Hi everyone - thanks for all your lovely Christmas messages over the holiday period! I'm now back from holidays and back to my computer (and my needle!).
I thought before we get too far into January, a review of 2007 would be a good idea - it was a big year for me stitching-wise! I had a lot of firsts - my first ever major finish (Mirabilia - Titania, Queen of the Fairies), my first ever exchange, my first ever PIF, my first ever SAL, my first ever biscornu, my first ever scissors fob, my first...well, I only started stitching in August 2006, so 2007 was definitely a big one for me! (You can see what I've been up to in 2007 here.) And of course, the very best bit was starting up this blog and meeting some very special people - thank you all for making my blogging, my stitching, and my life a wonderful place!
Okay, enough looking back. Onwards and upwards! For 2008, I've identified the following goals for myself:
1. Stitch at least one Christmas ornament a month. Leena has kindly agreed to be my SAL partner in this, so we're going to try and keep to this one weekend a month.
2. Stitch a least one Crazy Exchange a month. This is such a fantastic group of stitchers, knitters, quilters and crafters - I believe still open for membership so give it a try, it's such fun!
3. No more big starts until one of either Spanish Wine or Paradigm Lost is finished. It's so daunting seeing something huge in my pile of WIPs, I'm determined to keep at least the huge starts to a minimum (you will see that I haven't limited myself in terms of smaller designs!)
4. Stay on top of blogging, and reading your blogs - now that I've got a home computer, this should be a straightforward task....shouldn't it?? :)
5. Don't sign up to too many exchanges - being a fairly new stitcher, I'm still slow enough, and deadlines can stress me out, so I'm going to try to be sensible about it.
6. Stick to my stash budget!!! (Probably the most difficult of all my goals!)
7. (This is actually not a stitching goal, but it's crafting, so it counts!) Learn to quilt.
And, because I simply can't have a post without a photo or two, here are two ornaments I finished in time for Christmas. The first was for my sister out in Vancouver for her tree:
Design: Partridge in a Pear Tree by Prairie Schooler
Threads: DMC
Linen: 32ct cream
The second is my return Crazy Exchange for Saskia - you may remember the fabulous stitched box full of tea she sent me in late November. This is what I stitched in return for her, as I know she has a soft spot for Bent Creek designs - modelled below by my Christmas tree, which I have just finished taking down for yet another year *sniff*.
Design: The Villa by Bent Creek
Threads: WDW and GAST as charted
Linen: 32ct (I can't remember what now, I think it was CountryStitches linen!)
Wishing you all a happy, safe and successful 2008 - and of course Happy Stitching!
