A Gingerbread Themed Christmas Stocking

Some projects never seem to get done.  For example, I started making a needlepoint Christmas stocking for my daughter Ainsley when she was an infant.  She's now 11.  It's still not done.   But I DID have a craft-to-completion success story this year!

A cross stitch Christmas stocking for my youngest, my daughter Niamh (who is five).  I started this one in January, so it only took 11 months.  Much better than my 11 year record with Ainsley's stocking.  ;-)

Last year, my friend Eva suggested that we work on a cross stitch project together.  She lives in Iowa, I live in Arizona, but it provided a fun reason to touch base regularly, chat, and update each other on our progress.  Eva suggested the Christmas on Gingerbread Lane Christmas sampler from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.  She knew they had great patterns, easy to follow, and super cute.  And, of course, she knows of my affection for all things gingerbread.  

So it was the first time in, oh, 20ish years that I've attempted any cross stitch work.  So of COURSE I decided not to make things easy for myself.  I'd stitch on linen, instead of Aida (the easier kind of cross stitch fabric).  And I wouldn't just follow the pattern.  Oh no, I'd chop it up, re-arrange it, and turn it into a Christmas stocking for Niamh.  I do like to jump right in the deep end!

I have to mention here that I bought a Q snap frame for doing my stitching, a product that didn't exist the last time I'd done any cross stitch, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  I find it SO much easier to use than an embroidery hoop!  It also fit brilliantly in a 12x12 inch plastic scrapbook supplies box.  I kept my whole project in that little box, could take it with me, or tuck it away on the shelf whenever I wasn't working on it.  I got the idea from some of the awesome ladies on the Frosted Pumpkin Stitch Along group on Facebook.  

I was seriously slow on this project.  Eva finished hers months before I did, and did several other cross stitch projects, besides this one.  

I also made about a bajillion and a half mistakes.  But you know what?  I really don't care.  Nobody can really tell.  It still looks cute.

And, quite frankly, no way in HELL was I going to rip out even so much as ten stitches to make a correction.  And I never discovered my errors until much later.  Much, much later.  

I'm all about the "good enough" when it comes to craft projects.  No perfectionism here.  I'm a wing-it-make-it-work gal, and most of the time, that's plenty good enough.   It certainly makes me a happier person, and my daughter LOVES her new Christmas stocking, which is what really counts!