Glimpse of a Unicorn

Well I have spoken about Heaven and Earth designs quite a lot so thought I would share my progress on one of their charts that I have. The artwork is by Anne Stokes and the very talented Michele Sayetta has converted it into the cross stitch chart. Their website is https://heavenandearthdesigns.com/ if you like cross stitching then I suggest you pop on over and have a browse. The good thing about Heaven and Earth charts is that there are no fractional stitches involved and no back stitch !!
Glimpse of a unicorn is a huge 47 pages and is 450 x 675 stitches....so yes that is  303750 stitches in total. It is going to take me years to complete but it will all be worth it in the end.

So this is how the finished design should look:

and this is what mine looks like so far.... I have nearly completed pages 1 and 2 and have started on page 7. I started on page 7 as that is under page 1.

 I use a hoop to help hold the fabric whilst stitching and here is my 6 year old son holding the hoop up (so you can get an idea of how big it is)

Here he is holding up the fabric so you can see how huge it is going to be once completed.

I am stitching it a bit faster now as I have changed the method that I use. I now highlight the bits that I have done on the chart using different colours each day so I can see how much I have done. This helps to spur me on

Also instead of picking a colour and whizzing all over the place I now see each 10x10 square in its own right. So I complete 1 10x10 square at a time and use the 'parking' method for my threads. I really cant work out how to explain parking...but there are lots of guides out there. Basically  when I have finished with the particular thread I have got in that 10x10 square I look in the next 10x10 square down and find where that colour is needed next. I then pull up the thread in that bottom left hand hole and leave it hanging there for when I need it.

Here is a close up of the 10x10 squares..you can see the page is gridded.

I also have another 2 Heaven and earth designs on the go...another huge one and a small one. I also have files stored on the oc of charts that I have brought or been RAK'd (random act of kindness) and have also got lots of their charts in my craft cupboard. There is a huge 50% off sale at the moment but I am resisting tempation as I have promised myself I will not buy another chart until I have got 1 of mine finished.

Happy stitching...crafting...etc x