stitch club membership is open again
Let’s start with the membership and then get into some ideas for setting yourself up for the stitch book challenge. You don’t need to join to participate but it is a great place to find support and share your progress.
What happens in stitch club? It’s the private ann wood handmade community, a great place to get inspired, share what you’re working on and make sewy friends.
New for 2024
The international scrap festival in february with ideas, challenges and a scrap swap
creative sparks- monthly prompts to get your wheels turning
enrollment in the 2024 stitch book group (you don’t have to participate – but if you do the group is super helpful)
sew-alongs and more!
The 2024 100 day stitch book challenge begins on 1/19 and ends on 4/27
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CHALLENGE HERE
Please use the link above if your are brand new to the challenge – you’ll find all the info you need.
There are lot’s of ways to approach this hundred day challenge. My plan is to go boldly forth into the unknown. Start without knowing and create time and space for ideas that don’t easily present themselves in the general course of things. That’s what showing up does. You show up and work. You move your mind and your hands and see what happens.
It’s a terrifying proposition. It’s uncomfortable. And it’s how you get somewhere new. This is the third annual stitch book challenge and just like the two previous years I’m excited and also very nervous to start. Daily commitments are hard. Showing daily progress is hard, especially after you’ve gone on and on about how creative and productive the process is.
But here we are again. I can’t resist. Can you? I’ve got some ideas and lessons learned from the previous years to help you get ready.
My plan is to not have a plan except for:
Thinking of the pages in pairs. I loved having a second chance at compositions by treating 2 pages as one image/idea in last years book. I mostly did not work on the two pages consecutively. Especially when I wasn’t happy with what I’d done, putting the idea aside and letting it percolate for a bit helped a lot.
I’m also leaning towards leaving my edges raw again.
Support the 100 day stitch book project and the always growing free pattern library.
Click here to add your support.
remove obstacles
Make it as easy as possible to show up. For me that means having my materials accessible and transportable. A to-go kit is essential. I’ve got scraps, some cut pages (I don’t cut them all in the beginning), a little needle book and a thread pouch. And because the world really is magic this sweet tote bag, made by a friend, arrived unexpectedly on the very day I was looking for something to contain my stitch book supplies.
15 minutes is even more doable if everything is already set up.
plan for the bad days
In 100 days there will most likely be some bad days. Some way too busy or sick or too something days. The secret to those days is a predetermined, minimally acceptable effort. This is also known as “phoning it in”. Protect the habit, protect the momentum and do something. I’ve had days where I was sick or traveling and teaching and way too stretched but I stitched some basic straight stitches or added a super basic applique for 15 minutes. It was not my most present or mindful or thoughtful work but it got done and that mattered.
And if you do miss a day?
Keep going. Maybe do an extra 15 minutes when you can.
warm up
Engage in some productive procrastination. I’ve been doing some new yearsey sorting and organizing of fabric. It was a perfect time to start to pull out scraps for the 2024 book. As I sorted and ironed, scraps spoke to me and I’ve made a little collection. I’m surprised by how much white and light colored stuff I pulled – it’s not my usual jam. The sorting and collecting lit the spark and got me more excited and curious than nervous to start. There are colors and ideas I’m looking forward to experimenting with.
If I write every day, why couldn’t I sew every day?
I did this challenge last year and it was fun. This year I think I’m going to do the book in a different size and format. Smaller and make buttonhole-like slits in each page so that at the end, I can thread some kind of rope or ribbon through them as the binding. I found that the way I work doesn’t mesh well with breaking up a page into 15 minute increments for 5 days. But I enjoy having a structure and challenge to nudge me along.
I will be joining this year. I have been watching the post from last year and I feel so inspired by it. I will start gathering my fabrics.
I loved doing this challenge last year, so I’m doing it again. I have vowed to keep an edge clear so my book lays a bit more flat, but that’s my only “plan” for the 100 days. Supplies and pages are ready! Thanks for inspiring us to create.
Totally gonna do the book. I think it will be good for me to have something consistent to make, even though I’ll be pretty busy.
So many things to make and finish. I wonder if I could apply this to that quilt I want to start. Or those socks I need to finish. So many wips. I am interested tho.
What’s a “Wips”…?
“Work in Progress”
Making it through last year’s challenge was such a remarkable thing for me. I have a difficult time sticking to things. The Stitch Club was a huge help in that, so many encouraging people and thoughtful real feedback like you don’t find on Instagram. While there were certainly days last year that I didn’t sew, the 100 day practice definitely started a momentum and inspired a more regular practice.
I’m getting organized and ready for this year’s 100 day book challenge. I’m looking at several changes from last year. Impromptu is my desired direction. I’m gathering my fabrics, ironing them and placing them into a flat holder. I’m sticking to the 15 minute limit this year. ( Those of you who followed me last year know that I fell of that cliff right away & never recovered.) I’m toying with the idea of placing small scraps in a bag, and choosing several pieces blindly. Then working with what I’ve grabbed… no do overs. We’ll see.
I can not wait to get started, but will try to let my mind wander and do things out of my usual range and colours
Good luck to every one Jill
I would love to join!
I maybe should finish my 2023 book before I start 2024? But I loved sewing the pages each day. The hand sewing was so peaceful and calming.
I’m with you, Wendy. I’m halfway through 2023’s book and keen to keep going!
I live in Great Britain and love sewing. I have been following Ann wood fo sometime, I have heard about doing this sort of thing. I have promised myself I have to finish lots of projects and start new ones, I would like to try and endeavour to do this challenge.
I’m committing. Looking forward to stitching along with you!
This sounds like just the project I need to boost my creative brain cells out of their doldrums.
I so enjoyed doing last year’s 100 day stitch book and can’t wait to begin again for 2024.
Sounds like a perfect way to spend a bit of time! Count me in!
I’d like to leave a testimonial to the 100 day project.If you’re thinking of doing it follow on as a silent observer or find a place to build a safe supportive international community.It’s worth it!
Oui j ai bien envie de participer à cette belle aventure …
Moi aussi!
Can’t wait to begin!
I’ve loved watching all the books develop and I think the construction process is ingenious, Ann.
Following along and excited to see what everyone creates.
I’m going to participate, the idea is exciting and the commitment will help me to keep going.
I am going to try this! I have so many little wool scraps and this will be a great way to do something with them. Thank you for hosting this!
Thank you Anne, just what I need.
I just started a scrool along the same lines but there’s always the worry it will just be put down and forgotten. I was also beginning to feel a bit lost with it (other than just sew and look), I think this will definitely help.
I love this and will definitely be joining in….. Today make pages from my stash.
I’m jumping on the bandwagon! Love Ann’s cute projects & now I will have another completed one. It will be a challenge to keep it up with spare moments but what a good idea!
Count me in!
Debated about doing it last year but couldn’t seem to commit. Having had fun (except when I was pulling out my hair over mistakes made) making a crow in Sept., I’m ready to jump in. If I can so easily waste 15 (or more) minutes a day, I can do this and hope it will also challenge me to stay on track with my other goals. Excited to see where it leads.
Count me in!
Count me in!
I’m in!
Looking forward to the 100 day challenge! Had fun doing it last year but I didn’t put my pages in a book…. one, they were all over the place and two, I didn’t take time to figure out how to construct the book. (I was happy with the pages I made tho, and have made more since then – it is a good project for getting motivated!) This year I am going to be more organized. I just made a small paper mock-up of how the pages should go. Took me awhile….. I felt like I was trying to figure out how to build a rocket or something….. made me laugh at myself. I think I got it now, Whew!! Got my scraps ready & just need to cut some pages. I am ready!
I will be joining in the 100day book project. I stitch every day, but just to let your mind go and stitch what is in it, sounds very creative to me. I have a few pages cut and and my small scraps ready. Looking forward to see everyone’s pages.
I am excited to try this, it looks like fun. Count me in. I will start gathering stuff tonight. I try to sew every evening so this is do able for me. It will be different to just let your mind wonder and not be following a pattern. I’ll be ready for day 1, can’t wait! Happy Sewing everyone!
Bonjour, ce challenge m’intéresse beaucoup. Je envie d’y participer! Il commence le 19 janvier, mais je n’ai pas très bien compris le fonctionnement ! Y aura-t-il des indications quotidiennes à suivre via Instagram ou autre ou bien devons nous créer seule et poster des photos au fur et à mesure? Merci pour vos réponses. Bien cordialement. Graziella
I’m in. I’m so looking forward to this challenge. Not working to a theme or a plan is really quite a challenging but intriguing.
I’m doing this 100 day book of stitching. I’m loving the book construction and look forward to creating, stitching, choosing fabric based on color, texture and print/no print! So many possibilities and challenges my curiosity! Really looking forward to seeing what others create and seeing my process as I stitch along. Thank you for sharing this book idea Anne!
I have my pages cut and numbered! I love the idea of pairs in case something large and continuous grabs hold. I have been digging for my scraps, which I had squirreled away. I am excited and nervous but this looks like just the thing I need to get my creativity going!
I am ready! Last year challenge was fun, though I was not proud of my work, I used denim and after realised that was too heavy, didn’t left the margins, so it was difficult to bind . But I’ve learned a lot! This year I am to stick at the 15 minutes daily… we’ll see .