Cross Stitch Coloured Blackwork

[bk_forever]

Yay! I've managed to complete another set of designs! These ones are a mix of cross stitch and coloured blackwork, stitched on 14 count. The big ones were designed for bookmarks but I'll be making mine into birthday cards as I've got some tall, narrow card blanks that will fit them nicely. The two small ones will be gift tags.







Please excuse the wonky photos o_O

Comments

[enchanted-jae.livejournal.com]

Very pretty!

[bk_forever]

Thank you! I made umpteen mistakes resulting in a lot of unpicking, but the end result is worth the effort!

[owensheart.livejournal.com]

These are lovely

[bk_forever]

Thank you! Not the easiest stitching I've ever done, but very effective.

[haldoor.livejournal.com]

Beautiful!!!

[bk_forever]

Thank you! Tricky to do, but I love them, they're so cheerful!

(Took me three tries to spell 'cheerful' o_O )

[katleept.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love bookmarks,and these are some lovely ones!

[bk_forever]

I'm going to make these into greeting cards though, I think they'll work well.

I do collect bookmarks, however *grins* I have hundreds.

Thank you!

[katleept.livejournal.com]

An avid reader can never have too many bookmarks! :)

And I'm sure they'll work great as greeting cards too!

I have such total admiration for anyone who can do crafts!

[bk_forever]

I've been crafting one way or another for as long as I can remember, I just haven't had a lot of time for it in recent years, what with everything that's happened over the last eight years. It's good to get back into it. I was determined to this year, pushed hard with my writing so I completed the 250k I pledged for this year early in May in order to make time for crafting and gardening. I'm working on a set of cute bee designs now. =)

So true, bookmarks are almost as important as the books themselves. *looks at shelves full of books.

[katleept.livejournal.com]

250K already?? WOW! That's impressive! I always want more time to do other things, but I also always want all those words! It's hard to find a balance between them, but something I hope to do one day. 250k is AWESOME and way more than lots of writers get in a whole year, but how did you make the decision that that was enough? The reason I ask is because I aim for more words, and no matter how many I hit, I always feel like I should aim for more. I'd like more of a balance one of these days. :)

[bk_forever]

Well of course it's not enough, and never will be - I'm still writing and past 300k for the year now, but I pledged 250k at getyourwordsout, because I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself - you never know how a year will go - and now I've reached it I'm less stressed about writing and can give myself a few hours a day for other things, like gardening, cross stitch, etc. I'm still writing a minimum of 1k per day, but I know I don't HAVE to, and if I don't I won't fall behind.

I guess the trick is to set yourself a goal you know you can achieve so that you won't wind up disappointed, then see how much more you can get written. I'm a one-finger typist with a cranky computer, so I don't write as fast as some, but writing daily is a habit. It saw me through caring for my mum after her stroke, kept me going after she passed away, and helps me deal with anxiety, OCD, and depression, so it's therapy as well as fun. I don't think I could stop writing if I tried o_O

[katleept.livejournal.com]

Writing is therapy for me as well as (usually) being very enjoyable. My problem is I never seem to know when enough is enough. I scored over 500k last year, but instead of simply being happy with the word count that had happened when I set myself a goal of 1k a day, I decided to up my goal this year to 1.5k a day. Of course I had no idea all the mess I was going to be facing this year, and finally went back down to 1k a day. Part of me is happy with that, but the other part still feels like I should be doing more, pushing more. Any idea how to shut that part up? ;)

[bk_forever]

None whatsoever, sad to say - for the past 4 years I've written more each year - 2015 around 250k, 2015 - 303,140, 2016 - 531,223, 2017 - 568, 139 - and each time I tell myself I won't push so hard next year, but I wind up scrambling to beat my total. I know my OCD has something to do with it, I find it very difficult to skip a week on any of my challenges, I get stressed and feel really guilty, but I've forced myself to a handful of times. Plus I keep finding new challenges to write for...Writing has taken over my life, I hardly have time to read anymore, not even fanfic, and reading fanfic was the reason I got internet. I never intended to write... *looks askance at over a thousand fics and more than two thousand drabbles* How did that happen? o_O

[katleept.livejournal.com]

Me too!! Me too!! Me too!! Except when it comes to getting the Internet to read and not write. I've literally got hundreds of stories bookmarked on my drive to one day read, and if it wasn't for doctor's appointments and breaks at work, I wouldn't get any reading done! (That's why I haven't gotten into FAKE yet.)

I HATE missing challenges, and even when I do miss them, I have a file where I collect the ones I've missed so if I ever get a chance to go back and do them, there'll they be. And yet I constantly find myself wanting to create AND enter more challenges!!

It's definitely an addiction! :)

[bk_forever]

Totally an addiction! I do that too, save all the challenges. It comes in handy for amnesty weeks on some of them, ad I also have a long list of people's requests for sequels... I'm working through the dw100 drabble prompts (over 700 of them now) writing my Doctor Who drabbles, but I also use them and the tw100 prompts to write FAKE drabbles. Not all of them fit, but there's still plenty to play with.

Appointments do come in useful for getting some reading done. My last one I got 15 pages into a novel - I scarcely even have time to read books these days where once I would read a hundred or more in a year. Now I'm lucky if I get through a dozen, reading a few pages at night.

It's the Plot Bunnies - they breed and breed uncontrollably, and they all want attention RIGHT NOW. Either tat or they go to sleep and no amount of prodding and poking will get them to cooperate *headdesk* I have a ton of part-written fics, and even more finished ones I can't seem to get around to posting...

[katleept.livejournal.com]

1_million_words helps me on the posting bit. We keep track of our collective words every month and have to report in at the end of the month however many we did or didn't get manage to get, which they're GREAT! They love ANY words and are the BEST cheerleaders I've ever known.

But because I have to report my words in at the end of the month, that means I have to make sure I get everything posted, so I can actually get a true count on my words to turn in!

[bk_forever]

getyourwordsout also requires a monthly check-in, but the words don't have to have been posted as long as they've been written. I write in MS word which allows me to find out how many words I've written on each project and I keep track of them in my diary.

I have such a backlog of stuff to be posted, but a lot is waiting to be edited. I post things directly to some challenges in time for the deadlines, but then edit and expand the ideas at a later date before putting them up on my journal. Still means I can post two or three every day with no problem!