Challenging yourself and pushing your thinking expands your thinking. That’s what we’re here for. The goal of the 100 day stitch book : think more, think better, let your voice emerge.

At first glance the challenge is about commitment, making the time. But time and commitment are just a container.  Now we bring energy and intention to that space.

Creativity is associated with being free and uninhibited but it’s constraints that most efficiently power the engine (this is especially true if you’re feeling stuck). Your imagination is a muscle and working with limitations is calisthenics. The secret ingredient – limits – energize and focus your process. And limits don’t eliminate playfulness. For me they expand it.

learn about the stitch book challenge here

To that end, we’re working with page prompts in stitch club this year – one for each page. The prompt is a boundary and an invitation. Our page 4 prompt was circles:

circles – page 4

Limit yourself to circles. They can overlap or not. They can be partial or full. You can play with scale and the negative space they create.

Simple right? Spend a little time with that idea and you’ll find out how challenging and motivating it is.

day 1

day 2

day 3

day 4

page 4 – day 5

I found it incredibly difficult. I worked harder and it was the best kind of work – focused entirely on the feeling, the composition. Composition is a big subject and we’ll talk more about it in another post.

Also yellow is a surprise this year. It’s never been a prominent color for me and all of a sudden this year its a real player.

make a valentine swan box

I made this  free swan box DIY for you ages ago. You can find it here. Thanks to Naomi from Material Studies for noticing it would be a super sweet valentine to make for your people – red ribbon and maybe little heart chocolates – so dear. This is also a remarkable instance of creative blogs linking to each other like they did in the good old days of the internet.

Is there a paper swan valentine in your future? As we begin page 5! and the 1/4 mark in the stitch book challenge how are you feeling in your process? What limit could you apply to challenge yourself? Let us know in the comments.

Congratulations. You have created an excellent situation. You’ve got some fabric scraps, an assignment and a small, daily, dedicated chunk of time. Wonderful conditions for having ideas, trying stuff and listening to yourself.

Are you nervous? Excited? This is my 5th stitch book challenge and I’m both each time. But mostly I’m curious, and I hope you are too.

Follow your curiosity.

let’s get started

Before you begin please read both of these pages completely:

1. Begin here and don’t skim – you will miss stuff.

2. The tutorial for how to cut your pages and make the book is here. The book is assembled after the 100 days of stitching but it’s essential to know where we are headed. Take special note of how the pages will be stitched together and where you might want to leave a margin.

please keep in mind

* You will have the option to finish with raw or turned edges. The book on the right has raw edges and the book on the left has finished edges- you can do either when we assemble at the end of the 100 days. It’s good to decide which you want before you start.

*15 minutes per day is a suggestion – a minimum – overachievers are very welcome to do more.

*The stitch book process lends itself to improvisational stitching – start without knowing – work without a plan. It’s not the only way to approach the book but it’s my focus and when I offer suggestions and inspiration sources that will be the context.

*Community helps. We are each other’s accountability partners. Showing work in progress keeps you on track. It’s not mandatory to post every single day but it’s helpful to take a photo of each day’s progress for yourself.

*Speaking of sharing – you can share on insta etc with:

#stitchbookchallenge2026

FYI – Hashtags can take a while to show up on social media.

You can also – totally optional – join the stitch club community – it’s the private sharing space for ann wood handmade.

Accountability, feedback, support and fellowship. All that human stuff.

You don’t need to join stitch club to participate in the challenge but it does offer the aforementioned benefits plus:

New this year – optional page prompts! If you’re feeling unsure about getting started this can be the perfect approach. Your work will still be entirely self directed but the prompts can get your wheels turning. Also, it does not have to be either/or – you can choose which prompts to use and which to skip.

The membership will close on January 20th. It will remain closed for the duration of the challenge.

day 1

the part where you have to start

One thing leads to another if you let it. To set yourself up for success remove as many obstacles as possible. Have your supplies ready ahead of time. Have a to-go kit. Have a plan for the bad days. Daily practice  is hard. Congratulate yourself for showing up.

As soon as you start a feedback loop begins, you get information. That’s what we’re here for. Listen carefully for the magic – it is there- waiting to be noticed…

Good luck! Are you ready for 100 days of stitching? Let us know in the comments.

Your habit is taking root. You’ve gained a deeper understanding of your creative process—how your mind works, where you get stuck, and what sparks your curiosity. You’re also discovering new intersections.

Intersections are connections—ideas.

One thing leads to another, if you let it…

learn about the stitch book project here

You have fifty days of work behind you. That daily commitment, however small, adds up to something surprisingly significant.

Or not. Maybe it feels like a hot mess. Maybe you still feel stuck, and subjected to a new daily dose of guilt that you missed a day (or most of the days…), or that your work isn’t what you hoped it would be.

That’s just information—feedback. Use it. Adjust. Experiment.

Katie Baker
coast and cloth

Some ways to shift things:

Be silly. I’m a huge fan of silly. Playfulness unlocks creativity.

Add constraints. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, limit yourself—use just one color, like blues, or stick to a single shape, like circles. Constraints can spark fresh ideas and help you see your materials in a new way.

Let go of the outcome. Just commit to 15 minutes of creative movement—hands and mind engaged. Let that be enough.

Keep going.

How are you doing at this milestone? Feeling momentum or stuck in the doldrums? Let us know in the comments.

You can check out lots more of 2025 stitch book pages on instagram. And share your progress to by using #stitchbookchallenge2025 or join the stitch club community.

The 2025 100 day stitch book challenge begins on 1/17 and ends on 4/26

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CHALLENGE HERE

All the info you need to participate is available at the link above – please read it carefully – don’t skim! You’ll miss stuff

The 4th annual! 100 day Stitch Book Challenge begins next Friday January 17!

I have spent a lot of time and energy in life learning how to trick myself into doing stuff, getting my ideas out of my head or working past stuckness.  One of the most effective ways is daily practice. Small daily practice. It’s where  my ideas show up and percolate – in my daily paintings (this is year 7!) and the stitch book project.

In the case of the stitch book project, that’s 15 minutes per day for 100 days.

learn about the 100 day stitch book challenge here

The do-able chunk of time eliminates paralysis and overthinking and invites happenstance. And I love the idea of each day building on the previous.

Committing to a do-able assignment and applying small consistent effort is as close to a magic formula as there is for growing creatively and getting unstuck.

will you join us for the 2025 challenge?

To set yourself up for success on day one- Jan 17th –  take some easy actions now. Grab the checklist. Then begin with the overview here.

And totally optional- join stitch club! You don’t need to join to participate but it is a great place to find support and share your progress.

stitch club membership is open now

What happens in stitch club? It’s the private ann wood handmade community, a great place to get inspired, share what you’re working on and make sewy friends.

We just completed a fall stitch journal in the community. It was an excellent warm up for the big event beginning next Friday.  It was a weekly commitment (one stitched panel per week) as opposed to the daily 15 minute commitment of the 100 day book.  I struggled to keep up. It’s a super busy time of year work wise and I had the faceplant situation that messed up a couple weeks of my life but I think the lesson is the small daily thing really works best for me.

You can see my finished book below. I approached the stitching the same way I approach the 100 day book – improvisational, yes and, see what turns up.

Don’t see the video above? Click here to view on youtube.

The binding is “modified coptic” . There are so many cool ways to bind books- I think we’ll try another method in the next mini book.

stitch book challenge 2025

Just like the three previous years I’m excited and also nervous to start. Daily practice is hard. But I can’t resist. Can you? I’ve got some ideas and lessons learned from the previous years to help you get ready.

thinking of the pages in pairs

Totally optional but  I have loved having a second chance at compositions by treating 2 pages as one image/idea in previous book. I mostly did not work on the two pages consecutively. When I wasn’t happy with what I’d done, putting the idea aside and letting it percolate helped a lot.

I’m also leaning towards leaving my edges raw again.

Support the 100 day stitch book project and the always growing free pattern library.

Click here to add your support.

make it easy

Make it  easy to show up. Have your materials accessible and transportable. 15 minutes is even more doable if everything is already set up.

plan for the bad days

This is so important. There will  be some bad days. Some too busy or sick or too something days. The secret to those days is a predetermined, minimally acceptable effort.

Protect the habit, protect the momentum and do something.

and if you do miss a day?

Keep going. Maybe do an extra 15 minutes when you can.

warm up

Putting things in a box is a great way to begin.

I’m putting things in a box now and I’ll be back on the 17th with some ideas and encouragement.

Will you join me in 100 days of stitching? Let us know in the comments.

onward!

ann

PS – LA  friends – you are on my mind  ❤️❤️❤️❤️

The 100 day stitch book project ends tomorrow!

Tomorrow you and I  will complete page 20 and move on to phase 2 – assembling the book. Congratulations on showing up for that process.

What happens when you stitch creatively for 100 days? What happens when you show up consistently even in a small way? You watch yourself think and work and you get insight into that process. That insight teaches you how to access your magic. You start a feedback loop and you give ideas a place to show up.

Creativity is showing up and trying again and again and again. Getting it wrong is part of getting it right. And by right I mean something that sings to you.

day 99

The 100 day stitch book works because it builds on small, consistent effort. Those efforts compound and become something greater, both in terms of process and physical result. The daily practice builds on itself and gains momentum. You know you can show up because you’ve been showing up. The muscle keeps getting stronger. And the pages, all those stitches, the accumulation of many days, become a book. A substantial reflection of your efforts, a record in marks of 100 of your days.

assembling your pages

The directions begin here– they are in 2 parts – please read both completely.

I’m opting to leave my page edges raw again this year. It’s super simple to do and there is just one change to the assembly directions:

At step 11 in the making the sections tutorial you pin the fabric with the wrong sides together. And hand stitch around the edges. It takes forever. I’m hoping to get started on it this weekend.

Before I start to assemble I go through each page and look for anything I might need to fix- a loose stitch – I accidentally scorched a couple spots – stuff like that. Then decide the order I want the pages appear in, number them and use the page chart in the afore mentioned instructions to lay them out for assembly.

100 days flew by! I’m very curious about your experience. Was this your first time trying a daily practice or is that already part of your life? What did you learn? Will you miss it? (I will). Are you relieved it’s done? (I have some of that too). Let us know in the comments.