The Bane of My Existence

Some All of you may not remember me ... I signed up in 2010 (wow!) and tried for about 5 minutes to finish 15 projects. I failed miserably. So miserably that I participated failed yet another challenge in which my local needlepoint shop had a UFO finishing contest. I came in ... last, yes last. You can't be in the game if you don't even pick up ONE project and STITCH ONE STITCH. I have plenty of excuses. Real ones, not like the dog ate my projects and thus, I will be turning in my things late. No, to paraphrase the Queen when she remarked what a bad year it was when Charles and Diana split, 2011 was an "annus horribilis" for the family and myself (strange, saying that Latin phrase out loud conveys the horribleness of it all; typing it out makes it look like you had to prep for that "certain procedure" that no one likes to talk about). In a year that you attend the funerals of a 17-year-old, an 18-month-old, a 3-year-old, and your husband's best friend, well, it's horribilis alright. Needlework didn't even make it to the proverbial backseat of my life; it was left at the curb while we tried to help friends and family pick up the shattered pieces of their lives.

To say 2012 can't get here fast enough is an understatement! Imagine my delight when I saw that the challenge continues to 2012. However, my list is going to be kept to one project and one project only. I have done the math and can justify this so I can remain a part of the group! I will be celebrating the anniversary of starting this project 11 years ago come January. I finished two projects on my list before the wheels fell off the stitching cart (Polar Bear Snow Globe and Winter House, both by Bent Creek). So, if I take the 11, add the 2, that makes 13 so then I can just pull another two off my list if I finish the "bane of my existence": Lionesses by Stoney Creek (Stoney Creek - the two words in the stitching language that will cause gasps to be heard from those faint of stitching heart). One lioness is looking out across the Serengeti -- it took 11 years for her to get there so she's enjoying the view. The other, well, she can't look anywhere because she doesn't have a head. This, eventually, will be a gift for my son who asked quite politely for it when he was in first grade. He graduates in 2013. I would like to have it done so he can take it to college and have a reminder not to procrastinate. I asked him if I could just stitch a little red on the mouth of the lioness that has a head and make it look like the whole circle of life thing but he won't hear of it.

I'm officially proclaiming 2012 to be annus mirabilis - year of wonders - and the year of the Lionesses. Happy New Year to one and all!
Kathy (aka Funkarella)