Ashamed Of My Backside

I haven't had much time for stitching lately. I've been busy, busy, busy! Plus, it's been super-hot (triple digits!), which doesn't help get me in a stitchy mood. I know, excuses, excuses. :P

So......since I don't have any new, fun, exciting things to show you, I have decided to share with you a dark secret I have been carrying around with me for nearly twelve years now. Yikes, here goes:

This is my first EVER cross stitch project:


"What's the big deal?" you may be asking yourself. Most first-timers don't do anything extraordinary, so there's nothing unusual about this innocent little bath time bear.

Well, that's not the dark secret.

Here is my shame:


Ohhhhhhhh, good lordy, that's bad. Oh-so-very BAD.

Here it is close-up:



Frightening, I know! I hope I didn't scare you!! Back when I started stitching, I didn't care about the backside whatsoever, which is very evident. Argh, oh well, you live & learn, right? Now I work hard to keep the backs of my projects almost as neat as the fronts.

If you look closely at the first pic (and frankly, I don't blame you if you don't want to!), you can see that the french knots are laughable, the threads are loose, and that there are areas on the bear that look just plain weird. I had a hard time following the pattern back then. ;) Thank goodness I have improved a bit over the years. :-D

Even though this little bear cross stitch no longer graces my bathroom wall, it is not something with which I am willing to part. It hangs on the inside of the linen closet door, where only I can see it. Every so often I like to take a good long look at it and think about how far I've come since I started stitching.

So, was your first project as bad as mine???