Changed my Mind

Based on the advice from comments in the previous post, and my quickly losing interest in the gridding process, I've decided NOT to grid the fabric for Paradigm Lost.

After 10 minutes of gridding, I started thinking, "This is ridiculous. I've never gridded before, these are all separate motifs and I should be able to stitch this without a grid." Then I thought, "This isn't like one of those HAED pieces with multiple color changes and edge to edge stitching." And then I thought, "If I have to grid out this HUGE piece of fabric, I may stop stitching forever, and possibly throw myself under a bus." So I stopped gridding, pulled out the single piece of thread I started with, and we're all happier for it.

I had been hesitant about using the red thread all along anyway, as I've seen several complaints about stitchers having a hard time getting rid of the red fibers left behind whenever they've frogged out that thread.

But DH did take the chart to work this morning to photocopy it. IMO, those Long Dog patterns are expensive, and I don't see any point in ruining the original when I can just as easily stitch from a photo copy. Even though I use plastic sleeves for my charts, I have a tendency to fold them up here and there to focus on the section I am working on. Which means I am usually working off a copy if the original is a large chart or printed on cardstock.

I would also like to add that I am grateful for all the advice I've gotten, especially Vonna and Tracy J, both of whom not only commented, but replied to my emails with great advice as well.

Question about BAPs and Q-Snaps

DH and I have finally decided to get started on Long Dog's Paradigm Lost. We're stitching with DMC 823 (a dark navy blue) over 2 on 28 ct. Antique White. The piece of fabric we're using is 36x40 (which gives us a 5-6 inch border on each side of the piece).

I've already been advised to grid out the project using a contrasting thread, so I picked up a skein of DMC 666 to do the gridding with. Since it's one strand, I assume one skein should be enough to grid out the fabric (I've never gridded before either). The woman at my LNS assures me I should have no problems at all pulling the grid threads out once we're done with it. And we purchased a whole pile of the DMC 823 a while back so I know it's all come from the same dye lot and we should have plenty to get through the project. When I bought it, the stitchers at my old LNS said they used about 23 skeins for the project, but we bought 30 just to be safe.

This is by far the largest project we've ever taken on, and there's no way it's going to fit on our usual scroll frames. I have a very hard time stitching in hand - my hand cramps up and it's very uncomfortable for me, so we've decided to try Q-Snaps for this project. I've never used Q-Snaps before, so any advice on using them would be most welcome, as would advice on stitching a project this large. Do the Q-Snaps stretch out the fabric or the stitching? What's the best way to deal with the excess fabric not being stitched on? Is there a better way to stitch a project this large?