I'm Baaaaack!

Hello readers, Happy New Year!

I returned from a wonderful winter holiday in Europe at 4.ooam on 31st December. I am still jetlagged, and have been awake from about 3.00am this morning, along with the rest of the family. Maybe after the weekend I will be back on track.

We all had an excellent time. The weather was perfect- freezing- but perfect, and we had some beautiful snow in Innsbruck. Only two rainy days, and the rest were clear and cold(minus temperatures all day) but not windy and great for walking. We had a traditional German Christmas Eve with some friends and then went off to hear the beautiful choir in Regensburg Cathedral at midnight. I think I saw every bit of every Christmas market in Europe- but I loved it all and am still not sick of it. I would happily plan another winter holiday in Europe.

However, the New Year is here, and with it a new set of plans and challenges. I am fortunate to have been offered a full time job this school year, and it will be the first time in a VERY long time that I will be off to work every day. I will have to plan my shopping and cooking more carefully, and also my stitching time. I think it is possible I will be more organised, and I may actually find myself getting more stitching done. We will see.

I started the year yesterday by filling in my stitching journal and finalising all the info for 2008. I am ashamed to say I have 37 WIP's now. I made 14 new starts last year and only 4 finishes. I would like to remedy this situation in 2009 and get some of my WIP's, (and I still love them all) on the wall. I do have several good projects finished and waiting for framing, so that will be a priority this year too. With my new job however, I can afford to do some framing. I'm not going to make any promises about new starts or new purchases. I'll just try to get some work finished on a regular basis. I think I will always be a "screaming rotation" person- the joy is in the journey after all, and I don't want to force myself into stitching, which in my experience just makes me procrastinate and I don't get as much done.

Firstly, however, a serious cleanout and re-ordering of the stash cupboard is in order.I am not happy with the way my WIP's are stored.Perhaps I will put some of them on hangers. And I need more DMC so I don't waste time searching for a colour and raiding project boxes.Increased efficiency is the aim I think, so my time can be spent just stitching and not sorting and searching. I don't like to blog without a pic, but haven't picked up a needle this year yet. So here is one of the aforementioned finished projects that I would like to have framed this year. (Shepherd's Bush "Gathered Hours")