Joining SALs like there's no tomorrow

Being addicted to Abi Gurden's Tree of Stitches it was obvious that I would sign up for anything she had planned to throw our way. I have already stitched the original tree twice, and I'm in the process of picking colours for the third one. So when she announced the SAL for her Summer Tree of Stitches, I simply yelled "shut up and take my money" at the computer screen and joined up before even looking at the design. Which, by the way, is stunning and unique and calls out to me. I invite everyone to sign up and join us. Just click on the link above and get stitching! Here is the image to get your mouth watering:

The second SAL I signed up for is a special Inc Circles mandala design. We are invited to pick our favourite colours and stitch this beautiful design. You can get all the details by checking the designer's blog. There is also a Yahoo! group where we can share ideas and progress.

These are the colours I picked for this design, but I cannot make up my mind about which fabric to choose. Also, I don't wanna make the dividing line black but I cannot decide on what shade to use, plus, there is the difficulty to assigning colour families to shape families, so it is not as easy as it bloody seems and every time I go through this I have more and more respect for designers and all the hard work they put into their projects.

FYI the colours I picked are:

(from light to dark)

3608, 917, 915,

963, 962, 335,

153, 209, 3837

800, 813, 825,

I call this version Candyfloss. :)

Tree of Stitches 2.0

I have finally managed to hand over the last of the xmas presents last week! :) One of my best friends was very busy and then she had a holiday. She never knew what I stitched for her! She fell in love with my first version of Tree of Stitches by Abi Gurden when she saw me stitching it, and I immediately decided to stitch it a second time for her. This time I added more warm colours because I know her to like those, and experimented with the hand dyed threads on the double layer stitches. I stitched the bottom layers completely before going on to the top layer, to add colour variation to the individual stitches. I also added more beads instead of some x stitches. I made her owl brown and left the bunny because I wasn't sure she liked it. I'm very satisfied with the way it turned out. And yes, I am getting ready to stitch it again, this time for my parents. ;)

Photos after the jump.

More Tree of Stitches photos

Finally downloaded the close up photos I took of Tree of Stitches in progress! Here are a few, and at the end, you can see the beaded beauty. She's already off to the framer's. Can't wait to get her back!

Under a spell

Tree of Stitches by Abi Gurden

You might know me as the Queen of Procrastrination and the Knight of Many Projects, so it is highly unusual of me to start a design and never touch another 'till it's done, even if we are talking about something tiny. But Tree of Stitches by Abi Gurden is not tiny. It is breathtakingly beautiful though. I joined Abi's Yahoo! mailing list, The Stitch Specialists, specifically for this design after I saw it being stitched by some of my blogger friends. I had the chart for months, but I kept delaying the start with different reasons; mainly because I have so many WIPs already, but also out of fear if I will be able to do justice to the design. I have never used so many specialty stitches in one design. I am a near perfectionist, I put the bar real high for everyone and even higher for myself. In the TSS group I regularly marveled at the beautiful stitching of others and while on one hand they have inspired me to join their ranks as a ToS stitcher, they also made me worried if I was good enough. Correction: they had me worried if I am as good as I imagine I am or am I just conceited? I have seen several versions of the tree, different fabrics and colours and sizes, and I wanted to make mine a bit different. I wanted it to reflect my own personality, the way I like to think of myself. And some of the adjectives I like to flatter myself with is versatile, complex and diverse. So I whipped out all of my hand dyed floss and tried to arrange them to form and represent the full colour spectrum. Took me weeks to decide which ones to use, but it was worth it! I started stitching five days ago and hardly stopped since! Tree of Stitches has allowed me to experience the flow of creation, making me forget the time and everything around me, forget mundane things, such as eating and sleep, kept me up 'till 3 a.m. and still leave me with more energy than I had before! And behold the magnificent sight now! The beading is still to be done, but she is already a breathtaking beauty! Is it a sin to be in love with your own stitching? Well, guilty as charged!