Sort of Happy Dance.

I always do all the boring bits first, too (Sky mostly, and in the case of some, the grass.) It took seven skeins to do the grass in the meadow for my Suffolk Punch! Apart from quite a few scattered stitches to "lift" it, and a few areas of shadow, it nearly drove me nuts - but at least I could do those almost randomly so didn`t actually have to count them!

I`m tearing my hair out over my latest one of Athelhampton House in Dorset (one of our most haunted houses) and one of the roofs is at a very awkward angle. I put it away for a few weeks while I got on with a Sioux chief for John, but I`m going to have to be strong willed and get on with it. There`s only that perishing roof to do!

Pat P

Wow, Jim. What patience you must have!! I am dying to see a picture of the work as it progresses!!

Gillian

It sounds like it will be stunning when done--enjoy the more colourful part of your stitching, you've earned it with all that black and navy. Dawne

If only it were just a question of patience! Having lots of time to stitch is a two edged sword. I would dearly love not to have the reasons why I have lots of time. I am a widower, I live alone, the winters here are long and cold, and as I get older I have less and less energy to do lots of things outside. On the second point, I have just bought myself a new laptop, and it is possible it has the software, so I can update my website myself, instead of having to use my son and his computer to do the job. Let's hope!

-- Jim Cripwell. From Canada. Land of the Key Bird. This creature of doom flies over the frozen tundra in winter, shrieking its dreaded call; "Key, Key, Key, Key rist but it's cold!!"

Oh what an original idea! Some of those pictures are sooo beautiful!!!! Oh I hope we can see pictures when you are done. Why is it necessary to do the background in stiches and not just on black fabric?

Maggie

Obviously, you don't know Jim very well yet! LOL!

Cheryl

I am not sure I can give a definite answer to the question. One point is that I hate stitching on black. But the background is not all black and the same color. There are whisps of other colors there. My experience with computer generated patterns, is that, sometimes, you get all sorts of beautiful effects from the "confetti" stitches, which you cannot see until the piece is stitched. The other factor is "depth". There are bright stars in the picture, and I am not sure they would look right if they stood out from the unstitched background.

-- Jim Cripwell. From Canada. Land of the Key Bird. This creature of doom flies over the frozen tundra in winter, shrieking its dreaded call; "Key, Key, Key, Key rist but it's cold!!"

This post sort of intrigued me. When I first saw the picture and turned it into a pattern, I offered this pattern to anyone who was interested. There may be new people on rctn, or some who might have missed the post. If anyone is interested, you need to go to

and download their free program, Pattern Maker Pattern Viewer. The size of the download depends on the O/S your computer uses. Then email me, and I will send the pattern as an *.pat file. Pattern Viewer will open this file, and if you View "stitches", you can get any idea of what the picture might look like when stitched. If you View "symbols", you can print out the pattern, with small symbols and few pages by using a low % size, or large symbols and lots of pages otherwise. If you do want this, and email me, please use some sort of subject that will catch my eye, as I get a lot of spam, which I delete rather rapidly. All this is, of course, free; no cost at all. HTH.

-- Jim Cripwell. From Canada. Land of the Key Bird. This creature of doom flies over the frozen tundra in winter, shrieking its dreaded call; "Key, Key, Key, Key rist but it's cold!!"

snipped-for-privacy@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (F.James Cripwell) had some very interesting things to say about Re: Sort of Happy Dance.:

I have Pattern Maker 1.0, which does use the *.pat file naming. Would that version work for this? If so, I'd be interested in seeing this design.

I think I see what you mean about depth.So what color did you use? What type of fabric? Sorry if this is repetetive I am a newby and I really appreciate your time.

Maggie

No problems. I am stitching on 32 count linen, two over two. There are stars in the picture, each being a few stitches, maybe between 4 and a dozen. These would look like tufts of grass on bare ground, and I dont think would look right. If one used a black background to simulate the night sky, one would need to take decisions all the time as to which color was background, and what needed to be stitching. I dont think I could do that, and I dont think I would like the end result. HTH.

-- Jim Cripwell. From Canada. Land of the Key Bird. This creature of doom flies over the frozen tundra in winter, shrieking its dreaded call; "Key, Key, Key, Key rist but it's cold!!"