FROGS be damned

Okay, I have just about had it. I just had to frog two rather lengthy branches of the rose bush on Tracery Dragons all because I missed just one two and a quarter stitch repeat. Oh, Teresa, you unrivalled mistress of the irregular repeats, you will be the death of me.

I am ready to go back to a technique I haven't used in four decades: making an enlarged working copy, marking off 10x10 areas to stitch and then marking off finished stitching. This is really doing a number on my ego as I like to think of myself as a rather gifted stitcher. Tracery Dragons is deceptively simple with all its unstitched space. But it is precisely because of that unstitched space that every stitched area has to line up perfectly. There are no large areas of stitching in which to bury or fudge errors. Every design element is relatively small, distinct and its correct placement is crucial to the overall design. This is a very unforgiving chart: do it right or not at all.

I know I am going to delight in the finished piece, but this is my fourth bout of frogging on this project. A stitching friend recently stitched matching boy and girl voodoo doll pin cushions . I am seriously considering borrowing the girl pin cushion and naming it Teresa.