I Mean It This Time!

Happy New Year to you!  I think the moment I became an official southern girl was the first New Year's Day that Jim and I actually cooked up a batch of Hoppin' John and collard greens with corn bread.  Where we grew up in the frozen north, these dishes were unheard of, much less served on New Year's with as much tradition as turkey and mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving.  Well, time changes all and now here I am to show you what was our good luck dinner on the first night of the new year..

What fun it's been to see all the "year in review" and "stitching plans for the new year" posts popping up this week!  All of you have done some very impressive stitching last year.  I was thinking I would do something of the same, but it seemed difficult to begin without looking back to last year's new year's post as a starting point  Imagine my horror to see that I started off 2013's stitching with the exact same goals I still have for this year; that is to

1. Finish Ann Grimshaw
2. Finish Frances Eden; and
3. Finish Hannah Pepper 

No new starts, no ambitious undertakings, or even major purchases mentioned, just to get 'er done on these three loiterers.  So how can it be that here it is a full year later and I've got the exact some agenda? Surely I got something accomplished?!

But then I remembered....I did have some side trips this past year.  Like to the Hemingway House in Key West:

...and that little excursion around the Gulf of Mexico on the Atoche.
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Oh yes,this little piece took a short jaunt to North Carolina for a visit with our friend Faye.

 

Shall I even bother to mention those lost weekends spent dallying with some fruits?

 

So strictly for the record, let me repeat that I only have 3 big stitching goals for 2014. and they are to:

1. Finish Ann Grimshaw.  I spent New Year's Eve with this wench. repeating the alphabet over and over again.

 

 

2 Finish Frances Eden.  This poor girl has waited long enough. It's time for her to earn some respect.

 

 



 

And last, but certainly not least is goal 3 - to finish Hannah Pepper.  This school girl has played hooky from my line up for far too long.  As soon as things got tough with those tiny little mid piece over one motifs, she skipped town and hasn't been seen since.  Well, she's going to get finished this year - I mean it!

 

So there you have my stitching goals for the upcoming year - short and sweet.  I swear on a stack of Bibles that they'll be finished by this time next year or I'll have died with a needle in my hand trying. No distractions, no Scarlet Letter challenges, no Praire Schooler Santas, certainly no spur of the moment wild hair ideas for new projects will steer me off course.  Please dear friends, hold me to this resolve, no matter how much ranting and whining you may hear from me!

On that note I'm off to disassemble my Christmas tree and buckle down to work.  Here's wishing all the very best in the bright new year!