This design is by Genny Morrow.

The design is stitched on 18-count Deluxe Mono Canvas from Zweigart, using DMC and Anchor floss. 
I'll probably make it into a cushion when I'm done.  It's a large design.  

I started in June 2004, but stopped working on it after a few weeks. 
I picked it back up again in January 2005 as part of my "clear out my unfinished projects year". 

First Progress Picture - Two Days Stitching

At this point I just picked a color I liked (DMC 938) and started stitching squares that used that color.

Second Progress Picture - January 2005

Here you can see all the progress I made in the year 2004. 
At this point I was still hopping around, doing all the squares
that used a specific color.  I did stitch ten squares today
as part of my new rotation in 2005.  I'll take another progress
picture at the end of the week.

End of January 2005 rotation

. 

You can see the squares I stitched this week by comparing it to the earlier photograph.  Total stitched this week were 75 squares.  I found that it is a lot faster to work in rows, rather than hopping around.  I went ahead and organized my floss at this point.  I decided to work backwards, that way I wouldn't be handling the finished squares as much. 

This close up picture gives you an idea of the detailing that goes into each square.

March 2005 Rotation Progress

This week I stitched 43 squares.  Not very many for a week, but I didn't stitch for some of the days because I was too sore from landscaping.  :) 

April 2005 Rotation Progress

This was actually a two-week rotation, as I took it on a trip to Utah with me.  I stitched 96 squares (give or take one; I may have miscounted.)

May 2005 Rotation Progress

I finished!

This rotation I stitched 83 squares.  I also added my initials and date to one of the lower squares.  This design was so fun to stitch!  I loved the colors and all the different stitches.  I ran out of quite a few colors and needed two skeins - 712, ecru, 3325 are a few that spring to mind.  You also need multiple skeins of white. 

It looks crooked, but it's really not. 

Notes about Nova - E-mails I've answered about this project:

I'm also not a pink person... but I don’t look at my finished piece and "think pink"... I see a lot of red and blue when I look at it.  I would think it would also depend on how you finished it.  If you did it as a pillow and used a green or blue cording, or framed it with blue or green matting, then your eye would probably note that color more.  I myself used just a knife edge with no cording, because I didn't want to pick out any one color.  I chose a dark brown ultrasuede to match my living room paint.  :) 

 <snip> how large does it turn out? Put another way, it's designed for 18 ct ... how many blocks are there in each direction, and how many threads does a block cover? <snip>

Each square is 12 threads square.  You have 18 squares across the top (1-18) for a total of 216 threads horizontal.  You have 22 squares down the side (A-V) for a total of 264 threads vertical.  On 18 count fabric your design size is 12" x 14.75"   

I will note that the directions have you mark off your piece before you start stitching.  They also want you to write your numbers and letters on the canvas.  I did this *inside* the square rather than outside the square as the directions suggest.  The reason is that if I were to frame the piece this would have allowed me to have a blank area of canvas showing before it went under the mat, rather than forcing the mat or frame to start at the edge of the finished stitching.  It turned out to be a moot point as I decided to do it as a cushion. 

 The only other piece of advice that I consider important is to get a good system of sorting your floss before starting the piece.  I used to bobbin floss, but stopped doing so when I realized I could tell a difference in the sheen of the floss that had been bobbined from the floss that hadn't.  So, when I started this piece I just bought all the floss and put it in a big bag.  Whew!  What a pain to try and stitch a square!  There was a lot of floss to sort through!  I ended up putting it away for a while.  I then decided I needed to finish it up, and went through and reorganized the floss putting them in smaller sandwich baggies on a ring - maybe 15 to a bag rather than the whole pile.  I did it by number, too, rather than color family.  This made it easier to find the floss I needed. 

I also add that I started stitching multiple squares at a time.  I found that the same color may be used in two or three squares in a row, which helped with the color blending.  If I were to stitch one square at a time, I found myself going back for the same color over and over, so I alleviated that by looking at the next few squares and just stitching the color in my needle.  Then I'd go back to the first square and start the second color. 

***********************

***********************

Marsha, I stitched this piece as well and thoroughly enjoyed it. I used the substitutions that were listed in the book. She'll also need at least three skeins of white floss, and I used two of 712, ecru, and 3325. Towards the very, very end I started to run out of other colors but rather than pulling more floss I just substituted a different color from within the design (that looked close.)
 

Copyright 2000-2003 Summer Louise Truswell. All Rights Reserved.