Rotation is not my thing

The rotation worked fine initially, then I found myself working on a project I really didn't feel like working on, and since then I have not followed my rotation at all.. So I've decided to give it up. Instead I will do goals for this year for each of my projects (that I am interested in working on at all).

But first I will show you what I have done since my last update.

The Hogwarts logo went from here:

To here:

I started The Red Fairy (again, I had done nearly three pages (full crosses on 18ct Aida), but didn't like it compaired to half crosses on 28ct) (I also noticed that the picture is upside down..):

I have acually one quite a bit more on the Red Fairy, but for some reason I didn't take a photo, and since it's rolled up and put away for now I don't want to pull it out. Also I decided to work a bit differently on the Red Fairy - I will do one color and finish the entire row and do that for each row. I started at the bottom simply because I've already stitched some at the top and wantet something "new".

I got some stitches in on Sugar as well, but to few for it to show. I'm really sick of the light blues and winter white on it, so I'll see when I will feel like working on it again... I just took out Bibliodame today to work on, so I will show the progress on that when I've stitched a bit on it.

I have put some time into organizing my threads as well. I have THIS YEAR bought around 70 skeins of DMC, so I had to put a lot of them on bobbins, and the rest of them (my extras) into my skein storage. I have also ordered more skeins (?!), but it will probably be at least two weeks until I get those. I ordered them when I ordered the pattern and fabric for Ink Circles 99, a pattern that I've been watching for some time, and that I will give to my father for Christmas.

My goals (in total for each project):
Bibliodame: 4 finished pages
The Red Fairy: 4 colors done on the bottom row
Middle Earth: 2 finished pages
Hogwarts logo: completely finished
99: completely finished
My owls: completely finished
Sugar: 2 pages finished (as far as possible if I don't buy the missing threads)

Maybe this will be easier for me. And hopefully if I reach my goal for one project I will feel satisfied with it and put it aside until next year!

Bibliodame update #1

This week it was time for Bibliodame to be worked on. As I might have mentioned it is stitched on 28ct Lugana evenweave, 2 over 1 tent stitches. I never thought that I would do a project with tent stitches instead of full crosses, but I warmed up to the idea after watching some photos and videos of finished projects that other stitchers have done with tent stitches. And you really can’t tell the difference. And it really takes less than half the time.

And as I think I mentioned, I changed the #4 Kreinik to DMC White/Blanc. Other than that I am doing it as it is charted, and I really enjoy working on it. I do one colour at a time for each page and I think I managed to get six or possibly seven colours finished this week on page 2. Yesterday I finished the last colour for the week (647 I think it was) and by then I was a bit sick of working on it, so now it is nice to go on to do something entirely else (at least it feels like something entirely else to work in big blocks of colour on 18ct Aida for the Hogwarts logo).

I don’t think I have much more to say about this project for now, so here’s the before and after photos:

I have also done something I was not supposed to. I had promised not to buy any more charts until I had finished at least one more of my current projects. But for a long time I have been in love with the map of Middle Earth (HAED), and I have absolutely loved to follow the progress for those who work on this chart on Instagram or YouTube. I knew that I would hate myself if I didn’t buy it and HAED stopped selling it, so I bought it yesterday. I will not start working on it now, though. Might not even start this year, but I think I will sleep better knowing that I can stitch on it if I wish to.

I was thinking about posting a photo of how far I had gotten on the Hogwarts logo before I started on it today, but I will post that photo with the after-photo at the end of the week (or beginning of next week). I’ll cosy up in the sofa to work some on it now, not much progress yet!

An update!

I promised an update on my project, and I know it's been a while, but here goes.

I have decided to try a rotation. Normally I would just stitch on a project until I get sick of it and then just switch to a new one. But now i have more project than ever before (I used to work on just one project and then it just escalated) and I want to make progress on most of them.

To try and motivate myself I have therefore started this rotation. I have given room to four on my projects, my favourite ones. I have however tried to have just two BAPs and two that can actually be done within a foreseeable future. That will mean that some of my projects will be put aside for a while, but that feels ok.

On to the pictures of my progress!

Since my last update I have actually finished Olaf.

He was stitched on spare linen I had in my stash, I think it’s 25ct. He is stitched 2 over 2 with DMC floss.

Last week I started my rotation. First out was a new project, Sugar, that I will actually keep a bit secret since I think it is going to be a gift. I will just post pictures on my progress, but no pictures of the finished design. I ordered it from Tilton crafts about three weeks ago, and to my surprise it is no longer available with them. Here is my progress from the week of stitching on her (not much to see really, just 3865 and a DMC I can't remember but that is very light blue).

She is stitched 2 over 1 full crosses on a 20ct aida with DMC floss. I’d say she’s a small BAP – 300x302 stitches.

This week it is time for one of my absolute favorite projects, Bibliodame. This is how far I had gotten before I started on Monday:

Bibliodame is stitched 2 over 1 tent stitches (the one that gives the diagonals in the back, can’t remember exactly what it is called) on 28ct evenweave (I think it is Lugana) using DMC. I have made one alteration, and that is that I swapped the kreinik for DMC Blanc, simply because I absolutely hated working with the kreinik on the Red Fairy. On the Red Fairy I did the stitches in the 10x10 grids and using the parking method, but mainly just to try something new I have, as you may notice, decided to do one color at a time for each page when I work on Bibliodame. So far I like it!

I will hopefully update you again on Monday with my progress on Bibliodame!

Mostly for my own sake I will end this post with my preliminary rotation schedule.

Week 1 – Sugar

Week 2 – Bibliodame

Week 3 – Hogwart’s logo

Week 4 – Owls (a pattern that I did myself from a picture of a table runner I liked)

Projects waiting to make the rotation:

The Red Fairy

Santa’s Nap

Woodland Enchantress

”We’re all mad here”

Portal 2-quote

Albus Dumbledore-quote

Welcome

I originally wrote everything (two entries, really) on the blog in Swedish, and had a very Swedish name for it. But as I started to follow more cross stitch blogs I realised that it would probably be better to do it in English as every blogger and youtuber I follow is English speaking.

Anyhow, I have always liked being creative and working with my hands (not painting, though) and I used to cross stitch some when I was younger (now 23) but never finished anything. About four years ago I bought a Dimensions kit (Woodland Enchantress) and started on that (but not finished). Not long after that I bought my first Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED) chart, The Red Fairy, and absolutely love the detail and there are no back stitching, which I just can't enjoy. Thar might also be a reason why I just couldn't be bothered with Woodland Enchantress.. (If there are some weird spelling or words I apologise, I keep typing the words the way they are pronounced with Swedish letters and the way words in Swedish would be spellt (example - also -> alså). I blame that on the fact that I have not written in English for quite some time.)

After that I have started some more projects, and I try to work on them as much as possible. I have yet to finish a project.. I will start with a list and a picture of what the project will look like finished, and later on I'll make a post with my current status.

The Red Fairy (HAED)

Woodland Enchantress (Dimensions)

Olaf (Crafty Guild)

Bibliodame (HAED)

Hogwarts Crest (Little Mojo på Leaky Cauldron)

Santa's Nap (Dimensions)

That's all for now, but I will try to make an update as soon as possible on where I'm at with the projects!