New SAL Coming Soon - "Fully-Finished Gallery"

Hi all!

I'm on a mission... and I don't think it's impossible! It might not be easy, but I'm up for the challenge... are you?

My mission... to see more cross stitch projects being fully-finished in 2019 (and beyond). Here's why and how...

There are lots of really great cross stitch SALs out there which encourage new starts, stitching progress and happy dances. But what happens to a lot of those projects afterwards?

It saddens me that there are probably hundreds of completed cross stitches stored away in drawers and boxes when all that might be needed is a bit of encouragement or inspiration for their owners to dive in and have a go at fully-finishing some, even if it's only one or two.

I appreciate that fully-finishing a project can be daunting and probably not as much fun as the stitching itself (not to mention taking valuable time away from more stitching!) and I used to be a reluctant fully-finisher for just those reasons but, trust me, seeing a lovingly-stitched project on display after being fully-finished is immensely satisfying.

My travels through blogland are by no means extensive but I'm not aware of a place for stitchers to group together to share their fully-finished objects in something like a Fully-Finished Gallery. So I thought, why not create one?

And this is where you come in.

I am going to start a Fully-Finished Gallery SAL to be run on the 10th of each month, starting 10th February 2019, with a linky-up widget thingy where you can join in and post your recently-completed fully-finished objects.

An FFO could be anything from sticking a project onto a piece of card to having it professionally framed, and covering everything in between - bags, bookmarks, boxes, coasters, cubes, gift tags, keyrings, ornaments, pillows, purses, scrapbook pages, tablecloths, tissue boxes, wall hangings... anything... as long as it's been fully-finished. Let your imagination run riot!

I very much want this to be a no pressure SAL so there will be no need to sign up and no commitment required - you just post as and when you have something to show. But to add to the fun, for each month you enter, your name will go into a draw for an end of year prize giveaway of some sort. How does that sound?

It is my hope to see FFOs by both regular and the more reluctant or ad-hoc finishers and that having somewhere central to post and share FFOs, and a variety of finishing techniques, might be just what's needed to give others inspiration and motivation to encourage even more finishes.

Please leave a comment if you like this idea and think you might join in, just so I know I won't be alone! And please feel free to spread the word on your own blog, or add a link back to this post if you wish - the more who know about it and can be encouraged or guilt-tripped into giving fully-finishing a go the better!!

So, come on, dust off your UFOs, turn them into FFOs and between us let's proudly populate this Fully-Finished Gallery with our cross stitch handiwork! Even if you only try it once it's one less UFO sitting around.

I'll set up a page with the 'rules' and write another post or two closer to 10th February to keep you updated. I'm also looking for a good logo (I'm not very imaginative!) so suggestions are welcome (or if you would like to design one...?)

Finally, a big shout out to two bloggers who have encouraged me with this idea; your positivity has helped no end. You know who you are. Thank you xx.

Like I said, I'm on a mission... and with your help it definitely won't be impossible!

Take care,
Rachel x