A Year in Review – 2014

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Last year I set a bunch of goals for myself and I plan on doing the same for 2015, but first I wanted to look back at how 2014 went.

Acquire all 454 DMC thread colors
I did this! I have three neatly organized boxes containing all the DMC thread colors and a big box that needs to be organized that contains all the duplicate colors I have.
Do at least one craft show and one art show
I did this too! I had my cross stitches in two different art shows, the Bedpop Show in Bedford, England that was curated by Mr.X Stitch and the ArtBar Geek Show in Aurora, IL. I also did two craft fairs in Batavia, IL with the Artisan Collective and the Nido Winter Market in Aurora, IL.
Try my hand at some new crafts
The big one has been English paper piecing. For me, 2014 was the year of the hexagons. I did some swaps that really pushed my sewing skills as well. And I have been doing more embroidery and worked withplastic canvas. I’m really pleased with everything I’ve explored this year and look forward to doing even more in 2015 when I Try Something New Every Month.
Finish Evie and Mira’s blankets
This one I didn’t do an amazing job at. Mira’s blanket is done but I haven’t woven in the edges so it’s still just sitting on the couch. All the squares for Evie’s are finished but I haven’t finished joining them…
Make more patterns
I had hoped to get more patterns up for sale in my shop but I did manage to keep Free Pattern Friday going strong.
Establish more of a blogging schedule with more regular features
For awhile I was really pushing myself to blog every single day but I was quickly getting burnt out and running out of things to post. So I’ve stepped back to 2-3 times a week. I don’t know that this one was completely successful, I never really managed those new features. I have started keeping an editorial calendar and I’m hoping that will keep things more organized in 2015.
Draw more
Not really. I did attempt to take part in the Spoonflower drawing challenge but I fizzled out before the end of it.
Make more space flash cards
Sadly this also didn’t happen. I kind of forgot about them until I was looking at this list. 2015 they will make a comeback!
Hang up more art
Also didn’t really happen. I still have tons of prints and photos that need to be hung.

I was looking through my posts and I made a lot this year that I’m really proud of. There’s a lot that didn’t get finished and some stuff that wasn’t hugely successful, but it’s been a learning process and I’m proud that I have so much to show for it. Here are some of the highlights for me from this year.

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Having projects in two separate magazines, the first issue of Hoop-La and in the US edition of Mollie Makes. Seeing my work in print was extremely exciting!

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I participated in the 12 Hexagons (or Less) Blog Hop and I made this felt cuff bracelet, I absolutely loved how it turned out.

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This little French knot color wheel was my most liked photo on Instagram this year and I am so proud of it, especially that I managed to finish it and didn’t lose steam halfway through!

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This circle solar system cross stitch I made for the &Stitches swap was really difficult to send away, I really love it. And the pattern has been a popular one in my shop!

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While I’m on the subject of &stitches, I was also super excited to join their team this year! I did a guest post about stitching with LEDs during their summer blogging series and then started blogging over there in October.

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This year I also had several posts get accepted to CraftGawker which was extremely exciting! This dandelion puff embroidery that I made for the flower crafty tutorial link up was the first one that was accepted.

doorColor Block Bracelet from Hugs are Funfinishedonwall

I was on the Twinery design team and made some fun projects for that, I especially loved these three.

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And because this is getting out of hand, I’m going to leave it with the felt advent calendar I made. I have been wanting to make an advent calendar for years and I am so proud of how this turned out. I put a lot of time and effort into this and I’m really happy with it.

Looking back I was really pleased with how much I’ve made this year but a bit surprised that cross stitching hasn’t been as big of a thing for me as it has in years past. I need to order more business cards and I am actually having a hard time ordering more using the tagline “Modern Cross Stitcheries.” I feel like Hugs are Fun has evolved into so much more, especially in 2014, and I don’t think that is a broad enough description anymore. While I am a little sad to be doing less cross stitch, I love all the new things I’ve been exploring and I can’t wait to see what 2015 brings!

What project did you make in 2014 that you’re most excited about?

Comments

  1. says

    Wow you’ve had a super crafty year – something that I want to work on for myself in 2015. I was thinking earlier this month how I need to make an advent calender and stitch up some stockings for future Christmases. That and i’m working on my first big, big cross stitch piece which i’m excited about but also wondering at the same time what on earth have I started lol And how I’d love to have all the DMC threads, I never have the ones I need!

    Good luck for crafting into the new year!

    • says

      It’s so hard to get Christmas crafting done. The time I WANT to do it is right before Christmas but everything is so busy then. But it just isn’t as fun stitching Christmas stuff in July. I’ve been meaning to embroider names on stockings for a few years. Now that the advent calendar is done, maybe that’ll be my goal next year.

      I’ve only ever done one really big cross stitch (the periodic table of elements which took YEARS) and I often wondered what in the world I was thinking. But it still is one of the things I’m most proud of! I can’t wait to see how your big project turns out!

  2. says

    You know, I haven’t thought about what was my favorite project this year! I will have to do a 52 lasers recap myself and think about it.

    I would like to do more crafty things with people, honestly. Like the “crafternoons” that Heidi from My Paper Crane does…just need more space! Maybe the goal for 2015 is SPACE 😉

    • says

      You should! It’s fun to look back and see what you’ve made, there was a lot I had forgotten about.

      I would love to go to one of Heidi’s crafternoons! We should find a local venue and start our own!

  3. says

    What is a space flash card! I desperately also need to hang more art – and I can’t imagine trying to blog every day. I started out 2014 with the goal of 2 posts a week and feel so good about attaining it and exceeding it these past few months. I like to set the bar low, haha!

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