Stitching And Other Updates

 Joining in today with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday.

The only stitching/crafting I have worked on this week is cross stitching. I have completed one of my WIPGO goals for January, having stitched 14 hours on the 2020 Pandemic Sampler (a free pattern by Sarcy Gurl that you are still able to get here).

My progress at the beginning of January, before the WIPGO call.

My progress after 14 hours of stitching - WIPGO call completed.

I am only halfway to my 14 hour goal on Lavender and Lace's Ice Angel. It just requires more concentration so I have found I cannot stitch on it with a house full of kids. Summer school holidays finish in a few days, so many I can squeeze in a little more time before February starts. Progress photo to come! 


I have also found a fabulous year long free stitching challenge that I think will be amazing for motivation. It is hosted by Creatively Crafting and is very simply called Free Cross Stitch Challenge.
I did invest in their PDF printable planner as I do like to have a printed version of all the challenges and planning pages to mark off physically. And being a PDF, I can just print off the pages I need. I am not fussed on the aesthetic so have designed my own more primitive/vintage cover on Canva. But it has all the planning pages I will need for 2023! 

As January is pretty much over, I will start the challenges in February. You can join the free challenge without purchasing the planner. The link to the challenge page will be emailed to you before the beginning of each month. 
What I like about this challenge is that none of the squares are too difficult or daunting to achieve - ticking off little steps always seems more rewarding and it all adds up in the end. 

For example, some of January's challenges include:

* Stitch with your favourite drink
* Stitch 50 stitches
* Stitch with dark blue
* Stitch a snowflake
* Stitch on a Friday

All the little challenges are super achievable and I feel it will be very motivating to have lots of opportunities to tick challenges off the list. 
There is also a points system for number of stitches completed. I find accumulating points very motivating as well. It must be that I am just a competitive person?! 
Speaking of competitive, maybe I can get a few of January's out of the way quickly before month end?! I need to do some ticking! 

Walking wise, my street view has remained the same for the last few days - the ferry terminal at Dover.

I am currently 'walking' across the English Channel and surprisingly there are no street views along the way! 

Hope you have been getting some crafting or other fun stuff done this week!