A new big project to be puttering along with

[glinda]

I haven't made a sizeable cross-stitch project in ages, so I was looking for one to do and came across a very old project. Back when I first got into cross-stitch in my early teens I found a pattern for a flowerfairy that I wanted to make. It was a little overambitious for my age and patience level. (Not least because, I didn't realise when I bought it that it was just the pattern so I had to track down all the many individual shades of thread for it.) Anyways, a couple of years ago I got tired of it sitting in a box taunting me whenever I came across it, went through my thread collection and gathered all the threads for it that I had and took advantage of a craft store closing down to get the rest of the shades I needed and bagged them up so they were all together for when I next wanted a big project to work on.

Fast forward to this summer when I was looking for a bit of a challenge, I came across the fairy and decided that its time had come. I've been working away at it steadily for the last month or so but I keep meaning to and then forgetting to take photos of my progress along the way to keep me motivated, but I finally did today so I'm going to try to get back into posting weekly update posts as I've found them really motivating for large projects in the past.




I think the hardest thing about this project, isn't the size of it but the variety of similar shades. It's really to make good progress, when there are so few big chunks of any one colour to give it shape and structure as you go along. I did the big chunk of grey half stitch first because it provided a bit of shape and structure but the red section I'm working on at the moment involves switching back and forth between three different shades (actually four, but I haven't started the forth yet) and an awful lot of counting and undoing as I get the hang of keeping the different shades and their respective symbols on the chart straight.

It's a very different cross-stitching experience, certainly but I hope it'll ultimately be rather satisfying.

Comments

[grey853]

Good luck with it. It looks like it's going to be a challenge.

[glinda]

Thanks, I'm excited for the challenge!

[angrboda]

And it looks like that's only the bottom half! That's going to be quite big indeed. :) Personally I tend to start at the top and work my way down, but it does mean I miss out of seeing it appear gradually on the fabric like you get to now. :)

[glinda]

I've got about three quarters of it in the picture, as the full thing was too awkward to photograph. I normally work from the centre out, but I wanted to put the frame in first to make sure I had enough fabric and after that it was easier to just work from the edges out.

[celli]

Ooh, how awesome!

[glinda]

Thanks! :)

[word_geek]

It's not the Willow Fairy, is it? I had the same experience, and it's still in my to do pile.

H

[glinda]

It's not, but it is the Elderberry fairy so more purple than green but similar levels of detail! :)