It’s that time when we start to plan out the year and plot out all those wishlists of lofty goals for our crafts. Mine are no less mental than normal and I’m already laughing heartily inside at all the items I want to tick off my list this year. In a nutshell, though, it all comes down to wanting to whittle down some older WIPs/UFOs while still having the flexibility to add some new projects into the list to provide continued interest and motivation.

I’ve just created a planning document mapping out all my SAL due dates and details, and information for upcoming face-to-face stitching groups … all I need to do now is to not let life take over and to actually remember to fill them in each month 😉

Anyway, here are my lofty goals, along with piccies to make it more interesting (while also giving me a visual kick in the pants as to how long some of these pictures have been around for without changing in the slightest) {hanging head in shame}.

WIP start/finish stats:

Stitching/needlework:

45 = Number of WIPs/UFOs @ 1 January 2019 (!!!)

Crochet:

6 = Number of WIPs @ 1 January 2019

Cross Stitch goals

1. Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor – I’d love to finish this one
2. Egyptian Garden Mandala by Chatelaine – Entirely finish the stitching of at least one full corner (ie one full page of the chart)
3. Red Lace Sewing Case by The Drawn Thread – add the felt/beads and do the finishing … and finally gift it to the intended recipient
4. Three Kings by Mill Hill/Jim Shore – finish the three kings in the centre
5. Quaker Christmas II by ByGone Stitches – finish the Let There be Peace on Earth motif in the centre
6. Progress on at least three other WIPs/UFOs
7. Ronald McDonald House charity XS
8. 19 in 19 – Start a new HAED and stitch 19 colours on it
9. 19 in 19 – 19 new starts
10. 19 in 19 – 19 finishes
11. 19 in 19 – some progress on 19 existing WIPs carried over from 2018
12. Stitch a charity quilt block
13. Stitch 12 Christmas ornaments

WIPs as they look today:

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Embroidery (non-XS) goals

1. Travel Cord Buddy by Michelle Marvig – I’d like to finish putting this together
2. Hearts & Berries by Marg Low – I’d like to finish putting this together
3. Make a Christmas Wish by Marg Low – I’d like to finish putting this together and framed before Christmas
4. Stumpwork – choose one old stumpwork UFO and make some progress
5. Start a new project from Inspirations magazines
6. Make some progress on one of the 2018 patchwork retreat projects

WIPs as they look today:

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Crochet

1. Make a 1920s-style hat for the Napier Art Deco Festival
2. Complete three crochet projects from “Crate Crochet”
3. Start a shawl
4. Finish my Atlanticus (mandala) blanket
5. Restart my Spice of Life blanket
6. Start a Briar Rose blanket
7. Start a top (clothing)
8. Start a crochet hook case
9. Start a blanket for Brenda & Nigel
10. Make a charity blanket for SPCA
11. Start the Nuts About Squares CAL

WIPs as they look today:

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Quilting/Sewing

1. Make a small pincushion
2. Start a queen-sized bed patchwork quilt for myself
3. Start the Piece and Plenty BOM quilt
4. Make a sewing machine cover
5. Make a summer nightie
6. Make a top (clothing)
7. Choose three Pinterest projects to try (eg Project bags, Purses/pouches)

Stitchalongs/Challenges

1. JCS Christmas Ornie Facebook SAL
2. WIPocalypse
3. Hallowe’en ornie SAL
4. Gifted Gorgeousness
5. Stitch from Stash on Facebook
6. JK’s Groupies (AU/NZ) on Facebook – “19 in 19” (my choices are 19 new starts, 19 finishes, and use 19 colours in a project)
7. JK’s Groupies (AU/NZ) on Facebook – monthly challenges

It’s been a year with less stitching done than normal, as my foray into the world of crochet has taken over my crafting mojo (but I’m not complaining). This post is a summary of my progress over the year, along with how I went with my 2018 goals.

WIP start/finish stats:

45 = Number of WIPs/UFOs @ 1 January 2018 (yikes!)
– 7 = Number of WIPs/UFOs completed in 2018
+ 1 = Number of new WIPs added in 2018
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39 = WIPs/UFOs balance

WIP finishes:

The seven WIPs I managed to finish in 2018 were:

1. Mill Hill: Starfish
2. Homespun Elegance: Starry Snowman
3. Cindy Valentine: Bee Keeper Scissor Keeper & Fob
4. Hardanger scissor fob
5. Sue Hillis Designs: Spool Ornament
6. Mirabilia: Red (done in blues)
7. Ruth Schmuff Designs: Flight of the Bumblebees

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New starts in 2018:

Out of all of the new starts I had in 2018, only one remains a WIP at the end of the year:

1. Prairie Schooler: Eeek from Bump in the Night (finished)
2. Lizzie*Kate: Spooky time freebie (finished)
3. Lizzie*Kate: Very Merry ornie (finished)
4. The Little Stitcher: Warm Hands, Warm Heart ornie (finished)
5. Blue Ribbon Designs: Frosty Friends ornie (finished)
6. Needle Delights Originals: Double Delights – Charbleu (finished)
7. Anna-Marie Winter: Medley Miniature (canvaswork kit) (finished)
8. Laura J Perin: Holiday Square freebie (finished)
9. Northern Pine Designs: Earth Spirit (finished)
10. Laura J Perin: Seaside Blues (finished)
11. Periwinkle Promises: Blueberry needle case (finished)
12. Elizabeth’s Designs: Ladybug (finished – just need to attach the charm)
13. Rovaris: Joy ornament (finished)
14. Pickle Barrel Designs: Special Delivery (finished)
15. Nora Corbett: Dragonfly (Retreat project) – WIP

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Other progress on WIPs:

While I didn’t manage to get these projects finished this year, I did manage a bit of progress – not sure they’ll be finished in 2019 either, but I’ll eventually keep chipping away at them slowly but surely.

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2018 Goals

I didn’t want to set too many ‘goals’ this year because I have a tendency not to meet them … instead I thought of these goals being like the Pirate’s Code, ie more like ‘guidelines’ 😉 It was a lofty wishlist, full of my crafty hopes and dreams for the year – I managed to meet a fair few of them, but there were also many that weren’t touched …

Cross stitch and embroidery

Cross stitch WIPs:

1. √ DONE Starfish by Mill Hill – goal was to complete it
2. √ DONE Red by Mirabilia (in a blue conversion) – goal was to complete it
3. √ DONE Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor – goal was 20 hours (ie two rotation slots) or two larger motifs completed, and I managed to completed the entire bottom section
4. X FAIL Red Lace Sewing Case by The Drawn Thread – goal was to add the felt/beads and do the finishing – I didn’t touch it
5. X FAIL Egyptian Garden Mandala by Chatelaine – goal was to finish the bottom half – but I did manage to make some progress on one corner
6. X FAIL Quaker Christmas II by ByGone Stitches – goal was to at least finish the Let There be Peace on Earth motif in the centre – I didn’t touch it
7. X FAIL When Witches Go Riding by The Prairie Schooler – goal was to finish this – I didn’t touch it
8. √ XS DONE Three Kings by Mill Hill/Jim Shore – goal was to finish two of the three kings in the centre
9. √ DONE Progress on three other UFOs/WIPs – 1) Spool Ornament by Sue Hillis; 2) Starry Snowman ornie; and 3) Hardanger scissor fob.

Other needlework WIPs:

1. √ DONE Flight of the Bumblebees by Ruth Schmuff – finish this by adding the embellishments
2. X FAIL Hearts & Berries by Marg Low – goal was to finish this into the bag – I didn’t touch it
3. X FAIL Make a Christmas Wish by Marg Low – goal was to finish this and get it framed before Christmas – I didn’t touch it
4. X FAIL Travel Cord Buddy by Michelle Marvig – goal was to finish this – I didn’t touch it
5. X FAIL Stumpwork – choose one old stumpwork UFO and make some progress – I didn’t touch it

New starts:

1. √ DONE Start and finish at least two canvaswork projects – 1) Earth Spirit by Northern Pine Designs; 2) Holiday Square by Laura J Perin
2. X FAIL Start a new HAED (or maybe two – one mini/QS and one larger one) – I didn’t start one, although it’s kitted up ready to go
3. √ DONE Choose a project (or two) that has specialty stitches – eg hardanger, band sampler – Blueberry Sampler by Periwinkle Promises

Crochet

My goals here were much loftier to keep the momentum up while learning so that the lessons I learnt at the end of 2017 were more ingrained into my brain cells! Surprisingly I didn’t do to badly here!

1. √ DONE Finish my striped blanket
2. X FAIL Make at least one (hopefully different) granny square or other blanket square every week – started this but became bored quickly … I did make enough to put together for a charity blanket, though, at some point
3. √ DONE Complete at least three months crochet projects from “Crate Crochet” – I think I managed to complete five of the main projects and all of the small extra projects in the beginners boxes
4. √ DONE Make a coffee cup cuff
5. X FAIL Small granny square pincushion – the crochet is finished, but it still needs to be made into a pincushion, and I just realised the centre flower is wrong and needs to be redone, so it’s back in the “failure” bucket!
6. X FAIL Make a shawl – I didn’t start one
7. √ DONE Start an Atlanticus (mandala) blanket – this was my highlight of 2018, being confident enough to tackle this one, a lofty goal indeed! It should be finished in 2019.
8. X FAIL Restart my Spice of Life blanket

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Quilting

1. X FAIL Make some small pincushions
2. X FAIL  very simple goal here of starting a queen-sized bed patchwork quilt for myself
3. X FAIL Maybe start my Piece and Plenty quilt
4. X FAIL Maybe start my The Blue Collection quilt (but highly unlikely)

Stitchalongs/Challenges

I think the two SALs that I did do only lasted 2-3 months for me – my intentions were good, but life just got in the way this year. Hopefully 2019 will be the year where I do much better!

1. √ DONE WIPocalypse 2018 – my favourite challenge every year, I didn’t manage to post every month, but I did still continue posting
2. X FAIL Smalls SAL – I didn’t do anything for this SAL
3. X FAIL Hallowe’en Ornie SAL – I only managed two months of the SAL this year, which is woeful
4. X FAIL Stitch from Stash 2018 – I didn’t keep track of my spending this year, but definitely had some splurges in sales.

As expected my goal achievements were definitely not great … but I enjoyed everything that I did do this year. Having the goals helped me to focus during the year to see how I was tracking, so it’s definitely something worth doing for 2019 – it made me have a flurry of activity towards the last quarter of the year when I realised how few of my goals had been achieved! 😉