QS MERMAIDS TREASURE

Confession time. I have to admit, I found The Chess Match daunting. Maybe it's my 28ct fabbie. I swear my eyes were straining to death. Anyway, I have decided to put it down for awhile. (Take note... for awhile...not permanently). And instead, I am going to tackle Sara Butcher QS Mermaid Treasure.

So far, I've had 3 nights to stitch on it... and it's going good. Relaxing even. So long as I remember not to stress about the back.

A group of local stitchers here in the Philippines decided to do a MARIMAR SAL. Basically, you get to pick ANY mermaid pattern and stitch it. I picked the QS Mermaid Treasure. The rest are mostly doing the mirabilia mermaids. I wasn't going to join until my Panda encouraged me and said joining a local group might help me improve. And so I did.

My QS Mermaid Treasure is being stitched on a 14ct white aida, 2 over 1, full cross. And I've decided to use my Qsnaps since my Fairy Idyll will remain on my floor stand. I intend to visit her every weekend. So basically... I'm doing rotation between the two.

Trying to use this technique... I tie a knot on my threads... enter my cloth from afar.. and start stitching... effectively stitching over the travelling thread underneath and so I can snip off the knot after a bit. Does that make sense?

I would usually start with a loop which I tug under then with my end threads, I would turn the scroll/qsnap over and insert through the rest of the backing. But this time, I decided to try the other way. Is there a term for what I'm doing?

I'm also stitching by color. After I've gridded the cloth, I decided to stitch by page, by color. So now I'm stuck on lavender. I just realized this pattern has a LOT of purple shades. Thank heavens I like the color!! And I'm using different highlighters to mark my pattern per day. So I can see how much I've stitched by the day.

Am I anal enough to count the number of stitches I make in a day? No... I don't think I am. I'm just happy to see the days color spread... meaning, I stitched a lot.

Well, good luck to me! Hope I can stick this one out. I was really going to put down Chessmatch and was eyeing my Flying Swans storykeep....but then this SAL came along. So... Mermaid's Treasure it is.

HAED QS Mermaid Treasure by SARA BUTCHER

As of Feb 23, 2012

Joining the cross stitch facebook groups has helped me a LOT in improving as a stitcher. Heck. Prior to facebook and the HAED site, I only knew ONE way of stitching. That's 2 over 1, full crosses. Whatever my elementary teacher taught me and whatever DMC Phil taught as well. Now, my scope is wider. And I'm less scared to tackle big projects.

All I have to remember is ONE STITCH AT A TIME and... F*CK the back, just ENJOY.

And I am.