Cross stitch review 2019, top 9 and 2020 plans

After a 2 year absence I picked up my cross stitch again and once again became addicted.  I currently have 5 WIP and about to start another

This year I've stitched
QS Old Friends, my focus piece, 31681 stitches,  10 rotations, 192 hours, 31.31% completed.  The picture is from pattern keeper as it is very hard to photograph the white sky/snow on white fabric.

At the Steps, I started on 18ct but  after the first rotation decided to restart and try stitching on 25ct half cross for the first time.  After restarting I did 1 rotation,   6201  stitches   22.5  hours 2.53 % completed

Ornament Witching Hour 11560 stitches,3 rotations  77.75 hours, 52.8% completed

Sans Souci  4258 stitches, 1 rotation, 25 hours, 17.56% completed

His Eye is on the Sparrow (estimated stitches) 25400 stitches, 2 rotations, 52 hours 16% completed

I started keeping records when I started using pattern keeper.  Since 1.10.10 I did

49736 stitches
187.75 hours
 9 rotations

I am still evolving how I work out what to stitch. I select a project by spinning a virtual wheel.  I stitch one project from 1st of the month, spin and stitch the next from the 11th of months, spin again and stitch the next from 21st of the month.

Additionally I have a focus piece. This year it has been QS Old Friends.  To ensure I stitch this more often than the others, if a piece comes up again in the wheel and has Old Friends has not been worked on since I last did that project, then I will stitch Old Friends instead of the selected project.

I started this spinning wheel selection process from the beginning of October.  In that time, neither Witching Hour, nor Healing Rose were selected.  So to ensure everything gets some look in time, at the end of each quarter, anything not stitched over the previous 3 months will be done, so the wheel will not be spun.

I've  decided for 2020 I will no longer focus on one piece but just spin the wheel and see what happens.  After every quarter  anything that didn't get selected in a spin will get a rotation.


I'm also stitching cross country.  Initially I started stitching just with the highest amount of colours and stitch on the available area in the Q Snap, however I've changed again to stitch the highest amount of colours but then stitch 2 or 3 colours that have the lowest number.  That way I'm not left with a ton of confetti at the end.

I also use Pattern Keeper, a new app, to record my progress.

I'm evaluating what size fabric I like to work with and trying tent stitch.  My previous favourite was 22ct and I also did full crosses but find now I need to use magnifying lenses.  However with the lenses I think I can enjoy 22ct again.  I am trying out 25ct on At the Steps in tent stitch, however not really enjoying the fabric.  I may restart it for the third time on 22ct and tent stitch.

I think future HAed projects will be on 22ct 2 over 1.   Tent stitch  speeds my progress up immensely.

When I started the first version of At the steps on 18ct full cross I did 4711 stitches in 28.75 hours, when I restarted on 25ct half cross I did the same number of stitches in just 15.5 hours, nearly twice as fast

In July I started an Instagram account dedicated to my crafting, mainly cross stitch.
My top 9 from Instagram are:

So goals for 2020.

I'm not really setting any, but I should finish Witching Hour and possibly Sans Souci.  I'm also going to measure my progress by following the challenges in HAED stitchtalk facebook group.

I"ve also just found out about a  free blackwork stitch along run by peppermintpurple.co.uk.  They email out part of a design each week and it is a 52 week challenge.  I've never done blackwork but would like to give it a try.  So long as they don't take me too long to do I might give them a try.

I have enough in my rotation but I was also tempted by the free mystery sampler sal by linenand thread.  They have the previous years available for free download and post the new part of the chart each month.  This could be something to consider for next year if I finish Sans Souci.