pattern. The one that makes the clouds part and the sun shine in and the angels sing. The one you can't put down because it's the only one you want to stitch on. I do like the ones I have, but I really want to find "the one". Know what I mean? I'm tired of jumping around, stitching a little on this and a little on that.

Happy stitching to all of you!! Keep the progress pics coming!!!!

Sabine

Mermaid of the Deep SK

Just to prove I still exist, and so that I can enter the give-a-way, here's a little progress picture.

Before and after:

I want to commend those of you who are stitching up a storm! I love to see your progress! Beautiful work by all of you!!!!!

Sabine

Mermaid of the Deep SK

Hello ladies!

I know I haven't been here or very supportive in the last few weeks. :-( I do look at your progress pics and think "WOW!" and then feel like I'm not getting anything done on mine.

Here is my next progress pic of the HAED BB's SK SAL, Mermaid of the Deep. I was very happy to see this morning, in the natural light, that you can actually see the difference between 310 and the ultra very dark navy blue!

Before and after:

Wishing everyone a happy, stitchy week!
Sabine

Mermaid of the Deep SK

Hello all my stitching friends!

Sometime around the end of November, I lost my HAED mojo. I don't know why, I had several WIPs to choose from. So I decided to just ride it out and stitch on Cirque des Cercles during December.

Before that time, I signed up for the freebie SK SAL on the HAED bb. On the 1st of January I started on Mermaid of the Deep. I am enjoying her very much, but inevitably she starts with #310! Oh well. Fortunately this big blob is a mixture of #310 and #979. Couldn't tell, could ya? Me either, another oh well. So here are pics of what she will look like and what she looks like now.

Happy New Year and Happy Stitching everyone!!!

Sabine

My First HAED

Reading Marie's post made me feel like it would be a nice way to finish off the year and bring in the new one if we all shared the story of our first HAED.

QS Storykeeper by Fenech was my first HAED. I chose a QS because the full size was way too intimidating and an SK just seemed too small for the effort. HAH! Little did I know! I remember being totally lost in the first square of 100 stitches. Single strands of the different colors all looked alike and I didn't have a clue where I was on the pattern, what I had stitched, and where to go next! But those issues worked themselves out as I became used to 25ct 1x1 and learned a few tricks with the pattern.

I originally chose Storykeeper because she was quiet and contemplative. I thought that maybe as I put each stitch in I could think about what our story is, what secrets she keeps for us. Then my Mom was diagnosed with cancer. During those six months, I put a few stitches in, but not many. All stitching fell to the wayside. After my Mom died, I never picked her up again. She was now far too depressing. I will admit though that I don't feel as bad about seeing her today as I thouht I would, so who knows...

Oh, and the red grid lines...baaaad idea...red fuzzies stuck deep inside...

Sabine