Slow stitching, Project Alpha and Stitch a longs

Well, both has-and hasn't -been a lot going on since I last posted here. The pain has kept me from stitching for a number of days in that time. Anything I do with my hands increases it and so I tend to 'use' it up, so to speak, typing at work.

There has been some progress though. I got through Glamour's rotation and was actually able to stitch a little bit on it. It is a shame that Glamour doesn't photograph well with all those light colors, because it is such a beautiful chart in reality. I nearly finished the first (last of the pattern) page.

Project Alpha: My DH loves to play war games and shooters, hence the new name for my project. At some point we intend to turn one of the rooms in our house into an all-out man cave. He has requested that Mini Soul Mates go in that room. Now we all know that I don't much concern myself with finishing things anymore, but once upon a time I was a one at a time stitcher and had to finish things. I'm pretty happy as long as I'm stitching in my poke- a-long slow way, but, since he wants it, I'm inspired to work more on this project. I will pick it up a least a couple of days a week and will hopefully finish in the next year and half. It will be at least that long before we do the man cave anyway and that gives me plenty of time. (I hope. I am slow.) Project Alpha = my focus piece. Haven't had one of those for a long while. Anyway, here is an update on Mini Soul mates after my latest week's stitching.

I've done a tiny bit more on that row since I took this pic, and hey, I've got wing tip! lol, I am so excited to see some color in there. It is no hardship to make this a focus piece as it is a pleasure to work.

And hmm, lost the rotation right there, yesterday. You see, Teresa and Molly the black lab decided to make a sort of RAK to the stitching world by having Matt Stewart's The Eternal Promise made into a mini. Teresa herself has the original and has no plans to stitch the mini so it was just an unselfish sort of gift to all of us who long to stitch the chart. I have the new release, which is even  bigger than the original, so I don't need it right?

Well, originally I was going to have it done myself and was furiously saving my pennies. At first it was all noble, I wanted it for a friend who loved the chart but was just never going to stitch anything that big. But then I got to thinking I'd be able to stitch it that much sooner if it was a mini and got pretty excited about it myself.

Here is a link to Mini The Eternal Promise.
And here is a pic if you have forgotten the pattern.

To add fat to the fire, someone went and made a Lord of The Rings SAL on facebook, then Liz got it up and going on the HAED Bulletin Boards. Oh how I longed to join! The first 'big' book I ever read as a child was The Hobbit. I have a life long interest in the LOTR. But there was no way I could afford to kit up the full sized chart, even if I used 2 yards (2 yards!) of the cheapie 14 count they sell locally. So, long story short, the mini came out, HAED is having a Halloween sale at 35 % off and I bought the chart for less than 8 dollars. Who could resist that right?

I have a piece of 18 count and after pulling floss I need about 20 colors still, and don't know when I will be able to purchase them, but, yesterday I put the first 50 or so stitches in on Mini The Eternal Promise. I have decided to forgo the Kreinik and just use white but other than that I will stitch it as charted.

I was a little concerned about how 'small' the Mini counted out as compared to the size of the original, and by how quickly it was released after the request was made. But I have so far had excellent results with my HAED charts and decided to trust Michelle's charting and go with it. I will almost certainly stitch the full sized chart one of these years. But I am limited so I am loving the idea of stitching the mini.

So, LOTR SAL, and I am waiting to see what the HAED SAL will be this year before I decide on that. I think I will not get to do the Shineysun's SAL on FB since there is now money for a pattern or to kit one up right now, but I will follow that one with a great deal of interest since some of their charts have grabbed my attention.

That is all for now stitchy friends.

Happy stitching this week!