July IHSW

So for anyone interested in joining the International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, go ahead and visit Joysze's blog and sign up! It's really a fun thing to do especially if you want to focus on your stitching and haven't been able to! I will once again be participating this month... if all goes well... I hope....

Confetti Frustration

First of all, I want to welcome all my new followers! It's nice to know people enjoy seeing my stitching progress. Before I used to stitch and have to be embarrassed about being so young (24) and having such an "old lady" hobby. But it's nice to know there are so many people out there who appreciate it.

Second of all, I wanted to thank all of you for your lovely comments. They really help keep me going. Even when Boyfriend is doing his best distraction work, I try to get in at least a few stitches a week.

Now, the title of this post says it all,  I think. I got frustrated with 939 confetti and decided to switch to Spangler for a little while to take a bit of a confetti break, shall we say. He's easier to stitch and although he's not confetti-free, it's nice to alternate between blocks of color and bits of confetti.

So, here's a before and after.

Before:

After:

I was focusing on the green sash-y curtain, then switched to the background curtain, then changed my mind again and switched back to the green. All in all I'm pretty satisfied with the progress, especially since I only got to stitch an hour here and there.

I have a question for those of you who stitch HAED designs. Do you purchase the pattern in regular format or large chart format? I get mine in regular format and I feel like it takes me 10x longer to do a page than anyone else. So I was just curious to know if it's because I'm an insanely slow stitcher or if it's because most people get the large chart format... or both? I'm interested to find out!

It has been UNGODLY HOT here. 108 just today. It's 9:38pm and still 86 degrees outside. Blergh. I don't react well to heat, Eastern European and all that. This is also why I'm vacationing in Iceland. With a high of 55, you can't really go wrong! Boyfriend and I have our plane tickets, we reserved a rental car, and now we're going through the arduous task of booking hotels one by one. We'll be taking the Ring Road starting in Reykjavik and traveling southeast around the perimeter of the island, diverting from the route to go through the Western Fjords. All in all it's going to be absolutely amazing, and we just booked our tour of the Laki Craters! We had to do it via tour as we didn't rent a 4x4 vehicle, but that's alright. It is, basically, going to be amazing :)

So until next time, dear friends, happy stitching! 

Some progress

Not much, but some! I've been working on the 939 (still) and I haven't yet finished, but I've made a little bit of visible progress.

Before:

After:

I'm pretty ready to be out of the trees in this piece. Shrubbery is just a little frustrating to stitch.

IHSW results

Alright. I was going to stitch for longer but I got a headache and started to make frog-worthy mistakes so I decided to stop. But I'm very happy with the progress I've made. I started trying to fill in columns and abandoned that plan of approach and tried filling in all of the 939 on the page. I didn't reach that goal (there's a LOT of 939) but I did get a good 70% or so of it in. So here are the results of the IHSW.

Before:

After:

Not sure how much time I'll have to stitch this week. Boyfriend comes back Wednesday night (happy dance) but we'll see. Definitely won't get as much progress in as I've gotten this weekend, but I'll get something in, for sure. So, until next time, happy stitching!

IHS Weekend... and other things

My brother in law convinced me to post a shot or two from that modeling session I did a few weeks ago. So here goes:

So... there I am. There are two more shots on John Remus' (the photographer) page if you want to check them out or if you want to see his work in general. I think I'm under the "portraits" tab. He really is a wonderful photographer, though. And a great friend :) I might be getting some more photos but we'll see. Also, for the record, he did not photoshop the color of my eyes. I feel like I have to defend my honor on that account ;)

As for stitching, I'm going to be participating in the IHSW (International Hermit and Stitch Weekend). It's a wonderful idea of Joyce's and if you'd like to sign up, please visit her blog. If I know life, though, the one weekend where I don't have anything planned will turn out to be super busy. But I hope to be able to make it and show you much progress on College!

I'm Aliiiiiiive!

And I have actual stitching to show this time!!! Boyfriend just left for Mexico today, which means that, although he will be missed, I will get some stitching in. Worked my butt off tonight to finish another page of Mario, but success was had!

Before:

After:

He's progressing along nicely.

In other news, Boyfriend and I have purchased tickets to Iceland in August! I'm super excited. I know it's not exactly a person's first thought as to vacation spots but it's beautiful and has lots of awesome geological features. We're going to rent a car and drive around the Ring Road. If anyone has been and has any suggestions, please let me know!

Also, I have some photos from the shoot, but I'm totally embarrassed so I'll wait to see the whole batch and then decide whether or not to post some.

Hope to update you guys on College come Sunday. Until then, happy stitching!

I am a terrible blogger

I meant to stitch this week and weekend. I really did. But it didn't happen. I will confess, I have a new boyfriend who is absolutely adorable, and absolutely distracting. The result is less stitching... but more happiness! I have stitched a little bit, just not enough to really show. I like to have good chunks done before I throw something up here. I will try to have something up by the end of the week. ALMOST done with another page of Mario, which is really very exciting!

In other news, I did the photoshoot yesterday, which was fun. I am most certainly nowhere near a professional model. But the photographer was a friend of mine so he was patient and in the end I had a lot of fun. If I'm not completely embarrassed I'll throw the pics up here when they're ready, probably in a week or two. But I may be completely embarrassed so we'll see.

I've been following all your blogs and loving your progress! I can't comment on everything but it's all been so lovely! Also, thank you all for commenting. You brighten my day every time you do :)

I promise to try to have something to actually show you soon!