April update Flirtation finish 2 framed and 2 new starts

 I have a finish.  Flirtation by Long Dog Samplers. 

The design size is 115x151 and had 7643 stitches. I stitched it on 18 count Aida in Silks4U PR147. This was my one strand a day and I started it on 14 January 26 and finished on 8 April 26. Total stitching hours were 39.

As I was getting it framed,  I also framed Sans Soucis that I finished in 2020.  I used the same colour silk thread but a darker background and just don't like the look.  There is not enough contrast between the silk and the fabric. 

For the rest of my stitching month i put in 16078 stitches, 13084 were on projects other than the Four of Bees which is my one strand a day project.

The Four of Bees is my new one strand a day to replace Flirtation.

Im using these colours from Silks4u

Progress so far,  I've put in 2210 stitches. Stitched on 18 count Aida

Another new start was another Long Dog Sampler.  Pandemic was put out as a free pattern during the pandemic  and ive often thought of doing it.  I saw a lovely rainbow colored one on Instagram and decided I wanted a rainbow one.

This is the pattern

And progress so far, 1930 stitches and 4 colours

I am using a rainbow set from Silks47 and 18 count Aida

On other projects I did 2170 stitches on cat nap.  This is now  18880 out of 179000 and is 11%

Gloria and the Gargoyle got 1355 stitches, is now 12472 out of 160000 at 8%

Fairytale got 4658 stitches, now 17742 out of 88650 and 20%

I didn't do much on caricature,  just 353 stitches. Now at 14013 out of 80089 17%

I had another new start.  This is small Gertrude by Stitches Sew Beautiful. 

Progress so far,  2546 out of 30000 8%

I've gone back to stitching on q snaps with my lowery.  I really like how embroidery looks in scroll frames and loved the painting fairy stand.  However I found my right shoulder was getting very painful.  I use my right hand underneath the fabric and somehow was holding my shoulder in a way that became very painful.  Im much more comfortable using qsnaps with my lowery.

I also tried diagonal stitching on a couple of pieces, but found that slowed me right down.  So have gone back to a typewriter type method, where I stitch within a page, pick the next colour on a row and stitch until thread used up, or no more stitches on the page.

Im also going to try a new rotation in May. 

 FIRST ROTATION 

I have one main focus piece,  fairytale.  I work on this for 2 days. 

SECOND ROTATION 

Then switch to one of my other focus pieces, cat nap, at the steps,  pandemic or caricature.  Spinning a tiny decisions wheel to decide which one to do.  The wheel deletes the picked one so they will all get a turn before starting again. 2 days or minimum 5 hours.

THIRD ROTATION 

Then spin a wheel to select a category, at this stage large and small. I will add SSB freebie and HAED SAL when I have projects for them.  Again I spin a wheel to select a project within that category.

Then back to focus piece in first rotation. 

March update

In March I decided to spin a wheel to select projects and how much time to spend on them.  My focus piece was Mini At the Steps and I decided not to focus on the 6 page finish for the HAED SAL Fairytale.  

For At the Steps I put in 5712 stitches for a total of 36288 stitches, or 59%

For Fairytale I put in 1777 for 15%

On Cat Nap I put in 2023 stitches for 9 %

on Gloria and the Gargoyle i did 7404 stitches for 7%

On my 1 strand a day, Flirtation I put in 2886 stitches and 90%

I had1 new start, this caricature of me and my dog. This is what it will look like when finished

There was a lot of white around the outside which i am not stitching, so my count is wrong.  There are 11722 stitches i am not doing.  I put in 1938 stitches for 8%.  Here is what it looks now

On my full coverage I did 18854 stitches, plus 2886 on Flirtation.  

Plans

I have made changes again.  I've decided I do really want all the SAL charts, so need to do 6 pages by the end of the year on Fairytale.   I will have that as my focus piece, and put At the Steps into my rotation. Instead of spinning for thr amount of time to spend on each project, I will do 2 days, or a minimum of 5 hours or 1000 stitches.  What I mean by the minimum is, if on the second day ive done 4 hours and reached 1000 stitches, the next day I'll spin for the next project. However if  ive done 5 hours,  and not reached 1000 stitches, then I can stop.  Each week I will do the amount needed on Fairytale to ensure a finish of 6 pages by the end of the year.  At the moment that is about 850 stitches a week. 

HAUL

I spent a lot in March.  I bought a scroll frame from Painting Fairy and an embroidery stand from them.

I also bought some silk thread from Silks4u for long dog samplers.  I bought a rainbow pack to make a rainbow pandemic.  This will be my birthday start in April.

KNITTING 

I finished a couple of things. The first was a jaunty shawl.  I havent yet taken a photo.  The Billie called jumper, again no photo yet, and the Zipper vest

Until next month, keep those needles dancing.