Traffic Sampler update

So, I'm still working on the Traffic Sampler Birth Record for my nephew. I've done a couple more cars on it and while I hate doing the backstitch for each car I love how they already look finished when I'm doing with them. Some of the backstitching on some of the cars has been harder than others but I still find that whole process tedious and boring.

Here's my latest updated photo. I'm going to take a break from this design for a week or two and work on something else. Heaven knows I've got plenty of projects on the go right now.

Traffic Sampler Birth Record

I'm working on a birth announcement for my nephew. He's 3 1/2 right now, but that's okay because his older sister didn't get birth announcement until she was 5. I started one that I liked but I've had problems and I didn't like the purple panda so I went looking for something else. Since he likes cars and trucks that was what I was looking for. Then I found this:




This is how much I've got done so far. I'm hoping to get it done and framed by Christmas or his birthday in January.

Backtracking

So I've been working on a project for a friend. Unfortunately I found a mistake in what I had done. I could have redone the rest of the pattern to compensate for my mistake or rip out half of what I had already done and do everything right. I'm a perfectionist at heart so any mistake left uncorrected would bother me so I ripped everything out. Here's the before and after pictures of what I had to undo. Believe me when I say I wasn't a happy stitcher.

The project went from this:





To this:

New Stash acquisitions

Here are some pictures of some new stash acquisitions. I don't need any more stash, but I couldn't resist. That's two pieces of 28ct Jazlyn in English Rose and Amaretto. The rest of my Geisha kits, some linen charts and a Christmas booklet.

QS Curl Up With a Good Book SAL

On Heaven and Earth's forums I signed up for a QS (quick stitch) freebie. It's a smaller portion of a larger chart. The one I picked was Curl up with a Good Book. Every other month you get a new page of the chart and you stitch it up. If you can post 6 pictures of your progress throughout the year (even if you don't finish) you get access to the other freebie QS projects. I'm not making much progress but here is what I have so far.

When there's nothing left but backstitching

I love to cross stitch but I hate to backstitch. There's just something tedious about backstitching that I've never liked. The effect of backstitching though can make a project amazing. Unfortunately I usually leave the backstitching until last and then I don't want to work on the project any more.

I've "finished" two projects recently where all the cross stitching is done, but I still have backstitching to do. Those projects are:

A Star is Born:


and

Adobe House:


It's pretty obvious in the first one that the backstitching is necessary if I want the words to show up at least. In the second one I could probably leave it like it is but the backstitching would make it so much better.

Now these projects could just sit around and never get completed but I'm hoping to make a goal to work on them during UFO week. It's the first week of the month were you try to work on Un-Finished Object. You know, those projects you put aside and never think you'll finish. I think I can handle backstitching for one week of the month. And it would be nice to really finish a project beyond the backstitch. Stay tuned.

A new start

This is my next project I started. Can you guess what it is?