January IHSW

  

IHSW or International Hermit and Stitch Weekend always starts on the third Friday of the month.  It's a chance to lock yourself away and focus on your stitching for the weekend.  You can take part on your blog or via the Facebook page - IHSW on Facebook.

This year I am trying something different for IHSW - an A-Z Challenge!  These usually take place in April and people stitch one letter every day except Sunday.  I don't want to swap projects daily so thought I could do 2 or 3 letters per IHSW instead.  Starting with A and B for January.

I put all my current WIPs into a spreadsheet and added a column for which letter they covered.  So the first project comes under A, C, H and N for example.  I did the same for all of them and then decided which A and B I wanted to stitch.

There were two choices for A - Around the World by Papillon and Art Nouveau Head by Craft Collection.  The Art Nouveau Head is my oldest WIP so that is the one I opted for.  Last stitched for the Longest Day Marathon in 2023, it went from here:

to here:

stitched on 14 count white Aida

For Sunday I looked at my B projects, again there were two choices - Bothy Threads 12 Days of Christmas and Blackwork Tarot by Circle Cross.  I decided to make the Blackwork Tarot my evening stitch and started Capricorn:

stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers

The focus piece for Sunday was 12 Days of Christmas, currently stitching Day 5.  Again, last stitched for the Longest Day Marathon here:

and now here:

stitched on 32 count grey linen

I also managed to squeeze in 7 more leaves for my Temperature SAL from The Steady Thread:

stitched on 28 count Meadow Mist linen from Silkweavers

So, what do I think of my plan?  It worked really well, two older projects got a day of love each and more progress than they have had for a while.  Especially the Head.  Next month I have a choice of 6 projects for C and only one for D.  Although that might change when my WIPGO numbers are called.

As a general rule, I want to choose the oldest project for each letter.

Finally the next IHSW will be 16th - 18th February so make sure you note the date in your diary or come and join us in the Facebook Group - IHSW on Facebook. If you don't do Facebook then you can check in here by leaving a comment on my post.