Not much these days, but sometimes I stitch
Here’s my progess on Illuminated Medieval Sampler (I’m going to have to come up with something shorter to call it) as of last night. Since I picked it up again I’ve added the medallion in the middle of the right hand side and everything below it.
Illuminated Medieval Sampler, 19th September 2011
And a close up:
Close up, Illuminated Medieval Sampler, 19th September 2011
I guess it’s a day that comes in most stitchers’ lives; that day when you have to face up to the face you don’t see as well as you used to do and you can no longer stitch some of the things you’ve started. I’ve known this for a while, even if I’ve been trying to avoid admitting it.
I now see better up close (ie when stitching) with my glasses off than with my glasses on. But if I want to stitch and watch TV (something I used to do all the time) I need something big enough that I can see it with my glasses on.
This has forced me into a hard acknowledgement. Basically that, if I want to watch TV, I can no longer stitch on anything smaller that the equivalent of 16-count (ie my favourite 32-ct Belfast over 2) and even that is pushing it.
While I’ve been working on Defender of the Kingdom recently (1 over 1 on 25-ct lugana or whatever it’s called now) I’ve been listening to podcasts or audio plays and leaving my glasses off. That’s fine if that’s what I want to do.
But…
The Rugby World Cup is on right now and while I’m not a mad keen rugby fan, I am a New Zealander who grew up in a rugby household. That means I’d like to be able to do some stitching while watching the matches. If I try to do nothing more than sit there and watch it drives me batty. I need to be doing something with my hands.
But of my current WIPs, especially now I’ve tossed out Cinderella (see today’s earlier post), I find I’m left with very little that I can actually see if I want to be able to leave my glasses on while stitching.
Are we seeing a trend here? I love those 1 over 1 projects, but I can’t stitch them like I used to. So I have pulled Chatelaine’s Illuminated Medieval Sampler out of the study, pulled off the quilt that covers it (I made it to cover Marcus’ incubator, so it’s the perfect size for covering the stitching on a floor stand) and set it up in the lounge. I hadn’t worked on it in nearly a year and I must say that I’m enjoying it, so that’s good. When this bit of enthusiasm burns out (or the World Cup ends), I don’t know what I’ll do after that. For now, I’ll see if I can make some progress on this one.
I took a photo of my progress up to last night, so that’ll be the next post.
I have, with a little more careful thought than the post title suggests, decided to make Mirabilia’s Cinderella officially a UFO.
Cinderella on 19th September 2011; now a UFO
As you can see, I didn’t get very far with the figure, but I did finish the castle. I still like the design a lot and I still love the fabric colour heaps. However, I just found I didn’t want to stitch it, and when I did pick it up I only ever did a few stitches before putting it down again.
I think the fabric is one issue. It is supposed to be hand-dyed 32-ct Belfast, but it went very soft and kind of fragile when it was dyed, making it fussy to stitch on. The rest, I’m not really sure about. The design, much as I like it when I look at it, isn’t working out as something I actually want to stitch on.
Having it stuck on the go also means I’m not comfortable starting something else as I don’t want my number of WIPs to get any higher than it is already. With this one put aside, it frees up a space if I want it. Right now, I have no intention of starting anything else, but it is nice to feel I can, should I wish to. If/when I do, it will probably be another Mirabilia as I still have Autumn Queen to do out of the four seasonal queens. The other three are rolled up in the cupboard waiting for me to finish the last one – and then win the lottery so I can afford to get them framed.
I may have to seriously consider scrapping/UFO-ifying a couple of other designs as well. They are things I still love and want to stitch, but maybe I need to let them go for a while. (That or start over on bigger fabric since my eyesight is nothing like what it was when I started them. I don’t know how I ever managed to stitch 1-over-1 on 32-ct fabric!)
I had to move the q-snaps, so here’s a picture of the whole thing so far.
Defender of the Kingdom, 31 August 2011
It has just been pointed out to me that I don’t have a picture up of what Defender of the Kingdom is supposed to look like when finished. Ooops, especially since it has been discontinuted and can’t be found on the Heaven and Earth Designs website. So here you go. (I’ve also included the book cover for which is was painted.)
Art for Defender of the Kingdom
I really like these books (although sadly the author never followed through on all the ones she had planned). I think they are out of print now, but if you see them lying around second hand and would be interested in an SF vision on the ancient Celts, give them a try.
The Silver Branch by Patricia Kennealy-Morrison
Defender of the Kingdom, 30th August 2011
Look, I finished a page!
Okay, technically it is half a page, as I’m working the design in half page strips, but who cares? It’s a page for me. That makes a grand total of 5/40! It always amazes me how much a difference it makes to put in those last few stitches in a particular area.
I have to stay careful and not do too much at once, but I’m excited about starting the next page on the strip as when I finish that, I’ll have half her face done. As always, I make no predictions on how long that will take, but I hope to have decent progress (and maybe even another page – or two!) by the end of the year.
Defender of the Kingdom, 13th August 2011
Defender of the Kingdom, 11th August 2011
For various reasons I’m not going to go into in public, I ended up at the doctor’s on Wednesday, highly stressed (to the point of feeling physically ill) and feeling all over pretty crap. Along with plans to deal with the cause of the stress (if you’re a friend who follows the saga of my life, you’re welcome to email me for details, but I feel it’s not appropriate to discuss in public), I was told I had to make more effort to look after me.
I’ve got so caught up in all the stuff going on around me that my world has started contracting into little more than looking after Marcus and sleeping. So I decided I needed a space in the house that was “my space”. I’ve set myself up at the sofa in our bedroom and I want to try to spend some time there reading and stitching. (I admit, I’ve planned to do this before and not followed through, but I realise I really need to do this, so I shall do my best.)
Kerry's Space
Unfortunately, there was an immediate problem with this as show below.
Stolen!
I shall have to be strong an insist that it is my space and not hers. I have put a sheepskin rug down on the floor and I’m hoping we’ll settle into a compromise. So far, I’ve done a few hours stitching over a couple of evenings and I’ve also managed to listen to some Big Finish Doctor Who audio plays that I’ve had sitting around for ages and never found the time to listen to. I really am going to try to keep this up because I recognise that I’ve been letting my own identity slip away in family and health stuff and that isn’t a good thing.
For starters, I have a couple of updates for Defender of the Kingdom for you, which I’ll post next.
For some strange reason, having a developing cold while Marcus is home from school, has me wanting to stitch (when I would have thought lying on the sofa reading would be easier, but it doesn’t feel like it would be at all). So here’s where I’m at with Defender of the Kingdom today. Hopefully there will be further progress pictures in the future, but at this point I just can’t say. All the same, looking at the picture I added of the first strip across, I have slowly made some progress since then.
Defender of the Kingdom, 20th July 2011
