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 [1] from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery [2].  She knew they had great patterns, easy to follow, and super cute.  And, of course, she knows of my affection for all things gingerbread [3].  

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 [4] 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 [5].  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 [6].  

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! 

[7]

[8]

[9]