Beautiful Frosty Friends Exchange Received!

Look what I received from Hazel in the U.K.! Isn't it gorgeous?

Hazel stitched "Winter Pocket" from Beardie Designs -and she did a fantastic job! I made a similar one with an Autumn theme a few years ago and it was a lot of work so I know how much time Hazel put into it. Her stitching and finishing are just great. I love it and have it displayed in my sewing room. She also sent me a cute snowman pattern from Just Nan from my wishlist - "Snow Faces" , a freebie chart I don't have, and beautiful "frosty" accessories - pearl pins, and frosty colored felt and floss. I want to make the Just Nan pattern into a pinkeep for myself. :) Thank you so much Hazel! Also, Hazel just became a mom for the second time about a week ago and to think she was stitching this exchange and getting it mailed about a week before her delivery is something special. I am humbled! Congratulations Hazel!! Here are some closeups of the Winter Pocket.

Below is what I stitched for Vonna - it's by Heart in Hand and the pattern is titled "Winter Fobs". Instead of making this piece into a needleroll, I made it into a doorknocker. Vonna says she likes so I'm glad as I had fun making it for her!

A new year and new plans!

Happy 2008 everyone! It’s good to be back. Had a very busy break in December with the holidays, my father-in-law’s 80th birthday party, and guests staying with us from Chicago. I had no time for stitching except doing my Frosty Friends exchange piece which went out in the mail today. I will share pictures as soon as the recipient gets it.

I was disappointed that I didn’t get my Prairie Schooler wreath ornaments done for Christmas. I got 4 stitched but not the 8 I had planned, and only 2 were actually finished into ornaments. I got a wreath on sale and plan to complete that little project this year so hopefully next year they’ll be hanging up instead of sleeping in a Ziploc bag!

I am just now getting “organized” for the new year and taking a look at what I want to accomplish. I inventoried my UFO’s and combined my quilting and stitching into one list. It’s scary. I’m sure I have a few other small things lying about like unfinished quilt blocks but those are minor and not of real concern to me. I posted my UFO list in my sidebar and tried to arrange it approximately in date order – oldest UFO’s at the top. I had to guess at most of it as I really don’t know how old most of them are but I do know which ones are REALLY old and which ones are more recent. There’s no way I’ll get through this whole list during the year, especially the sampler BAP’s, but I should be able to make a dent in the list at least. Most of the quilts are completed tops that need to be quilted and finished up. The trouble is several of the quilts need to be farmed out to longarm quilters to be quilted and that always costs money. A couple of the appliqué quilts I had wanted to hand-quilt myself and that really takes time. However, this is a starting point at least to keep track of things. Any progress is good progress in my world!

Then I thought about making another list of all the projects I’d like to start, but I decided that would be just way too much to contemplate. I did start a quilting wish list several years ago and there were around 55 quilting projects on it so you can imagine what it would be by now and then including most of my stitching stash as well. It might give me a heart attack just looking at the whole list of things I need to do! I haven’t decided how I will manage UFO’s and new projects but I do want to try to complete a few UFO’s and then alternate with some new starts. You’ve got to allow yourself to start some new things now and then to keep the momentum going – otherwise you don’t enjoy being held hostage to your UFO’s. Sometimes I feel like my UFO’s are like the chain that the old ghost of Marley had to carry in A Christmas Carol –

“I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link and yard by yard.”

I need to start breaking those links off to lighten up the chain!