Monday, October 22, 2012

Starting Again

Remember this project, started last month?


There have been no new posts about it since I sat on the deck over Labor Day weekend and worked on it. I would see it sitting on the ottoman in its nice plastic bag and think about working on it and then not. There was a reason for that.

The colors are wrong.

That's right. The colors you see that I stitched are the wrong colors for those stitches. I didn't realize I got the symbols mixed up until I picked up the project later in the week after starting it. At the time I realized what I'd done, I thought, "Oh well, it won't be noticeable that they are wrong. I can continue with this color here and that color there for just this section. When it's done, I can do the right colors."

Well, the more I considered that, the more it grated on me. I don't want to rip something out and start over, but these aren't the right colors. I'm going to know even if the recipient hasn't a clue. It's going to bother me and bother me it did, so much so that I didn't pick up the project again until this past weekend.

With the deck cleared off, the chance to just sit in the warm sunshine and fresh air presented itself. This was the perfect time to start over. So, I ripped out all the old stitching, all of it. That was a good 3 hours of work there, but I pulled it all out. Then, I started over. This time, instead of going right of center, I went left of center. There are less colors that way; more of a chance I can get the right symbols matched, in my head, with the correct colors. That way, when I move right of center, I won't get the colors mixed up.


It doesn't look like much and I don't know that I have a chance to finish this and get it framed before Christmas, but, I took a deep breath and started in again. At the very least, I know when the recipient's birthday is and I could get it done by then or just save it for Christmas 2013.

I follow a number of people who are so very crafty. They always have such wonderful projects on their blogs. I often wonder about the failed starts, the projects that went horribly wrong. Sometimes I think we learn as much, if not more, from the "oops" as we do from the "ahhh".

I've got cookies to bake this week for my son-in-law, thanks to a horribly nasty performance or lack thereof by my Hawkeyes. Having a cross-stitch project to work on while the cookies bake means they won't burn. I try NOT to be on the computer while cookies are baking. It's too tempting to check one more thing and then 5 minutes have passed. I can set down the cross-stitch and address the buzzer. Plus, there is nothing more relaxing for me than a mug of hot tea, a cross-stitch project and a furry lap warmer who doesn't mind that I'm not really paying that much attention to her.

Beverage:  Blueberry tea

Deb

No comments:

Post a Comment