Time for a recap

First and foremost, I count my blessings. Retirement is good; life is good.   Secondly,  it amazes me how fast the time flies.  Equally amazing is  all that has been accomplished/happened in one year’s time.  This time last year I had no idea my grand babies would be living so close to me and I would be seeing them at least once a week.  

I’ve been keeping up on others blogs until I get frustrated when Blogger won’t post my comments.   Some thing’s don’t change over the course of a year.

I am slow to catch on but have finally realized it is pointless to make any project specific stitching plans for the coming year.   I’m just going to do me!  I have committed to two Stitch-a-longs in 2022 that I am looking forward to.   First the i-Stitch Denim Band Sampler.   I have stitched other patterns from Carol R. but this is first of her band samplers.  I just hope my floss arrives in time.   I also have signed up for a sampler SAL with my guild starting in February.    As long as I can see progress with my projects I will be happy.

I spent an afternoon this week updating my entries in the X-Stitch ap.  I did this while I was flipping through my stash and making an honest effort to cull my patterns.  I may still like a particular pattern but I honestly don’t see myself ever stitching it so into the eBay pile it went.  I further categorized my projects as “Started”, “Kitted”, “Finished”, etc. in the Journal section of the X-Stitch ap.  Boy oh boy, I didn’t realize I have so many fully kitted projects.   Other than my SAL’s, I’m going to stitch what speaks to me at the time.   Hopefully I won’t end up with even more UFO’s at the end of 2022.

I am not making any far-fetched promise to NOT buy new patterns in 2022.  Considering I have three different weekends in OCMD in the first three months of 2022  already on my calendar, I’d be silly to think something won’t come home with me.  

UPDATED - At last count, I did manage to complete 29 projects in 2021, eight of which were on my UFO list.  Win/Win.  Here are my most recent completions, from Hands on Design, The Cookie Exchange SAL.   Cathy Habermann just has a great way with color.

Terri Bey Lotus Box, an EGA project.   This was a WIP.  It is far easier to stitch and finish than one would expect.

Lastly this quick New Year’s Eve stitch and finish that was part of my Advent Exchange.

In the last month, I made progress on Christmas Rules.  Originally I thought I would finish by this Christmas but…..    I’m working on the word “stockings” now and once completed, I will be half-way.

Progress was made on this class piece, Winter Wonderland,  from a retreat  a couple of years ago in Cape May with The Primitive Hare.   Sorry it is sideways.   I’ll jump on my laptop later and correct it. 

I am happy to report my son and his family are settling on a house after the first of the year.  Their move will put them 15 minutes farther away but it will still be better than a 4 hour drive.    One small hiccup is that each day they send me five or six houses in their new neighborhood that they think we should buy.   William wants me to buy the house next door and wants pop-pop to install a sliding board from the roof of one house to the other or maybe pop-pop can dig a tunnel underground between houses so we can visit each other without going out in the bad weather.   What an imagination.     For me on the moving front, I think it is inevitable but I am just not ready to tackle as yet.    Everything in my house is the way I want it and I really don’t feel like doing all that again.    I can tell you though that ride up I95 and the good old Blue Route a couple of times a week is getting old.   It is a good thing I like audio books.  That brings another thing I have accomplished this past year….

I have read or listened to over 50 books this year!   I set my goal at 24 and wahoo, I passed it by a bit.   Not only do I listen to books while I drive, but those ear pods go in when I am working in the garden too.  I think my favorite book this year was The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah followed closely by Firefly Lane also by Kristin Hannah. I also enjoyed Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewel; The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave; The Guest List by Lucy Foley; Northern Spy by Flynn Berry; The Rose Code by Kate Quinn;  Truths I Never Told You by Kelly Rimmer; My Sister’s Lies  S. D. Robertson…….and I could go on. 

I have only one home improvement project I want to  accomplish in 2022.  I REALLY do want to FINALLY finish that wallpaper removal on the stairway. (Can you hear me laughing at myself?) All is done in the upstairs hall and what remains in the angled walls of the stairway.   I know I can get it done if I just commit  a week to ten days to it.  Unfortunately there is always something else I would prefer to do than climb the ladder armed with solvent and a scrapper not to mention the mess of the itty-bitty paper pieces everywhere. 

I plan to start the new year with a new start on New Year’s Day,  just not sure which project it will be.     I should be good and finish a close-to-finished and start that list of finishes in 2022.

I wonder what changes the new year will bring.  Hope they are good ones for both you and I.  The future is unknown and I am not going to waste my imagination of what may never happen.   I’ve spent my lifetime planning to the last possible detail and ‘what if’.  I want to live in the moment! I am hoping we can all put Covid in our rear view mirror once and for all.   Who would have predicted this time last year we would still be dealing with it?  Wishing you all a joyous, happy and healthy New Year.   Thanks for stopping by and keep on stitching.