My most recent cross stitch project is finally finished! This photo shows its just-finished state — I haven’t rinsed it out or ironed it yet. The pattern is “Thy Word” from the Inspired by Scripture booklet of Paula Vaughan.

The lettering was one of the hard parts because a lot of it doesn’t fall within the usual lines of cross stitch — I had started it earlier but got a little lost and frustrated and then saved it for last. Then when I got going again, thankfully I could find enough reference points to keep on track. At first I was afraid I’d have the words slanting up or down like my handwriting does on a page. 🙂 And I knew I would have to give up on that part looking as perfect as the pattern — but when I looked at the sample on the front of the pattern, those letters weren’t perfect, either.

The curtains were difficult, also, because some of the different shades were so close to each other. It was odd that when I held the piece away from me, I could see the shading, but close up, even with my reading glasses and around the neck magnifier (yes, it looks dorky to use it, but I couldn’t see to stitch without it), two or three of the colors were extremely close to each other. It was a relief to get that section done.

I love the gold detailing on the pitcher and cup.

This little pin cushion is one of my favorite parts.

The scissors there were supposed to have a metallic silver strand of floss in with the gray, but it just didn’t look right to me and seemed to draw undue attention to that section, so I ended up taking it out.

The curtains and shadowy area under the dishes and scissors came out a lot darker than the photo of the finished piece on the front of the booklet showed, and I almost ripped out the stitching and chose lighter colors when I got into those sections. But then I decided it wasn’t really worth it and I’d just stay with the colors listed even though they looked darker. It all came out okay in the end.

Thanks for looking and listening to me ramble. 🙂 I’m not sure how long I’ve been working on this — I tried to do a quick search through my blog, and I mentioned last October picking it up again after having laid it aside for a while during the move, and at that point I had the bottom quarter done. I think I laid it aside for a little through the Christmas holidays as well.

I’m linking up today to Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? (dontcha just love that name?) at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. I’ve seen my friend Susan link up to it for a few weeks, and it looked so fun. The idea is to show not necessarily the finished project but rather some progress on a craft project you’re working on. I haven’t shown progress week to week, because just working on it a few evenings a week, it didn’t seem to progress very quickly and I thought it would be boring to show this every week. But now that’s its finished I definitely want to link up!

Now I just have to wait for some decent framing coupons.

I’m also linking up to Made By You Monday at Skip to My Lou.