I kitted it up with a fervor in the summer of 2006. I haunted Barnes and Noble to make sure I got all three issues. It served as a respite from a hideously cruddy job I made the mistake of taking. I eagerly put needle to thread every night after arriving home. And then I quit that job, and it pretty much has stalled since. This is the progress I have to show for almost 6 years of work:
Yep, ratty magazine and this little progress. I think this is a race with Hummingbird Trellis to see which one can take longer. So far, Hummingbird is winning. I know I have taken it out a few times to work on it, but, it's so flippin' big and I'm so flighty that I can't buckle down. So I'm pleased at how this week's progress has come along.
This is what I was talking about earlier, how the backstitch really works so well for this piece:
When I picked it up yesterday, her face was as blank as the girl in purple. With just 10 minutes work, and a good sharp needle, she looks remarkably beautiful. This picture does not do her justice, and it amazes me I made this with thread. She reminds me of the actress who played Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair (not Reese Witherspoon, the girl from the BBC miniseries, which is one of my favorite things on TV ever.) I can not wait to see the effect that stitching has on the rest of the faces, especially the guy to her right, who looks vaguely like Michael Cera. Or at least he does if that guy was cast in a Regency-era movie.
It is going to be hard to put this down after tomorrow, but it's only for a week, and I have GOT to get crackin' on ornaments. At least I can say I'm seeing progress, which I could not say before, and I bet Becky is pleased to have an arm. And I've decided the plan of attack is one page at a time, then move to the stair-step method I'm using with Santa's Pets on the other two sections. That seems to work well for Santa and it's not boring, so I can see this getting finished soon. I hope it takes less time for the project here on out than it has for this little bit. Otherwise, I might be finishing this when I retire.
8 comments:
That is amazingly detailed! Good for you for picking it up again! The guy on the right looks like Colin Firth.
Cathy
I love that design! I've never seen that before. It looks like so much fun to stitch, just not all at once. Glad you gave it some time.
Her face does look sweet! That is a big project but you can do it and we'll cheer you on!
Wonderful progress! Keep up the good work.
Julie
It's a lovely piece and I am sure you'll manage to work it into your rotation easily now that you have recovered your initial enthusiasm for the project. Perhaps, what was holding you back was the association with the distatsteful job and enough time has passed to make that issue a non-starter.
In any case, I am really going to look forward to progress photos on this one. Makes me think of Jane Austen whose work I love, so you'll have to excuse me if I stitch this one vicariously through you!.
Glad you were able to make some progress, maybe it will motivate me to take mine out. Funny thing is, I think that is how I found your blog..by googling Summer Ball.
Have a great weekend.
Stephanie
The face looks great. I love the detail.
This is quite the project. I wouldn't expect to finish it in a year but I know what you're saying. You'll get there! The detail is lovely.
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