Hello my blogging friends! It is the last day of 2019 and I think I am ready for 2020. Whether I am ready or not, it will arrive in a little less than 5 hours where I am. A few weeks ago, I was commenting on someone’s blog and I had said that I couldn’t even think of 1 thing I finished craftwise this last year. But looking back over my blog, I see that I did actually finish quite a bit. I finished the little mermaids SAL, a couple of shawls, the Spicier Life blanket, a Sunflower pillow and 48 Granny Squares for a blanket that I will finish in 2020. Our basement construction was a big part of 2019, with all the packing, purging and hauling out of the basement. Then there was the construction, painting, carpeting, unpacking and reorganizing everything. I must say, it is the best looking room in the house. Made me realize that the rest of the house needs new paint and carpeting, but that will have to wait as I am not ready to go through all that again. And we live in a quad, so there isn’t room to move furniture without moving up or down. Ugh
So, what have I been up to these last few weeks of 2019? Well, yesterday I finished the 2019 Mystery Sampler from Linen and Threads.
Sorry about the poor lighting. I promise to take a better picture once I get it framed. I am pretty happy with how this one turned out. It’s not my style of stitching, but I rather like it. I stitched it on 16ct Aida Grateful Grey from Wichelt. The threads are DMC 3810 and Gloriana Rain Forest. If you have never stitched with Gloriana threads, they are so smooth and silky! I really enjoyed stitching with them. The patterns for this SAL are FREE on the Linen and Threads website. And the 2020 Mystery Sampler started this morning. At this time, I will not be stitching the 2020 sampler. It is a Quaker style sampler, and I am not a fan of randomly placed designs. I do like the elements in today’s release. I will follow it in the facebook group just to see how everyone is stitching theirs.
I knitted one Christmas present. A winter hat for my Mom. She liked the pink one I made for myself so I made her one in purple, complete with fuzzy pom pom.
It was a very fast knit with size 13 needles and a chunky yarn, Rasta, from Malabrigo. The pattern is Chunky Cabled Hat by Destiny Meyer and is available on Ravelry. I gave it to Mom on Christmas and she loved it.
So now I am back to working on my Advent Shawl from AJHC Wools and loving it so much!
This was a photo from just after Christmas. I have started the larger skein and have about 10 rows of that in so far. My shoulder has been bothering me the last couple of weeks, so not much knitting going on at one time. It is feeling better today, so for the rest of the New Year’s Eve, I will be knitting on it 🙂 The pattern is now available on Ravelry.
For 2020, I have already made some New Year’s Resolutions. Pretty much some of the same I have made in years past, but truly want to stick with them this year. I have decided not to participate in any cross stitch or knitting SAL’s in 2020. Instead, I want to concentrate on finishing some projects I already have started – 12 cross stitch and several knitting projects and 1 crochet blanket. I also want to get a lot of scrapbooking done this year, and yes, scrapbook all of those page kits and mini books. Oh, that reminds me. I do have another finish for 2019. A couple of days ago I finished a wedding album for my youngest and his wife. I gave them a finished album at their rehearsal dinner last year. All they had to do was print the photos and glue them in. They were disappointed on their first anniversary that there were no photos to look at in the album. So they asked if I would add the photos a couple of months ago. I finally got to it and finished it on Saturday. I do hope that they like it.
There is a few more things I would like to accomplish in 2020, but I won’t bore you with them right now. So that is what I have been up to this last part of 2019. Another year has flown by and a new one is just about to begin. Or may have already begun depending where you are in the world. My wish for each and every one of you is that 2020 will be an amazing year with Health, Happiness and Love.
It has been snowing here most of the day, so my New Year will be wrapped in white 😉
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
My Time Stitching 
Your 2019 SAL is beautiful, love that chunky hat!
Love the colors in that shawl, & the album looks so pretty.
I too want to finish cross stitch WIPS that I have.
Happy New Year!!
Mairlyn
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Thank you, Marilyn. Happy New Year! Wishing a both a year of conquering our WIP’s!
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It’s wonderful to get a recap of your year, Ginny. (I love the wedding album!) Phew 2019 was just so busy and went by so fast, didn’t it? I wish you a happy 2020, and will be looking forward to all of your projects and finishes.
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Thank you, Anita. 2019 sure did fly by. I am sure 2020 will be a blur at the end of the year also. So, I plan on paying attention to each and every day this year and hoping it will be a year filled with finishes 😉 Happy New Year!
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Your Mystery Sampler from Linen and Threads turned out very pretty.
Love the luscious purple winter hat for your Mom. It’ll keep her nice and warm.
Goodness, you’ve got a lot of projects in progress. It’ll be fun to watch you finish them over the course of time.
The wedding album is such a sweet gift that they’ll treasure forever.
Your snow looks like a perfect way to bring on the new year.
Wishing you a year of happiness and joy.
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Thank you, E.C. And Happy New Year to you as well. I do have a lot of projects to do, and I am really hoping I can actually get a big chunk of them finished this year. They have all been waiting to be finished for way too long. (One of them from the 90’s, eek!)
The kids came over on Saturday and I gave them the album. They seemed to really enjoy looking at it and seeing their wedding day again.
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I love watching your projects. I adore the hat for your mom! Happy New Year, hopefully your shoulder is much better!
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Thank you, Craftingwithmomma. I am glad you enjoy seeing what I am up to. The shoulder is much better and when I feel it starting to ache, I have been giving it a rest right away so as not to put it out of commission 😉 Happy New Yea! I hope your 2020 is the best yet.
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Love that skal… and now have to go look up quaker design!
You accomplished a lot in 2019 and have excellent goals for 2020!
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Thank you, Salpal1. While the Peacock Garden is not my favorite sampler so far, I am pretty happy with how it turned out. The Quaker designs are pretty much many different designs and initials just randomly placed around the fabric. I guess my OCD really comes out with this type of stitching. I like nice lines of designs, or blocks of stitching. From the first section that has been released, I like the different designs, but not how they are placed together. So I will sit back and watch this one through the group. I feel much lighter not participating in SAL’s this year. My time can be used to stitch what I want, when I want and not have to worry about keeping up.
I did actually get a good amount done in 2019. I can’t complain, especially for getting it all done in between the basement stuff. I am looking for finishing lots of WIP’s in 2020. Happy New Year!
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What a wonderful end to the year it looks like you had. For me I finally got back into my blogging and really liking it again. Hoping in the new year I can stick to it.
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2019 was a pretty good year for my crafting, Ivydade234. I am looking forward to seeing what I can accomplish in 2020. I look forward to seeing your posts in 2020, also.
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oh thanks, I always look forward to seeing your posts aND this year I’m going to try posting on my blog more then last year.
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So wonderful to see the completed sampler. It is stunning. 🙂 Well done.
Hope your new year is off to a good start. 🙂 xx
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Thank you, Joey. Now to wait for good weather to travel to get the sampler framed. I am looking forward to getting things finished this year and so far, I am off to a good start 😉 I hope your New Year has started good as well.
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I love the mystery sampler. It turned out beautifully
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Thank you, Sheryl ❤
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