Last Stitches of 2009, First Stitches of 2010

I hope everyone's had a wonderful Christmas and New Year season. It's amazing how busy we allow ourselves to get and the unrealistic expectations we put on ourselves, not to mention the expectations put on us by others. I pray this new year is a very blessed and peaceful year for you all.

As I rang out 2009, I stitched on Plum Street Sampler's "Give". The birds now have wings, but still no eyes. I'm planning on working on this again today while watching the Cowboys try to clinch their division against the Philadelphia Eagles. I'm contemplating what part to stitch on today. Should I work on the outside border on the right? Do I work on the twining vines on both sides? Do I continue in the middle and stitch the other motifs and stuff under the bird? Decisions, decisions, decisions!



My non-blogging friend, Robin, always encourages me to start a small project on January 1st. She's so organized, she knows well in advance what she's going to stitch. Of course, she's got her whole stitching year mapped out! She's got lists of all the projects she wants to stitch, which ones are gifts, which are just for fun. She's got an itemized list of ornies to choose from for the year! (Love you, Robin!!) Me? I decide a couple of days before January 1st what I'm going to stitch and then spend an hour and a half the morning of January 1st gathering supplies! LOL Have I gotten together a list of ornaments to stitch for the year?? No! (Will I stitch from the list anyway?? Probably not. LOL) Do I have a clue what projects I want to stitch this year?? No! I'm not spontaneous in any other area of my life, except stitching! I don't know if that's a good thing or not.

Moving on.

I chose Val's Stitching Stuff's "Have a Heart" for my January 1st project. It's been sitting in my "to do" box for a couple of years. I saw it. I grabbed it. I spent the first hour of the Rose Bowl parade pulling fibers and finding fabric. Impulsive, I know, but sometimes that's just the way I roll.


I knew I wanted to stitch this on something other than the neutral color of fabric the design calls for, so I went digging through my vast stash of fabrics. (I've battling a devastating addiction to fabric, especially the hand dyed variety. Having an unemployed husband helps curb that addiction.) I have TONS of colors to choose from in both 28 ct. and 32 ct. I decided to go with an old Silkweaver fabric called "Rainkissed" in 32 ct. It's a wonderful color fabric, but I don't think they produce it anymore. :(

Now I must return to my list making. I need to write my stitching resolutions, my ornie list, and I need to dig in my WIPs basket and see what's in there that I need to finish this year. I've only been working on that basket for 2 years now! LOL I also need to weed out stash and put it up for sale. Stay tuned for that!

:o)