Back in September, after I finished a gift embroidery for my sister, I spotted this in a cross-stitch catalogue. You can imagine who came to mind, and I thought, "What a nifty Christmas present this would make!" and ordered it. When it came, I was massively disappointed: The thing is an "embellished cross stitch," which means it was screen-printed on 14-count Aida cloth, and you only stitch certain parts of it, leaving a stitchery with a whole lot of holes to be filled in.
I checked with my cross-stitch group, who agreed with me: If I went with the original design, it would bother me every time I looked at it. So I scanned the photo into my computer and ran it through a program I have that creates cross stitch out of any picture you care to reproduce, and since October I've been working on this picture called, "Maryland Mountain Express."
Needless to say, it wasn't done in time for Christmas. It may not even be done in time for Chris's birthday, in June. But I am much happier with the results.
Slowing me down has been, not just the trip to Pennsylvania (this was way too big to tote along on a train!), but another project I foolishly got involved in: The World Trade Center Quilt. Some woman in Kentucky conceived the idea of piecing together a quilt made up of black Aida-cloth rectangles, each cross-stitched with 18 names of people who died at the World Trade Center on 9/11. Sounds like a great idea, right? One problem: Working with that black cloth. I really have to pace myself so I don't get eye strain. It will be some time before I ever work with black cloth again, I can tell you!
And there is one last project I promised to start this year. The woman who sold me the pattern has since had second thoughts about it, since she isn't sure how it will work up as a cross stitch, and I told her I would "model-stitch" it for her, which means I'm committed to getting something done with it. I just tried uploading it, and it's not coming up, so you'll have to look it up: Google images, then enter "Boyarina Morozova."
Some people would just say I should be committed, period. And I'm beginning to agree.
2 comments:
You had shared with me before that beautiful cross-stitching, but I didn't realize you made the pattern yoursel - how awesome is that?
There'll be another Christmas to give it on, you know ;)
Ugh on working on black, I can't imagine. Can you layer some white over it and trim it away or something?
That is going to be fantastic when it is done! Wow! What a lot of work.
And it is cool that crosstitch designs can be made on the computer. I never heard of that before.
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