Cross Stitch Pattern Drafting Attempt 1: Perspective Squares

Without going in to depressing detail, I had a rough day yesterday. Very jetlagged, car broke down, failed to pick my grandfather up from the airport as a result, got an unexpected and imminent work deadline, generally felt I've got too much on my plate to do in too little time. HOWEVER. I'm not ABOUT to let that stop me from finding some time to get in some crafting! :) After me and the sad car limped home (I'll take it to the shop tomorrow...) I ate some dinner and mustered up the energy to get a little done. First, I made a few small in-roads on the Stash organization - picked which costume to make, put all the other cloth away (it all fit in to the existing cloth bin, yay!). Then, I went through the cross stitch, pulled out some things I don't think I'll ever make (and a double), and discovered that I DID have graph paper! This was essential, and prompted a YAY! And it prompted a short start on my aforementioned mosaic cross stitch pattern making!

SO! Brief history: I have attempted to make cross stitch patterns before. When I was in college, I briefly thought, "if I really want to make a living through crafts, this might be a way!" but my determined belief that I have no artistic talent (though flagrantly untrue) undermined this effort, and I stalled out pretty quickly (as the book of graph paper I found yesterday attests). I actually found both my past efforts at design while I was going through the craft bins, but that's a post for not now, cause I've got very little time.

Anyway. I had decided while I was away on a very modest, pretty easy first project, to get my feet wet, see if I liked it, and just give it a try. Based on this image:

I thought I'd try my hand at doing a book mark based on the perspective squares. It seemed pretty easy...

...and attempting it, I think it IS pretty easy. I was a little leery of it when I was working on it, but I think it's just about right, actually. To do this, I just drafted a little mini-version of the pattern - to see if it worked before committing to the entire design:


Then, I went through my thread very quickly and randomly assigned four colors I thought would like nice together, grabbed some scrap 14 cnt. aida, and sewed up a little section, to see how it would look:


The colors I picked don't really have enough contrast (though they do match, which given how quickly and arbitrarily I picked them, I'm actually rather proud of) but I do think that they achieve the "perspective box" phenomena. I pretty happy with how the sample turned out. After I did this, I messed around with some alternatives, just on paper, but I didn't like any of them as much. If I have the time today (I might have a little when I get back from a meeting that ends at 6...) I might draft the full book mark, and maybe even start to sew it. And consider colors with more contrast! :)

So, do folks think the perspective works? Just want to be sure I'm not fooling myself...input appreciated! Thanks! :)