Welcome to 2020

Well, here we are in not only a new year but also a new decade... 2020, who would have thought...

Hopefully, I will be a little better at blogging this decade than I was in the last... But you know how it is, life happens...
I have a few ideas and tentative plans and for someone who normally flies by the seat of her proverbial - that is saying something...
While this blob will mainly concentrate on my stitching and  stitchy creating I am also going to include a few of my other loves peppered with some life updates as they happen...

Of course my other passion is reading so I will post my current read here as I go... I am not going to give an in depth review or rating as I believe reading and books are very subjective - horses for courses so to speak... 

So with out further ado let's begin

My first new start for 2020 and indeed a new decade...

There is quite a story behind this pattern...

The first time I saw this design stitched was at an exhibition in late 1992 probably not long after the pattern was released... I was spellbound and thought it was the most beautiful design I had ever seen...
At that stage I was working full time and while I dabbled with small pieces of cross stitch I had never contemplated a piece like this.
The next time I saw Earth Angel my life had had many changes including a new address in a different part of the city...
She shone out from the window of a needlework shop called the French Knot.
It was a beautiful and magical shop with a collection of stunning fabrics, jewelled threads, a myriad of patterns and fabulous stitched models. It was my little part of paradise.
I knew straightaway that I wanted this design and so I bought her, the fabric and the called for DMC threads. I took home my treasure and put it away in a drawer...
Earth Angel has moved with me a number of times and I have stitched other pieces and enhanced my stash considerably yet I have never stitched her...
I think that I believed deep down that I could never do her justice and that there would be a 'right' or 'perfect time'.
Life has spiralled away as life does and the years flowed past and circumstances changed...
Of late I have thought a lot about my stitching and I have come to some realizations... As with any realization there comes the good, the bad and the ugly...
Without boring you all with details, I have come to realize that that moment of perfection will always hover out there on a far horizon always out of reach. That the moment is now and if I don't take the risk of stitching this design I never will be satisfied with anything else I stitch or buy for that matter.
So, since the moment is now - I have started...
I have changed the fabric which came via my stash at a much later date and offers a softer background and will 'hero' the design.
The colour is somewhere between DMC #157 and #932 - depending on the light...
I have wound bobbins for the colours I will using first...
I would like to think she will be completed by the end of the year and ready for framing...
While Earth Angel will be my focus piece she won't be my only new start for 2020 - I have a couple of other stash acquisitions I would like to bring out to the light...

The photo on the left more true...

Design - Earth Angel - Lavender and Lace Designs
Thread - DMC - as charted
Fabric - 25 count evenweave blue/grey

The top photo is more true to colour...