 When he went to work, Michelangelo spent a scant four years painting the ceiling of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel (in the early part of the 1500s). Some five hundred years later, it has taken Joanna Lopianowski-Roberts almost ten years to cross stitch a replica of Michelangelo's original work of art. Roberts also published a book showing others how to undertake the massive cross stitch project. Roberts work is not the same size as Michelangelo's work; however, she does maintain that it is the largest cross stitch effort of all time and has applied to the Guinness Book of World Records. Roberts, who is now 41, started her prohect in October 1995. She came across a picture of the Sistine Chapel and decided to make a cross stitch replica of the ceiling painting. The finished work includes 628,296 stitches in 1,809 different colors. She spent over 700 hours designing the pattern in the first instance before she began work. |
