Close Enough

Lessons learned. Always check your work. Turns out I had missed some outlining and a few squares of orange braid.  Still waiting on that to arrive.

As the final touch, I added the gold rays around the angel's head. This gold braid can drive someone to drink. I found I had to tack it down to prevent the strands from bending. Overall, I am happy with how it turned out.

This piece is stunning. I cannot believe I took it on, but I really can't believe I finally finished it. I will never top this. I will cherish this for the rest of my life.

Pick up something you have put down, no matter how long ago. Never give up.

99% Complete

At 10pm on May 18th, a miracle occurred. I sewed my last glass seed bead and touched my last piece of blending filament!

Final Push

The end is in site. I'm working my way through the pattern, top down, left to right.

I had to purchase stronger reading glasses to help me see the needles and the linen.

As luck would have it, I ran out of orange braid! I can't find it locally, so I've had to order it online. I almost had enough.  :-(

Something came over me and I decided I was going to finish this project. I had done too much to just leave this in a carrying case.

Here's where I started at the beginning of May 2014:

What has held me back from finishing is the blending filament, orange braid, gold braid and glass beads. I was having trouble getting the beads to fit through my needle. I had a beading needle, but did not have a thread that would fit through the eye. After posting my problem on everythingcrossstitch.com, I got my answer. I switched to a Sulky thread and my problem was solved.

I forced myself to work on the blending filament and orange braid. Then I filled in with floss. When nothing was left, I worked on the beads.

Did I mention how I feel about blending filament???

Back on Track

Well, took a bit of a longer break than I realized. I am back on the horse, working my way through the gold thread. Almost out, so I will need to purchase more. I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. If I can get on a regular schedule of working on this, I could possibly finish this in 2012. Fingers crossed!

Progress Continues - Can't avoid the braid

Since today is a school holiday, I worked on the Angel for many hours yesterday. The hard part is getting started, then hours pass by and you see how much more there is to do, and finally you reach a threshold when you have to stop.

I started out doing more bead work, then I swallowed hard and took out the Orange Braid. I really don't enjoy working with this thread, but it is in the pattern, so it must be dealt with. Why the dislike? It is too thick for the needles I have and due to the texture, it knots easily. I made the decision to do as much of it as I could yesterday, and I made quite a dent in it. Low and behold, I'm almost out of the thread. I'll have to make a trip to a specialty shop to buy more.

Lastly, I endulged in some old-fashioned embroidery floss. What a joy to just pass a needle back and forth through the thread. No stopping to pick up a miniature bead, no snagging on the fabric. It is almost too much.

Now I really want to finish this project so I can go back to working with materials I really enjoy. This Angel will be a treasure for the rest of my life, but the journey is long and arduous.

Here's a close up picture of the work. You can see the beads, orange braid and floss much better.

Plodding Along - One Bead at a Time

I worked on this in stops and starts yesterday. Kept getting interupted. Bent my beading needle, but it still works. I'm doing all of the beads at the bottom of the skirt, leaving the dreaded gold thread and blending filament until last. I have a feeling this will come back to haunt me.

Next time I will work in floss. It makes it so much easier to bead when there is floss in the holes to guide me. I thought I had a major catastrophe yesterday when some beads weren't lining up. Only had to rip out a couple. Just one thread off can throw the whole design off. !!!