Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Solo September: Ghost Story!

Hihi! I've decided to join in with Justine's Solo September SAL, where you commit to stitching on a single project for an entire month to see just how far you can go! Of course, I'll be working on Ghost Story and aiming for a finish!


Not much progress since the last time I showed her, but there is some, I swear!

I originally thought about working on a new project that I haven't even shown here yet (Wintry Blooms Biscornu by Faby Reilly) but I decided against it. I feel like it kind of goes against the spirit of the challenge to purposely choose something small that will definitely be finished during the month. Then again, Ghost Story will definitely be a finish, as long as I don't slack off. :)

If (when!) I finish Ghost Story, I'll work on the biscornu. And if I finish that too, next up will be Brooke's Books Bride's Tree Ornament #9. But there will be NO switching between projects - they have to be completed in order. :)

Don't forget to sign up if you'd like to participate too! :D

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

August & September goals

The end of the month is goals time! :)

For August, I said:
- blog about progress once a week - YES
- blah blah Ghost Story progress blah :) - YES
- no craft/stash shopping - NO

Honestly, I goofed and forgot about the "no stash" for August - I focused solely on my new rule for the rest of this year, which was I can only buy things in person. A little surprising and disappointing to get this post ready and realize I'd unintentionally failed, but I'll pick myself up and keep going.

I also had a small slip-up with only buying in person - I did sneak one more piece of Crafty Kitten fabric into my existing order from July that hasn't shipped yet. I know, I know... I was well aware that I was breaking my own rule, but it was a limited edition and blah blah. Just like with my nail polish addiction, I need to STOP looking at cross-stitch releases and limited editions, because that way lies madness. And an empty wallet. And guilt. :(

On the plus side, I have $26.81 in my Paypal account from ebay sales, which I've just withdrawn and set up to transfer to my savings account. :)

So, September goals!
- blog about progress once a week
- blah blah Ghost Story progress blah (possible finish?)
- NO craft/stash shopping
- and a stretch goal: finish Wintry Blooms Biscornu (which I haven't shown here yet, whoops)

~~~

Ah, so what did I buy? Cruised over to ABC Stitch on Saturday since they were having a 25% off sale, and picked up mostly wishlist items.



Not pictured because already in use: FQ of lavender Belfast :)

The only impulse buys were the two Just Nan designs - my wife really wanted Spring in the Meadow, and I saw the pin cube in person and... it was adorable, okay? Still, I'm relatively proud of myself for putting back several other impulse items I'd picked up, including another JN that retails for $40. Nope, don't need that, no matter how pretty it is! Also put back the button pack for Spooked since it seems to be optional and LOL $17 FOR A FEW TINY BUTTONS AND BEADS HELL NO.

Anyway, as always, there's that feeling that I shouldn't have gotten anything at all because, believe me, I have PLENTY of stash. I got home, removed the purchased items from my wishlist, and cleaned out some other things too. Slowly learning to be better. :)

Friday, August 26, 2016

Ghost Story - Update #6

Back to using my own camera, so unfortunately this isn't a great picture...


I reached the bottom! The purple stitching is the very bottom of her dress, so all that's left (haha) is to fill in the rest between the bottom and the little spur on the very right, which is the farthest point on the right edge of this piece.

So, still lots more to do!

Saturday, August 20, 2016

Ghost Story - Update #5

If today's photo looks unusually decent, it's because it was taken with my wife's phone instead of my four year old clunker. I'd honestly love to get a new phone, but I don't like the PRICE of new phones, so I'm just gonna suck it up until this thing finally dies...


I think I can safely say I'm over half finished now! As a reminder, here's the model picture...


Well... there's still a LOT of skirt left. A whole lot...
Less whining, more stitching, right? :p

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Ghost Story - Update #4

Thought I'd make a post about my progress on Ghost Story! Cruising right along on that massive skirt, but there's still a lot more to go.

Thankfully, the Olympics are pretty good for stitching... :)


I'll probably just keep going with her until I finish. Then again, you never know with me.

Also, sorry about the terrible picture quality, my phone is really old now and I've always been bad at taking good photos, so... the perfect failstorm. :p

Monday, August 08, 2016

Ghost Story - Update #3

Nothing special to say today except I made some great progress over the past week!


This is pretty much the entire width of the project now, with that little curl on the right. There's some bits of skirt that extend out a bit farther, but for the most part, this is the full width.

I was actually thinking I didn't do all that much, but comparing to last Monday's picture, I'd say the progress is pretty good, even if it's not my fastest.

I'll keep going with her and post more soon!

Monday, August 01, 2016

Ghost Story - Update #2 & monthly goals!

Ghost Story first because she's more of a success story than the goals, haha.

Last time she was just a blob of a new start... now she has a head, an upper body, and one arm! I'll be finishing up the lantern next, then moving on to complete her other arm before working down the massive tattered skirt. :)

I changed up the colors of the backstitching - the skin outline was very orange (DMC 356) and while I like that color for backstitching Mirabilias, it was really harsh against all the very light colors in this piece, so I went for a grey-brown (DMC 839) instead. I also used different colors for her eyebrows, eyes, and lips, because I'm an annoying perfectionist. :D


I plan to go back and redo the "darker" skin color in her neck/face eventually. I can barely tell the difference in real life, so I'm going to replace the darker color with the deeper peach you can see in the center of her hand. I'm not quite up to frogging and restitching yet, so I'm going to let it wait a while.

I also plan to redo the backstitching around her eyes... her left eye especially (right side of the pic!) ended up looking weird because the stitch got pushed into an odd position by the existing stitches beneath it. But I think I'll wait until the end, maybe, so there isn't any risk of me handling the fabric too much and messing it up again. I dunno if I can handle her weird face that long, though. :p

Also might want to give her some sexy collarbones, heh heh. :p
Or how about an ear? I bet she'd like to have an ear...


And now, the monthly goals.

So here's what I wanted to do in July:
- finish Bride's Tree Ornament 7 - YES
- complete half of the Beaded Dragonfly Tile border - NO

I'm gonna be honest... Beaded Dragonfly Tile is a real pain. Yes, even with my 25 cent needle parking station. I'll let it sit on the back burner for a while again, because I am seriously in love with Ghost Story right now and everyone else has to wait!

Going to try a slightly different style of goals for August:
- blog about progress once a week
- blah blah Ghost Story progress blah :)
- no craft/stash shopping

And with all the crafty shopping that happened around/for my birthday, I'm also banning stash shopping for the rest of the year, or rather, putting a major restriction on it!

The rule is: If I want something, I have to go buy it in person.

Which immediately eliminates my worst problem, which is hand-dyed fabric stashing. And let's be honest, online shopping makes it way too easy to casually pick up whatever looks interesting. I'm fortunate enough to have two LNS-es within a reasonable distance of my home, but they're far enough away that I won't be doing any casual shopping there. (I hate driving, haha.) And if I need DMC, I can grab it from Joann while running other errands.

So there we have it. I'll report on this goal monthly as well! :)