My obsession with heaven and earth designs

Well today I received some heaven and earth design charts through the post from another cross stitcher...they are ones that she won't stitch as her tastes have changed. So I got out of my craft cupboard my purple wallet that I keep my heaven and earth charts in.

Here they all are....I have 15 hard copies. So I then looked at the saved files I have got on the pc and I have 14 charts on here as well ! So that is 39 charts in total...plus 3 that I am working on. Some of these charts have 45 pages in them...actually quite a few of them do as I seem to get drawn towards the BAP's (big ass project). My lovely man has also ordered me the 'name' chart as an xmas present...and I have a wishlist of 10 on the heaven and earth designs website. I will never be able to stitch them all in 10 lifetimes but I know my collection will get bigger and bigger. There is one lady in a online group that I belong to who has over 200 of the charts. I have got a way to go till I get till that level but I wouldn't be surprised if I got there one day.

Fabric....

Well I love fabric and I know I am not the only one out there who does. I have recently been given a sewing machine by my friend and I will learn to use it properly (when I have time). I do use the fabric's for making my 'hoop art' and for backing christmas decorations etc. However I have a little collection going on that I thought I would share with you. I have brought the fabric's from various places such as facebook pages, websites, and off cuts from shops. Right well here goes

So that is my little collection of fabric, I like to look at them as they are so pretty ! Hope you enjoyed having a look at them as well.

Glimpse of a Unicorn

Well I have spoken about Heaven and Earth designs quite a lot so thought I would share my progress on one of their charts that I have. The artwork is by Anne Stokes and the very talented Michele Sayetta has converted it into the cross stitch chart. Their website is https://heavenandearthdesigns.com/ if you like cross stitching then I suggest you pop on over and have a browse. The good thing about Heaven and Earth charts is that there are no fractional stitches involved and no back stitch !!
Glimpse of a unicorn is a huge 47 pages and is 450 x 675 stitches....so yes that is  303750 stitches in total. It is going to take me years to complete but it will all be worth it in the end.

So this is how the finished design should look:

and this is what mine looks like so far.... I have nearly completed pages 1 and 2 and have started on page 7. I started on page 7 as that is under page 1.

 I use a hoop to help hold the fabric whilst stitching and here is my 6 year old son holding the hoop up (so you can get an idea of how big it is)

Here he is holding up the fabric so you can see how huge it is going to be once completed.

I am stitching it a bit faster now as I have changed the method that I use. I now highlight the bits that I have done on the chart using different colours each day so I can see how much I have done. This helps to spur me on

Also instead of picking a colour and whizzing all over the place I now see each 10x10 square in its own right. So I complete 1 10x10 square at a time and use the 'parking' method for my threads. I really cant work out how to explain parking...but there are lots of guides out there. Basically  when I have finished with the particular thread I have got in that 10x10 square I look in the next 10x10 square down and find where that colour is needed next. I then pull up the thread in that bottom left hand hole and leave it hanging there for when I need it.

Here is a close up of the 10x10 squares..you can see the page is gridded.

I also have another 2 Heaven and earth designs on the go...another huge one and a small one. I also have files stored on the oc of charts that I have brought or been RAK'd (random act of kindness) and have also got lots of their charts in my craft cupboard. There is a huge 50% off sale at the moment but I am resisting tempation as I have promised myself I will not buy another chart until I have got 1 of mine finished.

Happy stitching...crafting...etc x