HAED - Please share your experience

[annamarie23]

Hi everyone. After a very long absence from cross stitch, I'm going to try and rekindle my stitchy bug and I've been looking at my current stash of beautiful cross stitch kits and charts.

However like all crafters, you can never have enough stash and I'm tempted by a new HAED design which I've seen on the latest HAED newsletter. It's released at the end of September and it's called 'Museum Shelf' by Aimee Stewart which I love the look of and is soooo tempting!! But I suspect there will be lots of confetti

I do have a few HAEDs that have been on my to do list but I don't have any experience of working/stitching these designs and wondered if you could share your experiences. All help and advice greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much. x

Ps. Apologies if I've put this in the wrong section as I've just noticed that there's a Tips and Tricks board

[Lulu22]

Hi Annamarie,

That's a gorgeous design, I am doing a couple of the bookshelves and although they are slow growing and have lots of confetti you do get rewarded with lots of little quality finishes

[annamarie23]

Thank you for replying. I thought they would be slow to develop but I do think the detail in them pays off. I love the other bookshelf designs too. Happy stitching!

[muguet]

Hi Anna-Marie!

I saw that you posted on my thread and thought I would comment on yours! I am a beginner stitcher and wanted to reassure you that HAEDs are tons of fun Make sure you love the colours you'll be stitching with...I find that it's easier to get over the fact that there's a lot of confetti when you're enjoying changing colours.
Also consider the parking technique if you don't use it already! I stitch my HAED vertically in 10x10 squares and parking has helped me avoid colour and placement mistakes. I doesn't make for a neat back but I'm okay with that! The tutorial I followed was by Carolyn Mazzeo on youtube.
Another thing that has helped me as a beginner is stitching with a digital chart. I am using the GoodReader App on my ipad (it's 5$) and absolutely love it. I can highlight each square as I go (or a whole row) and I can also change the colour of the highlight for spots where I park.
This system made stitching a HAED really effortless for me. You might not need all of it since you have more experience than I do!!
Can't wait to see your project once you start it, it's a beautiful choice!!

[annamarie23]

Hi Mary. Thank you so much for your post and for the advice and encouragement. It's greatly appreciated. I'm going to go for it with the design so will watch the HAED site for the pattern release

I've been stitching on and off for a few years but other hobbies have taken over so my cross stitch has taken a back seat. I always knew I'd come back to it but was waiting for the right project. I've never managed to master the whole 'parking' of threads but will definitely look at the You Tube clip you mentioned.

Wishing you lots of happy stitching with your HAED. I truly will watch with great interest.

Anna Marie x

[rcperryls]

That is a beautiful design and will be lots of fun to stitch I think. I have quite a few of those HAEDs in my WIP and have learned a few things through trial and error (lots of errors). I suggest that once you know what type of fabric and fabric count you want to stitch on that you test the type of stitch you want to do (full cross vs. tent stitch) and how many strands of thread you want to use. My preference is to stitch on 28 ct evenweave using 2 strands over 1 tent stitching. I also have several HAEDs which are on 25 ct evenweave stitching full cross using 1 strand of thread. My first HAED I did 2 over 1, full cross, on 25 ct as suggested by HAED and after completing 6+ pages gave up because it was so bulky when stitching confetti that I could barely get the needle through the fabric. Others have no trouble with that so it depends completely on how you stitch. I restarted that piece which I love and is now lingering because it is hard to restitch what I'd already done. So I think it is soooooo important that you test this for yourself. I would suggest stitching at least 50 x 50 stitches and not just one color but toss in plenty of confetti.
then you will be able to decide.

The second thing I learned is that gridding the fabric keeps me from making a lot of counting errors. If you park, it is probably not as important, but for cross country (or cross county) stitching very important, I think.

Number one is HAVE FUN. My biggest problem is that I want to stitch all of mine at the same time and can't.

Carole

[annamarie23]

Thank you Carole. That's really helpful too and I really appreciate your reply and words of wisdom .
I'm more of a cross country stitcher as well but I will take a look at the 'parking' You Tube clip that Mary mentions. Always open to suggestions

I will most definitely try out fabrics and stitches etc as you suggested before I embark on such a big detailed project. That's something I've not done very much of in the past, just jumped in with excitement and made mistakes but it's part of the whole learning experience. This time I will also take my time to enjoy it and have fun!

I could always make a start on my HAED Mini Camelot through impatience as I looked at that again this evening and remembered how much I love that too but had forgotten all about it in my stash but I must wait until the Museum Shelf is released as it's the one that lured me back in

Anna Marie x

[richardandtracy]

As you are already an experienced stitcher, I honestly don't think you should have any concerns about jumping straight into a HaED, after all a stitch is the same whether it's on a simple kit or on a HaED - it's just the quantity of different colours that makes complex pictures rather more daunting.

With 28ct, I have used 2 over 1 tent stitching, that combined with a #26 needle seems to work with moderately high confetti level (43 max colours in a 10x10 square, average of 9) while doing cross country stitching. My next project is going to be on 25ct, once again 2 over 1 tent stitch, this time I am going to use blends and parking throughout. The average number of colours will be 18.9 in a 10x10 square, peaking at 45, which I think counts as 'High to Extreme' complexity - though I may be wrong.

I have tried parking on two projects. It worked quite well on a project with 30 colours and generally 15 max at any one time, but found in my last project (118 colours and the finished picture: http://www.crossstitchforum.com/viewtop ... &start=268 ) with 35 colours on the go at one time, it drove me utterly demented. I hope the same doesn't happen this time, I will give it a fair trial, but given that I'm also adding in the problems of using blends for the first time (151 thread colours making 118 blends), I really don't know. It is going to be a 'learning experience' as they say.

Regards,

Richard

[annamarie23]

Hi Richard. Thank you for replying to my post and sharing your experience too. Your stitching is beautiful! Well done on such fabulous work!
You are delving into an area I've never ventured in to and that's blending. I do have one or two designs that require it but I've not been tempted by them as yet.....

Your next project definitely sounds extremely complex! I will take my time and try not to panic with the HAED

Wishing you lots of luck with your projects. Happy stitching!