If I think back over some goals I had set for myself years ago, this year would have been the banner year for meeting those. From published articles to Etsy orders to Instagram and even reading – there were so many goals I set for myself and I have to admit I’m a little proud (and amazed and humbled) at this year.
Etsy
I sold almost 50 pdf patterns this year. And for someone whose been longing to develop that part of her shop for a while, it was a huge boost. I’ve been working to redraft all my patterns over the past couple of years and I think I’ve updated almost all of them; including restitching the ones I hadn’t made for a while. By far my most popular patterns are my Christmas ones.
I didn’t do as much custom embroidery has I have in years past. I stitched about half a dozen custom family portraits and did just a few custom typography type orders. Here’s a few of my top favs from this year:
Custom Wedding Vows
This was the first full year I officially hung up my shoe embroidery business and I honestly I wasn’t sad to see it go. I had a great run for a few years and it’s crazy how many shoes I had my hands in!
One huge goal I have for next year is to start making dolls. I’m not sure where this is headed, but it’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. This first little pocket doll (prompted by my little pocket mermaid) made me super proud and I’m excited to develop this even more.
Published!
This year I had the joy of having two magazine articles – one for the December/January issue of Sew News and one for the August issue of One Thimble. Both were a great experience and projects I really am proud of and enjoyed making.
I also worked with the DMC Designer Program for most of the year and was a part of the Buttons Galore and More Team for the last half of the year. Both of those experiences were definitely stretching and good in many ways. The Buttons Galore team is finished and I’m hoping to be able to do more with DMC, but we shall see where that goes as they had a change in leadership of the program about half way through the year.
Books Read:
A lot! I read nearly 50 that I recorded on Goodreads and that probably doesn’t count the ones I forget to record that I’m prereading or reading along with for homeschooling. 2018 will be a little different in regards to books, because I’m holding myself to joining a book club that reads a new book for every month. I also have a HUGE stack of books that I want to read this year and I know that the only way that will happen is by spending less time online. Check back for a bookish post in the next week or so.
Getting Social:
I closed up my daisyeyes facebook page. I honestly didn’t use it and I’ve come to rely on facebook pretty much for getting info from the groups I’m part of. Instagram on the other hand got a little out of hand. I love it (although the way it’s all curated now is totally annoying – as in when they dropped the chronological feed it really destroyed the beauty of the app) and I can get lost looking at it all day long. I love posting pictures and I garnered more followers than I could imagine (although I’m sure most of them are bots). I decided to take a break over Advent and through Epiphany and it’s been such a great idea. It has been nice to just enjoy life and making without always having or feeling like I need to post something. I’m toying with the idea of doing a better job of taking photos and just playing around with having more of a focused feed rather than just random snippets of life. We will see.
In my Sewing World:
I am officially hanging up my “sewing teacher” badge in 2018. I am trying to sell my class machines and hoping to clear out some supplies etc in the studio. I realized that it was a season and I’m kind of relieved that it’s over. I did 3 camps this past summer and I think that they are great camps to go out on. I finally did a fashion camp, and it was actually successful! And my beginner camps were overfilled and super fun.
I’m slowly becoming more of a quilter and I can definitely see how it can be super addicting. I took a break from garment sewing, but I’m hoping to sew up a few in the coming year. I need to slow down and take my time on it and just work on re-honing my skills.
Other Goals:
I survived my first semester of homeschooling both children and honestly I really enjoyed it. I’ve really loved having both of them home and while the pace of life didn’t slow down as much as I had hoped, it definitely slowed some. I’m really wanting to start writing again and I’m trying to figure out how to work that into my life. I’m doing better, but it has still been hard. It’s like the part of me that has been buried and asleep and I’m still trying to wake it up.
That was pretty much my 2017.