I hope everyone had a lovely holiday yesterday! I lucked out and received a few stitching things to start me off in the new year. My mom always visits Washington DC and Virginia in the summer, and I suspect she found the two White House Historical Association needlework kits while she was there. One is a needlepoint bookmark. The design is inspired by some of the presidential china. I especially love the kit which is a replica of "The Red Room Carpet". This is a cross stitch kit that has the DMC floss and Aida fabric, though I think I will substitute a piece of my linen instead. The colors are lovely and will look nice in my living room. I also asked for the Mirabilia kit, "Miss Valentine". I have admired this series of limited edition kits for a while, so I think I am going to break down and stitch one (maybe all of them eventually). I hope later today to zigzag the edges of my fabric and put in the first stitches. I didn't get a single Christmas design stitched for myself and now I feel like moving on to something completely different. Since Valentine's Day is not terribly far off I think "Miss Valentine" will be the perfect choice!