Gobelin

Post of shame

I have this thing that once I start a project I keep going on it for a while but then I get bored and I start another one.

So at the moment I have a “few” projects that just beg to be finished:

Work in Progress

Probably the most “famous” project that I have yet to finish is my needlepoint  cat from Krif. This stitching project is almost finished, I really have a few more stitches to add and then I can frame it and just get over with.

cat needlepoints

But those last few stitches are criminal. So many colors in such a small area, it’s becoming annoying to change the floss every couple of stitches. I thought of buying more needles but then there’s a chance I might lose them and I don’t want to have a bad surprise later.

Another project that is on the last 100 meters is my tulips needlepoint. The thing with this project is that I made a mistake on it and I’ll have to undo and re-do some parts of it. I don’t mind re-doing, its the undoing that will kill me.

Tulips

Still, this project is dear to me and I will most likely finish it by the end of this year.

And then we have the two Geisha’s. One of the is a huge one, when I bought it I was so in love with it, with the bright colors and all, but now that I am actually stitching it the love is slowly fading away. That’s the issue with big projects when it comes to stitching you get bored and even tired of them and its very hard not to give up on them completely.

Geisha Printed needlepoint

The only thing that keeps me going back to this project is the fact that its printed so I don’t have to check a paper every time and count every stitch. That would’ve been criminal.

The second Geisha is a lot smaller and I’ve seen this project on many blogs. I’ve seen the completed needlepoint and the cross stitch version, but the needlepoint version is much nicer.

Geisha

This the most “cleanest” project I’ve worked on. I really just tried to complete each stitching page before going to the next one and the result is really nice. This will probably be finished as the same time as the tulips.

But wait, there are a few more:

Those projects are the “least” important to me. I don’t feel burden to finish them but at the same time I don’t feel like throwing them away either. It’s really sad, but stitching really takes a lot of time. Even if I would stitch two hours per day I wouldn’t be able to finish a project in a month.

And yet, its so addictive that you really can’t give it up as a hobby.

Unfortunately for me, I have one more. This one is a cross stitch from Marjolein Bastin. I made a HUGE mistake with this one. I didn’t keep the same material on which came with the packet. I said to myself that I can’t stitch on that small piece of material and there’s no way that the project will fit on it.

Guess what, now the project is way to big.

Nestingbox with pink boxes by Marjolein Bastin

I still have a lot to learn about stitching and hopefully this year I will have a project or two finished.

⋅ Cross Stitch, Free time, Gobelin, needlepoint ⋅ , , , , ⋅ No comments

Cross stitch birds

I started a new Lanarte project.

I’m an idiot I know. I have at least 10 ongoing stitching projects. In fact I don’t remember the last time I actually posted a completed project on the blog. I should feel ashamed but I am not.

Really I just like to work at more things at once. And if I get bored with one project I can switch to another one.

Here’s a more detalied picture of the project:

This project is actually pretty big and I am thinking of doing it in two parts; what I stitched so far I am thinking in making into a bookmark and the other part I am thinking of framing it after completion.

⋅ Cross Stitch, Free time, photography ⋅ , , , , ⋅ No comments

End of the hiatus?

Is it wrong to enjoy a hiatus?

I must say not blogging for a period was good for me. Not only did I had time to focus on my normal life (work, university, stitching, photography, Johnny… well not in that order) but it was refreshing. Taking a break from time to time is good for the mind.

In a week time I’ll be 25. Yup, I’m getting old.

Around this time I ask myself “What have you done with your life so far?” and I ponder for a while, and then realize that I did nothing worth mentioning. Almost 25 years old and still a lazy bum. I don’t know what’s worse: me thinking that it’s not something to put myself down for (considering there are 7 billion people on this earth and only a few are successful) or the fact that everything I start is doomed for failure.

Maybe I’m just a laid back person that doesn’t get to upset if things don’t turn out well, or maybe I suffer from chronic laziness. I don’t know why but that’s the way things go for me.

And, can you believe I started this stitch work in 2010 and I haven’t finished it even now?

I found it when I was Spring cleaning. Shame on me, how could I forget about my tulip needlepoint? Darn you memory…

I actually stitched a little more on it but forgot to take pictures of it. Hopefully we’ll have sunny weather this week and I’ll be able to take a few decent photos of it. Until then, I’m going back to my work. Hopefully, things will go a lot smother.

⋅ Free time, Gobelin, needlepoint, photography ⋅ , , , , ⋅ 2 comments

Ikebana gobelin

Hmm, I’ve read books, went to a convention, managed to practice Japanese at a normal (slow) and constant pace (even if I’ve had no major improvements), I’ve seen movies, read mangas, went out with friends, went out with Johnny and I even have dentist appoinments (that I managed to go to, so far).

Hmm, if I wouldn’t knew better I could swear I’m doing good.

Oh wait, I just forgot to add the stress (a new source by the way, fresh out of college and full of herself) I get from work. I guess that just balances everything out.

I know that presentation is everything in life, but I’ve never been good at this kind of things and until I manage to find time for artistic photography I’ll just post the scan. Yup, you heard right, I scanned my new stitching project.

I’ve had it done for a couple of days but just never found the time to iron it and to take a decent picture. That and the lighting has never been good enough. This Ikebana was a gift from my sister in law (for my birthday) and I liked it not because it’s a great model (truthfully I don’t find it pretty) but because it was therapeutic. Whenever I was in a bad state of mind, I just picked this up and stitch. It really calmed my mind and at the same time I was doing something productive.

I know I should’ve worked at my cat project, but I seriously can’t work at this project for just 1-2 hours per day. I need days when I can stitch from morning till evening without having to worry that at the end of each day I’ll have to clean up my floss and charts. Meaning, I need alone days, when I won’t be bothered by my family or even Johnny. Sounds mean, but it isn’t, we all need this kind of days.

I have a lot of projects that I’m working at and truthfully I don’t know how many will be finished. And I’m not talking about finishing them this year, I’m talking about ever being finished.

Strange, this post made me a little sad. It just made me think about what a “long life” really means. I don’t know how my thoughts connect to each other, but I was thinking that in a way I am wasting my life away, but then again I’m not. A long life shouldn’t be measured by how many years we live and by other people standards but what we do in our life and by our own standards.

Yet, the thought of stitching my life away comes into mind whenever I stitch for more than a few hours each day. But then again, it’s the only hobby that makes me have these thoughts.

⋅ Gobelin, needlepoint ⋅ , , ⋅ 2 comments