Sharing a little secret

I have to confess there is another love in my life now, other than stitching and that is the love of drawing :)

I have a secret desire, a wish that I have held close to my heart for a few years, that is to be able to create a beautiful original artwork, which could possibly one day be turned into a HAED type stitching.

It is a big dream I know, but you've got to have a dream, right? I never thought it would be possible, and figured it would always be just a dream. But then, after a bit of a fed up moment, I started trying to draw, using some online tutorials, with a little success, so I then brought a book or two, some artists pencils and a few sketch pads, and by this point I was totally hooked.

Encouraged by my family and friends I signed up to the London Art College online and began their Drawing and Painting Diploma course.

Its been a difficult thing, and a huge learning curve, handing in assignments and being marked, laying bear my inner artist, but they have really helped me, my confidence has grown as my skills mature, I still have an awfully long way to go, but i'm loving the ride!

Here is a picture i have just finished of two sweet welsh ponies, its not perfect, but I love it

I know that my dream is still very far away, but today I feel one step closer :)

I have had to make the decision to say good bye to stitching for CrossStitcher magazine, I need to be able to devote at least an hour every day to practice my drawing, which was impossible before, I am now stitching just for Origin magazines and will be trying not to take on as many projects as I have been doing.

I hope my fellow stitches do not mind me sharing a picture which isnt stitched, I hope that one day I will be able to share one of my original pieces which is stitched

Thank you for reading!

Page 4 finished! Woop

Woohhoo, page 4 finally finished:

One of the biggest headaches (or should that be shoulder aches) with this weight and size of fabric is lifting the frame up and down to start and finish each thread. I use a floor stand with either a large hoop or a 12 inch square q-snap frame, and flipping the work all the time was taking its toll on the fabric, the frame/stand and my poor shoulder, this huge piece of fabric is really heavy!

I started to experiment, leaving the tails on the top of the fabric, some distance away from the section I was stitching, so that the tail would be worked over on the back of the fabric as I stitched, then when I got to the tail, I could just snip it off.

Its been a bit trial and error, but I think I have finally figured out a way which works for me, from now on, I will start each page from the top, working in rows of 10. I will start and finish the thread a full 10 rows below where I am stitching, this should make it easy to see where the tails finish and give me a clear working area.

It does use a bit more thread than usual, but i'm stitching much faster and enjoying it more. When I work on the next page I will take a couple of photos to help explain it better.

Now, I need to take a break for a few days as I have more work in, plus some drawing assignments to complete, but I will be back to it soon. Page 5 is a part page and only 3822 stitches, so i'm hoping it wont be too long before I can post my next page finish

Shhhhhhh dont disturb......I'm stitching!

This is the sign I need to tape to my head, so everyone leaves me to stitch lol

First off, apologies, I had great plans to get so much done over August, but the magazines had other ideas, so some manic stitching created works for Cross Stitcher, World of Cross Stitching and Crazy, leaving me with little time to do anything other than daydream of working on my HAED.

Now, I am officially on holiday!!! Yay! I spent the first couple of days catching up on course work assignments for my art diploma and a bit of knitting, but I am ready to pick up Night Queen and work to finish this page.

Quick calculations- page 4, I have 4998 stitches left, I will try to work 1000 today, then the same for the next 4 days and I should have the page finished before my next commission comes in next week.

Here are a couple of pictures of commissions which have been recently published