2016's Christmas Angel

It's a Madonna, really.

But first, my progress on Thursday.  I almost finished the white head.  That's about one hour of work.  I would have liked to have done more, but that was all the time I had.  Unlike sleep, a little is better than none.  It's better than an antidepressant, anti-anxiety, and meditation together.

But sometimes the to-do piles get in the way.  (That's a to-do list, but in physical form.)  Seeing those around and not being dealt with causes anxiety.  So I have to balance.  I had hopes of stitching today, and I still might, but it's not looking likely.  So, hopefully, tomorrow.

Back to the Madonna.  I stitched three of these:  One for Nancy, my mother-in-law, one for Lynda, my best friend, one for me.  I also used to do one for my mom, before she passed away.

I also recently started a new type of stitching journal:  I take a picture of each day's progress.  This doesn't allow me to keep track of the hours, and I need to make sure I do that.  But it does allow me to see the image grow.  So, without further ado, the 2016 Christmas Angel Stitching Journal:

The pattern is Told In A Garden's 2002 Free Christmas pattern.  Did I mention it's free?  The above is the second iteration of the project.  I hadn't started the new journaling-by-picture method when I did the first one.  I did that one almost exactly as called for, only changing the skin tones into over-one, as is my wont.  But I felt like the beads on the clothing areas were too large.  They didn't seem to fit well with the clothing.  So, for #2, I substituted petite beads.  I wasn't 100% happy with that either:  I felt the pearl trim was too off-white.  Still, I liked it a lot and am considering entering it into the county fair later this year.

I like to take a picture of the back, too.  My backs aren't perfect, but they're not terribly messy, either:

Now she's a Frida Kahlo Madonna.

Next, the dreaded finishing:

I don't know why that's upside-down.  Anyway, I finished #s 1 and 2 at the same time.  That's the completed stitching with batting and backing fabric.

Cardboard for the back and acid-free foam core for the stitching, complete with centering marks.

Fronts and backs all laced.

Angel #2 completed.

Angel #1, for a little contrast.

Angel #3 was also finished, but not Finished, because I'm going to finish all my angels together when I complete them all.