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:

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 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!

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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!

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!

Flapping Parrot 32 (Page Finish!)

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

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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!

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.

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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.

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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...

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!

Flapping Parrot 28 - page finish

I finished page 12 late last night! It was too late to post here, but it was a relief as my goal was to finish the page before the next round of Once Upon a Time SAL and I finished with a week to spare. Maybe even enough time to finish August's installment of the Legendary Creatures SAL. I'm not sure, but I'll try!

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I took a much needed day off today as a mental health day. I haven't been sleeping well and, naturally, my emotions have been all over the place. Honestly I can relax as much as I want but if I'm not sleeping everything goes to hell. So I took an extra day today, I'll have two three day weekends in a row, and I already feel loads better. Today I was a potato and alternated between video games (Spyro remake) and reading a trashy romance novel. H³ made me an espresso (that espresso machine is the gift that keeps on giving) - I had it with some ladyfingers and just feel like I've been living my best life today. Back to work tomorrow, but so glad I just TOOK a day. I also have so much PTO I'm going to max out soon so I should take the odd day here and there anywhere.

Tonight I'll start work on Legendary Creatures again for the week before the next Fairy Tale SAL, but for now I'm going to walk the dog as she's staring at me and urging me on.

Until next time, stay safe and happy stitching.

Flapping Parrot 27

Now that we're not working overtime anymore due to the cuts at work I've had more time to both read and stitch so, best of both worlds!

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Page 12 is about halfway done so the next time I update I'll have a page finish! The whole project is almost a quarter of the way done!

I've been reading House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas and I'm addicted. I can't put it down. I'm always looking for that thrill - the book that calls to me and when I'm not reading it all I want to do is read it. So mission accomplished on that front.

Today's plan: alternate between reading and stitching. I just hope H³ is ready to pick some symbols today.

Happy stitching, everyone!

Flapping Parrot 26 - page finish

I finished page 11 amidst the shelter-in-place madness here.

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I can't say that my stitchy bug has super returned but since we're all confined to the house it seems natural that I put in stitches every night. If I don't then I end up knitting a bit. Either way, some sort of craft is getting done.

Currently I'm working on my monthly SAL with Lesli (Once Upon a Fairy Tale, SSMC). Once that's done (always the last 7 days of each month) I'll post a photo and next up will be July of the Legendary Creatures SAL. I'm really enjoying having a main focus piece while sprinkling in other pieces in the midst of it to make more steady progress. I haven't decided what my next focus piece will be after the Flapping Parrot, but that decision is a long way off yet. I'll keep updating The Queue on the left side as I get through it, so we'll see how things go!

In other news, H³ and I are doing well. We have a shelter-in-place here except for necessities and supplies. We go to the grocery store once a week. My work has been on work from home since mid-March. So far I still have a job, so fingers crossed it stays that way. We're both healthy and relatively happy despite the constant state of anxiety, which I think is similar for everyone.

I hope you are all staying healthy and safe.

Flapping Parrot 025

Welp, it happened. I didn't think it would, but it did.

I lost my stitching bug.

I also got really, really sick. But still worked from home all week.

Hey, 2020 - how you doing? Much better than I am, apparently.

I've also been doing a lot of reading and have basically fallen in love with Karen Marie Moning (sorry, not sorry). I also joined the Fantastic Strangelings Book Club without actually joining because I don't need to get a copy of the book every month I just go to the library and then three other friends and I talk about it. I'm a pretty fast reader so having more time is a godsend. I kind of wish I was stitching with all this extra time I have. But, alas, it was not meant to be.

That being said, here's the progress I HAVE made on the Flapping Parrot so far.

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Golden Kite pages are about half the stitch count of a regular HAED page so the progress certainly feels faster for the moments that I do get to sit down and stitch.

Also, I have a goal to finish H³'s secret stitching (different from surprise stitching) by the end of the year. I'm about 50% done with it so far. We'll see!

Happy stitching, everyone. I hope your year has been more productive than mine thus far.

Parrot 24

I finished the entire top row of the flapping parrot!

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Super exciting! One of 6 rows done.

I'm going to be working on my legendary creatures alphabet now until it's done after which I'll be starting the secret stitch. H³ knows the secret stitch exists but he doesn't know what it is yet and he'll only see it develop page by page so I think it'll be fun to keep it that way here, too!

All in all the three day weekend proved fruitful for stitching and we bought a new couch, too, so that happened. That's about as exciting as my life gets! Been working a lot but need to cut back so working on that. And, of course, stitching!

Happy stitching, everyone!

Parrot 23

I still have a stitching bug but unfortunately one of my colleagues got a bad diagnosis and is on medical leave so I took over most of her biggest clients. The net effect is I've been working from 8am-10pm M-F plus weekends. This means that I'm usually just stitching one day a week (Sundays) so my 10 hours took a little longer to get to this time around. But I'm still going strong and I'm taking this weekend off plus an extra day Monday for three days of stitching, reading, writing, and I think we're going to go to the beach. I'm also looking forward to going on a long run after I write this post.

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Maybe a weekend finish depending on how ambitious I am this weekend? I'm already planning out how I'm going to budget out my stitching after this. I want to finish the Legendary Creatures alphabet and give it to my nephew before he graduates high school (for reference, he's not 1 yet) so I think I'll tackle that next. It's a fun project and gives me lots of little finishes.

Then, after that, I think I'm going to start my first SSMC. There's a chart I've been in love with forever that I keep envisioning in my home, if I ever buy one (for those of you familiar with the housing market in Silicon Valley then you know how potentially unattainable the dream of home ownership is out here). Either way, I feel the need to start it as it reminds me of everything I've ever wanted in my own home. And Lesli is amazing and bought me the whole kit as a gift so I have no excuse! I've found myself transitioning to a more focused stitching style lately. Although I can't do one at a time because I need breaks from a given project, I do find myself wanting to focus more on say, two projects at a time. That way I get the variety I crave while still seeing steady progress. I think that's what I'm going to do with the flapping parrot and the (as of yet secret because I'm trying to keep it a bit of a surprise for H³ and he reads this blog) SSMC project once I finish Legendary Creatures. Two pages of the flapping parrot followed by one page of my SSMC. When I finish one of these projects I'll just replace it with one of the ones I already have on the go.

This is the ideal situation, of course, the reality could end up being much different. Either way, however, this is my intention for now and we'll see how it actually pans out!

Now, however, I'm going to slap on some sunscreen, pull on my sneakers, and go for a run. Happy stitching, everyone!

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!

Parrot 21

Disaster!

My stitching lamp died a horrific death tonight. The bulb started to flicker a bit so I turned it in an attempt to tighten it. The bulb came away in my hand, connected to the lamp by a single wire while the threads remained in the lamp, rusted into place. So long, stitching lamp, you served me well for 20 years. I used a headlamp to finish off my night of stitching and H³ is actively looking for a replacement lamp that will meet my stitching and spatial needs. I need one with a clamp-on base due to my stitching setup. H³ should be ordering one tonight and I'll get it in a day or two. Until then, no stitching for me!

That being said, the death of Lamp happened right when I reached my 10 hours of stitching, so here goes!

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I'm really glad I tried ECC stitching on a smaller scale as I'm quickly learning that although I love the way it looks, it's really not for me. I'm not enjoying moving my hoop AT ALL. It actually infuriates me. So after I'm done with this top row I'm going back to page by page cross country. I enjoy it more and that's what it's all about, right?

Crossing fingers that I get a new stitching lamp soon and until then, happy stitching to everyone!

Flapping Parrot 20

I have to say that my Instagram has really motivated me to stitch as much as possible. That, combined with H³ being very helpful and cutting my thread lengths for me when I run out and I'm at maximum efficiency! With that, here's where I am:

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Slowly filling in the gaps and maybe, just MAYBE I can have a row finish soon! I'm enjoying the stitch and have to figure out what I'll rotate to once I'm done with the row.

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!

Still Life with Parrot 18

Apparently I haven't posted since November of last year. I've lost my stitchy bug a bit and I've been knitting a lot more but crafting just hasn't really called to me lately. That being said, I did manage to stitch another 10 hours on Flapping Parrot.

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I'm really starting to gravitate to the one-at-a-time extreme-cross-country stitching method but I know I have a lot of WIPS on the go right now. I want to say that I'll finish them all up before I start something new but I won't because I don't want to out myself as a liar.

I definitely need to stitch more, though. My life has taken an extra stressful turn as of late and I need to find ways to keep myself relaxed and unwind. I tend to throw myself into work which is just too easy to do. There's always more work to do and I'm good at it so everyone takes opportunity to load as much on me as possible. I haven't been working any overtime lately, though, which has helped but life still has its way of stressing me out. So stitching needs to be a thing.

H³ and I go to visit my in-laws fairly often and they live up in beautiful Marin. I used to lug all my stitching stuff over there but then I'd forget things like the chart, a hoop, threads, etc. So now I have a dedicated "Marin" pattern I'm working on and no more carrying things back and forth and forgetting. I'm not posting progress photos of that project, though I will post a completed photo once I'm there.

Apologies for the big gaps in posting. C'est la vie.

Happy stitching!

Flapping Parrot - Page 7 finished!

So I guess yesterday's post isn't my last post of 2017, but this will be. I just finished the 7th page of the Flapping Parrot!

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I love it and I think it looks great so far (if I do say so myself)!

Time to put this one away. In the new year I will be knitting my friend's baby blanket and working on Medieval Shelf! H³ just made the selection and I'm excited to be stitching on that one - the colors are wonderful and who doesn't love two little dragons sword fighting with a medieval-themed bookshelf behind them?

Happy New Year and Happy Stitching, everyone!

Flapping Parrot 16

Christmas break provided me a lot of unprecedented stitching time! I turned my computer off Friday night and didn't turn it back on or check my work e-mail until Wednesday morning. Things had been pretty quiet - I only had 200 e-mails! The result is 10 more hours of stitching!

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These pages of the flapping parrot are pretty easy and go pretty quick - it's just background. But! There will be a page finish soon and then H³ will have to pick another pattern. However, my best friend (of over 20 years) just had her first baby so I have a baby blanket to finish. It's kind of mind blowing to me. I'm at that age where all my friends are making tiny humans of their own. Mind blowing.

Another thing I didn't mention (shame on me) is the lovely gift from The Craft Princess! Cliffhanger by Aimee Stewart found its way into my inbox:

This is the Supersize Master Color version. Can't wait! Thank you, Crafty Princess!

Well, that's it from me for 2017. I hope 2018 is a far better year for everyone, including myself. Stay safe this New Year's Eve, keep your pets safe especially if they're easily spooked, and enjoy yourselves responsibly. Wishing you all the best in the New Year, and, of course, plenty of stitching!