So Much Goodness!

First off hi everyone!  It's been two weeks since my last post but I have a lot to make up for it!  So saddle up for the ride! 

First off this is my 100th blog post!  So to celebrate I'm having a giveaway!  I'm giving away a chart from Tilton Crafts.  HAEDs get a lot of love but not too many people I see stitch Tiltons so it's time to spread the love :). 

The rules are: you have to be a follower.  You have to comment on this post that you want to be entered.  And you have to begin it sometime this year.  I'm being a bit selfish on this one lol I like watching big pieces progressing :)

I've made progress on three pieces this post!  Including a new start 😳

First up is Paradise:

Last time:

This time I just finished up another page:

I really wanted to have a page finish on this before I posted so that's what took so long.  The colors look washed out but that's because it's now night and there have been storms all day so no chance to take a picture.  But the colors are starting to mute a bit too before we start getting into the deep blues.  And yes that is some purple we see.  I got to go to my floss stash finally and pull out several new colors.  Yay!  We will see the first official blues when I finish filling in the mountains.  And on that note see the bright yellow just to the left of the purple mountain?  That's the last of it!  No more 444 for this girl!  I used about a skein and a half in this piece so I'm happy to say that's the end of it!  I think I finished off another couple too but that's the only one I know of for sure.

So what's my new start and why did I start it when I said I wouldn't?

Yep I joined the HAED challenge.  The first one had to be done before March and we had to stitch 1000 stitches in a checkerboard/diagonal pattern.  This is a year long challenge with 6 different components.  It's offered on the HAED Facebook page and there's still time to sign up.  I can say that it was interesting to stitch this way but definitely something I won't do again.  

I chose to do a new start because at least one challenge will be tent stitching and on this new piece in going to try doing both tent and full cross on the same piece.  The background will be rented and the design full.

The design is the exclusive chart I got from Brigid Ashwood's calendar Kickstarter I talked about several months ago.  I talked to Michele and she said it counted since they charted it.  

This is the design and I have the part in the middle of his forehead and above his left eye done.  It's the exact middle.

I did an interesting dye for this chart.  

 It's darker in real life.  The colors correspond to the symbols around the frame.  The red ended up bleeding a bit but they should be covered by stitching so I'm not worried.  I'm excited to see how this one ends up.

Lastly I've made a bit more progress on Halloween Green.

Last time:

Now:

Not much but I only work on it when I'm away doing laundry or something.

On the personal front things are going well.  My hubby just got offered a permanent position at work!  No details yet because he had to talk to HR first but it couldn't have come at a better time.  Our lease is up in the middle of March so once we know how much he will be making we can start looking for a new place and get our things out of storage.  As for me I've already finished a semester of school except for one last bit in my last class.  I'll finish it tomorrow hopefully.  I started school in December so if everything goes well I can start my student teaching next January.  As it so happens my little cousin (who paradise is for) will be starting hers then too although we're in different states and she's going for her bachelors.  Still it'll be fun.  Tutoring is going well too other than having some issues with motivating kids to work.

Oh well hubby will be gone next weekend so I'll have s nice long stitchy weekend ahead.  And after that it's Presidents' Day weekend I'm not sure if we're going away for the weekend or not but I have 4 days off so I'm excited!  I'm already spoiled by the school schedule lol.  

Thanks for stopping by and sticking with me!  See you next time!