And, voilá. Did you wonder if I would ever finish this? I did!
It's been so long since I have picked up a needle and thread and so long
since I've even shared any progress at all on any of my projects you
have probably forgotten all about it. So here it is, Blackbird Designs'
"Pink Hill Manor" finished and ready for framing. I made a few minor
changes and only had a few motifs to fill in and finish along with the
words to stitch over one (I am very slow when it comes to
stitching over one linen thread!), which I finally managed to do today.
It's been a cold, grey and very gloomy day so I popped in a movie (have been having an Alfred
Hitchcock marathon of sorts) and have been happily stitching away.
The design was actually charted to read 'Dear Emily' and had more
sets of initials, but that didn't really work for me. I wasn't entirely
sure what the significance was, so I decided to personalize it in my
own way. As February is my birth month and the color scheme is pink (a
February sort of color it seems), "February" it was. The letters are
all stitched over one linen thread and the rest is over two. I'm quite
pleased with how it turned out and just in time for the end of 2012!
Now, do you remember this project? Best not to remind you how long
it has been "in progress". Ahem. I am determined to finish it before
the end of the year. I am ready to switch from Alfred Hitchcock to
Inspector Lynley. I wonder how many seasons it will take before I can
finish the last chunk of stitching.
All I have left is to finish filling in this middle section with
white and a little backstitching to highlight a few motifs. I don't
like working with white floss and both filling in and backstitching is
really tedious, but that's all that stands between me and having another
project all ready for framing.
As soon as I finish this project I am rewarding myself with choosing a
new design to stitch. I do have other unfinished projects, but the
draw of stitching something new is too strong to pass up. I've had a
really abysmal year when it comes to my needlework. I wonder if I
should set myself some sort of goal for next year? Will have to think
about that one. But it's great getting back to stitching again, even if
it has only been for an afternoon (and now into the evening as well).