It took some doing, but my templates for next year’s daily stitching will fit together widthways and lengthways, so there’s a fair bit of choice about the format.

You can see I made a sample to see how it might look. Artist’s impression, I guess you might call it. I made some slight tweaks to the template after stitching the sample so this is not exactly the same as what’s in the PDF. The divisions between the daily sections are mostly whipped running stitch but backstitch or couched yarns would be effective too.

The monthly template has wavy edges that tessellate in all directions, so you can do separate monthly blocks, or join the monthly templates lengthways or widthways to make a long strip, or you could go for a large whole-cloth approach (as I’ve done with the 2024 template) by fitting the monthly templates together as a 3 by 4 block. If you want to make each month as a standalone block and turn it into a cloth book, there are brief directions for that here.

I’m looking forward to starting it. I like the fact that it’s a grid and all the days touch each other, but there are no straight lines. If you want to join me and stitch along, you can find the templates here. I’m going back to the long thin format next year, I think, mainly because I only have a long narrow strip of my vintage linen left. It’s lasted well; I’ve managed to get four years of stitching out of a single sheet. I like the way a long cloth suggests a long period of time, although the speed at which years are passing, a year doesn’t seem that long to me any more.

Incidentally, a few people have got in touch to say they’re using the 2024 template for next year but they’re not sure what to do with February. 2024 was a leap year, so the February page has 29 sections. The easiest way round it is to choose any two daily sections and merge them to make 28. Or you could stitch two sections one day, or redraw some of the dividing lines and adjust it that way. Plenty of scope to get creative with problem-solving.

But first, of course, we have the rest of December to enjoy. I’m looking forward to taking some time off once the shop closes for fabric and thread orders tomorrow (the shop will remain open for PDFs, which will continue to be available throughout the holiday period).

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The years do seem to go more quickly, don’t they! I suppose at least the daily stitching gives you a way to see the days pass..
somehow makes it even more frightening 😆
Oh dear!