........... 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.
