box_camera | Jan. 10th, 2013

darrow medallion, originally uploaded by pinstripe_bindi.

This is the first design I've completed from the House of White Birches cross stitch pattern book Celtic Crosses, and I think it came out super cool, so I'm going to do all of the designs. I don't know what I'll do with them (I think it's boring to just put a frame around needlework and stick it on the wall), but I'll figure something out.

Originally I thought of getting a blazer and making this a crest, like a private school jacket, but it's just a little too big for that. However, there are a couple of small designs in the book that will work just fine, whenever I get to them.

This is some of the most complex backstitching I've ever seen, so I decided to do it as I went--cross stitch patterns are divided into a grid of 10 x 10 stitches, and you're meant to do one square at a time, or you'll very easily lose your place. Normally I do all the main stitching, then go over it with the backstitching afterward, but this time I did the backstitching for each square before I moved onto the next one. It seemed easier, and I think that was the right decision.