February 7 Interview with Leonore Winterer

**Due to some technical difficulties with blogger this interview was delayed in posting.  I am hopeful it will post today 2/8/2014.  My apologies for the delay**

You may be wondering how we TW Stitchers met and I'll tell you it was through a group on Deviant Art (aka dA and yes it's small d capitol A because A is for ART and that is the whole point of the site) and we are members of Stitching Pirates.  At any given time we have around 600 members.  Once in awhile, a stitcher pops up out of the mass to really get involved with what is going on with the group or really active sub-group, or in this case Nancy, Magical, Krystal, Pinky, Ori and myself.  Our most recent addition to our little "core" is Leonore (which would make her the newest and the youngest, I think...wait, yes..no, if we count Al in Russia who is still in high school...but ..I'll have to ask Krystal, it might be a tie for them!)  She bravely stepped forward to join the TW Stitchers and has made some serious headway on her Peacock Tapestry!

May I please introduce to you Leonore Winterer!

1) Please, introduce yourself and be as windy as you like.  I know you have done so in your blog so if you choose to skip this part that is fine

I'll be so bold to copy from my first blog post in December here:

I'm Leonore Winterer aka Fusainne from deviantArt, sweet almost-25 according to my licence but not a day older than fifteen at heart - or maybe even more like five, if you believe some people ^_^

I'm currently working on my Master's degree in Computer Science in Freiburg, Germany (born and raised) and until I'll be finished, I'm living with my beloved grandparents. I very much enjoy reading, stitching, crocheting and video games and also lots of other things that constantly make me wish for 48 hour-days.

2) When did you first pick up a needle and what was your very first cross stitch project?

Leonore's first real stitch

We learned some basic stitching in elementary school and I than proceeded to teach myself how to properly cross stitch when I was about 9 years old. My very first project was a breadcloth - it had a pattern preprinted on it and I followed it with one color of floss in pretty huge stitches - than I started on counted cross stitch when we were on a vacation. I'll attach you a picture of the first 'proper' design I stitched.

3)  How many Teresa Wentzler patterns have you stitched?

Hah, this one is easy - none, so far. Before I joined this project, I have to confess I didn't even know about her and her work...

4) What made you decide to take on the TW project you are or will be stitching? 

Leonore's current progress on PT

Let me first talk about the project I ACTUALLY wanted to stitch - The Enchanter. When I first heard about this project from Carla I started Google searching for Teresa and this design was about the first thing I saw when I entered her homepage - I think she had just finished re-charting it at that time - and I instantly fell in love with it. As much as I liked the beautiful patterns I saw afterwards, this one stuck with me and I knew I just HAD to do it. But then, unfortunately, I had some minor problems with the fabric, and it wasn't here in time, and I was SO set on starting this project first thing in the new year, so I took up my backup project Peacock Tapestry (which I had just happened across on eBay, and bought it because it was pretty and not to expensive and buybuybuy), thinking I might put it away once the right fabric got here - to be honest, I might have thought twice before starting a huge project like this on a whim had I known what exactly I was in for. But I'm glad I did, because the more I stitched the more I fell in love with it, and now I love it on it's own right and WILL finish it - someday :D

5) For you, what has been the most brutal stitching project you have ever stitched and why?

I wouldn't call any of my projects 'brutal' as I had a lot of fun with all of them. I had, however, some very strict deadlines on some of them, and the thing that got closest to 'brutal' was a wedding anniversary sampler for my grandparents - I had to finish it about a week early because I wasn't home directly before the date, so I ended up spending a full weekend stitching and watching Rome without any breaks that are worth mentioning to get it done in time.

6) Any advice for those stitching or planning to stitch any of these patterns?

Really just the same as for any sizable projects - plan ahead, set yourself little goals so you get a feeling of achievement every now and then, stay organized and most importantly: count, count again, stitch, than count some more - you don't want to go on frogging stuff you stitched a week ago just because you're off by one...

7) Feel free to add anything else! 

Uhm...maybe...nope, can't think of anything right now...sorry!

I hope you enjoyed our lovely Leonore!  I love her blog and the fact that she has taken on such a tremendous piece to start our year off with <3 span="">