Tag: Anything goes August

Posted in WIP's and Plans

Anything Goes August Update

Posted on by Kristen Gawronski

Hi Everyone

I’m not sure about you, but August is wearing me out and I’m looking forward to moving onto September. Work and life stuff has been getting in the way. So much so, that I feel like I’m coming down with a cold as I’m writing this post because I’m feeling run down. And it took me longer than I expected to finalised and publish my last post. The good thing though, is that my boyfriend and I have managed to escape our home in Canberra for the weekend and we’re at the coast. It’s windy, but the sun’s out and it feels really nice in the sun inside or a sheltered spot. The importance of mentioning this is much of the South-Eastern side of Australia is getting a chilly blast of weather that’s come up from Antarctica and many areas are experiencing snow and colder temperatures than what we’ve experienced for a while.

The other really good thing with the weather at the coast at the moment is that I’m finally able to get back into some running! For the last few months my muscles have been giving me grief because of the chair I had been using whilst working from home. I’d had the chair since I was in high school and leading up to the pandemic, I’d been using it intermittently over the weekend to write the posts or do other crafty things in my craft room. However, because of the way I sit in that chair – especially over extended periods of time – I was putting too much pressure on some of my muscles in my left leg, causing my left knee to balloon up because my muscles were too tight. One of the key things I need to work on now is improving my cardio fitness and endurance. I’m able to run on the treadmill for short distances. The maximum to date on the treadmill has been 2 kilometres (km) (1.2 miles). I’m looking forward to getting back into the groove of things and being able to run 5km without the need to walk to catch my breath! That said, it will be just my luck that as I start to reach this goal, spring time will be in full swing and I’ll be battling hay fever and birds swooping!

Now lets get to one of the main reasons why you’re here!

Cross stitch update

When I have been able to sit down and relax a bit and get some stitching in, I’ve been working on three main projects – Gundaroo Mini Mushrooms, Autumn Castle and Moon Lit Waters.

Gundaroo Mini Mushrooms

My key motivator with this project has been the reminder of why I started this project and why I chose this particular photo to convert to a cross stitch pattern. As ‘airy-fairy’ as this may sound to some of you, I’ve been getting reminders from the world around me that I need to make a career change from the corporate world to the entrepreneurial world.

Since I last talked about this project, below are the before and after pictures:

The top left image is what the project will look like when completed, bottom left is my progress from June 2020 and the picture on the right is my progress as of 22 August 2020. I’m getting really close to a page finish for this project. A part of my struggle with this page finish is some fudging and so much confetti stitching.

Autumn Castle by Evgenia Kolesnikova

I’ve found this project to be interesting to stitch and for the most part, I think I’m struggling with it because I’m stitching it when I’m tired, because of the amount of fudging I’ve needed to do. Thankfully, the majority of fudging has been in the middle of the page rather than around the edges, so that my mistakes don’t carry over to the rest of the project. I need to give myself time and space to be able to make mistakes that are unique to each page!

Meanwhile, the image on the left shows what my progress had been since June 2020 and the image on the right is my progress as of 22 August 2020. The image in the centre is the cover image of what the project will look like when it’s finished. Because I’m so close to a page finish (I’m going to leave the ghost because I don’t have the thread I need for it), I’m not sure if I should move to the right and start work on page 2 or move down and work on page 7…

Moon Lit Waters by Heaven and Earth Designs

I’ve fallen back in love with Pattern Keeper. I’m also remembering why there’s a long time between updates on this project. When I first started working on this project, I was working off the paper copy that I had purchased many years ago. Since then Pattern Keeper came into my life and DMC added new colours to their range, which has had a major impact on the digital version of this pattern. To effectively use this pattern on Pattern Keeper, I did the right thing by purchasing the digital version of the pattern and import the pattern to the app. If I thought that I was doing some fudging on the first three pages I’ve completed, since I started using Pattern Keeper for this project, the current page I’m working on has nothing on the others for the amount of fudging I’m doing!

I also need to make it clear that any grumbles I am doing about this project has nothing to do with Pattern Keeper, the artist and designer for Moon Lit Waters or Heaven and Earth Designs. My grumbles are all to do with me adjusting to the decisions I’ve made with the project. Additionally, I love Pattern Keeper for this project because it’s making my life ten times easier to quickly locate the threads I need for the areas I want to stitch. When I was working with the paper version for this project, there were times when it would take me about 5 minutes or so to find the thread that matched the symbol in the key. At times I would end up forgetting which symbol and area I was working on once I found the thread I needed, because of how long it would take me to find the thread. Which is part of the reason why I had to fudge so much of the first three pages I’ve completed on the project. So without further adieu, below are the progress pictures of Moon Lit Waters:

The image you see on the far left and second from the left are images of what the project will look like when completed and what it looked like back in May/June 2020. The images on the far right and second from the right is my progress as of 22 August 2020.

Because of the amount of fudging I have done to date and how much more I’ll need to do for the current page, I’ve changed my approach for this page. Normally I’ll work from left to right on a page. However, I’m changing it for this page to work from right to left, so that I know that the rest of the work I do to the right of the current page (theoretically at least!) won’t need as much fudging as what the current page needs.

September Plans

By the time I publish my next post, we’ll be well and truly into September. For sampler enthusiasts, this will be the month for them! I’m yet to find a sampler that jumps out at me and says “Stitch me! Stitch me now!” Earlier this year I had contemplated dedicating September to stitching the smalls and trying my hand at a biscornu. There are some beautiful biscornu patterns out there which is great! However, with the way August has panned out, let alone most of this year, I’m not sure if I’ll start a biscornu this year.

I may however, make the most of September to prepare for October – the month of all things spooky! I’ve purchased a few Halloween themed patterns and they’ve been imported to Pattern Keeper. My challenge will be sourcing all the things I need for those projects in time for the start of October. I’m hoping that I’ll have all that I need in my current stash collection and that I’ll only need to pick up the odd thread from my local craft stores. This is largely due to the availability of some stock in my local craft stores and the amount of time it may take for some of the products I need to arrive via mail, if I need to make some online purchases.

Until next time,

Happy Stitching.

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Posted in WIP's and Plans

Stitchmas in July and Anything Goes August

Posted on by Kristen Gawronski

Hi Everyone

As I’m writing this post it is raining outside. Beautiful, steady rain! I haven’t kept track of when I last heard the rain like this and I’m making the most of it. Since my boyfriend and I have been working from home since March, it’s been a long time since we’ve had the windows open to freshen up the house. Mostly because it’s winter at the moment and we’ve had the heater going. Recently we’ve had some really nice winter days in Canberra, where there’s been barely a breath of wind and we’ve been able to feel the warmth of the sun – especially when we’re inside, sitting on the couch in the sun!

That said, whenever I’ve come back from being outside and taken a few layers of clothing off, the house has smelt stale. Also, there’s something about hearing the steady rain and the freshness it brings that I absolutely love!

On a more serious note though, Australia’s getting its second wave of the pandemic and it feels like it’s getting to be a bit close to home. Some hot spots popped up at the south coast (about 2 hours drive south-east from home) – the same area where some of the bush fires were at end of last year / start of this year – because of the easing of restrictions. It felt a bit close to home because Canberra has been really lucky so far to have a low number of reported cases when compared with other states and regions. Also, my boyfriend and I have been heading to the coast nearly every second weekend and reports of the second wave starting in Victoria were beginning to be reported in the news – some of whom may have been at the south coast and the places we like to eat at! Lastly, my mum and boyfriend had been at the coast (at separate times) around the times that the hot spots were really heating up. Thankfully everyone I know who has been to the coast is okay. I’m okay. It just means that we’re really not comfortable with heading to the coast until the hot spots have calmed down and they’ve been given the all clear. Also, it’s a regional area and we don’t want to put any unnecessary pressure on their healthcare system should things turn again.

Now to lighten things up again and lets get into some cross stitch talk and updates!

Stitchmas in July wrap up

Confession – I stopped stitching on Christmas themed projects nearly halfway through July because I’d been working on most of them since June, if not May as well. So the updates I have below are a bit dated, but you should still see a bit of a difference!

Gingerbread Train – designed by Shannon Wasilieff (aka Shannon Christine Designs)

The image on the left is my progress from the end of June. The picture in the middle is my progress as of today (26th July 2020) and the image on the right is what it will look like at the end.

On the first day of Christmas (12 Days of Christmas) – designed by Rhona Norrie

The recommended navy blue fabric looks really good for this design. But I didn’t have enough navy blue for the height of the design. So I’m stitching it on a similar count in a lighter colour. The longer image on the right is pretty much the full height of the fabric. You will also see in the closer up image that I’m stitching it with two strands over two squares/holes, in all of the called for DMC colours. One of the things that really bugs me with this design is that the seven looks like an upside down two. I don’t know how hard it is to chart the number seven to make it work with this pattern and I don’t have the skill at the moment to change it.

Santa’s Coming – designed by Durene Jones

It’s been about a month between pictures. I like how it’s progressing. I’m still feeling undecided about the colours, which may explain why I’m feeling a bit ho-hum about stitching it at the moment. That said, in the finished picture on the right, the colours are looking really good! I’m hoping that as I continue with the project, I’ll fall back in love with it!

Christmas Owls (Christmas Cuddles) – designed by Jenny Barton

My progress with this one hasn’t really changed much since the end of June when I took the picture on the left. The lighting for the picture on the right makes it look a lot brighter and washed out than what it really is. It will be nice to get this one done.

Anything Goes August (aka Arbitrary August)

I’ve had this title in my mind for the last week or so and I’d completely forgotten that this was actually a thing in the Flosstube world, but called Arbitrary August which means the same thing – to me anyway!

Gundaroo Mini Mushrooms – designed by Kristen Gawronski

Since mid-July I’ve been wanting to stitch on things that I want to stitch on rather than any other reason. Which is where the ‘anything goes August’ kicks in. Also, I’ve had a hankering (desire, craving) to stitch on my Gundaroo Mini Mushrooms project because it wasn’t Christmas related, I felt like I needed more of a challenge and I hadn’t stitched on it for a long time. At least it felt that way. I had done some stitching on it in May and it felt like a chore then. Below is my progress…

The two images of stitch is as of today (26th July 2020). Currently I’m working on page 1 and I’m really thankful that I have a lot more space at the top of the project than I had initially thought I would. It will be interesting to see how I go when I eventually start working on the lower half. I may have to crop it a bit…

Fight Like a Girl – designed by Tania Amity

I’ve really gotten into my groove with this one and I’ve made a lot of progress on it over the last couple of weeks. One of the strange things with this one – and I think a lot of it is to do with the way the DMC colours have been dyed rather than the charting – is that there is meant to be a lot more variation in the windows (I think) on either side of the blond girl, as you will see below:

Moon Lit Waters Fairy – artwork by Julie Fain and design by Michelle Sayetta

For the majority of yesterday I was working on this project and it reminded me of how much I love using the app Pattern Keeper! And how slow going HAED’s are!

The two images on the left are the progress I’ve made since I last worked on the project which is third from the left.

Plans for the rest of July and August

I’m definitely going to take things as they come for the next month and a half – month at least. It will help me to figure out what I might want to do for September. Earlier this year I may have mentioned that September could be the month to work on some smalls and get myself organised for October. I’m really looking forward to stitching on some more Halloween themed project! I may move back to some of Christmas themed projects and others that I had started in May. I may even be tempted to start some of the digital patterns I’ve purchased over the last few months. Who knows!?!

Meanwhile…

When I’ve been listening to and watching some Flosstube episodes, I’ve found it interesting when they start talking about prompts they have gotten from the other stitching groups they’re part of on social media, to explain why they’ve worked on certain pieces and the amount of stitches they’ve completed. Which has me thinking about my next post…

Until next time,

Happy stitching!