There’s a quote attributed to Woody Allen, that goes,
If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.
Well, I think the gods must be having a good old giggle over me this week.
At the beginning of October, I (rashly as it turns out), declared my intention to draw trees every day of the month. I also promised a friend, that we’d have our long-delayed coffee and cake get together at the end of last week.
Well, you can guess can’t you, within hours of making those two simple plans, things started to go pear-shaped.
In the last two weeks, I’ve had two daughters laid up in bed with grotty colds, one husband laid up with man-flu, a nasty cold myself (not that that was allowed to get in the way…), and just as things looked like picking up, my coffee and cake friend’s daughter came down with the same bug. So, not much drawing, and no coffee and cake.
I haven’t been entirely lacking in the tree department, but that will be the subject of another post. This is just to say that with all the additional time sitting around with sickies, I’ve managed to finish the needlepoint I started on the linen scrim.
The finished piece is approximately 13.5 inches square. I had a quick look at calculating the number of stitches that have gone into it, – not something I normally do, but this was the smallest gauge I’ve ever needlepointed, and I was fascinated to know. The answer – give or take a few, is 72,900.
I started it at around the 8th of September and finished on the 11th October – so about a month. Not as bad as I thought it might be at the outset.
I’m telling you all this, because if I’m honest, although I liked the material, I was hugely daunted by the tiny holes when I began this, and I thought I might just call it an experiment. But having got into it, I’m not feeling nearly so negative.
The biggest downside, is that it really needs working in quite fine wools or silks, and my stock is mostly tapestry wools – too thick for the scrim. A good excuse for some more thread sourcing!
So, I think I can say it’s a thumbs-up for the linen scrim. I desperately need to find some new neutral colours to work in – I’ve realised that the stone texture piece won’t work with the palette I currently have available. I’m optimistic that I’ll find something suitable in knitting wool, but that will exclude the possibility of using the scrim.
Sounds like I have a bit of homework/shopping to do – could be worse – just don’t go telling anyone – please.
Dreaming In Stitches 
What you have achieved is gorgeous – not sure i would attempt scrim – i’ve worked fine holed canvas and it does take an inordinate amount of time to ‘fill’ – the results though are wonderful – I love the blance of colour, of light and shade that you have worked – fabulous!
Thank you, I’m glad you like it. I was pretty daunted when I set off, but I got used to it – I think the spot light helped, otherwise I’d probably have gone blind. I can’t decide whether or not to do the next piece on scrim.
Just beautiful! It’s like a dreamscape, in tiny stitches…
I try and not calculate the amount of time in my pieces – it can be quite alarming!
You’re right, it’s not something I normally do either, but I just wanted to know with this one. Have you seen the film Local Hero? In it, a wise old guy asks how many grains of sand he can hold in his palm – it’s a bit like that – unless you work it out, you could be really wide of the mark.
Looking for some ‘funky fun’ designs and I came across this piece. There is no way I would work on anything smaller than 10, any suggestions on where to find FUN stuff. Love what you created!! xo thanks for the inspiration
Thank you – these days I just make up my own designs – or to be more honest, they sort of design themselves as I go along, which probably gives you an indication of what the inside of my brain looks like! Have fun.