I finished my first Christmas ornament and it is now in the mail. And I even mailed it on time! I am working on the second (and last exchange for me of the year) ornament, which needs to be mailed out no later than the 5th. As I chose a design which is fairly small, I decided to make a pair of ornaments. I should be able to finish stitching the second and possibly get the finishing done this weekend as well. If I am ahead of schedule I might possibly stitch up a third, but that may be cutting it too close!
I have also been working on getting a few Christmas packages ready to go for stitching friends (two are the last two in my birthday exchange--I wimped out with the stitching....I know I can't get something stitched in time at this point, and I am a bit wiped out by exchanges this year). During all my ordering I admit to ordering a few things for myself as well. One of them came yesterday. I want to stitch this Carriage House Samplings chart, "The Good Ships". I have been wanting to stitch something with ships in it, and this just might be the ticket. To be honest I am not exactly thrilled with the colors on this, but I ordered it from Criss Cross Row and the little blurb said that Marsha fell in love with the model when she saw it at Nashville. I took advantage of Elegant Stitch's recent floss and fabric sale and bought a cut of Lambswool, as well as Lakeside's Meadow Rue (which this chart calls for). I also bought NPI silks (as they are going up in price in January) for CHS's "The Mairmaid's Song", and both "Tavern Signs" charts. I am on a bit of a CHS kick at the moment. Now I need to decide whether to splurge on silks for "The Good Ships" or just stick with DMC. I am really looking forward to starting some of these designs for myself once my obligation stitching is out of the way! I also hope to update my blog more regularly (I think I have lost many of the people who used to come by daily)! I have just not had much to share since I have not been buying much and have been concentrating on stitching for exchanges! I will share as I get some of these things kitted up and started!
As we are into December now, I guess it is time to see how I did on the few goals I set:
Complete stitching and do the finishing for November birthday present!Done!Stitch and finish Christmas ornament for my SamplerRR group exchangeDone!Stitch and finish Christmas ornament for SBEBB exchangeNearly Done!Maybe put in a few stitches on last two birthdays that need to be mailed out in December!Just sending a bought gift for the last two--I seem to have fizzled out on this exchange!- Sew "Miss Kitty's Dragons" Didn't happen this month
- Possibly work on PS ornaments (didn't do too well on stitching one each month!) Need to think about what to do about these.
I think next year I am not going to set anymore goals. I will perhaps give a wrap up at the end of each month to see what I have accomplished. I do want to try and do the finishing for "Miss Kitty's Dragons" this month. I would also like to get in some Christmas stitching, and I did start Blackbird Designs "Quaker Garden" (when I have stitched a bit more, I will share). Hopefully I can get back on track with my own stitching. It has been hit or miss since I finished the Just Nan design. Next year I am involved in another birthday exchange, but I believe there are only about five or six of us (unlike the 12 of this year!), so that should not be so overwhelming. I think I am going to just try and finish the Prairie Schooler ornaments that I started, and skip the other months. Maybe at some point I will try and fill in the missing months. I think no more monthly sorts of projects since I have such a hard time sticking with them! And now I am off to work on ornaments!