Hello everyone,
Here is the update post for my SAL project called Getting Ready. It’s from a kit by Design Works and the picture is part of an artwork by Ronald West.
This is where I was up to last time.
I’ve now got the top right corner squared off.
Here it is with the backstitch added.
Each of the square sections I stitch are 54 x 54 crosses and I’m trying to average getting about half of one of those squares done every three weeks. That’s 1458 crosses plus backstitch. As each cross is made up of two stitches that’s 2916 stitches or 5832 passes of the needle through the fabric. I appreciate this is nothing like the density of a Heaven and Earth Designs cross stitch on 18 count fabric but I just thought it was quite staggering what my crafty little hands get up to while I’m daydreaming.
We’re welcoming Deborah into the SAL this time. Please pop over to say hello and hop around the rest of the lovely blogs by clicking the names below. There’s a lot of really lovely stitching going on. We live all over the world so you’ll need to allow for time differences. Posting takes place every third Sunday local time.
Our next updates will be posted on the 19th August 2018 when Connie will be joining us again.
Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina,
Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Mary Margaret,
Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Tony, Megan, Timothy, Catherine, Deborah
About the SAL
This SAL (Stitch Along) is slightly different to other SALs in that we don’t all stitch the same design at the same rate. We choose ONE unfinished project, or ONE new one, and show progress of its completion over a series of three weekly updates. There are no deadlines and no set amount to stitch. The result is that the space in our drawers full of WIPs (works in progress) is gradually being freed up to store lots of new crafty goodness. It’s surprising how much motivation I’ve gained from being in this SAL. If you’d like to finish a project you’ve left unfinished for a while, or start a new one with us, you can join us by leaving a request in the comments below or sending me an email. The address is on the right of this page. I’ll send you a few simple rules to agree.
Sewing Beside the Sea 
claire93
/ July 29, 2018with statistics like that, it sounds such an awful lot of stitching lol.
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ July 29, 2018I won’t bore you with the total number of stitches we’ll be doing on this LOL.
katechiconi
/ July 29, 2018The backstitching is like magic, bringing things into focus. I hope you haven’t scared yourself with all those figures!
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ July 29, 2018They are scary numbers, especially when the ones I included are only for a small section of this piece. Your cushion is also very stitch intensive.
katechiconi
/ July 29, 2018True, but I absolutely don’t want to know how many I still have to do!
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ July 31, 2018🙂
Lindashee
/ July 29, 2018Beautiful progress !! Personally would much rather stitch something like this than a HEAD as I find HEAD look like quick conversions of illustrations with far too many colours and not optimised for stitching. I have a hard time understanding why some people like to stitch those gigantic designs and with so many colours, but that’s just me haha.
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ July 29, 2018The HAED designs are a challenge too far for me but I can see why some people love them. I’ve just looked at Claire’s progress and I think she’s ahead of me now!
Carole
/ July 29, 2018It sounds like a massive amount when you start doing the maths. It’s looking good though. Just look at those legs 🙂
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ July 29, 2018She’s such a show off!
kathyreeves
/ July 29, 2018It is mind boggling, how many times we poke a piece of fabric for fun! A great amount of fabric covered this round!
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ July 29, 2018It is! This one’s been like colouring in LOL.
Ginny @ Mytimestitching .com
/ July 29, 2018Great progress! You are moving right along. I love the colors. I am looking forward to your next update.
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ July 29, 2018Thank you Ginny. We’ve had a heatwave here so it’s been hard going recently.
Christina
/ July 29, 2018I love how you set your goals Avis! Well done on finishing up the corner 🙂
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ July 29, 2018It keeps me going 🙂
tonymarkp
/ July 29, 2018This is why I don’t think about the numbers too much. It’s staggering, though, isn’t it?
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ July 29, 2018I wonder how many stitches it takes to knit one of your sweaters? I’d guess a lot more than a cross stitch project on average.
tonymarkp
/ July 29, 2018LOL that is where it is easier to know because if you knit an entire sweater in the round you have to know how many stitches you’ve got on your circular needle. So, if you have on average about 350 stitches on the needles and you knit 150 rows, that’s a lot of stitches in the sweater. Not an exact number because of shaping with increases and decreases, but still, wow. The more daunting thing, though, is a shawl knit in the round with lace weight yarn. You usually knit those from the center out, so you increase often, to as many as 1000 stitches if you want a big shawl. Then you have to bind all those off, which could take a week.
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ July 29, 2018Got you going Tony LOL!
Catherine
/ July 29, 2018You’ve done a lot, and it is really coming together. It sounds like you e had lots of time to think about how much work is required too! I try to avoid that – it scares me too much!
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ July 31, 2018Yes, it is quite scary 🙂
rutigt
/ July 30, 2018Like!! So many stitches…….. 🙂 It´s too hot for that 🙂 Anyway…..thanks for the information! 😉
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ July 31, 2018LOL!
craftycreeky
/ July 30, 2018It’s quite scary when you work out how many stitches in even a small piece of cross-stitch! Looks fab!
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ July 31, 2018It is. Then there’s the knitting, the crochet and the machine stitches to count too hehe!
rosejasm
/ August 1, 2018I love that you have worked out the stitches!!
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ August 14, 2018Too scary to multiply it up for the whole project 😉
teamwilsun
/ August 2, 2018You and Claire are both getting so close — but please never tell me how many stitches I have left! 🙂
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ August 20, 2018OK I promise 😉
lbick
/ August 7, 2018Wow that is a lot of stitches! It is looking great. The backstitch really makes it on alive. Bet it feels good to have the backstitching already done.
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ August 14, 2018It does feel good. Why I’ve never done it that way before is a mystery. From now on I’ll be back stitching as I go.