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Finally got all my photos developed & organised so I can show you progress on this.
It's Rachel Anderson's Queen of Hearts, just my second go at using evenweave and think I may never go back to aida!! It's 28ct brittney and after reading Sarah G's very informative info & diagrams on what looks best on it, I also decided to go with tent stitch over one with two strands.



The design is 535 stitches wide x 600 high - 81 pages -- although all the pages down the right hand side are just a single column of stitches and the bottom pages are just a few rows....
I started this on 4th December but as I've said, Santa didn't bring me a digital camera (yet) so have been waiting to get the films used up & developed.
I finished page 1 within the week! it used mainly black with a tiny bit of dark brown & purple (sorry for the quality, these photos get better as they go on)...



I was amazed at how quickly it came on with it being tent stitch and mainly just one colour (how excited was I when I got to one or two purple & brown stitches here & there!)
I worked mainly in columns of 10 stitches wide, the most disciplined way I've ever stitched on anything, as I was so nervous about going wrong on it!
As you can see also "hemmed" (don't know the name of the stitch) all the way around first of all as it would have been so upsetting if the whole thing had started to come undone! ...but don't ask my why I used dark brown.... I'm not sure how/if I'm going to frame it once it's done, maybe I'll start a new trend!
Oh also at this stage learnt that a size 28 needle really is best, as any bigger ones which I started off with were actually pushing the stitches out of their way, creating tiny little white spaces, hmm!

I'll also treat you to a pic of page 2 as you can see a few more of the flower details & shading of the reddish background coming in (I was now juggling the grand total of 5 (yes five) different colours.... wondering what's all this complaining about HAED confetti stitches?!?! had I picked an unusually easy one? With me it was more like 'keep going, only 6 more rows of black to do then I get to put one or two burgundy stitches in'!!



I stared for ages at it once the difference between the more purple & then the more reddish shading appeared, I was entranced, it was so subtle, like magic! I think I may be well & truly converted to HAED designs now especially since I have such a fear of backstitching & fractionals!

Anyway I hope you're all staring entranced at the magical shading now as well

Louise

Oh yes I am Louise. It's going to be wonderful and you have made a fantastic start.

This is my favourite HAED chart. I love it!!

I'm so delighted you have chosen to stitch this, I will be watching with enormous interest, as I will never have the patience to stitch it myself.

You've made a fabulous start!!

Great start!! The design is beautiful!!

A magnificent design, and as you say, beautiful shading -- but oh my ; when I saw the picture I assumed it was stitched on a hand-dyed wine-red fabric! Just contemplating stitching all that background makes me scuttle back cowardly to my little mini projects

Fabulous start! This is definitely one to watch!

What a great start!! (Just wait - you'll get to the confetti and be missing your blocks of color eventually...) I can't wait to see more; this is such a beautiful chart!

I hope you like the color red because it looks like you'll be seeing a lot of it as you stitch this. I love how fast this is coming together. Great job!

This is a wonderful pattern have seen it before I think a memeber a while back was working on the same design but can't be sure it was a long time ago. You have made a wonderful start. So glad you are enjoying it.

This is gorgeous, Louise. You've made a great start! I know what you mean about endless rows of one colour and then being delighted when two or three stitches of a contrasting colour turn up! And the subtle shading on these HAEDs is amazing, isn't it?

I'm going to enjoy watching this one grow as I know first hand how enjoyable they are to stitch.

I'm glad my stitch experiments were helpful as well. I thought the tent stitch gave good coverage and I'm stitching on 25 count, so with 28 count, yours is going to look even better.

Your hemming round the edge looks neat too. I couldn't be bothered, I was too keen to get to the design, but I found a rather novel and effective way of stopping my fabric fraying. I got some PVA craft glue and dabbed it all round the edge of the fabric, then hung it up to dry overnight. The next day it had set all the way round and sealed the edges so the fabric doesn't fray. When I've finished stitching, I'll trim off the couple of millimetres of stiffened glued fabric.

Beautiful pattern and a great start!

Sarah, what an effective idea to stop the fraying! I've used PVC glue to turn one project into a coaster but I hadn't though of using it instead of hemming, thanks!

I love this design Great start

Oh, this is great. I will love watching this.

Okay, pass the pot around and we'll take up money for a digital...

I have admired this one too but that background does put me off! Look forward to more updates!

Great start! But sooner you than me! I wouldn't have the patience to do all that background! Well done, you!

This is going to be stunning. I have a sneaky feeling that HAED are addictive. When you have big blocks of colour it is fun but you are waiting for variety - thten the confetti stitches arrive and that is fun too but you long for some solid blocks!

I'm just worried that stitching their designs makes anything else feel strange to stitch.

Have fun.
Liz

This is oh, so WONDERFUL! Congrats on your progress! Looking forward to seeing more!

It looks so chic!
I will look forward to see this progress!