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.

Does the black help?

Nope, don't think that it does all that much

What do you think?

Second shade of grey added

and the basic of the pattern is a bit clearer, but not I feel as yet identifiable. There is still a little of both theses shades to go but I feel like doing some,if not all of the black next.