2016 Goals

I confess that I wasn't very good at stitching on the projects I had selected for 2015. I've realized that I can't have more than one cross stitch project running. Also, since joining the guild and subscribing to Inspirations magazine, it was much harder not to succumb to temptation. I will have to try better this year.

Last year's goals didn't fare very well, but I did finish a nice number of other projects.

• Ink Circles - Bramble and the Rose - current
• Mirabilia - Tree of Hope - current (cross stitch all done)
• Teresa Wentzler - Tracery Dragons - current
• Donna M. Olson - Fantasy Lace - current
• Brodeuse Bressane - SAL Dentelle
• Finished 2 more projects from Creative Festival 2014 (so that's 4 out of 6)
• Finished 1 project from Creative Festival 2015
• Satsuma Street - Pretty Little San Francisco - started and finished
• Deborah Love - Eidelweiss - started and finished
• SJ Designs - 18th Century Sampler - started and finished

I'll have to try much harder this year, but I won't be starting any new projects on the New Year as I did for 2015. For this year the only set plans will be the following:

• TUSAL posts will now be wordless unless I post an update of a WIP
• Keep up with WIPocalypse, I'm picking easy goals for this:
• Finish the beading on Mirabilia's Tree of Hope
• Finish at least one page of Ink Circles' Bramble and the Rose
• Try to put in some sort of stitching on Teresa Wentzler's Tracery Dragons
• Finish all the eyelets on Donna M. Olson's Fantasy Lace
• Stitch up and finish the Creative Festival class kits by Gingerbread Girl Designs
• Start Hazel Blomkamp's Midnight Meander

2016 will be a very big year for me. The EAC holds a seminar every year in May and this year it will be in Toronto. It will be my first time attending and I can't wait.

I was lucky enough to be awarded a grant by my home guild Virtual Threads, which means I'll only have to cover the cost of the kit. In other words, more money for stash acquisitions ;) I'm still waiting on the confirmation email for my class which should come soon. I'm hoping and praying I get my first choice, which is a Punto Antico class with Barbara Kershaw called Fandango. You know my love of whitework =D

Being awarded the grant means you will be reading a lot about this WIP as the conditions for receiving the grant are a submitted report for the guild newsletter of my experience at the seminar and sharing photographs of the project. So since I have a blog, I will be posting lots of progress pics :)

But that's not all I'll be doing in May. Right after seminar (in actuality I'll be leaving straight from Toronto), I will be flying out to France for The French Needle's Tour of Paris. I've been holding this news in since July. So glad it's finally out! I'm super excited that it's now only 5 months away.

The tour will include:

• Visit to la Maison Sajou where we will also receive a lesson in "Broderie Blanche" (whitework embroidery =D)
• Two 3-hour classes at la Maison Lesage for tambour beading lessons
• Visits to specialty boutiques like Mokuba, la Droguerie, Au Ver a Soie
• Walking tours of Paris and visits to Versailles, Museum of Toile de Jouy, Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Nissim de Camondo Museum
• A concert at Notre Dame de Paris
• A dinner with Hélène Le Berre who is a french needlework designer and illustrator

Isn't that a dream vacation for a stitcher!? The big day will be Monday May 16 when I will be taking the train from Montreal to Toronto with a fellow member of the guild (I've always wanted to take the train!). Later on, on Saturday May 21, I will be flying out from Toronto so that I will be in time for the check-in in Paris on the next day.

2016 is going to be a fun year all around =^_^=