January Recap

finish four ornaments
I was sick with bronchitis the weekend we were scheduled to do this, and I just couldn't seem to fit it in any other time. :(
finish Sissy's laptop bag
I did work on this project a bit. It's not finished though.
begin Souvenir Sampler
Done. I've stitched about a third of this project.
stitch two ornaments for family Christmas presents
One down.
Mary Mack tin pin SAL
I was very diligent about this SAL. I stitched the main part, then got hung up on getting the tin pin.

We did unpack most of our boxes, paint the bathroom, buy seating for the living room, paint the window trim in the bedroom, build four pieces of furniture, and load the furniture up with stuff. I guess I have to realize that the house is taking precendence over the stitching now.
Say it ain't so!

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February plan
Continue working on Souvenir Sampler.
I have pledged to help Melissa finish her Fairy Grandmother by only stitching on one thing during the Olympic games (February 10th-26th). During this time, Souvenir is the only thing I can work on.
Finish Sissy's laptop bag--before 2/10.
Stitch two more ornaments for family Christmas presents.

A Finish

I can't believe January is almost over. At least I have something to show for it.

This is the Folk Art Topiary ornament by Brown House Studio from the 2004 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue. I didn't have the Crescent Colors called for so I substituted what was in my stash.

(Crescent)
(Black Coffee) GAST Dark Chocolate
(Timber) WDW Molasses
(Spinach) WDW Holly
(Poblano Pepper) GAST Evergreen
(Cherry Tomato) GAST Cranberry
(Sunset) WDW Hibiscus
(Shrimp Cocktail)GAST Old Brick
(Goldfish) GAST Old Red Paint

It Was a Wicked Hahd Slapshawt

It's not just Blogger's "Planned Maintenance" that has kept me away lo these few days. I haven't been stitching much. On Tuesday night, I had to talk to my daddy. He's just had surgery to remove a little skin cancer from behind his ear. Mom's away, so he needed some company. Conversations with my dad when he needs company are crazy. They take a lot of concentration. If he had been born 50 years sooner, he would have invented stream of consciousness. Maybe…Granny Stitchbitch was born at the right time, writes the funniest stream of consciousness letters, and she didn’t manage to invent it. So much for fame.

Last night, Sissy gave the Dude and I "free" tickets to the Flyer's game. Of course with $10 for parking and $17 for dinner (we split a sandwich and fries) and $3 for cotton candy (I can't help myself), it wasn't that free. But we did save $170 on tickets.

Either hockey's gotten faster, or I've gotten slower.
When I was a kid, my daddy used to take Sissy and I on the Elks bus to go see the Bruins. Loving hockey was easy when you were watching Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito. I haven't really watched hockey since they started wearing helmets I went off to college and people stopped taking me places on buses. I missed the first two goals (in the first five minutes) because I couldn't follow the puck. When the Flyers had scored so fast, I was thinking, "these are not les Habitants that gave my Bruins so many problems." Then one of the Canadiens scored a hat trick (he went on to score 4, increasing his season's total by 50%). By the fifth goal, much of what I once knew had returned. And we were out of the parking lot and home within 30 minutes, making this the perfect activity for a school night. I hope Sissy gets more tickets.

Since I’m telling hockey stories
One time, this must have been a birthday treat or something, I got to go to Bawston Gahden with just my dad. After the game—where Wayne Cashman got stepped on and had to have a lot of stitches—daddy took me to Polcari’s, at that time a fancy Italian restaurant where the players went. I ordered my usual I’m-a-kid-in-a-fancy-restaurant meal—Maine lobster (Sissy’s was escargot and filet mignon, I kid you not)—and Cashman asked my father if I was going to eat it all. Anyway, since he struck up the conversation, my dad told me I could ask for his autograph. He signed my program then told some teammates at another table to sign, including Terry O’Reilly. I can’t remember everyone who signed it. I think that must be in my parents’ attic with the Zoom book. What a treasure trove that place is.

Tonight, it’s back to stitching. No more longwinded and irrelevant stories. Maybe I can show you what Souvenir looks like.

How to redesign a storebought sweater?

Trinny and Susannah say I shouldn't wear turtlenecks. And I believe them. I like my neck a lot better when there's a plunging neckline below it.

Of course, I have two fantastic cashmere turtlenecks. How can I change their shape? Can one sew a knit item? Neither are handknit, both are ultrafine gauge. I don't even want to own needles small enough to "reknit" the sweater necks. If I just cut off--and serge, or something to prevent ravelling--the necks, the sweater will look like it's had its turtle cut off, if you see my point. One is a delightful, thick, aran-like sweater. I need need need to keep this because it's so soft and cuddly. I just wish it didn't make my chins look like they were breeding. To say nothing of the too-large breasts that run into my too-short waist.

I don't want to donate these to a cause. I want to wear them and look smashing. Help!

Meme of Four

Four Jobs You’ve Had:
Copywriter, Columbia University Press (wrote book jackets)
telephone interviewer, that’s why I always answer surveys
Assistant Lecturer, university
ESL teacher, Tczew, Poland

Four movies you would watch over and over:
Some Like It Hot
A&E’s Pride and Prejudice
Princess Bride
Philadelphia Story

Four places you have lived:
Amherst, New Hampshire
New York, New York
Los Angeles, California
Havertown, Pennsylvania

Four TV shows you love to watch:
House
Sunday NFL Countdown
CSI
New Detectives

Four places you have been on vacation:
Oranjestaad, Aruba
Juneau, Alaska
Paris, France
Edinburgh, Scotland for Hogmanay

Four websites you visit daily:
Gmail
Blogger
Yahoo
Dictionary.com, but only because I don't have access to the OED anymore

Four of your favorite foods:
Maine lobster, especially the tomalley
eggplant
Mapo Tofu from Chun King in Monterey Park, California
sour balls

Four places you would rather be right now:
at home
Megan’s Bay, Saint Thomas, USVI
On a small cruise ship with the dude
Sitting on a pile of money

Four bloggers you are tagging:
you
you
you
you

I Defend to the Death Your Right to Say It

It appears people aren't familiar with Fox's attempt to copyright the phrase "Fair and Balanced." A sewing company is trying to defend their copyright of the phrase "Stitch and Bitch."

Here's what Debbie Stoller's lawyers told her she could say about it.

But lots of Stitch n' Bitch-ers are riled up. They've started a defense fund.

You Say You Want a Revolution: Hip Upgrade

In her comments on yesterday's entry, Michele called for the revolution, the cross-stitch revolution.

It's beginning in Japan, maybe. Embroidery Gets a Hip Upgrade. Okay, I've been sitting on that story for a while. I think I neglected it because I get really pissed when young people think they've invented the wheel. And can someone please tell the journalists that stitchers are not all really, really old? Someday I might collect all the references to the aged stitcher. They're everywhere, even in articles that have nothing to do with needlework.

Here's the revolution part, in case you're not inclined to navigate away:

Embroidery has become so popular that stores are stocking up on needlecraft-related goods. Mano Creare's Kohoku Tokyu store, a handicraft shop in Yokohama, has increased its stock of embroidery products by 50 percent. The store now offers a variety of kits containing designs, implements and materials needed for cross-stitch and other forms of needlecraft.

It sounds like things are going well in Japan. Of course 50% of nothing is still nothing.

And then you read this: "Designs include a simple straight line stitched along an apron string." Where do I begin? I've already had a little rant about aprons. But really, you have to design that? Sheesh, here I was picturing the craftista revolution.

This April, Nippon Vogue started publishing Stitch Idees, a magazine dedicated to stitching. The first edition, for spring and summer, was a huge hit, selling 80,000 copies. The fall and winter edition, released in October, is also selling well.

The interesting point about the magazine is that instead of focusing on how to stitch, it proposes a whole lifestyle. Rather than showing elaborate creations by stitching experts, it introduces works by illustrators and children's book writers.

A whole stitching lifestyle. Now, what would that look like? And why can't I get this magazine here?

Cross-stitch: Here or Gone?

"I believe that scrapbooking is not going to die out like, let's say, cross-stitch, because everybody continues to take photos," she said. "The industry's going to change and evolve along with technology. Scrapbooking will always be around."

Because Scrapbooking Never Fell out of Favor
Don’t you just love when the ill-informed get a forum? Scrapbooking was hugely popular in the Victorian period, but then all but died out between, oh, 1910 and 1990. Sure, some girls glued a few scraps in books when they were teens. They didn’t go overboard, like so many contemporary scrappers do. But history teaches those of us who bothered to learn any that all things cycle in and out of favor. Those scrapping retreat people are getting a little big for their britches.

You keep putting too much shit on your scrap pages and you’re going the way of Silk Ribbon Embroidery, baby.

What is with the reports of the demise of cross-stitch? The editorial in the recent Piecework got all worked up about teaching younger generations:

Regardless of its rich past, it's clear that needlework will have no future if younger generations aren't or don't become interested in learning the techniques. You may have learned your own needlework skills from your mother or a grandmother or aunt, but this practice of passing on skills to the next generation has become less and less common in recent years. Of course, many of you are tirelessly teaching others what you know, as well as stitching, knitting, quilting, and crocheting for your children and your grandchildren.

Knit? How did that get included? Are they not aware that this is a Stitch n' Bitch Nation? There are more SnBs in Los Angeles than a girl can get to in a week, and the inhabitants can't even wear knitted things. Knitting stores are popping up all over the place. And the magazines! Okay, most of the magazines are crap, but there are lots of them.

Why do we think learning from your grandmother/mother is the only option? Granny Stitchbitch can mix a martini but she can't cook, sew, knit, quilt, crochet, bake, or any of those other things you are "supposed" to learn from a grandmother. I think the Editors are looking in the usual places and not finding signs of life in the craft industry. But if you look at places like craftster and get crafty loads of young people are into making things with their hands. They're just not beholden to industry experts and industry generated patterns. They're do it yourself-ers. After all, it's not brain surgery; most of these things, you can teach yourself.

I think the Editors can untwist their panties. Craftiness is here to stay, boozy grandmas notwithstanding.

To Budgie or Not To Budgie

A three-year-old budgie has been named Young Cross-Stitcher of the Year.

Spike picked up the Cross-Stitcher magazine award after picking up the habit from owner Sandra Battye.
Sandra, 31, of Stevenage, Herts, who nursed Spike back to health after a food allergy almost killed her, said: "She would sit on my shoulder and watch me for hours.
"One day I just sat and didn't stitch. It seemed to frustrate her. Then suddenly she picked up the needle in her beak and began cross-stitching herself. I was staggered. Now I can't stop her."

Okay, try as I might, I cannot understand how a bird cross-stitches. She can probably pull the needle through, but interpreting a pattern? Choosing colors? How does the bird get at the back of the fabric? At first I thought it was a joke news article, but here’s the story on the website of the magazine that made the award.

How about if a cross stitcher of the year is a human? Don't we have enough to do to defend our hobby? Now we have to fight the stereotype of being bird-brained? I still think it can’t be true. I want to see live video footage. I think Sandra Battye's life is even sadder than mine.

I feel bad for all the human children who thought they might win "Young Cross Stitcher of the Year."

Mack Attack

I have completed the main stitching on Miss Mary Mack. I had to do the head and hair in full cross stitches. When you are making a circle (like the face), half stitches just don't work. Now I have to order the tin pin. I know the design will fit across, but I might need some more stitching to get it to fit properly vertically. I was thinking of using either some stitches from the border or putting some silver buttons on it. Teeny-tiny silver buttons. But first I need the tin pin.

I've started stitching on the subway. I have now stitched on every main mode of transportation (plane, train, automobile, bus, and subway). I had been reading Laura Thatcher Ulrich's book The Age of Homespun on my commute (full report when I finish), but I was getting nauseated, which is no way to begin your day. Yesterday, I decided to bring along an ornament to work on. It's not easy to stitch on the bus and subway; there's a lack of space, and trying to keep purses and bags on your lap while you move your arms is no picnic. I'm working on Brown House Studio's Folk Art Topiary from the Just Cross Stitch 2004. It's one of the many ornaments I plan to make for family Christmas presents.

On the subway, a guy was surprised to see me stitching. He marvelled at my ability while the train was "rocking so much." Honestly, the subway doesn't rock as much as commuter rail does (it's warmer underground). I told him that I stitched while driving across country. "You weren't driving?" he jokingly asked. People are so witty.

Nighttime stitching is back to the Souvenir Sampler. My deadline is March 31.

An Invitation

I've been thinking of this for a while now. Whenever I talk about the Strawberry Sampler being my LNS or when I announced my recent move to Havertown, I get a few people who comment and tell me they live nearby (or right around the corner from my favorite Home Goods store). I think we should get together in real life.

I'd offer my home, but since the dude, sissy, and I have to fight over who gets to sit in the two upholstered chairs (the loser gets the ottoman), I just can't host many people. I was thinking we could get together at the Starbucks near me. It's the one on West Chester Pike at Eagle. There's a big room with comfy chairs out of eyeshot of the barristas.

Comment here or e-mail me, and we can make a plan!

Miss Mary Mack

Miss Mary Mack by La-D-Da stitched on Lakeside Linen "Vintage Nutmeg," 40 ct, with one strand of Kreinik Silk Mori in black. I am doing this as a stitchalong with Chelle and others.

I've never worked on a project and been so aware that the image I was stitching was evoking all sorts of specific thoughts. While I was stitching Miss Mary Mack --having restarted it, since you cannot do this over one with silk mori and stitch a full cross--I thought of so many things. The most obvious is the hand-clapping rhyme itself, Miss Mary Mack Mack Mack/All dressed in black black black. I thought of the girls I used to do those hand-clapping games with: Ashley, and Sue, and Pam, and well, Jessica was too cool to do them, but her too.

Then I remembered this thing on Zoom, "Soandso loves jam but hates jelly." It could have been Miss Mary Mack, but I don't think that's quite right. Children of the 70s? Chime in! It was in the Zoom book that I had, which is probably still in my parents' attic. Anyway, the "joke" was that the person hated one thing but loved something very similar. I can only remember the jam/jelly example. But you can't think of Zoom without remembering Bernadette. "I'm Bernadette!" Cue music, butterfly arms, butterfly arms. Remember that thing she used to do? She was so cool for someone named Bernadette.

Then I was thinking how much I hated it when people used to say "merry-mack" or "mary-mack" for the town I grew up in, Merrimack. The "i" is short, people, like in sick. I was so young to be so annoyed with people all the time (we moved out of Merrimack when I was 10). I know there are other Merrimac(k)s that are pronounced more like "merry" than "meri," but it irked me.

I kept thinking, too, how dense the silk was. I don't mean the actual number of stitches, more the color. It's a matte black and it seems like you can see the light being sucked out of the atmosphere and into that black. And for some reason, that reminded me of Victorian mourning. I think it's the long dress and unfashionable shoes she's wearing. It seems a little Victorian. All that black too.

Which reminded me of a Joyce Carol Oates novel I read. There was a character who was tall and old and dressed rather unfashionably and all in black, if I'm remembering right. I think it's Mysteries of Winterthurn. I can't remember precisely, but there may have been the suggestion that she murdered her child. That part may be confused. I'm not sure I finished the book.

And how could I not think of the Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey. "O is for Olive run through by an awl." That's the only one I can remember. But they're all so sick.

Then I started thinking about the hair. It's very Medusa-like. But then I confused Medea, the mother who fed her children to her husband, with Medusa, the gorgon. And I can't think of women killing their children without reminiscing about my dissertation.

And then it was time to go to bed.

Bright!

Here's a pic of the (too?) bright Souvenir Sampler for my parents' fortieth wedding anniversary in April.

I chose the birds (option 1) because one year my dad gave my mother a charm of geese in flight. My parents think geese mate for life, well, at the time, scientists did too. He is the most romantic cynic I know.

Boing!

When I was studying the teaching of writing (really), I had to review this book--for the life of me I cannot remember the name of it--where writing pedadogy theorists and rhetoricians wrote about their own experiences as writing students. I often shared some of the essays with my students because they truly believed people were born writers. And those rhetoricians were not only thinkers, they were born great writers. Except they weren't. Isn't it funny how wrong 18 years olds can be?

One of the essays that I shared later in the semester was about style. This young rhetorician-to-be was assigned to write an essay about a painting. She dutifully went to the museum and took notes. And then she wrote her paper. Starting in the upper left hand corner of the painting, she described it in meticulous detail. Her teacher gave her a scribbled grade (which was later revealed to be an "F") with the comment "Boing!" Except, of course, the comment didn't say "Boing," it read "Boring!" Which, of course, a meticulous description of each bit of something is, unless it is tied to a greater theme or purpose. The lessons for the student were twofold: yes, they could learn to write and they should try not to be meticulous, they should strive to have a higher purpose in their writing.

I am continually reminded of that essay when I read the articles in Piecework. No one will ever fault their writers for being detail-driven. The problem is we just get the details. And I'm often left wondering, "so what?"

Here's an example from the recent issue:

Most Irish-stitch pocketbooks were worked in wool or silk yarn on a linen evenweave fabric with a pattern of notched diamonds outlined in white or off-white and filled concentrically with different shades of red, green, blur, yellow, or purple, leaving a contrasting center. Some pocketbooks followed a strict pattern of color repeats, but most were more casual in their design, the only concern being to avoid having two adjacent diamonds of the same color. Linings ranged from silk, linen, and damask to worsted and durant or durance (similar to felted wool). Cardboard or leather stiffened some pocketbooks.

First, I am not picking on the writer. The editor should know better! This paragraph might be boring but essentail if the article of four scant pages wasn't illustrated with nine photos of Irish-stitch pocketbooks. Instead, it's just boring. It's just a list that does not promote the article's thesis "Irish-stitch pocketbooks were important in America from the mid 18th to the early 19th century." This example isn't nearly as mind-numbing as some. I once read an article where scads of fabric used to make quilts in India were described.

I do hope the magazine works to improve this as they have changed their direction, or refocused on their early roots. They will continue to offer projects, but they will "focus more on exploring and promoting historic hand needlework and the elements behind the tradition." Too much opportunity methinks for the "Boing!" I'll be watching.

In Earnest

The cover of the new Piecework magazine features an apron. Aprons are Hot. Oprah featured these aprons recently. Daily Candy features these aprons. Is it a new domesticity? A longing to return to the "simpler" June Cleaver lifestyle? (That bitch was so swallowing valium!) How far back will we go?

With any luck, we will not turn back the clocks so far as to revive the apron "style show." There is a report in Piecework on the "style shows" of Evelina Grimes. She had a collection of aprons that audience members would model while she read poetry or history. For example, she would read the poem from the Statue of Liberty ("Give me your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...") while someone modeled her New York apron. She had aprons for all 50 states, several foreign countries, all stages of the lifecycle, and even one for Father's Day for dear old Dad. As I understand it, this was supposed to be some sort of entertainment. While you may think that these shows flourished in, say, the nineteenth century, people--I'm guessing women--attended these shows as late as 1988.

The only thing I can really compare them to are Charles Phoenix's slide shows--a sort of live cultural anthropology show. Only he's loving the kitsch factor. Grimes was earnest. And that is even more difficult for me to understand. (Even when I was a kid and I used to go tap-dance in the old folks homes (really) I used to think, "this is entertainment?") Her collection of handmade aprons now resides at the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Iowa. May they rest in peace.

Wherein They Convince Me

I showed the Souvenir Sampler with the too-dated colors to Sissy and the Dude. They liked it. They convinced me that my mother wouldn't like the heritage colors and I have chosen the precisely right, bright, colors. So I am sticking with it. I've done pretty well too. Pictures soon.

Today, I received La D Da's Miss Mary Mack pattern from Wyndham Needleworks with their recommended fabric, Lakeside Linens Vintage Nutmeg. This weekend, I saw that Wyndham had a sale and I saw a couple of patterns I would have liked to add to the stash. But my weekend internet access is well, stolen, and so, not secure enough for placing orders. And this morning the patterns I wanted were gone. Boo hoo. I should just go shopping in my stash.

I was supposed to do some finishing this weekend with Friends Gather, but I was still coughing and that, combined with the codeine, was giving me a wicked headache. Next weekend, the dude is playing in a chess tournament, so I'll have some quiet alone time wherein I can attack some of the projects on my to do list.

Not Sure I Like It

When I went to get the threads for the Souvenir Sampler at Fireside Stitchery, I had to make substitutions. They don't carry the suggested Needlepoint Silks. So I got Caron silks instead. Because I only had the NS numbers and vague descriptions, "mauve, light brown," and because I was there after their official closing time, I just grabbed what seemed right. I think the colors all work with the fabric and each other, but I'm not feeling it. They seem too bright and too early 90s--remember when every pattern called for 221, 502, and 931? The colors in the photo--and we know we can't rely on pictures--are more subdued and more "heritage" feeling, if I may borrow the scrappy term. The colors I'm using don't seem like my mom's kind of thing. To be honest, neither do the colors that are called for.

I've only done the very top row. I could start again. If I did, I could:
* use the DMC colors that I have

* get different silks from a local store

* order the Needlepoint silks online

Obviously, these solutions have different timelines associated with them. I could go upstairs and get the DMC right now. I could get local silks this weekend.

How does one solve this sort of dilemma?

SBQ: Let's Talk about S.E.X., Baby

Before I get to this week's SBQ, I have a short moral tale. If you have a weak stomach, skip reading the blog today. Forewarned.

I started the Souvenir Sampler for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. I was having a hard time thinking of a good souvenir to put on it. I didn't carry a baby blanket like my sister did. I ended up putting in an unintentional "souvenir." I'm sick. I have the worst cough. (Doctor confirmation today, I have bronchitis.) And last night, I coughed so hard I threw up. So gross. I caught most of it, but some landed on the sampler. So disheartening. It washed out. Come to think of it, I was the "one" with the weak stomach when I was young...and still. So this might be appropriate after all. If my sister tells them, and I hope she won't.

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Do you do your stash shopping at your LNS, ONS, or both? Which do you like better? Why? I like shopping at bricks and mortars because you can get a better sense of colors and textures. I have purposely not said my "LNS" because I am not completely enamored of it (yet, I hope). My LNS is Strawberry Sampler in Chadds Ford. It's not that local. It's recently moved to a smaller space and when I was there Saturday, feeling incredibly woozy because of this cold, it seemed so claustrophobic. It's about 30% of the size of the former store. It does have air conditioning now.

Some of the bricks and mortars that I have visited that make me long for a nicer store are Silver Needle (Tulsa, OK), Yankee Cross Stitch (Hampton, NH), Elegant Stitch (Modesto, CA), Stitching Post (Baltimore, MD), and Needlepoints, Ltd. (Garden Grove, CA). Many people will be familiar with Elegant Stitch and Silver Needle as the are pretty widely used ONS. To me, though, they're more real than that. And I shop at Silver Needle one long weekend a year.

I try to support my LNS as much as possible, but I do get things online that I can't get in the store. I hate it when they tell you they'll order something for you, and then it takes a hundred years. (Not this LNS, the Los Angeles [now defunct] LNS.) (I know about the limitations some stores have with order sizes, but still, tell me up front.) So I just go online to get an instant fix. Even then, some fixes aren't instant enough.

Yeah, I want it now!

First Finish

Behold! My first finish of 2006. It's Homespun Elegance Wee Fancies Sheep. It's done almost entirely in colonial knots. Add another to the finishing pile. It did come with a small jewelry frame (so you can wear it as a necklace) but no directions.

This weekend, I will join with others on Friends Gather to do some finishing. The goal is to finish ornaments or other smalls. I have randomly chosen four to finish: the snowman ornament, Molly Dog, Grandfather Frost, and Polar Santa. I do hope to show some lovely finishes on Monday.

Other goals for January:

• finish Sissty's laptop bag
• begin Souvenir Sampler
• stitch two ornaments for family Christmas presents
• Mary Mack tin pin SAL

Fine Finishing

These are the pieces that I need to finish:
Angel Stitchin': tree ornament
Bent Creek: Woolly, Flower Arch Angel, Acorn
Birds of a Feather: Moon Garden
CA Wells: Ornament
Dimples Design: Free Bee
Ewe and Eye and Friends: Plum Pudding, purple heart (name?)
Heart's Content: JCS Ornament "Hark," Plum Pudding--1997 Annual Ornament, Noel--1996 Annual Ornament, Williamsburg Doorway--1998 Annual Ornament,
Heart in Hand: JCS Ornament, 1997; Monthly Mania, January and August; 2002 Christmas Keepsake; Wool Whimsy Angelica
Heart Strings: One of the Jolly Company Santas; three ornaments from a JCS RR
Jane Greenoff: Trout kit
Krienik: Enough is as a Feast
La-D-Da: A-Z and In Between
Little by Little: Little Gift ornament
Lizzie*Kate: JCS Ornament (year?); Ho Ho Ho
Mary Garry: Freebie Needlebook
Mill Hill: Renaissance Angels, Star Garland Angel; Polar Santa
Mosey and Me: Spring Surprise, Molly Dog ornament
Moss Creek: JCS Ornament (year?)
Prairie Schooler: Two by Two Ornaments: babboons, flamingos, and penguins
Samsarah Designs: JCS Ornament (year?)
Sew Much More: Sewing Pouch
Silver Needle Secret Needle Night: September, October, and November (year?)
Sweetheart Tree: Treasured Trio I heart ornament
Theron Traditions: Diminutive Sewing Case
Twisted Threads: Sunflower Needlebook; Pins and Needles needlebook, scissor rest, and scissor fob; Trio of Hearts
Yarn Tree: Grandfather Frost
Miscellaneous/designers unknown: 12 days of Christmas ornaments (6); a pillow top stitched in 1998 by a student; snowman ornament

FIFTY EIGHT! Fifty eight unfinished stitched pieces. [blushes] There are six that I want finished professionally. That leaves fifty two that I can do myself. At a rate of four per month, I should almost finish by the end of the year. In addition to the goals posted yesterday, this is what I want to achieve in 2006. Remind me.

Let's Get it Started!

At the beginning of 2006, my unfinished projects include:
Moss Creek, Elizabethan Rose
Shepherd's Bush, Toy Gatherer
Hardanger Napkin Rings
Drawn Thread, Souvenir Sampler
Drawn Thread, Alpine Garden
Nutmeg Needle, Treasured Tulips
Dimples Designs, St. Basil's Cathedral
Watercolor Geraniums
Majestic Rooster
Dolly Mama's by Joey freebie
MLI's, Enchanted Alphabet
Good Huswife, Anna's Bird

Here's the stitching schedule:
January--Souvenir Sampler
February--Elizabethan Rose
March--Hardanger Napkin Rings
April--Enchanted Alphabet
May--Toy Gatherer
June--Anna's Bird
July--Watercolor Geraniums
August--Alpine Garden
From here, I'll focus on Christmas stitching.

My plan will be to work mainly on these pieces during the assigned month. At the end of the year, I should be down to only 4 ufos. Wow. Four.

Right there's your new year's resolution.

I will also be participating in the Miss Merry Mack SAL. I worry I won't be able to start on time because my stuff's backordered.

And I have a huge list of projects that need finishing. Maybe I'll talk about that tomorrow.

Happy New Year!