Sunday, November 30, 2008

Coming to Life - New project

As the titles says already, I started a new big project. It was very tempting to start or the Holland Landscape Mandala - which is fully kitted up - or preparing to start the Cuban Mansion Mandala. But I decided to own up to my promise and to stitch "Coming to Life". Michael likes this one heaps and so I will stitch it for him. Doing it on 18 ct Aida - which feels a bit weird. I prefer to stitch on linen or evenweave.

First time ever I used a pen for gridding. Most often I skip the gridding because it's not only heaps of work but also because I have troubles to remove the thread OR it annoys me doing that while stitching. But I saw some while ago a nifty way of gridding and got myself a water erasable fabric maker with a fine tip. And it works great. The slightest bit of water removes the color...and it doesn't come back. I tried it for 2 weeks - and even touching the lines with a damp cloth does the trick. Personally I wouldn't use this if I would stitch with any hand dyed fiber or on not color fast fabric...but for stitching on white with DMC it's ideal. When I stitch these "paintings" I don't stay in a 10x10 square (although I concentrate on one for finishing) but move out of it to finish off the thread in the needle - as far as possible. Gridding helps a lot here. And best thing is, it took me only couple of minutes to grid it. Just a ruler and off you go. I love it.

Coming To Life

The only thing that bothers me a bit is that I can't figure out who the artist is. I bought that chart on Ebay 18 months ago. It was a case of browsing, and accidentally coming across it, and falling in love. Auction was almost running out - so I bought it immediately. The chart itself is not of the quality I would have liked and it comes with surprisingly little information. I even needed to grid the chart itself - the original is just a huge bunch of numbers without any gridding lines. Very hard to work from.

7 comments:

Carolyn NC said...

Sounds very interesting - I've seen Holland Mandala being stitched. It is just stunning - so much prettier than the picture! Good luck with your new project.

Sadie said...

Great start already Gabi. Who makes the water soluble marker? I want to try a bigger project next year and have always been put off by the thought of gridding, although I know the benefits of doing it. This pen sounds like the perfect solution.

Nancy M said...

Do you have the photo of the project so we can see what you are heading towards??? It's a great start. I have never gridded before, so I don't know if I would like it or not!

Anonymous said...

That looks like a huge project - good for you, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

Quiltsmiles said...

Gabi,

I just love this cross stitch pattern. I'd love to buy it from you after you are done with it. I'm posting this on May10, 2009 and your is incredible. I keep checking your bklog often to see how it is coming along. LOVE IT!
Jane

Carolyn in VA said...

When I google it, the title of the painting brings up the artist name of Bo Newell. Here's one listing for it.
http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Water-Bo-Newell-Framed/dp/B000DIM804

From the bad quality of the chart, sounds like you have a home-made pirated version (I doubt the maker has an agreement with the copyright holder of the painting.)

HTH
Carolyn in VA

Quiltsmiles said...

Gabi,
I still love this pattern, would you be willing to recycle it? I'd gladly reimburse you.

I truly love it! Michael must love it to. Now what? Manhatten skyline, I'll be checking back to see what you are up too.
I also am celebrating my Bloggiversary, stop by and leave a comment for a chance to win.

Jane