Starting to wrap up the year.

I hope everyone had a peaceful and happy Christmas. I know we were busy in a festive way all weekend, even up through yesterday. Our holidays were nice here in Crazyville--good food to eat, time spent with family, lovely things to look at on our tree, wonderful gifts.

DH surprised me with a charm bracelet. He picked out 6 gorgeous charms for me, including a Dallas star, LOL. And somehow, in our little corner of the world, he found socks with Schipperkes on them! If you own a Schipperke, you understand that finding ANYTHING with their sweet little faces on it, it's a treasure--these are not one of your better known breeds, particularly in this neck of the woods. He also bought me a stepstool, because I hate having to ask him to get things down off the upper shelves in the kitchen for me. I was much pleased! Mom gave me a $50 gift card to 123stitch. I'm going to save that for something I REALLY want. When I REALLY need a treat for myself, but it's nice having it!

I thought today would be a good day to do the official list of finishes since I'm pretty sure I won't be finishing anything else this week. I've got 9 hours of overtime to work before Saturday, and, well . . .

THE LIST!

3 December--Hope-Dragon Dreams--2011 JCS Ornament Issue
30 October--Halloween Silhouette-2008--Raise the Roof
29 October--Bringing Home the Tree-LHN
26 October--Winter Glitter--Sanman Originals
16 October--Do You See What I See--TGOS 2007 issue
14 October--Meet Me Under the Mistletoe-TGOS 2009 issue
27 September--Frank n Stitches--Mosey n Me.
2 September--Beware of the Cat--Helga Mandl
2 September--French CountryOrnaments II-JBW
28 August-Favorite Pets--Simply Cross Stitch magazine
15 August--Brave Hearts--Little House Needleworks
4 July--The First Day--Plum Street Samplers--JCS ornament
3 July--Bear Hug--Pollyanna Pickering
27 June--You Are So Bootiful-Designs by Lisa
5 June 2011-4 Seasons Fatties-Sanman Originals
29 May--Flags and Friends--Bent Creek
15 May--Gingerbread Village--Little House Needleworks
27 April--Chicken--Bent Creek?
16 April--Sugar Plum Fairy-Country Cottage Needleworks
12 April--Autumn Leaves-Prairie Schooler
29 March--Bunny freebie--???
22 March--Eden Was A Garden--Needle Maid Designs
9 March--Cardinals Winter--Little House Needleworks
26 February-Frost is on the Pumpkin--Cricket Collection
18 February--Official Snow Guide-Lizzie Kate
9 February-Lookin' Like Fall--Plum Pudding
5 February--Patriotic Summer--Midsummer Night Designs
28 January--Hope Perches--Sampler Girl
27 January--Betsy--Sheepish Designs
16 January-A Nuisance of Cats--Yankee Stitcher
14 January-Santa's Bunnies-Vermillion Stitchery

I had 31 finishes this year. Well down from my usual average, but, then again, I had 3 UFO finishes and I spent a good portion of the year working on very large projects, some of which I am DETERMINED to finish in 2012, like Icy Dragon. I also spent most of November too exhausted to stitch, and my current ornament WIP is taking forever. All I can do is appreciate the ones I managed to finish, realize I'm not Super-woman, and try to do a little better last year.

I think I already said this, but I've decided I'm not doing the Crazy January Challenge in 2012. I managed to get a third of the way through my list of projects, but that means I added 10 new UFOs to the list, one of which I've misplaced already. So I think getting some more UFOs finished is the best idea for me. Not only am I convinced that finished projects take up less space than kitted up unfinished ones (plus there aren't all the envelopes sliding around, annoying me), but I think I get a better sense of what floss and fabric I own, since it isn't all in random envelopes. I am DETERMINED this is the year I control my stash, not the other way around. It's time I became an adult, darn it!