Friday 2 May 2014

Escape to Paris - Cross Stitch Collection 236

Well, here it is! My biggest project so far is in the shops now, so finally I can show you what it is (I`ve been bursting for months!). It`s a Parisian street scene by my favourite designer, Maria Diaz, and as it happens, it`s been selected as the chart of this month - which meant I had to send in a more-or-less presentable mugshot, eek! I managed to find a pre-double chin piccie of myself, and as a bonus, I`m stitching in it, so that was fine...well, I`m saying `fine` - you decide for yourselves:

I spent practically the whole of January stitching this stunning, 180x180 (32.5x32.5 cm on 28 ct evenweave) picture and I absolutely loved every minute of it, even the 7 or 8 hours` worth of backstitch and the 320 French knots - when you`re working on a picture of Paris, you tend to say c`est la vie more readily. ;)
When working on a magazine project, I have to time myself (as well as take notes of the lengths of thread I use of every colour), so with this one, I started to stop and take a photo after every 5 hours. Little did I know at the beginning that it`d take me 122 hours to finish - thus I ended up with so many photos that this blog wouldn`t be big enough for all of them! :) So for the first time ever, I tried to turn them into some sort of a montage, a very basic mini-video with no sound or special effects... or even proper lighting, lol. I`ve seen more professional ones on YouTube but this one`s special to me; I love watching how the picture grows, and I hope you`ll like it too! Happy stitching! :)

8 comments:

  1. What an amazing project! Your stitching is lovely!

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  2. It's amazing beautiful
    Hugs x

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  3. You have a very professional look on that "mugshot" - and your stitching is superb. Congratulations on being the stitcher of the month! How does it feel to be famous? :)

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  4. Thank you very much, ladies! I`m glad you like it and hope a lot of people will stitch it, it`s a fabulous project. :) Haha, famous! *waves, as if dismissing the idea, then starts to autograph enlarged copies of mugshot*

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  5. Great stitching and I liked your video.

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  6. Thanks, Minnie - it`s nowhere near as professional looking as the ones e.g. `Eponases` makes on YouTube, but a) my lighting is rubbish and b) my fabric looks more `jumpy` because I don`t use a frame or hoop. Still, it`s interesting to see how a picture is born, isn`t it? Have you seen these epic Pokemon and Evening Fairies stitches? They`re gobsmacking! :)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUQnogfeNC8
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuwQJqUzNsM&list=UUk1hAGOf4YWlBkN5kMMJUQQ

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  7. Congratulations on being the featured stitcher! I do like that they appreciate the model stitcher. Usually they don't even get a name-check.

    Your photo montage was great too, it was so interesting to see the project grow. Consistent lighting would improve the next one but other than that it was great.

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  8. Thanks, Jo - I`m working on another biggie just now and I`m trying to take the pictures always in the same corner, under the same light, away from the window, so hopefully the changing natural light (or lack thereof) shouldn`t come in the picture (haha). Well, so far they seem uniformally dark, rofl!

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