Have you ever started something with enthusiasm? Have you ever thought to yourself, “This is going to be great fun,” as you tackle the glue gun, knitting needles or the tool box and then one month, two months or three months down the line it’s at the back of a cupboard, half finished and looking very sorry for itself.

When I go to craft fairs I look at the craft stalls and think, “I can do that, that doesn’t look too hard.” That happened to me was when I decided to take up cross stitch, I bought the kit but instead of choosing a simple flower or a teddy bear I had to go for the full blown cottage, with trees and different leaves as a border. I looked at the instructions, boy, were they complicated but I was determined to do it. I managed to do about a quarter of it and then I lost interest.   You might be thinking this was a couple of years ago, but no, I got the cross stitch about 15 years ago.   It was placed in a drawer in the study not to see the light of day until we were packing to move to a new house.

We came across it when we were sorting out some drawers and I was asked if it should be thrown away. I looked at it and didn’t have the heart to chuck it out so it came on the move with us, to be placed in another drawer and once again forgotten about.

Not long ago I was looking for something else and came across this cross stitch, “You know I think I will have another go at this” I thought.

So last night I started on it again. I hope that this renewed enthusiasm will make me finish it this time… 17 years to complete a cross stitch I wonder if that’s a record?

The most common unfinished projects include learning to play a musical instrument (yep, tried that), writing a book (done that, but actually finished it – that’s another story!), gym membership (have to admit to never doing that) restoring a car and numerous DIY projects.

Now there is one unfinished project that needs my attention straight away – the half bottle of wine that’s in the fridge!

 

Quote: “I never want projects to be finished; I have always believed in unfinished work. I got that from Schubert, you know, the ‘Unfinished Symphony” –

Yoko Ono