Challenges, Challenges

I worked on my first Class Challenge project on Sunday and Monday. If you want to see where I left off before this became a UFO, see this post for the last photo I could find. But I managed to complete the tracery heart that is Row 13 in the chart, with the exception of the specialty stitches and beading. Today, I will tackle the three Rhodes hearts and the specialty stitch in the center. There is a heart shaped Christmas ornament included in the class packet which I had begun on the first day of class but abandoned in favor of the sampler as the class proceeded. It is basically a slightly larger version of the tracery heart pictured above. I have to say I have certainly recovered my enthusiasm for this piece. It's been awhile since I have done a sampler that has involved so many specialty stitches and a limited but very elegant palette. I am having a lot of fun rediscovering this piece. Once I have finished the two pieces in this project, I shall move on to the next piece from the list that calls my name, probably the Japanese Kogin Tea Cosy. Each and every one of these class projects [see sidebar list] excited me enough at one time to lay down hard-earned cash to take the classes ... and with the exception of one or two, they still do. It will be interesting to see how many I will be able to complete this year. I also continued to work on Workbasket's Quaker Sampler, a WIP from 2010. I finished the yellow motif on the right side of the inner rectangle and got started on the blue motif in the top leg of that rectangle. Still another motif and three medallions to go, not to mention the personalization, so it will be a while before I have my first finish from the 2010 WIP list. As I stated in an earlier post, I intend to finish one piece from the Challenge List and one piece from the 2010/2011 WIP list to earn a new start. Depending on just when I manage to earn my start, I have plans. If I manage to finish the two samplers noted above by mid-January, I'll use my new start on a heart ornament I have wanted to stitch for my Anniversary and Valentine's Day Tree. If, on the other hand, I finish the samplers in late January or early February, I'll bow to the reality that adding a heart ornament to the tree is not going to happen. Instead, I'll start my 2012 BAP: Teresa Wentzler's Woodland Angel Christmas Stocking. If I start it early in the year, maybe, just maybe, it will be done for Liam's fifth Christmas in 2012!

I have been reading a number of other end of year/beginning of the new year posts on the many blogs that I follow. Oddly enough, many of us have had several things in common during 2011: we all seem to be reporting fewer finishes than normal, both stitching and finish-finishing; many of us had a tougher than usual personal year and many of us are hoping for a much better 2012, both as regards stitching and personal goals.