Sunday, August 23, 2020

Tiger Stitch-a-Long, part 1

Hi everyone! Hope you and yours are safe and well. I am thrilled to report that I have a FINISH on my Golden Lily cross stitch!

I really loved the fact that this DMC kit was designed to be displayed in a hoop -- which was included. It's not a big piece -- the hoop is just under 8 inches across -- but it looks nice in it. Of course, I don't really have a place to display it, but I'll find a little nook for it. I'm really happy with how it turned out!

And speaking of being happy, I've had another MRI and something called an MRV, that looks at blood flow in the veins. The MRI shows that the clot has shrunk, while the MRV shows that blood flow has started up again in the vein that was blocked. Hope this isn't too graphic ... but here's a look at the veins in my brain. The thick vein in the lower left is normal, that skinny little one on the lower right is, at least, flowing again. 

It's not back to normal, and as there's still a clot I'm still on blood thinners and such, but things are moving in the right direction. I'll have another scan in November and hopefully things will look even better.

The next challenge I had was deciding what project to work on next. Would I tackle a large cross stitch kit? Or perhaps another sashiko kit? Or finally dive in to an older needlepoint kit -- the oldest "never started" kit in my collection?

I had advice to put all three names in a hat and pull one out -- which would at least let me know whether I really wanted to work on it. And I had advice to do the oldest project. I thought for a while and realized that I would like to wait until spring to work on the sashiko kit I had chosen for a potential "next", which meant I could easily take it out of the running. And then I realized that I have some other projects I want to work on before Christmas, and the big cross stitch was quite ambitious, I think. So that left this lovely Bengal Tiger kit, which I bought at Liberty in London in 2002.

For some reason, after I bought it, it felt too complicated, too scary. No idea why. So I opened it up, read the instructions again, and sorted the wools.


It's interesting in that it's a printed kit, but has a detailed chart available. (Perhaps that's why it felt complicated???). I have decided that I'll stitch for the most part using the printed picture, but refer to the chart to make sure I can discern the colors if needed -- perhaps on the greenery. 

I put it on my trusty roller frame -- though I needed to visit my local hardware store, because I couldn't get the screws to tighten enough -- and got to work. So far I've stitched the black stripes on the tiger, and have just started to fill in the orange color. 


Again, I think this is the sort of project that, because of the vibrant printing, it's almost difficult to tell what has been stitched! But you can see the black and the lighter orange in this close-up:

My goal for next time is to finish stitching the tiger and start in on the leaves -- lots of stitching, but no counting!

Our next check in is on September 13. Till then, check out all the great projects that the other stitchers in this stitch-a-long are working on:

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, CindyHeidi, Jackie, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Mary MargaretRenee, Carmela, SharonDaisy, AnneConnieAJ, JennyLaura, CathieLinda, and Helen.


19 comments:

  1. First of all, I'm so pleased to hear your health is improving :-) The scan picture and your explanation is fascinating, not gory at all for me. The Golden Lily looks beautiful in the hoop. Well done on another fab finish! You've already got loads done on the tiger and I'm really looking forward to watching it grow.

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    1. Thanks Avis! I'm really happy with Golden Lily -- and it's fun to be stitching on Tiger. Of course, I'll reach the point when the "fun" part is done and the large flat background is all that's left, but so far so good. As for the scan pic, isn't it interesting to see what we look like inside?

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  2. Great news with the MRV ! Brain veins recovering doesn't sound like small feat and I'm glad you're getting better. Well done on the hoop design it looks beautiful and I think you've made the right decision picking up the tiger design. Sometimes we think a project is out of our league until we take it one stitch at a time !
    I remember back when I was a teen, begging my mother to let me cross stitch a project which was worth in supplies than the chart (she wasn't going to keep it) was a ridiculous 140+ colours that weren't sorted, lots of complicated stitches, metallic threads, beading, all sorts. But because the design itself was divided in blocks, I just took it one block at a time and eventually finished it !

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    1. Thanks for the kind words Megan! I do keep laughing about why I thought Tiger was too complicated -- but after the swans piece, I'm ready for anything, needlepoint-wise! There's a big cross-stitch piece that's in the lead for my next project, unless a holiday project jumps in front.

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  3. Thank you for the update on your progress, good news! Continued positive thoughts for you :) Yippee on the finish. It looks fabulous! I love the new project and your making record progress on it already.

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    1. Thanks so much Sharon! I'm thrilled by Golden Lily, in part because it was so quick. :) Tiger is much smaller than my last needlepoint projects, so hopefully it will keep moving along.

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  4. Golden Lily is an absolutely beautiful finish, congrats! I love the next project you are working on. My favorite colors are greens and oranges, so I'm loving it! Wow, happy to hear there are improvements in the blood flow and that you're getting better <3 Sending you all the healing vibes, wishes, and prayers!

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    1. Thanks for the good vibes, Christina! It's fun to be working on a project that is different than I usually do... but one that will still look good on the same couch!

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  5. fascinating picture of Inside your head!
    Glad to hear you're recovering and love your choice of new project!
    claire93

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    1. Thanks Claire! I think I'm going to enjoy stitching the Tiger piece.

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  6. Great news about your health!! And your finish! Your tiger is really pretty and you have gotten so much done. Sorting the threads always seems a little daunting to me.

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    1. Thank you Connie! In this case, sorting the threads was super easy -- there are only 10 colors. :)

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  7. Great news, Sunny!!!! The tiger just needed to age a bit, but he is perfect for right now; I'm looking forward to watching him come to life.

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    1. Thanks Kathy -- I think your suggestion to work on the oldest kit in the basement helped cast the deciding vote.

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  8. One Happy Dance for finishing your Golden Lily and one Happy Dance for your health! The Tiger is a good choise!

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  9. I am glad to know your health is improving. You have completed a beautiful and delicate embroidery. The tiger looks challenging but you already have so much on her!
    An affectionated hugs, Carmela

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  10. Wow, that seems like a quick finish! Of course, I did miss the last check in day. It's good to have a small project, quickly done, every once in a while though. It turned out beautifully. I love your choice of a new project too. In spite of the needlepoint canvases I have languishing I picked up a new small canvas recently. One of these days I'm going to get back to my needlepoint. ;-) I'm glad you're making good progress health-wise too. Keep up the good work on all fronts!

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  11. I was going to say this one will take a long time then I saw how much progress you have made already. So now I think it will be a fairly quick stitch. I hope your health continues to improve and its nice to know you have had good news this time. xx

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