October Update!

 A little late with my progress update on October month of stitching, but here it is!

It was a busy month as I tried to get to a finish point on certain projects, so not much variety but some good progress none the less!

Lets start with my focus pieces,  

Ganesha

I got another diagonal complete!!! I am so happy with how this one is coming along, I really pushed to get this diagonal completed. You can see the next hand appearing, and more of the pink flower is growing.  I just love the colors and the detail in this piece sooo much!

Siamese Fighting Fish

Another Diagonal complete on this one as well!!! I am getting to really like this project more and more!  I am really happy with how its turning out.  Its a big one, so slow progress, which is why I like to celebrate the little milestones!

Mystery Sal

Sleepy Owlet

I have a page finish!!!  So So happy this this finish, it felt like this page took a long time.  The confetti in this page was very heavy but sooooo worth it. The  detail that the confetti brings out is fantastic! Can't wait to keep working on this on. I think I might do the page under the eyes next!

On to the wips in my Rotation,

Mini Avarice

I love this piece so much!!! The different shades of yellow and browns create really nice detail.  I am enjoying stitching on this one quite a lot, it makes me very happy!

World Travel Bookshelf

Made a little bit of progress on this one!  The man in the pic is becoming clearer and clearer! Can't wait to finish this section and move onto the next!

Peacock Glamour

Always a slow stitch, but I feel like I am finally moving along on this one.  That's the start of the wing at the bottom center of the neck!

QS Life is an Open Book London

More and more detail comes out with each stitch. My favourite part is the ivy on the arch.

And thats' it for my October stitching! Until next time!

Happy Stitching!

Vani

Update for the month of September

 Hi Everyone, hope you had a great September!   I am here with a progress report on my September Stitching!

I had a great month, got lots of stitchy work done, as well as went to my very frist Stitching retreat!  It was so much fun.

The month started with Enchanted Garden, she came around in rotation just the one time, but made some good progress on her. Just love the colors and the details that appear on such a small chart

Next up is QS Sapphire which I worked on once this month. She's the 4tho one I am working on in the series of QS Birthstones and I love working on the blues!

I then got a chance to work on Mini Avarice, the first in the Deadly sins series.   Love all the yellow shades I get to work with, and the detail that is coming out is fantastic!

I got a chance to work on mini Little Dreamers Tree alot this month as I used as it for my Daily 100 project.  This is where I commit to stitching at least 100 stitches on it every day of the month.  I saw a lot of progress on it  because of that!

I was able to pick up my Siamese Fighting Fish a couple of times this month and am really close to another diagonal finish.

Autumn Owl Trio is always fun to stitch on as its just so joyful, the owl is adorable.

And lastly this month I had the wonderful opportunity to attend my first stitch retreat.  Well actually most of the ladies were knitters, so it was more of a hand crafters retreat.  It was so much fun to spend some dedicated time away with your craft of choice!!!  It was held at a beautiful bed and breakfast a hour and a half out of town. This is the view from my room!

I had to start a new project as a memory of the retreat.  I didn't want to start a big one, and really even the small ones I do are big!  So I picked something that I thought I could do over the course of attending a few retreats. I have decided to do Mini Meditaion from Haed, but with a twist. I have divided it into sections and will do a couple of sections every time I attend a retreat. so after many years, I end up with a stained glass effect, because the lines you see in my diagram will be stitched in black.

I will be doing 3 sections for this 2021 retreat. Here's what I have done so far, it was done while I was there. I just have to finish the sections.

So I had a great September for stitching!  I hope October goes well too! Until next time.....

Happy Stitching!

My step back into the world of blogging!

 Hi Everyone!  

Boy has it been a long time since I blogged.  So much has happened in my stitching life and my personal life since then!

I have started a Flosstube channel 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZFDW_ekWFvCZT9e7laA7HQ

And I am more active on Instagram, @mystitchdiary

I still have many projects on the go, I have 3 main focus pieces that I am working on this year, which I dedicate time to every week, then I rotate through the rest of my projects.

My 3 focus pieces for the year are:

 Ganesha

With Ganesha I decided to make it a focus piece this year because I've had it for a very long time and finally thought that it was about time I made some real progress on it.  It has been working, I've done well with it.  

Siamese Fighting Fish

This piece was kindly given to me by a lovely stitching friend of mine who recently became a designer.  Her son is an artist and gave her permission to convert his artwork into Cross Stitch.  She contacted me when she realized I was a little obsessed with full coverage cross stitch and asked if I would stitch a model stitch for her for this piece.  I said as long as you realize that it will take me a long time, because it is a large piece, and I don't have the focus to work on just one piece. She said that yes that she just wanted a point of view on the process.  So it began, it is a large piece, but beautiful.  I decided to stitch it on white which means that I am stitching all the black!!!  Here's where I am with it:

Cross Stitch Studio Mystery (not a mystery anymore) Sal

This piece started as a mystery, which I love being a part of.  Every month we were given a new page and we don't know what we were stitching on until we are finished.  So for the past few months we received a new page, then there were some technical difficulties with the charting and getting us individual pages, so they surprised us with the full chart.  Here's how far I am:

I made a bit of progress on them, and I have been working a little less this past month as it was a family month with lots of birthdays and visits, and of course it was summer!  So had to take advantage of the good weather while its here.

This past month I have working on:

World Travel Bookshelf

I love working on this one so much, no details this time, but so much colour.  Always an enjoyable stitch!!!

Peacock Fantasy

Still haven't gotten to the good stuff, but got closer to finishing that graceful neck!

QS Life is an Open Book London

I love stitching away on this, I always remember our fun family vacation when I am working on this one.  Started it out stitching cross country style, but switched to Diagonal Cross country.  Liking it this way much better.

Sunflower Bee

I have made a very small start on this on. Lots of background to get through before the good stuff!

Golden Promises

I am so loving that I took this out of the ufo pile to work on.  Such a fun stitch with all the details!

Mini Opening Night

A special and beautiful piece for sure!  Love the watercolour effect of this one!

So that's what I did in August!  I am working on a new rotation plan in the hopes that I get to work on more wips in my collection.  

Happy Stitching!!!

WIPocalypse February 2020 Check-in An Adventure in Parking

 Hi Everyone,

It has been a great stitching month for me! I decided try parking again.  And I realized that it depends on the project I am working on if like parking or not.  Lets look at my progress in February!

Starting with SK Sunny! Such a colorful stitch, I thoroughly enjoyed working on her after a prolonged period of no progress!

 

The pics don't give it justice to the vibrancy of the colors.

So happy with this finish!


Update on my Facebook group Sals:

Ultimate Cross Stitch Group 

  

I was supposed to work on Ganesha, unfortunately  I never got much progress done on this one. I was too busy with other projects this month. I hope to change that this month!

On the counting challenge each day a number was given to be stitched. Total for 24 days was 5050 Stitches. I was able to stitch that and more, I completed 5443!

At the beginning of the month, I was here:

 

And  at the end of the month I was here!!!!!

So this is where I thought to pick up the parking again. I have had my ups and downs with parking, I love it, then I hate it. However, with this project I loved it.   I decided to park by working on 20x20 blocks. Which meant once I finished one section, that meant I finished 400 stitches!!

Full Coverage Cross Stitch Group

I was able to sneak in just enough stitches on SK Winter Wings

Full Coverage Fanatics Group
I just had to show my progress on SK Winter Wings in this one.

I started her here at the beginning of the month

 

 And ended the month here

For the other sals I used World Travel bookshelf.  I really enjoyed stitching on it and really got in a groove for parking with it.

Question for February WIPocalypse

In honor of "Leap Year", tell the story of a time you had to make some sort o "leap" in stitching - taking a chance on a new style, attending a meetup or class, etc.

Hmmm, a leap that I have taken this year....I thinkn that the leap I have taken this year is with the parking technique.  In the past I have dabbled in it, but this year I have leapt into it with gusto.  Hoping I continue to like it as much as I have this past month!

My plans for the month of march are:

1 - Work on SK Winter wings for the Full Coverage Fanatics Around the World Sal.  This month is Canada!  What better project to pick than Winter Wings!  We are still in the middle of a very snowy winter.  This is from just yesterday.

2 - Continue with my 20 in 20 challenge for Full Coverage Fanatics using World Travel Bookshelf.  As of the end of February I had 6578 stitches complete!  Only 13422 left to complete this challenge!

3 - For the 2020 in 2020 challenge in Full Coverage Cross, I will be stitching on Ganesha, I really need to get to the end of the top row.  Its been a dull/easy stitch but I want to push myself to finish it and move down to the next row.

4 - For the Just Show Progress challenge for March with the Ultimate Cross Stitch group I will use Ganesha again.

5 - There is a counting challenge in the Ultimate Cross stitch group as well, I think I will use World Travel Bookshelf.

6 - And if I manage to make solid progress on these pieces I will pick up another Wip! Or maybe a new start????

Happy Stitching!

~~~Vani~~~

February 2020 Stitching Plans

I am so looking forward to stitching this year, the last month was great. I am really enjoying my self.  I've got plans for my stitching for February, and they all revolve around the SALs that I am participating in.

First a quick update on the last week, I got some stitches in SK Sunny.  Will continue to work on this one periodically until I get the page/Project finish.

SALs update:

For the month of February I will be participating in the following SALs

Ultimate Cross Stitch Group 

1 - Show your progress:
Red Velvet and Lace Cupcake Challenge
(Ganesha)

2 - Counting:
I Love Cross Stitch Bingo
(World Travel Bookshelf)

Each day another number will be revealed for that amount to be stitched.
Day 1 - 325 Stitches
Day 2 - 280 Stitches
Day 3 - 210 Stitches
Day 4 - 300 Stitches
...
(there are 24 days!)

Full Coverage Cross Stitch Group

1 - Complete 2020 Stitches in the month of February.
(SK Winter Wings)

Full Coverage Fanatics Group

1 - Monthly Theme SAL, Brazil, I chose to use a color from the flag, Blue.  I will be stitching on SK Winter Wings

2 - Valentines Weekend SAL, Love is all you need weekend Challenge.

Stitch on something that represents Love.  I chose World Travel Bookshelf.  I just love the detail and colors.

3 - Year Long Sal - Stitch 20,000 Stitches in 2020.
(World Travel Bookshelf)

Since I will be using the same project for multiple challenges, here are the start pics for all of them.

1 - World Travel Bookshelf

2 - SK Winter Wings

3 - Ganesha

Happy Stitching

~~~Vani~~~