#Onestitchamonth

Capture life with just one stitch a month.

Fabric journal stitchbook

Do you love fabrics, threads, ribbons and more? Join fellow fabric and stitching enthusiasts for #onestitchamonth and get started on your very own mixed media fabric journal stitchbook.

What’s a fabric journal stitchbook, you ask?

It’s like an art journal or scrapbook, but the pages are made of muslin fabric, and instead of using just pens, pencils and paints, you incorporate textiles, needle and thread to make your creative imprint. Each month “journal” and stitch a new page in your fabric journal stitchbook to capture one salient memory of the month. By year’s end, you’ll have 12 pages done to commemorate the entire year. Scroll down to see a few pages from my 2021 #Onestitchamonth Fabric Journal Stitchbook.

#onestitchamonth is an activity that you can do from home and on your own time. Currently, there are no gatherings or get-togethers planned. Simply stitch a page in your fabric journal and share it using my #onestitchamonth hashtag on Instagram or Facebook so more people can follow along and be inspired.

To get your #onestitchamonth jump started, I have a Fabric Journal Stitchbook Kit just for you. Each kit comes with the following items to get you started on #onestitchamonth:

  • one blank fabric journal stitchbook
  • embroidery floss
  • needles
  • scraps of fabric and ribbon

The fabric stitchbook measures approximately 8.5 by 6 inches when closed and has 24 pages. The stitchbook front and back cover is padded with batting and is made entirely of muslin fabric. Pages are naturally frayed on the edge. There is no design on the cover or inside pages of the fabric journal so it is a blank canvas ready for you to create on!

Each kit is $30 (+ $8 for shipping)

order a fabric journal kit

RSVP below if you plan to participate in #onestitchamonth and you will receive inspiration and fun snail mail for your stitching adventures while you stitch.

January

It’s a new year and my handmade stitchbook has a new page! I’ve decided to turn my fabric book into a textile mixed media journal all about 2021. Embroidery floss, fabric scraps, ribbon and more make for some inspired materials.

2021 is a year I’m going to want to remember. I pray that God will surprise me and you, delight us, bring healing to our midst and keep us growing together. 

For the month of January, home is where I start. For most of us, we’ve got no where else to be but home. And despite the continued, gracious manna from heaven, I know so many of us are tired of it. Me included! Loneliness, restlessness, anxiety and worry creep in to steal our gratitude and joy. I put together this page in my fabric journal to remind me that home can be a haven, a refuge overflowing with love. Don’t lose hope. What does your home look like? Stay steadfast and let the love of Christ richly dwell in you so that it may billow out to your neighbors, friends, colleagues and all who pass by. We need your joy and your love … I know I certainly do! You are a blessing. 

Instructions:

  1. Collect scraps of fabric to make houses out of… think squares for the frame and triangles for the roof.
  2. Different ribbons with different textures and designs can make fun accents for rooftops or serve as a fence or road in front of your houses. To make a triangle out of a small piece of ribbon, fold down the right corner of your ribbon and play with the angle of your fold according to the width of your square house.
  3. Use a little fabric glue to glue down your houses.
  4. Use your embroidery thread and needle to add stitches alongside the outside frame of your house.

FEBRUARY

It’s February and love is certainly in the air…. or well, definitely in the Hallmark channel and in the candy stores! I chose hearts to stitch this month. I wanted to do something with my fabric hearts to make it more meaningful to my life. So, I chose to include my family’s One Little Words for 2021. This is the first (and possibly the last) time my entire family chose a One Little Word to reflect upon. Now there’s no guarantee they’ll think about their word ever again, but the fact that they participated and humored me when I asked them what their One Little Word would be for 2021 was AMAZING.

I want to always remember what is important to each of my family members… their hopes, their fears, their aspirations… whether it becomes a reality or not. Knowing these heartfelt thoughts helps me to champion them each and every day. So here’s my challenge to you. Make a stitch and open wide your heart to your family’s aspirations for this year.

Instructions:

  1. Collect scraps of fabric and cut them into squares and hearts.
  2. Match up a heart to a square. Don’t overthink this… it doesn’t have to be matchy-matchy. Sometimes a “mismatched” combo is perfect.
  3. Use your embroidery thread and needle to add stitches around your heart. After a few stitches and before you stitch around the entire heart, stuff a little batting inside the heart. Then finish stitching the heart closed.
  4. Add some extra “bling” to your heart squares with different kinds of stitches or pieces of word fabric.

March

In the month of March I wanted to remember my time at Stephanie Ackerman’s Creative Soul Retreat at the Whatever Craft House in Kansas. So I used Stephanie’s handmade original stamps to create a page with rainbows, words and hearts. Thank you @stephanieackerman1 for letting us use your beautiful word stamps and for teaching us to carve our own stamps to use as a template for stitching over.

Stitching is such a process and this has taken me the better half of this month to finish. And while I DO NOT always love the process of stitching I sure do love what comes out of it. So to help me get the results I want to see, I know I have to do at least #onestitchamonth. And y’all, I am here to say, that at month 3 of my commitment, stitching is less painful than it was in the first month and I actually pick up my needle and floss more often than not.  #justkeepstitching #onestitchatatime 

Recently, @balzerdesigns shared on her blog this quote from NYT bestselling author @jamesclear, “New goals don’t deliver new results. New lifestyles do. And a lifestyle is a process, not an outcome. For this reason, your energy should go into building better habits, not chasing better results.” How true is this?!! Habits. Process. Lifestyle.

Instructions:

  1. Find a stamp with a design that you like and stamp it onto your fabric.
  2. Use your embroidery thread and needle to add stitches around your stamped design… either going over it or around it. There’s no right or wrong way. It just depends if you want to cover the stamp or leave it as an outline to your design.
  3. In addition to thread, try stitching in fabric, felt or ribbon scraps onto your stamped design. This will give some great added visual interest and texture to your finished page.

april

April brought about lots of exploration, digging, unrooting, learning, and decision-making. For me it was as “simple” as replacing the plants from our winter freeze, figuring out what plants were my favorite out of the 1,345 options and making choices. 🌸🌺🌻 

But for my kids, it was all about making decisions for their next four years. Both of my kids will graduate from their respective schools in May. Finishing up as Class of 2021 students, they will soon join the Class of 2025. We toured schools, asked questions of others and each other, went forward and backwards… basically no stone was left untouched. 

For one child, the options abounded, came quickly and the choice wasn’t difficult. There was a clear favorite, a specific vision and unearthing of a long-awaited dream. For my other child, there were more no’s than yeses, a longer, thorough walk through choices and a slow-waking epiphany. While wildly different in manner, both came to answer what was their favorite and were so happy with their final decisions. It was a process, but God met them both right where they were as individuals. He approached them with specificity acknowledging their unique personalities, characteristics and experiences. It was humbling to watch. One message was clear all around … “You’re my favorite. You are what matters. It wasn’t the decision, the choice. It was simply you.”

I stitched bits and pieces to remember this journey, this message. Keep blooming (and stitching) my friend. You’re His favorite too. He planted you for a reason.

Instructions:

  1. Collect some scraps of fabric with words or images that speak to you and call into mind experiences, memories or emotions. While it may be difficult to find just the “right” fabric with the perfect words or images to accurately capture what you have in mind, consider a fabric’s color, design, and shape as symbolic representations as well. Your goal is to make a symbolic representation of a time in your life, not necessarily a literal representation.
  2. Using a glue stick, glue down your fabric scraps into a collage arrangement. Overlapping pieces and filling up your entire area is the goal.
  3. Use your embroidery thread and needle to stitch the fabric collage together.
  4. Because elements of collages are built upon layers, consider leaving some sides of your fabric unstitched so that they can be lifted up in an interactive manner to unveil what lies below.

may

My May #onestitchamonth was inspired by @foragebylisamattock and her slow stitching flowers. While I didn’t have time to replicate all her stitching goodness, I managed to squeeze out a few of my own. I have lots more stitches I want to add, but here is a glimpse of what I started working on.

I want to remember this month with life in its fullest bloom… our house was like a colorful, floral shop. With Mother’s Day, a birthday, a banquet, two graduations, a musical performance, last days of school, end-of-year parties, reunions with family and friends, there was an endless number of reasons to celebrate and we had no end of flowers. 

It was an emotional month as I embraced a flood of memories and tried to sear new ones in mind. I identify with this girl peeking out with her basket. I want to pick all the blooms and keep them forever. The beauty in life’s moments can take your breath away. Our lives bloom, just like flowers, when we’re least expecting it and oftentimes apart from our own efforts. Life is a gift of grace. Savor it, love it, and enjoy the glorious, beautiful miracle.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 

Instructions:

  1. Cut a lot of fabrics into circles of varying widths, ranging from 1-3 inches. The fabric doesn’t have to match. I like the look of mismatched fabric.
  2. Layer the circles on top of each other and using your needle and thread, stitch through the center of all the circles to attach them together. A simple two stitches will do the trick, however, if you want to get fancier, use the french knot stitch to add a fun centerpiece to your fabric flower.
  3. Consider using twine and burlap as part of your onestitchamonth. I used twine to serve as a “rope to “hang” a piece of fabric. I used burlap as the backdrop for my fabric flowers and I like the contrast between the neutral burlap and the multicolor flowers.

june

Tandem: alongside each other; together. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about this word over the past month. So it’s no surprise that I gravitated towards stitching an image in tandem… two are better than one. Inspired by a llama napkin, I used it as my base for my June #onestitchamonth. 

Elizabeth Beck @tandemquiltingco is someone whom I admire greatly. Her heart for God and for people radiates love, grace and inspiration. Elizabeth came to my Canton Creative Retreat this month and shared her story and the story of many other women she has met and helped. She partners with refugee women to give them opportunities to create and transform their futures. Check out @tandemquiltingco. They make amazing quilts, textile arts and cards. 

Don’t underestimate your ability to help someone else. Create in tandem and watch the transformation of your seasons. We are better together. 

P.S. if you want to stitch this, let me know and I will mail you a llama napkin. 

Instructions:

  1. Take a decorative 2 or 3 ply napkin and peel it to 1 ply. Napkin should be fairly transparent.
  2. Put a thin layer of mod podge on your fabric and lay your 1 play decorative napkin on top.
  3. Use the design of the napkin as your inspiration on where to add stitches.

july

How do I want to remember July?! My #onestitchamonthstitchbook captured a bit of my month and how I spent my free time. I’m not really a patient, disciplined learner but something just prompted me to get invested on a deeper level and take some creative classes. And I’m so glad I did!

I joined @misstracycreates Fabric Fan Club and learned how to “just add color” to my fabrics. Mind-blowingly, simple. If you don’t follow Tracy, go check her out now! She’s a fantastic teacher and has MANY a creative hack to share. 

I signed up for @terribrushdesigns online class for leather cuffs and resin. How did she even know that bracelets were my first joy?! And now I’ve found a way to mix crafts and jewelry-making 😍

And then I was inspired by @papercrownwaco post on her upcoming August creative workshop where we would learn how to make fabric washi tape. I couldn’t make her class, but I explored more and learned it on my own.

Being creative and doing creative things doesn’t have to be hard or difficult. See something you like?… Say something. Connect, engage, and be part of a creative community. Be curious. We have so much to learn from one another. Don’t be shy. There are great instructors, teachers and learners all around us. Who are your favorite teachers? Give them a shout-out. It’s back-to-school time and we’re all the better for the teachers in our lives. 

Instructions: No instructions this month, since I don’t want to take away from someone else’s teaching. Check out my links above to see how to add color to your fabrics and make fabric washi tape.

august

As I surveyed the fabrics and scraps that I had, my August #onestitchamonth came together. It was less about stitching and more about the textiles and what they represented. A fabric map, a piece of ribbon turned fabric tape, a scrap of non-sequential inches, and some words of advice best summed up my month. 

I marked a milestone when I moved my daughter to college this month. There’s just nothing to prepare you for this kind of transition.❤️

How do you let go gracefully? 
It’s sad, emotional, and so abrupt. You’re left hanging like a loose piece of thread. What’s next?!

What’s the best parting shot of advice? 
You’re at a loss for words. Keep it simple, because it’s all just too much. Make mud pies. Jump in puddles and climb trees. [Translation: don’t be afraid to try new things, get messy and enjoy the view at the top.] I mean, really, what else is there to say?!

Where did the years go? 
3 jumped to 10 and wait, now they’re gone?! Seems like we skipped a few numbers along the way. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 … How did they grow up so fast?

The parenting manual on letting go isn’t the same as real life. You just have to do it, and say I love you. 

Instructions:

  1. Sometimes a fabric just speaks for itself and it doesn’t need much. So, consider just adding a stitched border to frame your fabric.
  2. Consider adding lace where there was none. Lace detail adds a really fun extra texture to scraps of fabric.
  3. Don’t always think thread has to be stitched and tied off. Sometimes leaving the thread hanging loose is a statement in itself.