I’m not budging on starting new projects…nope…Not! So consider this is a posting for my other horsey friends who might think this is the Bothiest of all Bothys:

Cut Thru Stable by Bothy Threads and can be in your hot little stitchy hands by going here. Can I live through you vicariously?

*edited to credit ABC Stitch Therapy for the picture.

Well Hi there! I hope you had a nice Christmas surrounded by good things and peace. I spent the past hour writing out all kinds of fluff and stuff and then wiped it all out when I realized that once again like so many other aspects of my life, I was complicating and dramatizing what should be kept simple.

I’ve been in the process of making some changes in my life and I’m excited about 2010. This past year has been way too focused on work and self-reflection and not making any changes. I consumed myself with being like a hamster running in place on one of those wheel exercisers that basically gets the critter absolutely no where but burns off pent up energy unproductively. Yep…AND like this one below, I was getting a little too fluffy.So changes started happening back in October. I’m simplifying my life and getting there requires some pretty big changes and some not so big, just a change in course and tack.I’m going to be 49 in 2010 so tick-tock!! I have wasted so much time reflecting and thinking about the “problem” and not acting on the solutions.  So I did what any other middle aged woman does that can’t afford liposuction or botox. I cut off all my hair and re-discovered the gym. Then I had a sit down with the “big” boss. No…not God…my senior manager and we had a coming to Jesus of sorts on expectations and I had to come to the grim realization that much of my issue was ME with expecting too much of myself! I know…Right?!   So it led to other Ah-Ha moments and I’m moving forward and I’m a little excited (head nodding and lips pursed in approval) about 2010. So. Here’s to finding getting to my cheese! [Reference to the book, "Who Moved My Cheese"]

I hope your new year is filled with good health, prosperity, motivation and surrounding yourself with good things and people who bring you joy and laughter…and getting to your cheese!

First up: New Digs. Stay tuned for that chapter…and some needlework too.

I have been following this grand scale project from the onset and so wanted to put in a stitch or two myself to help recreate such a work of Art and History. Thousands of hours by 260 needleworkers and 3 years later…The Plimoth Plantation Jacket is finished and you can see it in all its glory here.

I love those weather systems that bring the crappiest stretch of rain or snow (if I’m prepared) that leaves me hanging at home for the entire weekend. I’ve been stitching on the Skeleton Crew (Cross Eyed Cricket)…here’s the bowsprit and colorful witch figurehead:

I had a bit of a panic because the center mast seemed a little off from the center and I needed to stitch all the way over to make sure I gave myself enough of a buffer for framing. I’m a two incher rather than 3 and it’s times like this, I chide myself for being such a cheap Yankee. But it’s exactly two inches. I guess I bought a quarter cut and have about 5 extra inches on the other side. Whew! I’ve seen that happen with others and usually after quite a bit of work has gone into the piece.  
Anyway…I love these figureheads. There’s quite a history to them on ships particularly Whalers. I grew up outside of New Bedford and remember seeing figureheads either at the Whaling Museum or replicas around the area. So working on this piece I want to keep it colorful yet weathered, so naturally the majority of the colors have been swapped out for Weeks and Gentle Arts floss. This is a fun stitch and so perfect for it being Fall and Halloween.
Well I hope you are all having a good weekend and staying warm…and dry.