Back of Sapphire

It has been begged of me to show the back of my work.  I am very embarrassed to say that it's not very neat.  Looks more like a rug with all of the color changes...LOL...but my friend begged so here we go.

Page 1 Row 4 Done

Finally feeling a bit better tho not sure what's going on with me yet.  I just finished a row.  I finally got to stitch something other than background!  Here are the pics!

Page 1 Row 3 Done

Sorry it's taken me so long for an update this time!  I did really good on Row 3 till Tuesday (10/23/12) but then my health took a turn for the worse.  I had 4 spells where I almost fainted on 10/23 into 10/24. I got right into the doctors office and have just been drained of my energy!  The doc office did blood work and that came back normal so next is an MRI of my brain.  I have to get an issue with my insurance taken care of on Monday then the doc office will schedule the MRI.  I finally felt well enough tonight to stitch some thus finishing Row 3.  I hope my health continues to stay like this so I can continue stitching!  I finally got it done tho.  Here are the update pictures!

Page 1 Row 2 Done!

I have had yesterday and today off of work so I've gotten a lot of stitching time in.  I am proud to say that I have finished the next 800 stitches thus completing row 2 on page 1.  Just took some progress pics and here they are!

Page 1 Row 1 done

The first 800 stitches have been completed in this project!  I now have the first row on page 1 done.  There weren't as many color changes or confetti as I expected so that's nice, but with the big blocks of the same color I noticed I got bored easily.  That could be because the colors are so dark there's not much of a difference in them.  I have also noticed that it is stitching up darker than what it looks in the project sample picture but that is okay, it will look fantastic when done.  Also in column 4 I seem to have gridded only 9 spaces instead of 10 so if it looks like I'm off on my gridding I am.  I just pretended I didn't notice my mistake and am just sorta ignoring the gridding till I can fix my problem.  Here are the update pictures I just took!

Start Pictures!

Well I have officially started my first non-freebie HAED (Heaven and Earth Design).  I have completed the first 100 stitches and thought I would mark the occasion with some pictures of the first 100 stitches. The colors are all very similar so I hope the camera picked them up well enough!  The first square (10x10 square) was mostly one color with a few other colors added in.  Here they are!!

Gridding

I got home from getting the materials for the Sapphire project and started gridding right away.  I am not sure if I should grid the whole fabric of just as I go along.  I know in my head that I should do the whole thing but I am impatient!  Took a picture of the clean, crisp fabric, and of my gridding.  Here they are!

Supplies

Well, I did it!  I went out and bought all of the threads, fabric and a few other things so I can get started with Sapphire.  Spent a bit more than I planned on but that's okay!  I ended up going with 18 count Aida fabric as that was the only piece they had that was big enough for this project.  It's huge!  I can't wait to get started!!

Progress Pics of Stacked Cups

Here are the pictures I have taken on my progress of the project Stacked Cups.  If I remember right there is something in the red and black checkered squares on the bottom cup that isn't matching up which caused it to become a UFO (Unfinished Object).  So I will need to do a bit of unstitching before I can work on this one.  First I have to FIND the project..

Stacked Cups Project Sample

I was searching through my computer pictures and came across the project sample for the Stacked Cups project so thought I would add that here as well.  Next I will do a post of my progress pictures for Stacked Cups...

Stacked Cups

I suppose I should keep you updated on the Stacked Cups project here too since it is apart of the Challenge.  I just moved and have no unpacked the 'Stacked Cups' project yet.  So my first priority is to locate this project.  Once I do locate it and if my memory is correct I have some frogging (term for unstitching) to do before I can continue on with actually stitching.  Once I find this project I will take pics of this too.  I have just charged my camera battery so it is ready and waiting to take many, many pictures of these two projects!

Fabric and Thread!

I have not had a chance to start this project yet because I still need to go purchase the fabric and threads.  I get paid tomorrow (technically today) and my first stop post the bank will be the craft store to pick up the supplies for this project.  Then I plan on starting it as soon as I get home from the craft store.  I am sooo excited and cannot wait to post a picture of my first few stitches!  I will probably here with start pictures tomorrow afternoon.  For now I need to figure out what count fabric I will be doing and if I will be doing over 1 or over 2.  I am pretty sure I will be doing 25 count fabric.  I also need to decide if I am doing aida cloth or even weave.  So many decisions to make on this.  I will be letting you know probably tonight or maybe when I have my start pictures!

The Challenge...

So Sherry has also decided to give me a challenge.  As many of you know who follow my stitching, I tend to start a ton more projects than I finish.  So she has set a challenge for me!  If, no I should say WHEN I finish this project and if I give decent amounts of updates, and I finish a smaller project that I started eons ago called 'Stacked Cups', Sherry will RAK me another birthstone chart in the same series by the same designer.  What better incentive than that to finish a chart.  And I have to say I feel much more motivated to finish something that A) I love and B) Was a gift.  So I am going to do my best to finish both projects.

Project Sample and Story

So I am very please to announce that I have a new blog for this project!  My friend Sherry has sent me this chart thru a feature on the Heaven and Earth Designs website where you gift a person a cross-stitching chart.  I am very humbled to say that she has RAKed (also know as gifting) me a chart.  Here is the chart she has sent me!