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Oh yeah. All those colors make it a bit of a hassle having to frequently switch, but they definitely add a lot to the picture. Lot of bright, vibrant colors really have things stand out.
And we're moving right along. Everything up to the 50th column is done and a fair amount to the right of that. 75ish hours in, I think we can safely call this at least 1/4 done. Which does mean another 225 or so hours to go, which puts us finishing around June with our break in March or so. But, one day at a time, one stitch at a time, slow and steady is the way to win this race.
Now at about the 81 hour mark (haven't stitched yet today), we are moving right along. End of stitching time yesterday, I moved the hoop, though haven't done any work in the new location yet. But, we will be able to reach the top of the picture from here to see exactly how tall it'll be. Because of the curvature of the outside border, we actually moved the hoop more right than up and our columns aren't going to be as straight up and down as they were for Twilight Princess, but it'll all work out in the end. Still a little bit of work to do on the hilt of the second background sword (could have done more of the black outlining, but was interested in moving the hoop and getting the top established. End of October or so when we move the hoop down, we will likely pick that up), but things are progressing. I think we might get to at least start part of Link in this hoop, but we'll at least get to do his sword. We will also be moving onto page 2, which is exciting (the whole pattern is only 6 pages, and pages 4-6 are just the bottom 10 or so rows of the picture. So a vat majority of the work done thus far has all been done on one page of the pattern). Comparing this project to some recent ones, I have to say it's almost a cross between Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. It has large splotches of color/areas of all one color like much of Wind Waker. And also doesn't have a blocked off edge, so I have to be mindful of colors on the edge and making sure I don't miss a couple of stitches of one color. But this also lots of individual stitches or sections of just a couple of stitches of one color much like most of Twilight Princess was like. And the slight variations in colors/use of many similar, yet different, colors really adds a lot of depth to the picture.
The top of the pattern calls for a row of off-white stitches. Because the whole background was intended to be stitched, they would have fit in texturally. At this point, I am unsure whether I will do that row or not. It is all of 5 squares above the top of the stained glass/main picture, so not doing it won't throw off the balance of centering the picture for framing. More than likely, I'll do a few stitches well away from the picture, just to see how things look, do the stitches stand out (color-wise) or look out of place (texture-wise) and go from there. They go across the top, almost all the way, but aren't on any of the other sides, so we're looking at 100 or so stitches, which I could likely do in an hour+. So not a lot of time save if I skip them, but not a lot of time investment if I do do the row. Because I'll be working on the top of the picture in this hoop and thus in a position to start the row, or not, I'll likely make a decision one way or the other these next couple of weeks.
I am definitely enjoying this. And am also excited about how things are coming along. Sunday, we tied up our loose ends from moving the hoop and since then, have been doing a bunch of black outlining. Plan to do some more tomorrow and maybe Friday, then we'll see about filling stuff in. We are going to get to Link in this hoop and maybe at least do all of his face. So that's exciting. There are several large patches of single colors in this hoop, so I'm really excited to see how much we can get done/how much complete it'll look in 2+ weeks when we take our next WIP pic.
Thank you. I really like the look and style of the pattern myself. You guys will get to see the next WIP pic on Sunday, but we've got the top of the picture defined, some big patches on the right side of the hoop filled in and a bit of Link's sword in the middle. Looking forward to showing off where we are as I think we've made quite a bit of progress/will make progress these past couple of weeks.
We've crossed the 100 hour mark on this project (103 hours, including today), but we have a lot to show for it. Few stitches to the left of the top right of the hoop is our halfway point horizontally, so we have some idea of how far we've gone that way. And the straight line across the top is the top of our picture. Mentioned last time there's a row of stitches on the pattern about 5 squares above the top of the picture, but at this point, I'm inclined to exclude them. Not a final decision and haven't really checked them out as far as testing and how they'd look, but gut feeling says it would look out of place without doing all the background stitches. So for now, we'll call the top of our picture the top, and start working our way down. Focus of most of this week has been doing all the little stitches up at the top. As you can see, there's a few holes to fill still. Work has been slow on this front because many of the colors are also for Link's sword in the middle of the hoop. So overall progress on the picture has moved along at a fine pace, but finishing the top was slow. Plan tomorrow is to finish off the top bit, then there's a big patch of a color just below the blue and also covers the right side of Link's sword. So we'll take a couple of days to do all that, which will fill in a nice chunk. We have officially started Link: the bits of yellow to the right of the orange patch is his hair. But three weeks from now, we'll have more of him done (as well as Ezlo, the bird on his head) and it will be more obvious what we're looking at. Lot to do still on this hoop, but I think it likely we'll move the hoop before next WIP pic. Several little spots of stitches but there are some good patches of single color, too. Meantime, just keep plugging away, one day at a time, one stitch at a time and slowly but surely, things fill in and the picture comes together.
Thank you. Real is coming together nicely. And yeah, having 90 whatever colors is a bit to keep track of (separating the colors into three bags, one for each column as they're listed with the pattern has helped quite a bit, though), but does allow for a lot of subtlety and bringing the picture to life. Hit a couple of milestones with this pic: not only 100 hours worked on it, but also the halfway point going across. Now, we've got much to fill in going down from here, so I'd say we're closer to 1/3 done than 1/2, but we've put in some significant time and have a lot to show for it.
Lot of detail stuff and stitches here and there, so it maybe doesn't look like we did as much work in these three weeks than others, but we still put in our hours (now at 124, including today). And we finished the left/upper left of the hoop, which was part of my main goal. Plan this week is to fill in the bits around the orange patch and the small spots here and there around the sword. Think at that point, we'll move the hoop down and a bit to the left to connect up with our previous work. So next pic, we should have Link's sword and hand done, the second elemental jewel and at least part of Link's shield. So we'll start getting some more identifiable objects and things to look at. We did finish Ezlo's head (bird on top of Link's head who serves not only as Link's hat in the game to give his usual look, but also there to backseat/direct the player where to go or what to do), so I'm pleased I was able to finish that up today in time for the pic. And we've done most of Link's hair. If the hoop were a half inch or so to the right, I could have finished up the last big patch of Link's hair, but we'll have to get to that in a few weeks. The halfway point horizontally of the picture is right about where Ezlo's beak ends/the green of his face starts, to give some indication of how far along we are. Obviously need to fill in down from where we are, including some more to the left, but I think we can be about halfway through by the end of the year. Which would put us at around 170 hours. So 350 hours total seems like a reasonable estimate at this point. Lot can change before then, so we shall see (Link and Ezlo's bodies will go pretty quickly, but looks like a lot of small stuff on the right side of the picture).
All those colors make it a bit of a hassle having to frequently switch, but they definitely add a lot to the picture. Lot of bright, vibrant colors really have things stand out. 
