Sunday, March 08, 2009

It has only been seven years in the making.......

........... and I finally thought it was done! I have spent about ten hours working on this today, stitching and unpicking and going boss-eyed with all that backstitch. I was fairly pleased with the result, even though the bottom section is not quite what I originally planned to stitch.... I am not very keen on the look of hardanger and the original chart has a lot of hardanger, stitched in the variegated purple thread, hence we opted for green backstitch at the bottom to echo the top of the piece.
I spoke to my friend and stitching buddy Carol this morning to check what I had graphed out for us both to use back in 2002 when we started this piece (and Carol finished hers - yay Carol! :-) ). It turned out that I had already stitched past the point where we had planned to modify it......
So, nothing daunted (much, anyway!), I re-planned and stitched and ripped and tutted a bit.... Finally, ten hours later I was so very happy with the result until I discovered that I have stitched the bottom backstitch in a different green floss to the backstitch at the top!!!!!!! AAAARGH!
To be honest, I could weep now....... I really don't think I will ever restitch it if I rip it out, so I will wait until tomorrow morning when I can see it in daylight and decide what to do next. At the moment I am telling myself that it is okay for it to be two different greens - after all, both greens are in the pattern, but the perfectionist in me is whispering that it will look ridiculous and everybody will notice. The top green is brighter and the bottom is more of a bottle green. I need to see it in daylight, so only time will tell - I would rather have it finished and framed in all it's two-green lovliness than flung in a cupboard forever because I don't want to restitch it...... Carol would restitch it without a seconds hesitation, but she is much more disciplined than me :-). Oh well, tomorrow is another day I suppose...... I hope you enjoy the pictures! The photos are clickable, as always.





9 comments:

lena-lou said...

I totally understand what you are saying AND I am quite a perfectionist BUT to be honest if you had not pointed it out I would not have realised your mistake. I would go ahead and frame it as it is, unique to you... because it looks lovely as it is :-))

Chocolates4Breakfast (Terri ~ Boog) said...

I think it looks, not only fine, but beautiful! It just transitioned from dark to light and it now your own!

Karoline said...

It's gorgeous Jackie, congratulations

Brigitte said...

It's great, Jackie, and I don't think that everybody will ever notice that stitching with two greens was "wrong" . I would never ever take the stitches at the bottom out. It's a wonderful piece!

Sheila said...

I would never have known that it shouldn´t be like that... so I would definitely leave it and frame it as is. There are so many more pieces waiting to be stitched :) Yup, it looks great to me.

Katrina said...

It's so pretty! I wouldn't have known if you hadn't pointed it out. Honest, frame it and love it :-).

Siobhán said...

Jackie, I think it looks wonderful! I had to go back and look to see what you were talking about as far as the error, and honestly, I think it looks great. I'd go and frame it and be super proud of myself, if I'd stitched it! YGG!

Jeanne said...

What a lovely finish!! I would never have known you used a different green on the bottom except that you pointed it out. I certainly would not change it - it matches the green used in the band with the Rhodes hearts and looks just great if you ask me. I think no one will ever know except for you! Congrats on your finish!

Anonymous said...

Jackie, it's beautiful as is. Please let us know what you decided. I hope it's to frame it and cherish it.