College #50

I hate coming up with titles for these posts but I hate the "(untitled)" even more. Maybe I should just start numbering them as above. So this is post #50 for College. Wow I stitch slow.

Before:

After:

I meant to post this last night but I realized that all the progress photos I had taken were blurry and sucked so there it is.

A few days ago I got a surprise in the mail from Lesli of The Fabulous Frogger. She's always coming up with some sort of mischief and this was no exception:

Some lovely hand-dyed fabby, an Alessandra Adelaide design, and a Lizzie Kate Design! I need to go to my LNS and find some pretty variegated silk that will match the fabby to stitch the AA design on. It might have to be after my VACATION, though. Handsome Helpful Charming Valiant Boyfriend and I are finally going on a trip home to California for a little bit so stitching updates may be sparse for the next two weeks or so. I'll try to update once more before we leave but no promises since I haven't stitched at all since Sunday night and today doesn't look promising for stitches, either - but we'll see. I might take a small project with me so that may get a bit of love and I'll try to post that when I return if that happens. In the meantime I will be stuffing myself full of sushi and pho and enjoying the company of people who don't expect me to wear skirts down to my ankles and button my sweater up to the neck.

Happy stitching!

IHSW Results and More

I participated in IHSW this weekend with Handsome Helpful Charming Boyfriend picking symbols for me. I'm still working on College and doing pages 11 and 12 together since page 12 is just 12 columns. So here goes.

Before:

After:

So not much progress but that's probably because I've adopted a new life philosophy. The original article was featured on one of my favorite fitness/motivational sites: Nerd Fitness. The basic premise is three words that you have to tell yourself daily are, "Do it now." As a result, my productivity has shot up. And my stitching time has gone down. But I figure I'm just catching up on all the work I have slacked off on over the past few weeks and once I'm caught up, stitching will once again reign supreme.

I'm about 5 weeks into the semester right now and the semester is 15 weeks long, which means 1/3 of the way done! 4 semesters left after this. Yes, I'm counting down. It has been alright so far, except for the part where I have to read 65 YA books by the end of May. That's a lot. It doesn't help that I'm a slow reader. I will probably pick up some audio books and stitch during them. I honestly don't have a problem reading that much, but a lot of the contemporary YA books are so... WHINY. On that note, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is an EXCELLENT book and made me cry like a little girl. But it was really really amazing and I recommend it to anyone.

Two more things on my agenda today. The first being, I'm revealing my "secret stitch" even though I don't have a stitching update on it right now. It's QS Curl Up from the HAED SAL once upon a time.

He's the perfect gift for my sister who enjoys a good book, drinking wine, candles, and cookies. Hopefully I'll have him done... eventually. Already over 20% of the way there!

And finally, I started a new blog. Sometimes I want to talk about stuff that's not stitching but I know that a lot of people here are for stitchy stuff and I don't want to change the nature of this blog. So, I have a separate one for anyone who is interested. I hope to see some of you there - those who are inclined to read it anyway. Here's the link: I am Batman. The layout is a work in progress, as is the content, but I figure it will evolve with time.

And now, homework. Happy stitching all - and thank you for all the wonderful comments! I love reading them and they're a joy.

College page 10 and chart lust

I have finally broken into the double digits for College! Took me long enough, I've been stuck on this page for months.

Before:

Now:

Not taken in natural light so it's a bit dark, but again I just couldn't wait to snap a photo and post it. I'll start page 11 tomorrow - so exciting! I think it looks pretty good, too. It was such a mush of colors while I stitched it but, of course, you put in the last stitch and step back and there it is.

Regarding the chart lust, HAED recently released a chart that I have just been staring at practically on a daily basis.

It's Annya Kai's "Alice in Wonderland and Caterpillar." I'm resisting buying it until I have a finish. But when I do, this puppy will be mine. I don't usually become so infatuated with charts, but I love Alice in Wonderland and it's just whimsical enough for me to be cute but not yet annoying.

I think I'm going to keep it a short post today. I have a lot on my mind and I feel like if I keep typing it will just turn into mush. So I'll leave it at this. Success at page 10 was had, on to the next!

Middle Earf, page 2

I think I have stitched more over the last two weeks than I did all of last semester. Two factors: 1. I had the Plague all of last week, and 2. I've developed an awesome system that allows me to stitch more often. More on that later. For now, I finally finished page 2 of Middle Earf!

Before:

Now:

This is the original Middle Earf map, not the large re-released version. Handsome helpful CHARMING Boyfriend is quite happy with it so far. 

Since I've switched up my rotation big time, I will now be focusing on College for a long while. I'll try to update weekly if I can. Gotta make those insane year goals, after all!

So the system I developed in order to have more stitching time is actually one I used in college that was quite helpful back then. It's pretty basic, but very effective. Do all your reading for the next week the weekend before the week starts. Then, during the week, focus on assignments, doing them as they are due. That way - evenings are for stitching! Very simple but it takes a lot of focus and a lot of making myself do things when I might not necessarily want to do them. Overall, though, it has been working so far, as evidenced above. 

When I first started this blog I did once weekly updates every Sunday night or Monday through work I completed Sunday. I'm going to try to get into that habit again. I'm dropping the 10 hour rotation just because right now, with the goals I've put in place for myself, it will be easier for me to just work on stuff as I see fit. That means you might see a LOT of one project at once (up until about the point where I get ready to throw it out the window). My ultimate goal is to whittle down my BAPs until I just have one going at a time. Crazy, right? I'm just getting a bit overwhelmed with so many projects on the go. No promises as we all know how fickle a stitcher's heart can be, but there it is.

Also, when its turn comes up, I will be sharing progress photos of the "secret stitch" as I have discovered that my sister does not read my blog. Not even sure if she knows it exists. So stay tuned for that and until then, happy stitching!