This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs and I’ve got a little bit more done on Precious Dreams.
This is where it was up to last time.
And this is it now, with page three finished. 
I was hoping to get page four done as well as it’s only two columns but just haven’t found the time to pick this up. At least page three is done though, and I’ve done the confetti on page four, what little there was. I only need to whizz down those last two columns with navy now and the top half is complete. I may do that before I put it away to play with something a bit less fiddly, so that I can show you a photo of all of the top half without the frame getting in the way.
For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs:
Avis, Claire, Gun, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Mary Margaret, Renee, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ
Do allow for people being in different time zones, so not posting all at the same time, but it’s well worth doing a bit of blog hopping to see all the lovely projects that are being worked on.
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A slight obsession with books 
February 1, 2020 at 7:02 PM
Looking fabulous!
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February 2, 2020 at 1:13 PM
Thank you 🙂
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January 30, 2020 at 11:29 PM
Confetti stitching is tough and you’re making good progress !
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February 1, 2020 at 1:07 PM
Thanks 🙂
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January 29, 2020 at 7:16 AM
That sounds lovely with all the confetti done already! Enjoy stitchcing it
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February 1, 2020 at 1:08 PM
I am 🙂
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January 28, 2020 at 4:25 AM
I love how you park your threads, and happy that you get a bit of a ‘break’ with just solid background stitching!
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January 28, 2020 at 12:33 PM
Thank you 🙂
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January 27, 2020 at 12:39 PM
Wow! Can’t wait to see what it looks like finished! This must be a bit hard on your eyes.
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January 27, 2020 at 6:45 PM
It is a bit. Even with a magnifying lamp, I still have to squint a bit sometimes.
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January 27, 2020 at 9:24 AM
Great progress and lovely fishes!!!
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January 27, 2020 at 11:32 AM
Thanks. I can’t wait to get onto the rest of the cat’s face!
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January 27, 2020 at 2:45 AM
Getting a whole page done sounds like great progress to me:)
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January 27, 2020 at 11:33 AM
I’d already done most of it so only had to finish a bit. I’ll take the win though 🙂
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January 27, 2020 at 4:38 PM
For sure as you still did it!
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January 27, 2020 at 1:10 AM
Carole, this is gorgeous! Beautiful work. The solid colored areas sure do speed up the stitching time, don’t they?!
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January 27, 2020 at 11:33 AM
Thank you, and yes, they really do.
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January 26, 2020 at 6:15 PM
Sounds like a great plan! Well done on completing page 3!
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January 26, 2020 at 11:28 PM
Thank you 🙂
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January 26, 2020 at 5:41 PM
Such a dreamy kind of picture emerging here. Such moody kind of colours too. I am interested in how you park those stitches too. I really could not do that. Yes, carving out the time for all we want to achieve in our days is sometimes a challenge.
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January 26, 2020 at 11:32 PM
I don’t usually do parking but it’s easier, I find, with full coverage projects. There are another set of columns beneath these, so as I get to the bottom of each column, I park the thread where it’s needed for the square below. That way, I can get stitching more quickly on those squares as the thread is already there. There are less threads being finished off, so less bulk on the back and less waste. I mark the parked threads in orange, on the chart so I know what is parked where. It just looks a mess while it’s sitting there. Thank goodness for hair clips 🙂
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January 26, 2020 at 5:25 PM
It’ll grow very quickly if you have an easy bit to tackle next.
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January 26, 2020 at 11:34 PM
Hopefully. It took me about four hours to do that bit of confetti plus the navy (900 stitches) on that column, so less than that per column for the last two.
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January 26, 2020 at 4:40 PM
The colours add such a depth – really lovely!
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January 26, 2020 at 11:35 PM
The colours look a bit weird close up, but are fine at arm’s length so it should look lovely once it goes on the wall.
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January 26, 2020 at 4:23 PM
How long does it take you to do one of those?
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January 26, 2020 at 11:40 PM
It’s difficult to say. I know it took me four hours to do the last column of 900 stitches, but that was an easy one as it was mostly one colour. Most of it is what we call confetti, which is lots of odd stitches so lots of counting and changing threads. I started this a few years ago but took a long break to do other stuff. I’m trying to finish it this year, but I’ll do other projects in between so I don’t get bored with it again. If I stitched every night and only worked on this, It would take months, rather than weeks.
I usually do much quicker projects but this one just appealed as the cat looks a little like Sammie, or it will when it’s finished 🙂
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January 26, 2020 at 11:43 PM
A coworker of mine did a very elaborate one that took her about six months.
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January 26, 2020 at 11:47 PM
That’s quite speedy. I think my problem is that I do so many different crafts that none of them get a lot of time 🙂
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January 27, 2020 at 1:54 AM
I don’t do crafts but I do too many things at once so I understand
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January 26, 2020 at 4:08 PM
This is really lovely Carole. There is a lot going on and you made great progress 🙂
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January 26, 2020 at 11:40 PM
Thank you 🙂
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January 26, 2020 at 2:55 PM
Good progress! Hugs!
Carmela
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January 26, 2020 at 11:40 PM
Thank you 🙂
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January 26, 2020 at 2:30 PM
This is such an intricate pattern! I am also amazed at your thread parking as I’ve tried unsuccessfully to do that as well.
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February 2, 2020 at 1:22 PM
It isn’t that bad as it’s only 13 colours. What makes it fiddly is that all but three of those are shades of grey.
The parking is quite simple once you find a system that works for you. Ideally, you should do one block of 100 stitches at a time, and do those in rows so you keep parking, doing the next stitch, parking that thread, doing the next etc. That drove me bonkers so I do a combination of different methods.
I grid so I can easily keep track of where I’m stitching, and on this project, it’s invaluable. I stitch as far down as I can in a colour, one column at a time, and then I might carry the thread over to the next column and park it if there’s nowhere else for it to go. If a thread needs to be finished off, I carry it three columns over and tie it off. The stitching over those columns will secure it so there’s no constantly turning over to secure the threads and it keeps the tension more consistent.
When I get to the bottom of the page, I park the thread in the first available spot on the page below, and that’s the lovely fringe effect that I have at the moment. I always mark parked threads in orange on my chart so I can easily see what I’m doing.
I don’t stick to that strictly, but as much as possible and I find it speeds up the stitching and makes it less wasteful on thread.
If you do a densely stitched project, do give it another go and find a way that works with your way of stitching 🙂
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January 26, 2020 at 1:31 PM
Half done is an accomplishment with this fiddly piece, well done! I would need a break too on this, but something light and quick would be a great way to keep the momentum going. It’s really beautiful.
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January 26, 2020 at 11:42 PM
Yes, halfway is an excellent milestone and hopefully it will seem to go a lot quicker for the bottom pages as the columns are shorter. I really do want to finish it this year so breaking it into pages will hopefully let me do that.
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January 26, 2020 at 11:49 AM
page 3 already – yay! I’m always amazed at how you “park” your threads.
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January 26, 2020 at 11:43 PM
It looks such a mess, doesn’t it, but it’s very organised and will make the bottom half much quicker to stitch, with the threads already in place. Can you imagine what it would look like by now without the hair clips though LOL
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