Flapping Parrot & Game of Swannes update

 I've been making an active effort to have more me time and thus have been stitching more. I have the next two weeks off so hopefully that's even more stitching time, even factoring the traveling I have to do. Without further ado, here are the updates.

Flapping Parrot before:

After:

Game of Swannes Before:

 After:

 I'm pretty happy with my progress on both pieces. They are both really pleasant to stitch but in wildly different ways. 

I'm on a bit of a kick lately to clear out my stash, both in knitting and in stitching. I just finished knitting my first sweater with yarn I've had for close to a decade. IT was really satisfying to cross that off my list. Now my focus is on a commission piece, which I really want to finish as soon as possible and move on. There's something really motivating about actually finishing something, especially if you've been working on it for a while. As a result I'm trying not to start new stuff and just focus on what I have going on, finish it up, and move on to the next thing I have going on. We'll see how it goes, but so far I'm really enjoying it. 

Some of you asked me what I'm reading. I just finished A Shadow in the Ember. Then I took my Goodreads "to be read" list, ran a random number generator, and picked up whatever book it landed on. That turned out to be Credible Witness: Paranormal Police Stories which I must have heard about on a podcast or something and added it to my to be read after which I promptly forgot about it. It's kind of a fun way to decide what to read next. 

So that's basically it. I'm much happier with the way things are now. I hope I can keep it up.

Happy stitching, everyone!

Big Update (Flapping Parrot page finish, Game of Swannes, Faery Tales)

 I have been really bad about blogging lately, which is on me. Work, as always, has been exhausting and I just haven't been in the right frame of mind to blog. But I've been stitching, so here are the updates!

Finished a page of the Flapping Parrot!

Before:

 After:

Put some more stitching into Game of Swannes!

Before:

After:

And inching toward a page finish on Once Upon and Faery Tale!

Before:

After:

I've really been throwing myself into crafting lately. My stress levels have been pretty intense and my health is suffering for it. I'm cutting back on work to the extent I can, but the effects are still there, though lessening day by day. I took the week off work so hoping to do a lot of relaxing, reading, and stitching.

I hope you're all well. Thanks for bearing with me through my ups and downs. 

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.