First Ambitious Project

[Vermy]

Found this site last summer & was fully inspired by everyone! Decided a perfect Christmas gift for my sister would be a cross-stitched scene from Monkey Island 2.

However - I had never tried cross-stitching before.... so I made my way down to the craft shop and picked up one of those tiny "learn to cross stitch" kits that have the outlines drawn on the aida (instead of counting from a pattern.)

Got myself PC stitch and made a pattern of one of the more iconic (in my mind) MI2 scenes.

I had no idea what I was in for.

I started in September and wanted to be done by Christmas. After countless hours, by Dec 24th I was only done 9 of the 25 colours. I wrapped it anyway and said "it will be done eventually!"

As of this past weekend I finally finished it... 24123 stitches on 22 count Aida!



Just for fun... here's the back of the work if you're interested. The parts with lots of colours got a little thick & messy.

Spoiler

Now I need to figure out what old adventure game screenshot I'm going to stitch next... it'll be a little easier now that I understand how long these things actually take to make.

[blackmageheart]

You're a beginner you say?? You've done an excellent job for a newbie! Great choice of scene too.

The larger projects can be tricky but they aren't impossible and all it takes is patience and lots and lots of stitches...

Congrats on a great piece and hope to see more from you in the future!

[kuja.girl]

Awesome job! I just realized that this was NOT done on black cloth but on white! WOW that is a ton of black stitches!!! I am impressed!
Looking at the back of the work, yeah looking like a "rug" is a common problem in areas with lots of color changes. There's a trick to it but really practice helps.
I can make a guide for "thread management/finishing" techniques if there isn't one already

This story reminds me of my first project!
I bought a kit of a beautiful dragon framing a castle (I was maybe 14, so it was cool!). A 9.75" x 13.25" pattern that looked like this:

Spoiler

s

...I think it took me more than 6 years to finish! so you did a killer job in comparison!

[luv2stitch]

a beginner? wow i know my first project wasnt this great keep up the good work, love to see more from u in the future

love the dragon piece kuja.girl. 6yrs is alot!!

[Ellentje]

That's awesome! Very nice choice of scene.
I'm sure your sister loved it, who wouldn't.

[Vermy]

My sister did love it. Actually for Christmas she made me a perler bead Guybrush without having any idea what I was making for her. Pretty great.

Kuja, that dragon rules. I imagine you were pretty pumped when you stitched the last stitch on that one!

[cakester]

Awesome job!
I never played any of the Monkey Island games but always like the art style, don't like how the new ones look though.
I love seeing the back of peoples work, sometimes more so than the front, I've always thought that if you can tell from the back what the front looks like then you've done a good job and for a first attempt that's bloody amazing!
Well done.

[Vermy]

Thanks cakester!

I agree with you on the new "special edition" graphics. It just doesn't have the same charm. And Lechuck looks silly. BUT... when you're playing the special edition you can switch at any time to the old graphics... so that's a plus.

[Moxi]

Wow! You did an awesome job! And on 22-count aida, no less! Keep up the good work. Now I'm having an itch to make a pollo diablo pattern...

[PorkChop]

Hello. I am a newbie at this whole thing. I mean I have stitched before in a lot smaller scale. However whenever I look at your work its crazy... and I wonder if I could ever pull this kind of work off. I just dont know how to tackle it. Do you do each line by line of scecion by section. Is it better to start out something small and work your way up or is it okay to start on something big?

Confused (?)