But at some point, knitting caught my eye and full attention. And stitching crafts took a back seat. I went years without making a cross-stitch or needlepoint project. And then I realized how much I missed it. So I started purchasing kits again. But my "eyes are always bigger than my stomach" as they say when it comes to acquiring crafting project materials (ahem...) and since I have local friends that knit I had more a consistent knitting focus on a regular basis. Then in 2013 I made my first Sunday's stitches post. And suddenly my needlepoint was re-energized again (I still haven't finished the backstitch and embroidery to finish that horse project though … this year!).
But I was still stuck in unfinished project land. I had never finished a pillow-sized project before, and I think it just seemed unreachable. I had a cycle of getting excited, starting, getting distracted, then making the project dormant, then picking it back up out of guilt years later, then getting overwhelmed again. The first time I broke that cycle was when I finished a modern needlepoint pillow in 2018. What was the difference? I made that project the focus of my very-first 100 Day Project on Instagram. I didn't even hit a full 100 days, in fact, I only made it to 60. But that was enough to get me so close that I was able to finish later that year. And in a moment of wisdom, I forced myself to sew the project into a pillow immediately upon finishing instead of letting it wait in limbo-land forever.
So it was not without a little trepidation that I started this Christmas needlepoint project back on December 22. I told myself, "I'll start posting each week again, that worked before." And then I suddenly found myself in-between knitting projects, with no other projects or crafts to distract me. This needlepoint project was the relaxing, soothing balm I found myself pulled to over and over during the holiday break. My first strategy was to start with the edges, since they are nice little "do-able" rectangles and not too Christmas-y. I'd save the Santa for last, as I was assuming this project would take me until next December to finish. But then I found myself wanting to stitch in low-light, and I went ahead and started the light blue background area since it was easy to see and uncomplicated. I remembered how much large sections of one color stall me out, since they are boring. I figured I'd do a little bit in between working on the edges, so I didn't have a huge chunk to finish at the end. Before I knew it, I had caught up to where I was on the edging border. And then I decided I didn't want to wait to make the Santa--in fact, it would be smarter to do the Santa at the beginning when I'm motivated (since it's a harder section). Now I'm thinking I should leave the border for last, since it's small and fun and will be quick to finish right when I need a little push.
But honestly with how fast and fun this one is, I don't think I'll need a little push. I am merrily zipping along! And I'm keeping notes--this may be my magical combination for successful needlepoint finishes. Starting with the "boring" and "hard" things first, leaving the fast and fun things for last.
