Happy New Year's! (and WIPocalypse)

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope your holidays have been awesome and that 2012 brings you all just as much stitchy joy as you want.

I'm at Boyfriend's for the New Year and I brought my laptop, but I'm a genius and didn't bring my charger. So now my laptop is dead and I'm updating from my touchpad. As such, stitchy update next week when I'm back home. But, while stitching madly away at College (and I will have an impressive amount to update you all with), I've also been thinking about WIPocalypse, and as such I would like to update and finalize my list:

To Finish:
College of Magical Knowledge
Mario
Riding the Wave
Tiny Rose Garden Mandala

To Make Progress On:
Medieval Shelf
Middle Earth

To Start:
Greek Mandala (contingent upon me getting a job)
Dark Queen OR Mystic Mermaid OR A New Day Dawning OR Scarlet Wizard
Treasure Quest

I've mentioned before that I'm turning into a one-at-a-timer. I'm focusing on finishing my oldest WIP first and moving to the newest. The only hitch in this plan is that I have to work on another piece while working on College (and Medieval Shelf/Treasure Quest) at least while I live with my parents. So, Mario is my oldest WIP and thus I'm focusing on finishing that one first. I will actually have a page finish on that one for you guys in a few days, when I get home!

Now, for New Year's. I have a few resolutions:
1. Get back down to 135 pounds (stereotypical, I know)
2. Be a better girlfriend
3. Move out of my parent's place
4. Get a job I actually like
5. Finish a few WIPs
6. NO MORE STASH BUYING

I think that's doable... How about you guys? Any New Year's resolutions?

I hope you all have a wonderful 2012 and stay safe out there tonight. Lots of crazies on the road.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas, and holiday season. However you do or do not celebrate, I hope you get to spend it in exactly the way you want.

Post-IHSW Mario

Foot rubs were a motivational success. Except for the part where we were super busy all weekend and I only stitched about 2 hours Saturday and Sunday. So I added a little bit more time on Monday (only about 2 hours) and got this much done on Mario.

Before:

After:

Mario - darklilace.com self made chart

Stitching on 22 count white  Aida

2 threads over 1 with DMC

So basically, most of Mario is done now and I'm almost done with the page. 

In other news, I joined the HAED forum recently. I don't know why I waited so long but now that I'm there, I'm super nervous that I'm going to do something wrong. I  know, it's silly, but right now I'm kind of lurking in the shadows, trying to figure out how to do things.

And on the weight loss front, I'm not doing too well. But I'm working on it. I found this photo of me from about two years ago that's working as my motivation:

For the record, I haven't dyed my hair - it changed color on me. I went from a brunette to a blond, go figure.  Anyway, I joined this site called fitocracy with Boyfriend a while ago. It makes fitness into a kind of game. You get points for every workout you log and you level up after a certain amount of points. They also have quests that you can complete by doing certain fitness activities along with achievements. So if this sounds like something you're interested in, feel free to add me if you're already on there or email me for an invite. Be sure to email me instead of leaving a comment just to make it easier on me since I'm so lazy. 

But I figure if I looked like that once, and not that long ago, I can do it again (by golly!). And hey, weight loss is a lot easier with friends, right? Right? Yeah... 

Happy Stitching you guys, and Merry Christmas. I hope things aren't too crazy for you guys!

Pre-IHSW

IHSW this weekend! Boyfriend is sitting next to me being supportive and giving me foot rubs while I stitch. I am certainly not going to complain. I'll be stitching Mario this weekend, so here goes.

Before:

After (and pre-IHSW):

Mario - darklilac.com self made chart

Stitching on 22 count white Aida

2 threads over 1 with DMC

In other news,  I'm on a diet. I couldn't be whinier about it. Waaaaaaaah! I want to be at 135 and I am at 149. Well, 149.4, if we're going to be honest about it. Now about those chocolate covered cherries I just got...

College 21, Tiny Rose Garden Mandala, and IHSW!

I hate scroll frames. Blasphemous, I know. But I really do. I've been working with a hoop ever since I started stitching. I love my hoop. But I realize that with Greek Mandala and all the silks and beading that's not going to be possible. I probably won't be starting GM for another couple of months, or however long it takes me to gather all the silks, but I'm already having nightmares about scroll frames. 

I think my problems are (1) that I don't know how to mount the fabric appropriately so that it doesn't get distorted and (2) it doesn't keep the fabric taught enough for me. So there you go. I've been working on Tiny Rose Garden Mandala on a scroll frame. BLAIREOIGEUTGHOWUGT. 

Tantrum over. Here's how TRGM looks so far:

A Tiny Rose Garden Mandala by Chatelaine Designs (freebie)

Stitching on 32 count Hardanger

2 threads over 2

DMC, Thread Gatherer Silk n'Colors and Mill Hill Seed Beads

I'm still kind of unsure about the colors there. It just doesn't feel like it looks right. My Algerian Eyelets still need work. Practice makes perfect, I guess. Greek Mandala will certainly give me a run for my money...

Speaking of Greek Mandala, my beads and fabric arrived a little while ago and I snuck a photo before they were put away for Christmas:

Look at all those beads! YEESH! The fabric is in the background. 

Also, I spent the past couple of days at Boyfriend's, which means College!

Before:

After:

College of Magical Knowledge by James Christensen from Heaven and Earth Designs

Stitching on 25 count antique white Evenweave

1 thread over 1 with DMC

I do have a bit of bad news about College, though. I did the math and if I want to get this done by Christmas of next year (which I do) I would have to stitch just under 10,000 stitches a month. Including December. Of course, my math could be wrong, but if it's not, then I'm screwed. Yikes. We'll see how it goes. I'm not going to give up, I just can't be disappointed if I don't finish. 

And last (but certainly not least) IHSW! Go and sign up! Click on the adorable little hermit crab on the right side under "Labels." I'll be working on Mario this IHSW, so before picture will be posted Friday!

Until then, Happy Stitching!

An Update on Conundrum

Holy crap! I just checked my email and Adrienne from TryllaCraft surprised me with Mistress Darkness! Thanks so much, Adrienne! It was a pleasant surprise (especially since I was actively getting carsick when I got the email on my phone) and I completely wasn't expecting it!

Everyday I'm stunned at how nice the stitching community is. Thank you once again Adrienne, and I highly encourage everyone to visit her blog not only for the beautiful stitching, but for the beautiful cards she makes as well!

WIPocalypse and a conundrum

The end of the year is coming fast and I guess I should do something about my WIPocalypse list. I've been putting a lot of thought into it the last few months, so here goes:

To finish:
College of Magical Knowledge
Mario
Riding the Wave
Middle Earth

To continue:
Medieval Shelf

To start:
Dark Queen
Mystic Mermaid
Treasure Quest
Greek Mandala

That's my WIPocalypse list. It could, of course, change between now and the start of the new year, but that's what I'm thinking so far. The problem is that I'm turning into a one-at-a-timer (Joyce is probably doing a happy dance) but that means that I am starting to finish stuff and see a lot of progress. It also means that multiple projects are difficult. Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

The conundrum part is such. A few weeks ago I emailed Michele (from Heaven and Earth Designs) about a chart. I was wondering if there were any future plans to chart Jonathon Earl Bowser's "Mistress Darkness." She's one of my favorite Bowser pieces (my favorite being Invariance, which is already on my to do list) and I was just curious to see if she was going to get charted.

Michele, being the awesome amazing individual she is, requested Mistress Darkness from Jonathon and charted her up! She's already available on the website! Now the conundrum is such: I feel obligated to buy her and buy her now since technically she was charted on my request. However, I would really really like to finish an HAED before  buying another one, and I still have a long way to go before finishing College. So, I just don't know what to do and need advice.

Here is a picture of her. She's a bit darker than stuff I usually like, but there's something about her that's just so... striking. Anyways, help guys! HELP!

Stitchy update to come Tuesday-ish. I'm at Boyfriend's right now, stitching madly away at College.

A FINISH!!!!

I've been quiet for a while and I haven't been doing much stitching in my absence. A series of headaches put me out of commission and they got so bad I actually (GASP!) went to see a doctor. But apparently I'm fine (yay!) and back to stitching (and blog reading, I'm about 300 blogs behind, EEP!). Which means... a finish! Not a page finish or a section finish but an actual bona fide entire finish.

It's kind of cheating because it's a Chatelaine freebie, but I'll take what I can get.

Before:

After:

Just look at that sparkle!!!

Suffice it to say, I'm VERY excited. Mini Rose Garden Mandala is next. I went ahead and updated my left-hand stash-a-column. You may notice an AWESOME addition, that being the CHATELAINE GREEK MANDALA! It was on my Christmas list that I gave my mom and during the European Cross Stitch Company's Black Friday sale she handed me her credit card and said, "go buy." You don't have to twist my arm, mom! I bought the chart, bead pack and fabric since I felt super guilty about spending $200 on silks, especially after they already bought me a new camera (and a cashmere-blend sweater from White House Black Market). So I'll eventually get the silks myself. But Greek Mandala is definitely in my stash!

Also, I have  another update on College.

Before:

After:

I can't believe how fast it stitches up when there are solid blocks of color! You can see the outline of another tower on the left side there. I'm excited to fill it in next week when I visit Boyfriend again.

That's it from me for now. I'm going to bask in the glory of my sparkly finish. Thanks for all your comments, everyone! Happy stitching!