Adventure 38/50 : I love a challenge ... or two!

October has been busy -- as usual -- but I've managed to focus some of my creative energies by taking on two unrelated challenges.

Today is the last day of Blogtober!

Including this post, I have managed to publish an article on this blog every day in October -- nearly doubling this year's post count! I liked the discipline of putting together an editorial calendar, choosing stories to feature, gathering assets, and writing up the pieces. It's been a great way for me to wrap up memories of our trip to Japan, and to FINALLY write up my decade-old notes from our Carros de For trek. It has also inspired me to start a "Travel Tuesday" series so I can write up other older content, including my Thames Path walk from nearly TWENTY years ago. So watch this space. 

Today is also the last day of the Witchy Stitchy Challenge. 

I've been in a stitch-a-long group since February 2018, and it has really helped keep me motivated while working on some large stitching projects. I completed the fox pillow:

a butterfly cross stitch:

the craft that dare not speak its name, the swans pillow:

and some Japanese-themed odds and ends, including some great sashimi:

But I had fallen into a habit of stitching around the check-ins that happen every three weeks. We'd get an email from Avis the organizer, reminding us to post our updates and link to the other stitchers. I'd then frantically stitch for a couple of evenings so I had something to share (ha!), write a post, and then maybe stitch a day or two after.

We often joke about this in the SAL, so I know I'm not the only one!

But I wanted to get into a more regular practice of stitching. So when I saw that one of my SAL buddies was participating in something called the Witchy Stitchy challenge, I was intrigued. Could I actually be disciplined enough to stitch at least an hour a day for 13 days, and post an "accountability photo" on facebook every day?

Well, yes. Yes I can!

I started the challenge by working on the stitching on my sashiko bag kit... which I finished on day 6. Here are my before/after daily collages all in one place
.
Day 1:

Day 2:

Day3:

Day4:

Day 5:

Day 6:

On Day 7 I switched to the cherry blossom kit:

Day 8:

Day 9:

Day 10:

Day 11:

Day 12:

Day 13! Still far to go, but I've started on the blossoms:

I am someone motivated by deadlines and accountability, so both of these projects really resonated with me. As with blogging, I don't plan on stitching an hour every day, but knowing that I can make time to do so is pretty satisfying -- especially in the winter when the evenings are so long!