Guilt free January 2008 was a lovely month and I started a new project with every intention of finishing it by Christmas that year. Ha! Never got out of its corner again. And then there's the mermaids that I started in 2005. And the series of Santas from 2007 that I didn't finish although I only had one to go for the whole year."How embarrassment".

So 2009 is the year when I put some serious time into the UnFinished Objects out there and I should still have time to stitch ornaments with my Yahoo group.

Jan 11 - Finished Needlework Shop from Mill Hill, part of the Christmas Village series. Only 7 more to go to finish this series.

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March
Picked up Golden Gate Bridge and actually worked on it.

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April and May
Did lots and lots of knitting. and more knitting.

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Next:
Pick up Waiting for Neptune and get some serious stitching done on it.
Finish Golden Gate Bridge.
Stop buying yarn. or start knitting even more yarn.

The Motivation: Over on the Aussie Yahoo group someone suggested that although most of us owned and liked the JCS Ornament issues, we hardly ever got around to stitching anything from them. And so the Plan was formed.

The Plan: Each month we vote for our favourite two ornaments from a particular double page spread in the 2007 Ornament Issue. The following month we stitch one of the three that got the most votes. If we finish one and get the picture up on the group before the end of the month we're in the running for a little prize (a slightly larger prize if we actually make it up into a Finished ornament).

The Outcome:
January
Fill With Love (Designs by Cathy Jean)
February
Finished all three of the ornaments this month
Noel in the Tree (MDesigns)
Joy (Lizzie Kate)
Christmas Tree (Scandinavian Stitches)
and then I finished Noel's girlfriend Joy in the Round from the JCS Oct 07 issue. Great month.
March
Poinsettia (Brittercup)
Colonial Christmas Ornament (Cherised Stitches)
April
Santa (Knotted Tree Needleart)
And this month I won the prize - 5 lovely skeins of silk from Jo at Dinky Dyes and a $15 gift voucher for Colours Down Under. Yay! How lovely of them to do this.
May
Spool Tree (Sue Hillis Designs)
I seem to have spent a lot of time knitting in May. Made socks for DH, made socks for Caterina, and now I've promised a scarf to Julie at work.
June
Merry and Bright (Little By Little Design Co)
More knitting - knitted socks for Dad and started the scarf for Julie.
July
Winter Love and their friend Winter Joy (Samsarah)
More knitting - finished Julie's scarf, started a test for DD's wedding stole.
August
A Merry Kitty Klaus (Val's Stuff)
Still knitting the stole.
September
A Star, A Star (The Sunflower Seed)
Finished knitting the test stole. Started the Wedding Stole.
October
Christmas Joy (LoupyLou)
Finished knitting the Wedding Stole. Lovely. Ivory with silver and gold beads.
November
Tipsy Tree (Charland Designs)
Deceember
Christmas Tree 2007 (Jeannette Douglas)
Bell Ornament (Jeannette Douglas)
Christmas Tree (Oct) 2007 (Jeannette Douglas)
Other Finishes for the Year:
Finished the last of Mill Hill's Santa's Closet series
3 pair of socks
Papillion Mystery Sampler from 2007

Other Goals for the Year:

• Christmas Decorations - There's a heap of stitched decorations that just need to be made up. - Hmm. Not so good.
• Mill Hill Christmas Village - The whole of Series II to stitch plus the 2 for 2008. - Nope, still there.
• Waiting for Neptune - Hopefully this will get some attention this year. - But didn't.
• Mill Hill's Appalachian Santa series for 2007.- Still one to go. And then there's the Rocky Mountain Santas for 2008. - Still waiting.
• I started John Clayton's Golden Gate Bridge. on New Year's Day. Maybe I'll even stitch it this year? - Maybe not.
• Also started Papillion's Serendipity mystery sampler in March. - Actually finished.

The Verdict
Well, those goals didn't work too well. I found I was stitching ornamnets all year and the constant changes and deciding what fabrics/threads to use just took all my time. And then the knitting bug struck. I love socks. I knitted 5 pairs this year (as well as the two stoles). So next year the plan is to stitch a few ornaments and concentrate on finishing some of the things I already have on hand.