Some Really Exciting News!!

Good afternoon!

Sorry for another post, but I have some really really really really exciting news to share!

Those who have been following me for a long time might remember that I have been desperate to stitch this gorgeous fellow since I bought the chart way back in 2014. If you need reminding, or are newer to my blog, then let me introduce Scarlet Macaw Preening (aka Sherlock) by Shinysun's Cross Stitch:

He's a very big project - 400x532 - which I estimate would take about 1700 hours to do, so it was always my intention to stitch just the macaw on a suitable hand-dyed fabric and thus eliminate about 1000 hours of stitching the background!

On three occasions I thought I'd found the right background fabrics, only to be unhappy to continue on any of them, but every so often I would browse the internet to see if anything new had appeared, which it invariably hadn't. Until now when my search is finally over because... drumroll please... I have just purchased this 30x36 piece of 18ct aida:

It's from RiverHutDesigns on etsy and a slightly modified version of Autumns Rainbow (it bugs me there's no apostrophe in Autumns so I'm going to add one from now on). It's got more of an overall pale terracotta tinge than the photo, but even with three different cameras (none of which would correctly focus either) and some photo editing I couldn't get the colours to look right. I'll have to try again another day.

Claire from RiverHutDesigns was excellent and I cannot sing her praises enough for both her communication and actually listening to my requirements. OK, it's still not as dark as I would have liked, but I think that's more to do with being used to seeing the dark background on the chart for the last 10 year than anything, and on this fabric Sherlock is sure going to 'pop'!

I can't tell you how excited I am that my 10 year search to find a suitable background fabric has finally ended. It just goes to show, never say never! And, as a bit of a bonus, the fabric has shrunk slightly from 18ct to 19ct, and the holes have closed up a bit, so I should be able to get away with using just one strand of thread.

As for when I start him, well, 2024 is overflowing but plans (which I will divulge on 1st January) but somehow I don't think a little inconvenience like that is going to stop me, do you??!!

Take care,

Rachel x

Scarlet Macaw Preening - 20 hours

Hi folks!

Good morning on my day off from A-Zing! I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who is reading / commenting on my A-Zs. I will reply to you soon. Also a big welcome to my new followers. Most of you are no-reply bloggers so this is an opportunity for me to say thank you for joining me and I hope you enjoy my other stitching as well as the A-Z.

I know I should have a day off from posting today but I simply can't keep away! You see, Sherlock has been calling me all week so has had rather a lot of attention, which means I am ready to show you an update:

After 10 hours

After 20 hours

All this work puts me 10 days ahead of schedule on my predicted finish date of 8th August 2018 (although I have a feeling I may always be ahead of that date!)

Once I have made a working copy of the page to the right I shall move that way and continue working down. It shouldn't be too long before we begin to see his eye.

Back to the A-Zs tomorrow. See you then...... perhaps ;)
Rachel x

New Start - Scarlet Macaw Preening (third time lucky!)

Good morning!

I have a break from the A-Z Challenge today so thought I would reveal my exciting "new" project. It is, of course, the gorgeous Scarlet Macaw Preening.

OK, I know it's not strictly a new project as it's a re-re-start but it is new in the sense that I'm starting from scratch again.

To cut a very long story short (extended version available on it's own page if you wish to read it) I've finally found a fabric I am happy with (remember, I'm not stitching the background so finding the perfect fabric was extremely important). After two years of searching, and many disappointments, I was beginning to think that perhaps I was destined to never stitch this project. It wasn't just me being fussy either, it was sometimes being let down by companies who couldn't produce the fabric they claimed they could.

Most of the fabric I use for my projects nowadays comes from sewitall.com an extremely friendly and helpful bunch of people who agreed they would be willing to try to create a suitable background. What they came up with was something much paler, plainer and more subtle than anything I had previously considered. Initially I was disappointed as I wanted a deeper and more colourful background, but when I understood the angle they had approached the design from that disappointment quickly disappeared, especially once I had laid out the threads.

Basically the fabric represents the tree canopy but in much paler colours in order to make the parrot "pop" off the fabric.

Once the fabric had been trimmed to size and put on my scroll bars I just had to make a start! As (yet another) reminder, here's the original chart:

And here's my first 10 hours of progress on the gorgeous new fabric:

Scarlet Macaw Preening

Shinysun's Cross Stitching

Stitched on 16ct custom-coloured over-dyed aida from sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch Count - 400 wide by 532 high (260 by 470 without background)

Started - 22nd March 2016

Stitching time to date - 10 hours

This represents about 1.5% stitched..... so not much left to go then!!

My plan (!) is to stitch on it regularly for an average 30-45 minutes per day for the next 2-3 years. This will allow me to continue with my many other projects at the same time and hopefully prevent me from feeling burdened by the scale of this one. And, of course, a project this size means I can once again return to being a Ten Hour Stitcher!

Naturally, plans are all well and good but I've got so many deadlines to stitch for in April that he may already have to be put to one side! We'll see though as I'm fairly certain that now he's started he won't ever be neglected!

Having read all of this back, my posting sounds quite deadpan but I can assure you I am really excited and soooooo happy to be stitching him. The wait was definitely worth it and FINALLY my parrot will come to life. His name's Sherlock, by the way, not because of the detective or TV programme..... I just thought the name suited him.

Back to the A-Z Challenge tomorrow.
Rachel x

Project Restart - help and advice please!

Hello all!

WARNING: V-E-R-Y  L-O-N-G post alert!

A few months ago I mentioned that I would be restarting one of my current WIPs when the time was right. Well, that time is now and the project is..... *drum roll please* .....Sherlock aka Scarlet Macaw Preening.

You may recall that I was not happy with the hand-dyed fabric and after 20 hours of stitching I was hating it more and more. The fabric had also obviously stretched during the dyeing process and was measuring 15ct making the project even bigger than I had anticipated and the thread coverage poorer! So I put dear old Sherlock away and started searching for an alternative fabric, regardless of expense.

I had a successful find at The Crafty Kitten. Dawn was SO helpful and obliging that I can't thank her enough! She sent sample pictures of how various fabrics would take the dyes and cut the piece of fabric to my specified size. So, thank you, thank you, thank you Dawn! You're a star!

As a reminder, here's Sherlock on the original fabric:

 16ct (15ct!) hand dyed Buttered Almond by Silkweaver Fabrics (boring, dull and hardly mottled)

And this is him alongside his new fabric:

32ct hand-dyed Autumn Woodland Belfast Linen by The Crafty Kitten (mottled and colourful)

The fabric pictured is the full size 30" x 40" so that's exactly how Sherlock will transfer to the finished piece (I'm not stitching the background). The blue is slightly more subtle than in the photo and the whole fabric has more of a khaki feel but even with colour adjusting the photograph this was the best match I could get. What do you think? In my mind there's just no comparison and I am absolutely over the moon with my replacement choice. It's definitely going to give the project that forest-type feeling I was looking for.

But.....

In order to get the colour I wanted there had to be not one but TWO HUGE compromises. Not only did I have to resort to evenweave to get the desired dye effect, but to linen too! Throughout my whole stitching life I have never ever stitched on anything but Aida! Ulp!

Although I'm definitely jumping out of the proverbial frying pan and into the raging fire I'll hopefully grow to love the linen and not feel too daunted or frustrated about this rather large and unique task I have set myself. At the moment I'm quite excited as I feel I'm giving Sherlock the background he deserves. And I also know that if I want a really good result I'm going to have to put in the effort of 700+ hours!

However, this is where I need your help and advice please.

The linen is very soft so I cannot get good tension on the millennium frame without the fear of stretching it. Nor does the weave lie fully straight (although it's not actually that far off). So, should I resort to using a large hoop to get even and straight tension? or perhaps Q-snaps? or just try to get the linen as straight as possible on a looser tension?

I'm not a fan of hoops or Q-snaps as I'm very frightened of damaging the stitches and/or fabric and worried about the mass of excess fabric picking up dirt.

If I do use the millennium frame will I be able to manipulate the linen to straighten the stitches as much as possible as I go along and/or once the whole piece is completed? I know with Aida adjusting the stitching is virtually impossible to correct, but as this linen is so soft, might it be possible? I just don't know!

I realize that stitching preferences are very personal but would appreciate any insight you can give me. I've already trawled through various Google searches but haven't really found any helpful answers. Can my virtual blogosphere friends help? I hope so!!!

I'm confused and really just don't know what to do.

In the words of The Beatles - Can you please, please help me, help me, help me...ooooh!!!

All the best and
Happy stitching :)
Rachel x

Scarlet Macaw Preening - 20 hour update

Hello all!

I'd like to start by welcoming my first 11 followers. So hello to Justine, Miss Lilly, Anne, Tamara, Miamina, Gizzimomo, Lauren, qtknits, Ingius, Stephie and sharine. With followers and comments it's a really uplifting feeling to know there are people all over the world who like my stitching. Thank you!

I managed to sneak in quite a bit of stitching on Sherlock over Easter with a couple of late nights as planned. However, stitching slowed down once the children were back at school and I have only just reached the 20 hour mark. So here is the latest picture:

After 10 hours

After 20 hours

I generally don't work one page at a time, but found it easier on this WIP due to the size of the chart. I am staying with Sherlock again and hope to conclude the first row by stitching the left and right hand sides and the top half of his confetti-heavy eye.

I have also made a start on my final new WIP but was told off by my son for not completing enough of Sherlock first (yes Toby, sorry Toby). So, after 4 hours and with my head hung in shame I have put it away which means you'll have to wait a while longer before it's revealed to you! But as a tease, it's another HAED with, unusually, only 31 colours. Any ideas?

Hope you all have a relaxing and stitchy Bank Holiday

All the best and
Happy stitching :)
Rachel x

New Start - Scarlet Macaw Preening by Shinysun's Cross Stitching

Hello fellow stitchers!

First of all, thank you to the replies I had concerning Needle Needs. I'm sad others have also had issues and found them awkward to deal with. By all accounts they are certainly not a customer-orientated company. Please feel free to mention my "rant" to others you know or post a link to it. I would certainly be interested to hear more comments, whether positive or negative.

Now for happier news.....

I'm back with ANOTHER new start although, to be fair, I already had this one planned as a TBC on my WIP rotation at the beginning of the year. I just needed the bars.

This chart was perhaps the most heart-stopping and GOT TO HAVE IT NOW moment I've ever had! I didn't care how big the design was, I just had to add it to my WIP rotation. I had been looking for a decent Scarlet Macaw chart for ages but the birds all seemed too false. This one, however, was perfect even though the finished size on 16ct will be 25" x 33" before framing! Congratulations to Rebecca Latham for producing such a fantastic work of art and to Shinysun's Cross Stitching for charting it!

I am not going to stitch the background, which will cut out well over half the chart, but have chosen a subtle hand-dyed brown fabric. I chatted with Silkweaver Fabrics first to ensure that it was suitable and would look like its screen shot but, naturally, when the fabric arrived it was not what I had expected and disappointment sunk in. It should have been brighter and with a buttery tinge.

However, having spent £40 on the fabric and been robbed of £13 for import duty, I was not going to spend another £7 to post it back for an alternative (they do offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee). After all, who's to say I would not have also been disappointed with its replacement? So I decided to stick with it and the more I look at the fabric now I've started sewing on it the more I like it. At that price it's a case of having to really!

This BAP has an estimated stitching time of about 650 hours! The confetti stitching isn't too bad and the colours are going to be great to work with so I know I'm going to enjoy stitching him. I say him because I've given him a name - Sherlock! Other family suggestions have included Cosmos, Spectrum, Horizon, Mrs Hudson, Cinnamon and Watson. What do you think?

So, here's the first WIP picture. On the full piece of fabric there's not that much to see at the moment but it's going to be very interesting (and hopefully not too boring) watching him grow. For your information, the fabric is browner than the picture shows, 30" wide and only just fits on the top of our chest freezer which is where I laid it for the photo. I said it was big!

Scarlet Macaw Preening by Rebecca Latham

Shinysun's Cross Stitching
Stitched on 16ct Antique Almond by Silkweaver Fabrics 2 over 1
Stitch count 400 wide by 532 high (260 x 470 without background)

Started - 15th April 2014

Stitching hours to date - 10

I'm going to stay with Sherlock for another 10 hours so (with hubby away for a few days) I'll be back soon with a second update.

All the best and
Happy stitching :)
Rachel x