Finish or Fling? - Christmas Cards

There are two designs in this kit, and I've only started one of them. And barely done that - just traced the design onto the fabric and made a few stitches.

The kit finishes these designs as card, but I think they would make cute pillows.

Pros:

• Not cross stitch, so something different
• Not huge designs
• Like the designs
  

Cons:

• I don't find freehand embroidery as relaxing as cross stitch
• Orange? for holly? Yuk.
  

So, finish or fling?



Verdict: I think I will fling these, certainly the one I have already started, and use the buttons etc for other projects.

Finish or Fling? - Bless The Baby

I started this in 2000 for a colleague's baby. And then gave the proud parents something else. This pattern was repeated for all the babies that have happened since,which hasn't been many. In fact, there have been six in nine years - I don't seem to have the sort of friends who want families!

So, on a twist on the 'Finish or Fling' theme I'm going to do both. If you - or someone you know - has had or is soon to have a baby, I will finish this design, with the baby's name and birthdate, and will add a charm too before finishing this as a bellpull, pinkeep or small pillow (your choice).

Leave a comment below, and if there are several comments, I will make a draw on the 27th January, which is my parent's 42nd wedding anniversary.

Finish or Fling? - Beehive Windchimes

This is a little kit by Dimensions. I started this kit one January three years ago - and then in the February, got the finished article in a birthday exchange!

So, I abandoned my own effort. So - do I finish it or not?

Pros:

• I really like the design
• I can take one to the office or give it as a gift

Cons:

• Do I really want two of the same design?

Finish or fling?

I can't decide - I can either finish this and give it away, or I can give it away as a UFO. Can you help me decide? What would you prefer? Would you like to finish this?

Catch Up on Comments and Stuff

Firstly, I would just like to say a big thank you! to people who have made donations to the MS Trust. I really really appreciate it.

Secondly - if you have commented and asked for a chart, and you haven't received it yet, there are probably one of two reasons for this:
1. the email has been eaten by your spam filter - drop me a line at nicDOTwrayATgmailDOTcom and I will send you out the chart again.
2. you didn't leave an email address, and your Blogger profile is not publicly accessible. Please, please, please leave an email address if you would like a chart!

Thirdly - hello and welcome to all the new readers of my blog - there's been a bit of a spike since I posted my finishes on a couple of other blogs - hope you stick around, I've got lots of ideas for more freebies, plus there's the Year of the UFO project going on, so hopefully, there will be plenty of finishes shared too!

Tine - thank you for the heads up about the Cortina sock yarn - I will be sure to be very careful with this!
Mairi - please leave me your address and I will send you a set of Thistle Stitching Accessories charts
Bronny - thanks for agreeing with me, you have impeccable taste! LOL

Finish or Fling? - Bee Merry, Bee Joyful

I stitched these after a spell of not stitching for a very long time. And then didn't add the charms! These are part of a set of six designs by Thea Dueck of The Victoria Sampler, and the other four designs are all finished and mounted in the cute cards that came with the kit.

Pros:

• Only need the charms adding
• Have  four others in the set completed

Cons:

• Can't think of any - even the frames should be fairly cheap as they are a standard size.

Finish or fling?



Verdict: Finish

Finish or Fling? - Alba

This was an early attempt at design, done using tracing paper, graph paper and a pencil - no computer then - I don't think I even owned one at the time (gasp!)

The country is of course Scotland, and the verse that was left unfinished is in Gaelic, and is the Runrig song, Alba.

In full, this would have read:

Air sgiath a' seoladh nan neoil
'S an domhain liath
Mar dhealbh a' tighinn beo tro na sgothan
'S mi a' tilleadh gu tir

Alba nam beanntan ard
Nan acraichean lom
Thairis air na lochan mointich
Nan coilltean 's nan gleann

Ach 'se sealladh leointe is gann
Tha an seo aig ceann thall an linn
Talamh alainn nan daoine
Fhathast an lamhan duine no dithis

Cuibhlean stolda mu dheas
Na fasaichean a tuath
An taigh-mor falamh an Dun-Eideann
Gun chumhachd gun ghuth

Sibhse chuir achadh ri achadh
Taigh ri taigh
Gus nach bi ait anns an tir
An gabh sibh comhnaidh air leth

Ach 's math dhomh bhith seo an drasd
A cur failt air a' bhlas
'San tir a tha cho ur dhomh an diugh
Is a bha i nuair bha mi 'nam phaisd


Which is probably why I finished after the first line of the third verse. I'm not a Gaelic speaker and so backstitching all this text didn't come naturally to me. It's a lovely song, and I like the sentiment (an English translation is at the bottom of the post) but the project? Let's weigh up the pros and cons:

Pros:

• One of my one designs
• I like the song

Cons:

• It's on aida, not my favourite fabric when there's large blank areas
  
• It's all backstitch. And in a foreign language
• I don't like the colours (what was I thinking?)
• The balance of the design is wrong, and the lettering is going to get tangled in the design.

Finish or fling?



Verdict: Fling

Translation:






This flight is sailing through the clouds
And the blue heavens
The homeland appears like a developing photograph
Through the mists as I return to land

I see Scotland of the high mountains
And the empty acres
Flying low across the moorland lochs
The forests and the glens

But it's a wounding and a hollow sight
Here as we reach the end of the century
The beautiful soil of the people
Still in the hands of the few

I see the wheels of industry at a standstill
And the northern lands wasted
And the empty house in Edinburgh
Without authority or voice

You that have laid field upon field
House upon house
Till there be nowhere for you to be placed alone
In the midst of all the earth

But it is good for me to be here now
As I welcome the warmth
In this land that's as exciting for me today
As it was the day I was born

Finish or Fling? - Advent Calendar Wall Hanging

I started this - oh, 1992? 1993? Sometimes around then. So this makes this project one of my oldest UFOs. It came from a magazine - now defunct - called Needlecraft. I used all sorts of oddments for this, so it is a mix of cotton and polycotton fabrics - a mistake I wouldn't make now, but as I'm unlikely to ever want to wash this, I don't suppose it will really make much difference. It's quite big - about half the width of my double bed here.

When I unwrapped this, I noticed some of the pins holding the felt hair on had rusted - but there's no rhyme or reason to which ones had gone. I think I'm going to have to cut some more shapes out - I don't think I have the templates, but I can draw round the other shapes.

Every single stitch is this is hand sewn - the blocks are pieced over paper. The appliqued faces, hair and quilts are all hand stitched, not fused on. And all those stockings are oversewn by hand. When I took them out of their bag, I was amazed at how fine and regular my stitches were, and how much work in general has gone into this.

Pros:

• I've done a lot of work already
• It will look amazing
• It would free up a lot of space in my stitching box

Cons:

• There's a lot of hand sewing to do
• There's a lot of quilting to do
• The Hermit hates Christmas so won't appreciate this
  

Finish or fling? Oh, definitely finish - I want to display this next Christmas!

Finish or Fling? - Advice

This is a sampler design by Jo Verso, from Cross Stitch Cards and Keepsakes. This is another project from the early 1990s, and possibly one of my earliest projects on evenweave.

Pros:

• Love the motto
• Not a lot of work needed

Cons:

• Half and three quarter stitches, which are then back stitched. Yuk.
• Can't remember if I stitched it in Anchor or DMC
• Fabric seems to have been stained by fruit juice or similar
• Damaged fabric where it was frogged - one or two threads severed vertically and horizontally

I'm not at all sure whether I like this enough to want to rescue it.

Finish or fling?



Verdict: Fling!

The Year of the UFO

My UFO list can be seen in the sidebar. I've also got it arranged nicely in a little spreadsheet, where I've calculated target dates for finishing - and where I've tried to note the approximate year when I started the project. There are some projects in that pile who are old enough to go to University... LOL

I've realised that the mental weight of all these unfinished objects is dragging me down. Even when I'm really enjoying working on a project, that nasty little nagging voice at the back of my head taunts me, saying that I won't finish it, that it's a waste of time, that I have other stuff I once loved and have abandoned. And this is despite my ability to actually finish a project really really improving since I took up blogging - I have very few UFOs from 2007 onwards.

So, I'm going to be ruthless with these projects. I'm going to look at each one and sit in judgement, weighing up the pros and cons. I'm going to consider firstly whether I actually like the project. And then, whether it will either fit into my home or could go to someone as a gift. And whether it will be worth working on - sometimes, projects are UFOs because of mistakes or damage. The verdicts will be simple - Finish or Fling. Fling won't always mean the wastepaper basket - if anyone wants to adopt a UFO, I'd be happy to send it to them...

Votes in comments will be welcome, because I may wobble and be indecisive - and that's not allowed!

New Year Biscornu

 

 

Design: New Year Biscornu - free chart available here 
Designer: Linden Bee Designs - i.e. me!
Threads: DMC
Fabric: 14 count aida, white
Finish: Biscornu
Trims: 2 green star shape buttons

This biscornu (and the fob) are based on my Thistle Stitching Accessories set, but with a twist to make them New Year designs. I found out that I'd not got the thistles just how I wanted them, so made an amendment and then had to email new charts out to those people who had kindly requested them. I'm sometimes a bit of a perfectionist... ;o)

The aida oddments I used made the counting for the border nice and easy, and aida helps the structure of the biscornu too, I feel, even if it is not quite as attractive a fabric as linen. It's good to use stash though, and I do like the finished effect.