When I first saw The 100 Day Project on social media thinking man, "That's too intense for me." At the same time I thought the whole point of the challenge is to push my creativity. For those of you not sure what The 100 Days Project is, it’s a challenge to do the same creative act for a 100 days in a row then share you progress on social media with #the100dayproject and an optional hashtag specifically for your project. 2018 marks the 5th year since Elle Luna and Lindsay Jean Thomson started this worldwide challenge.
This year was my first time to participate. 100 of anything seems like a lot but really 100 days come and go all the time. My work schedule isn’t very stable with strange hours so really making time to do anything every single day was already a challenge, let alone something creative. I did some research and made a long list of possible projects. I waited untill THE VERY LAST MINUTE to decide what I would be doing for the next 100 days. This last minute decision led to mistake #1: Not being prepared.
I tend to over plan and can be very indecisive. This caused a rough start for my 100 days. The night before the kick off I was still going back and forth on project ideas. I always want to do it all! Eventually, I landed on embroidery. I had quite a few embroidery projects I wanted to start and for the most part I had enough supplies to get me going. The first project was a random little pattern that says “whoa”, something to get me started. When I finished up one project, I felt like I had to scramble to get the next one going. Over time I started prepping the next project well before it was time to dive in. I also found myself returning to JoAnn's far too many times throughout the 100 days. These little setbacks could have been avoided if I had done some if ANY prep before day 1.
A very common phrase for procrastinators, like myself, is “I don’t have enough time”. If there is one thing I learned for Elise from “Elise Gets Crafty” podcast is that you do have enough time, you just have to make the time. So mistake #2: I didn’t make the time. Collectively, there were at least 10 days that I didn’t embroider. *GASP* Yes, sadly I did not actually embroider for 100 days straight. Yes, I know that was the challenge. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t learn anything for next year or get a hand full of projects done that I’m very happy with. I just wasn’t making the time I needed to embroider. I struggled early on with making time and finding motivation, so in response the next project I started was a patch that I had to "earn" by finishing the 100 days. Since this was my first year to participate, I found myself working out most of the kinks though out the project. For example, if I was going to work from 11 am to 11 pm that day, I probably would pass out at home before I got the chance to even think about my project (that happened a few times). So I tried waking up 30 minutes earlier. Also I started bringing my supplies to work so I could work on my lunch break. I just had to make the time.
Lastly, mistake #3: Having too high of expectations. I would get frustrated if I didn’t get a lot stitched or if I only had 15 minutes. But instead of letting that keep me from getting anything done that day, I learned to reset my exceptions every day. If all I got to do was embroider a single flower before bed, then that's what I would do. I took advantage of entire days off. I would find myself lost in embroidering for 3 or 4 hours. I got so much done and I loved it. But I knew I couldn't get that much done every day. So the next day I looked at my schedule and reset my expectations.
Overall I completed several projects that I’m very happy with and a few experiments that taught me a lot. I'm super pumped to redirect my energy elsewhere for the time being but I still have some embroidery projects that I still need to wrap up. But first a break! You can find my posts from the project on my Instagram (@bymeganmccann) or with the hashtag #100daysofmeganstitching. Also I used the One Second Everyday App to create a single video documenting my progression throughout the 100 days.
The floral pattern on the grey zip pouch was from The Crafter's Box. The credenza and plants pattern was purchased from Sarah K. Benning. All other designs are original.
