At the beginning of 2012, I was very close to finishing this. If I could just have abided by my words from Feb 2012 I would have 7 hours of my life back, and I would have posted a finished object much earlier in the year.
Here's what I said in Feb:
I felt a bit annoyed with myself on this tiny project. I didn't absorb
the instructions very well and so missed the fact that the back
stitching should have been done one square at a time. Instead, I did a
more free-form back stitch. Some of them are long, some are short. I
wouldn't do that again. I'd go for the neater, one square at a time
stitch. But, time waits for no stitcher and so I'll live with this, sew
it up and call it done.
What you see before you in the photo below is the 'corrected' and restitched celtic bird. I pulled out the offending back stitches. This.was.not.easy. *breathe* But once I was into it, there was no turning back. It took hours of painstaking cutting and pulling with tweezers. I did it while watching Hugo on DVD with the kids. We loved that film in the cinema. It is so beautifully and artistically filmed. Well, second time around, I was intensely concentrating on minuscule bits of golden thread. I only pulled out the back stitching, nothing else.
I then had to go buy a skein of dark gold DMC because I had used up all the kit thread. Then, in a reasonably short amount of time...say an hour or so...I managed to restitch the back stitches, one stitch per square, then sew up the little puppy and make the tassel and put him to good use.
I really like the design of the celtic bird with the Illuminated Manuscript overtones, so I am very pleased I made it. I have also learned a valuable technique and have been reminded (once again) to read instructions. Enjoy and go forward.
Previous posts
Celtic bird cross stitch nearly finished (February 2012)
Progress on the cross stitch (December 2011)
Cross stitch progress on the scissors keep (June 2011)
Celtic scissors keep - update (May 26, 2011)
My next Celtic scissors keep - new kit (May 13, 2011)
Celtic scissors keep - finished (May 3, 2011)