Goodbye 2012!

It's hard to believe today's the last day of 2012! It's been a good year for my family, with buying a new house, both me and hubby getting new jobs, my daughter going into 1st grade at her new school and my son growing bigger by the day...here's hoping 2013 is an even better year!

2012 also saw me return to cross-stitching after a long hiatus. Granted, it's only been about six months since I came back into the stitching world, but I'm definitely back with a vengeance! This week or so off with Christmas holidays and the family fighting the flu has been hard without stitching. I'm eager to get back to it!

So at the beginning of each month, I tend to look back over my last month's goals and make goals for the next month. This being December 31st, I'm going to do something a little differently...let's look at my year in review!

2012 brought with it five finishes, four of which were done for World of Charity Stitching:

Knotted Hearts - WOCS Project - 7/23/12 - 7/26/12

Have a Heart - WOCS Project - 7/27/12 - 7/28/12

Birdhouse Neighborhood - WOCS Project - 8/8/12 - 8/18/12

May Lily of the Valley Teacup - WOCS Project - 10/14/12 - 11/10/12

Tribal Penguin - 10/28/12 - 11/17/12

This year also saw me start six other WIP's that will carry over into next year:

Christmas Countdown - Dimensions

Flames of Desire by Lee Ann Seed - Heaven and Earth Designs

Italian Vista - Dimensions Gold Collection

European Bistro - Dimensions Gold Collection

My Witch's Brew - Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe

Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love by Thomas Kinkade - Candamar Designs Disney Dreams Collection

I have met many new stitchy friends on blogs and facebook. I've been exposed to a TON of new designers and websites I never knew about before and have learned more about stitching than what comes in a kit. I have fallen in love with hand dyed fabrics and with stitching on something other than Aida. I have enjoyed documenting my own stitchy journey in this blog and in pictures. I've absolutely loved it all!

So, goals for 2013...

1. Year of the Stash - I'm dedicating 2013 to being the Year of the Stash - I have added several patterns to my collection this year and I have tons of DMC thread already. In 2013, I want to expand my horizons. I've signed up for three Fabric of the Month Clubs for hand dyed fabrics (so far). I'm going to be looking at using different threads and beading techniques in my pieces. I want to use the groups I'm a part of to be exposed to more new designers and patterns and projects. I want to increase my stash to help increase my choices of what I want to work on and create!

2. Crazy January Challenge - I want to successfully start all 15 projects in 15 days and will be very pleased if I can finish at least 1/3 of the projects in 2013. I have some small projects that I think are very doable to complete this year...the rest, perhaps not so much, but that's okay!

3. Finish at least one of my 6 WIP's from 2012 - not sure which one it will be, but I'd like to finish at least one of them this year!

I plan on making more goals on a monthly basis as I always do...but I think these three big themes are a good start for the year! Can't wait to see what 2013 brings! Happy New Year!

Until next time!
~Katy