Our Friends' HAED SAL: My first HAED

Monday, December 28, 2009

My first HAED

I discovered HAED's in early 2005 and another girl and I decided to have a SAL and we chose Half Sick of Shadows. I don't do SAL's well and this was as far as I got. It wasn't long before the lure of starting a new chart had me hooked. So I started Blossom, Leaf, Ocean's Bounty, A New Day Has Come and a couple more. I decided that I really needed to finish one and so I numbered them all and hit the Research Randomizer to pick one to finish. It was Ocean's Bounty and in 2008 I had my first Full Sized HAED finish.

I also discovered QS's and decided that I would stitch one until it was finished. I was really good and managed to finish 3 QS's before I gave in to the startitis bug and I now have Blue Pearls Mermaid, Daydreaming Fairy (another SAL that didn't work out), and Crabby Crush .

Here is a picture of my first full sized HAED finish. I loved every minute of stitching her. There was always something new to discover as I stitched her. I called her the stuck up Mermaid. She has such a regal bearing.

I really fell in love with stitching over 1 and believe it or not I love confetti stitching. I have finished 5 QS's in total.

2010 I am hoping to finish Leaf she is so soothing to stitch and her eyes speak volumes. I am also hoping to finish Crabby Crush as well. This has probably been one of my favourite stitches.

For the year 2010 I have set up a Blog to track my HAED stitching for this year and at the end of the year I am hoping to be able to get it made into a book as a record of my stitching journey. Here it is HAED's Up For 2010 . I plan to post to it every week.

It has been fun reading about everyone first HAED's.

2 comments:

Joke said...: Your Mermaid is really gorgeous and I am sure Half Sick of Shadows will be too, once finished. So maybe, some time .... I also visited your HAED blog, nice idea!; December 29, 2009 at 2:54 AM
Sabine S. said...: Thanks for sharing your story! I feel like I'm learning so much about you all and I get to see wonderful, new patterns (which may be a bad thing!)! She is beautiful!!! You must be so proud!!! I'm joining the HAED BB SK SAL with Mermaid of the Deep and have nicknamed her "my little pissed off mermaid" because she looks like I feel! I too am trying to pick one and finish, but I don't think I'll be as disciplined as you.
Sabine; December 30, 2009 at 3:56 PM

Tutorials

How to Carry Threads
This is really easy...it takes a while to get used to though....and your back will look terrible...this you will have to live with...One thing...You will be working your 10 x 10 grids in colums...it makes it easier...
1. Start with a 10 x 10 grid..
2. Find your first symbol...and stitch all of that symbol in your 10 x 10 grid....When finished...
3. Find the same symbol on the 10 x 10 grid below it...take your needle and bring your thread up like you are going to make the first 1/2 of the X ...but don't do it...just unthread your needle and lay the thread down..
4. Go back to the first grid you were working on...and stitch the next symbol the same way....when finished bring your thread down....
5. continue each symbol until your first 10 x 10 grid is finished....
6. start the next 10 x 10 grid ....you should have thread there already for you to pick up and stitch...
Posted by Vickie 3/7/2009

Tent Stitching (Wikipedia)
Tent stitch variants
There are three types of tent stitch, all producing the same appearance on the front of the canvas but each worked in a slightly different way and having particular characteristics, uses, benefits and drawbacks. These variants of tent stitch are known as basketweave, continental and half cross tent stitches:
Basketweave tent stitch - The basketweave form of tent stitch is worked in diagonal rows up and down the canvas. The yarn on the back of the canvas has a typical basketweave appearance, with alternating horizontal and vertical stitches. Basketweave is the best stitch to use for covering large areas of canvas as it does not distort the canvas as the other two forms of tent stitch do.
Continental tent stitch - Continental stitch is worked horizontally or vertically across the canvas. On the back of the work, the stitches appear diagonally across two threads. This method uses more yarn than half cross stitch tent stitch but is more hardwearing.
Half cross tent stitch - Half cross stitch is worked horizontally or vertically across the canvas. On the back of the work, the stitch appears vertical or horizontal, not diagonal, and crosses only one thread. This method uses less yarn than other stitches but is not very durable as coverage on the back of the canvas is a little thin.