It took some time to make the design (using MacStitch, for those who want to know). I started with a list of quotes, and then found typefaces for each one. I used alphabets from books, magazines, and the internet; there are a ton of free typefaces floating around. After that came the laborious (although not as laborious as I expected) task of trying to fit them all together. I was left with a hole in the lower middle, so what better motif than a little banana? (Curtesy of Erin Turowski.)
Then came the stitching. I made a lot of mistakes, more than I usually make -- sometimes because the typeface was quirkier than I expected, sometimes because I wasn't paying enough attention to the chart (I think stitching words lulls me into complacency), and once because of an embarrassing misspelling. In some cases, the mistakes led to a redesign of the chart, making the entire thing better. In other cases, I had to rip out stitches and try again; I hate that. And in at least one case, I caught the mistake too late to do anything about it; fortunately the error is not noticeable to those who don't know what the design was supposed to be.
I debated what color to use for quite a while, even considering the orange that is in the show's logo. But that would be a lot of orange, and a not particularly pretty shade at that, so I settled for black (using a bit more than an entire skein of DMC floss). The yellow banana adds a nice bit of contrast.
I now have a tested and improved chart. Will I make another, error-free piece? HA!
ETA: You can buy a pdf of the pattern here.
