Happy Autumn and New Year's Goals

Happy Autumn! She came in with a bang around here.

I always feel that September is the start of the new year in more significant ways than January. Labor Day is really my New Year's Eve in many ways. At the beginning of the month, I took stock of where I was. It had been a trying summer in many ways, and I wanted to do something to move in a more positive direction. I've been stressed out and tired, so decided I need to focus on my own well-being.

One of the things I've done is started tracking my food consumption over at The Daily Plate. Poppy mentioned that she had started using it and liked its tools better than Weight Watchers'. After a few days, I'm hooked, and I will probably upgrade from the free account because I'm a data geek. This week, I've really tried to have a normal eating week and not let the numbers sway me into changing my behaviors as I wanted to have an honest assessment of my baseline. Even in this short time, I've learned some interesting stuff.

The good news is that I actually drink a lot of water every day. I thought I wasn't getting enough, but I really am. I'm also at close to the right calorie level for where I want to go. That was a surprise. My big downfalls are sugar, sodium, and caffeine. (No, it doesn't track caffeine, but I know.) I really need to work on getting these down. I also need to work on increasing the fiber in my diet. Most of this I already knew, but having the numbers really helped bring it into focus.

On top of this, I've restarted Pilates. The other big thing I need to work on is getting more sleep. I think this last goal is crucial to making the rest of the plan sustainable.

Year in Review and Looking Ahead

Sorry I've been M.I.A. lately. The girls have been sick since mid-December. It's not been fun, but they seem to be on the mend finally.

I thought I'd give you a brief recap of what I did manage to work on this year, along with an idea of what's in my stash bag for next year.

I finished two teapots in March, a rose in August, the swirlygig challenge in September, and the pumpkin for October. In November, I worked on my nephew's birth sampler. I've been working on it some more this month and am nearly finished now. Picture soon.

In December, I stitched Casey Buonaugurio's Hot Cocoa sampler for a dear, dear friend. I forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it to her, but I'll post it when I get one.

For 2010, I would really like to finish my three remaining Bride's Tree SAL ornaments: pinecones, angel, and Santa. I've started all three. The first two are very intricate and require a lot of concentration, something I don't have much of these days. The Santa is a Mill Hill kit of a cat in a Santa hat, and I'm not eager to work on the beads. So, I will need to push myself on these.

I also have the idea that I want to stitch second versions of my BTSAL bunny and cardinal in different colors. I've started the bunny, so there's a good chance I'll finish that. Maybe I'll try to get that done before Easter!

I will soon finish the sampler I'm currently working on for my oldest nephew. I also hope to work on samplers for my middle nephew (the last of the niephlets for whom I need to do one) and for my daughters.

We'll see how much time I have to work on any of this. Now that my girls are two very active toddlers, my stitching time is nearly non-existent.

Two Finishes

I promised you that when Lee received her package that I would share photos of my February finishes with you. She has, so here they are.

I finally found a teapot design I liked for the Bride's Tree SAL in a pattern book that a friend sent me this fall. When I went looking for a scrap of fabric to stitch on, I found the pre-finished jar cozies in my stash. Perfect, except, of course, that they're not ornaments. Oh well.

I only kept the general shape of the teapot from the original pattern. (It was blue, with a heart motif.) I chose the colors to go with the fabric, and I designed the poinsettia motif myself, based on some other patterns I had.

Here's Lee's gift. I included a chocolate bar, 6 different teas, 6 hand-made cards with envelopes, a card folio, and (not shown) a piece of ~8"x10" archival mat board, as well as the cozy.

In other news, I've started stitching my rose pattern for the SAL. I'm determined to get these done this year. To recap, I finished stitching January through July last year. I've started the November angel. I've now finished the September teapot and am working on the August rose. I have the October pinecone pattern ready to go, which leaves me with figuring out a December Santa. Both the October and November patterns are a bit intricate, so they may take me a while.

Winter Sampler

Happy New Year All!

While I still haven't been stitching, I pulled the following piece out as part of our Christmas decorations. I'll leaving it hanging up throughout the winter.

The design is from Little House Needleworks, called Pinetop Lodge. I completed it in 2006. It was stitched on the recommended fabric. I substituted overdyed threads for the recommended DMC colors, because I wanted varigations in the colors. The center part of the design went together really quickly for me, but the outer border of leaves took me forever.

My stitching goal for 2009 is pretty simple: Start stitching again. If I can accomplish that, I will be doing well. I have one of my nephew's samplers in progress plus I want to finish the SAL ornaments. Wish me luck.

Pathetic

That's me - Pathetic.

Since March, I've been challenging myself to write at least 10 blog posts a month. In July, I only managed 8, and none of them are about stitching. Even FridayFeast has let me down - they've been on hiatus since July 11.

It's been a crazy month, and August doesn't look to be any less crazy.

Here's where I am with my stitching projects and my "goals" for August.

1. I finished the threadwork on my nephew's birth sampler. I need to wash, iron, and bead it this month, so I can take advantage of my birth month discount when getting it framed. The beading should really only take an evening or two.

2. Work on the next nephew's birth sampler. I started it at the beginning of July and was hoping to have it done by now. It's another band sampler, and it should stitch up quickly if I spend the time on it. There's only a little bit of vining on this one. It's why I started this one rather than the third nephew's sampler.

3. Continue working on the angel ornament I started in June for the Bride's Tree SAL. I did work on this a couple of evenings this past month. I think I'm about a third of the way done. I've decided I'll keep working on this until it's done or I'm completely bored with it before moving on to the next SAL ornament.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, all. I wish you a peaceful and healthful new year.

My stitching goals for this year are pretty mild. I'm not what you would call a focused stitcher.

1. Participate in the Bride's Tree SAL.
2. Finish the birth sampler for my niece.
3. Stitch a birth sampler for one of the three nephews for whom I haven't stitched one.
4. Stitch a big project for me.

I'll probably also stitch some additional small projects, because as I've been looking for patterns for the SAL, I've found some other ornaments that I really like. I also tend to get excited about small new projects when I'm in a stitching slump.

We'll see how I do.