Happy New Year!

Image: Crown Stitch Fireworks by Helen Miller

The Embroiderers’ Guild Top Ten New Year Resolutions  (for Embroiderers and Textile Artists)

1. Take care of your mental health.  Find time for a daily stitch meditation.  Slow stitch when watching TV. 
   
2. Take care of the Environment.  Use items from your stash whenever you can.  Recycle used textiles to create something new. 
   
3. Take care of friends and family.  Stitch keepsakes and personal presents. 
   
4. Nurture your creativity.  Start a Sketchbook or keep an ideas journal.  Explore a new stitch, try out a new colour palette.
   
5. Learn a new skill (or refresh an old one).  Take up solar or ice dyeing.  Try eco-printing.  Experiment with other ways of applying colour or image to cloth.  Print, paint or stamp; use a Gelli plate; or draw with Inktense pencils.
   
6. Try a new stitch technique.  Pick something you’ve admired but not tried before.    
   
7. Teach the next generation.  Share your love of stitch with your children (or grandchildren).  Gift a younger relative with supplies or a place on a beginner’s workshop.
   
8. Think about the future.  Plan for disposal of your stash as well as your finished pieces.  Leave instructions in your will or share detailed notes with a family member. 
   
9. Join a local group (or volunteer to help with your current one). 
   
10. Take part.  Book a place on a workshop or course.  Attend an on-line talk.  Join the Guild!