Crossstitchforum - A FREE forum for Cross Stitchers

Hey all. I went shopping today for the supplies for my first project. As I explained in my introduction thread here: http://www.crossstitchforum.com/viewtop ... =2&t=13046" target="_blank" target="_blank"

It is a very big project for a beginner. This is a pattern I created myself. I began with a photo of my wife:



Then I ran it through photoshop to cut out everything but her face and neck. To simplify just a bit I made it black and white:



Then I used MacStitch to turn it into a pattern. I set it to max out the colors and it returned a pallet of 20 colors that will be used in this project. For fun I laid the sheets out on my bed:



I hope to have it finished by the time I am reunited with my wife in 4 1/2 months. We'll see. It should measure around 12'' x 24'' on 14 count Aida. About 30,000 stitches by my estimation.

Your wife is very pretty, she has such beautiful eyes! That definitely looks like a great project, and I'm sure you'll enjoy working on it. I look forward to watching your progress.

One thing I've learned from the people here is that for the big projects, gridding with a washable marker is extremely helpful. I'm the type that doesn't necessarily follow an exact grid (I like to finish a color rather than just do one box at a time). However, gridding like that helps by making one more way to double check where you are so you make less mistakes going off track. I'll definitely be doing that in future projects.

I'm guessing MacStitch is the same as PCStitch, just for different computers. I love the program.

so pretty!
goodl luck with your first project, I am sure you will do fine!!

That is one awesome project. Your wife is beautiful and I will watch with interest how this develops.
Good luck!

Beautiful. I love black & White photos so I'm really excited to see the progress on this. Good luck

What a beautiful idea! You've chosen a lovely picture too. Can't wait to see how this one progresses.

what a lovely story ,wow she's pretty

Your wife is very beautiful and this will make a wonderful project. Looking forward to watching your updates.

wow what an ambitious first project, lovely thought, your wife will love it

wonderful project!

Will look forward to seeing how you get on Bob! I agree gridding really helps, and take it in small bits so its not overwhelming.

Niki xxx

what a fun and lovely project. I got macStitch right after joining the forum and am just starting a cross stitch of one of my grandsons. I use a program called Pixilator to clean up thephotos and then get the patterns. I am very interested to see how yours turns out. I have tons of photos and plan to do lots of cross stitches from them. It is so much fun to work on these kinds of projects.

Carole

Wow, that is some first project, can't wait to read how you get on with it.

That's a fabulous project and thanks for sharing the story behind it.

I hope you're going to keep us updated as you stitch

what a lovely idea and great project!!

What a lovely girl! And what an ambitious project! But very well worth the doing - she will love it, and be so moved by your desire to create your own portrait of her!

Cheering you on!

Very cool, she will love it I'm sure, and a beautiful picture of her to use.

Glad to hear that your family got out safely.And a great first project.

A lovely project, looking forward to seeing your progress with it

Week 1. This is going to take awhile. I used black floss to grid, I threaded it very loosely so I can move it out of the way when I get near it. Though I now know fishing line would probably have been better. I'm too paranoid at the moment to use washable ink. I did use it along the edges for numbering but that will be trimmed off in the end. It is definitely a learning process. But I am having fun.