While It’s Cold in Town … I stitch!

November is history and we are in the midst of getting ready for the holidays. Do you also wonder where the year has gone? I am NOT organized yet. I’ve been dealing with all kinds of stuff that was not fun. The latest in a series of issues has been discovering that nobody has been receiving my blogs via email for a long time. I’m working on it, but it’s proven to be more difficult than I imagined. I was wondering why I did not receive the emails myself, but as I was having issues with my email, I made the assumption – wrongly it seems – that it was just me. Nope, not so. Fingers crossed, the issue will be resolved soon and we will be back to normal.

In the meantime, work has been going on in the studio. I was working on a piece for a wedding present to my friends, and now that it’s been gifted, I can share with you. Inspired by Stitch Club’s workshop with Sue Stone. I don’t do people and portraits often, but I enjoyed this so very much that I can see some more in my future.

Below is my finished month of November for my stitch journal. When I started this on January 1st, I had no idea how much I would enjoy the rhythm of stitching every day. Did I miss some days? Yes, of course I did. Life gets in the way sometimes—but I always caught up, and I’ve made peace with that. The point was simply to stay connected and creative, and that’s exactly what this practice gave me. I stitch at night, when the tasks are done, the kitchen is clean, the dishes are put away, and it’s finally time to relax—cup of tea in hand and something or other playing on the TV.

Aside from that, I’ve been enjoying hand-stitching so much that I have been preparing samples for a new class. This one will be taught at one of AQS’ shows in 2026. I am hoping to work on a sort of series of these.

I keep thinking of new ways to use slow stitching and hand-stitching to slow the world and calm the chaos found in the news – which I try and tend to avoid from time to time.

Now I’m off to wrangle the mail delivery system – hopefully you’ll be getting my blogs in your inbox again soon. Wish me luck!

Until I write again, stay warm and keep stitching,

Ana