Storykeep - Magical Arrival: The Seventh Post

I mentioned last month I had been working on some pieces that were long over due to be finished.  I mentioned that Storykeep Magical Arrival was one of those.  On top of that, Michele Sayetta who creates the HAED charts, challenged us to do 100 stitches a week over four weeks, October 28th to November 28th, which really, is not much.  I entered Magical Arrival as my challenge piece.

Here he is before (left) and after (right)

19,736 Stitches

20,880 Stitches

And what should have been quick and easy wasn't since I started working on something else and got sidetracked.  But I did exceed the 400 stitches with 1144.  They were mostly in the stocking and wall.

I'm not sure what happened, but it looks like something was spilled on it, it's mostly not noticeable, but I'll wash it after I'm done and see how it looks, there's a few sections that I might restitch, but it's mostly okay.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Storykeep - Magical Arrival
Original Artist: Anne Stokes
Pattern by: Heaven and Earth Designs
Started Stitching: January 31, 2012
Fabric: 18ct. White Aida
Floss: DMC 2 over 1
Percentage: 87.82% complete
Colors: 56 of 89 complete
Stitches: 20,880 out of 23,775

Storykeep - Magical Arrival: The Sixth Post

It's been a while since I've posted on Magical Arrival, or any other HAED for that matter.  So here we go.

I've done quite a bit since my last post.  Mostly reds, actually I don't think it was mostly reds, I think it was all reds.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Storykeep - Magical Arrival
Original Artist: Anne Stokes
Pattern by: Heaven and Earth Designs
Started Stitching: January 31, 2012
Fabric: 18ct. White Aida
Floss: DMC 2 over 1
Percentage: 78.23% complete
Colors: 45 of 89 complete
Stitches: 18,599 out of 23,775

I'm going back and forth between working on this and No Late Knight Snacking.  This is one of the projects I want to finish before our next framing run, but I really want to finish before January 31, 2013.  However, my cousin's daughter really liked my Darth Vader Cookies, so, since I didn't have anything yet for her for Christmas, I'll try to stitch that up really quickly, but that won't be until Monday or Sunday when I get back home.

Storykeep - Magical Arrival: The Fifth Post

After I finished the Melon color on Thursday, wow it's pink, it seemed too early to post, so I went ahead and did the Mocha Brown color as well and took a picture with every intention of posting.  But I was on a roll so I continued on.

I've completed 16 colors since my last post.  I did a whole bunch of greens and have the leaves almost completely done.  I have five skeins of thread that I bought when I made a Jo Ann's run that I mentioned in an earlier post.  I'm going to fill in those, then find holes to fill in, like those five missing stitches in the toe of the stocking, it looks like there's a hole in it or something.

The five colors I'll be working on are pinks, reds, and reddish browns, so more of the stocking will be filled in for the next post.

He's going so well I think I'm going to procrastinate on the Christmas Cactus for now, I just need to get it done before they return on the 30th, that's still plenty of time.  I think.

It's amazing how two different pictures of the same item can look so different.  The picture on the left was taken with the Ott-lite in the middle of the night.  The one on the right was taken near a window in mid afternoon.  Maybe the blue reflection from my parent's pool caused the strange coloring.  Who knows.  I've also been taking all my pictures with my iPhone, because I always have it with me, it's a pretty decent camera, and I'd like the pictures to be as consistent as I can make them.  I'm still working on them being consistent as these two obviously show.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Storykeep - Magical Arrival
Original Artist: Anne Stokes
Pattern by: Heaven and Earth Designs
Started Stitching: January 31, 2012
Fabric: 18ct. White Aida
Floss: DMC 2 over 1
Percentage: 68.10% complete
Colors: 39 of 89 complete
Stitches: 16,191 out of 23,775

Storykeep - Magical Arrival: The Fourth Post

Back at my parent's house again.  This actually took me a couple of visits to my parent's house to finish.  I was slacking a little.  Finally, red.  With this first red in, or Garnet, I've passed the halfway point!  Halfway as in number of stitches, not number of colors.  I've barely done 1/4 of the 89 different colors in this piece.

The next color I'm going to be working on is called Melon.  It will be, by far, the brightest color I've worked on with this piece.  It'll be a nice change of pace.  After that, I think I'm going to fill in the holes towards the bottom with the Mocha Brown.  It'll be nice to see a full section completely stitched.  That will also mean I can throw away page four of the chart, even if it's just a partial page, it still feels like an accomplishment.

After that, I'm thinking of finishing all the green, and whatever colors, of the leaves of the mistletoe.  At least I think it's mistletoe.  It's Christmas themed and has white berries, I can't think of anything else it should be.  Finishing those colors will also mean filling in the toe and heel of the stocking.

I guess I don't really need to keep typing my plans since you'll see them unfold soon enough.  I will be putting this on hold starting next week while I finish up a long overdue Christmas present for my mother.  A French Beaded Flower Christmas Cactus.  I want to have it done and sitting on her coffee table when she gets back from her trip.  I'll post my progress on that as well.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Storykeep - Magical Arrival
Original Artist: Anne Stokes
Pattern by: Heaven and Earth Designs
Started Stitching: January 31, 2012
Fabric: 18ct. White Aida
Floss: DMC 2 over 1
Percentage: 58.38% complete
Colors: 23 of 89 complete
Stitches: 13,879 out of 23,775

Friends Forever: Second Post

I haven't done much of anything recently.  I just haven't been in the mood.  I had originally wanted to at least post once a week, and I was doing so well.  Now I've decided once a month at least... but that doesn't mean I won't post more.  In the meantime, to reach my one a month post goal I decided to finally take a picture of where I'm at in Friends Forever:

So, what do ya think?  I think it's looking pretty good myself.  But all that black, it's driving me nuts, I did one row, or was it two, last night.  It doesn't really matter.

Right now my nights are mostly used up by Diablo III, a computer game that was released last week.  Don't click on the link if you have small children around. There's a large picture of Diablo, who is the main bad guy of the game and he can be kinda scary looking.  This game was 10 years in the making, so we've been waiting for a long time for this.  I may be artsy and crafty, but I love shooting up some bad guys every once in a while.  Actually, I think it's more like I like the ability to perform magic, even if it is only a game, remember, I'm a fantasy nut. 

In the meantime, check out the status of my current projects on the WIPs (Work in Progress) page that I added.  Not very exciting right now since my blog is only a couple of months old, but I'm sure in time it will be much more interesting.  Okay, I'm sure it won't be, but I'm trying to make my blog sound better than it really is.  I don't think it's working.  Well... until next time!


Project Stats:
Pattern: Friends Forever
Original Artist: Anne Stokes
Pattern by: Heaven and Earth Designs
Started Stitching: July 24, 2011
Fabric: 25ct. White Dublin Linen
Floss: DMC 1 over 1

Friends Forever: First Post

This is the other HAED that I am working on.  I currently have four, and I'm trying really hard to keep it just to those four.

This artwork is by the same artist that did the artwork for Magical Arrival that I'm working on, Anne Stokes.  What I love the most about this piece is how the dragon sitting her lap reminds me of a dog curling up for a nap.  I wonder if he gets as heavy as my sister's dogs do.  He actually, to me, looks like the grown up version of the dragon from Magical Arrival.  He has the same coloring and same face and head shape.  I wonder if that was by accident or design, or if I choose those two randomly or subconsciously.

I started on this one last year before I started working on Magical Arrival, and it's much larger, 16" x 24".  This is the second HAED I ever started so I thought I'd try something different.  Although I love the way Ophelia looks with two threads, it is not the easiest to stitch.  So this time I'm only using one thread, but still using the same fabric.  I also gridded the entire piece of fabric into 10 stitch squares, it was very time consuming and I thought I'd go mad doing it.

Because of the griding I'm kind of doing the piece by sections which you'll notice below.  This, however, means that I won't really be able to give a percentage or number of stitches done, so you'll just have to see how much is done with your own eyes.

The next few images were taken after each new color was completed.  I've actually done more than this but I haven't taken a picture recently.  I'll take a picture and let you see what I've accomplished soonish.  As for now, here are the photos I do have of my progress:

	On the left: just black (310). On the right: black brown (3371) added in.
	On the left: Coffee Brown-UL DK (938) added. On the right: Garnet-VY DK (902) added.
	On the left: Garnet-DK (814) added. On the right: Garnet-MD (815) added.
	On the left: Coral Red-VY DK (817) added. On the right: Plum-DK (915) added.

The stiches in the rest of the colors in the drapes were a few here... a few there... so I stopped taking pictures.  There's only one color currently missing from the drapes and that was only because I didn't have the color when I needed it.

After I completed most of the drapes, the dragon still has quite a few holes in him, I've continued down the left side of the picture, which is mostly a whole lotta black.  And it's taking me forever.  Each line is 47 or 48 stitches of pure black.  I did three rows one night, then five the next, and I haven't touched it in a while.  However, this is the project that I'm currently focusing on while I'm at home, at least until I feel I've made significant progress on all that black.  Afterwards, I'll either go back and finish page 21 of Transcendence or page 2 of Ophelia, only time will tell.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Friends Forever
Original Artist: Anne Stokes
Pattern by: Heaven and Earth Designs
Started Stitching: July 24, 2011
Fabric: 25ct. White Dublin Linen
Floss: DMC 1 over 1

Storykeep - Magical Arrival: The Third Post

I'm back at my parents' place as I mentioned in the previous post.  This is earlier than I intended to post but the next color is going to take me a while, so, to the right is where I'm at.

Yes... I did more brown.  Two more browns to be exact.  I'm tired of brown, that seems to be all I've been stitching on my two main projects.

The next color is "Garnet" so we'll finally see a little red on his stocking, well alot of red since this color has the third most stitches, and his bow will start getting some color as well.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Storykeep - Magical Arrival
Original Artist: Anne Stokes
Pattern by: Heaven and Earth Designs
Started Stitching: January 31, 2012
Fabric: 18ct. White Aida
Floss: DMC 2 over 1
Percentage: 49.71% complete
Colors: 22 of 89 complete
Stitches: 11,818 out of 23,775

Storykeep - Magical Arrival: The Second Post

I finished two more colors over the weekend.  He is now 42% done!  Since this time there's only one picture I made the image much bigger. He does, however, look like he has a horrible skin condition, but we'll clear that up, I guess even dragons go through puberty.

I'm pretty excited with how far along he is.  I am working on the colors that have the most stitches right now and that does get a little boring, but I just have to keep reminding myself how good he's looking and how awesome he'll look when complete.

I have a few goals for this year, one of them is to complete this guy.  If I keep house sitting for my parents he might get done much quicker than I originally anticipated.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Storykeep - Magical Arrival
Original Artist: Anne Stokes
Pattern by: Heaven and Earth Designs
Started Stitching: January 31, 2012
Fabric: 18ct. Aida
Floss: DMC 2 over 1
Percentage: 42.09% complete
Colors: 20 of 89 complete
Stitches: 10,007 out of 23,775

I'm over halfway through the color with the fourth most stitches, but I won't get that finished right now, nor will it get finished this week.  I have family coming to visit so I'll be doing touristy stuff with them and my local family.  It should be fun, I haven't been to some of these places in quite a while; the wax museum, Universal Studios (Hollywood), Medieval Times and much more that I can't remember.  I just show up and get in the car.

Storykeep - Magical Arrival: The First Post

This is one of my unfinished projects.

The chart was made by Heaven and Earth Designs, also known as HAED.  The image was made by Anne Stokes and is called Magical Arrival.  The chart I chose was the "storykeep" version, which is a thin and long version usually for creating bookmarks, or storykeeps, as HAED calls them.  The image to the right is an image of the actual artwork by Anne Stokes.

HAED recommends that their charts be stitched 25ct. Lugana or Dublin linen.  I did not want to keep this cute little guy in a book so I decided to stitch him on 18ct.  He will end up being about 4" x 17.5".

The normal information that stitchers like to see is fabric & floss used, number of threads used.  I'm using 18ct, Aida with DMC 2 over 1.

To the left is after completing one color and on the right is after completing two colors, both dark browns.

I added one more color, a very dark green, located on the left.  I was house sitting and since this is a small project I decided to take it and a few colors with me.  I thought it would last me all weekend, but since I'm writing this halfway through Saturday, that obviously didn't work out.  On the right is where I'm at right now.  I ran out and bought some more thread from JoAnn's so I'm back in business.  I'll update again once after the weekend's over, or sooner, depending on how much I get done.