Magnificent Wizard HD

I finally finished this! It's a Dimensions kit and was very annoying.

Matt and I went to a cross stitch show many years ago, and I asked him to pick out something he'd like me to stitch for him (cockily, I might add -- I could stitch anything, or so I thought!). He picked this.

Now, it's not my style at all, but I figured I'd do it for him. At the time I didn't know what a pain Dimensions kits are -- colored charts, half stitches all over, funky backstitching, etc. (I also ran out of some floss.) This is the reason it's been a WIP since at least 2007. I've been putting it on my list of goals for years. And now it's done. I feel such relief.

I had Matt check my backstitching, and he noticed that the black of the towers wasn't stitched. That's the way the pattern is, but he didn't like it, so I filled it in. I agree that it looks better now.

Next up is Santa's Village by Country Cottage Needleworks. This one has been languishing. Here's a tip: don't get all creative and change things around if it's a mystery piece. One part was released per month, and it wasn't until the end that I realized doing it three across instead of four across would mess up the symmetry. So I frogged and managed to snip two fabric threads. I modified the design slightly to cover the threads, so I'm all set to stitch. It's huge.