Too long away....

It's been so long since I've posted. I may as well start all over! LOL

I have been conquering many challenges in the last year. It's been very difficult & enlightening and I hope that it continues to get better.

I've been stitching on Jardin d Jour which I just love. I started a couple of other lovely charts and will post pics soon.

Change

I've been absent lately....distracted; stressed out to the max; tired and overall feeling like crap. But I've had some wonderful supporting friends to help me through. You all know who you are & you keep me going.

I'll post a pic update of Lily. I just refuse to put her down - she's giving me too much joy when I do have time to work on her.

Lily update

I've been super busy with work....lots of overtime & headaches, but I managed to stitch a little bit on my lunch hour this last week & well, not really at all this week. I have gotten a bit more done than this pic and am working to the left of her face at the wreath of flowers. I've gotten a bit further done on her forehead. The charting is amazing. What I love about Stab and Stash's charting is the detail is amazing and even though the charts are large, I can whip through them much more quickly than a Heaven and Earth Designs chart. Another plus for me is that there aren't any weird stitches placed of just one color that don't belong & make the chart indiscernible the way Heaven and Earth Designs does their charting-theirs are awful-I had such a hard time with all of their charts I tried to stitch where I'd be working on one area and then there would be an odd color of just one stitch here, one stitch there....and I'd continue on, thinking it would pull together and hours later I realized that the areas just came out looking like a blob with no detail and an off-colored stitch here and there.

Stab and Stash has a beautiful flow to their charts and tons of detail. And I can finish them in my lifetime - even though they are large charts they move along quickly. They are having a Customer Appreciation sale which is going on until September 21st. Here's a link to their site: http://stabandstash.com/

So, here is Lily....25 count one over one on handdyed Lugana in Bluberry by Silkweaver. Thank you for looking. The artwork is down below in one of my other posts.

I'm so tired...

Wow, as I get older I realize I don't have as much energy. I am SO tired today. I haven't had time to stitch anything substantial, I don't count 30-40 stitches as anything major. I announced to my guys lastnight that after I get home from the gym today after work, I am stitching or writing. Most likely stitching. Lily is getting upset that I have not worked on her...hehehe.

Lily calls

So I decided that I am tired of Lily calling me from my WIPs box. She's so lonely in there and just begging for some time on the frame. So I pulled her out & decided to give in & scratch the current rotation of Mates....so sorry to those wolves, but I just can't take Lily's persistence anymore....LOL I know all of stitching buddies know how hard it is to resist. Here are the stats on Lily: the artist is Renata Cavanaugh & here is the original artwork:

isn't she adorable??? When I saw this art, I thought of how I was as a little girl, wishing I could be a fairy & loved nature. She reminded me that my imagination at that age was boundless. I fell in love with this instantly. She is charted by Stab and Stash & here is their site. I have no affiliation with them, but just love their charting. The detail is amazing!!! www.stabandstash.com
I am stitching her on Blueberry 25 count Lugana by Silkweaver. I'm leaving off the vines. And also leaving off the white background because I thought the fabric was perfect for her.

This poor fabric has been through such hell. I originally purchased it for Wolf Maiden which is charted by Heaven and Earth Designs. I had to re-start it 4 times. Sadly, again for me the charting was so bad that I couldn't even tell the face of the maiden was actually a face. It turned out to be just a blob of unfleshy colors with zero detail. I put about 40 hours into that one will all the restarts & ended up so disappointed that I cut off the remaining fabric & binned the stitched HAED portion of it & decided Lily would do this gorgeous fabbie justice! Thank you for looking!

My favorite artwork

So I was thinking this past weekend that I may order the print of Empress by Stephanie Pui Mun Law. Her website is Shadowscapes.com. I have absolutely NO affiliation with her or her site, but I was incredibly moved when I saw this print a couple of years ago. I actually tried stitching it...the design is charted by Heaven and Earth Designs. I created my own hand dyed 22 count fabric that looked like the background with light blues, purples & white blends. It was really pretty fabric if I do say so myself. I started the chart with no background at the circle of butterflies, but there wasn't alot of detail in it...even if you stood a few feet from it, it did not show any detail & we couldn't tell that the areas that were stitched were actually supposed to be butterflies. It's okay though, I binned it awhile ago & will use the fabric for something else. I was really disappointed, but I figured I can just buy the print.

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