Half Cross Stitch -- Which Way?

I have three, no, four, Christmas UFOs at the moment, and I won't finish them all, but I'm going to make a push on this one:

Dimensions Gold, "A Kiss for Snowman"

I thought it would look cute if I finished the figures before I started the background, and I think it does!

It feels like ages since I've done any cross stitch, but I think I last touched this piece in June. That was when I decided to unpick all the half cross stitches from the blue snowman body. It took two days! The trick was to pull them out without damaging the full crosses. It only took one day to stitch them in again.

Why did I put myself through that? Crazy perfectionism? Maybe. But here's the issue:

I am never really sure which way to stitch the half cross stitches. Should they slope up to the right, like the first or bottom layer of a full cross stitch, or up to the left, like the top part of a full cross? I have done it both ways on different projects. As you can see, the Dimensions instructions say to slope up to the right, like the lower layer of the cross stitch. And that's how I started with the snowman body.

But, I didn't like it. There was a clear shadow line where the stitch direction changes. So on the snowman face I stitched the half crosses parallel to the top stitch of the full crosses, which smoothed it all out and made the shading more natural. Then, once both figures were done, I realized I had enough thread left in the kit to restitch the body so it would all align.

From now on, I'll be stitching the half crosses in the way that gives the desired effect, rather than just unconsciously following the pattern!

The next step is to stitch the entire background in half crosses going the other way, so hopefully the figures will stand forward a little. And hopefully, it'll be done before Christmas!

Slowest Quilter Ever?

Blogathon Canada is on this week, and today it's Ontario's turn. Since the lake in "Lakeview" is Lake Ontario, I'm up!

Heather at Peace Love Quilt suggested on Thursday that she may be the slowest quilter ever, but I think I could challenge for that title! I started my first quilt in the late 70s, my second quilt in the late 80s, my third quilt in the late 90s, and I didn't finish any of them. (Although the third one may still get finished.)

It's just about a year since I finished my first quilt:

Nine Patch Jubilee, 54" x 66"

I'm now up to three:

Highlands Houses, 19" x 19"

And this flimsy is probably the next one to be quilted:

Mod Trips, 60" x 60"

Not all my projects are red and white! The quilt that I started back in the 80s was a Texas Star, from Judy Martin's book Scrap Quilts. Machine piecing all the Y seams did me in, but two years ago I started it again using English Paper Piecing.

The stars are about 3 3/4" across, with 5/8" hexagons and 1 1/4" diamonds, and to make a 60" x 80" throw I calculated that 333 stars would do the job. I'm very excited, because I'm only about two weeks from finishing them all!

Of course, the next step is to sew them all together. But it will be a big milestone on a quilt I've been planning since the 1980s!

I think there are three reasons everything takes so long. One, most of my projects are ambitious, like Judy Niemeyer's Prairie Star...

...which I've realized is going to be a heck of a lot of sewing, but which I hope to get back to in the new year.

Reason two is that I enjoy a lot of hand stitching -- including embroidery...

L'Herbier

...stitchery...

Best Friends Forever

...and applique:

Trick or Treat Baskets

Although, I really shouldn't show you that one, because I'm pretty sure I've changed my mind about the fabrics.

In 2013 one of my resolutions was to hand quilt a project, and I did -- this pincushion!

Hand quilting is still on my list of things to learn.

And reason three why it takes me so long to finish anything? Too many things on the go! But you know, the great thing about blogging is that it's mainly about the journey. I hope you'll join me!