Happy New Year 2013

I had the best of intentions to keep up with things in December; however I forgot that between two middle school students, a Boy Scout, winter concerts for orchestra and chorus, applying for the IB programme for high school next year and just the general hubbub that comes with the preparations of the holidays that I barely had a chance to sit down, let alone stitch or keep up a blog.

However, today turns a new leaf and a new year. For our family New Year's Day is generally a quiet day since the next day everyone returns to work or school and daily life returns. Christmas was very good this year and I enjoyed a great time with friends and family. One present I received is a Nikon CoolPix S6300 which makes keeping up with blog updates a little easier since I don't have to pull out the professional grade camera for a quick point and shoot. Don't get me wrong, I love my professional camera, but for day-to-day events it is nice to have something I can slip into my purse. I'm hoping this makes it easier to keep progress reports going on things and keep myself motivated as well. I spent some time the morning of New Year's Eve playing with my camera during the sunrise. Here is a few shots I took:

 

Christmas at the house in Severn held special meaning to me this year. I have fond memories of the holidays in this house since 1978 and this year marked the first Christmas celebrated here since I bought the house. I enjoyed decorating the yard with all the trappings we had from previous years and seeing the excitement Ray expressed when he realized there is a lot more yard and an opportunity to expand our light display. Not sure if I'll enjoy the electric bills, but first things first we need to look into upgrading the electrical feed to the house and add outside electric sockets to the front of the house to make decorating easier. Also I want to run a dedicated electrical circuit for the camper so we don't have to worry about overloading anything. The other exciting thing was bringing in my tree which I had bought a few years ago and have been wondering ever since if it would fit in the living room. Just barely by the time the star was added but it made an impressive sight sitting in front of the picture window.

Stitching progress hasn't been as impressive as I would have liked but I do have some progress pictures and hopefully after completing this update tonight and another hour or so of stitching my 1st completion of the year. I have two other ornaments which just have minimal back stitching to complete them as well. All of these designs are from Prairie Schooler and is being completed on 32 count Sage Joblean with DMC threads.

Becky's Dragon Dreams have been making some progress and I'm planning on concentrating on this after the ornaments are completed. I had to order a Krenik braid and another thread which my LNS didn't carry and of course that was what I needed for the head of my dragon. Now that I have all my supplies, stitching on this should go a lot easier.

Of course, I had to sit down the other day while waiting for a meeting and look through the 2012 JCS ornament book and I found about 20 designs in there I would love to make. Thinking I will try and do at least one a month (including one this month yet) to add to my collection. As I finish up work on the basement, it will mean another tree and then I'll definitely need to add to my collection of decorations. I also am hopeful to pick up the Musician this week and start working on making her a completion sometime in 2013. I haven't really decided to do any of the stitching challenges of starting a new design each day, right now I have more than enough to complete and enjoy.


Also I have lots of books to read. As someone posted to me on Facebook the other day, "If only reading burned more calories, I'd be scary skinny in no time." Right now I'm reading a huge book by Ken Follett called Winter of the World.

Tried a new recipe from Betty Crocker this evening on the family since and it appears that it is a keeper. The recipe was found on the Internet and was very easy to follow. Yea/Nay meals are something I hope to continue with in 2013 since it gives the family something new to enjoy and changes up dinners from being the same old meals day in and day out.