#WIPLash
When your creativity takes a sabbatical......
Warning! Incoming: a very niche needlepoint post
In the world of needlepoint, our current projects are lovingly dubbed "W.I.P.s" aka “works in progress” (see also: me). Social media is bursting at the seams with stitchers displaying their latest works, fueling our collective obsession with peeking into everyone's project bags to see what they are and are not working on.
But what about those projects we start and never fully finish? The ones that lose our interest halfway through and sit in our stash waiting to be picked up again? I call this very normal phenomenon "#WIPLash" - that moment when your once-beloved project suddenly feels about as exciting as organizing your sock drawer.
While our community thrives on sharing active projects (aka WIPs), one of the true unifying forces is our collective graveyard of half-finished projects. Do these ever make it to a social media highlight reel? About as often as we admit to eating cake for breakfast.
Sometimes these projects land in "Purgatory" (a sort of stitching limbo, if you will), as my friends Allie and Claire recently dished about (see here). Hearing this from others always fascinates me for it confirms we are all fickle, easily distracted humans.
When interviewing my first "Head Stitch In Charge," Bicoastal Stitches admitted to her own creative commitment issues and suggested talking about this very topic during our Instagram LIVE. It was so fun to chat about (see more here and below).
Since then, I always ask the “Head Stitch In Charge” what's giving them #WIPLash, and their confessions are therapy for my own stitching ADHD.
Note this: Walking away isn't quitting; it's simply putting your creativity on sabbatical. Below is my personal #WIPLash collection, displayed with the pride of someone who knows that, like fine wine and my capacity to recall song lyrics from the 90s (ok and early 2000s), some things just improve with time.
Morgan Julia Designs x Greystone Needlepoint Hot Dog
I adore this hot dog canvas (sold out; similar here) for so many reasons and was so excited to stitch it last summer (yes, last summer). I had this fabulous Liberty of London fabric picked out to match the fiber colors (see also: #fabricb4fiber)
Heck I even polled my IG followers on which background color to do (see below). Only to stitch everything; second guess my choices and realize I need to revise the background shape. Begrudgingly, I will be frogging this background and starting over, but I just don’t have the bandwidth for it at this point.
Evergreen Needlepoint “Columbia Inn” Sign
One of my favorite movies of all time (the Club Car scene will forever be my preferred mode of transportation), I was so excited to stitch this and used a new-to-me Floche (all cotton) fiber for the background. The only downside to Floche is the stranding. See more of my thoughts below:
I put this down a little while back to work on something else and have had a tough time going back to it just yet. I would love to finish it as a BIG pillow for the holidays but am not sure how - thoughts? Do I square off the design? What does one do?
Ann Kaye x Greystone Needlepoint Puffy Starfish
I mean she is a stunner and I LOVE this canvas but I initially had a tough time working with Boucle fibers I purchased for this (to give a more textured look) and have not picked it back up since. This is definitely a case of “no grit no pearl” (all puns intended) and I know this will be a beauty once she is stitched up. I am dreaming of finishing her as a paper weight (cc:
).
Le Point “Some Bunnies Sleeping”
The amount of times I have picked up this beauty (linked here) to start scheming, only to put her back down again (being honest here!) to finish stitching another project. I’ll spare you the details but it is more than I care to admit. I know the stroke of inspiration will strike and I will *finally* begin stitching soon. I can feel it….
All this to say (and show), that it is totally normal to have #WIPLash. So the next time you glance at that half-finished canvas hiding in your project bag, give it a knowing wink instead of a guilty sigh. In the end, it's not about finishing every project—it's about stitching joy into the journey, even when that journey includes delightful detours into needlepoint Purgatory.
And remember….. no grit, no pearl.
What’s giving you #WIPLash? Let me know in the comments below….I’d love to know!
