Last year in the craziness of all my teaching and travel I decided that for this year I would focus on me. Stitching for me, organising and nurturing me. By the end of the 2023 I had no more to give with all of the classes I taught, travel to different areas, shop work and general life. I was empty. Unable to think up new designs or even stitch much. So I decided to change up 2024.
I have taught the one class I was booked for this year. I will be attending some classes this year mainly for my Japanese silk embroidery and I have an exhibition piece and class design I am working on. But other than that this year is for me. For me to work on whatever piece(s) I want to. I have a large stash of want to stitches. Due to the increasing workload of owning my own business as well as teaching my own designs other stitching has been neglected. I see stitching designs and taking classes with other tutors as professional development, a chance to hone my skills and learn new things. I have loved teaching embroidery to others and feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunities I have had to do so. But I need to regroup and get some different stuff done.
So for 2024 I have come up with some new ground rules...
I use a Book of Days from Needlework Press to record my daily stitching. Everytime I finish something I get a little colourful star. I have recorded my stitching in these books since 2020. I have noticed when I flicked through that my finishes are disappearing. Some of this has to do with the scale of the pieces I work on as I love large technical pieces. But I also stitch on smalls, I just don't seem to finish them.
Last year whilst teaching and thinking about my stash I decided to make up an inventory so I could work out time to stitch the pieces I really love but are currently languishing in my cupboards. I made up a word document with one item per page which includes a picture, name and designer. It is quite large. Then I categorised them into want to stitch immediately, mid term, eventually, don't care.
This year I have used that document to make up a page for each month of what to stitch on. It is very informal and contains either the name of a project alone or with a specific task to do that month. If I don't do it, that is fine, it gets moved to the next month or in a few months time. I have also given myself a target of 4 finishes each quarter of the year.
My work room has always been described as chaotic. In truth it was never large enough for its purpose and so it has never been properly organised, at this point I am not sure it ever will be. I have been looking for some patterns I have not seen for years and have discovered more stash. Oh dear, lots are partially stitched and now I have a new idea - no new starts until I have finished 8 projects. This may sound restrictive and a large goal but I really have a lot of projects started and am allowed to work on anything that is started, so my choices are many and varied.
A finish may be one little Just Nan mouse or something large like my English Band Sampler. They are weighted the same in regards to finishing. Each gets a little star in my book. I love those little stars!
I was feeling quite overwhelmed about the size of my stash and how little of it I had managed to achieve until I looked through my filing cabinet for that pattern I can't locate. I use a wooden filing cabinet to put all of my design work into. I design on scrap paper and use manilla folders to hold everything together. I realised there were more than 40 original designs in there that have been stitched and offered for classes and that is where I have spent all of my stitching time. I have more design work to do in the future but for now I want to make some room in my cupboards by stitching the kits I have.
So, that is how I am hoping to stitch my stash. There really are some stunning pieces in there and last night I found 3 I want to start, so I'm after 24 finishes! We'll see, as long as I am making progress I am happy as I don't want my stash to turn into a collection of kits. Where's the fun in that?
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