....................................................... Kathryn got me thinking.....

You know our friend Kathryn, well she blogged about feeeling guilty for leaving a project to sit, alone and unfinished, despite "promising" to finish it. She got me ruminating, and I think the guilt (at least mine) relating to a given project is determined by the interaction of two sliding scales-- one for interest/passion for the project as it will be when completed and one for time since purchase (aka The Aging Factor). Of all the things I have hanging around partially stitched I feel most guilty about ones I have been working on for a long-ish time AND still really want to have done. Next on the guilt-o-meter are the ones that I've had around a long time, but don't quite want/need as much as I did when the needle first met canvas. Bringing up the rear are the ones which I started for a given purpose which is now completely passed but that I could use them in another form/for another purpose -- I feel no guilt on those whatsoever. I finally liberated myself to the point that those items that languish unworked for a long time and which I can't fathom a use for any longer go straight into yon trash can when I unearth them at the bottom of a stitching bag. Don't gasp! You know you wish you did that too!

Speaking of guilty projects-- wanna see what I've been up to?
Beatrix got an airing and not only did I finish the jumbo beaded flower (what was I thinking?????), but I even got another motif (blissfully bead-free) done:



On the stocking I settled on a stitch for around the name. Here's the first stage partially done:

And here it is with stage 2 begun -- the Silk and Ivory base stitch is getting a cross angle in a white, opalescent Tiara braid

You can't really see it so well in the pic. I'm sorry. Trust me, it's really, really cool.

And I finally have a shot of a finish for you --

Ok, so it's not the biggest piece ever--- at least it's DONE!

I have to leave you for now. I need to get ready to go off to a ...err... talk? Neil Gaiman is having an evening of conversation on campus so I am off to be entertained. -- Don't forget to wear red tomorrow for the American Heart Association's awareness campaign on heart disease in women!

One final thought that Kathryn spurred with her guilty discussion. Given the "faithfulness" of all stitchers for their projects [oh come on, you know you leave one lay when another looks better/prettier seems more fascinating/important, etc.], if we were spouses we'd all be paying huge alimony settlements for well, "stitching-around." Bunch of fickle, undependable, and unpardonably loose women and men -- that's what we are. Nathaniel Hawthorne would certainly have made us wear a scarlet letter.... of course if we had to stitch it ourselves it could be a year or two before we got it done.