WIPocalypse 2025 – end of year recap of goals

28 December, 2025 Anne S

Thanks to moving a lot of WIP charts into Pattern Keeper this year, and using a tracking spreadsheet I purchased on Etsy, I can view stats for the year on all of my projects which I find absolutely fascinating. I didn’t actually meet all of my goals this year, but I’m still really happy with my progress, considering this is my first ‘real’ year back stitching again since 2020 yay! (I was also juggling with my main current hobby of cardmaking as well.)

2025 Craft Goals:

Stitching:

*DONE* ❤ Finish three stitching projects (at least one should be a current WIP)
1. Mini Sunflowers by HAED
2. All You Need is Love by Designworks
3. Almost Halloween by The Drawn Thread
*FAIL* Finish Mill Hill’s Three Kings – soooo close to a finish, though – I somehow mislaid the container with the final colour of beads to be done, and I sent one small star treasure flying by accident … so I sucked up my pride and ordered replacements – sadly the shop I ordered from won’t start shipping until 5 Jan. I guess this will be my first finish for 2026 – sooo disappointed, as I was so determined to finish this year waaahhhhh 😦
*DONE* ❤ Hit the 80% completion mark for HAED’s Mini Sunflowers – in fact I hit 100% and it was my first finish of the year
*FAIL* Finish six pages of HAED’s 2025 SAL Jellyworld (this might be a lofty goal) – Cancelled goal because I decided early on not to start it and instead focus mostly on existing WIPs for the year (I felt the timelines meant I would only be able to stitch on this one project all year, which I didn’t want to do)
*PARTIAL FAIL* Participate in WIPGO (at least one hour or one length of thread progress on each project) – managed to participate, but only completed 18 squares out of 25, 7 projects not touched
*DONE* ❤ Make progress on one canvaswork project (new start) – Colour Delights: Seafoam by Needle Delights Originals/Kathy Rees – I also managed to finish this on 15 September 2025
*FAIL* Stitch four Christmas ornaments – not a single ornament was started
*FAIL* Finish-finish at least three items in my finishing pile (make into pincushions, ornaments, framing etc) – not a single item was finished … although I did spend a lot of time thinking about it and planning 😉

Crochet:

*FAIL* Make progress on a crochet blanket or shawl – I didn’t crochet at all this year, so an epic fail on all three goals
*FAIL* Finish at least one project from Crate Crochet (WIP or new start)
*FAIL* Finish at least one project from Crochet Society (WIP or new start)

Sewing:

*DONE* ❤ Start a bed quilt (started the mystery block of the month quilt for Cali & Co fabric bundle by Coriander Quilts, but using my cool-toned Tilda stash instead)
*DONE* ❤ Make progress on at least three class/kit sewing projects (eg Tilda Club, Fee’s SALs, Kitty Rose kits – WIPs or new starts)
– Sewing Day Tote Bag by Fee Fee & Me (sew-along project) – fully finished
– Windy Walk project bag by Kitty Rose – fully finished
– Tilda Club, Issue 36 – fully finished
*FAIL* Finish at least one existing sewing WIP

Other crafts:

*FAIL* Complete at least one cartonnage project
*FAIL* Start at least one mosaic project
*DONE* ❤ Complete at least two cards per week

The actual progress stats for this year are followed by project photos.

I started 7 new projects, and finished 8 stitching projects (4 older WIPs and 4 new starts). I worked on 20 different stitching projects, and even though my stitching was a bit erratic during the year I still managed to complete 43,766 stitches! The projects that had the most stitches entered were Three Kings by Mill Hill, followed closely by Mini Sunflowers by HAED.

2025 Finishes

Stitching finishes

Sewing finishes

Some progress made on these projects during 2025

New starts in 2025, not completed

Works in progress not touched in 2025

Topiary Tree Bookmark by Textile Heritage

Finishes, Mill Hill

Cabana Beach

24 December, 2025 Anne S

This project has been one of the most enjoyable stitches this year – the easy to stitch blocks of colour, along with the beautiful bright hues of the threads made it such a joy to work on. I’m kinda sad it’s finished now, but on a positive note it means I can get it framed up to go on my wall for the new year! 😀

“Cabana Beach” by Mill Hill
Started 29 January 2025 – Finished 23 December 2025
Stitched with kit threads and beads, but I substituted the perforated paper for 28ct linen

Crafts - Needlework

Two finishes

20 December, 2025 Anne S

Woohoo, getting close to the end of 2025, and I’ve managed to finish two more projects over the last week or so.

The first one has a lot of sentimental memories attached to it, as I purchased it during a visit to Paris with my Mum. I rarely do surface embroidery, so I need more practice as this one really challenged me – I have more kits in my stash, though, so maybe I need to prioritise at least one of those for my 2026 new start stitching plans.

“Août” by Un Chat dans l’aiguille
Purchased as a kit from Le Bonheur Des Dames in Paris during a visit
Started May 2020 – Finished 10 December 2025

The next one really makes me smile – the Supernatural TV show has been a firm favourite of mine ever since I watched the first episode years ago, and I regularly re-watch the seasons over and over again. I don’t often gravitate to ‘character’ designs, but I just couldn’t go past this one … Castiel especially makes me smile in this. I think this may end up as a panel insert on the front of a project bag, as I have some fabric scraps with a Supernatural theme on it … time will tell.

“Supernatural” by Pixel In Stitches
Started 20 January 2025 – Finished 19 December 2025
Stitched on 32ct hand-dyed Boo! linen by Silkweaver using recommended DMC threads

Finishes

Girls’ Night Out

8 December, 20258 December, 2025 Anne S

I managed to finish this fun project on 29 October after regularly doing 100 stitches here and there for various stitching challenges. It was such an enjoyable project to work on! I’ll likely turn it into a flat-fold for display next Halloween. The bottom photo is the closest to the fabric colour – it was a hard one to photograph!

“Girls’ Night Out” by Just Another Button Company
(free chart with purchase of the button pack)
Stitched on 30ct Weeks Dye Works Lilac linen, using mostly threads as charted
Started 14 February 2025 – Finished 29 October 2025

Challenges & SALs, WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse – November 2025

8 December, 2025 Anne S

Ooops, I totally forgot to finish and schedule this post for my November stitching recap, but better than never right?

Stitching progress:

First up I had a **finish** during the month again! Girls’ Night Out by Just Another Button Company

Cabana Beach by Mill Hill

Hard to see the progress of this one, but I now have a yacht on the horizon and the beach umbrella has started to get filled in. Sadly I realised I need to frog some of the magenta thread in the centre door before I can continue to fill in the white trim, but it’s getting pretty close now to being ready for the beading to commence. I think this may be one of my focus pieces in the new year to get it finished.

Supernatural by PixelsStitches

Another one getting quite close to a finish now – one more rotation slot or WIP Warriors challenge and it’ll be completed yay.

Three Kings by Mill Hill/Jim Shore

Getting oh so close to a finish now – other than the remaining few hundred beads in the border (which has been the focus in November), I just have to stitch the stars and add the three ceramic beads. I’m really hoping to meet my goal of finishing this piece in 2025 – surely I can manage that!? (talking to myself there haha)

Periwinkle Promises – Stitching is the Berries

I powered on through in November to finally finish all the Queen stitches in the outer border, phew! Still a few to do in the berries sitting among the blackwork, but the biggest hurdle of all is out of the way woohoo!!

Shepherd’s Bush – Finch Song

I managed 100 or so stitches on the waves border on Finch Song – small progress, but still makes it closer to a finish than it was at the start of the year.

I also managed to start working on the November block for the Cali & Co mystery quilt-along by Coriander Quilts. Smudge keeps sleeping on my project supplies, though, every time I sit down to finish it – so I guess it’ll be a December finish now instead 😉

Which specialty stitches do you find easy? Which ones do you find extremely difficult or are too nervous to try?

I used to detest French knots that I’d do anything in my power to avoid them – either replacing them with Colonial knots or using a petite bead etc. After trying them when the fabric was tautly held in a hoop or Qsnap and attached to my floor or lap stand, all of a suddent they became less daunting and I managed to master them. I learnt that sometimes it just needs perseverance to find a method that works for you individually, then the world is your oyster – I no longer shy away from any stitch, although I’ll admit bullion knots/stitches are the main one that I’ll avoid if I can because I simply don’t enjoy doing them. French knots, though? They’re like a long-lost friend that I enjoy catching up with every now and then 🙂 One of the reasons that I love doing counted canvaswork, they’re filled with unusual and fun stitches, and it pushes me out of my comzort zone to try new things.