I've got the calligraphy pens out today, working an invitation suite for a friend. Still managed to make it out for a walk - it's gorgeous here in New York - 70 degrees and sunny. After the mild winter we've had, it hardly feels like we deserve weather this great, but perhaps that's just the midwest in me. 

We went to the main branch brooklyn library today with a couple of friends. I finally got a library card and checked out a stack for little r. So far, Babies is her favorite.

I've had this crochet ball project in my files for a long time, but I just found this picture on From Scandinavia with Love and I love the jumbo ball. It seems like the same idea, just with a much thicker yarn. That patchwork snake is also amazing. 

Like most moms-to-be, in the weeks before little R was born I got hit with a serious nesting urge. Most people talk about cleaning their house top to bottom, scrubbing bathroom floors, dusting corners that never see the light of day. I am not a cleaner by nature and though I did get a little twinge of it in those final weeks, my nesting manifested itself mostly in crafting. In fact, I think about half of the current to-do projects I have were started in those final weeks (still languishing almost a year later). 

One thing I did manage to finish before R was born was this little cross-stitch sampler for her room. It was one of the last things I started and I thought for sure I wouldn't get it done in time. Luckily she was two weeks late and I had it finished & framed before she arrived. 

The pattern is modified from the E. Zierener sampler from 1885 that I found in this book I picked up at a used bookstore years ago.  

New, one of a kind mixed flower sets in the shop. 

Should I be embarrassed by this mess? Working on some updates in the shop.  

As the title of this blog suggests, this is the year I make good on all the craft projects I've started and abandoned. I have boxes of half-knit sweaters, of pattern pieces cut out but not sewn, of patchwork quilts pieced but not quilted. I have notebooks filled with sketches of projects I want to start - and in most cases have even gone out to buy the materials, only to be sidetracked onto something else, leaving the original idea in the dust. 
Case in point: I set the (probably unrealistic) goal of finishing my first needlepoint project in time for my daughter's first birthday, which is now just a few short weeks away. If I really dedicated myself to it, I could probably accomplish it, but once again, my attention has been diverted. As Spring looms, and R's wardrobe shrinks as she grows, I decided what I really should be doing is knitting her a lightweight sweater to keep the chill away. The needlepoint can wait.