Nursery Rhymes and Study Time

This piece is currently my main focus. I am making this for one of my cousins who is about to have a baby. She is due sometime this month. It doesn't matter when really, because there is absolutely no way this will be done anytime this month, but my goal is to have it done ASAP and definitely before Christmas.

I've had so much fun working on this. The colors are bright and cheerful, and there are so many little details that bring it to life. I love thinking of this soon-to-be baby growing up and connecting each character to their nursery rhyme.

Of course, all of that detail means that it takes longer to stitch with many color changes and fractional stitches and what not. Plus all of the backstitch. I'm trying to backstitch as I go, usually after I finish a section or two. I can backstitch fairly quickly, so I usually wait until I have a fairly large area that is ready to be finished. It is so much fun to see how much the backstitch changes the look of the design. If I remember, I'll do a before and after backstitch shot in my next update.

I'm currently working on the bottom left quarter of the chart. Apparently after graduating with my Masters in Math, I lost my ability to count. This means that I've had a few incidents where I had to (1) spend a few frazzled minutes trying to figure out why things aren't lining up, (2) find where they don't line up and realize that the mistake has been there for a while and a whole section is off by one, (3) spend another minute seeing if I can make it work anyway, (4) realize I can't because all of these characters are in position relative to about four other characters, and (5) dejectedly rip out all of the messed up section and start over.

Anyway, here's where I am now!

And let's not forget my other important WIP with a deadline: Exam MLC. For those of you who don't know, I'm an actuarial analyst which basically means that I'm on the career path to someday be an accredited actuary. And that basically means that I have to pass a boat load of exams. I've passed two already (yay!) while in graduate school, and I'm preparing to take my third in November. I really need to pass this one on the first try, because next year it's changing formats from all multiple choice (really hard) to written (really really hard).

But my WIPs have appeared to not have gotten the memo saying that I need study time, because they are all demanding my attention 24/7.