I’ll cross that stitch when I come to it

Sometimes, you’ll sort through your cross stitch bag, and wonder, “How am I ever going to make the time to stitch all these?” Maybe you’re one of those people who can’t block out the siren song of new charts, and have twenty different UFOs but no finishes. Maybe you’re overwhelmed by the amount of projects you have, and no idea how to finish them all. If so, rotation stitching might be the answer for you.

Find and Sort
Here’s how it goes. First, find all your UFOs, and lay them all out. Do you still have all the materials for them? Do you still like the project? Remove the ones you’re missing materials for or don’t like anymore - deal with them some other time. Now, of all the projects you have left, you probably have some variation - some are huge BAPs (big a** projects), some are small ornaments, some are in between. If you’re like me, however, almost all of your UFOs are BAPs. Instead, sort them by category (fantasy, animals, landcapes) or designer (Mirabilia, Chatelaine, Bent Creek). I used a combination of the two. My categories are BAPs, MAPs (medium a** projects), smalls (like ornies), and obligation/seasonal (for gifts I need to make, and seasonal stitching). Be sure to make a list, and make sure you store and label all of them (I use large plastic ziploc baggies) so that you easily tell which category they belong to. Feeling overwhelmed now? It’s OK, the hard part is over!

Choose One of Each
Now, choose one from each category (you should probably start out with no more than four or 5). Make a list of each of these, and put them in order. For instance, here’s mine, with the category names:

BAPs: Bucilla’s Amazing Grace
Smalls: Mistletoe ornie
MAPs: Sheep Sampler
Obligations/Seasonal: Halloween whimsy

Rotate!
Now, start working on the first project on the list. There’s different ways to determine how long you work on a project, and it really depends on what kind of stitcher you are. Some people like to set a time limit - for instance, 10 hours, and work on a piece for that long. Then, once the time is up, you pack that piece up and start on the next one. Another way is setting goals. When you pick up a piece, think about what you’d like to accomplish before moving to the next one. For instance, finishing the woman’s hair, finishing up a certain color, or (if you don’t have that much left) until you finish the project! That way, you can set it to a longer or smaller amount of time for each piece. There are pitfalls with this method, though, as if you really hate a project, you might set a quick goal just to move on to the next one. Then, you’ll still feel like you’re not accomplishing anything. Even looser is just doing a “mood” rotation. Just stitch on the project until you get tired of it, and then move on to the next. Again, you can fall into the pitfall of not really working on something, so use at your own discretion.

Add a new project
Now here’s the fun part! Once you’ve finished a round of rotation - that is, gone through and worked on all of the projects - even if you didn’t finish any of them this time, start a new project! That’s right, just pick anything you want - doesn’t matter what category or anything, just start something new! Now, work on that for the specified amount, and then go back to the beginning, adding the new project as a new slot in the rotation after the others. This, effectively, adds another category to your list - new starts. Try to keep it reasonable, though, as a 20 project rotation is a bit out of hand! Maybe stick with a maximum of 8 or 9 projects.

Finish a project
Once you finish a project, move on to the next project in the rotation. On the next round through, replace the finished project with another from that category. For instance, replace a BAP with another BAP, or a new start with another new start. The important thing is to keep the rotation going.

Special circumstances
There may be times, however, when you need to break the rotation up a bit. If you need to finish a wedding sampler, baby sampler, or present really fast, try alternating that project with the rest of your rotation. For instance, for me that would mean: work on the baby sampler, then work on Amazing Grace, then back to the baby sampler, then the mistletoe ornament, etc, until it’s finished. As for me, I created a category specifically for that sort of thing, so I can work ahead during the year on birthday and Christmas presents.

As for me, well, after going through it once or twice, I decided rotations just weren’t for me. My first problem was that my deadlines that I set were too flexible, and I felt like I wasn’t really getting anything done. So, I changed it to the “work 10 hours” bit. Then, it seemed like every time I really started getting into a project, I’d have to switch to another. Even worse, I dreaded stitching on some of the UFOs so much that I’d simply not stitch on them. So, it looks like rotations are just not for me, but don’t let that dissuade you from giving it a try! Tons of stitches swear by rotations, so maybe you’ll be one of the many who love it. Even if you don’t, you’ll have all your UFOs sorted and put away nicely! Happy stitching!