Ten years later, it's finished!

(Picture borrowed from a site that is selling the pattern...I'll substitute a real picture of mine eventually)

Approximately ten years ago, when I learned I was pregnant with a girl, I started this cross-stitch project intending it for the baby's room. I worked on it steadily until a little after she was born, finishing three and three-quarters ladies, and then it got put away. Through four moves I managed to keep it safe but often didn't quite know where it was, and then when I did, I was disinclined to work on it, being obsessed with knitting and all.

About six weeks ago, I got it out again, and I've worked on it consistently ever since. Last night, five minutes before midnight, I took the last stitch! And now there's the washing, blocking and framing...

The design is from issues 2, 3 and 4 of the UK stitching magazine Mary Hickmott's New Stitches. When I lived in the UK fifteen years ago, I had a charter subscription. I made many of the projects, including the one below, which hangs in my stairwell. But when I stopped working on this cross-stitch project I stopped making any others either.