Nearly Headless Nikki

As promised, here is a picture of my progress! I am so proud of this one and am loving stitching it! Please take note of all the back stitching in gold metallic thread along the shawl (grumble). Also, of the lazy daisies that you can barely see on the shawl but that took FOREVER to complete (They are good practice because in her hair the pattern calls for double lazy daisies...never done those before...) Next, please notice the magenta cording along the cuffs and collar instead of generic back stitching. I love the way the cording makes the piece more three dimensional! And finally, PLEASE take note of the corded belt! That was a labour of love!!! The directions seemed simple enough: make the cording without a needle, loop the pieces to create a knot,and tack it all to the piece in the desired place. No problem! Sounds easy enough! Next, wrap one strand of magenta around the ends of the cording and draw it through the fabric so that you can tack it to the back and finish it off. Aahhh, here is the problem!!! This is 18ct. fabric that has already been stitched and so 10 strands of corded thread does NOT easily draw through the fabric to be tacked! GRUMBLE!!! I broke three needles and bent another two trying to do this and at one point I thought I was going to break a hole on the fabric! It really was a labour of love. My husband giggled at me trying to make it work and I scowled back at him! LOL! But it's done and I think it was worth it because it looks GORGEOUS!!!!