I'm making a list

As this year starts to draw to a close, I'm starting to think about my hand sewing goals for 2015. I've had a list forming in my head for a few days, so thought if I wrote in on my blog I would be publicly accountable for achieving at least some of it in 2015.

Before I start though, the good news is that I have made great progress on Your Place or Mine? since I last showed it here in mid October. I now have 3 of the 4 corners sewn on, and just have the 4th corner and two simple borders to attach. The 4th corner still needs to be hand appliqued, so it may take a few weeks yet.

So here's my hand sewing and embroidery list for 2015 in order of priority:

1. The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, Finish the Christmas Celebration Sampler. I estimate that this will take between 1 week and 10 days to finish the border (provided I have enough thread). this has been a mystery pattern, released over the past 4 weeks. I've enjoyed stitching along with others on Instagram.

2. Mill Hill beaded ornaments. Finish the one on the left that I've already started, so it can go on the tree with the one I've already finished in the centre. It should only take about 4 days. The one on the right can wait until next Christmas.

3. Your Place or Mine? final panel. Work on that until it's done. I can't take my extensive Perle 8 collection on holiday, so it must be done at home.

4. Northern Expressions Needlework. I knew when I started the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery that this wouldn't be finished for Christmas 2015, but I can take it on holiday and finish sewing the beads on. It should be finished by mid January and I can then get it framed.

The colours don't look good in this picture, but it's a very cloudy day today

5. The Victoria Sampler Gingerbread Etui. This is another holiday sewing project. I love working on Christmas sewing at Christmas time so I'll take this away with me too. I'll make a start on it, but may swap to the Haunted House by February because Halloween will roll around before Christmas in 2015.

6. Elizabethean Sweet Bag. This only needs about 1 week of stitching to be finished. It's quite a different style of embroidery to what I usually do, so I need to get into the right frame of mind.

7. The Victoria Sampler Haunted House. This looks like so much fun. The ornaments are delighful. I've got everything here to get stated and expect to be working on it by February.

 

8. The Victoria Sampler Needlework Shop. This will be waiting for me under the Christmas Tree this year. The parcel arrived and I haven't even opened the exterior packaging yet. You can see a photo here. 


9. Wool felt applique bag from Flying Fish Kits. This will be fun and bright and should take less than one month.

10. Needlelace - green. This only saw minimal action in 2014 and deserves better in 2015.

11. Needlelace - purple. I need to work on this again while I still remember what to do.

12. Heirloom Christmas Tree decoration. I've had the book, silk and decorations for 2 years but am still putting off starting. I guess I'm worried about mine not being good enough, but I do have plenty of silk, and the decorations could be recycled if I needed to start again. If this was a class I would have had it finished by now. I think I'm just a bit worried about doing it by myself - silly I know.

13. Sundry other projects lurking around which include 2 more biscornus, and some Christmas Decorations from the Just Cross Stitch Special Christmas issues. I've met a lot of stitchers on Instagram and seen some beautifully finished ornaments. I'm inspired to make more ornaments before next Christmas. I've also got 2 beautiful Christmas pieces from The Victoria Sampler which I'd love to do one day.

Wow, what a list. I love everything on it and would start them all tomorrow if I could. And it doesn't even include hand quilting because I tend to do that in the day time at the table. The list above is what I do in the evenings in front of TV. Here's hoping for a very productive 2015. I intend to check back against this list at this time next year - scary thought!