kezihimzes

[kezihimzes]

A Good Stitching Week

...in spite of me being extremely busy. But the fact is, I have reorganized my work structure and am trying to work during daytime (sometimes 10-12 hrs), and I take the evenings off to relax and stitch. As a result, I made some nice progress in 2 of my 3 WIPs that are needed to be finished before I can start anything new (i.e. until I reach a number of WIPs that is comfortable for me even with a new start).

I completed the entire first page (and even a smidge more) of Castles in the Air by Long Dog Samplers. There are 9 pages so I had to realize that it was not as easily done as I had thought. When I started on this pattern someone remarked that actually it was not that big; I took it at face value but now I know that it is not entirely correct. It is a fairly large project and quite possibly it will be finished last of the 3. Here is how it stands at the moment - it is stitched on 32 count raw linen, 2 over 2 with DMC.

And then came a big surprise.

There is a WIP in this to-be-finished-ASAP trio that I haven’t touched for months and months (8 or 9?). It is Wreath with Blue Spruce by Riolis. I have never felt like digging it out again in spite of my loving the colors and the design (in fact those lime greens and turquoises with the orange-y reds made me buy it right away when I first saw it), as I remembered it was very slow and cumbersome. It has about 30 colors and at least half (if not more) are blended. I somehow could not handle the floss comfortably, mainly the remainder blends, and I did not like too much the color chart either (color with symbols) because regular highlighter did not work to keep track of where I was... so the whole thing seemed to be a pain.

Then, in the weekend, after getting a bit bored with Castles, I was debating whether I should go on with the Renato Parolin, or dare to get to my Wreath after that long, long pause. I did choose the Riolis in the end. To say the least I was shocked and (pleasantly) surprised to find stitching on it was not just easy but extremely fast as well! I did not use anything to mark my progress on the pattern, because I managed to switch my brain to follow the color codes + symbols quite easily. I also figured out a way to store the remainder blends. As it has smaller and larger color blocks (no confetti at all) I made an incredible progress. I enjoyed it so much that at about 1:30 am I had to force myself to put it down and go to bed. So now I think I can finish this probably much faster and earlier than I thought, yay! It is stitching up very nicely on 32 count white linen 2 over 2 with the Anchor flosses that came with the kit. (I replaced the 14 count Aida with the linen though.)

Speaking of which, I am getting the feeling, while stitching, that the Anchor flosses are thicker and they cover better than DMC. I do not know whether I am correct but it surely feels like that. I have been using Anchor black for a while instead of DMC 310 exactly because of this reason, but now I am having the same impression with other Anchor colors too. Hmmm...

I finished my first book in 2018, which is ridiculous considering January is getting to the end... It was Emma by Alexander McCall Smith. It was terrible, but I got through it quite easily as I was listening to the audiobook version. Next up is a middle grade (!) read, The Amulet of Samarkand (Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1)  by Jonathan Stroud (also audiobook of course). I don’t read much fantasy at all, and almost never middle grade, so I have no clue whether it is better or worst than the other similar books, but I find it very amusing and entertaining, perfect companion to my stitching.

[kezihimzes]

Slow Progress into the New Year

In January everything slows down I guess. After the holiday craze life seems like as if in slow motion. 

So is my stitching. So is my reading.

However, I started to (had to) speed up my design work load per day as the deadline I got seemed extremely tight. I spend 10-12 hours on weekdays designing, creating images, one after the other (we’ll need 44), then in the weekends I take care of  my other clients (thank goodness they are more patient). So reading is practically limited to audiobooks, and stitching means a few x-s every night between midnight and 1 am. I still have to make sure I put aside a bit of time for these two of my passions because otherwise I would definitely go insane.

In this respect, I did make some progress on Castles in the Air by Long Dog Samplers and also, on Mother of God by Thea Gouverneur. 

Here is Castles... in its present state, 32 count raw linen, 2 over 2 with DMC:

I have put it aside for a short while because I want to use that little time I have for stitching on Christmas by Renato Parolin. It is in the state when even completing a few areas gives me a strong encouragement of finishing it in a reasonable time. I am almost done with the 4th tier, which means only one level is left plus the ground flora and fauna. (Pictures are coming later.)

And, here is Mother of God as of now, stitched on 18 count easy guide Aida, 2 over 1 with DMC:

Actually, it is even a bit more as I stitched on it after taking these photos. I thought I was enjoying it so much that I could replace Castles with this regarding my attempt to decrease my WIP number. However, I got to the part of the pattern where there is solid metallic stitching for a large area (the background behind the Madonna), and while I do like to work with Petite Treasure Braids much more than even with Kreinik, it is not the easiest task, and I kind of got exhausted and tired of all that metal floss conditioning, changing, etc. So no, I keep Castles as my goal to finish first at the moment, even if it is really larger than I remembered.

Oh, and I forgot to show the completed Pluto by SpaceNavid (on Etsy)! I did finish it just in time for Christmas, so my son got the annual planet embroidery from me as a present. He was very happy about it, and already “ordered” Saturn. I was hoping for Neptune as Saturn also has tons of browns and yellows just like Pluto and would not have minded to ditch them for some yummie blues and turquoises... Oh well.

It was stitched on 14 count black Aida with 2 over 1 with DMC so the coverage is not the best if you look at it (but I don’t have a coverage obsession so I don’t mind).

[kezihimzes]

Old Year - New Year

2017 was an awful year; I cannot be happier it is over. Except, I am not sure if 2018 will be better. My tactic is to shut down as many things around me as possible and in certain times concentrate on nothing else but reading and stitching. I know it is ridiculous and childish but hey, whatever works for one’s sanity.

Anyhow, stitching. I finished fewer pieces (15) in 2017 than in the previous year (22), and some of them were tiny ones (Christmas ornies). However, two long overdue WIPs got completed (Bois le Duc by Long Dog Samplers and Jolly Old St. Nick by Bucilla, my oldest WIP of at least 18-20 years!), which makes me very happy. I am also pretty consistent and committed to reduce my active WIPs to a number that is more comfortable for me (about 4-5), in spite of the fact that I could not keep my tentative goals of finishing Christmas by Renato Parolin and the Zodiac Signs by the end of the year. On the other hand, I unexpectedly had two more pieces at the end of the year, which I finished: Pluto by SpaceNavid and Winter Woods by Mill Hill. My favorite finish in 2017 is definitely Plymouth Sampler by The Sampler Company.

Now up to 2018. 

I am not sure how much time I will have in the first few months; I got a big design job and it will consume most of my time, at least the first half of the year for sure, not to speak of my other recurring clients. But embroidery will always be my sanity preserving activity so I am assuming there will be some stitching for sure. 

The first big change came on December 30-31 and January 1st. I was stitching on Castles in the Air by Long Dog (and I even joined a facebook SAL group) when I realized at one point that I had made a major mistake that could not be fudged. I had to rip out at least half of what I had done on it. At that point I stopped, stepped back, contemplated a bit, and had an executive decision. For a while I was seriously questioning my floss/fabric choice of that piece, mainly the floss color. I remember it took me forever to choose a color way back when, but last week, stopped by the major miscounting, I decided I was going to fix my growing uncomfortable feeling about this WIP. So I ripped out not just the mistake but all the stitches and was out for a mission to find a floss color that made me happy and excited about this stitch. I spent about 2 days experimenting with different flosses; there were several outcries of  "F...udge!" (except they weren't 'Fudge' 😄) and several more frog visits until I finally settled down happily and thrilled looking at a very deep and saturated royal blue/royal purple variegated DMC floss (4240).

On New Years Day I did not have a New Year - New Start piece as the last thing I wanted to do is to increase the number of my active WIPs; instead, I pulled out my NYNS piece from last year, Mother of God by Thea Gouverneur, which almost looked like a new start as I had hardly stitched on it since I started (had lots of struggle finding the right fabric, and in the end I settled with 18 count easy guide Aida as it is a full coverage piece). I was enjoying stitching on it so much that I might just swap it with the Long Dog piece in my reducing WIPs effort, meaning, I am aiming to finish it before Castles. We’ll see. The pictures are not the best and they don’t show how beautifully sparkly it is because of the tons of Petite Treasure Braids...

  I also FFO-d a very old finish at last. I had the frame for a while and now here it is, Momenti di Vita by Renato Parolin in its final glory:

I guess that’s all folks. I am trying to pick up my readings again, and I feel I am making slow but sturdy progress. We’ll see.

[kezihimzes]

Just Stitchin’

Days are rushing by, and Christmas is next week. 

It has been a tumultuous and bad year for me, probably one of the worst on many levels: personal, social, and political - just to mention a few. Awful 2017 - I just hope that it cannot be worse. (It can, I know - long live the famous Hungarian pessimism).

Anyhow, we are here to talk about stitching not bitching.

I started Pluto by SpaceNavid’s space series on Etsy for my son. It has become sort of a tradition that I give him a cross stitch piece for every Christmas, but alas, this time (thanks for the exceptionally horrible fall in an anyway awful year) I started it too late so I am not sure I will be able to finish it this time. (I gave him Jupiter a few years ago.)

SpaceNavid’s planet designs are probably the most realistic ones I have ever come across (my son, who is preparing to be an astrophysicist, does not appreciate any cartoon-like illustration; he likes only The Real Thing), but boy, is this tedious. In this small piece (approx. 5*5 or so), there are about 30 colors and at places it is extremely confetti heavy.

It is stitched on 14-count black Aida with DMC, and here it is in its present state:

But I have a finish too! Before we hit the road for our Thanksgiving in Portland, OR, I wanted to take something that I could stitch in the car. It had to be a piece with smaller count (=larger holes), to compensate the bumpy nature of a car trip. There was a Mill Hill kit that I had hardly started (made approx. 10-15 stitches on it years ago), and it was on a 14-count blue Aida (instead of the perf paper that came in the kit as I find stitching on perf paper very weird and uncomfortable). So I dug it out and worked on it during the stay over and on. Well, yesterday I managed to finish it, beads, button and all. 

Of course, as it seems to be a tradition with me when I pick up a Mill Hill kit, there was drama involved and the fear of beading, which turned out to be a disaster with my previous MH piece. However, quite to my surprise, this time, it has been a joyful and pleasant experience, and I am pleased with the result.

Winter Woods by Mill Hill, stitched on 14-count Aida, 2 over 1.

[kezihimzes]

Christmas Update

Well, Christmas by Renato Parolin, that is.

I have finished the 3rd tier and started on the fourth one but was interrupted by a gift stitching and an ‘on-the-road’ piece (pics next time). I have also been sick and hospitalized for a few days, and got a larger job that keeps me quite busy. Hope to stitch more around the holidays though!

[kezihimzes]

A Secret Project

I finished my secret birthday project for my husband. He is an avid collector of everything Soviet (before the 1989 era), so here is The Man in cross stitch. It was stitched based on an ancient, ancient pattern (from, well... the Soviet times of course), and it is quite a relevant gift considering that 2017 is the Centennial of the 1917 October Soviet revolution. 

It took me less than 2 nights (a couple of hours each night), as it is a small piece (2.5″ x 3.5″), and is stitched on 18 count white Aida with 3 DMC colors.

[kezihimzes]

A Finish - At Last

Yay, I finished my Edge of the Week (a.k.a. Hungarian Band Sampler or HBS) - at last. It was a doomed project; the original idea was (2 or 3 years ago) that I was going to stich one band per week (I chose the bands from several books), but this plan soon sank to the bottom of the UFO ocean. Not a long time ago I decided I wanted to finish several WIPs because I just did not feel comfortable with the number of ongoing stitching projects, and the HBS was one of them. As I mentioned before I hated every single minute, every single stitch that I spent with it, but I soldiered on up until the very last row. In the end I even ran out of floss so I needed to order some more, and if all the obnoxious issues (the color of the fabric, some shades in the floss, the monotony of the repeated motifs) hadn’t been enough, the new floss turned out to be quite different than the original batch (darker in tones, and not as many shades as the first group). Oh well, to be honest, I could not care less. 

The (very) good news is that I love all the WIPs that are left to finish so that I can feel comfortable with the number of my ongoing projects, so (hopefully) no more wining and procrastination any more (haha).

Here it is, a few snapshots of the completed piece (it is very, very long and skinny so I haven’t even tried to take a picture of the whole sampler; these images are mostly the new parts).

[kezihimzes]

Chugging Along

Chugging along is the right expression... I honestly don’t have too much fun stitching on two older WIPs (Hungarian Band Sampler and Zodiac) nowadays. They are boring, I don’t like the way they look, and they take a long time to stitch. So now and then I am trying to break the boredom with some “secret” stitches on something I love. Like this Long Dog piece - Castles in the Air, which is actually also among those WIPs I want to finish before I start something new. 

As for reading, I fell in love with The Trick by Emanuel Bergmann and I read it as often as I can. I will have an extremely busy period with design projects so I am not sure how I will be able to find time for stitching and reading... (Sad face).

[kezihimzes]

A Favorite is Back

Now that Not Every Witch is finally finished, my WIP number is officially less than 10 (it is 9)! After all that boring black I am so thrilled to pull out the next piece to finish with its lots of yummy, bright and saturated colors. It is Christmas by Renato Parolin and according to my master plan I have to finish it by the end of this year which cannot be a problem, even if it is not a small design and while there is no confetti per se, there are lots of color changes. I am stitching it on 22 count hand dyed Aida with the called for DMC flosses. Here is how it stands now: 

As for books, I have started two books to find out which one can pull me out of my reading slump. Both of them are very enjoyable, so we’ll see. One of them is The Trick by Emanuel Bergmann and the other book is Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen.

[kezihimzes]

A Halloween Finish!

It has been a tumultuous few weeks including a short hospital stint for me (I am OK now). 

As I mentioned (I think), I would love to reduce the number of my WIPs drastically, and this piece has been among those I wanted to finish this year. According to my plan I am trying to complete 2 pieces/month till the end of this year, plus two larger stitches at the beginning of 2018, and then I will be happy. 

Not Every Witch (my design) should have been done by October 31st, but instead, it is now finished, yay! I started it almost exactly a year ago. I stitched it on 25 count orange Lugana, which I just hate (I mean the count and the fabric type), but I purchased a larger piece of this for very little money so I might as well use it wherever I can. It has been an easy piece as for stitching technique, but it is quite large in reality: 199x259, so it is very stitch intensive, and it has only 2 colors. I was sooo sick of black Anchor in the end, needless to say.

My other WIP that is planned to be completed in October is my Hungarian Band Sampler (no pic today, sorry). Not too much left, but I ran out of floss unfortunately and now I am waiting for them to arrive.

As for reading, I am going through a bit of a reading slump, but I still managed to finish an audiobook (thanks to lots and lots of stitching time), and it has been fantastic; not just the narration but the actual book itself. It is a historical fiction (which I just love), and it takes place in postwar Germany (WW II), how Germans with completely different backgrounds and principles cope with the lost war, and what consequences of their different choices there were. Extremely interesting and thought provoking, mainly because my country (Hungary) had to deal with similar issues (being a faithful ally of nazi Germany in those times unfortunately), and some of these issues haven’t been solved yet even today causing very serious political and social problems. The book is The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck. 

(Image credit: npr)

[kezihimzes]

Small Progress

Although I stitched quite a lot last week, I was only stitching on mainly one piece, Not Every Witch. It is among those WIPs that I would like to finish this year (in fact, I hope I can complete it  by the end of October). I am chugging along, now the upper part is done with the secondary (grey) color and the spider, but the bottom half contains at least as many stitches if not more than the top because it is quite wide. (Big sigh).

Not Every Witch is stitched on 25 ct. orange Lugana (much more orange-y than in the photo) with Achor and DMC, 1 over 1.

As for books, I slowed down a bit. However, I managed to finish The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty as an audiobook. It was quite good in its own genre and turned out to be perfect for me to listen to while I was stitching.

(Image credit: http://www.reditalgroup.com)

[kezihimzes]

Whipping Those WIPs

So I realized that I was not comfortable with the number of my WIPs. I would be fine and dandy with maximum 5 ongoing projects (out of 4 are huge ones, either because of the size or because they are full coverage). As I have now 10, I started to concentrate on finishing 6, because then I could start a new one to end up with my goal of 5 WIPs.

I have 4 that theoretically could be completed either this year or at the beginning of 2018, and 2 larger projects that’ll take more time. However, I can definitely reach my ideal number of WIPs in the first half of next year. Theoretically. But, we shall see.

Anyhow, I was stitching on 3 pieces this week. One of them (The Huntsman) is not among those that I want to finish (it is larger + full coverage), but I loved, loved stitching on this pattern, so I just went on and on until I got bored with it. The very good news is that I reached the bottom, so I am done with (actually more than) a quarter of it now!

Here is how it stands right now - The Huntsman by The Scarlet Letter, stitched on 18 count federal blue Aida with DMC, 2 over 1.

The other two do belong to the ‘to-finish-ASAP’ group to decrease the number of my ongoing projects.

Not Every Witch - design by me; stitched on 25 count orange Lugana, with DMC and Anchor, 1 over 1. I think I finished approximately a third of it.

In January, 2016 I started a band sampler using exclusively Hungarian folk motifs and planning to stitch one band per week. Needless to say my nice plan failed miserably, and the piece was in the UFO pile for a long while. But because I don’t like to leave anything unfinished, I pulled it out, added to the ‘Whip Those WIPs’ group, and am planning to complete it, if possible, this year. I was also so happy to find that I actually liked to stitch on it, in contrast with what I’d remembered. I also know the reason; way back then it became a nagging homework, a task to finish one band a week, no matter what, and it totally embittered the joy of stitching. However, now that it is just one of the projects that does not have any schedule, it has turned out to be such a pleasure! I am stitching it on 18 count tan Aida with Fiberlicious floss (Autumn Wreath), 2 over 1. This is a long, skinny piece, and I am not even at the half of the length (almost, but not quite).

 As for reading, I finished a brand new book, The Burning Girl by Claire Messud. It was OK, and I ended up giving it 4 stars (out of 5), because by the end it did find its way to my heart and I even teared up now and then - and I do appreciate if a book is connected somehow to me emotionally.

(Image credit: The New York Times)

[kezihimzes]

Long Time No Seen

There have been a lot of finishes since I was here! Without further ado, here are some. 

First of all, the Plymouth Sampler is finished, yay! As I wanted to reflect our family, I left out the little girl (substituting her with a tree), embroidered this year’s Roman number and my initials. It is stitched on 32 count Belfast with the called for DMC threads.

Then, I felt like I wanted to do something... summery. Something easy and breezy, so I pulled out Christiane Dahlbeck’s Sommer booklet/magazine and found this that I loved (this is just off the hoop, can’t you tell?) I stitched it on 36 count fabric (I think) with DMC. The branches are either 1 on 1 or back/long stitched, the white flowers are 1 over 2.

Way back I decided (why oh why) that I did want to participate in stitchmaynia, but I definitely did not feel like starting (1) thirtyone+ projects in May, (2) large pieces that would be WIPs again for years. So I had the idea that I would start 15-ish smaller Christmas ornaments that could be finished in a couple of days each. Needless to say, I did not get to fifteen, but I wrapped up quite a few, and this is the last one of that batch. It is a tiny one, you can see a quarter next to it. I stitched it on 28 count Monaco, 1 over 1 (and I loved that!). For this whole stitchmaynia ornament series I used mostly DMC plus a bunch of other type of left over flosses.

That’s all the stitching for today.

I have finished a ton of books (in fact I accomplished my 2017 reading goal back in June - read 54 books in 2017, and now I am at about 62 or so), so I am not listing them all.

Last time I read one of the best books of the year, Stay With Me by  Ayòbámi Adébáyò, a Nigerian author’s debut. It was phenomenal, all the buzz around it is completely justified.

(image credit: The Sunday Review)

[kezihimzes]

Frustrating Weekend

This has been a weekend of frustrations. It did not start badly though.

I am trying out a mini-rotation of 4 weeks (1 WIP - 1 week, from Friday to Thursday), so the Plymouth Sampler is off and Not Every Witch is on. 

The Plymouth Sampler ended up in this state, waiting for its next turn next month:

As for Not Every Witch, I did have quite a lot of progress but it is hard to grasp as the pattern is pretty large (frustration #1). 

I am stitching it on 25 count burnt orange Lugana with black Anchor and grey DMC (forgot their numbers, sorry). 

Pardon me for the cat hair and other stuff.

Meanwhile our library’s largest sale was this weekend and of course we ended up there on Friday evening and again, on Sunday morning (as everything is half price on Sunday). Stocked up a lot of great books: fictions (I don’t read non-fiction at all), classics, and quite a few graphic novels as well. 

But then I started to read Nursery Crimes by Ayelet Waldman (I haven’t read anything by her yet and was happy to discover a light, cozy mystery type book of hers, and also the first one in a series), and when I got to page 116 I discovered that more than 30 pages are missing! They were not removed, they were not mis-bound, they were simply forgotten and missing! Arrrrgh... So I need to check it out from the library now. I was frustrated very much (frustration #2) because I could have finished the whole book by now.

As the price for the books is so low, I usually end up buying lots of books ad hoc: I like the premise, it has a beautiful cover, it was written by an interesting author, etc. One of the books in this group that I picked up is The End of the Alphabet by CS Richardson. Loved the premise, and loved the cover, plus it is a very, very short novel. After the Nursery Crimes fiasco I started reading this one, but it got on my nerves. His sentence structures are quite pretentious and very hard to follow. I think it is supposed to be ‘poetic’ but for me it was just plainly painful. So I dnf-ed it very quickly (frustration #3).

There were some good things though. I was about to flush my NetGalley enthusiasm down in the toilet (with an ‘executive decision’), i.e. abandon my account for ever because reading anything seemed very cumbersome. I chose to read the first book on my desktop and as soon as you decide how you want to read you can’t change it (so I can’t read now that book on my iPad for instance). I hate reading anything fiction on (regular) computer screen. I got 3 more books as advance readings, and I thought that the pc decision refers to those as well. As it turns out, I was mistaken, and I could download them on my iPad (with a new app though), so now I got my enthusiasm back. 

I also started a new audiobook after finishing one (I am done with Mrs. Roosevelt’s Confidante by Susan Elia MacNeal), the new novel is The Bourbon Thief by Tiffany Reisz.

I am so embarrassed to admit that I was attracted to this romance novel purely by its beautiful cover (but I liked the story description as well). Boy, I am so much sucked into this! Can hardly wait to get back to it. Love it so far, but I am only at 30% or so. I never, ever thought I would read a romance, really. To be fair, it appeared in the General Fiction queue in my library Hoopla.

[kezihimzes]

A Quick Update

Just a quick update on The Prairie Schooler project, as it is... finished! Yay! The fourth finish of this year. I don’t think there will be as many finishes this year as in 2016 but I am going to wrap up some larger projects (like the first 3 were). So I guess it is OK :)

As for books, I did finish The Mapping of Love and Death, and started to listen to  Mrs. Roosevelt’s Confidante by Susan Elia MacNeal. It is a mystery-spy novel taking place in 1941 in the White House. It has been OK so far but I am still in the beginning.

I am going on reading Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (I am at 75% now). Very intensive and heavy (the content, not the writing style), so as usual, I am taking it in small(er) doses.

[kezihimzes]

Catching up - sort of...

I am trying to catch up with my WIPs. Originally I planned to finish both A Winter Border Sampler and Jour d’hiver in February; as it turned out it was not a realistic goal to finish them in one month. Now I think a larger piece and a companion smaller one can be wrapped up in one and a half months (as a minimum, but rather almost 2 months). So in this sense I am on schedule, right? :D 

Anyhow, I am working on the next smaller (companion) WIP, Christmas Tree (No. 6 and last) by The Prairie Schooler. It is actually stitching up surprisingly quickly so I am absolutely sure I can finish this one in March - yay! (Can you see the appearing Christmas tree shape - a triangle - it is going to be finished into - like the other 5?)

It is an interesting WIP as there are two Christmas Trees patterns by TPS (Christmas Trees and Christmas Trees II), and each contains 6 individual designs. Now, I don’t like all of the 12 and besides, I have fabric for only 6 anyway. So I cherry picked 6 from both pamphlets but I count all 6 as one WIP; in other words, I am considering this WIP done when I finish all 6. (As I mentioned, I am at the last one.)  

As for the next larger piece, the Plymouth Sampler by The Sampler Company... well, it is totally another question. I will be happy if I could complete it by the end of April as the earliest... (pictures of that are coming later).

The good news is, I have finished the 4th Harry Potter book (The Goblet of Fire) and am about the wrap up  The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear (both are audiobooks). I might be able to complete A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab - but I am starting to realize that my brain is really, really not into the fantasy genre.

[kezihimzes]

Big Finishes Weekend

As I did not have too much else to do I managed to finish two (!) of my WIPs this weekend. 

One of them is A Winter Border Sampler by modernfolkembroidery (on Etsy); this one started purely for an experiment: I wanted to try out a weird linen that I found somewhere. The horizontal/vertical weaving of this fabric is not even: your x-s are almost twice as tall (or wide, depending on which orientation you choose) as it is wide. So not every pattern is suitable for this kind of distortion. I thought the Winter Border might be OK as it is long and skinny anyway. And I liked it so much that this few stitch experiment evolved into a full fledged project very quickly. It took me a long time to finish as it had never been a priority, but in February I decided it was time to wrap it up and worked on it quite a lot.

The other one I finished is Jour d’hiver by Lilli Violette. This is the one I started in January because I just had enough of winter and wanted to have some fun, color and happiness in my stitching. I stitched it on 22 count hand dyed Aida in sun yellow (my dying) with partially Sajou, partially DMC, partially hand dyed threads. Turned out super cute (but not cutesy!), and I can’t wait for finding the right frame for it.

As for books, I did finish 19 books this year, which is not bad. I am reading 4 at the moment and other than the Harry Potter (3rd volume) I am enjoying them all. Have to admit, I am not a big HP fan, and this is the first time I read the novels (or rather: listen to them - they are audiobooks). A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab started out very slowly (not boringly at all, just much slower than I expected) but now it is becoming so exciting that I can hardly put it down. I got a book through NetGalley too that I need to finish in a reasonable time, and it is an OK read, but not fantastic (The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova). The fourth one, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is breathtakingly good, but it has gotten so dense and straining for me that I needed to take a little break.