When to backstitch

So, all my life, whenever stitching something, I would wait until all the full stitches are complete before doing the backstitching. I just thought that this was the normal way of doing it, so I always did it that way. However, now that I have started seeing other people's works, I see that there are so many others that do backstitching as they go. I am curious, now.

Do you backstitch as you go, or do you wait until everything else is complete and do it at the end?

This week, I broke out of my normal routine and decided to give it a try! There is a lot of backstitching on my Candy Cane Christmas, so I decided to do some of it where I had completed the full stitches, already.

Here is where I left off last week:

Here is where I am now. I got more stitching in, and I started on some of the backstitching in the corner, as well.

I have also started stitching on Kyoto. My schedule at work has changed, so I now start really early in the morning and work a weekend day, which tend to be slower times. I have managed to get some stitching done, then! I don't have a picture of it (because I forgot to take one before leaving work), but I think things are coming along quickly with this one. I am hesitant to post a picture of my progress, though, because (like Qingming) this one is printed on the fabric, as well, so it is difficult to make out. I may just post my progress percentage. So far, after 1 week, I am at 5.7%

Yet another start for me this weekend, as well. I have decided to get started on my beer project. The name of the pattern is 99 by ink circles. I was going to stitch this with a buddy, but I think I'm going to be on my own. I want to get the shelves done first, then each update for the beers will be after I have tried a beer and stitched it. I will post thoughts on the beer itself and what I liked/didn't like. So far I have just the beginning of the shelves. I didn't get as far along as I'd wanted because, well, frankly it was just boring. Long lines of stitches of one color. Ugh.