2012 new starts & goals

Well... apparently it is 2012. Where does the time go!
I have many new things to share with you all and then I have my goals of course.
First up is a project I am just loving and am so excited that Vonna let me know about the SAL. It's a cottage stitch-a-long from Country Cottage Needleworks. The SAL is sadly closed (on the blog) but you could always just decide to do it anyways! :)
These are sooo not my kind of patterns. But for whatever reason I still like them. They are so cutsey which I often don't do much of. But I love them anyways. I decided to do them on 40ct (over 2 threads with one thread) to keep the final size down. I'm doing all 12 of them (as they are released each month) on one piece of fabric (three to a row). I am just loving this 40ct linen it's so soft and nice, easy to stitc with surprisingly. Haven't had to pull the magnifier once. Here is my January start:

From there I did have another start called the Raven by L-D-Da. No pics yet as I frogged almost all of what I'd done out when I realized I had an error. It's on a nice brown 30ct (I think it's Weeks Dye Works) the linen is a quite uneven and causing me some problems (and I'm using silks so it's a touch slippery on the thread). What should be an easy project turned into a bit of a nightmare. But I'll get it back on track and show you progress soon!

Right before Christmas I finished another Little Needlehouse Works ornament "Presents under the tree" (I think is what it is called). A fun, quick, cute stitch. Forgive me for the crappy photo. Here she be:

I've been shopping a lot online and on ebay recently as I've stopped shopping at my LNS. It's been great, good deals and all, good customer service. And it's forcing me to plan my projects a bit ahead as I have to wait to get materials etc. Amoungst all the many things I've bought recently was 150 DMC skeins from a lady who used to have a store. 150 skeins on the table looked too fun! I almost hated to sort them and put them in their respective number homes. But here's a picture of the fun that came before the sorting:

Moving onto the goals section.
I did really, really well on my 2011 goals. I finished them all except for 1/2 a page on Dragons. Plus I fit in about 10 extra projects!!! I had 16 finishes this year, 3 1/2 pages of dragons, 2 pages of Soulmates. Not too shappy. I'll post a slideshow tomorrow that has all of the 2012 finishes in it.

So onto 2012. What is the list you ask?
Well it's gonna be a bit more encouraging than last year, as now I know I can do a bit more. But leaving room for those flexible times in ornaments and mill hill kits.

Of course we start with: 
- Judgement Dragons: finish 4 1/2 pages (complete row)
- Swan Songs (HAED: finish 1 page
- Soulmates (HAED): finish bottom row of partial pages (3 remain)
- Cottages (Country Cottage Needleworks): finish all 12 months
- Raven (L-D-Da): finish project
- Once Upon a Tree (Jeanette Douglass): finish project (not yet started)
- Counting Bats (Just Nan): finish project

- Rose SK (HAED): finish project (1 1/2 pages remain)


WIPs I should work on but am not making goals for: 
- Romantic Rose Garden (Chatelaine): (1 of 9 pages complete)
- Winter Woods (Mill Hill kit) (1/3 complete)
- Teal Mask by (Mill Hill kit) (1/2 complete)

UFO's that I am just ignoring still:
 - Elfland by HAED (1 of 3 pages)
- Castles in the Air by Papillion Creations (6 of 24 sections)
- Checkers the Pumpkin by Kreinik
- Faerie Bride QS by Heaven & Earth Designs (0 of 12 pages)
- Argh Pirate by Sue Hillis Designs


There you have it. The list. It seems like a lot at first glance but I know it's doable. Just got to stay committed to Dragons a lot and work the other stuff in. :)

Hope you're all enjoying the beginning of 2012.
I do have some future fun stuff happening. My stitching area is being expanded about 1/3 of it's size, and in doing it I have to reorganize all my stuff... what does that mean for all of you?
MORE GIVEAWAYS!
I'm gonna have a fair bit of stuff to get rid of me thinks. So stick around so you can enter. :)