Episode 234: How to Start Finishing

Sometimes finishing up a project that you’ve put down can feel daunting, especially if you’re concerned about doing it perfectly. But finishing can be so rewarding! In this episode, Janine and Shannon discuss how to start finishing–and how to decide something is finished.

Discussion topics include:

• Shannon’s concern that she’ll find it hard to remember that it’s 2023
• The four-decades-long project that Shannon finished over the holidays
• Her project: a crewel embroidery project she started when she was 11
• The ideal environment that allowed her to finish: She was trapped inside with crafty friends during a blizzard
• How she’ll use the pillow cover she embroidered
• Crewel embroidery vs other embroidery
• Letting go of perfection with this project
• The value of having other people on board when you’re trying to finish
• How things look less imperfect with time (but you don’t have to wait 44 years!)
• Another finished project: Multiple unfinished crossword puzzles that Shannon had been saving up
• The feeling you get when you finish something you’ve put aside
• Calling something done even if it’s not completely finished
• The Loose Ends project where crafters help finish craft projects started by people who have died
• How perfectionism can make the decision to finish something difficult

Here’s a photo of Shannon’s finished crewel project. Click on the image to see it larger.

Links:

• The difference between crewel and embroidery
• The Loose Ends project