Progress, progress, new start?

Lots to share today!!  I have made excellent progress on Cirque des Carreaux in the past week. I've now finished 4 1/2 + pages (don't you just love throwing away pages of a chart that are completely highlighted??!), and just 2 partially completed pages to go!

I also got a bee in my bonnet (no pun intended) and put in about 1000 stitches on Sunflower Bee - the project I started at the retreat for my dad. The colours aren't too exciting, but the subtle pattern emerging is kinda cool.

I'm not entirely sure I love stitching 1 over 1 full crosses on 28 ct. I picked up some more fabric from my LNS the other day to restart QS Blue Butterfly, so I might try tenting 2 over 1 on 28 ct for that and see how it goes.

I did mention a new start, didn't I? Well, it's not quite a new start, but I kitted up something new and will be starting it in the next few days. My dear stitching friends, who are INCREDIBLY enabling, have talked me into trying counted canvas. I was browsing my LNS the other day while I waited for help with fabric and saw this pattern:

Well, those are some of my favourite colours and I just fell head over heels for this pattern. Of course I bought it on the spot, and the next thing I know, I'm being told to kit it up so I can learn how to do it this Tuesday. More pics to come I guess.

Aren't these threads lovely? I havent stitch with the Caron Snow or the Rainbow Gallery Overture before, so this will be quite the adventure!

Another half page done!

I finally put in the last few confetti stitches to meet my goal of half a page of DQ a month. The last little bit of this half page was very confetti heavy and it was slow going.

It'll be nice to put this aside for the rest of the month and work on some other projects that are screaming at me. I think I'm going to move over and do the top half of page 8 next -- the first bit is confetti heavy, but then there are some nice big chunks of colour at the far edge.

Chugging along with CdCx

I really like working on Cirque des Carreaux because it travels so well. One thread, no muss, no fuss. So I took it with me for a short visit to my parents' place. I made some really good progress too! Page 4 is now almost finished -- you can see the bottom left corner now!

IHSW March 2013

For the first time in a long time, I signed up for the International Hermit & Stitch Weekend hosted by Joysze over at Random Ramblings.

I hermited, but I didn't stitch too much. I worked on Drama Queen, but much of the progress was made pre-IHSW (but I forgot to take a picture before I started).

New scroll covers - aren't they lovely?

DQ is coming along nicely. There's even a small chance that I'll finish this half page before the end of March!

March was a Nightmare!

So I've been trying to keep up with the Song of the Weather hardanger SAL over at Mabel Figworthy's Fancies. Over a week ago, I put my fabric onto my new 12" millenium frame and away I went. It started out okay ...

(See the pretty new squissors I got? They are wonderful for snips in close quarters!)

However, once I got past the cutting and wrapping, I encountered the basque knots (the outer double border). Well, I couldn't get them right to save my life! I cut them out 3 times before I finally got them done. They aren't that pretty, but they're done. I hope I never have to stitch another one.

The French knots went smoothly (thank goodness) and they look nice and plump done in a perle #5. I think this design has all of my least favourite stitches -- basque knot, Queen's stitch and wrapped bars.

I did the first two designs with my fabric on a q-snap and now that I've put it on the millenium frame, the fabric doesn't seem to be behaving the same way. Not sure whether it's a result of the extra tension or the crappy stitching I did.

Back to Drama Queen for a bit I think. I've been missing it!

Two-thirds done (and a sneak peak)!

I've still been working on Cirque des Carreaux this week (when I've had time, which isn't often). The top three pages are now fully complete and a little of each of the next 3 pages are stitched as well. The entire piece is two-thirds of the way done.

The end is near, and yet somehow a long way off! I'd love to finish this in the next few weeks.

I've also put in a couple of hours on DQ -- here's a close-up sneak peak of the centre of the design:

Getting closer!!

This past week I have mostly worked on Cirque des Carreaux when I've had a spare few minutes.

Page 3 is only a handful of stitches away from being completed and that means only 3 partial pages to go!! I expect this one might just get finished by Spring!