Thank you so much to the 10 people who voted in my poll.  If you didn’t vote, you can still see the choices here.  The winner of the poll was the Celtic Family Christmas montage.  Funny thing about the poll is that only one vote was cast for the Wedding chart.  My husband cast that vote…go figure 🙂

So, as I did with my dragon project, here is the beginning shot of the montage that I am calling Celtic Family Christmas.  Not much to look at, just three tiny stitches.  But it will grow quickly.

This project took a lot of preparation to get to this (fun) part.  First, I had to piece together three different charts into one.  I used this woman from Celtic Christmas,

these children from Oh Christmas Tree,

and this man from The Wedding.

This designer designed all three charts, and luckily, they were all designed in proportion to one another, so it was just a matter of printing the essential parts of each chart in the right dimension (zoom) so they would all fit together and the lines would match up.  Here is the pieced together chart that I call my “road map.”

Once the road map was assembled, I had to mark the center of the new pattern.  I use my iPad for my actual stitching, so all I needed was the new center point, so I would know where to start stitching.  Next came fabric and frame preparation.

The fabric I have chosen is a 32 count Lambswool Linen from Wichelt Imports in a natural color.  I stitched some guide lines from the center out, on a 10 stitch grid.  Then I started on the scroll frame.  Since this picture is so large, I did not have any scroll bars long enough to accommodate the whole design width.  So, I purchased two oak dowels from Home Depot, drilled holes in the ends, and used the screws from some old scroll bars in the ends for the knobs.  Finally, I stapled a length of Aida to each bar all the way down the dowels and they were ready to go.

Ready to stitch!!

I’ll continue to post progress photos, so stay tuned.