Sophie O’Neill, also known as the The Stir-Crazy Crafter, has inspired a community of embroiderers to start the daily practice of embroidery journaling. An alternative method for marking time across a year, Sophie’s embroidery journals are densely packed with tiny icons imbued with meaning. Embroidery journaling becomes a hot topic at the start of every year (Sophie was just interviewed by the BBC on the subject!) as embroiderers everywhere consider launching similar projects to document their own journey through time. We sat down with Sophie to learn more about her process and how she began embroidery journaling.
How were you introduced to embroidery?
I was first introduced to embroidery via a cross stitch project in the 5th grade where we were tasked to design our own pattern based on American History. I ended up designing an ink pot and quill. This project is long lost.
Fast forward to 2019, I started following several different embroidery accounts on Instagram and felt drawn to it. When I came across Sam Gillespie’s 2019 365 Days of Stitches Project (@Threesixfivestitches on Instagram), I knew that I wanted to have my own take on the project. I decided to teach myself to embroider so I could create an embroidery journal of my own.
What is an embroidery journal?
An embroidery journal is a project in which everyday I embroider an icon that represents my day. By December 31st my embroidery journal is filled with an icon representing every single day of the year—even the boring days. Whether this be something that I ate, something that I did during the day, or even how I was feeling.
What drew you to focus on embroidery journals and trackers?
I’ve never been one to journal, but I was always intrigued by it. I would try to start a diary, but I could never stick with it for very long. I found that embroidering a small icon a day scratched the itch of keeping a journal without all of the writing!
What does your design process look like?
Each day, I write down what I did throughout the day. Once I’ve decided what the most memorable event of the day was, I first start sketching line art designs in my notebook. I do this until I’m happy with how my icon looks. From there I use a water soluble pen to sketch my icon on my embroidery journal. I then embroider my design using one strand of floss.
Instead of doing daily updates on my embroidery journal, I tend to do bulk updates of 3-5 icons at a time. I find that it makes this project a bit less overwhelming. I like to be able to sit down with my embroidery journal and update it all at once.
Do you embroider an icon every day?
Every day of my year receives an icon. This includes the boring days where I didn’t do anything interesting. Even on those days I’m able to find some way to represent my day whether it be related to cleaning or even based on something I read in a book.
This process can get a bit more tedious as the year progresses, but it’s still wonderful to see my embroidery journal fill up with hundreds of unique icons.
Where do you find inspiration for your embroidery designs?
Each icon on my embroidery journal represents something from my day, so I take inspiration from my daily life. If I ate a pink donut, I would end up trying to embroider an icon that looks similar to that donut, in my own style, of course.
As for my reading tracker, I quite enjoy reading so I decided to make a unique and functional way to track read books by genre, page count, rating, etc. At the end of the year, you’re then able to turn the tracker into a bookmark to be used in the future.
Do you have any favorite tools you can’t live without?
In working on an embroidery journal, a water soluble pen is a must. When I go to embroider one of my daily icons I first sketch my design onto my fabric using a water soluble marker. Once I finish my update, all I need to do is clean my fabric and the pen marks fade away. I genuinely couldn’t imagine working on this project without this tool.
I’ve tried a lot of different fabric pens at this point, but my favorite is the Dritz B-Gone Marking Pen-Fine-Blue. It lasts for ages and I find that after a bit of use, it has a finer point than most water soluble pens. This is especially helpful when trying to draw fine designs.
Do you have a favorite embroidery journal? Why is it your favorite?
While I had only just begun embroidering when I started my 2020 embroidery journal, it’s definitely my favourite. I love that you can see my skills improve throughout my year. I originally started my first embroidery journal to track a new job that I was starting on January 4th, 2020. Instead, I ended up charting the course of the pandemic! At the beginning of the year you can see all sorts of icons relating to my new position as a housekeeper manager in training, in March you can start to see pandemic activity icons pop up while I was furloughed, in August you can see icons relating to my bone infection treatment, and in October you can see icons relating to my return to work with much more responsibility (and stress). While I have had memorable events track on my embroidery journals since 2020—like moving to the UK, meeting my boyfriend, starting a business, or buying a house—I’ll always be fond of my first embroidery journal.
You’ve inspired so many other needleworkers to create embroidery journals. Do you have any favorites to share?
Sarah Reebs’ Spiral of Life – Each day in 2023, Sarah embroidered a tiny icon representing her day using a spiral pattern. I found it to be such a wonderfully unique embroidery journal!
Rebecca Lush – Cross stitch journal – I don’t often see cross stitch journals, I feel that it’s a bit more difficult to get the correct sizing of icons to fit an embroidery hoop in a satisfying way like an embroidery journal does, but Rebecca does it so well! I was awestruck when I saw her 2023 cross stitch journal. She’s just finished her 2024 cross stitch journal.
Did you learn anything unexpected when you started creating embroidery journals?
Through creating an embroidery journal, I found that I am so much more creative than I thought I was! I was never any good at drawing, but somehow that translated differently when it came to embroidering icons. My poorly drawn icons turn into smooth little images on fabric.
What is your best piece of advice for embroiderers interested in embarking on creating an embroidery journal or tracker?
It’s easy to fall behind on a project like an embroidery journal or a reading tracker. My recommendation is to track what you do each day. This is beneficial for two reasons – if you fall behind on either project you can get caught up, but you can also use it as a way to reflect back on your projects as a reminder for what each icon or book represents.
What are some common mistakes that arise when creating an embroidery journal?
Common mistakes that I see crop up in an embroidery journal tend to relate to spacing. When creating an embroidery journal, your fabric is split into 12 even sections, one for each month. From there, it’s a matter of evenly fitting 28-31 icons into each section. This can be a bit difficult, even for someone like me that’s been doing this for 5 years.
I find that when I’m down to my last 7 or so icons and running low on space, that it’s helpful to take a photo of my embroidery journal and circle the spots where I think I can realistically fit in those 7 icons. I can then use this as a guide when it comes to sketching my designs on my fabric.
Do you have a daily/weekly practice that you’d recommend to other embroiderers interested in honing their craft?
It’s a simple piece of advice, but keep practicing! If you’re new to embroidery and want to start a project like an embroidery journal, don’t be scared off! I had only been embroidering for 3 months when I started my first embroidery journal. One of the reasons I adore that embroidery journal is because throughout the year you can see my skills improve as I practiced regularly with my embroidery journal and other projects from that time.
Where can interested needleworkers discover more creating their own journal, and your work and upcoming projects?
The best place to catch my future 2025 embroidery journal updates is on my Instagram, but I’ve also created a very wholesome Facebook group for people to share photos of their own embroidery journals. My website is stircrazycrafter.com.
If you’re looking to create your own embroidery journal, you can find a variety of embroidery journal resources and kits available on my Etsy store. Use code EGA2025 to get 15% off.
EGA readers can also download an embroidery journal template and browse alternative ideas for yearly embroidery journals here.
