Thursday 31 December 2015

Happy New Year!

Hello everyone, I hope you've all had a great Christmas!  We've had a lovely time but it's gone so quickly, I can hardly believe it's New Years Eve.  For the first time in years I am not working tonight and can stay up stitching until midnight!  I do have to work tomorrow though - boo! 

I have enjoyed reading everyone's reviews of their stitching this year and am amazed at the number of starts some of you had and are planning next year.  I finished lots of smalls this year for card challenges and a few bigger projects too - my reindeer, Pretty Little Hong Kong and my first HAED Forest Walk.  None of these have yet been framed or finished finished so that is one of my goals for 2016.




The reindeer is going to be a cushion by next Christmas and the other two need framing.

Bamboo Fan is still a WIP but I have made a lot of progress, I'm more than half way with the stitching.





I would like to get this finished by the end of the year.

And my final goal for 2016 is Treasure Hunt Bookshelf by HAED.  I wasn't going to start it until January 1st but it has been calling me so I decided to start it on my son's birthday just before Christmas as it will be an easy date to remember.  I've worked out that there are 282,500 stitches in it and if I did 500 a day it will take less than 2 years.  Of course I won't actually be able to achieve 500 every day but I reckon if I make some steady progress I could do the whole thing in 2 years or thereabouts.  So my goal for 2016 is to be half way through by the end of the year.  I have even figured out how to add a progress bar to my blog to keep track of how I'm doing.




So far so good, as of last night I was at about 6100 stitches on day 11 so am actually 600 stitches ahead of schedule.  I'm stitching it on 25 count magic guide evenweave 1 over 1 using the recommended threads.  I decided having done 2 over 1 on Forest Walk that it was too hard to get the needle through in the confetti heavy areas.  1 over 1 has been much easier and the coverage is fine.  At the moment I'm stitching this on my small snap frame and will move it to my bigger one when I need to but I'm not sure what to do when it gets too big for that.  I'm worried that when the snaps are covering the stitching that the stitches will be squashed and spoilt. How does everyone else manage these enormous pieces?

Thanks for visiting my blog this year, wishing you all a very happy 2016.

5 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your fantastic stitchy year - and your first HAED finish! You've stitched such a lot of Treasure Hunt Bookshelf already - I wish you much success in 2016!

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  2. Congrats on your beautiful finishes I'm thrilled with your current project! I love the bookshelf series I just haven't bought any yet. Stitch in time and museum are first on the list though. Good luck on your goal! Happy new year!

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  3. You stopped by my blog so I stopped by yours. Oh you have done some beautiful pieces. Love the SK from HAED. I'm a dragon maniac. I use QSnaps on my large projects. I put a piece of fleece or felt between my snaps and the fabric. I have never had any problems with the threads under. Good luck finding what works best for you.

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    1. Thanks for the tip, I've got some felt so I might try that when the time comes!

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  4. The large pieces you finished last year are amazing. Too beautiful and also so different in style. I also love stitching different styles, not always the same - that's why I have many WIPs :)
    Your new project is coming along great and it's stunning how much you have already stitched on it.
    Have a great new stitching year 2016!

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