…there’s no place like finished…

I don’t think we’re in progress any more, Toto. Towards the end of the week last week, I was making solid progress on my Wizard of Oz cross stitch. So much so, the peanut gallery suggested I could be done by the end of the weekend. The C word wasn’t actually said out loud, but I screamed CHALLENGE ACCEPTED anyway, and stepped things up a notch.

By Saturday afternoon, I’d gotten the cross-stitching part of proceeding finished. Feeling confident, I hit up the chat all proud of myself. A finish was in sight, and I fully expected to smash out the challenge with hours to spare.

I forgot to factor in the back stitching. Oh how I hate back stitching.

it didn’t help I started with the block that had the most stitching needed. Two hours it took me, for just that one block. I bitched and moaned the entire way through, though, so possibly if I had put my phone down a little bit more, it would have only taken 1.5 hours. The rest of the blocks came together faster, though Sunday night came and went without a finish. Yesterday, though, I had a long day at the school table – Mr15 worked during the three littles morning session, then the afternoon while they played, he caught up with his school work. it was long, but it was also a great chance to power through so. much. backstitch.

With a productive afternoon under my belt, I had a finish firmly within reach, when I heard the words that strike fear in the heart of every crafter – the husband hollering out “can all kids come and help set the table for dinner”. Dinner? Table? No. Nononononono please no, thought I, surveying the floss bobbins strewn across the table. I stitched faster. Dinner was being plated as I added the final French knots. The last of the floss bobbins got swept into the box only to be immediately replace by cutlery. It was tight, but I made it. I beat the dinner rush and bagged myself a finish.

It was worth it, all that backstitch. It really does set the entire design off. I switched out the fabric colour from green to blue, so that it would match my Alice in Wonderland cross-stitch from last year. I think Alice remains my favourite, but Oz is cute as well. They will look fabulous framed and hanging in the school room of our new house. Ideally, I would like a third to round out the group, but we won’t know of a release until next year.

I’m at a bit of a loss now, what to do with myself now it’s finished. I also finished a writing piece, and a book yesterday, so most of today has been standing around trying to decide on something new to tackle. I played in my art journal a bit, and am about to head to the container in search of a new project. I have a Christmas pattern I can make a start on, so I’m tempted to get cracking on that to keep building my handmade Christmas collection. Come December, I’m doing a little stitch along, so a small Christmas vignette will be the perfect way to keep my hands busy, and get my into a Christmassy frame of mind, I think.