A wonderful weekend...

Hello there!

What a weekend? It was really nice and unexpected. It also reminded me that I hadn't shared with you the joys of Buxton (just a few pics) and so I shall do that at some point along with some pics of the Farne Islands and Grace Darlings lighthouse.

Firstly though..stitchy progress...

I travelled to the North East of England on Friday, Newcastle to be precise, and this was a five hour coach journey.

I had a seat all to myself and got settled, I had been worried I would get travel sick, as I do when I read during road travel, but not with stitching so I was very happy.

I stitched for about 3 and a half hours on the way there and was surprised by how much I got done. I guess when I am at home that I still have distractions whereas on the coach I had none. I then stitched for a while on the way home yesterday and although it is still black...I am getting excited to have less black on this row remaining that that which I have done.

Here is the before...

And here is the after...

Ok, so...I am now in that stage of a project where all I can think about is stitching! lol  I need to finish this row by July - overly ambitious I know. As I want to start the third HAED challenge as I need an excuse to learn parking. I bought some magic guide 25 count fabric and will have a new start on that...now if only one of the many I have was luring me in! I may have to buy a new one even in this precarious time of political unrest in the UK and a dwindling exchange rate on the pound...I think it might have to be done...just which one! Suggestions....leave your absolute favourite, most lusted after and ogled HAED in the comments below...

New week...

Here's my progress...last Friday...

Earlier tonight...

Doesn't look like much but I hope to finish the black on age two and three by Friday. 

Please cross everything 😁

Quick update

VHey all,

Just a quick update till the weekend when I have so much to share...

I have finally finished all the black on page 1 of mini LITD, it is a few rows shorter and about a column narrower than the original because I'm resizing to match the ranger. I have started on page two but it is easily 85% black! So that's my weekend stitching plans covered. The one good thing in that stitching blocks of a single colour is much faster and you can get about 300+ stitches done in an hour, unlike confetti which sometimes feels like 15 stitches per hour, lol! 

I forgot in my last post to mention something else I discovered recently...which blew my mind! I just thought wow all this time I have been highlighting wrong. How did I not know this???

Generally, I don't highlight, I go by eye. I often think this may explain some of my hidden errors but I still do that. Page one I didn't highlight and because page two is mainly black I may only highlight that which isn't if that makes sense.

So what I did do in my previous highlighting life was, stitch and then highlight what I had stitched...

What I discovered is...I should highlight the symbol for the colour I'm stitching, fir example every time the symbol is on the page I should highlight this in yellow...then as I stitch I can clearly see where the stitches are to go and once I do them I go over the yellow highlighter in pink. Then the completed stitches are in an orange colour (the yellow & pink combined) and the stitches in the symbol I'm working on are clearly marked in yellow! 

How did I not know to do this? It's the best tip ever. At least it is for me as I never saw the benefit of it but often would find if missed a stitch, this way how can I go wrong?? Lol

Here is a pic of my black so far, apologies if the pic is currently huge but I'm posting via my phone, I shall shrink it down later 😁

Catch you later! 

Clinging onto my Mojo!

Hey everyone,

I have been clinging onto my mojo which seems to be dissipating rather rapidly…and not to my liking…basically for the last month I have been picking things up, stitching a bit, putting them back down etc. I have also been RAk’ing and stashing.

I have today decided to try and stitch on a HAED that I bought a month or so ago and started briefly, I was doing really well, stitching all of the black in a column each night but then…I went wrong…and it knocked me off the boil and I abandoned the project. Today, I decided to take it to work to finish frogging…and I was surprised to discover that I had almost finished frogging and there wasn’t that much left and the mistake wasn’t huge. So I am feeling re-inspired.

The chart is called mini A Light in the dark and is pretty much Gandalf from Lord of the Rings and I also hope to one day stitch the companion piece that is called The Ranger (Strider from LOTR). One thing did bug me and that was that the two pieces are different sizes and they are both facing the same way, I have reduced the size of LITD so that it matches that of TR, and I hope to be able to flip the chart for TR so that it faces the opposite direction to Gandalf and then I can hang these two up together. Have any of you ever done that? I vaguely recollect someone having done it with a Mirabilia?

Here is how it will look finished:

And here is The Ranger...

Anyway, here are some things to note about this project:

1. I am stitching 2 x 1 on 18ct Aida in cream.
2. I am using Anchor threads instead of my usual DMC.
3. I will be using waste knots.
4. I am going to stitch two handed, on a hoop, and in the fashion of not turning the needle. I saw this tip online and wasn’t convinced that it would make any difference at all. Then I tried it and although I can’t see a difference, when I run my finger over the stitches I can feel a difference.
5. I will stitch cross country by row – a colour at a time! (and I am starting with black as the top row is predominantly black)

 I am behind still on blogs and that is my target this week - to catch up!

June!

Hey

So I've been busy trying to make a decision...do you remember how I said that I was going to Canada to celebrate my 40th birthday? 

Well I decided to book the flights! I'm not sure about my itinerary yet but my flights have been booked and I can start planning away. 

As usual I will plan as much as I can and then on arrival...mainly wing it! Lol

So I fly to Vancouver on the 19th September! Then a week later fly to Montreal and two weeks later fly home from Toronto 😁

I'm very excited and welcome and must sees, tips and advice...

I guess it helps to know that I will be travelling solo, I don't drive so will be relying on public transport, my RA means that I don't want to be hiking for over two hours (because then I'll waste time sleeping it off), so as much as I love the outdoors and nature I need to stick to botanical gardens and parks. 

Also as much as I love solo travel there are a couple of things I don't like...

1. Eating alone - so I tend to not eat, I know in America that they put single diners at the bar or some such thing? Is this the same in Canada? I really don't like that. 

2. I always go to bed really early unless I have theatre tickets because going out alone at night is something that I've not got a handle on yet. Ideally a restaurant/bar combo where I would feel comfortable alone but could dine later in the evening would be perfect...if you know of any? 

I'm interested in possible day trips from Vancouver but not sure where is viable as its so large. Also...should I be based in Vancouver and do trips out or is it worth maybe a couple of days there, three days somewhere else and then back to Vancouver for a couple of days? 

I will be travelling from Montreal to Toronto over a two week period and really am open to suggestion on this...