WOO HOO! I can’t believe it, but I actually managed to decrease my total number of WIPs (works in progress) by ONE last year!! Hey, that’s realllllly good for me as most years I end up with more than I started. 
On top of that, of the 21 new starts I had in 2008, I actually finished 12 of them within the same year which is also equally amazing for me! 
In looking over my spreadsheet, I definitely have some older, more long-standing WIPs that I need to pull out and show some love to in the near future. One of my stitching goals for 2009 is to knock some more off my current WIP list and cut back on the number of new starts. Ideally, I would like to get my outstanding WIPs down to 15 or less which means finishing at least 7 more projects that I start in 2009.
There is a tradition among the online stitching community of having “Guilt-Free January”. During the month of January, you are free to start as many new projects as you like free of all guilt. I haven’t actually decided yet if I’m going to participate this year. I have plenty of projects I really love already started. I think I want to focus on them for a while instead, especially since I’m sure I’ll be starting a couple of new class projects in early February when I go on the stitching cruise with a group from my LNS.
In case you are interested in a bit more detail of how my 2008 stitching year went, here are the numbers & info:
| WIPs Beginning 2008 | 23 |
| New Starts in 2008 | 21 |
| Finished/Retired in 2008 | 22 |
| WIPs Beginning 2009 | 22 |
2008 Finishes:
Quaker Quarterly Exchange – Ackworth
B is for Bunny – The Sweetheart Tree
Tiny Little Quaker - Papillon Creations
Stitcher’s Chicken – Sisters & Best Friends
Broom Hilda’s Hat - Margaret Bendig
Hannah Beeby test swatch (finished into floss tag)
Dazzle – Margaret Bendig (needlepoint)
Lilies Quilt Corner – SHEAR Creations (needlepoint)
La Petite Holidays Halloween – Curtis Boehringer (shop model for LNS)
Samplar Noel – Fancy Works
A Christmas Wish – Blue Ribbon Designs
Gingerbread Cottage – Country Cottage Needleworks
Coffin Buzz - Plum Street Samplers
Peace – Elizabeth’s Designs
November Twirls – Bent Creek (adapted to say Autumn Twirls)
Where There is Hope – Little House Needleworks
Christmas Tree – Jane Chandler
Snowman – Prairie Schooler
Ellen’s Hat in Noro yarn (knitting) – all 3 hats are pictured together (l to r)
Ellen’s Hat in Paton’s SWS (knitting)
Ellen’s Hat in Bernat Satin (knitting)
Hopefully I can have an equally productive 2009 with my stitching. Of course, since getting my Kindle, I haven’t been stitching nearly as much as I’ve been reading.
It looks like you made a lot of progress this year, Mel! Thanks for posting your spreadsheet. I haven’t really used one in the past and it’s nice to see how someone has theirs set up. If you don’t mind, I might use yours as a template to get one started for myself.
Did you just say stitching cruise???????????!!!!!!! Oh god……………………….