Twilight Duel Update #31

1,767 stitches were added to Twilight Duel this month.

This is how it looked on February 1, 2019. 

59,584 of 147,600 stitches were complete.

This is how it looks today. 
61,351 of 147,600 stitches are complete. I passed the 60,000 milestone and had a page finish! 8 of 24 pages are complete.

This year I am participating in a couple of challenges through the Stitchtalk HAED Challenges Facebook Group to push myself to make more progress in 2019.

My Heaven and Earth Designs Twilight Duel cross-stitch project is my focus piece for the Stitch Around the World 2019 Challenge (SATW 2019.) A chart was created for participants with 22 legs of a 53,855 km journey that begins and ends in London. Each stitch = 1 km. With my work schedule and family life, I do not believe 53,855 stitches is an obtainable goal; however, I plan to do my best and travel as far as I can on this journey. If I make it half-way, I will be thrilled.

Legs 1 and 2 of the journey were completed in January, as seen in my last post - here.

Leg 3: Turin to Brindisi, 1,115 Stitches - Completed February 7, 2019

Leg 4: Brindisi to Suez, 3,727 Stitches - In Progress.
It should finish page 20 and another row of the chart.

Stitches added in February 2019: 1,767

Stitches added in 2019: 3,939

Stitches to complete SATW 2019: 49,916

Percent Complete:

Project:         41.57% (It was 40.37%)

Pages 1-2:  100%

Page 3:         47.54% (It was 46.90%)

Page 4:       100%

Page 5:           1.83%

Page 6:           0%

Pages 7-8:  100%

Page 9:           5.4%

Page 10:         0.25%

Page 11-12:    0%

Page 13:     100%

Page 14:     100% (It was 83.57%)

Page 15:         4.03% (It was 3.20%)

Pages 16-18:  0%

Page 19:     100%

Page 20:       29.56% (It was 15.31%)

Pages 21-24:  0%

Thanks for visiting!
Renee

Fractal White Tiger February 2019 Update

Fractal White Tiger is still my focus piece for IHSW. This Charting Creations cross-stitch design is based on artwork by Ricky Barnard. I started this piece on January 1, 2016 when I joined the Stitchy Start Blog, here.

979 stitches were added to it this month, bring the total to 32,525.

The project is 18.66% complete. (It was 18.10%.)
Stitches were only added to pages 11 & 12.
Page 11 is 60.80% complete. (It was 50.42%.)
Page 12 is 41.53% complete. (It was 36.01%.)

I am eager to reach the pink of the nose at the bottom of page 12, so I hope to make much more progress when I work on it again in March!

Happy Stitching,
Renee

IHSW is International Hermit & Stitch Weekend. This event takes place the 3rd full weekend of the month. The goal is to spend as much time stitching that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as possible. There is an IHSW Facebook Group that may be found here.

SK Effects of Caffeine - SAL Update 3

906 stitches were added to my Heaven and Earth Designs Storykeep Effects of Caffeine cross-stitch since my February 3rd update. (You may see the artwork this piece is based upon here.)

As this is my lunch time project, my goal is only 100 stitches a week; so, I am thrilled with the progress. It is SO close to a page finish that I have been putting some evening and weekend time into it, too. 

I will be honest, the golds and reds make the title difficult to decipher when stitched. There are other Randal Spangler storykeep projects with books in different colors that are easier to read when stitched. So far, this one reads:

INVESTIGATING THE EFFECTS OF CAFFEINE ON

It is a bit easier to read when viewed at an angle.

Page 1 should be completed by our next SAL update on March 17th. The dragon begins on the bottom of page 2, so I am quite motivated work on this piece! I just love Randal Spangler's artwork.

This is how the piece looked on February 3rd.

February 4th - 23rd: Stitched 16 days for a total of 8.58 hours.

6,391 of 23,660 stitches are complete. 

The project is 27.01% complete. (It was 23.2%.)

Page 1 is 98.62% complete. (It was 86.15%.)

Page 2 is 1.77% complete.

In my last post, several of you asked how I track my progress. I am afraid I am a bit of a nerd. I like numbers and spreadsheets. So, before I begin a full coverage chart, I create a spreadsheet. There is a column for each page with the number of stitches in each 10x10 grid. At the top of the column, I include the date and the time spent stitching. At the bottom of the column, I add formulas to calculate the number of stitches added that day, the total number of stitches added to the project, the percentage of the page completed, the percentage of the chart completed, and the average number of stitches added per hour. After I stitch each day, I copy the information from the day before and update the number of stitches remaining in the grids I worked on that day. Setting the spreadsheet up takes some time, but the daily updates take about 5 minutes. Seeing the numbers progress keeps me motivated, so it is worth the time to me. :)

I do hope you will visit the others that are participating in this Stitch Along (SAL.) Links to their blogs are below. I want to welcome Sharon, our newest SAL member! 

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carol, LucyAnn, 

Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, 

Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, 

Steph, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, 

Hayley, Megan, Catherine, Deborah, Connie, 

Clare, Mary Margaret, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon

Scattered across the globe, we are in different time zones. If you do not see an update, please check back later. 

About this SAL:
We simply work on one project and share updates on that project every 3 weeks. If you are interested in joining, please contact Avis.


Note: I do try to reply to every comment via email. Unfortunately, if you are a no-reply blogger, this is not possible. I do read and appreciate your comments and encouragement!

Thanks for visiting!
Renee

TAST 2019 - Stitches 1 & 2

This weekend I made some time to work on the Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST) stitches that have been shared this year at Pin Tangle. The Chain Stitch and Fly Stitch were both worked onto a Valentine Fabric Postcard I am working on.

Click any photo for a larger view.

Stitch 1: Chain Stitch
I worked this stitch with size 8 pink perle cotton. I like the way the red fabric peeks out between the stitches.

Stitch 2: Fly Stitch
Fly stitches were evenly spaced above the chain stitches with size 8 green perle cotton to create leaves.

Straight stitches were added to make stems with the same thread.

The stems were topped with pink fly stitches (also size 8 perle cotton) to create flower petals.

Mill Hill Magnifica Glass Beads #10026 topped each flower.



TAST is a personal challenge to learn a new embroidery stitch each week. The challenge is hosted by Sharon at Pin Tangle.

Thank you for visiting!
Renee

Simple Heart Block

The Spring 2019 edition of the Crazy Quilt Quarterly Magazine is now available through MagCloud here.

The block in the photo above is featured on pages 14-15. The article shares how the block was pieced and how each section was embellished, using 8 basic embroidery stitches. 

The cover of the magazine features the gorgeous work of Margreet De Reus. (Note: This photo was borrowed from Pamela Kellogg's blog, Kitty and Me Designs.)

I must admit, it is a bit unreal to see my work in print with so many talented crazy quilting artists. There are a few tutorials in the magazine that I hope to try out and share soon.

If you crazy quilt at all, I encourage you to contact Pamela Kellogg about submitting photos of your work. My goal is to work on a Fall/Halloween piece to submit before May 1st for the Fall edition.

Thank you for visiting!
Renee

SK Effects of Caffeine - SAL Update 2

646 stitches were added to my Heaven and Earth Designs Storykeep Effects of Caffeine cross-stitch project since my last update. (You may see the artwork this piece is based on here.)

Page 1 should be finished by the end of February at this rate!

The photo above shows how it looked on January 13th. (Oops! The text in that photo should read 4,842 of 23,660 Stitches...)

January 14th - February 2nd: Stitched 19 days for a total of 7.27 hours.

5,488 of 23,660 stitches are complete.

The project is 23.2% complete. (It was 20.46%.)

Page 1 (of 4) is 86.15% complete. (It was 76.01%.)

Below are links to the blogs of the other SAL participants. I do hope you will visit to see the fun diversity of projects everyone is working on. (We are in different time zones around the world, so if you do not see an update yet, it should be posted within a few hours.)

I want to welcome Carmela and Jocelyn, our newest SAL participants!  

Avis, thank you for keeping us all organized and motivated.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!
-Renee

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Haley, Megan, Catherine, Deborah, Connie, Clare, Mary Margaret, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn

February 2019

Wow! February is here already. January passed by in a blur!

My crafting time was spent cross-stitching last month, adding a total of 4,766 stitches to my 3 projects.

Twilight Duel had 2,172 stitches added. 

Fractal White Tiger had 1,646 stitches added.

Storykeep Effects of Caffeine had 948 stitches added. (There will be a current picture shared tomorrow. The last update was here.)

With luck, I will manage to find some sewing and crazy quilting time this month, too.

My goals:
1. Add at least 5 stitches a day to a Heaven and Earth Designs Cross-Stitch.

2. Finish at least 1 item from my UFO List - beginning with the project in this photo.
3. Finish at least 1 (if not 2) Christmas items.
4. Spend International Hermit & Stitch Weekend (IHSW - February 15-17) working on Fractal White Tiger.

Wishing you all a fantastic month!
-Renee

Note: The photo at the top of this blog post was created last year and may be found here.