Gryff: AKA Coontastic Gryffindor Update 25 May 2020

[vanessanjf]

Great progress I have been on holiday too. I did take my stitching but didn't manage to get much done which I find really annoying I will make up for it next week.

[richardandtracy]

Wendy, which 'Big Blow' was that? There have been a few over the years, frequently while we've been on holiday!
I was on a campsite near Penzance during the Aug 13, 1979 Fastnet Gale (the one that killed 15 sailors & 3 rescuers) with my parents & brother. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_Fastnet_race

That was a heck of a storm. The family was in a caravan and awning on a pretty open site, but when we arrived the week before & knowing it was Cornwall, my dad placed the caravan to the NW of the awning and chose the most sheltered spot on site, near a couple of big gorse bushes and a higher section of dry stone wall. As the storm increased, my dad lashed the caravan down and placed the van upwind of the caravan, moving it as the wind changed. Throughout the night, all four of us regularly stitched up the awning as the canvas ripped around the peg attachments. When in the awning all we could hear was a huge roar of wind overlaid with a demonic shriek from some turbulence, and it was impossible to talk to each other in the awning - even shouting down someone's ear was inaudible over the roar. In the caravan, by the light of our gas lights, we could see the van bouncing like a toy on its springs as huge gusts smashed into it, immediately followed by a massive (but reduced) impulse to the caravan. There were a couple of times when it looked as if the van was going to topple, but it didn't, quite. As it got light, we could see the smashed, destroyed and overturned caravans of the people who didn't take the same precautions. No-one was hurt on site, but out of 6 caravans on the campsite, only two were whole, and only our awning had survived (by the skin of its teeth).

When I got back to school in September I discovered the elder brother of someone in my class had been blown off a cliff & killed by the residual wind after that horrific night.

Sometimes I wonder why I ever go camping... However, when it's not horrible, it's fantastic.

Thanks, everyone for your kind comments. As I said, I'll continue with Gryff until the end of the page (soon, I hope).

Regards,

Richard

[wendywombat]

It was the Great Storm of 1987.
We were having an extension done on our house near Bristol. The builder had cut down each side of the side wall so as to key in the extension walls....then He Went on holiday too!! Leaving the entire end wall of our house supported by the foundations!!

We were in Cornwall and heard on the news about the high Winds so rushed home, knowing that there was building work 'going on' Lucky for us the only casualty was the greenhouse which had blown off it's base and half the glass was stuck end on in the grass!

[richardandtracy]

Eek! That must have had you very worried.
It wasn't too bad near Bideford that night. I went out in the height of the storm with a candle lantern to close a banging barn door. The candle wasn't even blown out.

Regards,

Richard.

[RosemaryD]

I think you'd just charted this last time I looked so it's great to see your progress since. It's going to be beautiful!

Sorry you had bad weather on your holiday. I might be alone in actually liking British winter weather and I cannot wait for it to cool down this year - forecast is 27C on Tuesday - yuck!

[Lulu22]

Gryff is looking great, your stitching is superb

Sorry about the weather for your holiday, I don't feel like we've had much of a summer in the UK, it seems to have been one or two warm days surrounded by lots of rainy one's. I hope you had a great time despite the weather.

[kandifloss]

looking good. such lovely neat stitching. Look forward to next update

Kandi

[richardandtracy]

After an agonizingly slow time finishing off this page, I have now done it:

Page 5 is complete:

I can now rest easy & progress on to 'Luz' for a month. This page completion means I am 13772 stitches into the 98984 stitch project, and so am 13.9% through it. Is that all?!? Feels a fair bit further...

It is really astonishing how things seem to come together as the last few dozen stitches in the page go in. I am really rather pleased with it. I know no more of Gryff is visible, but the shading in the snow and everything is something I'm really pleased with.

Regards,

Richard.

[kandifloss]

Glorious update, such tiny stitches so neatly done.

[wendywombat]

Maybe no more of Gryff, but that background is wonderful! I look forward to seeing the next instalment. He is my preferred subject of your two projects!

Excellent work, Richard!

[Mabel Figworthy]

I don't want to put his majestic nose out of joint, but with this amount of detail the background is as interesting as the Main(e) Subject!

[fccs]

Beautiful update! The detail is amazing - well done - and the stitching exquisite (as usual).

[richardandtracy]

Thanks for your kind comments. I have been a bit slow in the last month or more, but hope to devote a bit more time in the future.

Gryff was enough of an aristocat to be able to cope with almost anything.
Including this indignity from our large Norwegian Forest Cat 'Fluffy':

Though he was capable of looking very superior:

(those tiles he's sitting on are 6" across, so he's far from small!)

Regards,

Richard

[Mabel Figworthy]

Love the royal portrait!

[rcperryls]

Love the update and the detail and I adore the photos!!

Carole

[Carole]

Hooray for finishing another page

Love the photos. He was a stunner

[Mad Max]

It seems the tail has a lot of great detail. How many different colors will you use in the entire project?

[richardandtracy]

There are 115 colours total, but as most are blended (using 2 different thread colours in the needle) I need 156 different colours of floss. I have not yet had the 'courage'/foolishness to go for even higher colour counts. At this level of colour detail the result looks quite convincingly close to the original photo.

To be honest, the only difference between this and a 30 colour image is the extra time involved in finding the thread, and if I had a better management system it wouldn't take that either.

Regards,

Richard.

[Mad Max]

There are 115 colours total, but as most are blended (using 2 different thread colours in the needle) I need 156 different colours of floss. I have not yet had the 'courage'/foolishness to go for even higher colour counts. At this level of colour detail the result looks quite convincingly close to the original photo.

To be honest, the only difference between this and a 30 colour image is the extra time involved in finding the thread, and if I had a better management system it wouldn't take that either.

Regards,

Richard.

Wow! I thought I had a lot with 85 different colors. What is your organizational system? Bobbins? Bags? So far I like my bobbin system. I don't mind hand spinning them from the skein.

[Lulu22]

The blending in the Gryff's tail and the background is superb. Fantastic update

Great photo's. The bottom one is very majestic indeed and your top photo reminded me of a photo I have of my daughter's, the older one being squished by the younger one with an expression caught between pain and trying to smile!