2009 Wrap-Up and 2010 Plans

Back at the first of the year, I defined what my goals for this year in stitchery would be:

"Over on Cross Stitch Crazy, we name the year for what we want to accomplish and this year, it's "Use what's mine (stash you already have) and start/complete a BAP (Big @$$ Project)"...

"I'm interpreting "Use what's mine" as work on current WIPs and (IF I finish them all) UFOs..."

So how did I do? Well, working from stash:

Out of 16 completions, 9 were completions of old WIPs (and therefore my stash):

• "Autumn Leaves"
• "DMC Paisley tie-backs"
• "Tsunami Sampler"
• "Bath 5¢"
• "The Needlework Shoppe"
• "Walking to Town"
• "raw edge appliqué 'quiltlet'" (still not quilted)
• "San Man Originals Snow collage"
• "Free Flight"

Five were small pieces started from scratch in 2009, all using stash fabric and floss:

• "the letter M" (a gift)
• "Purple Penguin" (a swap ornament)
• "Letter Heart" (I'd intended this to be a quilt square but it was too big)
• "Missing "T" Stitch" (a quilt square)
• "Rooster" (another quilt square)

One was a larger new start from stash:

• "Wedding Sampler" (another gift)

I had one BAP (or so I defined it, because it was stitched on black, a real difficulty for me):

• "Spirit of the Sockeye" (I had to special order the black linen)

So I think I did pretty well --- I thinned out my UFO stash pretty significantly and only had to order one piece of fabric (for my BAP), although I did buy more fabric for three projects already kitted up for 2010 (I had nothing of the appropriate size for those three pieces).

Cross-Stitch Crazy is leaning toward "Back to Basics" ... and Learn A New Technique" for 2010 and I already have some projects planned for the coming year that might well fit into that theme.

A piece which was started in December, fate still not certain but this one will be a 2010 completion. This had already been kitted up two years ago so I consider it a stash piece. It is also a BAP, with six sheets of chart and 12" x 20" image size.

• "A Quaker Christmas".

There are also five long-standing UFO's in my cupboard that I hope to make some progress on:

• "Antique Rose" napkins
• "Angel of Love"
• "Celestial Angel"
• "Map of England and Wales"
• "Harvest Sampler"
• "Nature's Song" (excerpted from a larger chart)

Also kitted up and candidates for stitching in 2010 is the flower alphabet from which the letter "M" was taken. I had to order fabric for this piece, as well as for the following two for which I have yet to pull floss: Ink Circles' "Sea Stars" and Ink Circles' "Garden Stars". 

All of these would qualify as "Back to Basics" in my eyes as they are all "just" cross stitch.

For my "Learn A New Technique", I  hope to do some work on some quilt UFOs and to learn beading by participating in The Bead Journal Project. And perhaps one or more of my 2010 completions will be suitable for entry in the County Fair (something I have never had courage to do before.)