The Happy Dance of the Child of Spring!!

HURRAH! I've finally got COS sewn up into that cushion/pillow after hanging around for about 11 months! I did the stitching on it last June/July and then it was delay after re-take after re-start.... Anyway, I got it done last night and here it is:

I can honestly say that, from start to finish, this project has been a complete pain in the rear! The embroidery part was a great deal more tricky and fiddly than it looked like being and the instructions and chart were not as good as VS normally is. In fact, had this been the first VS design I'd ever done, it would also have been the last, but thankfully I'd already worked two others!! Then we got to the finishing up part. First I used too dark a red border and sewed it on skew-whiff, so that had to come off. Then I used the right red and made the borders too wide, (some of you will remember that!!). Then I got it right, but there was a long delay until I found some decent backing fabric (I finally settled on a matching red with white spots on). I pinned that on and started tacking only to find that I'd got it all square with the spots, but the front was cock-eyed again!! Start again.... Then I had to have two starts in inserting the zip as I started to sew through too many layers. What I have really loved (HEAVY sarcasm here) about this project is the sheer amount of times things have had to be re-done and/or have driven me potty! If it hadn't been for Baby Sis (not baby-sitter, Chiasmata, I have no kids and am too old to need childcare myself!!!! Tee-hee!) I probably would have given in to the frequent temptation to burn it! However, I'm pleased with it now.=)

Carole-Anne said she couldn't imagine how I found time to do embroidery in my busy life. Well, I thought I'd tell you all!! Apart from applying time management principles, the following help:

I have no kids.
We have no pets.
We live in a small, inexpensive home, which requires much less time and money to keep up to than a larger one would.
I don't work much secularly, probably about 150 hours a year as opposed to the about 1700 a full-time worker puts in.
We don't have TV. Well, we have a set, but it's only for playing videos and DVDs and isn't used much. A month can go by without it being set up and watched.
I don't play video, TV, on-line or hand-held electronic games.
I don't make long 'phone calls.
Most of our meals are ready within 30 minutes. Our social life is fairly modest. We're not out 4 or 5 nights a week.
My internet time is kept to a minimum. I read/scan some blogs 2 or 3 days a week, but I don't spend many hours reading dozens and dozens.

DH said that made it sound like we have a very boring life, but it works for me!! I'm never bored.=) BTW, I don't think there's anything intrinsically wrong with any of the above, I just feel that I could lose too much precious time on many of them, so choose not to.=) Anyway, you can see the time savings from the list, can't you? Not that mothers can just put their kids up for adoption, sell their family-sized homes, dump their kids' dogs and so on just to get more stitching time, but I don't have these responsibilities, so I can do other things, although I still feel I would like more me-time!!! I've only actually completed 3½ pieces this year, 2 of which were very small. COS is just finishing up something from last summer. I have 2 WIPs right now, but something else I find makes me quite productive in terms of stitching is that most things are done for other people's special events etc. Deadlines are hugely motivating, don't you think??=)