We’ve already got one foot in June, but here’s how May shaped up:
May 2026 daily stitching
Thirty-one handfuls of time, caught and stitched down before they could get away.
Some of the May stitching is in my YouTube May playlist, including the little wreath for May Day:
May 2026 daily stitching (detail)
The little tree is also on YouTube and is quite easy to stitch.
May daily stitching (detail)
The last week in May was too hot. I am a creature of the cold and dark, and I struggle with anything above 22 degrees. Thankfully it’s a little more normal this week and we have some very welcome rain in the forecast.
The end of May
We like to see the other side, right? Always.
The other side of May
And June is carrying us along:
First day of June
It’s unstoppable. The best option is to keep going, one day at a time.
After a few weeks of very enjoyable drawing and writing, the new PDFs are out. I *think* they’re ok but let me know if you find any glaring errors and I will fire the proofreader (that’s me).
These PDFs are meant to give a little help and direction with daily stitching on the days when you hit a wall and can’t get started.
There are currently four PDFs to choose from, sixty little design sketches in each volume: Lines, Circles, Nature, and Scatter patterns, with brief stitching directions for each sketch.
There’s also a blank page in each volume for you to jot down your own designs, and once you get started you will find yourself coming up with many more ideas of your own.
The PDFs assume that you are familiar with, and able to execute, some basic stitch types. My online class, Intuitive Daily Stitching, goes through these stitches in some detail and suggests various ways in which you can be creative with some simple stitches. Alternatively, you can consult one of the many embroidery reference books or free online tutorials for help learning some simple stitches.
Occasionally people have trouble accessing the download, so there’s now a ‘Help with PDFs’ page in the shop header with the following diagram and instructions:
The cover photos show samples of some of the designs so that you can see how they might look in real life. Be as creative as you like with colours and thread types.
cover photo samples
I really enjoyed putting these together, and I hope you find them helpful. Have a fabulous week.
There hasn’t been much happening front of house for a couple of weeks because I’ve been busy back stage working on some new PDFs. If you subscribe to my YouTube channel, you might have seen a preview of this in my video earlier this week.
I’ve had a lot of messages and social media comments this year from daily stitchers asking for more direction on what to stitch. With over four years of daily stitching behind me, I have more than enough to share.
daily stitching
So I’ve spent the last few weeks developing four themed PDFs, 60 designs in each:
lines/bands/stripes
circles/spirals/swirls
flowers and foliage
little/scatter patterns
PDF volume 1 for editing
I need to work up some more samples for the front covers and find another couple of pages-worth of designs, but I think I’m nearer the end than the beginning.
I’ve had requests for a book rather than PDFs, but there’s no way I have the head space to tackle a book right now. Books can take months, often years, to get from idea to publication; I hope there will be one at some point in the future though. In the meantime PDFs are relatively simple to make, and much easier to distribute.
Also, and this has made me do the hollow gallows laugh, a couple of friends suggested the PDF thing after I’d already started quietly working on it. Responding ‘you’re never going to believe this but…’ is hardly ever convincing but I think I got away with it.
Anyway, for now – more proof-reading/editing, a little more drawing, and some quiet stitching. It’s been really enjoyable rediscovering some previous designs and working them up into samples.
sample grids ready for stitching
I hope you’re enjoying your creative stitching too.
Here we are, on the last day of March – a quarter of the year gone already.
daily stitching, March 2026
There was a little basket of daffodils for St David on the first day…
Daffodils for St David’s Day
… some flowers for Mothering Sunday…
flowers for Mothering Sunday
…a shamrock for St Patrick…
St Patrick’s Day
… and equal day and night at the spring equinox
vernal equinox
We changed the clocks here in the UK at the weekend, so we lose an hour that we’ll get back in October. It baffles me why we have to do this. I know there are the all the myths and arguments about lighter evenings etc, but evenings will get lighter whether we change the clocks or not because that’s what happens in summer. Maybe the human race thinks it has some sort of mastery over time because we can arbitrarily change what the clock says. I don’t always think of myself as entirely human, by the way.
In any case, it happens whatever I think, so I’m pretending it’s 1pm even though I *know* it’s only noon. There’s a video of today’s stitching on my YouTube channel today, if you’re interested.
last day of March
In other news, I’m still grappling with threads, which will be in the shop after Easter. More on that later. Another reminder that the shop will close at noon (ish) on Thursday and will re-open after the Easter bank holidays.
Time flies. The first month of daily stitching for 2026 is complete, and the cloth fills up almost on its own while we’re looking the other way.
January 2026, daily stitching
There were early days
early January 2026
There were cold sparkly frosty days
early January 2026
And in-between days
late January 2026January days
New for this year are YouTube videos of daily stitching. Definitely not every day but maybe once or twice a week, when I can. I have some responsibilities at present, and much depends on how much of that needs my attention.
For now, we go onward into February
February ahead
And some snowdrops for Imbolc
1st February
If you’re having your own daily stitching adventure this year, I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am. This is my fifth year, and it’s still just as necessary and enjoyable as it ever was. I think of it as a little oasis of peace in an increasingly turbulent world.
I won’t post a daily stitching video every day, mainly because I can’t be available 365 days a year, but also because sometimes I just want to stitch quietly on my own without explaining anything. There might be a video tutorial maybe once or twice a week. Ish.
But as a result of the videos, a few people were asking where they can buy the spools I store my thread on.
thread on paper spools
You probably could buy them somewhere, or you could use sections of drinking straws, but it’s easier and cheaper to make them yourself as I do.
I hope you’re enjoying your daily stitching, if you’re embarking on a new year-long adventure. The whole huge blank canvas can look quite daunting at this time of year, but time flies and the days soon fill up if you just focus on one day at a time. Good advice for life too, I guess.
A new beginning or just continuing, it’s all the same really.
Today is about the Roman god Janus who looks back to the year just gone and forward at what’s to come. Stitches pointing backwards, and stitches pointing ahead.
1st January 2026
There’s a video of this one on my YouTube channel. I might do a video of tomorrow’s stitching too, but there definitely won’t be a video every day.
I’ve never intended the daily stitching to be a challenge or a stitch-along; I don’t provide prompts, themes, or directions for daily stitching. It’s more about being guided by your own intuition, and stitching something that is meaningful for you.
Hope everyone’s new year has got off to a good beginning.
365 blocks of hand embroidery, one every day for twelve months, each stitch witnessing the passage of time.
2025 daily stitching
Time is all we have, and time is all that we are. We have time, we make time, we find time, we save time, we spare time, we waste time, we spend time. We are time.
time capsule
This year’s stitching is about 7″ wide and 122″ long, cotton and silk embroidery threads on vintage cotton/linen blend.
People ask me what will I do with it. I don’t ‘do’ anything with it. It’s enough for it to be itself, a surface onto which I have inscribed time with needle and thread, a cloth I have held in my hands every day for a year, a cloth that holds and remembers moments from my life. The cloth will still be here when I am not.
completed stitching in protective cover
New Year’s Eve is a time for a final glance back, over our shoulder, before we move unsteadily forward into more of the unknown.
2025: January, the beginning2025: January/February2025: March2025: April 2025: April/May2025: May/June2025: June/July2025: July/August2025: August/September2025: September/October2025: October/November2025: November2025: December
Of course this is not the end, nor is it a new beginning. It’s just the continuation of time. Tomorrow is only ever the day after today, when we gather ourselves to begin again.
2026 ahead
Happy new year to you all, and happy stitching if you’re embarking on a new stitch adventure for 2026.
2025: all of it
You can find my daily stitching PDF templates here, information about pre-printed fabric from Spoonflower here, and information about my online classes here. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel here for occasional daily stitching videos.
I’m taking a break now for a week or two, to enjoy some rest and quiet reflective time.
daily stitching in progress
My shop is now closed for tangible items (thread and fabric scraps) but remains open for daily stitching templates. If you have a problem with a PDF download, then please do get in touch but please be patient as I will not be checking emails every day. My Teachable School also remains open and accessible throughout the festivities.
I’m preparing next year’s daily stitching by covering the grid lines, and it’s starting to look very inviting.
2026 preparations in progress
I’ll be back some time around new year with my completed stitching for 2025 and to begin again with 2026. It amazes me every new year’s eve how today turns into next year at the toll of a bell and an entire twelve months is suddenly behind us. Our human understanding of time is a strange thing.
Thank you for travelling through 2025 with me; I couldn’t make a living doing what I love without your kind support. Wishing you all the joy and peace of the season, and I’ll look forward to continuing next year.
