Who was praying for me yesterday? Whoever you were, please keep it up!
When I signed off yesterday's post I mentioned that my plan was to finish my cross stitch projects into the pinkeeps & ornaments & pictures they are meant to be. Sometime midmorning I went upstairs & began the process. I took stock of my projects ... 5 of them. I sewed on the buttons that 2 of the projects required & prepared everything for finishing. When I went into the guest room (which has been being used as nothing more than a catch-all room for boxes & whatnot) to pull out a tub or two of fabrics to choose from for backings, what did I spy but a finished stitching I had forgotten about from a couple months ago! Okay ... now I had 6 projects to finish. Sadly when I spied that 6th stitching it jogged my memory that while searching for some special threads a while back I had found an old piece of stitching, a little sampler which I completed back during my first stitching life ... in 1987!!! How many of you can say that you've had an unfinished stitching project lying around for 24 years?!?!?
Okay ... moving on ... I now had 7 projects to tackle! I chose the first from the pile, made from a pattern that appeared in an old issue of Just Cross Stitch Ornaments. I thought I'd make it into a little pillow ornament but wanted to see what the designer did with it. Came downstairs & looked in the magazine. She finished it as a flat ornament. It looked good so of course I decided to finish mine as a flat ornament as well. I have only made 2 flat ornaments thus far & felt that on a whole they looked somewhat amateurish but I decided to try again. The online tutorials make this finish look so easy. I see people posting ornaments with this type of finish all the time. They are a study in perfection. The consensus is to fold the fabric over the edges of the flats & glue them down. I wasn't having much luck with this so I thought I'd lace it & stitch it. Worked surprisingly well. Added the hanger, glued the 2 flats together, placed the ornament under a bunch of books to weigh it down & left it to dry overnight. I will get back to it today. I am embarrassed to admit that I spent probably a total of 2-3 hours working with that one ornament alone. I came downstairs to have a bit of lunch & told my husband that I have got to find somebody to finish things for me because if I continue to attempt them myself it will literally be the finish of me. Sometimes my sweetheart knows just what to say, his reply being "This is new for you! Once you get a few of these things done you'll feel more comfortable & you'll do a great job, as always!" Yes, I gave him a big kiss : )
After lunch I didn't want to go back upstairs but I did. Next I decided to tackle the pinkeeps & cupboard tucks. This also took me more time that it should have ... stupid OCD/perfectionism ... but everything went smoothly & I got 5 projects stitched & ready for turning, stuffing, & finishing.
The only project I did not make any headway with yesterday was the ornament I posted a while back that is finished into the shape of a pine tree. I decided I had done well to attempt another flat & to stitch up the 5 ornies/tucks & didn't want to completely fry my brain attempting something as intricate as a pine tree shape. I think I will leave that one for last. Yes, I know, I'm a coward.
Remember the little sampler from 1987? I was sure it was in that guest room somewhere but I did 2 sweeps of the room without finding it. I decided that perhaps I had put it in my old cross stitch box. I came across this box a while back while searching for something else. Some of you will remember my cross stitch history post where I talked about selling all my cross stitch supplies & throwing away all my design ideas sometime back around the mid 90s. When I came across this box I was truly surprised to find that I had actually kept a few things! There were a few stitchings I had completed but of course never finished into what they were supposed to be, one with just a few stitches left to do, one thing I did totally finish, & there was a birth sampler I bought to make for our son when he was born ... in 1982 ... which may or may not have a few stitches in it. I didn't open the baggie to take a look. There was also a chart for a sampler I was making my aunt once upon a time. However, when I first started stitching I didn't know anything about how threads twist as you stitch so the stitches on this sampler ... which was almost completely stitched ... were not very nice looking. I threw it out but saved the chart & the threads so I could try again one day.
Over the past couple months I forgot about the majority of what was inside this box. I remembered the finished item & I remembered the sampler chart but that was it. While searching for the 1987 sampler I spied the box & looked inside. Good grief!!! I found not 1, not 2, but 3 completely stitched Christmas/winter projects in there! Are you adding this all up while you're reading this post??? I now have 10 items to finish!!! And yes, I did find the 1987 sampler. It was lying on the floor of the guest room closet. That makes 11 stitchings to finish now. Sigh! Oh wait! I just remembered a picture I stitched a while back as a special gift for a friend. That makes 12 stitchings to finish!!! I should just call the nearest mental hospital & book myself a room.
So once again I ask ... whoever was praying for me yesterday, please keep it up! Things went much more smoothly in the afternoon, I found all those extra projects (don't know if I should thank you for that or not!), & I didn't give up in the process. Needless to say I will be continuing my finishing work today.
The winner of my first day of December, 6-month blogoversary, 100+ followers celebration is ...
Shar has won this handpainted vintage cutlery caddy & maybe a surprise or two : )
10 comments:
Sounds like the 12 days of Christmas, stitch style! You're doing great, you will make it! How sweet your husband is to encourage you! That's a beautiful caddy, congratulations to Shar!
Hi Shirlee! Thank you so much for dropping by blog and for your lovely comment. It's so good to meet you.
Keep going on the finishing. I just know you'll get them all done. I'm getting off this PC soon to do some too!
Congratulations to Shar:)
Hi Shirlee~
You sound like me~only I don't finish my quilting projects. Hehe!! Would love to see pics of some of your finishes.
Have a fabulous day~Becky
Sounds like you had a pretty productive day! What a sweet hubby, can't they be so wonderful? Kendra
YEA!!! You made my day hun; I read your comment on my blog this morning and jumped on over to your site...Thank you so very much hon,, and congrads on all your finishing. I also have 5 ornaments to "finish"...
Hugs, Shar
I feel a little exhausted just reading this post! ;) So glad to hear you are finding things and completing things! woohoo! Just keep at it. You can only get better. :)
I have two unfinished old patterns. I ran out of a color one one and never got more because it wasn't DMC. Now that I have a LNS and the internet, one day I will finally get that floss to finish it! That one is probably around 7 years old or so, I really don't remember when I started it. The other one that is over 11 yrs old, is a larger one, and I kept trying to work on it and would end up messing it up and ripping out stitches. So I just got overly frustrated with it. It needs a good cleaning too. I used to smoke back then and I never kept it in anything to keep it from getting dusty.
I didn't get anything done yesterday. Spent the day stressed about my grams. But we did finally get to talk to someone about her last night. Today I am determined to finish the stitchery ornaments, but I am missing some fabric, and need to figure out where I stashed it!
Christmas blessings!
Jessica
LOL....I can so relate....but, think you have me beat....my oldest "stitching" project is only 21 years old - a Christmas stocking I started for my son when he was born....And....oops, there's a P. Buckley Moss piece I started a few years before that - so we may very well be tied. But I threw the older stuff out...Funny how you look at a design years later and say "what was I thinking???" And I have some quilting projects that even predate the stitchings....Congratulations to Shar - lucky gal!! Stay calm and Finish On.....Smiles & Hugs ~ Robin
sound like you had a lovely busy day..
congratulations to shar..
big hugs for you xx
Congrats to Shar! Shirlee dear ,take a deep breath,you will get them all finished in due time.One thing at a time and don't stress about them .I for one know that you do a beautiful job and that makes it all worth the wait.Hugs to you,Jen
Congratulations to Char!
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