Catch-Up Post (Flapping Parrot and Faery Tales)

 I haven't posted in a bit. Things have been hectic. Work has absolutely exploded and we bought a house (!) so there has been a lot to take care of, organize, handle, set up, etc. I have been so focused on the house-buying process and achieving this goal for so many years that I don't know what I'm going to do with myself once we move in in a few weeks. 

I have been stitching, though! I have a status update on the Flapping Parrot as well as Faery Tales. I'll be going back to stitching the Flapping Parrot next and instead of Game of Swannes I'm going to move on to my half-finished Christmas stocking. Now that we have a mantle and Christmas is only a few months away, husband wants me to finish it so it's ready for this coming Christmas. I don't have too much left to stitch on it so might as well.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

As you can see, almost a page finish on both pieces! 

I'm really hoping that with the house-buying out of the way, I'm going to have more time to myself. I've been running on empty for a while now, trying to take care of everything, so getting this huge thing out of the way will, I hope, be a huge relief.

Of course now we have a huge list of house projects we need to take care of. Some of them need to happen before we move in, and they're already in the works. The rest will, I suspect, be spread out over a few years.

I hope everyone is safe and healthy and, as always, happy stitching!

Game of Swannes - 1

 I realize I have never posted my Game of Swannes by Long Dog, despite working on it for a little while. So, here's the first post ever:

This is stitched on a 32-count natural linen, 2 over 2, using the called for cotton threads from The Gentle Arts with the exception of one color I had to sub out because I couldn't find it anywhere so I used a color as close to it as I could find. 

This is a really pleasant stitch, a nice break from the huge full-coverage pieces I usually work on, and it goes pretty quick. The floss is very slightly variegated in tone, not color, the effects of which you can see in the above photo. I have a special method of stitching with variegated floss to maximize the effect and I've applied it to this piece, the effect of which I'm happy with.

I have been working so much I'm on the verge of burn out. I'm completely maxed out on my PTO and very likely losing money, despite taking time off as much as I can the last two months (I haven't worked a full five day work week since May). I do have a week off in August coming up, and I can't wait to just veg out. 

With that has come the need for a creative outlet. I've had so many ideas of what I would like to do. One of them is a YouTube channel. I'm not sure if I'll go through with it, but if I do I'll post about it here. As with my instagram, it would not replace this blog, merely supplement it. 

Besides that, just trying to get through each day as it comes. 

I hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy and safe.

As always, happy stitching.

Flapping Parrot 32 (Page Finish!)

 Despite how much I've been working, I managed to finish another page of the Flapping Parrot!

Before:

After:

I'm fairly happy with it. I have some page lines showing but I think once it's done and has a good wash and stretch, those will come right out.

I've been thinking and rethinking my rotation lately. I'd really like to close out my WIPs before starting a new one and I like having a focus piece (currently the flapping parrot) that I mainly stitch on, since it makes me feel like I'm making progress. My main issue, however, is that I have a lot of other projects that are in progress, and that's been nagging at me, because of the number of SSMC pieces I have on the go that it feels like before I finish one of those, a lot of time will have passed.

So here's my solution. I'm breaking down my projects by type:

Focus Piece:
Still Life With Parrot (Golden Kite)

Large WIPs:
Once Upon a Fairy Tale [SSMC] (Heaven and Earth Designs)
"Surprise Stitching" [SSMC] (Heaven and Earth Designs)
QS Curl Up (Heaven and Earth Designs)
Mario (Some Random Chart Generator from years ago)
Riding the Wave (Dimensions)
Medieval Shelf (Heaven and Earth Designs)
Middle Earth (Heaven and Earth Designs)
Greek Mandala (Chatelaine Designs)
Library Adventures (Heaven and Earth Designs)
The Wizards Implements (Heaven and Earth Designs)

Small WIPs:
Game of Swannes (Long Dog)
Birds (Tiny Cross Stitch)
Magical Creatures Calendar (Cloudsfactory)
12 Doctors Clock (Cloudsfactory)
Celestial Dragon (Joan Elliott)
Snow Bears Christmas Stocking (Dimensions)

That's a lot of WIPs. So here's my tentative plan.
7 days of stitching on focus piece (Flapping Parrot)
7 days of stitching on small WIP (Game of Swannes)
7 days of stitching on focus piece (Flapping Parrot)
7 days of stitching on Large WIP (until page finish, then rotate)

I would love to be a one project at a time stitcher, but it's just not in me, and I end up getting bored and losing my stitching bug. It seems like rotating pieces is a sure-fire way to keep myself interested and motivated to stitch. Don't get me wrong, I love all my WIPs (I wouldn't be stitching them otherwise) but I need variety. So, could be you'll see some "long lost WIPs" pop up in the coming months that you haven't seen in a while. 

I also have no idea what order I'll be stitching the "long lost WIPs" in, but whatever order, I'll write it down and hopefully keep to that order. So I guess Once Upon a Faery Tale is first on the list and I'll go from there. 

So that's that. I'm basically maxed out on PTO (or very close to being maxed out) so all of June and half of July I have 3 and 4 days weekend which will be spent cross stitching, video gaming, and turning into a general potato. 

Hope you're all well and happy stitching!

Faery Tales (SSMC) 008

 I should have posted this update earlier since I kept saying I would do it and then I .... didn't. But I'm doing it now, so that's something.

Before:

After:

The new rotation is really working well for me, especially because work has just been so busy lately and I definitely don't have time to stitch every night. Most weeknights, now, I knit and then on the weekends I have more time to stitch. The result is I end up working late almost every night (sign off anywhere between 8pm and 10:30pm) and maybe get at least 30 minutes of knitting in a night. I make an active effort not to work weekends (which is why I work so late on weeknights) so that's more time for stitching with an occasional video game thrown in.

 I've been receiving some requests from friends for small stitching projects. Not sure how I'll sneak those in but I'll try and post the results. Stay tuned.

 On a personal note, we're doing well. Have some major life events on the horizon, if the stars align, so crossing my fingers that they all align. H³ and I have both been vaccinated now and although we're not exactly bar hopping or anything, I am looking forward to hugging my mom for the first time in a year. 

Flapping Parrot 31

 It has been a while since I posted. Work has been absolutely insane, and then some things went down at work that were so blatantly unfair to staff and insulting to us as members of the "team" that I told management if they actually went down in the way they had planned, I'd be giving my notice without hesitation. Suffice it to say management backtracked and I am still employed. 

But because work has been so busy lately I have been doing more knitting than stitching as it's a bit easier to pick up and do a row than set up my hoop, threads, stitching space, get the tension right, etc. That being said, I have managed some stitching, I just haven't had the time to post it here. I took some PTO from work, though, since I'm almost maxed out (use it or lose it) so I took the opportunity to video game, stitch, write, relax, sleep, etc. I have today off, too, so going to stitch some more and run a few errands. Back to work tomorrow.

Before:

After:

I have also taken the opportunity to re-vamp my rotation to work in a manner that made sense to how much time I actually have to stitch. Previously, I was working it by date i.e. March 1-7 stitch this, 8-15 that, etc. That meant that I was basically getting maybe one day of stitching on a project. So now I go by "sessions stitched" instead. 7 session on the Flapping Parrot, then 7 on Game of Swannes, back to 7 on the Flapping Parrot, then 7 on Faery Tales, rinse repeat. It's working out really well and I'm making progress. I just have to make the time to blog about it!

I hope everyone is doing well and hanging in there. 2020 and 2021 have been wild rides. 

Happy Stitching!

Flapping Parrot - Page 13 Finish

 Work has been, to put it bluntly, kicking my ass. Doing my best to keep my head above water but it's just not going well. I have never seen it this busy in the 5+ years I've worked there. My supervisor hasn't been this busy in the 20+ years she's been there. It is busy. I'm doing my best to get a little relaxation in here and there and sneak a few stitches but some nights it feels almost impossible.

Nevertheless, I persevered and finished page 13 of the Flapping Parrot.

Before:

After:

This is my focus piece for this year so we'll see how far I can pull this along. The current plan is the first two weeks of the month stitch this, the next week stitch a smaller project that's not full coverage, and the last week stitch Fairy Tales, rinse, repeat. Sprinkle in some knitting which I've been really into lately.

Which reminds me I owe you a Fairy Tales progress picture. I'll try to take care of that this weekend. If I remember. 

That's about it. I signed off of work for the night but back to it tomorrow...

Legendary Creatures Finish

 Happy New Year! May your 2021 be better than 2020!

Per tradition, I'm going to make a bunch of grand and unreasonable claims of goals I'm going to meet in 2021 and then I'm going to not meet a single one of them:

- Catch up with my podcasts. I'm currently in September 2017 and have a ton to catch up on but hey, stranger things have happened
- Wash up the kitchen in the evenings before bed instead of in the mornings when I wake up
- Go to bed on time and try to get around 8 hours of sleep a night (this one will be very, very difficult for me as I average about 6 hours of sleep a night)
- Fold my laundry when it's done instead of leaving it in the hamper until it gets all wrinkly
- Be kinder to myself
- Finish at least one stitching project and one knitting project
- Gal Godot bod
- Read 27 books
- Bill 2,000 hours at work

Obviously some of these are more attainable than others.

I've been silent the last few months mostly because I haven't had much time to stitch. End of year is always the busiest at work for us and I've been working 10-16 hour days, daily since October. I have a week and a half off in January so I'm excited for that and all the stitching and video gaming I'll be doing. H³ got me Hades and I have been obsessed with it. It has been a nice escape (that's a pun for those of you who know what the game is about) but I try to only play on the weekends and stitch or knit on weekdays. My friend commissioned a gorgeous blanket (that will take me forever) so that's been on my needles for a while. 

 In other news, I did finish the Legendary Creatures SAL (from 2018 whoops)!

Before:

Finished:

I think it turned out really nice! I have already had it framed and it will be given to my nephew (2 years old) to hang in his bedroom. I felt like it was a nice kid gift. 

I've also done another week of stitching on Fairy Tales but I'll post that soon. 

With that, I'll wrap up this post. Again, happy new year. Happy 2021. Happy end of 2020. I hope everyone is healthy and safe. Here's to a better year.

Happy stitching!