Qingming Festival again!

I'm so excited that I have gotten to cross stitch again!

From reading other cross stitch blogs, I have recently become aware of the parking technique to work projects in blocks and park the threads after each block. I have heard that it is much easier to do, so I decided to give it a try for my Qingming Festival project.

Immediately I could see the advantages! This project is so huge, that to keep working on it, I will need to keep it rolled up. Keeping the work done in columns will help me to be able to move it along.
As of this moment, I have completed the entire first column of the project, and so far I like working in the columns. To be fair, so far I have only had about 3 colors to work this with, but I think I will like it overall.
Another plus side is that it helps me keep track of how many stitches I have been completing. I would see others post "Oh, I did 200 stitches today" and I would always wonder how they knew that! I am never able to keep count, and there is no way I'd go back over it just to see how many stitches are done. But now I can honestly say that I have done 900 stitches this weekend!

Here is my progress (I have actually finished the entire first column now, but it isn't in the picture):

Right now it's pretty boring. I'm just working on the side of a mountain, so there isn't much going on. Also, with the image printed onto the fabric, it can be a little difficult to see how much I have actually done. Although, to be perfectly honest, since I have been trying out the parking technique, having the image printed onto the fabric has been so incredibly helpful.
 I have actually started a tracker and put it on the edge of my blog to keep track of how much I have stitched and how far I have yet to go. So far, I haven't even completed 1%. I think I am at just over about half of 1%.

Please leave a comment for me! I love to hear from everyone (plus I can always use encouragement to keep motivated)!