Page 14 is all finished :)

I did it! I finally finished another page, 6 more pages to go still, but this felt like a major milestone for some reason and I am so pleased that I finished page 14 :)

So far I have completed 89875 stitches, I have 44175 stitches to go.........

I managed to squeeze in a couple of hundred stitches on the new page last night, but I am almost totally out of threads.  Today I will do a stock take and write out an order for this page (361 threads ordered for her so far).

I would like to say that the next page will be finished by the end of the month, but knowing how things go here, I won't make any plans, instead I will just stitch on her as and when I can.

Not quite a page.....

But nearly there.....sadly, threads have stopped play, 413 & 823 are all gone!   I should get a chance to pick them up tomorrow though, so by Monday, the page should be done and maybe a bit more too

I did, however manage to finish a painting today, this Lynx has been painted in pastels on velour paper

Progress! Oh and blog hunting.....

Look! So excited to say that the page finish is now within my reach, about 1800 stitches to go, so likely by the end of tomorrow I will finally have another page under my belt :)

As this week is progressing, I am lightly tip-toeing back into my stitching addiction, I didn't realise just how much I had missed it.   It's not just the actual stitching process (although that is a good chunk of it) it's the embracing warmth of the whole stitching community.

Watching other people's WIPs grow, helping them solve problems, happy dancing with them as they complete something unique and beautiful, being inspired by their progress and adding to my already endless wishlists, it's a wonderful stitchy world out there!

Today, I am asking for a little help from you guys, is there a blog out there that you love, or a blog that you write yourself, somewhere that stitch obsessives can feel at home?

If there is, could you post the details in a reply, then I will check them out and add them to my feed, they will al get a mention in my blog tomorrow too :)

Thanks for reading and happy stitching!

Memories in every stitch

Before I start prattling on, I have a picture to share, not quite at the page finish, but getting there, I should be at the end of this page by Friday I hope!

I'm sure that I am not the only one who attaches memories to their pieces of stitching. Many of my pieces were stitched through the nights when my babies were small and I was on night duty.  One of my sons would never sleep at night and insisted on playing with his Bob the Builder toys from 2am to 4am every single night! I stitched Teresa Wenzlers The Castle when he was 2 and a half, it took me just 6 weeks of nights sitting up keeping him company, watching endless re-runs of his Bob DVDs, I still smile when ever I look at it, thinking of his cheeky grins and sing songs in the middle of the night.

Looking through my photo's earlier, it hit me, that this project, being over such an extended period of time has had stitched into it, many more memories than most, some good, some bad.  When it is finished, I will be able to look on it and be reminded of the passing of time........as much as I am frustrated with myself for taking so long on her, she will be a special collage of a big chunk of my life.

When I started her, my youngest was just a cheeky toddler, now he is a very tall, lanky almost 7 year old.   My gorgeous kitten Jasper and my beloved Devon Rex Coco who both sweetly modelled on her for me, are now playing together over the rainbow bridge.

I'm sure that fur from all of my cats is sewn in there somewhere, along with a few of the grey hairs which seem to appear on my head every day.

Time passes, we cannot do anything to stop it, as long as we spend as much time as we can doing things that we love, then all is good :)

I have taken a great deal of pleasure from working on her this week, I've missed it.    Life got so busy there for a while, that I forgot to stop and taking some pleasure in my life, stitching on Night Queen has reminded me to stop and stitch and smile every now and again.

Even a work-a-holic is entitled to a couple of hours off a day, right?

I should never make plans.......

Why is it that when I plan something out (like finally getting this finished) the very next day things go mental and I have not a single minute to stitch?

Now I am not complaining, well maybe just a teeny tiny bit.......it's been a wonderful whirlwind of a year for me so far and little sign of it calming down yet.

If you would like to see what I have been upto, pop over the my art page here www.facebook/carolinelordartandcraftworks

I am thrilled to be able to say that some of my original artworks are now available to buy as cross stitch charts, this is a really exciting development and I still have to pinch myself!

When I decided to learn to draw a few years ago, it was a dream that one day my work would be charted, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon, if you are interested, you can buy charts of my work from here : http://www.eclecticblokedesigns.co.uk/

These are a few of them which have been charted so far

Also, I have a very awesome and very exciting secret, I cannot tell, I really wish I could, all I can say is keep an eye out for Cross Stitch Gold Magazine issue 116 in November ;)

Back to Night Queen, have I finished a page? Nope, sadly not even close, but I should be at the half page tonight.  I am enjoying a few, rare days off and am really enjoying stitching on her, so fingers crossed I will be back in a few days with the next page finish.

Thanks for sticking with me, I really hope it will be worth the wait!

Four Years & No Finish? Really!!

I know, it has been forever since I posted my last page finish and all that time, Night Queen has sat rolled up in her overnight bag, not a stitch to be seen.

Until yesterday.  I found myself in a rare position of having a few days where nothing NEEDED to be done, I do have work to do but the deadline is an age away.  I could be working on some art practice or one of my animal portraits, but, just for once, I wanted to do something just for me.

It took me over an hour to get all my bits and pieces together and get her back on her quilting hoop, then I looked through the chart and sighed, still another 7 pages to go........

I put in those first few stitches of the day, then a few hundred more and before the day had finished she was over 1000 stitches closer to being finished.  

Reading through my blog, I discovered that I started her four years ago, FOUR YEARS!!! And she is no where near to be finished.  I am embarrassed and shocked at myself.  When I started, I thought it would take a year or two.    At this rate, an average of 3 pages per year, it will likely be a 6-7 year project :(

I stamped my feet for a bit, had a fairly sizeable tantrum, but then sat back down to stitch. I don't want her to be a 6 year project, I don't even want her to be a 5 year project.

So, I seem to have found a bit of momentum and determination.  From this point on, I am going for the finish!  It won't be easy and it won't be fast, there will be times when I am snowed under with work and art commissions, but I will work hard to make sure that no more than a couple of days pass without her seeing a needle.

Yesterday I worked on the 14th page here is where I am this morning, I am aiming for another 1000 stitches today. Then I have a pretty free weekend, lets see how much I can get done!!

I will update every day that I stitch on her in the hopes that it will keep me focussed. Thank you to everyone who looks at this blog, thank you for sticking with me over such a long span of time, I promise I will finish her and I very much hope that will be during 2014!