Down to the wire

In less than 24 hours my SIL will be here and I will either have finished, or have hidden the whole kit and caboodle down the side of our bed and be desperately stitching after she's gone to bed. The latter is not a great plan and Lulla and H are both night owls.

On our current analysis:



Whilst it may not look like it, I think I am over half way which is good news. I've also got a feeling for how it is embellished which makes it easier to work out what is going on. I was hoping to finish the dress last night but as you can see there is a sleeve missing and a few beads but I think it could be doable. Here's how:

- The dress just needs beads (v quick, easy to spot where they go by the holes left in the stitching) and outlining (also easy, follow the contours, no need to look at the pattern)
- The top and bottom borders have very little embellishment; a little back stitch, some beads in the bottom right hand corner.
-The cherubs do take a bit of time because they have six different threads used but most of one of them is covered by a wing so that should help.
- The corner markers are just beaded.
- The right hand column will take some time but the beading should be easy and it will be easier to see where the top stitch goes than the left border. Also no requirement for a flower bed of french knots.

Which leaves - the big wings and head and the gold borders and other random bits of gold. I've run out of gold and I'm almost out of silver. H has been sent to Hobbycraft today to acquire more but that is the big eeek in the plan, what if Hobbycraft have no Very Fine Braid in Gold 028.

I'm going to leave the gold until the end because that is something that I could do by hiding over the weekend because it just needs the one colour and the constant stitching.

To keep calm I have just sewn the buttons on Baby Danny's jacket and it looks perfectly sweet. 30cm of braces also appears to be shorter than I thought it was (don't question the crazy lass) so after this morning's commute I am 20ish rows off the first one and should be almost done on the second by the time I get home, at which point they need sewing on and a little gentle blocking. Maybe that can wait until tomorrow!

Anyone surprised that I keep thinking it's Christmas?