WIPocalypse 2018 kick-off and craft goals for 2018

I didn’t want to set too many ‘goals’ this year because I have a tendency not to meet them … instead I’m thinking of these goals being like the Pirate’s Code, they’re more ‘guidelines’ 😉 It’s my lofty wishlist, because it’s full of my crafty hopes and dreams for the year even though it’s unlikely most of these will be fulfilled 😉

Cross stitch and embroidery

I still have way too many WIPs not yet finished, so I’d like to whittle a few of those down by the end of 2018 – although I have a large number of new starts I want to do too. It’s going to be a fine balance of new fun projects as well as getting some older (and perhaps not-so-loved) ones done at the same time.  I won’t list out the new starts in detail (aside from a couple), but I’ll give details of existing WIPs and what progress I’d like to see on them.

Cross stitch WIPs:

Starfish by Mill Hill

Red (done in blues) by Mirabilia

Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor

Red Lace Sewing Case by The Drawn Thread

Before: Egyptian Garden Mandala by Chatelaine

Before

Before

1. √ DONE Starfish by Mill Hill – this is the first project I wanted to complete in 2018, and I put the final beads into the piece late last night, so one goal ticked off the list already
2. √ DONE Red by Mirabilia (in a blue conversion) – I’d like to totally finish this, and it’ll likely be my sole project for January as I’m going to a Mirabilia retreat early February and I’d love to make serious progress by then (getting her finished would be even more amazing, but highly unlikely)
3. √ DONE Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor – 20 hours (ie two rotation slots) or two larger motifs completed
4. Red Lace Sewing Case by The Drawn Thread – add the felt/beads and do the finishing … and finally gift it to the intended recipient
5. Egyptian Garden Mandala by Chatelaine – Finish the bottom half
6. Quaker Christmas II by ByGone Stitches – Complete the motifs underneath Let There Be Peace on Earth (ie up to the three sailing ships) … but if not, at least finish the Let There be Peace on Earth motif in the centre
7. When Witches Go Riding by The Prairie Schooler – I’d like to totally finish this, maybe doing some elements as part of the 2018 Hallowe’en SAL again
8. √ XS DONE Three Kings by Mill Hill/Jim Shore – I’d love to finish this … but if not, at least finish two of the three kings in the centre
9. √ DONE Progress on three other UFOs/WIPs, yet to be decided (but top contenders so far are Paris by Country Threads, Sailor’s Valentine by CA Wells, Cottage Etui by CA Wells, Pyramid Etui by CA Wells, English Garden Sampler by Teresa Wentzler, Raphael’s Raspberries by Forget-me-nots in Stitches, Spool Ornament by Sue Hillis √, Starry Snowman ornie √, and Hardanger scissor fob √)

Other needlework WIPs:

Flight of the Bumblebees by Ruth Schmuff

Hearts & Berries by Marg Low

Make a Christmas Wish by Marg Low

Travel Cord Buddy by Michelle Marvig

Oriental Poppy by Jane Nicholas

Pomegranates and Beetle by Jane Nicholas

Honesty and Heartsease by Jane Nicholas

Stumpwork Goldfish (EGA Group Correspondence Course)

Dragonfly by Jane Nicholas

1. √ DONE Flight of the Bumblebees by Ruth Schmuff – finish this by adding the embellishments
2. Hearts & Berries by Marg Low – I’d like to totally finish this into the bag
3. Make a Christmas Wish by Marg Low – I’d like to totally finish this and get it framed before Christmas
4. Travel Cord Buddy by Michelle Marvig – I’d like to totally finish this
5. Stumpwork – choose one old stumpwork UFO and make some progress

New starts:

1. √ DONE Start (and hopefully finish) at least two canvaswork projects – √: 1) Earth Spirit by Northern Pine Designs; 2) Holiday Square by Laura J Perin
2. Start a new HAED (or maybe two – one mini/QS and one larger one)
3. Choose a project (or two) that has specialty stitches – eg hardanger, band sampler

Crochet

My goals here are much loftier than the cross stitch goals – but probably important to keep the impetus up while I’m learning so that the lessons I learn are more ingrained into my brain cells!

1. √ DONE Finish my striped blanket
2. Make at least one (hopefully different) granny square or other blanket square every week
3. √ DONE Complete at least three months crochet projects from “Crate Crochet” (assuming I can afford to continue receiving them for that long and I deem them to be value for money)
4. √ DONE Make a coffee cup cuff
5. Small granny square pincushion
6. Make a shawl
7. √ DONE Start an Atlanticus (mandala) blanket
8. Restart my Spice of Life blanket

Quilting

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

I’m already laughing at my wishlist for the year … but if you don’t dream, you don’t achieve 😉

Stitchalongs/Challenges

While my intentions started off great in 2017, my follow-through was woeful. This year the goals are essentially the same, but with everything else in the previous list taking priority, these may or may not happen this year.

1. WIPocalypse 2018 – my favourite challenge every year, and probably the one thing that brings me back to my blog to post my update each month 😉
2. Smalls SAL – time to start working through some of my folders bulging to the brim of small freebie designs from last 10 years and actually stitch a few!
3. Hallowe’en Ornie SAL – I still have loads of Halloween stitch I want to do, including a bunch of new purchases last year by The Drawn Thread – even if I don’t manage the SAL all year, I’d like to make some progress here.
4. Stitch from Stash 2018 – My change in financial situation this year means being very frugal with my craft spending. I did a big splurge in September, which is finally due to arrive this month, so that’ll keep me happy for a while. The only items I should be buying this year is anything Limited Edition (but unlikely), and any DMC etc I run out of that I need to complete a project.