Well, it has taken me just under a year to finish this amazing piece, and I am delighted with the results. The stitched area is a whopping 33 inches ( 84cms) by about 5.25 inches (13.5cms). It needed four seperate scans using an A4 scanner to fit it all in!
Here it is, starting on the left:-
I made a few changes; In the central heart below the tulip, you can see I used pulled-satin stitch to fill it, then added a 'queen bee' charm (if you look verrrrry carefully, you'll see I even gave her a little crown over her head!).
In the last section, instead of working a 'two-tone' bee skep as was charted, I blended the two colours in one needle to give a softer appearance. There is one extra bee charm than the two on the skep - can you spot him, children? 
The butterflies evolved into moths; I used a krienik braid to outline the wings before filling with pulled-satin stitch, then added feathery-attenae. The worded band I charted myself, and I used the same Dinky-Dyes silk I introduced at the archway in the top section. The stawberries were also 'blended' rather than the charted two-tone, and worked entirely in detatched buttonhole stitch rather than half buttonhole, half cross-stitch as Jane did; I then padded each strawberry slightly with toy-filling. They are not all quite the same shape but I quite like this effect.
I had intended finishing this piece as a bell-pull originally; however it is so long that I am concerned it will get brushed by the dogs or swiped at by my mischievous cats! 
DH has promised he will frame it for me. This will be a difficult job as it's so long, so he has quite a job on his hands! I've decided not to work a hem-stitched hem (as Jane suggests) for the time being, as there is not much fabric to the sides of the piece: I will take it with me to the class at Pinks Barn in July and seek Jane's advice before I do anything further!
I've been working on a bookmark for an exchange on StitchCrazy, a group I joined a while back - I actually finished it today but I cannot share a photo because the person it's going to might peek, LOL! Sorry, Lou, you'll have to wait! 
And now . . I get to choose a new project!! 
Happy stitching everyone!
(Hugzzzzzzzzz)
Abeeeeeeeeee
xx
, well worth all that hard work and effort!
11/06/08 @ 19:38