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Hi everyone,

I'm new to this board and wanted to share with all of you my latest . And judging by the size of it, it may very well end up being my LAST WIP! I'll be a little old granny sitting in my rocking chair doing freeform, anything-goes cross stitch just to get the whole thing over with already.

Here are the details:
It's "Apple Tree", by Gustav Klimt
I'm doing it on 18ct white aida.
Final measurements will be 22.25 inches square.
400 stitches wide x 400 stitches high (= 160,000 stitches = I will be working on this for the rest of my life)

I got the pattern from Cross Stitch Collectibles, and this is what it will (hopefully) look like when I (hopefully) finish it: http://xs-collectibles.com/detail.aspx?ID=1414.

Here's what it looked like after about 1 hour:



And here's it is after about 8 hours:



Here's a close-up:



Each page of the pattern is a rectangle of about 60 stitches across by 75 stitches down. There are 7 of those rectangles going across and 6 going down, for a total of 42 pages/rectangles. So you go across left to right from page 1-7 and then go back and start #8 below #1. Does that make sense? I'm saying all this because the pic above is page 1, and you can sort of make out the shape and size of the rectangle. Those 3 little x's on the bottom left mark the bottom of the page. I look at it and think, "Hmmm...that took me 8 HOURS. And half the stitches aren't even crossed yet!"

I joke, but I'm actually really excited about the challenge of doing this project. It's going to be a gift for my mom, so I'm pretty motivated to finish it in a reasonable time frame. I'll have a better idea of how long the whole project will take me once I finish the first page, but assuming that it takes me 20 hours/page, if I can average about 2 hours/day, everyday, it'll take me about 1.25 years to finish.

Thanks for looking, and wish me luck!!

Lara

That looks great. I can't even begin to imagine what this will take to finish. GOOD LUCK and please keep us posted.

Oh, wow! What a challenge! Goodluck with this project...you'll really be proud of this!

Well you certainly like a challenge dont you??
I'll watch for updates with great interest

Well it's certainly challenging, but I bet you have the biggest sense of achievement each time a page is completed, and then once it's finally finished you can really celebrate.
I'm sure your mum will love this.

This is such a wonderful project, do please keep us posted with updates. I'll really enjoy seeing this grow although I think you might need support now and again as motivation comes and goes. There are quite a few of us tackling large projects at the moment, so there will always be someone around able to offer sympathy and chocolate when you get to the stage of wanting to throw all your needles away!!!

It's a truely beautiful piece and I think you're motivation will grow as you see it coming together. Just remember to have some mini projects lined up for when you're ready to pull your hair out Can't wait to see more updates and, as seems to be my favourite saying at the moment, slow and steady wins the race.

Mel xxx

It will be lovely to see the progress on this, and lucky mom that you're doing such a beautiful project for her! Is she a lover of art and Klimt in particular, or is it the subject that made it so suitable for her? Sorry for being nosey , but it always interests me to hear why people choose a particular project for someone.

wow thats one massive project hehe, its looking great though so keep at it and make sure you keep us updated

Wow, what a fantastic project, sooooo challenging, soooo colourful, so interesting. will love seeing updates as time goes on.

Thanks for sharing the experience with us.

Rosemary

Good for you for tackling this - I am sure it will give you an enormous sense of achievement.

Are the half stitches in your pic supposed to be half stitches, or whole? I only ask because you mentioned that "half the stitches aren't even crossed yet". Do you go back and cross them at a later date, or are they crossed with another colour? Forgive me being nosey but I've not seen this technique before!

I'm going to enjoy watching this project develop!!

This is going to look fabulous! Good for you for tackling such a tough piece. I really look forward to seeing all the progress pics!

Talk about color changes! You are braver than I to tackle something like this. It's lovely and I wish all the luck and speed you can take while you work on it. Oh and no .

A big thank you to all of you for your great words of support! It's so nice to know that there's a place that we can all go to for x-stitching inspiration and motivation.

Mabel: You're not being nosey at all. My mom goes on a couple cruises a year and has acquired quite a collection of artwork that she has purchased on her trips. Mostly painted European cafe and storefront scenes with rich, vibrant colors. I picked this particular piece because I really like Klimt (important because I've just started a 1+ year relationship with it), and the colors in it would match the artwork she already has. Plus, she was looking over my shoulder when I had it up on the screen and said, "Ooh, that's pretty!" She knows I'm working on it, but doesn't know it's for her.

Slinky: You're not being nosey, either. When I have a lot of stitches to do in one color, I like to do a large section in just half stitches. Then, when I go back to cross them, there's no counting to do and it goes a lot faster. Also gives my eyes and brain a little bit of a rest.

oh wow that's big!! I realllly want to see this grow too!

That is avery interesting idea for stitch large areas. I love this site because we find so many different notions of the "best" way to stitch and yet no way is wrong just a different perspective.

Thats another reason I love the SAL section as well Rose . You get to see how someone stitches and you can pick up great tips and ideas to try out.

That's a really good idea for big patches of one colour - I think I will try that out, thank you

Wow what a project will keep my on this for updates!

Huh. I've been doing it that way for so long, I guess I just thought that's the way it was done. How do all of you stitch up your projects? Do you cross each stitch as you go along, do you do it by the row, or some other way?