Progess on stitching

Here it is another Monday morning and Covid-19 is still part of our lives and something that we are all dealing with.  I don't know when life will get back to normal but at least I can see that I have been able to continue to see progress on some of my projects.

This time I decided to post some different pieces for my stitching. The pictures that I am posting this week are comparing the same projects from August 3rd to August 30th.

Blushing - I continue to work on this project and am happy with the progress that I have been able to make.  It is so nice to compare where the project was at the beginning of August and where it is at the end of the month.

This continues to be my focus piece and am happy with the progress that I have been able to make.  I know that I still have a long way to go to get this completed as I am currently at 38% finished.  Yes, there is still a lot more stitching to happen on this piece but at least I can see that over the last month I have been able to make some good progress.

I am looking forward to seeing how much more of this piece I can get done in September as I would love to see the bottom section of the piece at least completed except for the little bits of colour that I need to add around the edge of the rose.  I think if I can focus on getting the larger sections done I will be very happy at the end of September.

Pandemic - here is a piece that finally got a bit of attention after the little start at the beginning of August. I hadn't picked this piece up at all during the month and then decided yesterday that it was time for it to get moved forward.  I was able to get to the edge of the first page on the bottom but there is still a lot of area to fill in before I can say that I have a page finish.  I haven't stitched to the top of the page either so that is something that I hope to do next time I pick up the piece.

I am happy to see that little bits of the design are starting to show but I know it is going to be a long time before this piece looks like much.  I am thinking that this piece is going to continue to be the piece that I work on when I want a change from Blushing.  

Over the last while I have changed how I do a lot of my stitching and now I am trying to focus on one or two pieces instead of jumping around like I did in the past.  The jumping around was nice sometimes but it meant that I really never got anything completed.  I am hoping that with focusing on only a couple of pieces I might be able to see more finishes especially on the pieces that I am working on now. I am now working on larger cross stitch pieces and am really enjoying that.  

I did get a little bit of progress done on the baby afghan that I am working on but it was only a few more rows added to the body of the piece.  I am looking forward to getting this afghan completed but I think I will be a little longer than I figured as I haven't been picking it up as often as I had hoped.  Now to work on making sure that I can pick it up and get it moved forward as I have a few other projects that need my attention after this afghan.

Life is still busy for us with work so that means that they is always stuff on my desk that needs some attention.  Hope everyone has a great week and you find a bit of time each day to do the things that you love doing.

 

New items and progress on other things

Here it is the start of another week and yes we are still working in the same way as we have for the last three weeks.  Toronto has partly opened up with restaurants and bars having limited seating and stores open, some by appointment only and others with limited access.  Masks are something that we are wearing (some still don't, sigh) and something that is going to be normal for a while.

Petal doll - yesterday I decided to pick up my knitting needles and start to make a petal doll.  I will have to sew it closed and add the stuffing and features but it was fun to make.  I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out but I did enjoy making this doll. I will try and make some more of these with different colour dresses and hair.  

V-stitch afghan - I decided it was time to pull out a baby afghan that I had been working on earlier this year  I had about 27 rows completed when I put it away.  Over the weekend I was able to add another 17 rows so that made me feel good.

I hope that over the next couple of weeks I can spend some more time working on getting this afghan finished up so that it will be one less thing that I need to be working on.  The colour of this is more greens than blues but the camera is currently showing it as blue.  Hopefully next week I will be able to show some more progress on this project and maybe be closer to getting it finished.

Blushing - of course this project once again got some attention.

This week I was able to move the q-snap to get to the right side of the design.  I decided that I wanted to focus on adding more of the black to the bottom of the pattern as well as adding some colour. After moving the q-snap I worked on getting the bottom couple of rows completed right now to the right side of the design.  I now know how wide this piece is going to be and I have a target.

Over the week I was able to add more of the black to the overall piece and then I worked on adding more of the colours to the actual rose.  It is slowly coming along now and I am happy to see how much it has changed in the last week.  I hope that through the end couple of weeks I can add more of the black and colour to the piece.

 

I am continuing to work on bits of other projects but don't have a lot to show on them.  I know that before too long I should be able to have a few more items to show.

 

I hope everyone is staying safe and well and dealing with the various restrictions that you may experience.  Take it easy and know that we are all dealing with the various challenges and hopefully soon things will start to get back to a new normal for all of us.

Take care and remember to find a little bit of time each day to do the things that you enjoy doing.

Projects moving forward

Here it is the start of another week and yes we are still working remotely and assisting our clients as much as we can.  Life is still moving forward slowly which is good and the number of cases in Ontario continues to improve which is also good.

Blushing - now this project got a bit of attention this week as I decided it was time to try and get a bit more of the black stitched on the bottom section.  I know that there is still lots of black to go so when I want to work on black it is something that does help.  I also started to will in some of the areas that has a lot of confetti stitching (one or two stitches of a colour).  This process so that a lot of time as you are just starting and stopping the thread but at least it moves the piece forward a little bit at a time.

This coming week I hope that I can continue to work on Blushing and see if I can get more of the black filled in.  I keep trying to bounce between adding a bit of colour and doing the black to ensure that I can continue to see the progress on the entire piece.  As of last night I was at the 25% completed on this piece so that made me feel good.  Now to see if I can continue to work on it and get more of it completed before the end of the year.

I hope to keep Blushing as my focus piece for a while longer as I am enjoying working on it and like seeing the progress on it. If possible I would like this to be the second Heaven and Earth Design that I complete but will have to see if that happens.

 Lovey blankets - I decided that it was time to pick up my knitting needles again and see if I could get some little projects moved forward in the last couple of weeks.  What I have been knitting on is a bunch of Lovey blankets.  The blanket itself is just 12 inches square so they don't take a lot of time to complete.  Now that I have a couple of blanket sections done it is now time for me to try and work on the animals that are attached to these.

I am enjoying this project as it is something a little different than I normally do so will see how it goes.

Well I have a few other projects on the go but again nothing to really show for now.  I hope that soon I will have other projects that I can show but until then this is all that as got my attention.

I hope everyone has a good week and you stay safe and find the little bits of time to do something that you love each day. 

Blushing is moving forward

Here it is the start of another week and a start of things slowly starting to get back to normal or at least the new normal that was are going to have for a while.  I know that companies are still working remotely so that means that we are continuing to support our clients that have staff working from home.

Blushing - here is the project that got the majority of my crafting time in the last week.  I am trying to move this piece forward so that means it is going to be a piece that I will try and focus on as much as possible over the next little while.

This week I was able get the black section in the lower left of the pattern completed.  I know that I still have lots of black to finish but at least seeing that there is a section of it done makes me feel good.  I also worked on adding in more colours because I wanted to see if I could get some more of the petals done.

It is nice to see that the piece is slowly starting to come together and I am almost at the 25% completed so that is another thing that is motivating me to get more of this piece finished. I enjoy being able to find bits of time most days to add a thread or two to this

piece.  Now to see if I can continue to do that over the next while.

 

Besides working on Blushing I haven't done a lot of other crafting.  I have done bits of knitting but of course it takes so long to see any progress on anything so there isn't much to show right now.  Maybe in the next couple of weeks I will be able to show some of the projects that have been worked on this month.

Life continues to be interesting with all the various restrictions that are in place.  Masks are mandatory in all public places here in Toronto.  This also means that masks are required in apartment and condo elevators and hallways.  It is something that we are all accepting that we will be doing for a while as I know the apartment by-law is currently in place until October 1st.

I hope everyone is finding some time to do the things that they love each day.  Stay safe and I hope to have something else to show you next week but will have to see how much crafting time I can find given a busy schedule.

Progress and a new start

Here it is the start of another week.  I am happy to say that Toronto is finally into stage 3 of Pandemic recovery but it still means that most businesses are working remotely.  Yes, stores and restaurants have started to open but with a lot of restrictions so that means that life is still a ways away from being back to normal.

Blushing - I continue to work on this project as I would like to see how much of it I can get done before the end of the year. I know that I have a long way to go on it but at least if I can continue to make some progress on it most weeks I will feel better about it.

This past week I continued to focus on getting more of the black done so that I can start to see the page that I might get finished soon.  I have decided that instead of working towards a page finish I am going to try and fill in more of the larger colour areas and then work on the areas with one or two stitches of a colour.  I am happy to see that I have been able to get more of this piece done and now I hope that through the month of August that I can see more of it done.

If I can continue to focus on getting more of the piece finished I might be able to see around 50% of it done before the end of the year or at least that is one of the things that I am going to be trying to do. This piece is going to be around 10 inches square when it is done so that doesn't feel like a lot of stitching but there is still over 30,000 stitches on it when it is complete.

Pandemic - after finishing Roses I was looking at all of the projects that I want to work on and of course what did I find?  I found another big project that got my attention so of course, it had to be kitted up and started. This piece is called Pandemic by Long Dog Samplers.  It is going to be around 20 x 24 inches when it it is finished so not something that I will be getting finished quickly. I wanted this piece started before Toronto was getting back to normal so I started it on July 31st before we moved into stage 3 of recovery.  

This pattern was offered by Long Dog Sampler as a free pattern for a week and a lot of cross-stitchers grabbed it and started working on it immediately.  I grabbed it and then sat back as I wanted to finish Roses first before adding another large design into the list of projects that I have on the go. 

The nice thing about this piece is you can do it in one colour or you can use as many colours as you want.  I am going to be doing it all in one colour as I do enjoy working on pieces like that.  I have started at the very bottom of the piece so it is going to take me quite a while before there is much to show on it.

The Best Wrap - as I was mentioning last

week the wrap that I was working on was just about finished and after getting the work done early in the week I was able to spend an evening finishing up the knitting on the wrap.  Now, all that is left to do

is to sew in all the ends and block the piece and it will be finished. I am looking forward to seeing if I can knit another one of these wraps because it was a quick project to work on and I loved how it turned out.

Besides working on these projects I was able to get a start on a couple of other knitting projects but of course they currently don't look like much.  I hope to have some more progress on these projects over the next little while and will be able to show pictures of them.

Hope everyone has a great week and you remain safe and well.  May you find some time each day to do something that you enjoy even if it is only for a few minutes.

Progress on projects

Blushing - July 19

Here it is the start of another week and yes we are still working remotely and it hasn't made much of a difference to our work life.  Toronto still doesn't have a lot of things open but hopefully, within the next couple of weeks things will start to open up again but time will tell.

Blushing - I didn't get a lot of stitching done on Blushing this week and part of that was I wasn't in the mood to work on it.  I was able to add some more of the black on the first page so that is good.

Blushing - July 26

I would like to get back to working on this piece but I am thinking that there might be another project that is going to be started soon that might also get some attention.  Now to see how things go moving forward on this project. I am still planning on having this project as one of my focus pieces for a while but will see what happens in the next couple of weeks.

I have been trying to add the black on the weekends because that is when I have the most time to stitch and given there is so much black to complete I figure I would like to see some progress when I am working on it.

The Best Wrap - July 27

The Best Wrap - here is a project that I have been working on for a couple of weeks now.  I am using Coastal Cotton which I picked up at Michaels.  I wasn't sure how I would like using this yarn because when you read it is 90% cotton and 10% acrylic you aren't sure how it will feel once you get started working with it.  I have to admit that I love the feel of this yarn and am looking forward to using it on another project.

The Best Wrap is a very simple wrap and something that works up quickly.  This project has got most of my crafting time this week as I am looking forward to seeing what it is like finished.  I have the white left to finish and then a decrease in the pink.  Hopefully, I can get this project off the needle by the end of the month.


I continue to work on bits of other projects but nothing where there is a lot of progress.  Now to see what this week is like as I have some other things that are going to be taking my attention.

I hope everyone has a great week and you stay safe.  May you find a bit of time each day to do the things that you love.

A big finish and some progress

Roses - July 12

Here it is the start of another week and another week of trying to figure out what the new normal is going to be for everyone. In the last week a lot of Ontario opened up a bit more with social distancing rules but Toronto and the surrounding area are still in the second phase of reopening.

Roses - now as I said last week I was getting close to having this piece finished. I was wanting to see if I could get it finished quickly and after sitting and looking at it last weekend I realized that there really wasn't a lot of stitching left to do on the piece and a finish was a lot closer than I first thought.

Roses - July 15

I worked on Roses a bit each day at the beginning of the week and then on Wednesday when I saw how close I was I sat and worked on it until it was done. It was such a nice feeling when I was able to take the piece of the q-snap and hold it up finished for the first time.

Me holding Roses

As you can see in the piece of me holding the fabric it is a large project and I am very happy to have it finished and now it is just a matter of getting it stretched and framed.  This is my very first Heaven and Earth Designs pattern that I finished and I am looking forward to having it hanging on the wall soon.

Blushing - after Roses was finished it was time to figure out which project would get some attention for the rest of the week so I picked up Blushing.

Blushing - July 5

A lot of the focus this week was trying to get some of the black finished up at the bottom on the first page. There is a lot of black in this piece so I figured if I can sit and focus on it for a while over the weekend that I might see some progress.  It was nice to see that I have been able to get at least some of the black done and now to see when I can get the left section of this page finished as it is all black as well.

Blushing - July 19

I am not sure if Blushing is going to be the project that I focus on for a while but at least over the weekend it was what I worked on.


With all the heat that we have been dealing with, I haven't done a lot of other things so now to see how things go.  The weather forecast is still for hot and humid days so I will see what I can get done some evenings.

I hope everyone is finding bits of time each day to do the things that you love doing. I am now off to get some work done and then will see what I work on this evening.