A New Year

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I am so excited about the new year and what it will hold in terms of stitching. This year, 2014, was my year to try new things. I think I accomplished this pretty well, although I do admit that I did not find time to do all of the things I wanted. But I tried my hand at Hardanger, Biscornu, and stocking finishing. (Yes, I had completed other stockings in the past, but they were not finished in the same way or as nicely as the one I made for Adrienne.) I made a Mason jar and a decorative pillow. I stitched my first Reproduction Antique Sampler. And I learned how to grid large projects. I didn’t get to try out Assisi embroidery, because I couldn’t find a pattern I liked. But I think that was about the only thing I wanted to accomplish this year and didn’t.

So what’s in store for 2015? LOTS! First of all, I have joined two groups on Facebook designed to help stitchers use up their stash and say no to new things. This will hurt me as a shop owner – I have to hope that not all stitchers adopt this plan! But for myself personally, I do have way too much in the way of stitching stash, and some of it needs to go. There are about 500 of us so far who are pledging not to buy ANY new stitching items in 2015. But each person does get to list exceptions. My exceptions are pretty simple – floss if I run out of a color part way through a project, and my current magazine subscriptions. I don’t want to cancel those because so many of them offer charts that are presented over several issues. So my first goal is to use up my stash and not add anything new to it. My second goal is to finish something new every month. I don’t care what it is, or what size it is. I don’t care who it’s for or whether it is new or an old UFO. I just want to complete one project every month. I have so many kits that came free with The World of Cross Stitching Magazine, I think some of those need to be tackled. Since A Summer Ball is already gridded and kitted up, I plan to start on that and get as much done as possible. That’s my third goal. But I am not going to worry if it is not completed in 2015. Depleting my stash is more important, and my time is so limited right now. And my fourth and final goal is to maintain my blog consistently. There have been times through the year when I have gone weeks without posting, and even weeks without stitching. I don’t want that to happen in 2015.

So, to recap, my goals for 2015 are these:

1) Use up current stash; no new buying for one year
2) Finish one project per month
3) Have one large project on the go (A Summer Ball)
4) Blog at least once a week

Happy New Year!

XXX
Carrie