The Castle - FINISHED!!!!

[minij]

Glad you were able to sort it and feel better about it

[elin]

This is fab !!!!
mine is still in the ufo box, but I am sure exhited to see it on my wall too..
You are doing a great great job on this.

[Krissy]

This is looking great!! Glad the backstitching set things right.

[coffee_freak]

i can't wait to see yours done..i'm dreading the backstitching..i want to do it all in one color..a dark grey..and i'm sooo tempted..

is it as hard to follow as I think?? lol..reading the pattern I'm horrified!
I'm a few rows into the bottom left page..i'm loving the stitch..just scared of the BS!

[TabLVT]

i can't wait to see yours done..i'm dreading the backstitching..i want to do it all in one color..a dark grey..and i'm sooo tempted..

is it as hard to follow as I think?? lol..reading the pattern I'm horrified!
I'm a few rows into the bottom left page..i'm loving the stitch..just scared of the BS!

yeah the backstitching is definitely a pain in the you-know-what. The instructions are really difficult to follow so I've just kinda did my own thing with some of it...

The part I'm really confused about is it gives a specific color to use for the spines silhouetted against the sky, but it makes absolutely NO mention of the spines on the dragon's back in front of the rocks. So I have no idea what color to do them in. I guess I will leave them til last and just make something up...

[coffee_freak]

i looked at the color picture on the front of the booklet..and to me..all the bs looks like it's a dark grey..I think I'll do that..I mean.how bad could that look? most patterns call for a dark grey or black as bs..so why not? lol

oh and the random rocks that stick out on the left side.i've skipped. mainly because i would come very close to the left side of the fabric edge..my miscounting..lol
but also..they look odd to me..random..lol..

[TabLVT]

i looked at the color picture on the front of the booklet..and to me..all the bs looks like it's a dark grey..I think I'll do that..I mean.how bad could that look? most patterns call for a dark grey or black as bs..so why not? lol

I read somewhere that when TW first made this design, she did the whole thing with dark grey backstitch. It was only later that she changed it and added the colors. Also, the cover art is old (because it shows the dragon with only 3 toes as opposed to the 4th toe which she added later), so the cover art probably does show it all with dark grey backstitch.

[coffee_freak]

woot! then all dark grey backstitch it is!!! lol..

ty!! i really am going to do it all this way..i'm sure it will all be just fine

[TabLVT]

C_F, I'm sure it will look just fine! Can't wait to see it all done!


...and guess what???

I'M FINISHED!!!!! *happy dance*

I shouldn't have stayed up so late but I couldn't help it when I was SO CLOSE to being done!

I'm going to wash it up nice, and then I'll post a pic. I need nice, natural lighting for the photo so I probably won't get to do it til Monday afternoon because I work all weekend. I'm really looking forward to taking the final photo for you guys!!

GUESS how many hours total it took??? Take a wild guess!

[Mabel Figworthy]

I am notoriously bad at guessing so I think I'll pass on that, but

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!

[coffee_freak]

yeah!! can't wait to see it!!

as for hours..so far from what I've done..it's been about 25hrs

[Violet]

Wow!
I have only just found this thread.... just took me 30 mins to read everything!

What a project! What a Gal! Well done!

I "guesstimate" 236 hours

[Rose]

Congratulations. When I am so close I can see the finish I will stay up late to. It is just to close to put it down and go to bed.

[mags]

Yay
Sitting waiting for picture

[~threadbear~]

Can't wait to see it now!

[TabLVT]

I finally finished it! It took 260 hours total and almost a whole year to finish!

Here are the photos again...

16 hours




39 hours




68 hours




96 hours




127 hours




155 hours




191 hours




216 hours - without backstitching




260 hours - Finished!




The minor setback near the end when I realized I had stitched the wrong color into the rocks set me back about 10 hours. But it was worth it - it looks better now anyway. Curse those handwritten symbols!

I washed it and ironed it, and I'm going to have it framed by a specialty stitching shop, but I'm going to wait a few months for their 50% off sale


Next on the agenda, this HAED

[Serinde]

This is utterly and totally fabulous!

[mags]

Absolutely wonderful

And looking forward to the HAED.

[xstitch sue]

STUNNING
xxx

[Sarah Gixxer]

Well done on completing it - it looks stunning! Bet you can't wait for the framing shop to have their sale so you can get it framed!

Looking forward to you starting your HAED now!