It's a new year and time to start blogging again!

Happy New Year! We had a fabulous Christmas and trip to the US. Now we're back in Australia and the kids went back to school this week so I'm starting up my blog again.

It's wonderful having a fresh start to things. It gives you the freedom to re-examine where you are and how you've been going and to make changes to the way you've been doing things. That's where I am now. Not only in relation to crafts but also in relation to general household organisation (which is a constant uphill battle) and other personal goals.

So I took a piece of paper and wrote '2010 goals' on the top of it and started a list. Some of the things on the list are going to be hard such as putting photos in albums (there is a 10 year backlog of these), learning how to use new video-making software and making a movie out of our holiday videos, and figuring out what's wrong with the stereo and fixing it or getting it fixed. Maybe that last one won't be so hard because I just have to find someone else to do it.

Crafts are on the list and this year I'd like to work on and finish 2-4 non cross-stitch projects that I have on hand. I've already made my daughter's just completed 12 x 12 rug hooking into a pillow for her. That wasn't really my craft but I guess it was my first 'finish' for 2010. I'm also going to go through the craft cupboard and straighten it out and re-organise it. I'm looking forward to doing a couple of smaller quilt projects this year. I know I have a bunch of bright flannels to make a flannel quilt for my daughter Jade. There's also a summer dress for her with a gathered bodice which only needs a back seam and spaghetti straps to finish it. That should take hardly any time to finish and I should do it soon while the weather is warm. I'll list and prioritise these things over the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime I've also been rug hooking. The kids and I all bought rug hook kits at Michael's in the US. They are so cheap there. My kit is 16 x 32". It's of a lighthouse. I've done over half of it since we came home in early January. I haven't worked on it for a week or so because it's just too hot to be handling wool and having a hot wool rug on my legs. But I also haven't been doing any other crafting either so I have to get back into the swing of things.

Anyway, here is the project:



and here is how it will look when finished:



I'm going to make it into a wall-hanging.