2018 WIPocalypse year in review

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! 😉