Stitchy Resolutions!

When my Dad came to live with us 5 years ago, I went into a real stitching slump. I really didn't have the time to stitch with the exception of a small amount of time in the morning. After he passed away a year later, I thought I would get back into my cross stitching with no problems at all. It hasn't happened like that unfortunately. I also have a project that I was stitching for a friend and I really do not like stitching on it at all. But I feel guilty if I stitch on anything else so I haven't stitched on much of anything. So in the past four years, I've finished maybe six projects. The two years before that I finished an average of 50-55 projects a year. Well, this year I decided that things have got to change. My friend at work who's in the same place as I am and I have decided to report to each other our progress on what we really need to finish. In other words, hold each other accountable for our actions. Yesterday some new yarn came in that I really liked. Now I need more yarn like I need a hole in the head. Before I had a chance to grab a bag out of the box, she closed up the box and told Don to take it upstairs. It was exactly what I needed. Today I realize that I didn't need that yarn, that I have plenty in my craft room, family room, garage, well you get the picture. So I thought I would post my stitching goals here so I can hold myself accountable for what I am going to finish this year.

1). Finish Poppies for Don
2). Finish Midsummer's Eve Fairy
3). Finish Don's naked male angel (the project from you-know-where)
4). Work on the Monet for Chris (doubtful I can finish it this year but I can make a good sized dent in it)

Some of my non-stitching stitching goals are:

1). Organize my file cabinet in my craft room
2). Set up a rotation for smaller projects (I need some reward for working on my other stitching goals)
3). Catalog all my cross stitch fabric and threads
4). Catalog all my yarn (and cull out what I really won't use just like I did my cross stitch patterns last year)

I know this sounds pretty ambitious but if I'm going to get back into stitching like I want to, I really need to start somewhere. Hopefully this journey will take me well down the road to stitching nirvana.

Merry Late Christmas!

Well, I may be a little late with my Christmas Greetings to all but they come with no less feelings. I've been a little lax with my blogging lately but I have a good excuse, really I do. I spent the month of November writing a 50,000 word novel for NaNoWriMo. I've always loved writing and that sort of lit the fire in me again. The point is not to write a novel that's publishable (at least, not without a lot of work) but it does get you in the habit of writing. I was cruising along and then 2 days before Thanksgiving I hit a speed bump in the form of a hospital stay for my atrial fibulation. I wasn't sure if I could get back into the writing routine but I had written enough ahead that I was able to catch up.

We had a wonderful time at Christmas. My son and his wife flew in for the weekend from Minneapolis and we also had my mother-in-law with us for the holiday. It was the first time in 7 years that we had all the kids together for the holiday. Hopefully it won't be so long again between visits. BTW, Chris in the middle is the one who received the China picture for Christmas. He and Annette loved it! They planned on going home and having their pastor (Chris is a youth pastor at the Chinese church in Minneapolis) translate the characters since I couldn't remember what they meant.

Next week is New Year's resolutions. I have a few ideas for that and maybe by putting them down in writing, I'll be better able to keep them.