Thursday 5 January 2017

Year 2016 review and Crafty plans for 2017

Hello Friends,

Another year has come to an end and it is time to reflect on the year gone by.

2016 was a good year to say the least...I think I grew as a human being and have found ways to be happy(read avoid circumstances/people which/who make me unhappy).

The year has been good one with vacations, visits to meet family and some surprise meet ups with friends...something I always wish for.

As you all know, 2015 was a major breakthrough year cross stitching wise, 2016 may not have been so exciting however there are some new things I did in this year.

1. Participated in a cross stitch mystery SAL.
2. Started to write a daily and a craft journal.
3. Participated in postcard exchanges.
4. Won a cross stitch giveaway on Instagram.
5. Bought a cross stitch magazine in Kuwait.
6. Joined a book club and have managed to finish listening to one audio book.
7. Participated in a cross stitch blog hop.
8. First independent knitting finish.
9. Participated in a cross stitch ATC swap on Instagram.
10. First charity stitching.
11.Participated in monthly handwriting challenge on Instagram.

I managed to finish 15 cross stitch projects this year, 7 of which have not been gifted so can't show you yet.

I also made 1 knitted scarf, 1 crochet coaster, 1 quilling card , 1 washi tape card and a embroidery hoop this year.


Here is a pie chart showing my year round crafting,less stitching days compared to 2015


At the start of the year, I set up some crafting goals .Let’s see how well I managed to achieve them

1. Try blackwork -
2. Learn 2 new ways of finishing cross stitch 
3. Stitch on evenweave fabric-Yes stitched on 25 ct vintage lugana
4. Stitch a medium/big size kit - Yes stitching a kit bought in 2014, however have swapped the fabric
5. Use stash the maximum -I only bought one cross stitch kit this year and my spending on needlework stash was half of what I spent in 2015.😅
6. Pick fabric painting again -
7. Try embroidery other than cross stitching :) - Yes did some free hand embroidery 
8. Keep trying to crochet- I have now finished making a single crochet coaster 😁 
9. Learn quilling. This has been pending since 2010- Yes made a birthday card for DH

The score is 6/9, not bad haa!!!

I enter the New Year with only one cross stitch WIP and have made some plans for year 2017.
Candamar Designs kit-My only WIP from 2016

Monthly SALs I will be participating in
1. New Year New Start with Stitch Maynia (FB group)- I will start Dimension kit "Indian peacock" on 1st Jan 2017.
New Year New Start 
2. Tour de Designers 2017 - SODA stitch with Stitch Maynia (FB group) - I will start "The Love Rain" on 1st April. This was a gift from Justine.

3. Tour de Designers 2017 - Lizzie Kate with Stitch Maynia (FB group)- I will start "I Cannot Count"  on 1st July. The Kit was bought in 2015, however the patterns calls for specialty threads which I don't have.

Blog SALs/Activities 
1. I will continue to participate in Gifted Gorgeousness SAL .I recently found out that my bestie is pregnant ,so that means I have 2 birth samplers to stitch now.
2. I joined Kaye's Friday Frolicking somewhere near April but shamefully posted only once. Will try to post more often.
3. The Alphabet Club . Haven't posted about this since April. Need to catch up

For goals, I would like to work on goals 1,2, 6, 8 of 2016 which I wasn't able to achieve. My resolution for 2017 is to dedicate more time for crafting specially on holidays/vacation.

The goals I have set are not stringent , however I'm sure I will need encouragement from time to time from you my friends.

Wishing you a healthy and a crafty 2017. 

13 comments:

  1. I just loved your honesty and dedication that is reflected in your blog.
    I don't know many cross stitches and don't know how do they track their progress and how do they organize their stash.
    But I believe you will be one of the most highly organised in accounting your progress and organize your stash. :)
    In the next year, I would like to see the "Red Area" in your pie chart shrink.
    Cheers....

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  2. So many gorgeous finishes Mini. I wish you do more stitching this year too. Peacock kit looks beautiful.

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  3. Hi bharti good to see your progress in every field.god bless you . nd thank you so much for a beautiful gift (cross stitch article.every stich of that gift means a lot for me.stay blessed.

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  4. The collage of finishes does look lovely.
    Nice new projects for this year.

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  5. I'd say you had a good year! You need to make the red section of your pie chart smaller though.
    I was thinking about you earlier as I found my completed Love Rain while tidying up. I'm glad you're starting it.
    Lizzie Kate charts look just as good with DMC threads in my opinion!
    Hope you have a great stitching year.

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  6. You accomplished a lot last year! Love your up coming projects too! And if you are not able to get the specialty threads for that Lizzie Kate they look just as good stitched with DMC. But I do like using the specialty threads too :)

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  7. I'd say you had a wonderful year, Mini!! So many pretty finishes and completed challenges :)

    That Peacock chart is amazing and I truly look forward to seeing it grow...

    Wishing you many hours to stitch and create in 2017!

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  8. Well done on great year for 2016... Any goals not achieved last year will eventually be done :o)
    Love that peacock new start! I am doing most of the Stitch Maynia SALs throughout the year but probably not the Soda Stitch one as I haven't got around to getting one of their designs yet.... :o)
    All the best for 2017!
    Hugs x

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  9. I'd say you accomplished a lot, since your stitch rojects are usually pretty big and time consuming ... plus you did all the extras (like the embroidery hoop for moi :) Cheers to a crafty year ahead!

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  10. You did really well last year. Good luck with your plans for this year x

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  11. 2016 was obviously a good year - well doe! I'm impressed by your 2017 goals, so good luck. Lookig forward to seeing and reading all about them.

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  12. Wow, you had a great year, you met lots of your goals and had some lovely finishes. You could even count the Ellen MS flowers as twelve separate finishes.
    I can do my best to help you with the goals for this year, I sent some blackwork charts to you to try so that helps with goal 1 and GG. If you finish one as a low-sew cube tha could be a new finish technique.
    Have a great stitchy year.

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  13. Last year was a great crafting year for you according to the records. You accomplished so much. And I think the goals that you have set for this year will bring you a lot stitching pleasure.

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