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!

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Put some more stitching into Game of Swannes!

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

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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!

Faery Tales - Page 19 Finish

 So it has been forever since I posted. We moved into the new house and a lot of energy has been put into fixing basically everything. I absolutely love the house, though, and I'm so happy we bought it. It's a different world having a place of our own. It doesn't come without its difficulties, of course, but we're working through everything. 

Work continues to be absurd and at this point I have to set as many boundaries as I possibly can otherwise they'll keep taking advantage of me.

I've been knitting a lot lately, and stitching on my Christmas stocking. I'll post a photo when that's done. Lesli and I have returned to our Faery Tale SAL (last week of every month) and although I forgot to take a picture last month, last night I managed to finish a page.

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 The new house has much better lighting than our old place, hence the difference in colors. 

This project is an absolute beast to stitch, but I'm really enjoying having something new and exciting on each page. I'm going to try to put in a few stitches on the next page today even though I have company coming soon and need to tidy the house a bit. 

Once I finish my Christmas stocking I'm going to go back to my rotation. Hopefully that will mean more posts here! I didn't mean to abandon this blog honestly, life just got a little too hectic and before I knew it, it had been months!

Glad to be back, now. Happy stitching, everyone!

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.

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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!

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.

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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. 

Flappping Parrot 29 + Once Upon a Fairy Tale Page Finish

 Whew, a whirlwind the last few weeks. Thing at work are going back to normal which means no more pay cuts and no more capped hours. It also means the floodgates have opened for work-related requests and I was working until 10pm last night (I start at 8am). So that was fun. But I took Monday and Tuesday off so hopefully a bit of a stitchy / video gaming weekend ahead for me. 

First up, a bit of progress on the Flapping Parrot.

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 And then, during this month's SAL, I managed to finish another page of Once Upon a Fairy Tale. I had to cheat an extra day of the SAL but I was 202 stitches away from a page finish so feel justified in doing so.

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SSMC is fun in a masochistic sort of way. There's so much confetti that while you're stitching the picture doesn't really come together until POP! and there it is. 

I'm sorry I don't have anything exciting to report. We're still sheltering in place. H³ is picking symbols diligently. Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary. Usually we treat ourselves and either travel (I was in AUSTRIA this time last year!) or go to some fancy Michelin star restaurant (once a year, we're allowed, I think). This year we're hanging out at home. But we've been together 24/7, just about, since the pandemic started and we haven't gotten on each other's nerves yet so I take that as a win.

Happy stitching!

Medieval Shelf 16 (Page Finish)

 I was stitching away late into the night last night thinking maybe I could finish the third page of Medieval Shelf but around 11:30 I gave up and decided I valued sleep over a page finish (blasphemous, I know). But I finished this page by 10:00am today! So here it is.

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I've been jumping around pages a bit on this project so I'm not sure where I'm going to go next but once I decide I'll go ahead and grid the page and then move on to my multitude of Christmas stitching and baby blanket knitting. And since I have the day off I'll probably also be playing extreme amounts of video games today.

So much to do!

Stay safe and healthy and happy stitching!

Once Upon a Fairy Tale (SSMC) 6

 This post is a bit late mostly because, after 8 years on my old grad school laptop, I caved and bought a new one. There's been a bit of a learning curve as I have to do things a little differently than I did on my old machine, mostly because this one actually works. The biggest thing to get used to was that the SD card slot on this laptop doesn't fit the SD card to the camera I use to capture stitching photos, so I had to dig out the cable. Which is fine, but it explains why this post is so late!

Without further ado, here's the August progress on One Upon a Fairy Tale (my once-a-month SAL with Lesli).

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I'm hoping to finish this page during this month's SAL. And I'm hoping to finish the current page of Medieval Shelf I'm working on today or tomorrow. Only 400 stitches to go there.

Other than stitching life has been pretty uneventful. My best friend is pregnant with her second and due in October so I'm knitting a baby blanket as fast as I can. I've been reading a lot, writing a lot, and I have a whole batch of Christmas stitching I need to attend to (nothing overly ambitious this year, thank goodness). Other than that I'm still working, we're both still healthy, and that's really all I can ask for.

I hope you're all staying healthy and safe.

Medieval Shelf 15

 Did my first installment of the new rotation! 

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Didn't finish the page but that's okay. I have come to realize that I've been treating stitching (and my other hobbies) like goal-oriented obligations. Yeah, I want to finish my projects and make progress but at the end of the day I'm doing this hobby to relax and I haven't been feeling relaxed while stitching for a while, just stressed out about "meeting my minimum." So I'm trying to chill out. 

Everyone, be kind to yourselves, and happy stitching!

Once Upon a Fairy Tale (SSMC) 5 & Medieval Shelf 14

So apparently I never posted the halfway point of Medieval Shelf and although I've surpassed the halfway point, I might as well post where I'm at now before I finish the page.

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Next, Lesli and I did our July SAL so here's the progress for that.

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I'm really hoping to be able to finish this page on the next go-around, but we'll see!

Unfortunately for July, my stitching bug completely left the building and I had trouble bringing myself to do anything including reading, writing, diamond painting, running, video gaming, pretty much anything. I think I'm at the point of burnout with work and life so I ended up taking a week off in August. Hoping to get some good stitching done but also take care of life stuff like car maintenance, etc.

I think I might switch up my rotation to keep my stitching bug going. After discovering that I enjoy the 7-day SAL immensely, I'm thinking a 7-day plan for my WIPS with the last 7 days of every month reserved for my SAL. I'll have to fudge the plan a little bit for flexibility but I'm okay with that. So I've got a calendar open right now and I'm moving stuff around and plotting things. Maybe you'll even see more WIP posts. We'll see!!

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy and, until next time, happy stitching!

Once Upon a Fairy Tale SSMC 4

I completely lost my stitching bug this month. Honestly, I kind of lost my drive to do anything. I didn't finish my page of Medieval Shelf, didn't even make it halfway. I didn't make my goal of finishing the half page of this SAL on this round. Just all around didn't make it.

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I'm almost at the halfway point for Medieval Shelf so I'll post that when I get there in the next day or two. H³ has been diligently picking symbols and trying to motivate me so hopefully I'll get out of this funk soon.

Hopefully.

Once Upon a Fairy Tale SSMC 3 - Page Finish

I stitched like a fiend this weekend and over the last 7 days of this SAL managed to meet my goal of finishing page 33!

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The little confetti stitches in the SSMC charts are killer but I have to say I'm quite happy with how the page turned out. I'm not quite sure which page I'll tackle next. To the right will be more sky/castle/moon, to the left, castle wall with some gorgeous ivy, above is the shelf border with some mushrooms, and below more grass and a shelf border with a scroll. I'll make H³ decide and you'll get to see next month! My goal will be to finish a half page. I'm not a particularly fast stitcher so that in and of itself is a bit of a lofty goal, but it'll give me something to work toward.

I think I've mentioned it on this blog before but I do creative writing on the side. I'm not a great writer by any stretch of the imagination, but I really enjoy doing it and publish my stuff on FictionPress. Either way, lately I've been completely consumed by a story idea. It has infiltrated my dreams and basically every waking moment. I write via Scrivener, so when I'm not working or stitching (my brain has a tendency to mull things over when it's occupied elsewhere so stitching is extremely conducive to my writing) I have Scrivener open and I've been world building and outlining like no one's business. When I'm not writing character profiles or plot outlines I'm reading other books for research. It's all a little overwhelming. I kind of feel like I'm not actually writing anything but discovering something that was already there.

I hope you're all well and staying safe. Until next time, happy stitching!

Once Upon a Fairy Tale SSMC 002

I had another round of Fairy Tale SAL with Lesli!

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It was an extremely productive 7 days and I had a great time. I'm hoping to finish this up next time around.

I don't have much new to announce. We're still on shelter-in-place so there's not much to be done. But I have been working out more and more in the pursuit of "abs" as I call it. I've been keeping up with my workouts, been sensible with my food, and even got a PR running today (fastest mile pace since the lifetime of acquiring my running watch ~3 years). I take progress photos once a week. Whether or not I get "abs" or not doesn't matter at the end of the day. I'm at least keeping myself busy.

My stitching goal is to finish the current page of the Parrot plus August Legendary Creatures before the next Fairy Tale SAL and then finish the current page of Fairy Tale during May's turn. We'll see how I do! I'll check in at the halfway point of the current page of the Flapping Parrot, which should be pretty soon.

Happy Stitching!

Once Upon a Fairy Tale SSMC 001

My SAL with Lesli ended, a new month started, and I'm back to my queue (Legendary Creatures SAL from 2018 - July).

I realize I didn't post the SAL photo after February's round but I'm posting one now. So here is roughly two weeks of stitching, granted I didn't get a lot of stitching time in February. It was before the shelter-in-place order went into effect and I had a lot of plans. March was quite different. So, without further ado, here is my progress on page 33 of Aimee Stewart's Once Upon a Fairy Tale:

This is outside my typical realm of comfort as I'm stitching it on 28-count instead of 25-count but since it's SSMC I figured it's still going to be huge and the piece is so detailed that 28-count would work well. Either way, here it is. I'm really enjoying stitching on it so far. Aimee's shelves are great because you usually don't have a huge expanse of sky to get through but instead get to see details emerge on every page. I started on page 33 because a whole lot of people are stitching this and I wanted to start somewhere not a lot of people were stitching, just for a change of pace. Not sure which page I'll move on to from here, but I'll let H³ decide which course to take.

I'll post an update from Legendary Creatures when that's done. I've stitched one of three letters for the July portion and I realize I also haven't updated the progress on that one in a few months so it looks quite different from the last time I posted.

Besides that life is fine, albeit a little frustrating. H³ are both homebodies to an extent so staying at home isn't a huge change of pace. We miss our friends and seeing our family. We did a zoom meeting for his mom's birthday a few days ago. His birthday is coming up soon, too. We've been expanding our board game collection, at least with games for 2+ players and passing the time doing that. I've been reading but as I still have my job I've also been working normal hours. I had my annual review on Friday which went well so it seems I'll have my job for a while longer. I am concerned, of course, but taking things one day at a time.

I hope you are all well and staying safe. Happy stitching!

Surprise Stitching 002 (Page Finish)

I feel like 2019 was the year of everything changing. In November I completed my first ever NaNoWriMo which, for me, was huge. I was also recruited by a prestigious Silicon Valley fund so I quit my job. My current firm countered so I ended up staying. Then, in December, very suddenly, we moved house so that I didn't have to commute as far (went from a 3.5 hour roundtrip daily commute to 1 hour daily). My health took a turn and I'm trying to get back on the mend, but that's been a bit up and down with the downs being extremely discouraging despite my best efforts.

All in all, 2019 felt like an emotional storm. I'm hoping 2020 is better. The dust from the move is settling and now that the holidays are over I'm hoping to get back into a good routine, which I sincerely miss.

That being said, I have a few New Year's Resolutions. Some of them are stitching related, some of them aren't. But here goes:

1. Try to stitch a little, more days than not. My stitching really fell by the wayside in 2019 so I'm hoping 2020 will be more productive in terms of stitching, especially now that I'm home more and actually have time for it.

2. Write more - this is related to having more time to myself now.

3. Walk to Mordor and back (total of 3,664 miles) in calendar year 2020. This means I have to start running again. Which is fine because now I have more time (per point 1). I should aim to make it to Rivendell by mid-February.

4. Catch up on my podcasts. So, so many podcasts.

That's pretty much it. I don't want to overload myself with lofty goals I can't achieve and thus I'll be disappointed in myself when I inevitably fail since I set myself up for failure. So a small amount of somewhat measurable goals feels good.

And here's the stitching. I finished the first page of my SSMC surprise stitching.

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H³ already saw the title but doesn't know what the finished product looks like so if you want to look it up it's Ciro Marchett's "Ye Old Kitchen." He reads this blog so I won't post a photo but in case anyone wanted to look it up, he's already seen the title (my fault OH WELL). It'll still be an adventure for him to see it unfold page by page.

It's going away for a little while and I'll work on June's Legendary Creatures SAL (Cloudsfactory 2018 SAL). I'm determined to finish it this year. I've pared down my rotation a bit and I think it'll mean more progress on certain things. I do have a SAL planned with my dear friend Lesli. Once HAED turns their kits back on, I'll order the kit for SSMC Once Upon a Fairy Tale. When it arrives, the last week of every month Lesli and I will stitch that piece together. We're both doing the SSMC version. So that will be pretty fun, I think.

I'll be back with the update of Legendary Creatures SAL but, until then, happy stitching and I hope 2020 treats everyone well.

Surprise Stitching 001

So I did that thing I shouldn't do where I started a new pattern. Oops. In my defense, I was gifted the full kit so it's hard NOT to start a new project when you have all the fabric and floss, right? Right.

In my previous post I said I would work on the Legendary Creatures Alphabet until it was done. That was the plan. Until I made a mistake in it, had to frog most of my work, and got frustrated. Deciding I needed a break from it, that's when I started the Surprise Stitching.

I also created a projected stitching queue, which I've posted on the upper left side of this blog. This queue is the plan, anyway. We'll see what the actuality is.

The other thing is I lost track of my timer so this is way more than 10 hours of work. Oh well!

This is the Super Size Max Color version of the chart - 104 pages, 238 colors, 699,300 stitches, and the finished product will be just under 40"W by 28"H. H³ saw me stitching it (remember, he doesn't know what the finished product will look like) and asked me if it was my "magnum opus." I mean, probably not because I have a few SSMC patterns at this point. But I like a big impossible challenging piece. The picture above has 5 colors in it so far, even though you can't tell. I'm really having a great time stitching it - it's a really good balance of blocks of color and confetti, which keeps it interesting.

I also really love having a kit and might just do that going forward for any pattern I start - order the kit from HAED (if it's a HAED, of course). There's something satisfying about having the set amount of thread and watching it disappear as you stitch a piece, being left with nothing (or scraps), and knowing the rest won't go to waste because it was all used.

In other events, I've been quiet on the blogging front because I've not only been working a lot but we also went on vacation for a few weeks in October. We celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary in Vienna, spent a day or so in Dürnstein, then went on to Krakow and Warsaw. It was a great trip, very relaxing, and I certainly didn't want to come back. But I didn't take any stitching with me so, in a way, I was glad to come back so I could stitching again.

So here we are. It's NaNoWriMo this month so I'm juggling between that and stitching. This is the first time I've ever been on track with my NaNo word count so I'm hoping to keep on top of it, but I go back and forth between writing and stitching throughout the day on the weekend. It keeps me motivated and prevents me from getting burned out on one or the other.

For all of you out there, happy stitching!

Parrot 22

New stitching lamp is a huge success! H³ picked a really great lamp! I did have to drive to work at 5:30am on July 4th to grab it (it arrived after I got home on the 3rd and I was not going to drive back in rush hour traffic) just so I could stitch all day, and stitch I did! Lots of good progress in and I think I'll be finishing this row pretty soon!

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Still have a fair amount to go but I think I'm making good progress here and will (hopefully) have a finish soon.

This weekend not sure how Saturday will turn out in terms of stitching. I'm running a half marathon. It's a night run starting at 7:30pm in a town about 2 hours away so I won't get home until 1 or 2 in the morning (depending on if we get dinner after). But that means vegging out all of Sunday!

Looking forward to that and until then, Happy Stitching!

Still Life With Parrot 19

I figured out a solution to my lack of stitchy desire - Instagram! Don't get me wrong - I love my blog and I do intend to keep it going. But blogging takes a lot of effort: taking a photo, resizing it, setting up the post, updating all the files where I keep my stitchy photos, etc. Instagram is effortless and I just snap a photo at the end of each night's stitching and post. It takes me MAYBE 30 seconds. And then when I'm not feeling motivated or like I'm not making progress I just look through my old posts and I see the progress easily.

So, I've set up an Instagram page where I update my stitching progress at the end of each night's stitching. I don't stitch every night but I do make an effort and when I do stitch I try to stitch more than 100 stitches in one sitting. I'll still be updating me progress here for every 10 hours of stitching, but if you're on Instagram and interested, feel free to follow me here. The photos are a little more close up but I'll be posting a full photo at the end of every "color" (since I'm now stitching a modified ECC version by row).

That being said, here are the next 10 hours of stitching.

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My stitching mojo is now in overdrive (as you might see from the progress). I'm almost done with this color, will probably finish it tonight, and then H³ will have to pick the next color I stitch.

All I want to do is stitching all day, every day, which is a bit of a problem when I have a lot of work to do! But maybe this means I'll clear out some of my stitching backlog. Finish this year? Maybe! I'm hoping to finish H³'s Secret Stitching project by Christmas. I can't post photos since he reads this blog and follows the Instagram but once it's complete and in his hands I'll be sure to post a photo in all its glory.

Until next time, Happy Stitching!

Wizard's Implements - 002

I may not be blogging as much but I'm still stitching. I had a lot of obligation knitting and I still have some obligation stitching to do but the due date for the stitching is in March so I have a bit of time. Between that, work, and writing (I'm on fictionpress!) it's been extremely busy. Plus normal life stuff. I bought a new car. I have a new nephew. Work is insanely busy. Life goes on.

But I have 10 more hours stitched on the Wizard's Implements!

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The spiral stitching method H³ has devised has made stitching all black more interesting and it's a good travel piece, too, because I just have to pack black instead of all the colors. Makes it easy.

Once my obligation stitching and knitting is done I hope to have more stitching updates. November and December are our busiest seasons at work, though, so it's usually a madhouse (case in point, yesterday was the day after Thanksgiving and I received 200 e-mails).

Happy stitching, everyone. I hope whatever holidays you celebrate are safe and free from stress and strife.

Wizard's Implements - 001

10 hours of stitching on The Wizard's Implements is complete and I have some progress to share but it feels pitiful:

The whole chart has a total of 216,825 stitches. Of those, 105,413 are black. That's 48.61% of the chart. By the time I finish stitching the first color, I will be almost halfway done with the chart.

I'm going to be stitching black for quite a while. H³ has asked me to stitch in his "spiral" method, working inwards. So that's what you see above for page 1. Slow and steady progress!

Also, I didn't realize this since I got the kit as a gift, but this is 28-count fabric. It's an interesting switch from 25-count but it's definitely smaller. I think I prefer my 25-count but I'll stick with this until the end.

Since I'm very behind on my Legendary Creatures Alphabet SAL I'm going to do the next letter now for May.

On the iPad front I bought the iPad and I got the GoodReader app and I love it! It's working out very well for me and I'm quite satisfied with my purchase.

Happy Stitching!

Medieval Shelf #13

I'm not a very good blogger anymore. Work took over my life and I've been making baby blankets like a fiend and haven't had much time for stitching. Plus I think my stitching bug left me for a time. But I went to HAEDcon this past weekend and it reignited the stitchiness so I managed to finish page 1 of Medieval Shelf. I think I'm going to give this to my nephew when it's done. Should be done just in time for his 18th birthday.

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I definitely had a brief fear that my corners weren't going to match, but they did!

HAEDcon was great. I drove from the Bay Area all the way to Seaside, OR up 101, which took just about 15.5 hours. I was hoping for great ocean views and got nothing but fog all the way from Eureka north. Coming back I drove through Portland and took I-5 South so it was only 11 hours. If I can go again, I will fly.

Other than that I got to meet some really awesome artists. Randal Spangler, Jeff Haynie, Hannah Lynn, Aimee Stewart, and Rob Carlos. Michele and Bob Sayetta were also there, of course, which was a treat. I got to meet Lesli, who I've had a blog friendship with for over half a decade and only just met her last week. It was wonderful. Besides the stitching, the artists, and the people, I got to spend a week vegging on the beach, eating fish and chips on the sand, and drinking wonderful coffee. All in all it was great. I started David Hoffrichter's "The Wizard's Implements" per the direction of H³ and will show off a photo of that once I've made about 10 hours of progress. I'm stitching it using Extreme Cross Country (ECC) which I've wanted to do for a while so I'm excited for that prospect.

I'm also considering buying an iPad to aid in my stitching. I know it may sound crazy but I'm a bit old fashioned when it comes to stitching and all my charts are being printed on paper. This is starting to feel wasteful and inefficient and I think having an iPad, EZ PDF Reader, and a nice stand would aid in the situation. And maybe save my eyes the trouble of staring at a tiny chart. Net, I think it would be a good stitching investment.

Anyway, I hope to blog sooner than 3 months next time. Until then, everyone, happy stitching!