Don't Panic!

So....I could have worked on this until perfected before showing it, but I wanted you to know that there is hope even when things don't look so rosy in the beginning. I use a stitch, clip, evaluate approach and sometimes circle through this process many times before getting it right. The little bits of fabric and thread are so inexpensive that there's really no need to panic. I don't want to sound too negative because these eyes, despite their  imperfections, are workable. I do free motion stitching on the machine with the work in a hoop (flat side down) and the feed dog dropped so that I'm able to "drive" the whole works on my own. I wanted dark thread to represent my sometimes too dark eye makeup, but that created a risk in that there's no hiding out-of-place stitching. One very quick fix is to cut the eyes off the background, keeping what you like and scrapping the rest. I do like one of these eyes more than the other, so that may (or may not) be the route I end up taking.  Meanwhile, keep in mind that the worst case scenario is that you scrap the project and start over, wasting very little. But don't worry too much as every self-portrait I've seen ends up with a very special and unique look and always draws compliments. Remember, this is not a Picasso. Uh, or perhaps it is if those eyes end up askew. Which is absolutely fine with me!