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In 1766, Martha Washington started work on a set of twelve needlepoint cushions with an intricate shell design. She probably meant to use them as seats for side chairs in the front parlor at Mount Vernon. At some point, Martha set the project aside. It happens. The pattern may have been more difficult than she’d imagined. She may have had less time on her hands than she’d expected. Maybe she got tired of the red, orange and yellow threads. Twenty-nine years later, Martha was our country's first first lady, living in Philadelphia. (President Washington occupied the Philadelphia President's House from 1790 to 1797. He oversaw construction of the White House, but never lived there.) Martha asked her niece at Mount Vernon to send her the unfinished set of cushions, “if they’re not eaten up by moths.” And Martha did actually finish all twelve before her death in 1802. So, maybe there’s hope for my projects.