Carolyn's new baseball SAL

[nicgoss]

Awhhhh!! Yes patience is not one of my best things!!

..guess the best things come to those that wait though! Will give me something to look forward to

[carolyn61]

Well here they are. Not too impressive, I hope you're not disappointed. Unfortunately, the pictures don't capture all the variations in color. Although it is time consuming and maddening at times, when you step back it has a realistic look to it. But anyway, here is where I'm at.



Thanks for all your encouragement. Now it's on to page 2 (well, just about anyway).

[Rose]

This is looking so great. The detail is wonderful

[carolyn61]

Can you believe it? There are greens, grays, browns, blacks, blues and even some lavendar colors in his pants/trousers. In this photo they just look black. Very disappointing. Maybe it will show better further along. If you look at the finished picture you can kind of see the different colors but it is very cool the way it works in real life.

I know I'm going on, it sounds like I need reassurance or therapy or something. Paging, Dr.Rose.... how do we deal with our insecurities as it relates to stitching? Why am I seeking the approval of others? Somebody help me please, stop me before I completely make a fool of myself.... what, too late?

[Rose]

Dr Rose pats Carolyn on the head really you are not in need of therapy we just really want our stitching to be as close to perfect as any one can get and that is not easy. You are doing great and it will look gorgeous. When working on something this big and technical we are bound to need a pat once in awhile and you are fine. Go get some sleep wake refreshed and it is going to look better tomorrow. That is a good girl off to bed off to bed.

[Jilly]

Lots of colours can be maddening, but in most cases it adds depth to a design, it will be worth it.
We are behind you all the way Carolyn

[~threadbear~]

Oh Carolyn haven't you worked hard!!

this is amazing progress. I don't know how you can say 'not much' when you think of all those tiny, tiny stitches and colours.
You are doing so well!
WELL DONE!

[coffee_freak]

looks good! i HATE when one area calls for like 10 colors and it doesn't even show the hard work! just looks like 1 color! grr..lol

[sammy_v]

WOW u have done loads, how can u say its not much with all them tiny tiny stitches? Ur doing great and should be very proud of what u have achived so far, Well done U!!

[Serinde]

Absolutely!

[mags]

Well it looks really good to me - I can see lots of different colours. Great progress
This would be way beyond me.

[nicgoss]

Carolyn/Rose - you make me laff!!!

This is looking great already Carolyn - I especially like where you've chosen to start on the picture!

Seriously though, it is really really good! Is this a mystic stitch? If so, how are you getting on with it? Just brought 2 patterns from mystic stitch so curious!?

[carolyn61]

Nic, no it's not Mystic Stitch, although, I have several favorites there I hope to do someday. It's from Cross Stitch Collectibles. Actually, today is the first day I haven't stitched on it. So I stayed in my jammies and am watching movies all day (and eating!). I know I'll regret it tomorrow, or maybe even later tonight.
It's coming along okay, you know how it is, you feel so thrilled to be coming to the end of that first page, and then you realize there are 27 more to go. That whole page is just a very small square on a very large empty fabric. But, that's alright. I'm up to the challenge. I started in the lower left corner, cause that's where I always start, not because of the legs and such , really! It just happened to work out that way. I didn't make the pattern, I'm just stitching it. Really .
Well, I'll be back at it tomorrow and hopefully will burn through the second page a little more quickly than the first, but who knows?

[nicgoss]

Ohhhh brought one from there too - ha ha! Called 'New York at Night' - do you know it??

I know what you mean about completing one page - mine looks tiny on the size fabric I'm working on!

More than prepared to hold 28 parties for you and all those finished pages - BRING IT ON!!!!

[Mabel Figworthy]

This is great Carolyn, it was worth the wait for the photograph! Like Mags i do think the colours show, though very likely not as much as in the real thing (someone ought to develop a special Stitchers' Camera which would reproduce the detail and colour of a piece of cross stitch exactly as it is!). I once did a dark bit which had lots of indistinguishable shades in it and wondered whether it was worth it so did a square of the 'average' shade on a bit of fabric and it is amazing how flat it looks when it's all one colour -- the scattered green and lavender stitches really do make a difference!

[carolyn61]

Okay, I've come to the end of page 1 (finally) and am stuck. I'm not liking the overall coverage of the floss. Working with one strand only is very trying. You have to anchor the thread to start and to finish, and with the constant changing of threads you can't get any momentum going. The back is a total disaster. I'm trying to decide what is the next best move. Would it be possible to finish all the other pages using 2 strands and then come back and stitch over this completed page? I know that it will be very crowed with 2 but it is just as crowded using 1 once you've changed the color 7 times in one row. Ripping out this whole page would be impossible. The only alternatives I have are starting over with a whole new fabric, finishing the existing one with one thread or finishing with 2 and coming back to this page. Really, I am getting frustrated with this and that has never happened to me before. Any suggestions?

[mags]

Oh no

I'm afraid I couldn't begin to advise - this is way beyond me - I have never done anything so fine. I am full of admiration for anyone who does though and hope someone else can help.

[SusanF]

Don't panic Carolyn the coverage certainly looks fine on the photograph - the detail looks absolutely fantastic. Remember too, you won't be looking at a piece this size extremely close-up like you do when you're stitching it. How does it look when held up against a wall, for instance? The difference in the way the light hits it when hung may give it a totally different look. I was getting quite upset with my HAED this week when I realised I could see the 10x10 columns marked quite clearly on the stitching I had completed. When the light hits it in a certain way it looks awful, but when looked at against the wall it is fine. Don't do anything drastic yet, see if anyone else comes up with any ideas - it would be awful for you to have to start again when you've worked so hard on this.

I think you probably need some of this

[Mabel Figworthy]

Susan has a very good point, Carolyn -- I've had this and i've heard others say it, you look at the work from 'working distance' (i.e. close-up) and it looks horrible and you can see the fabric, but actually when you look at it from a 'natural' distance it looks fine! Take a short break and look at it from a distance before you do anything too drastic, there's too much work in it to start frogging for nothing

[Rose]

I think the girls are right Carolyn, you are too close to the project both literally and figuratively. I think you need a few days away from the project to get a better perspective. Then take a few steps away from the picture and see how it looks. Wait until then to decide how to attack the rest of the pages.