Weekend Report

The weekend has just flown by and I can not believe that it is Monday already. Saturday I attended my semi regular beading class, these classes are always great fun even though I don't always get much beading done. This week however I managed to finish a bracelet which I started sometime last year. The bracelet is called Frills Bracelet and was made from a kit by The Bead Merchant. The bracelet is my 9th finish towards my 50 Projects Challenge. After I have completed some obligation stitching I am going to try and complete a few projects that are quick finishes since I would like to make it to the halfway point on the challenge sometime this year. My next finish should be a small sampler that only needs about two dozen beads adding and then it is done. I am really not sure why I put it away with so little left to do but there must have been a good reason.

Saturday night I had dinner with friends, I had a great evening sitting on my friends sofa eating too much food and even had the chance to make a start on my next scarf, this one is for me and I think I need to get it finished quickly since the forecast is for snow by the middle of this week.
Sunday my parents came around for lunch and to help with a few jobs in the garden. There was a lot of tiding up to do after all the storms of last week and my poor eucalyptus tree has almost fallen over so needed staking up, fingers crossed it will be ok. After a morning labouring in the garden followed by a large lunch the rest of the day was spent sitting on the sofa watching the football and stitching. I am making good progress on my yellow-eyed penguin and hope to have it completed by the end of this month. However for the rest of this week I am going to concentrate on stitching on a couple of Round Robins that I am participating in.

Packing

I spent most of the weekend round at my parents house helping them pack up since they are moving house at the begining of next week. Since house they are leaving is the one I grow up in I also had to sort through several cupboards of stuff that I had at one point decided I must save. It seemed strange leaving the house since it was probally the last time I will ever see it. Not only are they moving out of the house but they are also leaving the area were I did all my growing up.

Guilt Free January

I do not normally indulge in guilt free new starts during January since for me this only leads to guilt later on in the year over the number of WIPs that I have. But this year I have decided on a slightly different approach which allows me to indulge in my need to start new things but also try and avoid a mountain of WIPs. Having come up with a list of projects that I would like to finish in 2007 I have decided to allow myself to start some of the projects on that list. But only on the condition that after the end of January I make a real effort to complete within the year anything started this January. Also this year I have decided to dispense with monthly goals and instead just enjoy myself & focus on trying to make significant progress towards completing 50 projects.

So far I have made a start on three projects:

Yellow Eyed Penguin by The Strand since it is a printed canvas it is a little hard to tell which bits have been stitched but I have made a start on the penguins head
Mackintosh Coaster 1b by Derwentwater Designs (fingers crossed I may even finish this one by the end of January) and
Rose Bouquet by Derwentwater Designs. Currently I am enjoying stitching on these three pieces and also have an RR piece that I need to stitch a little more on before the mailing date of 15th Jan so may just continue to stitch on these four pieces till the end of the month after which I plan to turn into a one-at-a-time stitcher in am attempt to get some projects finished.

2007 Goals

Having failed miserably to reach my goal for 2006 of ending the year with less than 50 cross-stitching projects in my stash I have decided to just set two goals for 2007:

• Enjoy my knitting, stiching and beading.
• Stick to my 50 Project Challenge (which also means buying no stash in 2007 unless I reach the halfway point on my challenge when I am allowed a small reward)

I would like to reach at least the halfway stage on my 50 Project Challenge by the end of 2007, which means I need to finish 19 projects. I have come up with a tentative list of projects that I wish to finish in 2007, this is of course subject to change since although I love creating lists I find it hard to stick to them.

WISH LIST OF FINISHES FOR 2007

1. Frills Braclet by The Bead Merchant (beading)
2. Angel of Spring by Lavender & Lace (cross-stitching)
3. Kate's GTG Sampler (cross-stitching)
4. Turkish Knot Tassel by Spellbound Beads (beading)
5. Forget Me Not In Stitches - Take A Lovely Sampler Book of Needles (cross-stitching)
6. Sweet Pea Fairy by DMC (cross-stitching)
7. Auroa Stars by Spellbound Beads (beading)
8. Fuzzy Scarf (knitting)
9. Rega Scarf (knitting)
10. Tempest by Teresa Wentzler (cross-stitching)
11. Bakewell Tart Sampler (cross-stitching)
12. Rose Bouquet by Derwentwater Designs (cross-stitching)
13. Futurecast by Teresa Wentzler (cross-stitching)
14. Pearl Lozenge Necklace (beading)
15. Yellow Eyed Penguin by The Strand (needlepoint)
16. Dunedin by The Little Kit Company (cross-stitching)
17. Fuchsia Earings by Spellbound Beads (beading)
18. Fuchsia Tassel Necklace by Spellbound Beads (beading)
19. Mackinstoch Coaster 1b by Derwentwater Designs (cross-stitching)

WIPs as of 31 December 2006 are shown in purple.

In coming up with list I have tried to be realistic in what is acheivable within 12 months and also to allow for some variety to try and prevent me from becoming bored. I will no doubt decide that I do not want to work on any of the projects listed and will end up working on something totally different but I am not going to stress about that as the only important things are to keep crafting and to buy no new stash.