In October 2013 I started stitching what was to be a set of three designs. Three months later I completed the 18th design in the series. And now, a little over a year after putting the final stitch into “9b: Holly”, Floral Lace has finally been properly finished – backed with felt and with a buttonhole edge scalloped on the inside they are ready to be… well, what? Not coasters; the beads would make anything put on them wobble, and they won’t fit into my trusty acrylic coasters so the stitching is unprotected and I’d live in constant dread of getting coffee or tea on them. They’re not really big enough to be decorative mats. They could be stitched onto cushions or a quilt, but that seems rather a waste of the nicely finished back. If anyone has any workable suggestions, do let me know!

Rather exciting – a needlework magazine has shown an interest in one of my designs, but they’ve asked for a bit of tweaking and for the finished projects to be made into ornaments, so that’s my next task. I’ll start stitching the tweaked design tonight, and with a bit of luck will be able to do the ornament-making over the weekend. That part of it may be a bit of a challenge…