She's almost done!

Last night I finished another page (the top right panel) of the behemoth HAED "The Hermit".

I have two exciting panels left to finish and I cannot wait to finish. It will be bittersweet as I have toiled over this baby for almost 5 years.  *sniff*

Progress on the Hermit

I've been working away on the Hermit.  She's a bitch I tell ya! It is still quite daunting to me this task I have embarked upon.  About a month ago I showed it to a friend of mine and she just looked at me like I was crazy.  I laughed at her.  It is crazy but I love it.

The page I am working on is the very bottom right corner of the design.  I fiddled with the Q-snap for ages trying to get the fabric tight enough and it just wasn't working.  So for a few nights I just stitched holding the fabric in my hand - that was not easy, there's a lot of fabric and it was really hard to keep it tight.  So off to the craft store I went in search of those wooden round holdy-thingys.

Brilliant!  Brilliant, I tell you.  This this is amazing! It was so worth the $3 I spent on it!  It is perfect for the area I am stitching right now.  I am so in love with it.
 

Two Hours of Stitching Doesn't Look Like Much.

Ha ha!

I am always amazed at how long it takes to cross stitch.  Just the other night, I started work on a new page of the Hermit and took a before stitching photo and two hours later, took another picture. Didn't look like I'd done much!

**Sniff** - Didn't make the deadline!

Today marks the 1 year anniversary that I started work on the Hermit.  My goal was to complete the 6th chart page by today but sadly, I was not able to do it.

I blame Bond.  James Bond.

And Fringe.

And a migraine headache from hell.

Excuses, excuses.  I think I will be able to complete the page this weekend, but since today is the anniversary, I decided I had to write and post a picture of the Hermit, 1 year later.

Bad Stitchy!

Wow.  My bad. Haven't posted in almost a month.

I blame Netflix.

Seriously.  I haven't been stitching much since the New Year.  Aside from Netflix, there was alot going on with me in January.  Things are finally settling down a bit.  I am hoping to get back to more stitching soon.

As for Netflix - hubby and I have been addicted to the new series, "House of Cards".  Great television.  I love Kevin Spacey.  We finished all 13 episodes in about a week.  Then we started a Star Trek marathon.  We've been watching the movies every night this past week.  So good!  William Shatner is great.

But, I have to admit, I miss stitching.  I miss the Hermit.  We are visiting my in-laws this weekend and I brought the Hermit.  I am really hoping I can get some stitching done today.  It's hard to believe but it's almost been a year since I started working on the Hermit.  I have the date written down, it's sometime in early March 2012 that I placed the first stitch.  Crazy!!

I had better get off the computer if I want to stitch this weekend.

Here is a photo of the Hermit's progress so far.

Thanks for sticking with me!

Hermit - February 16, 2013

Purple, purple and MORE purple!

I am back to working on the Hermit full-time again.  The first few days were tough - after 14 ct Aida, the 22 ct Hardanger was hard on my eyes!  I was also getting some wrist and neck pain from hold the Qsnap again.  Oh, the things us stitchers go through for our craft!  ;)

Hermit is coming along nicely.  I am stitching a page with a LOT of purple - the cloak, you see.  It's boring, but it has to get done.  It's making for relatively easy stitching with few counting errors, so that's a nice change.

Is it crazy that I am looking again at Heaven and Earth Designs for more charts?  I'm a nut, I know.  I am barely scratching the surface of the Hermit and yet looking for more wonderful cats to stitch. I need some help!

In the meantime, here's a progress photo. 

It's Done!!!

Short post. 

I finished Farm Friends on Sunday night.   It looks amazing, if I do say so myself! I can't post a photo though until it's framed and has been given to the little guy for his birthday. 

I started back to work on The Hermit.  Oh my GOD, after stitching on 14 ct fabric for the better part of the last month, the 22ct squares are shockingly small again!  My eyes hurt after only an hour of work! 

I'll post a Hermit update soon!

I miss the Hermit.

If you've been reading along, you know that I have taken a break from the Hermit to work on a very special birth record for my friends' son.  It is a labor of love, but I am ashamed to admit that it's kind of boring to work on.  It's a very easy cross stitch.  There are lots of stitches in blocks of color.  The colors are bright and cheerful so that's a nice change from the darker colors of the Hermit.

I am flying through it and am also done the principle stitching (what I call "principle photography" -
Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production.)  Post-production should start in the next day or two (ie, the detailing and finishing touches), then it's off to the framing store.  

I've never missed a project before.  I am such a nerd. :-) 

Back to work ....

It's been a few weeks since I've updated.  My daughter started JK, the office has picked up again, and I've been doing more of that running thing.  I went another week without stitching, I can't even remember why.   I did some work on the Hermit this past week, so I thought I should post an update - it usually helps me get motivated to keep working. 

There are several counting errors on this particular page which is beyond frustrating.  I know that no one can see them, it's just really annoying to have to make up stitches as I go.  In a project of over 140,000 stitches, it's next to impossible not to make a mistake, right?  Right?

In my last post, I wrote about wondering where to go next with this particular charting page.  You'll see that I decided to frame the entire square and am working my way into the center.  I wonder if that's what contributes to the counting errors? Hmm....

I've been pretty negligent with my other projects.  I really need to get working on the baby birth record.  Perhaps once I finish this current page, I will take a Hermit break and work on FF.

I appreciate all those who are following along.  Thank you for the encouragement.  So, without further ado - here is the Hermit.

Busy, busy, busy!

It's been a while since I've posted an update of the Hermit.  I have to admit I haven't been doing a lot of stitching these days. I think it's been a week since I actually did a cross stitch.

My summer vacation ended and I have gone back to work. Between the office and my running, by the time I'm on the couch in the evening, I'm already half asleep.  Having said that, I did make a bit of progress with the Hermit since I last posted a photo.

I struggle sometimes with how to stitch each page.  Do I stitch across and finish each 10x10 square?  Do I pick one thread colour and work all those stitches?  (The latter often leads to counting errors.) This time I decided to frame the page, partly because I wanted to see where the edge of the pattern would be on the fabric. So this is why the left side of the page I'm stitching has been stitched.  Next, I think I'll work across the bottom of the page towards the lantern.  Decisions.  Decisions.

Tune in!

Ugh -- Frustration!!!

There is nothing worse than thinking you're going to finish a page of chart, in fact, have one colour left to stitch, only to discover that you are actually missing the one thread you need.

DAMN IT!!!!!

I can't describe to you the number of expletives I just muttered under my breath.  (My daughter is sitting next to me, so I have to watch myself).  But, OH MY GOD, I am exploding inside!!!!  I was all ready to post a photo of the completion of page 3 and now it's going to be delayed by at least a week while I wait on delivery of the missing thread in question.

What is even more frustrating is that the thread is checked off my list, meaning, I bought it.  Yet, it's no where to be found.  WTF?!?!  I have triple checked the area where I stitch, I've checked the baggies my threads are in.  Nope. Nada. Nothing.  I don't get it.  Ugh.

This is me right now.

Vacation stitching.

So, it's July and I am on vacation for a month.  Yay, me!

Sadly though, my days are filled with family-oriented activities which eats into my stitching time.  I only partly jest.  I love spending time with my children and the weather has been so fabulous that we are going on family bike rides throughout the trails in our city and not only am I finally getting some exercise, but I'm also getting a killer tan!

By the end of the day, the kids are beat and so am I.  Hubby and I finished Game of Thrones, well, what was available to us, which was the first two seasons, so I have not done as much evening stitching as I would have liked.  I wanted to have completed the third page of chart by now, but alas, it is not meant to be.

I am so very, very close though!!  I can see the end of the page is soooo close!!!   I think there's about a thousand stitches to go.  I know, I just stopped myself - a thousand more stitches?!  That sounds insane!  Yet, I am determined to complete this page by the time we head to the cottage in a week.

Wish me luck.

Here's a current photo.

Page 3 - Almost done!

I am very excited to seeing the end of page 3 coming together.  Won't be long now, I think.  My month-long vacation starts in about 36 hours and I hope to have this page complete in about a week or so.  I am super proud of myself for having few stitching errors on this page, which is I think due in part to having better concentration while I'm working away.

So, without further ado ... a progress photo!

Heat Wave GameofThrones.

Hi everyone.

I don't know where some of my readers live, but where I live there's been a wicked 3-day heat wave.  Thankfully we have air-conditioning so it's been pretty comfortable.

Husband has finally finished work on his friend's movie soundtrack and as a thank you, said friend gave us access to his HBO on-demand account so we could enjoy some Game of Thrones.  We were hooked after one episode.  As such, I haven't stitched a cross in almost a week.  I have missed it, but GoT is making up for it.  Wow, what great television!  Riveting.  We are flying through season 1.

I do have a progress photo though.  It was taken over a week ago, but it's still progress and I am happy to show it off.

I think I am about 1/2 done the chart page.  I am so pleased with how it is turning out and am doubly pleased that there are next to NO counting errors!!!  Yay me!