I don't know if you remember or not, but last December I wrote a blog post entitled "You Spent How Many Hours On That Cross-Stitch?" that talked about my spending over 250 hours on a cross-stitch picture. Back then you may have thought that 250 hours is a long time to spend on one project. Well, if I told you that I just spent 315 hours on another cross-stitch picture you might think I really have lost my mind.
I started this cross-stitch picture on December 29, 2010 and finally finished it on May 14, 2011. Hubby painstakingly documented my progress day by day so we'd have a detailed breakdown. I worked on this a few hours every day - every chance I got. I quickly learned that there were a lot of color changes due to all the flowers and, as a result, this was going to take a lot of time. And, for sure, it did.
So, was the 315 hours worth it? Absolutely! I'd do it again as the cross-stitch picture framed (shown in the picture above) is absolutely stunning.
To give you a little background on why I would create yet another massive cross-stitch picture I have to take you back to the rationale for my previous cross-stitch picture. In July, 2010 I wrote a Linda's Blog post about my pressed flower pictures entitled "My Pressed Flower Pictures - Now That's A Great Idea!" In that post I told you about a large pressed flower picture I had made that was hanging in our master bedroom and, sadly, was fading which meant it needed to be replaced.
Well, my husband thought a needlepoint picture like the one I had done in the dining room but much bigger would be nice. I wrote about this needlepoint picture awhile ago in a Linda's Blog post entitled "Needlecraft Picture From A Decade Ago - Or So!"
So, since our house is filled with dolls and pictures of buildings & houses I thought a cross-stitch Victorian scene might be just the thing. So, I set out to find some large cross-stitch kits that would be suitable.
Well, I found several that I liked, but couldn't decide which one would be best suited so, as usual, I bought a couple of kits. I also wrote about this adventure in a The Book Review Corner blog post entitled "Just How Many Cross-Stitch Kits Did You Buy!"
While I liked all of them I decided to go with the Dimensions Counted Cross Stitch M Lady's Chateau for our bedroom as it was a beautiful Victorian scene and would fit perfectly in our bedroom. My finished and framed picture is shown above.
Well, during that shopping trip I also bought Dimensions Gold Collection In Her Garden Counted Cross-Stitch Kit which is a wonderful picture of a Victorian woman in a garden. It's a 9 1/2" x 13.2" picture so it isn't quite as big as the one I had just finished. The finished cross-stitch is shown below and my finished picture, which I had framed, is shown in the picture at the beginning of this post.
My husband and I had been so pleased with the way our Dimensions Counted Cross Stitch M Lady's Chateau picture had turned out that we thought it would be nice to use the Dimensions Gold Collection In Her Garden Counted Cross-Stitch Kitin our dining room.
In our dining room we have a large print picture of a Victorian woman in her garden and thought it would be nice to create a three picture scene of three Victorian woman in their gardens. We decided that the Dimensions Gold Collection In Her Garden Counted Cross-Stitch Kit would look great on the left and that the Dimensions Counted Cross Stitch A Summer Stroll shown below would be a good picture to put on the right hand side. I had written about buying this cross-stitch kit in February in a post on my Book & Crafts Review Corner blog entitled A Cross- Stitch Addiction
Like the picture I just finished it will take me a long time to complete the final picture for our series. However, I don't plan on starting that until next winter. I've just got too many other things that I need to get done and don't have the time to devote to such a lengthy project right now. I will complete my series as I just love to cross-stitch and, once I start a project, I do see it through to its completion.
I was very pleased with the results of my 315 hours of blood, sweat, and tears. The Cross-stitch itself was absolutely gorgeous. So, once again, we decided that it would need a nice mat and frame to really finish the piece. After all the hard labor put into creating the cross-stitch picture we decided it needed to be finished properly.
So, once again, we took it to a little local shop called Art & Frame Emporium. Their website is at http://www.artandframeemporium.com/.
This shop has been in business since 1982 and we have been buying things from them for over 20 years. They may be a little art shop, but it is filled with wonderful art supplies, kits, picture frames, etc. But, best of all, it's the staff there that makes the difference. The owner, Ed Turner, and several of the employees like Jean Pellerin, James McAlice, and Mickie Ayleward are all gifted artists in their own right. Over the years we have found that all of the members of the staff always offer terrific advice or suggestions. That's why we keep going back and why a small shop can remain in business all these years. You get quality products, quality advice, and quality service.
This time we talked to Jean about the framing for our cross-stitch. The large print picture in our dining has an ornate gold frame so we wanted something to compliment it as well as compliment the cross-stitch picture. Jean made excellent suggestions and we decided to use a green velour mat, gold brocade trim framing the cross-stitch to give the picture depth and to draw you in, and a gold ornate frame. We also decided to use museum glass instead of regular glass - which makes an enormous difference in the viewing of the picture.
When Jean called to tell us that our picture was ready she said it was "gorgeous!" and the "guys" thought it was "gorgeous, too!" I could tell that she was very proud of her work and she should be. When we saw it - it was stunning. Just beautiful. I put a lot of labor into my cross-stitch and Jean put a lot of labor into finishing it properly for me.
Both my husband and I were thrilled with the way it turned out and have it hanging in the dinning room as we had planned. It compliments the large print picture in the room and is just breath taking to view. The pictures in this post don't really do it justice.
Like the first cross-stitch picture that I had completed I decided to review the Dimensions Gold Collection In Her Garden Counted Cross-Stitch Kit and will post that review on my Book & Crafts Review Corner blog. I may even post something on the Dimensions Facebook page to let them know what I thought of this particular kit. I did that the last time and got a good response from them and wrote about that in a Book & Crafts Review Corner blog post entitled "My Review of M'Lady's Chateau - Dimensions Gold Collection Cross-Stitch Kit Finally Got A Response
In any event, I'm happy the picture is done and very, very pleased with the results. The pictures in this post really don't do it justice. It is absolutely beautiful.
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