Lessa, I am so impressed with your determination. I think I would have given up on that one, at least for the night, but you persevered and I know it is lovely. Can't wait to see it. (I am going to practice stitches before I put them on my good fabric). and hope hope I can get the counting right. I know how annoying it must have been when you realized you were on the wrong side of the fabric. I had 1/2 of a design stitched on an afghan once and realized I had turned the fabric 90 degrees so had to frog everything I had done on that square.
Carole

Oh no! Naughty ... If it makes you feel any better I'll probably have the same trouble..
Faith

Oh no Lessa. How annoying to have put in so much effort only for that to keep coming along.

I'm very impressed with your perseverance though. Well done you, and hopefully you've got all your glitches out of the way on day one as Mabel says

Well nasty Mr disappeared last night and hopefully have seen the last of him. Managed to complete my daisies and have been mastering Norwich Stitch. Have found though that for Norwich Stitch it definitely helps using a hoop or frame - I usually stitch in hand, but have found keeping the tension in hand difficult as the stitch is quite large. Hoping my metallic thread arrives soon so can get on with finishing the first heart

I'm eager to start this but fairly nervous about it...people have said it's over 2 not sure how many over 2 so how would you read the chart does each square count as 4? Probably a stupid question but I've only ever stitched over 1.

I am pretty sure that each square counts as two threads, not four. That is why 2 over 1 on a 28 ct fabric would be the same size as over 1 on a 14 ct fabric. I would guess that while most of the stitches will involve going over 2, there will be some that are over 4 or parts of them are and some that will have steps over 1. Make sure that you follow the graph pretty closely. More experienced stitchers of the specialty stitches will know for sure. But that is what I remember from the Tree of Stitches SAL that I did which had only (didn't seem like that small of an amount at the time) 14 or 15 different stitches.

Carole

So how would you work out the distance between the first heart and centre point?



This is my stash for this project though still a bit unsure of the metallic. All were part of my stash already apart from the metallic and 3839. The fabric is DMC 28ct Ecru. Just looking for the courage to start it...very worried it'll go horribly wrong.

Very pretty colors. Why don't you practice the stitches on some other fabric first. That is what I plan to do. It is what I did on the Tree of Stitches SAL last year. I think that to find the center you would do it like finding the center of any project. Just count two threads as 1. I usually start in the top left corner, so I expect I will be doing more counting this time. Especially with no grinding.

Carole

Thanks Carole, I'll try on a small sample piece first and then will attempt the outside of the heart. Seems to be the simplest to start off with.

Well, seeing all of your stash pics for this one did it... I downloaded the first part. Not sure when I'll actually start it but couldn't resist. I'm hopeless...

I am not decided yet on whether I want to do this one or not, I need to see the whole picture, or at least most of it, before I decide to dedicate time and materials to it.
However, I wanted to share with you how wonderful Yvonne is: several weeks ago I bought the Castles in the Air files from her site, but I chickened out and got the cross stitch version. Between then and now I have done a lot of reading, followed you guys' progress, and regretted I didn't get the specialty stitches one.
So I emailed Yvonne the day before yesterday and asked her if there was any way I could purchase it from her, and she responded super quickly that since I had already bought one of the versions, she just sent me the file for the other!

You and me both Dana! There is no way I have any space in my stitching for this one until next year - but it doesn't stop me from thinking about colours.....fabrics.....etc! Really looking forward to seeing some WIPs!

Me too

How is everyone getting on?

I'm loving it so far. I'm almost finished the first heart. Just a bit of the metallic to do and then the two lots of backstitch.

The PTB metallic looks so shiny and was very easy to use so thanks for the advice about using that. I love the way it looks.

I keep checking to see if anyone has posted a SAL thread yet. Can't wait to see some. Surely someone must have finished by now

Looking forward to seeing your WIP Carole - glad you liked the PTB, I'm addicted to the stuff! I've seen a lot of Part 1 finishes in the Papillon Gallery, but none here yet, waiting patiently............

i've decided not to do this afterall. i'm just too overwhelmed w/existing projects. my fabric was on backorder for so long, i took it as a "sign" to let it go...

i'm still on the papillon site tho, and folks are posting pics from all over the world! i just love seeing the different colors everyone has chosen and the end result makes the design look so new, each time.

can't wait to see everyone's progress here. such a creative bunch you all are

I've finished the first heart minus the beads which I'm leaving till the end. If hubby lets me on the computer tonight I'll try and get a thread and piccie up in SAL. Afterall even if it isn't a part finish, we can't have too many piccies can we?

I ordered fabric awhile back from silkweaver and haven't even received an email that it's been sent yet.. I think I'm up for a long wait
Faith

I like your thinking
I've got photos of the first heart up on my blog. Maybe I'll start a thread. Hmmm.

(and just kick hubby off, if he won't let you on the computer willingly )

Just posted a comment on your blog Carole - your heart is gorgeous!!