On Finally Finishing Long-Running Projects

If you’re one of the few people who’ve read any of my blog entries at this point, it should be painfully obvious to you that in my hobbyist, non-work life I am a chronic procrastinator. I am. I admit it, and I am working on improving myself in that regard. But breaking a habit of several decades is no easy feat.

However, at the end of last year I did finish a project (the fact it has taken so long to write about it should tell you everything you need to know about my time-wasting problems), and it’s one that I had on the go for a massive 23 years! By anybody’s standards that is far too long for a craft project, especially when that project was just a cross stitch. I was hardly writing a symphony or building a dream house – neither of which would probably have taken as long.

So with no further ado, I present to you Titania, Queen of the Fairies.

When I first saw this pattern in my local, now-long-gone sewing store I was smitten. The problem with starting a project in your late teens is that money is certainly an object in short supply, and with so many of the materials being imported to the UK I had that excuse in the beginning. I remember that the linen alone was about £20 in the late ’90s, which by today’s exchange rate would have been around $35 Canadian at the time (and at lot more now). 

Eventually the money was no longer a problem, but there was always some other excuse; busy with school, busy with work, busy with other projects that I never managed to complete. But last year I decided that as part of my new routine of planning and being more productive I was going to finally finish the project.

Materials seem to be more affordable now. Whether that is a result of an improved supply chain or the fact that I now live in North America is up for debate. But there were certainly a lot of materials to buy, especially the costly beads and metallic threads – I’d vow never to work with metallic braid again, but more about that later. However, the results were definitely worth the effort.

She is simply stunning, and I want to get her framed this summer as she’s far too pretty to be rolled up in a drawer rather than on display.

As for that metallic braid that I vowed to never use again… I have given myself little choice. Buoyed on by completing this project and a couple of subsequent small projects, I wanted to dive into another larger piece, so I chose Mermaid of Atlantis, which is another Nora Corbett Design by Mirabilia. One reason was that the colour scheme was in stark contrast to the pinks of Titania, which was a nice change. This pattern uses far more varieties of metallic thread and beads (all of which I have already purchased), but I’ve thankfully learned how to work with them from my past errors. As you can see, I’ve already made some good progress even with that pesky braid!

So that is the story of my longest running craft project and one of my creative achievements from last year. Is there a project that you started and never finished? What could motivate you to complete it? If a procrastinator like me can get off my butt and make it happen I’m sure that anyone can. I doubt you can beat 23 years though 😉