Progress picture

I was off work most of this week due to a shoulder injury so I had Thursday pretty much to myself and except for a short trip to pick the boys up from school and a run through Wal-mart, I spent the day stiching and watching "How I met Your Mother"(will ted just hurry up and meet her ALREADY). I'm really happy with my progress. The chart is divided into two halves and I'm seriously considering doing the backstitching on this top half before moving on to the bottom half since that is usually where my attention starts to wan. The hardest part of this piece so far, her freaking hand!! There were so many 1/4 stitches that it was hard to follow and place. I frogged and re-frogged so many times. I'm still not 100% sure I have it right, won't know until I backstitch it but I think it is at least reasonably close!!

The bottom half has more blocks of stitching to I'm thinking the stitching portion may go pretty fast but there is a lot of backstitching detail in the skirt so.

Wizard Done!!

It only took about an hour to backstitch and add the wording. You are supposed to attatch a needle to the wizards hand but the needle wasn't with the kit so I will have to dig one up, probably a petite needle. He sure is cute. I need to fuzz up his beard and slippers more but I like the whisper effect in both area's. I will finish him as a flat fold and put him on my book case or something.

I am now going to spend the rest of my time off of work(2 days) on Joan Elliot's Autumn Fairy!! and then next week on my off time, I will probably work on Tiger Lily and her backstitching.

Update

Yesterday I worked on Guinevere. I got all the metallic stitches done, got all the regular backstitching done, and then moved on to the metallic backstitching. I got all of the details at the bottom of her dress done before I ran out of the green braid so in order to finish her completely, it will require a trip to the XS store, which I don't have the money for at the moment. Once I get the braid, I have maybe 2-3 hours of work for her to be completely done so I feel like I can put her aside now, guilt free and move on to the next project.

Today I plan on working on the Dragon Dreams wizard. It just needs back stitching which shouldn't take to long. I may finish him today, but it depends. I have to go to the grocery store and I have my kids the next couple of days so Tuesday and Wednesday's are always busier and less time for stitching.

Just needs backstitching and beads! I really dislike how Mira does some of her backstitching, up 2, over 4, it's hard to follow, and makes me frustrated so I stop working on it.

Beads and Backstitching seem to be what holds me up on actually finishing projects!

Jasmine, started her in August but she was deceptive. It looked like an easy stitch but there is a lot of confetti and backstitching so that really slowed me down!

She is very close to being done as well

This is probably my oldest WIP. The beads that are spilling from her hands is what makes the piece. I hope to get there soon....

This was a class piece from Dragon Dreams on one of my trips to Toronto. All he needs is wording and back stitching. He is quite cute, sorry for the crappy picture. He uses whisper thread for his beard and bunny slippers, too cute!! I will finish as a flat fold and keep him on my dresser. He needs only about 2 hours max of work!

My most recent start, Autumn Fairy by Joan Elliott. I have gotten the biggest and hardest part out of the way, the wings, I may even start backstitching them now since that seems to slow me down a lot.

WIPocolypse!!

I haven't blogged in forever, obviously but I like the idea of finishing up old Cross Stitch projects that are rolling around so I thought I would join in to the WIPocolypse craze! I finished a couple of really old projects last year and it felt really good. I don't have the time I used to to stitch but I do have some time and I'm committed to trying to step away from the computer, not spend so much time on Farmville and get back to my favorite hobby. My goals are simple for the year:

Not start anything new!

Finish Tiger Lily which just needs to finish the backstitching and beads

Finish Jasmine which was one of the new starts from last year. She is about 3/4 of the way done

Finish Joan Elliots Autumn Fairy which was my other new start of the year. I've gotten a lot done but I'd say there is about 2/3 to go.

Lastly, dig out Stargazer out of my stash and try to find all the bits to finishing her. I was working on her when I was going through my divorce and stuff got lost in the moves and the transition. At one point I did have most of it together but it was just too hard to look at and work on, it made me sad. Now that I'm over 4 years post break up and remarried, I'm thinking those feelings won't bother me anymore.

I also have some random ornaments that I did in 2010 that need just either beads or braid.

I would also like to "finish" up some completed projects, mostly ornaments. I had started this before my wedding/Christmas, I cut mat boards, picked backing fabrics and trim, but then my wedding and then Christmas got in the way. They are currently a mess in my closet.

Seems like a very simple, easily and reasonable list to complete!!

I'm off work this week with a shoulder injury, so I hope to get some pictures added of where my progress is starting.

Need to add a couple more things I forgot about:

Guinevere by Serendipity Designs: This goes back a couple of years, I'm doing it minus the boarder and we are down to the metallic and backstitching. I have to sub some stuff, it's an old pattern and calls for Balger threads but I decided to do the gold in #4 braid and then the green and red Balger, I'll do as beads, just need to dig through my stash to find the right ones.

Fairy Alighting by X's and Oh's(I think) - This goes back I"m afraid to 2001 maybe, I got it at one of my trips to the stitching festival in Toronto. It's done in 3 shades of grey and all confetti, enough said.

Magic in my needle by Dragon Dreams- This too goes back to early 2000's, it was a class piece for Toronto, very cute little wizard with bunny slippers holding a gold needle with the words "There is magic in my Needle". Needs just back stitching and attaching the gold needle.

I notice a theme here, I seem to stall at the backstitching!!