The New Year is (well) under way…..

And my needle has had a slow burn.

It’s been a minute but I am trying to get back to my end-of-the-month posting schedule.  

On New Year’s Eve, I sat up my WIPGO projects for the year.  One basket stays by my stitching chair, the other is in my sewing room.   No need to have it glaring at me and making me overwhelmed.   

We weren’t much into the new year  and I changed my Blessings Sampler plans.   I realized on  Day 2, that I would not be able to finish Sally Spencer in a month.   This is exactly how my WIP’s number increases.   I changed to Jeannette Douglas’s Simple Gifts Spool.   While not a sampler, it is full of sampler motifs.   It’s a stretch but it will do.  

I did have some end of the year finishes and that opened up spaces on my WIPGO board.  Just the place to  add Sally Spencer for WIPGO 2025.  

For my finishes, first is Liz Mathew’s Friendship Sampler.   We did this as a Round Robin at a guild meeting. Passing our piece to fellow stitchers during the meeting for them to add a flower or motif.   Then this sat for two years.   I added some ‘background’  stitches to fill in the spaces and finished the border.  It is off the WIP list.    I think I will finish it as a mattress finish and add the initials of those who stitched on to the sides. 

Second finish, also a WIPGO,  was Bundled Up Birdie from Blue Ribbon Designs.   It was an EGA Christmas in July project.   The project came with the finishing supplies so it will be EZ PZ to complete.

Next,  not a WIPGO, was the Busy Bee Skep from Noteworthy Needle.  

Next week I head to Chattanooga for a week to visit a stitching friend.   We will go to Knoxville for a few days for a TVA EGA Retreat.  No shopping, no classes other than some make-it/take it classes, just stitching and friends.     I plan to work to fully finish the Busy Bee Skep that both Diane and I have stitched.   I also hope to be able to do the Home of the Brave peyote scissors fob from Fern Ridge.  And maybe I will even take along  an actual stitching project.   I am learning to carry less in the way of projects, accoutrements and clothes when I travel, especially when flying.  If you are like me, I take things I never touch or never unfold to wear.   All the “what if”s”.   Mr. W. always tells me they have stores where I am going if I need something.  WIPGO numbers have been called so that should end any debates on what I take to work on.

Since I had to wait to record the high temperature of  December 31st, this is literally my last finish for 2024 putting the last stitches on New Year’s Eve.  Temperature Tree from Stitching Mommy.   I have a plan of how to finish it but not until I get home from Tennessee.   I want to put my side by side with Diane’s to see the differences.   This put my total finished pieces for 2024 to 45.   That is a number that will never be repeated in the future.   Just further illustration of all the fiddly little starts I had never completed.

WIPGO numbers for the month were #11 and #20.  First up,  #11 - a Halloween ornament from Tiny Modernist.   I did the other three in the set several years ago and never stitched #4.   I didn’t quite get this finished but hope to stitch and be fully finished for next Halloween.   Second, this WIPGO actually called last January and I didn’t even touch it.  July, August and October from A Year of Celebration from Hands on Design needed to be completed.   I managed to get July and August stitched.  And October WILL BE done before October for sure

I am also trying to be more selective with what I buy.   Now that is good for a chuckle or two.   So scary when I look at my stats in the X-Stitch ap and see how many charts I have and how many are fully kitted.   Really no need to buy ANYTHING.    Yes, need and want are two totally different hobbies.  My plan is to start only new projects that I already have kitted and to buy only what I need to fill in the missing floss in kitted up charts I already have.  So how’s that working for me….. I went astray just an hour ago as I Venmo’d money to Hearts Strings Samplery for a EGA piece she is doing.   Hopes, dreams and then a smack with reality.  LOL.

Mid month I spent a long weekend in OCMD at Camp WannaStitch.   This is an EGA event that I have attended for many years.   Again, no classes, no vendor shopping, just stitching with old and new friends.  I was able to get a lot of stitching done on my Blessings Sampler.    So close and yet so far which is the result of not stitching for the last few days.  The pin marks the end of the pattern.   I sure am glad I did the border as I went along.   Hopefully I can make myself focus on this the next couple of days and mark it completed by the end of the month.

My plan had been to keep my traveling schedule lighter in 2025 and so far, that is not happening.   Somehow the calendar is filling up but it is all good.    So far a bunch of the extended weekend retreats and one bigger trip to Pigeon Forge in November are on the calendar.  Oh,  there is the week in the Outer Banks, a trip to Hobby House, and so on…..believe it or not I do say No! to some of the trips that come my way.   Vero Beach at the beginning of March.  

Last but not least, my word of the year.   Last year my word was monogamous.  My intention with last year’s word was to start a project and stick to it until completion and stop my flitting about.   For the most part, I am happy with how I adhered to it.   Some flitting about was done but I finished up a bunch of older projects just hanging out there in limbo and completed most of what I started.  This year, my word will be purge.   Not let’s not get crazy here and think I am purging craft supplies. I am not at all sure how “purge” would work on a pillow but then again, neither would monogamous.  lol.  But in all honesty, I do need to do a deep dive and pass on some charts and doo-dads I will NEVER use.  Here is my thought process on “purge”.   I thought about “simplify” and pondered on what I needed to simplify my life.  I kept circling back to the need to clean the attic and cupboards to get rid of things I no longer need or use.   I want to rid myself of things that are cluttering my world and they may not all be physical things.  Rid myself of stress and people that give me stress could fit in there somewhere.  So the cleaning starting with beach towels.  I had about 2 dozen beach towels from the days of having a swimming pool.  How many do I really need?   Two, maybe three, for the random beach day?   I did the same with bath towels.   22 all told.  I mean there are two of us!  I kept 12 and passed the rest to my son along with  the beach towels.  Another purge - every time I have a holiday dinner out comes all the ‘extra’ dishes from storage.   Some that never seem to be used.   Take for instance, a flan pan.   When was the last time I used it?   Did I ever use it?   Do I see me ever using in the future?   Off to my D-in-L.  Same with 3 colanders.   How many colanders does one kitchen need?   Off to Goodwill.  Outdated canned, spices and packaged goods, found and removed.   My kitchen shelves look like those in the movie Sleeping with the Enemy.   And how can I forget the pens and markers.   I mug on my desk full of pens and pencils, a mug on Mr. W’s desk,  a mug by my sewing machine, a mug on my cutting table, TWO mugs full in the kitchen!!  All the died up pens gone and all the pencils sharpened!  Hopefully I can report each month what I have been purging.   Better anchor down the house with tent pegs; it may be so light after a year of  purging it will want to float away.

As always, thanks for stopping by and keep on stitching.