In the mean time.....

Well, I got my fabric yesterday, and it was well worth the money and the wait! I still need to get a frame together. Will probably do that this weekend, then get started on stitching next week.

In the mean time....I've started another, easier project. The violin to the left. This is smaller, with only 24,735 stitches and 34 colors. I have a habit of working on more than one project at a time. That way I don't get too bored with any one project. Plus I really wanted to get started stitching something, and I had all the materials I needed for this one. I'll get some pictures up of it soon.

And once I have the big project framed and ready to start, I'll post pictures of that, also.

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Evangelist update

I'm chomping at the bit to get started on this project, but there have been a few delays. First, the fabric I originally bought to stitch this on had a few problems. One, it wasn't quite big enough. And two, it had a lot of flaws in it, which would have made the stitching come out very uneven. So, I've had to special order some fabric, which will take a while to get.

The second delay is I'm having trouble finding a frame large enough for the fabric. This piece of fabric will be 30 inches x 25 inches, so I need a frame (the picture to the right is of a floor stand, which I also need, and a scroll frame). So far, all the commercial frames I've found have not been wide enough. So it looks like I'll have to make my own, which is no big deal really. Getting the floor stand also isn't a big deal, they have the one pictured at Michael's.

Once I have all the equipment I need, I can get started. In the mean time, it's not like I don't have something to keep me busy. I have several projects in the works, such as a 1" scale dollhouse, a crochet beaded purse I'm working on, (two, actually), a few other crochet projects, a roombox that's waiting for the final touches, and several (like about 20) smaller scale houses to put together as I want to make a quarter scale village, with landscaping and even possibly a train. Oh, and let's not forget that I work and I'm going to school. And, of course, my violin.

Once I'm going on the Evangelists I'll post pictures of my progress!

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The Four Evangelists

Finally!! I have something I can blog about on a (hopefully) regular basis. I am embarking on what probably will be most challenging thing I've ever done....next to raising my kids. The painting to the left is by Peter Paul Rubens,"The Four Evangelists". (Can you figure out who is supposed to be who?) Rubens was a Flemish Baroque painter, lived from 1577-1640, and is often called the Prince of Baroque Painting. "The Four Evangelists" was painted around 1614.

What I will be doing is reproducing this painting.....in cross stitch. In fact, the image that you see is actually an image generated from the cross stitch pattern, NOT from the original painting.

I will be working on linen fabric with a stitch count of 28 stitches per inch. The size of the piece is 600 stitches wide x 495 stitches tall. That will make the finished project 21.42 inches x 17.68 inches....approximately. That also means there are a total of 297,000 stitches. Believe it or not, that is not what makes this project challenging. The challenging part is it uses 106 different colors, some used alone, some are blended together to make the right color needed.

I got this idea, and the pattern, from the web site Golden Kite. They have literally 750 patterns on their site...and yes, I looked at each and every one of them before deciding to do "The Four Evangelists". There is a fella on this site that is working on a project and posting updates on his work as he goes along. He started the project March 6, 2001, and his latest update says he has completed 95,507 stitches, worked 3,011 hours and is 56.5% complete. His project uses 110 colors and has 169,000 stitches total. This update is dated April 10, 2006.

Why, you ask? Well, I love to cross stich, but have never found anything that has really challenged me. Until now. I do believe this will be challenging! More than I can handle? No, I don't think so. I believe if I don't finish this piece, it will be because I got lazy and/or lost motivation. It won't be because it was too hard.

So, what I plan on doing is posting pictures of my progress on my blog, with updates, similar to the above project. Except I don't think I'll keep track of the hours I spend working on it. That might get a little daunting, doncha think? I'll be using this blog as part of my motivation, especially if it seems I have some people interested and "demand" updates!

I hope you look forward to following me on this journey, and please feel free to post any comments (I already know I'm crazy, so don't bother posting that!) or encourgement along the way! Pray the Lord blesses my hands, and my eyesight!

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