How many hours a day are you working? I think I stitch faster because I use both hands on a lap frame. Looking forward to hearing from others.

MY OPINION -- Don't rush it. You have chosen a large pattern with frequent color changes with shades very close to each other. Artecy tends to have a lot of pages. That is because their charts are larger than a lot of other companies.

There has been discussion on this ECS Chat of setting a goal of 100 stitches per day. I have an Artecy patterns that is 5 blocks across time 7 blocks down. That would be 3500 stitches per page. No way would I be able to do that in a day. From what I see you are stitching at a good rate.

I recently stitched an Artecy pattern that was only 92 x 98 stitches. It only had 16 colors. The background was not stitched. It took me 24 days. My project was a whole lot less complex than your Santa.

You have a large project so it will take a long time. My present project is 15 pages with 4400 stitches per page. Have been working on it for many months. As far as 100 stitches a day I stitch many more than that while I am watching TV or a movie at night, but I have been stitching for over 30 years. Each person has their own stitch speed. Don't worry you will do fine.

Please don't rush it. Rushing, only leads to having the frog come visit, which you wouldn't like. Just take your time, & when its done, its done, & will be well worth the time it took. Just look at it this way, with each stitch you do, that's one more closer to being done. Don't dwell on what's left to do, but look at all you have done instead. Have fun, relax, and enjoy your stitching, (if you dont, it will be more like work instead, & we all stitch, because its relaxing. Unless you have that unwanted company aka the frog, come to visit)

Yes, some things you can't rush and needle art is among those! :)

(And the frog?? What's wrong with frogs? :( )

Katy,
If you are patient, it will come....
If your sense of frustration begins to grow, then consider putting your large project aside and working on a very small cross stitch pattern that will help you fulfill your need to see progress. Doing this will also reduce your sense of frustration toward the bigger project. You'll regrow the urge to go back to the bigger project and work on it again. Most stitchers have other small projects to decrease the frustration that can come with working on a very large project. Other stitchers are correct, take your time with the bigger project, it's better than hurrying, creating sdtitching problems that take up your time in frogging out mistakes. :)

stitching is supposed to be calming and relaxing and de-stressing. and hurrying will make the dreaded frog appear (rip-it rip-it out) I have been known to turn the air blue when that happens lol. so slow down and enjoy the process. the suggestion to work on something smaller is a good idea too.

Dancy,
Most of us like frogs, but in cross stitch we don't want to "rip-it, rip-it"....

I would not want to stitch faster as you will make alot of mistakesand would it be worthit. put it down when tired.

Whoa, Katy! You seem a little frazzled and unsettled...You have a lovely project that is going to take more than a couple of hours to complete. Nancye and Bermuda are right when they say everybody has their own pace and unrealistic goals will make you crazy! :) For instance the heart doc put me on a new RX that has me up and running every 45 min or so...YIKES! :) Certainly has cut into stitching time! :) sometimes takes that long to get back into "sailing" mode! :) if you find yourself "itchy" and unsettled, take a break from it, work on something less intense for you...I do simple, small designs for charity and other "new" stuff for experimentation...some holiday, sometimes baby, sometimes mischievous (just for giggles)! Keeps me sane! Of course, my DD gets impatient waiting for the promised "big stuff" for her...she gets the benefit of other stuff, too...if she gets in that big of a hurry, she can help! :) Just started Brett's stocking, that I'm not sure will be stocking, another linen(!)...still working starry night and fractal...over a year...might be another!!! :)