Linda's Cinderella Castle

I've been a tad bit busy this month with the A - Z Challenge.  I did manage to put 100 stitches in it tonight.

4-30-15

3-31-15

I sure hope to do more this month.

Linda

April Progress Paradise

I didn't manage a page finish before the post.  I'm on page 5 but have stitched 7/42 so far.  The page after next is the halfway point.

The top pic is my latest.  It has a few more stitches in but I won't get home until after midnight so can't get an updated pic.  But there's only about 30 extra stitches.  I hope my next post will see us moving further down because I'm pretty sure once I reach the halfway mark I'm going to work down again so I don't have to move my scroll rods.  See you next month!

Unspoken

Here's my tiny progress on Unspoken; I did another project for the A-Z blogging challenge and it took up all my time, so I only did a couple hundred stitches.  Mostly in B5200.

The picture also has my answer to this month's question - right now my favorite thing is needle minders!  I was doubtful, bought one this month, loved it and now have four!

Tama

April - Serenity Harbor

Here's Serenity Harbor after four months:

I'm fighting a migraine right now, but I'll add some more info in the comments when it clears up.

Kate's Cinderella's Castle

Between working on different projects for the Blogging From A to Z Challenge and dealing with poor health, today was the first day I even looked at my castle piece. But I managed to squeak out 200 stitches of blue. The exciting thing? It was a different SHADE of blue!! Oh, happy day!

Where I was at the end of March:

Where I am now:

Happy stitching!

Kate

April's Progress

Well, I have really tried to work on this more than I have and it is so great to see the beginning of the rainbow on the horizon!!  It will be so much fun to do pinks and other bright colours - not that the blues haven't been fun but I am so excited to keep going.

Happy stitching!!

Trina

Leonore's Dark Force - April Update

Another month, another five columns on Dark Force - I'm working on this slowly, but steadily, and like how it comes along. By now I have reached an area with a bit more color-blocking, so I can finish my weekly column a lot more quickly and actually work a bit more on my other projects as well :)

As you can see I only have three more columns gridded out, so May should see yet another page finish!

Rachel's April Update

Hello all,

Well, it's probably not going to come as any surprise that I still haven't started my parrot.

But it's not all negative as I have been experimenting with dyeing the background fabric for him. The results are mixed but I am slowly getting it right as I understand how the dyes work with each other and the fabric. Another weekend of experimenting should see me achieve the result I want.

So, fingers crossed, there will be a much more positive update in May!

Rachel x

Susan's April Update

Suppose it isn't a surprise but I am, again, late with my April topic. My favorite stitching gadget? I would say I have two - my Needlework System 4 floor stand and my Bohin needles. I have been using a scroll frame for as long as I have been stitching and tried three or four different lap and floor stands. I still use my Elan lap stand for smaller pieces, but for everything else, I use the System 4 stand. It keeps the fabric tension even, the fabric cleaner and reduces the stress on my hands and wrists. From the largest gadget to the smallest, my Bohin needles. I bought a pack at a needlework store closing and feel in love as soon as I used them. Several years ago, DSon bought me 50 size 26s and 50 size 28s, so I have plenty for years to come. They are really, in my opinion, vastly superior to any other needles I have used. They glide through every fabric and have smooth eyes so there is no wear and tear on the thread. Even though they are finer than most, I have yet to break a needle or bend one.

The stand and the needles have made stitching on my New Stitchy Start piece, Shakespearean Fantasy, very enjoyable. Even with my travel schedule this last month, I had a fair amount of progress.

Here's where it was in March:

And here's where it is today:

A little more black and a lot more green. Hopefully with the end of the crazy travel schedule, I will be able to get back into my stitching rhythm and spend more time on this one.

Evalina's update

Here is my Alicia. I'm almost done first page!

Sarah's April Update

Not a lot of progress in April, but some. I'm still frogging the top and that is where most of my time was spent. I added just a tiny few to the bottom section.

March 28th

April 28, 2015

HAED

Letting Go

~Sarah~

April Progress???

I hang my head--I haven't done much on my project if any--can't remember!  And the next two weeks I will be away so nothing will get done.  I hope to spend at least a week once I get back to working solely on my BAP.  I love stitching it but decided to finally start another piece that I had purchased about 2 years ago from Nancy's Needle.  It is a fairly quick stitch so should finish it before July (in time to have framed for local fair).  Anyway back to HEIOTS.  Here is a photo as of 4-27-15.

Beautiful spring green in Kansas.  Love this time of year except for the storms.
Keep Stitching!
Dede

April posting starts now.....

Ok start posting....my April progress not much but spent a few nights with tiger

Tammy

Stitching Gadgets

I have to say that my two favourite stitching gadgets are my Ott lamp and my Wizard of Oz needle minder. I haven't stitched at all over this past week but I plan to do much more starting tomorrow.  Things have been pretty hectic lately as well.

Happy stitching!
Trina

April Theme

My favorite stitching gadget..hmmmm.  I would have to say first it is my overstuffed chair!  I spend many hours in it stitching and it is really comfy.  Next would be the light I have overhead. No particular brand but gives me a really good light on my projects. I had an Otte light but the bulb wore out and they have changed the bulbs.  My hubby has rewiring on his honey do list for about 2 years now....  3rd would be the Davos scissors--they are wonderful-a real treasure.  4th would be Bohn #26 needles tied with my John James petite #26.  These items make my life so easy when stitching!
Dede

Leonore's March Theme - Stitching gadgets

While I still consider myself a pretty 'basic' stitcher, upon closer inspection, there are quite a few things I use - most of them I have picked up during the last year of following the online stitching community :D I'm not going to list basic stuff like fabric, scissors, needles or floss here, as I don't really consider those 'gadgets'.

So let's see - one thing really important to me is using working copies of my patterns and a pair of markers. I use yellow to mark the stitches I'm doing next (like, everything in one color in a certain area), then go over that with orange once the stitches are done. Makes navigating confetti heavy patterns so much easier! I still get the occasional "missed one more stitch", but it's much better than before.

In the same direction, I recently started to use magic guide line (it's really just red overpriced fishing line but I couldn't get anything else around here) to grid my fabric. I'm not doing this for every project, especially not for smaller ones, but for full coverage designs and/or working on evenweave fabric, it does help a lot!

One thing I started while working on a Teresa Wentzler design (lots of combined threads if you don't know those) was pre threading several needles with different colours to make switching easier. I just stuck the needles into a piece of paper and marked them with the corresponding symbols, but now for Dark Force I got a Pako Needle organizer - it has little holes with a spongy stuff to put the needles in, and replaceable cards to put the symbols on. Again, I won't do this for every project, but I'm thinking of getting a few more of those to use on projects that switch colours a lot :)

What I also use (and love) are daylight lamps - I got two different ones, one that stands behind the couch and a small one I can take with me when I travel, and I'll buy another one for my desk sometime soon. The light really does do wonders on how good you see things and how tired your eyes get, if you can't stitch in natural daylight, it's the next best thing!

As for frames, I prefer my q snaps - I like how they are rectangular rather than round, which allows them to be places closer to the corner of a design, and I think they can get the fabric pretty nice and tense without hurting the stitches to much when being places on top of them. I haven't quite gotten the hang of scroll frames yet. although I have one and might try to get it right again some time. I'm not sure about floor/lap stands yet, sure, two-handed stitching is faster, but I don't know, it looks really uncomfortable to me...

I also have a needle minder a friend gave to me. I love it, but mostly for decorative purposes - I don't think it's all that useful, but pretty it is! :)

Sarah's April Theme

I don't have a lot of stitching gadgets. Oh there are several I'd like to have to be sure! But I usually just make do with the basics. So I guess my current favorite stitching item would be my floor frame. It makes the larger projects so much easier.

A few things on my wish list: a needle minder, a travel case of some sort, a magnetic board with place marker and a lamp (the bedside lamp just doesn't always do the job LOL).

~Sarah

What a difficult start to 2015!!

Wow what a year!! My chronic illness is in major flare-up  and is affecting my ears (balance and vertigo) and eyes. i want to stitch so badly I could spit!! I've had to cut way back on babysitting and I'm sure missing my grands.
I  am still able to care for myself but getting out to the stores for errands is hard.
Wow...sure didn't mean to complain so much. At least tomorrow is another new start!!Here's praying for a better week.

Rachel's April Theme - Favourite Gadgets

Hello All,

What are my favourite stitching items? It has to be my wide selection of Millennium products. I have the floor stand, the lap stand, 5 different lengths of bars and the Mini Wizard. They have been a worthwhile investment, are of great quality and fantastic to use. I'm glad I invested in them many years ago as the company's service now leaves a lot to be desired. My posting from April 2014 is still receiving comments!

But I also love my daylight lamp, gold-plated needles, needle minders and highlighters, oh and not forgetting I also love sewing on hand-dyed fabric!

That just about covers everything I think!

Rachel x

April Theme

Hey everyone!

The theme this month is favorite stitching tool.  My favorite isn't really a tool but I use it for my stitching.  My favorite thing to work with are dyes!  I dye almost all of my fabric and it's so much fun to dye and stitch on.  I love playing with the colors and I never know how it will come out so it's a surprise every time.   Especially since I mottle my fabrics.  Not only is it fun it saves me money because hand dyed fabrics are pretty expensive as you all know!  Doing it myself means I can pay around $2 ($3 if I don't have the dye color I want yet) to get a decent sized fabric.  I use coupons at Michael's which are usually 50% off so I get it cheaper.

These are some of my dyes.  You've seen this one quite a bit :)

 This is Magical World by Tilton Crafts

 This is Rapunzel which is a gray and purple

 This is the rest of my fabric stash.

The extra stash is all one dye color per fabric piece.  When I do multiple colors I put them in together and they usually create more colors but it's important the colors are complimentary unless I want a brown mess lol.  The Magical world piece is actually all blue and yellow which created quite a bit of green.  The colors are actually brighter in real life especially on Magical World but my camera blows them out weird.  Oh well lol it's fun!

late Theme of the month

Sorry I'm late with this

Theme what are your favourite stitching items, gadgets stuff you use when you stitch.

Mine are
my candy floss scissors, stitch fixer, petite john james needles(26 or 28), marking coloured pencils, ott light, plain magnet needle minder and qsnaps.

Tammy

Fatema's March Check In.

I am really very sorry to everyone especially our hostess. I am really late with my update this month also. I really hope to do better starting from April.

As for an update well there is none. Zilch. Zero. I never was able to stitch on my HAED in March. I am hoping to stitch a lot on it in April. The second page also has been released.

March's topic was

What is your favourite (WIP or UFO)work in progress and post a picture.

This is a slow going WIP. I really love this design, but I have so many others to do first this project never gets any love. I cant find the original picture of this. If I do find I will post it later. I am hoping to put this in the exhibition in November. I just have a little to do and its done.

This was a bookmark size freebie fractal from 2008 February. 

I really love this project. It brings me many memories of my grandma. Its 2 years since she left me. I feel like it was today at times.

Please Read-admin

This post is just so I don't receive email when the draw is done at the end of the year. I am not trying to be grumpy just trying to be fair and honest.

I am trying to make this SAL not full of rules. The dates 28-31 of every month are for stitchers to post their updates (unless it is a month that has a different number of days I will post the days) to be entered into the draw.

I am finding that some stitchers are posting before, I am sorry but I am not counting those.
I make sure that I watch the blog on the days posted so everyone counts, I do this because I am not on the blog every day to watch posts. That is the reason behind the dating and to keep my sanity.

If you want to post before that is perfectly fine I just want to make sure you know it does not count for the draw at end of year.
We have 7 stitchers that have already not posted every month, I am seeing it slowly dwindling month to month. I know life gets in the way, you can post date your updates if you are on a couple days before and know you won't be on in the time frame.

If you girls don't like the idea of the draw please email me and let me know.

Tammy

Happy April Stitching!

I just wanted to say that everybodys stitching this month was awesome, now to get my stitch on cause my exams are done yahoo!
Tammy

Leonore's Dark Force - Page 2 finished

Just a quick update out of the normal monthly scheme: I just finished page 2 of Dark Force, took it out of the qsnap to get a full picture and I'm positively thrilled how much I can see already ^_^ Now to re-grid and print out page three to start next week.