As we approach the new year, (the year 2020, can you believe it?) I wanted to take a few minutes to look back at all we have accomplished in the last year – and yes, we have made some milestones!!

One of the big things for me is that we are now almost 1/4 of the way to my personal goal of 100K subscribers on the OML Embroidery Youtube channel! I hope this trend continues, I am thankful to all those that subscribed in 2019, and hopefully, another 20K will subscribe in 2020. How cool would that be?

Moving forward, let’s talk about YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS. Our OML Embroidery University facebook group is full of your wonderful creations – matching thread with fabric, putting your own fabric/thread style on each of your mug rug creations!

People who are new to embroidery have been inspired to stitch some applique and do their first in the hoop project! That is amazing – and kudos to everyone who moved out of their comfort zone and tried something new. Give yourself a pat on the back!!

OML Live! sew along videos has become a huge hit and we are breaking some records with attendance and views! I am having so much fun with the regular stitch along, and I think everyone else is too! It is so much fun, I can’t wait until the next one! Let’s keep it going 🙂

Last but not least, you are LEARNING. Did you notice that? Among all of the mug rugs, steps, applique, and stitching, you may not have noticed that many have made a huge step in embroidery skills! Because there are no written instructions, you have had to view the video and think about each step that you make. Yes, it’s OK to pause the video step by step, but you will find that you need to do this less and less as time goes on. That takes skill, and it’s a skill that you have learned!

You have learned the steps in applique and making a mug rug. You no longer look at the embroidery pattern and wonder what all the steps are for! The strange colors at the beginning are applique, batting and stitch down, and the straight lines are folded fabric applique. You have learned to prepare your fabric, batting, and hoop before you start sewing. You have learned to take your time, and carefully trim and make precision applique. My goodness, there are so many more skills that you have learned in the last year, I can’t list them all! You get the idea!

Hopefully, at this point you have also started to learn the difference between an OK embroidery design and a great embroidery design that you love to stitch and stitch again. Think about this one for a few moments, and you will see what I mean!

We will talk about that more in another blog.

For now, Happy New Year to every embroiderer out there. Let’s make 2020 a year of milestones and accomplishments!

Thank you to each and every one of you who watches the videos, likes, comments and of course donates what they can. Each subscriber brings the channel closer to the goal! You have all be spectacular and fun, and again I thank you for everything you have done to help and participate. We can’t do any of it without you!

Best wishes for a Happy New Embroidery Year 2020!!

Happy Stitching!

Sue Brown