Happy New Year!

May 2009 be all we each want and need it to be. It's going to be a great year, I just know it!

Today I will work a little bit at the shop because we are taking off tomorrow and going out of town to visit my grandmother and my sister. Brad will do the driving so that means stitching for me in the car - woo hoo! I won't be able to work on "O Beautiful" because it seems linen and I don't get along too well in the car but I can easily work on an aida project, perforated paper, or perhaps a small evenweave project. (Like another 2009 Christmas ornament or a Pine Mountain pillow kit maybe?)

Okay, I'm going to take the plunge here and offer a drawing. If you'd like to be entered, simply leave a comment on this post stating that you'd like to be entered. The prize is a grab bag of things yet to be determined because I will try to pick things to send that the winner likes. Easy peasy, right? I plan on drawing a winner's name on Monday, January 5, 2009, so check back then for a post that announces the winner's name. By the way, that date also happens to be my annniversary for quitting smoking -- one year smoke-free, so celebrate with me!

I don't know how many of you frequent the stitching message boards but I usually do. That being said, the boards seem to be taking a turn towards being negative again. I hate it when those phases happen. Sooooooo, blogging and roaming other stitcher's blogs is becoming my favorite way to communicate with other stitchers, look at photos, and get inspired with tons of great ideas. Don't get me wrong -- I will never quit the boards altogether...but maybe it's time for me to play it safe and avoid 99% of posts that aren't stitching-related.

I don't make resolutions for New Year's but I do have some goals in mind I'd like to achieve (in no particular order):
1. Make it through year #2 without smoking.
2. Be a better mother and wife. (I'm not bad at all but my theory is that we can all find ways to improve, so why not?)
3. Change up my blog a bit...make it more visually appealing, add a few gadgets, etc.
4. Stitch at least one -- but preferably two! -- Christmas ornaments per month.
5. Stitch one "small" per month. I'd love to have a basket of needle rolls! Ooooooooooooh! A small might be a needle roll, Pine Mountain pillow, needle book, etc.
6. Try not to start a new project unless I either finish a project I've already got going, am making a gift for someone else, or if it's for one of these goals (like an ornament or a small).
7. Don't buy any new stash without stitching or purging some of what I've got first. There are a few exceptions which I outlined in the last blogging post. I did add the "purging" part, though. If I go through my stash and sell things that I know I will never stitch, then I can use that money for new stash. The points of this goal are to quit impulse buying and accumlating more than I am stitching because I already have way more than enough. Stitch more, buy less.

That's enough goals for now but I might add to or change that list. The main purpose was to just get some of my thoughts and ideas out and see what I can start working on accomplishing.

Hope everyone is stitching to their little heart's content today and feeling good about 2009. Take care and bye for now! :-)