Stitched Map of Middle Earth

I am going to stitch a map of Middle Earth. But first I needed to get the image across to my fabric, and I can announce that Middle Earth is (finally) on linen! Given the amount of time it has taken me and my better half to get this far I dread to think of the total man-hours that this project is going to require. However it is looking really good, if not somewhat big.

To put this into perspective, I had to stand on a chair to get this photo, and the linen and paper map cover my dining room table completely!
I am going to completely embroider Middle Earth before deciding on a border style although I am debating whether or not to make the border circular and repeat the elvish inscription from the One Ring as a border. However I think I may be biting off more than I can chew:

Inscription from The One Ring

I am going to leave any final decisions until I can see how everything looks stitched.  Which will probably be quite a while as
the detail involved in this map is ambitious to say the least.It does look rather impressive close up though:

Mordor

I am currently trying to figure out how to start the gargantuan task of stitching this wonderful map.  Due to it being such a large scale project, I am trying to decide whether to stitch it section by section or whether to stitch say all of the lettering, or mountains or lines in order.  Most probably I will sit down and decide what I want to stitch as I go, as I'm not normally the most organised person....

Middle Earth

If you look closely and compare 'my' map to the original, then you can see where some parts have been somewhat squashed into place. It has been quite difficult to keep lining everything up and keep everything in place.  If this had been a smaller image, I could have found a way to keep everything in place, or at least lined up with the image below.  Luckily though I don't think I know anyone that knows the map of Middle Earth off by heart, so it should be alright. So, just to start stitching......