Hello Stitching Friends❣
This past week I brought out one of my biggest cross stitch projects ever, VICTORIAN STREET SCENE by Sandy Littlejohns and Deb Lester, from Cross Stitch Collection issues 97-99.
I should think that this stunning design is over a decade old and I fell in love with it when I saw it being sold as a kit later on in the same magazine. My dad gifted me the money for it as a birthday present and the pattern, threads and the fabric became mine. I think that at the time I had an extraordinary belief in my capabilities 😉😂 and I imagined myself stitching all sorts of projects regardless of the size…!
Before I lost my cross stitch mojo around 2016 I had managed to stitch this much:
And in a little bit more of a close-up...
As you can see I started stitching the fun bits. The colourful dresses…
...and festive trees as well as the structure of the buildings in the background.
Now that I'm back stitching again I immediately thought of bringing out this project and making some more progress. However, when I finally did I actually ended up feeling so deflated😔... How on earth am I going to finish this??!! There are sooo many stitches to be added, and sooo much background and several time-consuming areas with A LOT of different colours😳...It just feels impossible..! I still love the look of the finished picture and can just about imagine the elation I'd feel if I ever finish it, but I just cant imagine the work and the time it'd take me to get there...
Still, I spent two days stitching on the left side of the picture, but it felt like the difference is nearly invisible. I went from this...
...to this…
And the worst part was that I didn't really enjoy myself since it almost felt pointless spending all that time stitching and getting nowhere… or so it felt at least.
So I need your help and encouragement🙏❤! I know that some of you stitch HEADs and other super large projects so how do you find the motivation to stick with it? What are your tricks and tips of the trade and for carrying on?! Right now I am desperate for some assistance since I'm finding it VERY hard imagining myself ever finishing this gorgeous project. And I also realize that THAT would be a shame..!
Meanwhile, I'm going to spend this weekend stitching much smaller projects and adding another start to the Spring into Summer New Start Binge.
Have a lovely stitching weekend!
Annie
I spent 3 years stitching Baker Beach for my son (it is the header of my blog right now) I added a few stitches each week and posted the pictures on my blog. I could see the progress, little though it may be and it kept me going. It would be such a shame not to finish such a beautiful piece. I recently started another piece for my daughter with 72,000 stitches. I expect it will take 3+ years. How about trying to finish before me?
ReplyDeleteJust try to put in some stitches everyday for a month. Recently I put 10 000 stitches in one of my HAED for a challenge, that is a really good motivator. And after that, put it away and stitch something else. Very few people finish a HEAD in only a few months. Give yourself the time to enjoy the project.
ReplyDeleteI give you credit Annie. I have never gone for a pattern that large, and do not plan to! ;) You have gotten excellent advice and encouragement already! I think you CAN and WILL do this!💖
ReplyDeleteThat's a beautiful project and it deserves to be finished. I don't stitch HAEDs or anything that large, but I've found that doing a half an hour a day on my chosen project and then stitching something else makes it grow and I don't get tired of it. Take a look at my Maynia posts and check out The Royals at the bottom to see what I've accomplished while doing this.
ReplyDeleteThat is gorgeous!! And yes, your efforts made a difference that's easy to see. There are a few different ways I've found to motivate myself. One I used to finish something that was dragging me down, was to stitch whatever I wanted for 2 stitching sessions and the 3rd I'd pull out the "dreaded" project. Even if it was only for an hour. No guilt on how long I stitched, it got some stitches in every few days. That helped get really good progress after a few weeks. Another way would be to give yourself mini-goals, if you're a goal-person. Ex: I'm going to stitch on this until I finish this entire length of thread, whether that's 2 days or more, etc. Or use some of the bits in the project. Like, I'm going to finish this shop window. Or this person, etc. You can do it!
ReplyDeleteOne stitch at a time :) It is gorgeous and I would love to see yours finished some day but stitching should be fun so don't feel bad if you aren't enjoying it right now. Maybe one day again in the future stitching on it will bring you joy.
ReplyDeleteOh what a lovely project, I am so sorry to read that you are struggeling with it =/
ReplyDeleteI really love big projects, size usually doesn't scare me. But I also find myself a bit doubtful from time to time, mostly when I start to think about how long it will take me to finish something. For me stitching is not about finishing (though that's nice from time to time), but more about the actual progress. I guess I will not finish all my supersize projects in this life, but that's fine for me as long as I enjoy it when I stitch on them.
I also find it helpful to have a few other projects on the go, so I can switch between projects. I am currently focusing on one of my bigger Haeds (Kriemhild) and what is working well for me is to work on her in regular intervals (like once a month) and towards smaller goals. I can't imagine myself working on her uninterrupted until she is finished (I guess some 80 000 stitches left there). But for a monthly goal I try to do about half a page, that is way more doable for me. Then I think of my next bigger goal of reaching the halfway point on my current row, then I want to reach the "200k-stitchmark", after that the "less than 50k-left" mark, then the end of the current row and so on. I feel motivated whenever I manage to reach one of those "smaller" goals and it keeps my focus away from the size of the project :)
I also did a 30-minutes-a-day challenge on a dimensions project, I only put in like 3 or 4 threads per day, but when I took a look at my before and after pictures, I was stunned on how much that changed.
As long as you love the design, I can only encourage you to go on with it =) Don't look at how much there is left to do, look at what you already did. Set yourself a plan to work on it in regular intervals (how about an hour per week for a start?), it may not seem much at that time, but this will add up. Also it might be helpful to do smaller goals, like plan to fill in the window, then fill in the next window, the space between/underneath them...
I hope this is somewhat helpful and you can find your mojo to work on this beautiful piece again =)
(by the way, I am sorry it took me so long to get back to you, I didn't get a couple of comment-notifications lately :/ )