Back to stitching

Schlock with dice - original picture

Finally I am able to say that I have finished stitching the pieces for the Art Show and am back to stitching and having some fun. 

The project that I am now working on is based on a character in an online comic that my husband follows.  The comic is Schlock Mercenary by Howard Tayler and this is one of his main characters.  I was looking for something that would be quick to stitch but once again something that I was designing.  So we found this pin that Howard had sold at a convention and I immediately thought that it was something that I could use as a starting point for my stitching.

Schlock with dice my version

What I did do was add some shading in various spots so it gave it a bit more character and then started stitching this piece.  I started this project on March 26th and am happy with the progress that I have made so far.  As you can tell there aren't a lot of colours on this piece so it is going quickly.  Yes there are more colours than in the original pin but still only 18 so that makes me happy.

I know that I have a lot of other designs that I should be working on but having something that is less than 5 inches square to work on is great.  Of course right now it means that this is getting all my stitching attention and the other projects are sitting waiting for their turn.  I know that just having a bit of a chance will help me feel better so I will be picking up some of the other projects again very soon.

As for the pieces for the Art Show they are currently being stretched and then I will frame them and they will be ready to go.  I will take a picture of the pieces before they are submitted but first I need to get all the pieces into frames and ready to go.  Now to finish up that framing and onto the other two.

It is now time for me to get some work done today and then I will see how much stitching time I have this evening.  I do now that I need to get the stretching done as well so maybe one night this week I will focus on that.  As for now work needs to be done and stitching will have to wait.

A little bit of progress

I am very happy to say that Blackbird finally came out of the bag for a couple of hours this month.  I haven't been able to find a lot of time to work on Blackbird but figured it needed a little bit of love this month so I pulled it out last week.

Of course I am still working on getting everything ready for the art show for the weekend of April 10th-12th so that is keeping me very busy.  I hope to have the final piece stitched soon so that I will feel a little more under control. 

When I have had a few minutes to craft this last little while I have been working on crocheting some baby hats.  The hats are something that I can pick up and work on even for a few minutes at a time.

Hopefully soon I will be back to posting regular updates of what I have been working on.  I am looking forward to picking up Blackbird and Omi's Rose on a regular basis and seeing results on both of them.  First the art show piece needs to be completed so it's now time for me to curl up and work on it for a while.

Donating results of my skills

Square donation

Over the last while we have been cleaning up around the apartment and one thing that I keep finding where more and more squares that I had either made or others had given to me for various projects.

As I looked at the pile of squares as it grew I came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to be able to do all the projects that these squares needed.  I then decided that there are a lot of places that can use the end results of afghans or lapghans so needed a location where these squares could be used.

This past week I had been sending out emails to various organizations to see if they could use the squares as is and not just the finished projects.  I got one reply that said thanks but no they only accepted finished afghans.  I continued to email and the results were a lot of unanswered emails.  Friday I then decided that between Facebook and maybe one other contact I might be able to find a home for the squares.  Through Facebook I got a couple of items, one I had already emailed and another one that only wanted 8 inch granny squares.

It then came down to my one other contact that I tried to see if I could quickly find a home for these squares. If he couldn't help all the squares were going to go into storage for a while until I could find a home for them.  As you can see my one other contact Facebook link for The Yarn Guy (Peter) sent me an email yesterday saying that his stitch group would greatly appreciate the squares and they would make the afghans for charity.

The squares were quickly put into the bags and into the car and were delivered to him.  The look on his face was well worth the emails and the drive over.  He didn't know it was me he was hearing from but was happy to see my contribution.  He quickly put on his jacket to help unload the trunk and all the staff quickly started going through the bags and box to see how they could do with the pile.  This picture was taken by him has he wanted to ensure that his Facebook followers knew about what I had done.

I am happy that all of these squares have now found a new home and I know that they are going to be used for some projects to help others.  I am working on cleaning up so there may be more squares being delivered to him in the future.

It felt really good knowing that the squares have found a new home and a group of individuals now have lots of squares to use for projects.

Currently no progress on crafts

Well after organizing my office area and getting the chair in so that I can have a spot to hide and stitch we decided to reorganize a lot of the apartment.

I have been spending a lot of my free time when not working on cleaning out old craft supplies and yarn that I don't want to use any longer.  The good news is I am making room but it won't be for more yarn at this point.  I have decided that I am only going to be keeping the yarn that I will see myself using instead of keeping yarn that I may never use.

Now as for cross-stitching I am finding bits of time to do that but again there isn't anything to show.  I hope that after getting the apartment organized I will be able to just relax and do quite a bit of the crafts that I love doing.  I am looking forward to after all of this cleaning up to be able to get back to designing and stitching on projects that I love. 

So as for now I am going to have to get back to getting some work done and then this evening maybe I will find a little bit of time to craft.

My escape spot

Using my new space

As I posted earlier this week I now have a spot where I can sit and craft when I want to and it is my spot.

Well, last night I actually got to try it out and all I can say is I love it.  It is nice and quiet and it is my own spot.  Of course, there are some things that are different about it but it feels so nice having this spot where if I want to craft I can and I also have a good stitching light to use while I am in this area.

Now a couple of the big differences that are here are: 1) I don't have the television as a distraction which is nice when I want to focus on crafting or writing and 2) I can't see what time it is.  I think not seeing the time is going to be one of the nicest things because instead of worrying about the time I can just worry about how much crafting or writing I am able to get accomplished. The one good thing about this area is I have a good stereo system in my office area so it means that I can listen to MP3's while I am crafting.

Just being able to leave my stitching in the spot feels so good because I don't have to clean up all the threads that I have been using and tuck them away each time I finish my work.  I know that part of having to clean it up all the time was because I was stitching sitting on the chesterfield instead of in a chair where I could leave the work beside it.  Now I have a spot where if I am going to be back working on a project even the next day I can just leave it sitting and it will be waiting for me to pick up and start working on it.

The area is really close to my desk so it means that when I need the break from my desk I can go over there.  Now to just make sure that I focus on getting the work done first and then go over to my relax spot after the work is done.  Maybe this will help me get the work done quicker because I see what I really want to be working on.

Office area at home

Office area - 2 chairs

This last little while we have been working on trying to figure out a way that I could have a visitors chair in my office area but also one that I could use for crafting, writing or reading.

Yesterday we spent a bit of time re-organizing things in my office area and now I have an extra chair in my office area and it is where I hope to spend some time doing my crafting when I am not sitting/curled-up on the chesterfield.

Chair for visitors/crafting

Yes, the chair also have a purpose of a visitor chair in my office area but hopefully the main purpose is going to be where I can relax when I need to walk away from the computer for a few minutes.  To achieve this arrangement it meant getting a new desk chair which wasn't too hard.  The chair I got for my desk has a higher back so that it should be a bit more comfortable for the hours that I spend at my desk.

Besides the chair there is a little table to the left of the chair that I can use for holding my pattern, tea and even some paper for writing.  The box that is under the table is going to hold craft projects so that I always have some close by when I want to craft.

I haven't had a chance to try out the new arrangement but hope that at some point today I will be able to sit in my former desk chair and maybe do just a little bit of crafting.  Before I can do the crafting I have to finish up a couple of things that I need to get completed.

Progress and a finish

 This last week I was one again stitching on a piece for the Art Show in April.  The good news is I have reached the half way mark on it so it should be finished in time for the show.  I also have two other pieces to frame one for the art show and one for display.

Walsh Dragon Keychain

Last night I didn't have a lot of time to stitch so I finally picked up a key-chain that I have had around for years. It was a kit for a Walsh Dragon and considering part of my background is welsh it meant something to me.  The piece was really small so it meant that I was able to start it and see results very quickly.  I was actually able to start and finish the piece in under two hours so it did feel really nice getting something finished.

I know that I have a few more small projects around so I think I am going to try and locate some of them and maybe start working on getting them finished.

Today is Family Day here in Ontario so I hope that I will be able to spend some of my day stitching.  Now which piece will see some attention I am not sure but I think the Art Show piece should be the focus so that I can get it finished.  It is now time for me to get off the computer and spend some time relaxing.