Cross-Stitch Dilemma - Update

First of all, I wanted to thank all of the stitching bloggers who answered my suggested "Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week." I carefully read everyone's thoughts on the topic and have convinced myself to try a stitching rotation. However, I would especially like to thank Erica of Moria's Little World for linking to the Shakespeare's Peddler Website and the wonderful article entitled "No More UFOs".

Perhaps it is in my nature, I am a librarian after all, but I function best when I am organized and have a system. Therefore, once I had decided that I wanted to try rotating my cross-stitch projects, I had to get organized. First, I reorganized my stash. This helped me to get a good idea of what kinds of patterns I had, how much thread, etc. While doing this, I also jotted down some ideas for my rotation system. However, it wasn't until I read "No More UFOs" that anything really called to me. In principal it is a 10-hour rotation system and I am sure many of you are already familiar with it, so I won't go into any details here. (If you aren't familiar with it, read the article!)

So, I did what the article recommends: I pulled out ALL of my UFOs. Luckily I only had two of them in addition to "Cat in Garden." I then created an Excel spread sheet that gave each piece a number in the stitching rotation and a list of about 10 others I haven't started, but want to put into the rotation eventually. Finally, I also began a little "Stitch Diary" in Word to track other developments.

Since I had already done about 15 hours on "Passing Admirers," I went ahead and started working on the second project, "Siamese Kitty." I began it back in September of 1999 and actually thought I had lost the pattern! As luck would have it, during my Great Stash Reorganization last week I found it. In addition to "Cat in Garden," I have a small "Garfield" design in the rotation. I love Garfield, but after working on this pattern for an afternoon, it just didn't do anything for me. If it weren't for this "NO UFO" mentality I would probably never finish it.

Anyway, I am anxious to see how this whole rotation thing will work out for me and I just want to say thanks again to everyone who answered the question and gave me a bit of much needed guidance!

Update on "Garfield": I guess the Aida cloth that I had it on was kind of shitty, because I put a big rip in it when I was tightening it in the hoop. So I conceded defeat and threw it away. I didn't like that pattern anyway!