Happy New Year’s Eve, folks! It’s the last day of 2014, and I have something Very Important to Say.

Are you ready?

Because this is really going to come as a shock, I’m sure…

I didn’t finish either embroidery project that I wanted to finish by year’s end – namely, the Hungarian Redwork Runner or the Secret Garden Hummingbirds.

If you’re just joining us on Needle ‘n Thread, these are two projects that have been ongoing for a while, and back in November (or was it the end of October?) I entertained some silly nonsensical dream about getting them both finished before Christmas.

And then I took off on a completely different embroidery project, which is halfway typical of me.

(Any distraction will do, when it comes to my propensity for procrastination!)

But… to make today’s article a little more exciting, I’d like to stir up some serious controversy.

You see, I did something different on the second hummingbird.

I was stitching away on the hummingbirds, perfectly content that one would mirror the other in thread colors and embroidery stitch choices, when…

…when the Hungarian Redwork Runner crossed wires in my head, and I figured, Why Not Red?

See, originally, I didn’t think the reds would go so well with the blues of the birds, because the reds are definitely warm and the blues are definitely not.

You know, I like the red!

I like it better than the purple. It zings with a zinginess the purple hasn’t got.

(You can click on those photos for much larger versions, by the way…)

Now, I know that, in the scheme of All Things Controversial in This World we Live In, color choices on an embroidery project probably don’t rank too high, but since that’s as far as we go on Needle ‘n Thread with controversy, what’s your opinion on the red vs. the purple?

Does it work? Or is this just me, letting my infatuation with the color red seep into places where it doesn’t belong?

I was So Very Happy to be back to embroidering the hummingbirds! Although the feathers take a bit of time to stitch, the end is much closer than it was. And I would like to finish this project soon.

I have another project lined up for January, and a long term project for 2015 that I need to get going on, but with that hummer hovering over me, flitting about in its unfinished nakedness (after all, it’s almost January and very cold out), I’m a bit reluctant to plow on with another project. What to do, what to do…

So, what’s your opinion? Yes or no on the reds?

And what should I do? Plow forward with my January plans, or concentrate wholeheartedly on the hummingbirds and get them finished? What would you do?

Feel free to weigh in on these grave controversies below!

Tomorrow, we’ll glance backwards over 2014 and I’ll let you in on some plans for my needle and thread during 2015.

Wishing you a safe, relaxing, peaceful last-day-of-2014, wherever you are!