October 15

54 hours into project... wow.. this is going to take longer than I anticipated..

My Progress

Well.. today is a new day and I got a lot accomplished this past week. I will post a photo later tonight. I realized when I stitched the round blue area and was bored out of my mind that I had eleven more to go.. so I found inspiration.

Kevin is a young man stitching this along with me but he is much further than I am.. His information has been invaluable. He is ahead of me on this by two years almost and I could not stitch this without his inspiration. You go Kev. I will try to get his permission to post his photos.

Off to list on eBay and stitch later.. I will be back.

The Designer and her finished piece

The Designer with her finished piece.. Joanna... what a woman

Michelangleo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling in four years, between 1508-1512. It took Texan Joanna Lopianowski-Roberts a decade to replicate his feat in a 40 x 80 inch cross stitch made with 1,809 different color combinations and a total of about 628,296 stitches!

Lopianowski-Roberts’ amazing feat is documented in a self-published book (on lulu.com) that includes 45 full color individual patterns for each scene, just in case you want to get in on the action.

My New Sistine Chapel on Flax Linen

Here is where I am after seven hours of stitching..
the photos will get better. These were taken from my IPhone so I could get them up.

I love the lay of the floss (Anchor the best) and the fabric is perfect for the effect I wanted. Since the fabric will be all covered .. each stitch, you won't notice the fabric at all... If I decide I want a border arou.nd the design wit the framing. the flax will be nice because the color is a very soft ivory color.

The cost of the project.

The Book was 34.99 and 5.00 shipping
You can buy a color version for 69.99

I ended up buying the color download for 25.00 because I was having a tough time with figuring out symbols since some are the same in different areas.

You use 699 skeins of floss... Some places have DMC as low as a quarter. A good price on Anchor is 49 cents from 123stitch. Believe me, they are not making much on this as wholesale is around 39 to 40 cents each skein.

the fabric. Cashel Linen is about $62.00 a yard. We sell it for $54.99 a yard. We can get any color you want. You need at least 90 inches to be safe... that gives you five inches around the border.

Well, I have to go ship my eBay purchases.. so off I go

Cindy... loving this project.

My Old Project and Why I ditched it.

After being unhappy with the DMC Floss and wanting to switch... I had taken a couple of photos to show that I really had started it.

I auctually ended up taking out the red because I was so unhappy with the way it laid.

Why I started over after 29 hours of stitching

Well on September 22nd. I was just not happy with my project. I knew deep down I should have stitched with Anchor Floss. I was having knot after knot with the DMC and it was fraying very quickly. I could only stitch with less than a foot in thread before it was frayed to pieces... This should not be happening.

I am a tight stitcher and I could see some of the background coming through so I decided right then after 29 hours of stitching, I was giving up and starting over.. yep... now you ask.. where do you find another piece of fabric that is at least 90 inches long and 55 inches wide... well.. I had recently bought the inventory of a closed needlework shop and much of the fabric was in my office. I walked right up to my office and the first piece I found was FLAX CASHEL in a 28 count and it was 94 inches long by 55 inches (Cashel comes in 55 inches so I don't have to serge the edges... yea)

I decided to go to my storage unit (after having to have the locks cut off because I lost the keys) and get the Anchor Floss and order what I didn't have from 123stitch. Even though I am a shop owner, many of the colors I would need would only be one skein and I can only order in boxes of 12 from my distributors. I decided to bag the floss in some heavy duty plastic bags I bought on eBay to use in my business (thanks Dave in Bountiful, Utah for the great price).

I wrote the Anchor Color number on the bag, then below it, I wrote the DMC color and how many skeins I would need for the project. 11 Hours later.... after ordering what I didn't have, I was ready to stitch...

Am I Nuts as has been suggested?

After doing a search on the internet for a cross stitch design, I came upon a design for the SistineChapel Ceiling in cross stitch by accident? or was it by accident? I had gone to Rome after my high school graduation in Spain and the Sistine Chapel Ceiling was one of the highlights of my trip 30 years ago.

I looked at this project as the stitch of a lifetime. The design will be 40 inches by 80 inches when completed. I figured I am 47 now and will be working on it for 10 - 20 years.

I decided to start stitching this design on the day my son, Thomas, started homeschooling for first grade.. I might be done by the time he is a senior..

Well... I started on September 15, 2008. I chose DMC floss, 28 count (28 stitches per lineal inch but I would stitch over two threads) Antique White Cashel linen from Ireland.

Off I go..