UPDATED POST 12/26/17:Thinking about it, the only New Year’s resolutions I regularly keep are those related to needlepoint. While this doesn’t say much about my willpower, it does say that these kind of resolutions are wonderful ways to get your stash under some sort of control.
In 2009, I resolved to get my thread stash under more control and not to buy too many canvases. While the thread stash continues to be huge, I have used up lots of stuff And have managed to use up one or more threads in almost every project I have stitched this year. In 2016 I resolved to get my canvas stash under some control and managed to do that. This year I’ve resolved to get several books out and my web shop opened.
I talked about my resolutions for 2018 and you can see a summary of them in the right sidebar. But you might still be considering your resolutions. Here are some ideas:
Do you have a big project you want to finish? Resolve to stitch on it for two needles of thread each day. It doesn’t sound like much, and it isn’t. But it will get the project done. (I have to start doing this to get that big project done this year at long last.)
Are you overwhelmed by your thread stash? “Shop” your stash before beginning a new project. Stitch some stash buster and scrap bag projects. Make it a goal to use a particular number of threads from your stash on projects this year.
Too many projects started and not finished? Set up a rotation system. Pick ten projects and rank them. Stitch on each one for a specific amount of time. Then move on to the next. When one is done, add another to the rotation.
Too many unstitched canvases in your stash? Reward yourself by only getting new canvases when you have finished five or ten from your stash.
I’m rewarding my self this week and nursing a hurt back by working on my Christmas and Sunday projects. That way I don’t have to think.
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
Joyce Shannon says
Last year I resolved to work on the pieces that were already on stretcher bars and in a suitcase that I was hiding them in. The suitcase is actually holding less pieces. And only one of them was taken off the bars (cross stitch) when I realized I had everything in there but the pattern. When I find that pattern again I just may finish it. Or maybe not.