The Year of the Finish
tools to work through that to-be-finished pile in 2025
If you’re anything like me, you have a positively ✨dazzling ✨ stash of stitched projects just waiting for their turn to be sent out or self-finished.
As a finisher, I often feel like I’m living a “cobbler’s children have no shoes” kind of situation over here and my pile is pretty massive. Whether you call it your To Be Finished pile, TBF, s#!t to Finish, finishing purgatory, etc, I think most stitchers have one.
Maybe some of these have contributed to your pile:
Feeling stumped about what type of finish you want (regardless if you send it out or self-finish)
Concern about budgeting for finishing (a big reason why I started finishing!)
Feeling stuck filling out a lot of finishing forms
Unsure how to self-finish in the format you envision
Lacking the confidence to try
Wanting to go beyond basic finishes
Do these sound familiar?
I’ve seen plenty of project trackers and challenges focused on needlepoint stitching or purchasing habits but what if we had something specifically for needlepoint finishing?
Declaring 2025 is ✨ The Year of the Finish ✨
The Year of the Finish is all about helping you reach your finishing goals—whether you send your pieces out, self-finish, or do a mix of both. Even finishing professionals can benefit from having accountability to prioritize personal projects every now and then (ahem, guilty).
This project about providing you with the resources, encouragement, and a sense of community as you work toward finishing those beautiful projects into the finished objects they’re destined to become.
(And if you’re new to finishing, you can access the archive of tutorials and all the upcoming topics too!)
Free Finishing Planner
To help you get started, I’ve put together some free templates:
A list of Prompts to help you define your goals for The Year of the Finish
A Goals worksheet to make your ideas visible and trackable
Download them here.
Set some achievable goals: Define what you want to get done first. You can certainly plan your whole year or one project at a time (more my speed). Use the Finishing Planner to think through and document your goals and how you’re going to achieve them.
Track and celebrate progress: Stay motivated by seeing how far you’ve come. Whether that’s knocking down that pile, trying new formats, mastering making cording on the Lacis, or keeping up with your stitching pace, all goals are great.
Community and Support
Share with others: You can connect with like-minded stitchers and finishers and celebrate your wins. Share in our quarterly check-ins in the Substack subscriber chat or use the hashtag #TheYearOfTheFinish on Instagram and TikTok to share your progress!
Count on more tutorials, resources, and events to help you grow
No matter your goals, we already have the following planned to help you on your way.
In-Person events including at Knotted Needle in Grosse Pointe March 15! Registration is now open on their website.
Online Finish-Alongs (a free benefit of the Subscription, more topics and dates coming up!)
Other tutorials and resources here on Substack.
I can’t wait to see what you finish this year. Let’s make some magic.
And a fabulous year it will be! Loved reading this and feeling so motivated 💚
Love this!