priSISTINE stitches

Expulsion from the Garden of Eden

2010-01-31T11:19:00.000-08:00

There's not a lot to say in this post, except after slogging through the last 2 panels, this one was a lot more enjoyable to stitch. I was beginning to think this project was a mistake, but I like it a lot more now.

The Sacrifice of Noah

2009-12-06T09:33:00.000-08:00

The next panel is finally finished. For me, this one was harder than the Deluge (the panel before). Partly because there were 90 symbols in the small center story panel. Partly because of the subject. I realize that animal sacrifice was an ancient religious rite, but as I worked on it and realized how gory the scene is, it was less then fun to stitch. No, if you wonder, I don't watch gory movies either. I like happy things, or at least ones with less blood. It's behind me now though.I took a picture of the entire project so far while I had it all unrolled.

I've been asked by several stitchers what I'm doing with all the extra fabric. When I started, it was at the top and the first few scenes weren't a problem. The bottom of the fabric, I had folded and it just lay across my lap. The sides, well, I just deal with them, it's not really in my way. As I'm using Q-snaps, and turn it over from the top to anchor thread on the back, it did become a problem wading through the extra fabric after a while. I thought about clipping the extra with hair clips so the stitching wasn't damaged, but that would add extra weight to the entire thing. What I hadn't thought about was the fact that as I stitch and add thread, the whole thing is slowly getting heavier. It's going to get a lot heavier by the end. So, what I'm doing now is folding the top of the fabric and using very long running stitches along the width to secure it . I've done the same on the bottom. It's manageable for now at least and not any heavier.

A sigh of Relief

2009-10-25T15:40:00.000-07:00

The Deluge came to be stitched at an appropriate time. I was feeling a bit deluged with trying to get life back to normal as I recovered from surgery. This is the most complicated panel of the entire project and I was nervous to begin with that it would turn out. Now, I feel a lot more confident about this and will continue on. Hopefully, the next panel won't take as long to stitch, either.

2 down, 43 to go!

2009-09-26T08:10:00.000-07:00

Whew! I'm glad to be back stitching again. As I was recovering from surgery, the desire to stitch was totally gone and I was worried it might not come back. It did, however and I'm back on this project again.

Here is where I was on the Drunkenness of Noah before I took my break.

Every other scene of the central panels has this border on it, with the scene in the center. If you look at the lower right corner, you can see that most of the figure is missing. I looked at pictures of the actual art and it appears there was some repair work done and the art was lost. I haven't been able to find the specifics. If anyone knows, I'd be interested to read about it.

Here is the center, or the actual scene finished. It's a bit of an annoyance to me, as I can't find any pictures anywhere of these scenes that have any detail to them and I like to refer to pictures as I work. I'll attempt to fix that for any stitcher who happens on this blog in the future so you can actually see the detail.

It's interesting to see these pictures in such an intimate way. For instance, what's the significance of the man on the left, with the shovel?

Well, now I'm on to work on The Deluge. From what I've read from others, this is the most detailed of all the scenes. I've already had to reprint the chart to enlarge it because of all the fractional stitches. Wish me luck!

Why no update in over a month

2009-08-24T08:09:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to offer an explanation for the lack of updates and to let people know that the project is still on track. I've been sick and then it turns out needed to have my gallbladder removed. Some people get this done as an outpatient procedure and are better in no time. I'm not that lucky, so my recovery will be a bit longer. Stitching this is still too much for me, but I'm getting stronger and less sore every day. Please be patient and I'll be back to updates as soon as I'm able.

The Drunkeness of Noah

2009-07-21T15:46:00.001-07:00

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking in this post.

I started with the outline for the next scene. The first of the center panels. Beige. Lots and lots of beige. In fact, 11 rows wide. I can't imagine doing the entire outline first, but now it's done.

My reward for all that boring beige is this pallet for the actual scene. There are some real pretty blues and greens I've never stitched before. It's going to be fun.

Here's the first corner figure finished. There's a lot to each scene in the way of background and border. The scene itself is only about 1/2 of the entire panel. One of these figures (called ignudi) are in each of the 4 corners.

The Prophet Zacherias

2009-07-10T16:07:00.001-07:00

Here is the first of the 45 panels completed. The prophet Zacherias is at the top, center of this chart and to center the whole project correctly that is where I started. I've given you a picture of him upright.

Here is what he'll look like in relation to the rest of the project. After 2 1/2 weeks of stitching I'm feeling a bit more confident of this project. I admit, the scope of it was intimidating (and I love big projects). There are a large number of fractional stitches to smooth out the curves. I've done fractionals in Theresa Wentzler's designs before, but she always uses outline stitching to define the area. Here there are no outline stitches, so I've been challenged a bit to make my fractionals better. They are still a bit of a work in progress, but I'm going to get a lot of practice!

I've moved on now to the border around the central scenes. There are 9 of them in total. They begin with the creation of the world, and all come from the book of Genesis. You'll have to bear with me, as I'm stitching them in reverse of their chronological order. (Top to bottom of a chart is much easier for me.) These central panels will be completed before I move to the outer panels. The border around each scene is being done first. I have the left side completed for the "Drunkenness of Noah" already. I'm not taking any chances that the two sides don't line up, so I've run a thread from specific points to the other side so I'm sure things line up.
This last picture isn't the best, lighting-wise. I have my camera set to work real well under my craft light, but I'm going to have to take pictures in a different place I fear because of the size. I'll keep working on this too.

First week of stitching

2009-06-28T15:26:00.001-07:00

I finally got started on this. I know a lot of people just love those first stitches of a new start. I hate them. I love to finish and that first stitch is so far from the end. Especially this project.

I didn't stitch all that much actually. A good part of my evening stitch time was in getting organized.

I decided to approach this as 45 smaller projects so the first thing I did was pull the floss for the symbols of the center, top panel. Seemed easy. I have a LOT of floss to sort through and sometimes I knew what color I needed, but too many times I had to look it up on my floss sample book. It seemed to take forever, but it was only 29 colors. Then, because I work best with floss wound on bobbins, and sorted in a craft box, I got that all organized. So far so good. Well, the first symbol wasn't on the key code for the panel. Oh, wait, there was a page and a half of symbols that all the panels had in common, like borders and background and the architecture that binds this piece together. Crap. I had 85 more colors to pull and organize. I also work with a Pako needle organizer, keeping a needle for each symbol and if I have leftover floss, I just put it there and don't unthread my needle. Now I had to rummage for a second Pako, one for each batch of symbols.

Needless to say, once I was done with all this, I wasn't in a great mood, but I got to finally put some stitches in. Then there's 2 1/5 yards of fabric. Combine that with temps in the 90's and I had to work that out quick. So - since I'm at the very top of the project, I managed to fold up the fabric below so it can lay across my lap without too much problem. I'm also using my floor stitching stand to lean the top of my Q-snap on so I have two hands to stitch and don't have to hold the Q-snap. I also have the chart holder and the tray to keep the Pako in that I'm using. I must look a sight, actually, but it's working.

That is, until the phone rings. That happened today. I tried to quickly prop the fabric, etc. onto the scroll rod for a second, it rolled over, dumping it all on the floor while knocking a Pako off as well. I guess I'll have to keep the phone next to me from now on!

Well, I guess I'm on a roll now so I'm back to some more stitching this fine Sunday evening.

In the beginning -

2009-06-20T07:27:00.000-07:00

This blog will be a chronicle of a stitching project that is, for me the ultimate dream. I've been doing counted cross stitch for over 20 years and in that time my passion and love of sewing colorful little x's onto fabric has grown. (Some might say into an obsession, but everyone needs something)

That's my story in a nutshell. The project I'm undertaking goes back several centuries more. It was in 1508 that Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to repaint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. A large structural crack had opened on the vaulted ceiling and after it's repair, the current art was too badly damaged to fix, so the decision was made to re-do it.

For the next 4 year, the artist laid on his back on scaffolding, and painted in wet plaster that days work. Anyone who has painted a ceiling knows how much paint ends up on the person doing the painting, so you can imagine what a miserable job it must have been. Even so, the result was one of the greatest works of art the world has ever, or is likely to ever know.
Over the centuries, the faithful have come to the chapel to light candles and pray. The soot from those candles built up on the ceiling until most of what was there was barely visible. In the 1980's, the ceiling was cleaned and restored. For the first time in centuries, the true scope of the art was actually visible.
This picture of the restoration gives you an idea of just how much was actually revealed during the process.

It is images of the restored art that Joanna Lopianowski-Roberts used when she designed the cross stitch chart of the ceiling.

The ceiling itself contains 45 separate panels depicting various scenes and important people from the old testament. There was no way to design this chart and at the same time do it justice without making it, well, huge.

It's 564 x 1,114 stitches. (total of 628,296 if you're curious) That's full stitches. The chart contains many fractionals to help with the detail, so in my estimation that's a lot more. Every color in the DMC line of floss is used, save 5 and there are 1,200 more colors achieved by blending two colors in your needle at a time.

What I need:
First, the pattern. I bought the digital version so I can print it the size I want. It's all now organized in 2 (yes 2) 3 inch binders.

Fabric. I've chosen 32 count Lugana in an off-white color. That's 2.25 yards of it and I went rather pale when I laid it all out, so it's less intimidating folded up like you see it!

Floss. I started with one master set of DMC. That's in the bags on the right. Then I bought the rest of the colors that you needed more than one of separately. It totals nearly 700 skeins. (good thing I love floss)
Brand new 11 inch Q-Snaps. I usually stitch on a floor stand. If I did this project on it, I'd need to buy some new parts to make it wide enough. I could, but then it would just be too large for my living room where I stitch, so I'm going back to Q-Snaps. (Oh, I left the floss in the picture, because I thought that much floss deserved a second picture!)

New bobbins. I keep all my floss in a craft box, on bobbins so I can find it easily. There was a slight problem. Some stitcher had beaten me to every floss bobbin in town by a few days. Step forward Karen - she kindly went out and bought my over 200 of the little beauties. (fellow stitchers are the bestest people)

Lastly, but certainly not least are all the stitchers on the TCC forum. They have promised to cheer me on with this (let's just say it and be done with it, insane project.) They have already been an enormous help. It was Brenda who named this blog. It was also a bunch of others who offered to find me bobbins. It was Lin I bought the fabric from and I'm sure in the years to come, they will all lend moral support.

There is one last person I need to mention. You see, all of this could never have happened if my closest friend/sister had only said what she was thinking when I told her I was going to stitch this. If she had said, "are you freakin' nuts?" instead of being supportive I would have come to my senses before now. Now, it's too late. I've spent all this money and time so I might as well stitch the darn thing. I have no idea what I'll do with it when I'm done, I'll decide that later.

In the next few days I'll take the plunge. I hope you join me on what is sure to be a wild ride!