My 2017 Challenge.

I don't usually make new year resolutions, strive to achieve goals, or set challenges for myself.   I just go with the flow most of the time, because I know that life can get in the way, or sometimes I just lose my mojo for a while.   Ä few years ago I did set myself a goal - to work exclusively on my UFOs all year, and I was very pleased with myself at the end of that year to have finished most of the UFOs that I had lying around.  The exercise proved to me that I was capable of finishing projects if I set my mind to it, and since then, I have strived to keep working on my projects until they are finished, without getting sidetracked on other things.  There are still a few large cross stitch projects unfinished, but I will do them in time.  And a few patchwork projects that are barely started, but again, long term items that I am happy to pick up now and then and play with.

One of my long time favourite bloggers, Lyn at The Little Red Hen - wrote a post on her blog in January, saying that she and her daughter are going to try to learn a new stitch every day, from one of Lyn's embroidery books.  I thought this was an admirable challenge, but knew that I would fall short of stitching something 365 days in a row!  But as Lyn says, when you do a lot of embroidery, you tend to fall back on the same old half a dozen stitches because you know them so well.  When I was actively involved with the Embroiderers Guild (attending classes) I learnt an enormous amount of different ways to use stitches, but as I've done more patchwork in recent years, my stitching skills have fallen by the wayside.

So I have been thinking about Lyn's challenge, and how I can suit it to myself.  Instead of a stitch a day, which I know I would NOT be able to keep up with! I am going to attempt one stitch per week.  I looked through all my books and booklets on stitching tutorials, and decided to use one that has 50 stitches in it, which I think is more than enough for the average stitcher.  I will do one a week, and by the end of the year, I should have worked my way through that book and have something to show for it! I have found some even weave fabric in my stash, got out floss, needles, and scissors, and have put them all in a needlework roll so I don't have to go looking for anything when I want to work on my stitches.  So I have six weeks to catch up on, and hope to have them done tomorrow, as realistically a line of basic stitching doesn't take that long...we'll see!  I will post photos of my progress here.