Flexibility is Good

When I was thinking about my Christmas Stay-cation, I had planned to start the various and sundry small projects that arrived with my Cabinet of Curiosities I class on Christmas Day.

Notice I said that was my plan.

I've decided that "plan" is a four-letter word when it comes to my embroidery this year.

I had pulled out the box with the materials and the notebook with the instructions but I had not located scroll or stretcher bars or pulled out the lightbox to trace the designs.  I did nothing to get ready. As a result, when I rolled out of bed for a day of stitching and Christmas movies, I realized I had an hour or two of prep before I could actually thread silk into needle and insert into linen.

What I wanted to do was stitch and watch Christmas movies. I did not want to get ready to stitch and watch Christmas movies.

So I rummaged through my basket and pulled Mariposa out.  And finished it.

I had started this when we went to have Thanksgiving and Tofurkey with The Big Kid, Big Kid's Wife, and The Flash--but then we turned around and immediately went to Williamsburg for Annie's Festival of Needlearts (aka Christmas in Williamsburg with Just Cross Stitch) and then I fell into Christmas ornament stitching, so it had been waiting patiently for me to get back to it.

It was not without angst. The angst did not involve all the double-fan-double stitches. After all, I love Carole Lake and she loves that stitch, so I'm used to them. I can even sing the under-over song to the melody of the Hallelujah Chorus. ( If you are not familiar with that, you need to take a class from Carole and Michael at Stitchplay Designs. They frequently offer classes through Shining Needle Society. BTW, I get no benefits from talking SNS up--I just find a lot of fascinating things to stitch through SNS and like to enable.)

I could not get the dratted corners to work out. Had I had a cup of Christmas Cheer, or even a particularly noggy egg nog--and I had had neither--I would have attributed it to that.

I have been accused of being stubborn and bloody single-minded and in this case it is true. I stitched and ripped and ripped and stitched and finally skipped the corners and worked the final border pattern first, then reverse-engineered the corners to fit with the border. 

And that worked. I do wish you could see the way the metallic thread glitters in the light and just how pretty this piece is. It may not be in seasonal colors, but I will always remember Christmas 2014 when I look at it.