28th May Update

Morning all!





Had a bit of a long night with my youngest last night, so didnt get much done i'm afraid, but I took a pic this morning, i've popped a pencilon the fabric to give an idea of the scale of the project

I'm hoping to get a fair bit more done tonight, then i'm going to need to hit hobbycraft in the morning for even more threads I think!

Progress Pic 27th May

I managed to get some time to work on Night Queen last night, frustratingly I am missing a few colours, which i've ordered online but the postie has decided he'd like to hold onto to them for a while, so there are lots of gaps. Fingers crossed they arrive later today so I can do some filling in tonight.

Its odd working on a hoop this huge & the extra fabric takes a bit of getting used to, but i'm loving working on it, the stitches are lovely & plump & squishy because of all 6 strands being used.

Its difficult to get an idea of the size, i'll have to add something to the next picture for scale

I spent yesterday afternoon organising threads, then I found a 12" hoop to use, which is a perfect size, then I popped in those first few stitches. I've gathered the extra fabric together in hair bands to stop it getting inthe way.

I tested with, 3, 4, 5 & 6 strands of DMC threads, 6 strands gave me the perfect coverage.

I normally like to get all of my threads together at the start of a new project, but I dread to think how many skeins of yarn this will take, so I will be ordering them as I go, I will try to remember to keep track on here, so that when I am finished I will know how many I used.

At the start I have 85 skeins. But using 6 strands at a time, I think I will be ordering more within the next week

The chart is 25 pages & a total of a whopping 151,200 stitches, I will be trying to keep track of the number of stitches done as I work as well.

I'm guessing that this will take me probably a couple of years to finish, I am going to post pictures of my progress & updates as I go along, so please feel free to follow & watch this take shape.

My new HUUUUUUge project

After finishing All Hallows Eve, I started to think about what new chart I wanted, of course I should be working on old WIPs but i'm a naughty stitcher :) I love Eve, but I wish she were a bit bigger, so my new chart needed to be stitched on a smaller count fabric.

Whilst I was deliberating, my favorite artist Jessica Galbreth released a photo of her new throw range, featuring the Morrigan I think, it was stunning, so big, but every bit as beautiful as the smaller items.

That got me thinking, would it be possible to stitch a HAED to throw dimensions? What size fabric would I have to use?? Which designs would work best??

I finally decided on Night Queen by Jessica Galbreth, as the large focal point & lack of fussyness I think would work well for a larger design.

So then I had to decide on the fabric, I wanted this to be BIG, originally I thought 14ct, but that would make it only 24x31 inches, not big enough, so then I looked at 11ct, this would measure 32x40 inches, still not quite big enough, then I thought about using an 18ct & stitching over 2 threads, this worked out around 39x48 inches, which sounded just about perfect.

I found a fabric cut big enough on http://www.sewandso.co.uk/, I ordered a piece of Zweigart Davosa 18ct fabric measuring 55x60 inches, it arrived the very next day (thank you Daniel).

This is it covering my double bed!

Yesterday I sat & hemmed the ends, then marked my start point & got ready for that very first stitch.

A little bit about me & my stitching

Hi, i'm Carrie, i'm 30 something & I live in the UK with my three children, 3 cats, a husband & about a hundred fish.

I have always loved crafts, but cross stitch is my particular passion, i'm been stitching now for over 25 years, yikes!

About five years ago, I stumbled upon a cross stitch site very different from everything I had worked on in the past, the artwork they charted was amazing, their charting skills second to none and I was lost! The site is www.heavenandearthdesigns.com I now own close to 50 charts I think.

I have completed just three, Inspiration by Lee Anne Seed, All Hallows Eve by Jessica Galbreth & QS Motherhood, I have WIPS of Wolf Maiden by Jessica Galbreth, You & I by Zindy Nielson & Littlest Fairy Storykeep.

I will dig out the photos later & post them up.

All Hallows Eve is my most recent finish, I really love how she turned out seeing her finished was one of the things which inspired me to start my new project.