My lastest project

During these long winter days, or should I say nights, I cross stitch. I can not watch TV without either stitching on a project, or reading a book. And, yes, you can do both and know what's going on. I am W.O.M.A.N. and can multi-task. Just don't talk to me while I'm watchin' TV and cross stitchin', cause I probably will ask you to repeat yourself!

Anyway, right now, I'm working on this project as a Christmas present for my little brother. I started it last summer, but put it away for a while to read and then to work on two projects for the newest little girls in the family. I also was having trouble seeing the pattern and the squares. Realized that I needed bifocals. sigh. My poor eyes just couldn't take the strain. But, once I got those wonderful new glasses, I've been stitchin' like a fool.

This is a picture of the finished project. Steve, my little brother, is really "into" the Civil War. I think I'll make this into a pillow for him to throw on his bed. See, he's single, so he needs my guidance when it comes to "decorating." He's a typical "man" and will ask me just why I think he needs a pillow on the bed, but he'll do it anyway, cause I'm his big sister, and he's really scared of me. He is, he just hides it well.

Really, he's terrified of making his big sister angry.

This picture is done on 18 count Aida fabric. I'd prefer working on an evenweave, or on linen, but I didn't have any fabric at home large enough, so am using what was sent. The finished project will be 14 x 18 or so (I'm not sure of the exact dimensions, but it's pretty large and with 18 squares to the inch, those stitches are pretty small.

This is how far I've gotten. I've just about finished the Union Soldier. Last night, after taking this photo, I worked about an hour and got about half of his hat finished.

I took approximately 4 hours for me to stitch the blanket on his back. It might not look like much, but there's lots of little x's in that blanket and there's about 5 different colors of gray in that section.

The "star" you see is part of the confederate flag. The flags are done with 1/2 cross stitches, so will stitch really fast, and being just 1/2 of an "x", will have a little translucence, providing a little depth. When stitching, you start in the middle and work out, so the flag was the middle. I finished one section, then moved on and concentrated on the Union soldier. When he's done, I'll move on to the Confederate soldier from his hands and gun out to his body. Then, I'll do the flags and all the back stitching which will make the details pop.

By the time I finish this project, I'll have close to a hundred hours in it. That's a guess, but I'll have lots of time invested. It took most of one of my "snow days" to do his lower extremities, and that is only comprised of 4 colors. Black, Navy, Navy and Blue combined, and blue. (see the image below.)

This last shot simply shows a close-up of the stitches. Check out the subtlety of the shading in the blues. Fortunately, the shadings on this project are easy for me to see and distinguish. I've done some where the colors were so close that I easily got lost and confused. Of course I can now blame that on aging eyes...right? Anyway, this is what I'm working on right now.