Happiness is ...

seeing my Santa grow!  I have just put the final stitches into pages 17 & 18.  That fnishes the third row of chart pages.  The pic looks a bit wonky, but that's because of the way I had it thrown over the sofa back when I took the pic.  It really does have straight edges in real life.  Now that Santa has a face, I am feeling the compulsion to keep on stitching on this project, with a view to fnishing it this year,  I had originally planned to stitch pages 14-20 this year, but I certainly didn't expect to finish 5 pages in January.  In previous years, I was lucky to get one page finished each three to four weeks.  My current plan is to keep stitching for February and March, with the aim of finishing Row 4 (pages 19 to 24) in that time.  If I manage to do that, I will then probably keep stitching on Santa to try to get him finished and framed for Christmas this year.

On a more serious note, happiness is really being finished with chemotherapy and brachytherapy (radiation therapy), and having a clear result (no cancer cells) on the PET scan.   I wasn't having the treatments myself, but when one member of the household is fighting cancer, it really does seem as if everyone in the household  is fighting cancer.  It is a major relief to have moved on from that phase of our lives.

Half-way there!

Page 16 of Jolly Old Fellow is now finished. So now just over half of the design is stitched - yay!!

I am really happy with my progress.  Santa now has personality showing through.  I now want to finish this row before the end of January.  That's just two more pages to go.   Page 17 is a full page (7315 stitches) but page 18 has only 1140 stitches.

Santa is starting to look jolly!

Page 15 is now finished -yay!

I'll be working hard now to finish page 16 so Santa has a whole face not half of one!  Also, when I finish Page 16 I'll have just over half the chart stitched - now that will be a day of celebration for me!

This page was the fastest I have stitched.  I did work on it at least 8 hours each day, but that's not unusual for me when  I have a large project underway.  I finally feel that I have come to terms with working on a huge project like this HAED.  It only took three years to work out a system that suits me - obviously I'm  slow learner!  I have never gridded or marked charts as I worked, but I soon discovered that when working on the HAED chart this wasn't working for me - I spent as many hours counting stitches and finding my place as I did actually stitching.  I tried gridding (several times using different sized grids), carrying threads at the back, stitching in 10 stitch squares (not for me - this one drove me almost to abandoning the project), marking the chart with highlighter, and eveything else anyone suggested.

I found that this is what works for me:

1. I break down each page chart into two halves, and enlarge them slightly.  This gives me a manageable size chart to work with, and I attach it to my fabric using magnets, so it's always in sight. 
2. I keep the next page handy as I work at the edges of the page, and check any isolated stitches to see if they continue onto the next page - if they do I stitch them.  This saves having to start a fresh thread for one or two stitches.
3. I attach a dark lead pencil to my frame, and before I end off a thread I mark on the chart the stitches I have just put in, checking as I do that they are correct (this saves frogging later, and I often discover another stitch charted in the same floss just a few stitches away from what I've done).
4. When I'm stitching an area, I first stitch any isolated stitches or small groups - I find that easier than going back to do them later, and if I carry threads across the back for a few stitches the threads get covered up later when I stitch the adjacent stitches.  In any case, I don't move on to another stitching area till all those pesky confetti stitches are done.
5. I laminate the floss list, and attach it with a long colourful ribbon to my scissors - that way it's easier to find both when I need them.

Sounds so obvious - but you'd be surprised just how much of a difference these little steps have made to my stitching pleasure!

WIPocalypse - January 9

It's January 9 here, so I'm making a start with my WIPocalypse report.
My current project is HAED Jolly Old Fellow.  I started it in 2009, and have worked on it for  block of time  (several months) each year since then .  I have now finished 14 of the 36 pages.

This is what it looked like when I started stitching this year (on Jan 2):

Here it is with Page 14 completed yesterday (I took it off the frame for this pic):

and this is what it looks like when I finished stitching tonight:

I hope to finish page 15 and make a good start on page 16 in the coming month.

A finish of sorts ...

I have just put in the last few stitches in Page 14 of Jolly Old Fellow.  It feels like a finish, so I'm counting it as a finish.

Now onto Page 15 ...

WIPocalypse

I've joined the 2012 WIPocalypse on Measi's blog.  It sounds like it might be fun.  The first step is making a stitching list for 2012, so here goes:

1. HAED Jolly Old Fellow - This is my current WIP and I started stitching it in 2009.  My target for 2012 is to finish at least pages 14 to 20.
2. Personalised Christmas ornaments for the children in my life - I will be stitching at least 16 (for Brittany, Jackson, Matthew, Daniel, Thomas, Emma, Grace, Dylan, Chloe, Amelia, Niamh, Ciara, Kate, Matthew, David, and Megan), and I may add more names to the list as the year progresses.
3. A Santa ornament for myself.  I haven't yet chosen it, but it's likely to be a Vermillion design.
4. A Christmas design for my sisters Wendy and Gayle.

It doesn't look like much - but I'm sure it will keep me busy in 2012!

Progress pic - Jolly Old Fellow

I am very pleased with how much I have been able to stitch in the past 3 days.  I estimate that I have stitched well over half of page 14 now, and I am hopeful to finish page 14 by this time next week.