It’s a long time since I’ve done any embroidery or design thereof, but recently, the urge has started twitching at me, again. My charting program was a sacrifice I made for the greater good when I switched to my new laptop last year (because the new laptop does not have a disc drive, and my charting program was on disc) – but even so, in the last 2 weeks, I have managed to chart 3 different designs using a painstakingly longwinded method I devised using Open Office Draw. It’s almost as painstaking as drawing it out by hand on graph paper, but slightly easier to amend errors & try out alternatives. Anyway, I managed it!
This is the second design that I charted, but the first one that I stitched, as the first charted design is quite complex, 
and having not stitched anything for so long, I thought I would ease myself in gently! This one is adapted from an illustration by Jay van Everen in a collection of Jugoslav fairy tales by Parker Fillmore (c. 1921). The story is called ‘The Laughing Prince: the story of the boy who could talk nonsense’, and the image is part of a larger illustration featuring different elements from the story (right). I believe this section of the illustration relates to the this part of the story; “the dampness had made the millet grow so well that its tops now reached the sky” – but I may be wrong, so don’t quote me on that! I just loved the weeping willow-esque shapes. And the bird. For some reason I seem to have been drawn to bird imagery more than usual, lately…
Anyway, definitely time to invest in a new charting program (downloadable, this time) and make life a bit easier for myself! But I’ve surprised myself by enjoying the manual process, in the meantime.
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Have you thought about purchasing an external CD/DVD drive which you plug into the USB portal? I had to do similar…..
Thanks for the suggestion – I hadn’t actually thought of that, but I don’t really think it would suit the way I work, anyway. I’ve found a downloadable programme, and I think that’s definitely the way forward for me. 🙂
It’s beautiful! I find needlework so soothing when the chaos rages around me. A pattern, a soothing rhythm, a finished product! Nothing soothes the soul as much as a project completed, no matter how small.
Aw, thanks Linda (although I obviously can’t take credit for the design!). I do agree about the rhythm of stitching – very soothing & satisfying – but I may need to return to needlepoint rather than counted thread, as I am definitely feeling the strain on my eyes, lately!