Stitch In Time part 2

 After my husband saw my first Stitch In Time blanket he said that he wanted that on the spare bed, but the blanket is just a lap blanket and not big enough for a single bed. So it was time to measure up the bed and get started on a new one and I have to admit that it has been a struggle to get all the colours for it and I had to beg for scraps in my Facebook group instead of ordering a whole skein for just about 15 grams of yarn, so it took some time to get this one knitted just because of that. I worked out that the blanket should be 7x4 blocks and because of the 7 blocks long I thought "Rainbow". So that was the hardest part of the blanket to get sorted out because some colours are the colours that I do not buy much of, like yellow, brown, grey. And those few yellows and browns and so on that I do have are not enough to use for the whole block because I don't want to use the same yarn more than once in the same block unless there's a way of changing the run of the colourway if it is very variegated with long runs of the colours in it and I have done that a few times. So here are the last blocks in the making that I am really fighting with to finishing off.

But I know I will finish it before the end of this year. If I have to order some skeins to do it then I will.

Diamond Paintings

 This is a hobby that's new to me and when I saw it the first time I really wanted to try it out. There was a woman in my group on Facebook many years ago who did these things so I asked where she bought it and ordered one for myself. Then things happened and other things got in my way and I only managed to start it and that's where it ended for some time, but I really wanted to finish it, so on the 20th of July this year, I finished it. This one has rhinestones so it's very difficult to photograph it.

After making this I wanted to try another one and I have seen that they now also make them in resin beads, rounded and then later squared one. I looked around and found a group on Facebook and there the majority thought that the square beads were their favourite ones, so I thought that I should test a small painting first to see what I thought of that and ordered this one.

This one was also just lying in storage waiting to be made because I was ordering a big one with David Bowie for my husband as a Christmas present and it did arrive earlier than I was expecting and my husband was supposed to travel to England so I could work on it whilst he was away, but it all got cancelled and I was now panicking to get it ready in time without him seeing it. I did finish it in time and frame it, ready for Christmas. This one was done with rounded beads and I took this photo before I framed it because of the reflections of the glass. I finished it on the 22nd of December 2018 so it was very close to Christmas, 2 days before because here in Sweden we celebrate it on the 24th.

After this one was made I really needed a rest from it because of the stress making this in time for Christmas my back was broken from leaning over the table whilst putting the beads in so that's why the one with the daffodils was still waiting to be made. So In January 2019, I ordered another big painting that I just couldn't resist buying, because I love Bullfinches. This one is also with square beads and I am so looking forward to making this one.

Over a year later another woman on my Facebook group shows a diamond painting she's working on and I just dropped my jaw to the floor. It's a stunning Native American motive that I already have on a long-sleeved t-shirt, so I just had to order it in 60x80cm. I ordered it on the 26th of April 2020 and I knew I had to wait a bit for it.

Finally, the 5th of June was the date I picked it up from the post. I'm very happy!

So the next thing I do is not do anything to this until the 20th of July 2020, when I finally picked up the small one with the daffodils.

The 2nd of August 2020 was the day it was finished. I have seen that some people varnish it over to keep the beads in place, so I will test that on this one later before I frame it. As you can see on this one, it's not so detailed as the David Bowie one, so you really need to make it as big as possible for the best results. This one was just a test one for using square beads so I'm OK with the outcome.

So now the big one with the bullfinches are ready to be made and here it is, on my table in my hobby room upstairs.

Stay Safe!

/Diana