Medieval Shelf #4

Heaven and Earth Designs has put into place a set of challenges for 2016, and I have decided to participate. I have a very specific way I like to stitch so I dedicated Randal Spangler's "Medieval Shelf" to completing the challenges, since I have started it but haven't stitched much on it.

The first challenge was to stitch 10 10x10 squares in a diagonal pattern. You can stitch in any direction you want, but the squares have to be touching each other on the corners.

Before:

After:

This wasn't really my style of stitching, but it's kind of fun to see sneak peeks of the pattern coming out. Some curtain, some books, a sash, the trophy cup with cookies in it. I'm putting this away for now but it will come out again at the time of the next challenge. Props to H³ for helping me pick which square to stitch next.

My stitching has been all over the place since I finished College. I've been incorporating a lot of knitting and crocheting projects I've been ignoring as well. The other stitching project I've been working on is the flapping parrot, but I'm so close to a page finish on that I'll just post when that's done.

Other than that it has just been my regular life of work and running after the dog. She's a bit of a menace. But she is still a puppy (about 8 months old now) so that's to be expected. Calming down every day and whenever I go to the dog park and see how crazy the other puppies are I'm pretty happy that her energy levels aren't quite that high.

So, with that, happy stitching, everyone!

College of Magical Knowledge - FINISHED!

Finally! Last night, just before midnight, I put the last stitch into College and stitched my initials and the date. A five-year labor of love (with other projects in between) finally finished.

Here it is when I first started this blog:

Here it is last time I posted:

And now:

I can't really believe it's done. But it's done! Now I will wash it, iron it, and frame it. I can't help but stare at it for extended periods of time. Is it perfect? No. But I am really, really proud of myself.

151,200 stitches. 5 years. On to the next.

Thank you all for being part of my journey in finishing College of Magical Knowledge.

Edited to add: I couldn't have done this without H³.

College 85, or, 3,658 stitches left

I didn't finish by Christmas and I didn't finish by the end of the year. But I've stopped stressing out avout it and am going to finish, wash it, get it framed, and still give it as a gift to my parents without the added stress.

So let's see where I was with this project at the beginning of the year, last time, and now.

Start of 2015:

last time:

And now, after another 10 hours of stitching, roughly:

Almost there!

Basically, I didn't make any of my goals for the year. And I don't care! 2015 was an absolutely CRAZY year! I got to meet Michael Fassbender (my favorite!) and Kate Winslet and my butt made it into the Steve Jobs movie, after which I got to work some more gigs until I got a corporate job I actually really like. Then H³ started grad school and we got a dog! All in all, a wonderful year, despite the lack of stitching finish.

With that I leave this year off with a picture of our little beastie, being a super snuggler.

Happy New Year! and Happy Stitching in 2016!

College 84, or 5,218 stitches left.

Will I make it to Christmas? Probably not. Am I going to try anyway? You better believe it.

Here's another 10 hours of stitching.

Before:

After:

I must admit I've been a little distracted from stitching because we adopted a furbaby yesterday.

Meet Xena:

She is a five month old Formosan Mountain Dog, Border Collie mix. She is also a terror. And the cutest little thing ever.

H³ has been training her practically every moment since we got her yesterday morning and she's already indicating when she needs to go outside, jumping up less, and starting to sit.

So I hope everyone is ready for furbaby photos regularly, along with stitching posts, of course.

And if you're wondering how the 10K in the Marin Headlands went, well, it didn't. I got the Plague. Missed worked, felt like death, and it's still clinging to me a bit. So I chose to skip it so I didn't get pneumonia, as it was also raining that day.

So that's that! Happy stitching!

College 83, or 6,886 stitches left.

This is what roughly ten hours of stitching looks like.

Before:

After:

6,886 stitches left!

Get ready for a whole lot more posts as I get closer and closer.

College, Page 22 finished!

I have been stitching until I went cross-eyed and blurry, and then stitching some more. But page 22 of College is done! I'm combining pages 23 and 24 into one, and hoping they go a bit faster as there are large blocks of color.

Before:

After:

All the wizards in the College are now in place and all that's left is a cliff, some sky, and some butterfly fishing.

H³ wants everyone to know how handsome he is, and ALSO how helpful he is. And to throw in that he's good looking, too.

I hope everyone has had a good Thanksgiving, and if you don't celebrate then that your week has been fantastic. We had First Thanksgiving yesterday, and tomorrow we have Second Thanksgiving. My pants are crying just thinking about me trying to button them next week.

And now that I'm starting the last page of College, I thought it would be appropriate to share this:

Happy stitching!

College 82

I am a terrible blogger!!! I feel like I start every blog post like that recently. Honestly, though, by the time I get home from work all I want to do is either stitch or play video games and I don't even think about blogging. I think another part of it is I am SO READY to be done with College that I just hunker down and stitch as much as I can on it without consideration for anything else.

Before:

After:

I'm about 1,400 stitches away from finishing the current page. Then just one more page to go and it's done. I don't know how I stand in finishing it in time for Christmas. It's still my goal, but I may have to let go of it. Either way, though, it's going to get finished as soon as I can and then I can at least have one BAP under my belt (and a million more to go).

I ran a 10k last week, which went well. Ran it with a friend of mine who has never run a 10k so it was more for fun than anything else. I have another 10k in two weeks but that one is a little more difficult. For anyone familiar with the Marin Headlands, that's where the run is. For those not familiar with the Marin Headlands, here's a link to a topographical map. So the views will be beautiful, but I may die.

Besides that it has just been work work work. I try to keep a good work/life balance with the knowledge that overtime is sometimes necessary, but I don't make it a habit. I do what needs to get done and make it clear that I don't live to work. I do love my job, at least so far, granted I've only been there three months. H³ seems to be enjoying grad school, and he takes every opportunity to help me relax. If I want to play video games, he builds me a video game throne out of pillows on top of the bed. We go for nightly walks and are generally trying to enjoy life.

So things are pretty good right now. And I hope all is well with everyone else. Once I finish College I will try to get back to posting regularly and stitching other things. I'm just in this final push and hope I can get this done in time. We shall see, though.

Until next time, happy stitching!