Thirty-One Stitches

A 365 project is ambitious. That's the point. It's supposed to be a challenge, and this project has definitely been a challenge. It's also been incredibly fun, emotional, amusing, and satisfying. I wasn't sure how I'd do or if I'd miss a day, but I knew I'd get to the end. It wasn't perfect and it wasn't always beautiful stitching, but I finished. 

It may not seem like it takes a lot to make small embroidery pieces, but it it does. Every piece takes at least one hour, and that's for something like a quote. Each piece includes sketching and drawing time, research, thread selection, and then the actual embroidery can start. The quickest I did a piece was 45 minutes; the longest was five hours. Keep this in mind when you buy handmade items or purchase art - someone took a lot of time to make the thing you're buying. Given the world we live in, I had the time. It's been so good to spend the time doing this project. I feel more confident in my abilities as an artist and creative person. My drawing skills have improved and I've become a pretty decent pattern maker. I learned 26 new stitches, and I do most of them pretty well (favorite new stitch: tete de boeuf, all of the whipped stitches, and the bullion knot; least favorite: scroll stitch and open chain). 

Here are some other "stats": 

• 7 new Screams were created
• 37 total stitches were used, 26 were new to me when they were first introduced
• 1% of the patterns/designs weren't original - that means I designed 99% of what was stitched for this project
• 24 skeins of DMC 310 (black) were used
• Bernie the Bee, trees, spiders (surprisingly), and hearts were the four designs that made the most appearances in the piece (although I don't have a count on any of them)
• 16 specific birthdays were celebrated
• 2 notebooks were used

Not every idea worked out the way I originally planned, but I'm still proud of each one. I loved trying to incorporate different materials into my work and I look forward to doing more of this in future pieces. Incorporating a working light was probably my favorite. I loved creating Bernie the Bee and trying out different ways to fabricate Bernie. Bernie will be back. 

I didn't get to work on any other embroidery projects this year, so I'll be taking a different approach to my 2022 365 project. I'm excited to tell you more about it tomorrow. 

Today's piece is a bit of a preview of what's to come in 2022. Of the 365 pieces I made this year, many of my favorites are abstract embroidery pieces. There's something very satisfying about creating an abstract piece. Since I started the year with a more realistic door, I decided to end the year with an abstract work. There are 31 embroidery stitches incorporated into this piece. I only drew four lines to start. The rest is the just me and the thread doing our thing. It's a companion piece to one I did in March called Mosaic. That piece was inspired by an Alice Paul quote I like:

I always felt the movement is a sort of mosaic. Each of us put in one little stone, and then you get a great mosaic at the end.

Today's piece is the last stone (if you will) in my 365 project. This has been one of the best things I have done in my life, and I can't wait to start the 2022 version and to share so many more projects with you in the  coming year. I'll share more about this tomorrow!

Thank you for following along with me this year. I don't think I would have finished this project if it wasn't for all the people who have read this blog and viewed my Instagram posts. You each contributed "a little stone" to this mosaic too. That these little moments brought you some joy or a laugh is my favorite part of this project. I hope you'll follow along in 2022!

This isn't exactly how it ended up, but it's close enough.

December's ort jar

Below are all twelve months. These aren't the best photos, but this gives you an idea of how they're currently being displayed. I'm going to keep them up with the painter's tape until I decide what I'm going to do with them as a set or as individual pieces. I want to sit with them a little while longer as they are before I make a decision. 

Details:
Stitches: back, split back, whipped back, laced back, double laced back, chain, whipped chain, stem, whipped stem, split, straight, coral, blanket, open chain, couching, wheatear, French knots, bullion knot, ribbed spider web, woven wheel, Turkey work, satin, lazy daisy, detached chain, cross, seed, fishbone, twinkle, fly, tete de boeuf, and feather
Thread palette: 

• Sublime Stitching: 201 (3), 402 (3), 801 (4), 602 (3)
• DMC: 322 (3), 915 (4), 600 (3,4), 4212 (6), 4240 (3), C699 (3), 820 (3,6), 4507 (3), 909 (3), 4517 (3), C740 (3), Perle 5 550