Happy New Year's!

 And now it's 2023! May it be more peaceful, more optimistic, and happier all the way around!

Meanwhile, I managed to get one more project in the stitched category for 2022. My oldest UFO is now my newest completion!

I thought this one was about 40 years old, but then I started thinking about it and realized I started it when I was still in college--which means it spent five decades in the stash. BDE was horrified when she heard this--how could I let something just sit there for that long? And why did I still have it?

Well, I got distracted. Story of my stitching life. And when your stash has been accumulating for many years, things can get hidden. When you start trying to organize it, you just don't know what may float to the surface.

Anyway, this is the Tree of Life from the Reynolds International Needlework Guild, Inc. It needs blocking, then I need to decide if it should go in a frame or become a pillow. There is enough linen in the kit to make the pillow back, as well as already constructed cording.

So, today is the first day of the New Year. I am spending it getting myself organized for the next few months of stitching.

I decided I need to limit what's in my corner so I can get some things accomplished. So, for the next few months, this is what I'll be doing:

• the two online "deep dive" classes I'm taking on stumpwork and goldwork
• a pilot for a prospective EGA correspondence course. I cannot talk about it or show photos while I'm working on it.
• Either Amy Mitten's Earth casket toy or Katie Strachan's Valentine. One of them was supposed to be my New Year's start, but I can't make up my mind which I want to do and the day is slipping away
• One of the many workshop pieces I took in the last few years, and that means doing some assembly as well.

Obviously I still need to make some decisions and get my needle threaded before the day is over!

Maybe I could be more decisive if I hadn't waked up with a stuffy head--Dearly Beloved kindly shared the bad cold he's been nursing with me--and some dingleberry in the neighborhood hadn't decided to set off fireworks at 3:43 a.m. A cold and sleep deprivation makes it hard to get moving!