Happy New Year!

I did not see the ball drop on Times Square although I did have the ceremonial dumping of the ort jar about 10:30.

And today I realized that 2024 may be the year of BAPs.

Harmony is obviously the biggest of my Big A** Projects, and I did work on it today. I also worked on a drawn thread sampler while I spent some time online in a virtual stitch-in with the Western Reserve Sampler Guild. (That was loads of fun, and I hope they do it again next year. Hopefully I'll be able to stay for the whole thing. This year we had unexpected company and I had to leave.) Tonight, I pulled Carmen out of her pillowcase and finished the vase at the top (?) of the sampler.

Carmen is a reproduction that Jackie charted and taught for Sassy Jack's last March. I had taken Carmen't Etui earlier (it's one of the pieces that I plan to finish-finish this year). When I took the etui class, Jackie had the original Carmen sampler to show us.

Carmen isn't worked like our traditional English band samplers. It goes off in all directions. I do wonder if it would have been used as a table runner rather than a framed piece originally--you'll see what I mean as I move along.

Anyway, I finished the vase I started in class not quite a year ago, and, yes, it is standing on its head.

I'm trying to decide if I can focus my eyes long enough to add more greenery to the vase--this is on 45 count linen, and when I say I need to focus, I really need to focus--or if I should try to get to bed at a reasonable hour.

If the timing of my bedtime is the hardest decision I have to make this year, it's going to be a good year.