New Start and Element Finish

Hello again faithful readers!  I have to say I've been over the moon the last few days.  Why you may ask?  I got a job!!  After being here for two months I'm happy to say I'll be a tutor at one of the alternative schools doing everything from K-12.  There were two jobs I was in the top running for and although I didn't get the other one I was told I was their second choice and the other person simply had more experience.  I was really surprised I got this job as it said I needed to have 2-3 years of tutoring experience and I have none.  But I am starting my masters program for teaching in December.  The best part is that the job pays $10,000 more a year than I was hoping for.  Now I can finally start paying off my student loans enough to make a dent.  I have to buy another car first though since this job is about 45 minutes away.  I'm planning on joining a gym as well and hubby wants to join me but I wanted to go before work so I have stitchy time and he'd rather go after so we'll see how it works out.

But you're here for stitching and I have some fun stuff to show!

First up is Paradise.  I finished the sun!  I don't have a page finish yet but I'm close.  I'll probably have it tomorrow.  I also started the third line of text.  So progress is being made.

Here it was last time:

And here I am now:

The sun shows up a little better in person.  It's crazy how it blends in though just like the real sun.  I'm really hoping I can get the lines out of the piece but I'm about 99% sure I will.  In this case they're caused because the fabric is really thin.  So once I fill in the space behind it it should be fine.  I would test it but I have to do it in hand.  

The other stitching I have to show is...A New Start!  Yep I haven't had an official new start since I started Paradise.  What did I choose?  

Annya Kai's Rapunzel by HAED!  The bright pink is such a welcome change.  Haed is running a challenge on their Facebook page to do 400 stitches on any of their pieces and we get an exclusive chart.  Hey it was a good excuse for me!  So I decided I wanted to try cross country stitching and I also wanted to try 1 over 1 evenweave with pin stitch.  It turned out really well if I do say so myself.  I hadn't seen a tutorial on an evenweave over 1 pin stitch so I used the same instructions as aida and split the threads.the method I'm using also means I can do it all from the front so I don't have to turn it over at all.  So that's all of 718 done as there were 454 total stitches in it.  It's the sleeve and bodice of the dress as well as part of the skirt.  I'm really wanting to go back to her but I will fight the urge and continue on with Paradise.  I have a little more black done on Halloween Banner Green but not enough to show.  

I also got a ton of new fabric.  The lns near me is closing and is selling everything for 80% off.  They didn't have much white left but I got around 10 yards of fabric for $65 including some cashel and Belfast linen.

The top one is 32ct as well.  They're each around 2 yards and I'm going to use it for dyeing hopefully to sell.  I may try to leach the color first using rit color remover but I'm still deciding.  I was so thrilled with the price and there's another lns not far but they don't have a great fabric selection.

I don't start my job until the 20th and I'm not sure if we get off the whole week of thanksgiving or only a few days but I hope I find out soon because I may have to change my flights.  But I'm pretty sure my uniform consists of jeans and a company polo so I'm happy since I live in my jeans :). So now that I have the job I can spend my days til then stitching instead of searching!  I'm just waiting for them to send me my background check info so I can be official.  Thanks for stopping by I'll see you all with another page finish (more likely two).  I'm off to create my progress bar for Rapunzel!