Week 26: Beauty and the Beast, Hogwarts Crest

I have not posted any progress pictures so far on my Hogwarts Crest, so I thought I would do that. This one is very slow going as it is at my parents' house, so I only get to work on it when there is time there. This means that I typically am only able to put in 3 or 4 lengths of floss per week in. Add that to the fact that this one also took an 18 month hiatus, and you have not much progress. Oh well, I still really like this one :)

I am starting with all of the black outlining, just because it is easier to only have to deal with one color at a time with the way I have to store this one.

As for Beauty and the Beast, I actually feel like I did a lot this week!

Lumiere has made an appearance, as well as the puppy footstool :) It was nice to stitch something with such vibrant colors as a change from all of the browns and grays I have been stitching with. The patio floor has been going pretty quickly so far, and on Lumiere's right side it is done up to the greenery. Lumiere still needs his flames, but those are blended with the pearly filament so I have put them off because I hate that stuff. I will try to do them this week. 

Every week gets a little closer, and I am to the point now where I WILL finish this one. The end is in sight, so I have pretty much put everything else that I want to stitch at home aside so that I can have a major finish hopefully fairly soon. I love looking around on different forums and reading other blogs to see what other people are working on because it motivates me. There are so many different things I want to stitch, but I already have so many WIPs that I need to finish one or two before I start any more. Who knows why I like to choose hobbies that take FOREVER? :) Not me, but I sure do love this one!

My WIPs (As of March 2012)

So I have found a way to kind of cheat a little bit with my cross stitching... Okay, it's not really cheating, but whatever it is, it works for me. Since Beauty and the Beast will take soooooo long to finish (I'm thinking probably 9 months total? Don't quote me on that...) I feel like I need other projects going on at the same time so that it doesn't get old. Every time I have multiple projects though, none of them ever seem to get done. I get too distracted with this one, then this one, then this one, and oh, it won't be a big deal to start one more, etc. etc. So I decided first of all, that the projects I do from now on, I have to be really excited about. And I also found a way to have 3 projects going so that they all get attention.

First, of course is Beauty and the Beast. This one stays at home with me and doesn't leave the house. I'm afraid of losing thread colors or transporting it in the car and having it get dirty, so I figured it's best just to leave it at home. I never showed what it should look like when it's done, either. Here is a picture:

It's MCG Textiles/Candamar Designs. Of course, SO PRETTY, right? No wonder I want to stitch this. Anyway.

So my husband and my daughter and I all go to his parents' house a lot and my parents' house a lot. We all live in the same town with our siblings and their kids, so we get to see family all the time. However, a lot of the time we see them is spent just hanging out not doing much, so I figured I could cross stitch in the down time. At my in-law's house, I have just a little petite kit that I got years ago that I figured would be a good one to work on over there. It is going pretty quickly, and I figure it will be nice to have something that I can finish sooner to keep the motivation going. It's called "Count the Stars" by Dimensions.

You will probably find that I like celestial/fantasy/fairy tale stuff a lot. Who cares if I'm 25? Not me!

The piece I have that I am working on at my parents' house is actually a free pattern (which was awesome!). It's a Hogwarts Crest by littlemojo and the pattern is located here. It is actually a decent size design, 250x280, so it will take a while. I'm having fun with the bold outline though, and I decided to do all of the outline before I color it in. I'm a total Harry Potter nerd, so this is perfect :)

There are a couple of changes I have seen made by others who have done this pattern. Mostly they say to move the blue that is behind Hufflepuff to behind Ravenclaw and then find a yellow to go for Hufflepuff. 

Unfortunately because these are projects that I keep elsewhere, I don't have any WIP pictures of them. Hopefully it won't be too long until I can show you a finish for Count the Stars, and I will try to get a WIP for the Hogwarts Crest at some point. 

Well, those are all of the projects I am currently working on. I have plans for what to work on after these are done, but I will save those for another day. :)