A bit more 415

well it feels like a lot of 415. Including that used for Fred it has taken almost a full skein of thread.  It has moved the hair on a reasonable bit but still the full character is not fully evident.

The hair is taking a lot longer than I had anticipated. 

 

The eagle eyed may spot a correction or two from the last update, but I am not going to point them out.

I am sure as I move onto the next grey that ninjas of the previous colours will pop up, that is what usually happens.

Now this portrait has one more shade in it than Fred, it is for the collar of the dress. 3865.  And I don't have it in my stash.  So as an initial work around I took a look at my colour card to see what it was and to see if I could find a reasonably close match.  Also asked my BFF to see if she had it and could do a closer colour match.  Which she did (she did offer to pop past my house on the way to shout to her mother through the window and pop it through the letter box, but given it is not vital it is the exact shade I declined) and I have a couple of options.

I remain undecided and intend to leave it till last, there is the possibility that white (of which I have a copious amount) will work, it is not next to any of the other instances of white on the pattern.

Lockdown SAL side two

second colour.

I finished the blue for the edge and then contemplated where to go next.  As mentioned on my BFF's blog (she posted first this week) the middle looks busy due to the backstitch and I was just not quite getting my eye to focus on and see one symbol in isolation from all the rest.

I was trying to see it all at once and that is just confusing.

My friend asked was the blue the same as on the first one and yes it is, well then perhaps we could just do the "easy side again" what! No! 

So as this is a by agreement project, we are doing the second half of the pattern and as we have both started on sections that are different there is no turning back now.

I contemplated doing the leaves in the corners.  However as felt I wanted bigger bits of colour so I started with the fill colour for the corner and then with my eye focused on that symbol completed the rest in that shade.

As you can just about see I have started (top left) on the next corner filler stitches and I think I will do the same there, stitch them all in.  I feels rather nice knowing where I plan to start next time.

Now my friend thinks this looks like a Pokémon, as that world is not something I was ever into, not when they originally came out nor when they arrived on the mobile phone I can't comment on that.

I still think there is something death star about it. 

Ok time for links.  This is to my friends blog so you can see how she has chosen to tackle the other side and how she feels it is going My BFFS Blog

And if you are new to the Lockdown SAL a link to the first blog with the pattern details.

Stitch a long start

Adding the black

has a rather odd effect.  At this stage were it not for Fred I would be worried this was not going to work out.

                                                       As it is I go forward trusting in Fred.

No black yet

still working on those first two shades of grey. A lot more hair on this celebrity means a lot more stitches.

This looks something like a negative

with the second shade of grey started.

oddly this is rather pleasing as it is.  I think I will do more of the first two shades before I move onto the black.  There are bigger blocks of colour in this one, and no tweed!

Another portrait adventure

begins.....

                                                                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                   






There is a lot of 762 in this one and I wonder if there will be enough to finish.  Indeed I wonder that about most of the shades required

 Still it will be interesting to see how far I can get or indeed what threads may be available if I do run out.

I expect guessing this one, after the last will be easy, but at what point it will look like her is another matter.

Lockdown Sal a finish and a start.

So side one is finished with the last of the backstitching completed, and side two is started. 

This time I am working from the outside in.  The middle just felt too busy and my eyes did not want to see the separate symbols.  I may have a better eye for the pattern next week.

Funnily enough this empty square looks so much bigger than the completed one.  It is of course a trick of the eye (the count has been checked and double checked) I am sure it will stop looking so big once it is not so empty.

Here is the link to my friends blog LINK

I see him now

I do hope that is true for anyone else looking at the finished cross stitch.

It does look a bit better with some distance from the piece so that the shading works rather than looking at the individual stitches.

Funnily enough, although I was sure I had closely examined it and found and eliminated all the ninja stitches, as soon as I took a picture of it the missed stitch in the corner of his eye jumped out at me.

I regularly use the digital camera to check on the look of quilts I had not considered it as a tool for the cross stitch before. 

Fred Astaire from Cross Stitch Crazy 211 January 2016

So as I am happy with how this has turned out I will now turn to the companion piece and then hopefully frame as a pair. 

Nearly almost finished

and I begin to see the celebrity. Well I hope I am seeing him and it is not just familiarity that makes me think I see him now.

There have been so many varied suggestions as to who it might be I am still not all that confident.

Only one more shade of grey, white and assorted ninja stitches remain to go so I expect the next update will be the finished design and time to decide if it is sufficiently representative that I can trust in the pattern for the companion design. 

From across the room

and sideways, after the addition of yet another shade of grey (and a few extra of the earlier shades, that were either missed before or were not reachable sooner) if I squint a bit, it maybe sort of looks a bit like who it is supposed to be.

I have been sharing these posts on Facebook cross stitch groups to check if others can see the celebrity this supposed to represent.

Yesterday several people did indeed suggest the correct name. I would take more heart from that were it not for the fact that there were as many incorrect suggestions as there were correct and quite a few not at all sure who it might be.

I find that completely understandable and just hope that as it progresses it gets clearer.

There is a companion design but there is no way I will do that one if this is not readily identifiable once finished.