Second UCJC Finish!

I haven't had a lot of time to stitch lately, but I've been plugging along, and finally managed another finish, the 2009 Snowflake ornament by Tor Rhuann Designs!

It doesn't quite look like the pattern though. As I got into the backstitching, I realized that my choice of fabric for this project was totally wrong. When I had originally looked at the pattern, I had seen all of the backstitching that outlined the snowflake and automatically thought that aida would work. Now that I was tackling it, I realized that almost everything in the outside border was charted for evenweave. I would have had to poke holes in the aida constantly in order to do the border. No way, no thank you! So, I decided to ditch the outer border, and I just backstitched around the outside to add a little more bling. I think it worked really well, and I am quite happy with it. :)

Look at that bling! This is the first time I've stitched with Petite Treasure Braid, and it was wonderful to work with. Kreinik and Accentuate are nice, but this was really lovely stuff.

Hurray for finish #2, and it's not even the end of February yet!

Drama Queen - A proper page finish

Several months ago, I almost finished page 5, but I left 40 or 50 stitches of pure confetti hell for a later time. I really did need a break from such a confetti-heavy, complicated piece. So I tackled page 6 and it's gigantic chunks of red.

I haven't touched Drama Queen since the end of November.

This week, I finally had the energy to stitch DQ again, and so I took advantage of that energy by tackling the unfinished confetti on page 5 and working on some of the white/off white stitching on page 6.

The confetti is so strange to stitch because the colours (when they are in your needle) seem to make no sense - reds, browns, purples, blues, greens - all blend together to make the picture come alive.

It is slow, painstaking work, but I'm glad I have a real finish on page 5 finally (and 84% done page 6). I need another break now ... LOL.

Swirly Snow - Update 1

I couldn't resist picking up another easy silk project, so I spent the last few days putting stitches into the project from Day 6 of my UCJC - Swirly Snow. I was such a pleasure to stitch!

I think I've almost recovered from the stress and strain of the UCJC. I think I'm ready to pick up Drama Queen again. Hurray for confetti!

A WIPocalypse Finish!

It's that time again ... WIPocalypse is drawing near and we must finish projects!!

So, I did. :)

I finished my first ornament of the year: Christmas Eve Flight by thesamplergirl.com.

I did not forsee this as my first finish from my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge. Funny how things work out. Now I need to figure out what I feel like stitching next!

(Only 30 more finishes to go .... hrmm, might be a tall order.)

Tribal Butterfly - Update 1

After the hustle and bustle of the Ultimate Crazy January Challenge, I desperately needed to pick up a relaxing project. I just couldn't handle the thought of working on my complicated Drama Queen, so instead I picked up my Tribal Butterfly from Day 4 of UCJC.

It's not surprising that I picked up a silk project (I do {heart} silk after all), but I needed it to be as simple as possible. No variegated threads, no complicated patterns, just an easy and fun stitch.

Now that I'm feeling more like my usual stitchy self, it's time to switch to something else (but not DQ yet).

2012 UCJC - Day 31 ... and done!!

I can't believe this day is finally here. I also can't believe I managed to start 31 new projects in 31 days!! Holy crap! If I wasn't crazy before, I am now. What a ridiculous challenge!

Today's start is SK Oriental Courage by Lee-Anne Seed (HAED). I'm stitching this on 28 ct black jobelan , 2 over 1 tent stitch. I decided that since this piece has such huge chunks of colour that I would try tenting on this one too. I find the stitches are a little uneven right now, possibly because I am adjusting to stitching on black, which is more difficult than I had expected. Good progress for not a lot of stitchy time.

This challenge was 100x more difficult than I had expected. What a lot of ups and downs! It started off super exciting and fun, but within a few days the stress of switching projects every day started to get to me. I hung in there, and the stress of switching diminished thankfully, but then I couldn't remember most of what I'd stitched -- it was a blur. After 3 weeks, when I had 10 starts left, the exhaustion set in. While I enjoyed my daily stitching, I really wanted the challenge to be over.

Today I take a big sigh of relief -- no more pressure to start and stitch daily. No more pressure to blog like a mad woman. I can just stitch as much or as little as I want on whatever I want. Hurray!

I originally thought that I'd pick up Drama Queen and put some time into that piece once the challenge was over, but I don't have the energy or concentration for such a complicated piece. I think I'll pick up one of my simple, monochrome silk projects from the beginning of the challenge and just relax for a bit. :) It'll be interesting to see what gets finished in the next 11 months.

To my followers, old and new, thank you so much for joining me on this adventure.

2012 UCJC - Day 30

I stitched a Lickle Ted kit last year, and I know how tiresome stitching shades of cream and beige can be. Add to that the annoying fractionals and loads of backstitching, well, I have no idea why I chose to do another one. I will admit they are very cute though.

During the entire challenge, I dreaded starting this project the most.

Oddly enough, I rather enjoyed stitching today. I was bummed that I only had a very limited amount of stitchy time.

So, today's start was Lickle Bit Shy by DMC. I traded out the aida in the kit (stupid to have aida with a pattern with so many fractionals) and replaced it with some 32 ct white lugana.

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is the last day of the challenge. I've been trying to decide what project I'll work on on February 1st, but I really can't decide. Maybe I won't stitch at all, who knows?