Long overdue update!

Hello my stitching friends!

It's been so long since I updated this blog.  I have been stitching away on the Hermit and have an update for you!  You can see The Hermit's ear now!!!

Working with a piece of fabric this big has had its challenges.  I used a Q-snap for a long time and then switched to the O-ring.  When I started work on the new page (bottom middle) about a month ago, I started having some issues with numbness in the last two fingers of my right hand.  I deduced that my ulnar nerve was being irritated from having my elbow bent for long periods of time - some nights, I could be stitching for 2-3 hours.  I concluded that I needed a new system for holding my fabric that saved my hand from going numb, so I bought a lap stand.

It has been a Godsend.  The only criticism I have is that the screws don't stay tight on the scroll bar so that the scroll will swivel when I don't want it to. It's not a big deal and my husband actually added a washer which has helped keep the screws tight.

I am starting to see the end is in sight for The Hermit.  I have about 5 pages left to stitch.  It will probably take me the rest of this year to finish.  I can hardly wait!

Hermit Update!

Well, it's been 4 months and another page of the mammoth project, The Hermit, is complete. This was actually page 1 of the chart.  As some of my readers will recall, I started stitching in the middle of the chart. 

Hermit Update.

Well, it's been four months so it must be time for another page finish!  And it is!!  I completed the lower right panel late last night.  This is one mammoth of a project!

Happy New Year 2015!

It's January 1, 2015.  I have been working on the Hermit since March 6, 2012.  Almost 3 years. Certainly the longest I have ever worked on a single project.  It truly is a labor of love.

On New Years Eve I completed another page.  I've done ten so far. 

 

It never ceases to amaze me how it looks when I take the  Q-snap or the O-ring off and lay her all out flat on a table.  It's hard to see the picture when I'm stitching a particular section/page but when seen like this, wow! Blows my mind.

So today, on this first day of a brand new year, I started a new page.  I reckon I have completed 50% of the Hermit.  I wonder if it will take me another 3 years to finish?  Anyone wanna place bets?

Hermit update!

I am so happy to be able to finally post an update on the Hermit.  Another page is done! Yay!!  And can I just say how sick I am of the grey tones?  So much grey!!!

She is a beauty though, don't you think?! I forget how big she's going to be.  I think I am going to move away from the door and start working on the wall near the lantern again.  I need some new colour in my life.

Thanks for stopping by!!

One more down ...

... page, that is.

Yes, that's right folks!  Another page of the Hermit is complete.  This page was a bit repetitive which in some ways is easier to work on because I only needed 4-6 color threads to do the majority of the work.  I attacked this page a bit differently - I worked more consistently on each 10 x 10 square, which helped to minimize counting errors, though somehow I still ended up with a few. 

Anyway, I think it looks great and certainly no one will notice where the errors are - so, without further ado, I give you the latest update of the Hermit. 

  

Once again, thanks for looking! 

The Countdown Begins!!

I have 4 days to finish the current chart page I have been working on for the past 3-4 months.

FOUR DAYS!!!!

Why 4 days??  Well, March 8, 2013 marks the 1 year stitching anniversary for the Hermit.  If I am able to finish this chart page in 4 days, then I will have completed 6 pages in 1 year.  Given that the Hermit has about 24 pages in total, this means that at this rate, (6 pages per year), it will take me 4 more years to complete the Hermit.

Wow.  I knew it would take years, but now that I have a solid idea of exactly how much work I can do in a year, I think it might be doable!!

On that note ... I had better get to it.  I certainly hope I will be updating very, very soon!!

Wish me luck!!

Fast & Furious Stitching!

Hello again, my stitching followers!!

After my last post, I caught the stitching bug again and set to work on the Hermit.  I got some great stitching time in on Sunday and Monday this week, so much so, that I wanted to post an update.

March 8, 2013 will mark the 1 year anniversary since I started work on the Hermit.  I am hoping that I will finish this current page by that date, which will mean that it took me 1 year to complete 6 pages of chart!!  At that rate, the project will be done in .... 4 years!  (Ha! I'm crazy!)

I am very excited as well because I finally found a box to hold all my cross-stitching stuff.  Right now everything is in plastic bags, so it will be nice to have a home for everything.  I can't wait to get it all organized tonight!!

And, without further ado --- an update on the Hermit.

Goodybe, 2012!

It's been several weeks since I have posted.  I do apologize to my followers.  December is such a busy month - holiday parties, family get-togethers, not to mention work!  It's been a month plagued with illness. At any given time one or all of us has been sick.  Finally the cold weather has come, so I am hoping this is the end of the sickness.

Cross-stitching has thus taken a backseat to the busyness of the month.  I have missed it tremendously.  I promise to post an update on the Hermit in the coming weeks. 

Thank you all for following along my stitching journey.  I look forward to many more posts and stitches in 2013.

Stitching like Mad!

I have been working furiously on Farm Friends since I last posted.  I must have it done by the end of the month so I can get it framed in time for the little guy's first birthday in mid-November.

FF is an easy project - 14 ct Aida fabric.  It's an easy design and while it is a bit boring to stitch, it's kinda nice to have blocks of colors to stitch rather than changing threads after only a few stitches.  I do miss the Hermit, though.  I miss it's complexity.  Still, FF is a labour of love for some good friends of mine, so I am happy to do it.

Daughter is enjoying the progress of this one.  "Look," I tell her, "I finished the piggy!"  Well, sort-of.  The detailing comes last, but its nice to see the look of delight on her face when I show her my work. I also started working on the border (lower left side).  From the bottom up - cow, pig, doggy and duck.

... and page 4 is DONE!!

As I watch Dr. No on this, the 50th anniversary of the film's theatrical release, I am finally finished page 4 of the Hermit. 

I was left with a lot of confetti which I am beginning to detest.  It's very annoying to do one cross stitch and then change thread.  Repeat x ten.  Ugh.  I have decided that as I start page 5, I am going to do my best to avoid ending up with confetti.  Let's see how I do.

And so, without further ado --- here is the Hermit, 5 pages (out of 20) complete!

Stay tuned.... update in a few days

I am just popping in to let my followers know that in a day or two I will be posting an update on The Hermit. Page 4 is thisclose to completion... there are about 30-40 stitches left.  Lots of confetti that I am working through but I promise to work hard and hopefully have an update by the weekend.  Was planning to stitch tonight but a coffee date with my girlfriend takes precedent!!

Stay tuned!

Itching for a new design...

So, I am only a few months into the Hermit BAP (big ass project), and I am already thinking about the next HAED design I want to tackle.

I'm crazy, right?

Never mind that I already have one other unfinished project which I have blogged about previously.  I haven't even gone back to that beautiful little kitty since starting the Hermit!  The Hermit has been all-consuming for me.  Why on earth would I want to start another one equally as difficult?

I know the seasoned stitchers out there will say it's good to have a variety of projects on the go as one might get bored with stitching just one design all.the.time.  But I'm not bored of the Hermit yet.  I am just getting excited about seeing the design unfold that I am already looking to see what other designs are out there.  I have even found a few, and <gasp> not all are cat-related!!!


Here's one I really like, called "The Drinkers".  This photo reminds me of the bar my husband and I went to in Barcelona, called Bar Marsella.  He was so excited to go there to try the Absinthe.  Apparently, Hemingway frequented the place quite a bit.  This was also the spot where I met my first celebrity, Ian Somerhalder.  We drank Absinthe together and partied with him until 6 am.  (Yes, I have photos to prove it!)

And another cute cat- themed design, "Bon Appetit":

And then there's this cute winter cat-themed design, "Winter Twilight":

Gah!  What am I gonna do?!

First Stitching Deadline - 1 week to go!

So,  I am one week from my first stitching deadline.  My goal to finish the second page of the chart was set for May 25.  I don't think I'll make it.  

See the paw?  Most of the upper 1/3 of the Hermit's paw has stitching errors.  Seriously.  I made some god awful counting errors. I had to kind of make up the stitches, I was so off.  I just mixed up the thread colours enough that hopefully it won't be too noticeable.  It's the biggest error (so far) on the Hermit.

Once the error was discovered, I spent an extraordinary amount of time one night figuring how to fix it, which is why I don't think I'll make my deadline.  Sigh .... 

An update and goal setting.

It feels like its been a month since I've posted a photo of my progress on The Hermit.  It was a rough week but I am over the worst of it and ready to get back to stitching.  I was able to get some work done this weekend, so I have a photo to show off.

So, we can see more of the Hermit's left paw and his cloak next to it.  I must say, I do love stitching the purple cloak. It's such a rich colour!

There was lots of frogging this past weekend.  Serves me right for stitching when there are other things on my mind.  Usually I am able to let my mind go blank but it was difficult this week.  I'm just happy I was able to detect the errors as I made them and not a few weeks from now.  Still, there are a few errors on this second page that I know of but couldn't fix, and it's really annoying, though I know no one else will ever notice.

I've decided to set a goal for myself.  I want to have the second page finished by May 25.  I have no idea why I just picked that date, but there it is.

Wish me luck!

Frogging.

If there's one thing I can't stand it's making a mistake.  You'd think doing counted cross stitch would be easy.  One counts the squares to figure out where the next stitch is placed.  Just when you think it's all going well you realized you've made a counting error.  It's happened in every project of mine. Every.Single.One.  My husband jokes that he hears me swear prolifically at least once during a project.  "Don't worry," he says, "No one will notice the mistake."  That doesn't matter to me - *I* know it's there.

So, if I find a mistake and I can correct it, I usually do.  I've learned that in the cross stitching world, this is called, "frogging".  Rip it, rip it, rip it.  I don't actually rip the thread out, rather, I backtrack the stitching and remove it.  It's a royal pain in the ass.  It's very time consuming and irritating.  It makes me mad.  Sometimes when an error is discovered and too much stitching has occurred around it, I can't possible fix it.  That makes me even more furious.  I swear, one of these days, I'm going to have a project that has ZERO errors in it. 

Sadly, it's not going to be the Hermit.  I spent the better part of my 2 hours of stitching last night frogging two separate errors.  Not to mention the fact that I discovered a few other errors but they are too far gone now to fix.  No one will ever notice the errors.  But I know they're there.  And even in the framed, finished works, my eye always finds the mistake.  Irritating, I tell you.

So, no photo update today.  Just a vent about mistakes.  I know I'm bound to make more, but I will strive to take more care in every single stitch I make.

Migraine + stitching = no way, Jose!

Ugh.  Migraines.

It's been a few days since I've been able to work on the Hermit.  I have been plagued by a cycle of migraine headaches.  The thought of stitching just doesn't appeal to me these days.  As much as I miss it, trying to focus on the chart and those tiny squares just makes me more nauseous.

I'll leave you with one of my favourite depictions of a migraine sufferer.  Perhaps I'll have it made into a chart some day and stitch it.  Ha ha!

Ugh...

Cross stitch junkie.

Like the junkie, I have been unable to stop doing my drug of choice.   Neck pain be damned.  I am stitching through it.

Hubby is busy working on a soundtrack score for our friend's independent film, so I have had several hours of uninterrupted stitching time for the past few evenings.  It's been heaven. During this time I have also been catching up on a month's worth of General Hospital, so overall it has been a few nights of pure bliss.

Here's what I've got to show for it.  I'd say I'm about 1/4 done the second page; only 19.75 pages to go!

Ugh.. Another repetitive stitch injury.

Remember that left-sided neck pain I had a week or so ago?  Well, it's been replaced by bilateral upper shoulder/lower neck stiffness and pain.

Diagnosis:  trapezius stitch injury.

Yes, I made that up.

The muscle tension I am feeling across my traps (trapezius muscle) is worsening by the day. The pain/discomfort is primarily in the upper fibers.  It's from sitting on the couch and stitching for hours at a time.  I'm serious!  I usually start around 7:30-8:00pm and I won't move until I can't see straight anymore, which is about 10:30-11:00pm.  This discomfort reminds me of my University days (and nights) of studying.  My posture wasn't good back then and it most certainly has only worsened over the years.

Sigh .. what to do?  I'd tell my patient to stop the offending action/strain.  But for me that means putting away the Hermit for a few days (a week?) and that's tantamount to telling a drug addict to stop cold turkey.

Is it illegal to triple park?

Thanks to my husband for the title of this post!

Well, I have started the 2nd page of the Hermit Baba chart, and as I discussed in the last post, I have decided to try a different approach.  I am stitching more in blocks and "parking" the threads.  It was a bit confusing at first but I think I'm finally getting the hang of it.  I think it's actually helping me stitch faster.  I've already got less counting errors and when I see one, it's easy to start the frogging process.  (Thankfully, I've only had to do it once).

So, without further ado -- here she is!

There are three threads that I've parked right now.  It surprised even me how easy this was to do.  Though, I don't think I could do more than 2-3 at a time because it might get confusing.  I have visions of finishing this second page in a few weeks rather than a month and a half (the length of time it took me to finish the first page).

For the record, page two was started on April 20, 2012.

Once again, thanks for reading!