stuff mart

there is a "store" that the foreigners here call stuff mart. whoever named it clearly has watched veggie tales. i don't think anyone knows when it was originally named that. it's called stuff mart for a reason--there is a LOT of stuff there. pretty much anything you could want. and these things are in five large three story warehouses (where people on scooters ride down the halls in between the stalls, beeping for people to get out of their way--even on the second or third floor (not sure how they got up there)). there are hundreds of stalls where sellers sell their own specialized things. we originally went there because it was the only place in the city to buy fitted sheets. there was a whole row of stalls, 20 or more, that sold sheets, blankets, comforters, etc. we went to one particular stall to get our fitted sheets. the second time i went i saw plenty of other things too. hangers. laundry baskets. shelves. yarn. toilet paper. soap. rugs (like the one i got for my room that you may have seen a picture of). towels. underwear. clothes. wedding dresses. trash cans. cross stitch. any color floss you could ever want. any kind of cross stitch pattern you could ever want. well, not any kind. only really big ones, reeeeeeeeally big ones, and super huge gigantic ones, or little tiny ones like christmas tree ornaments, except not. maybe earrings. anyway. i'm not into little trinket cross stitch things, but i do like to cross stitch, although i haven't done it in a long time. there were some very beautiful ones of people, animals (i almost got one of a tiger, then i almost got one of a lion that looked like aslan), and scenery. the scenery ones appealed to me the most though. there were many beautiful patterns of different mountains in china, but most of them were HUGE. i finally found one that was only sort of big that i really liked, so i got it. =) it's being called my two year project...if it really takes that long, i don't know if i'll ever finish it. but i plan to!

this is the package i bought and what the picture will look like:

this is all the many colored floss that came with it:
i was surprised there were that many different colors (there are 46).

this is half of the pattern (the other half is on the other side):

close up of the top right of the pattern:
this is how big the actual picture will be:
i don't know if you can see the black border that i sewed around it a couple inches in from all sides. it took a whole evening just to do that part. then it took a whole evening to do this:
that is something like the bottom right eighth of the pattern that is within the hoop. getting started is the slowest part though. but clearly this could take awhile! it's fun to have something like this to work on though. it's a nice change from other things that i have to think about and other options for spending my time. however, when i am working on this i also sometimes think i must be crazy.

for those interested, i'll take estimates on how long you think it will take me to finish. i have done about 4 times as much of this (with the black floss only) as of today. if you do take a guess, consider also that school is starting soon. also consider that i have numerous vacations during the school year. so maybe don't consider either of those things. but also consider that i am apparently crazy.