After five years of embroidering an icon a day, I decided at the end of 2024, to swap to something more sustainable – a Micro Embroidery Journal! With a Daily Embroidery Journal, I ended up stitching quite a lot of filler icons representing repetitive tasks, work, or tv shows that I was watching. With a Micro Embroidery Journal I have instead been able to focus on the big moments of my year – turning 30, settling into my new home with my partner, and going on a few trips!
As it’s June and I’m halfway through my first Micro Embroidery Journal, I thought I’d create an FAQ about this project. You may find this helpful if you’re considering creating one yourself.
What is an Embroidery Journal?
A standard Daily Embroidery Journal is a project where everyday you embroider an icon that represents your day. At the end of the year, you’ll have embroidered 365 stunning icons representing your year. From 2020 – 2024, I created a Daily Embroidery Journal each year. I adored these journals! I love being able to see my entire year fit into one 12 inch embroidery hoop.
For 2025, I wanted to do something a bit more compact. After I interviewed Tessa (@embroidery.bytessa) about her Mini Embroidery Journal for my interview series A Stitch a Day, I thought this might be the solution! I now embroider only the big moments from my year, both good and bad. It’s the same project as a Daily Embroidery Journal, just with less noise!
How many icons do I stitch a month?
When I first started my Micro Embroidery Journal I aimed to embroider roughly 7-14 icons a month. I have literally never embroidered 7 or 14 icons in a month. I always tend to hover around 9-11 icons a month. This is the perfect sweet spot.
What are some of my favourite 2025 icons so far?
I’ve had so many good ones! I absolutely love the latte that I stitched in February after meeting up with a friend for coffee. However, I also love the treehouse and birthday cake that I embroidered in May – both are related to my 30th birthday.
How much time do I spend a month on my journal?
It takes me 5-10 minutes to embroider each icon, so I would guess that I spend around an hour each month on my embroidery journal. A bit more than that if you factor in designing the icons as well. But it really is not that big of a time commitment.
With my Daily Embroidery Journal, I estimated that I spent at a minimum 30 hours a year just embroidering my icons. With my Micro Embroidery Journal, the total should only be around 12 hours.
How often do I update my journal?
With my Daily Embroidery Journal, I would do bulk updates roughly every 3-5 days so I didn’t fall too behind. Now, there’s no pressure! So I update my Micro Embroidery Journal twice a month. Typically around the middle of the month and again on the last day of the month. However, I could very easily wait until the end of the month to do my monthly icons all at once!
What size embroidery hoop do I use?
I use a 7 inch embroidery hoop. I find that this is the perfect size for stitching about 10 icons a month. When I first set off to create my Micro Embroidery Journal, I hoped that I could fit up to 14 icons per month onto my journal. I now know that is unfortunately not a possibility for me! If I aimed for 14 icons, they would need to be smaller than I would want them to be. I like having the odd small icon, but I don’t want them all to be tiny.
Do you still track your daily habits?
Yes! I use my 2025 Embroidery Journal Daily Tracker in order to jot down what I do each day. I just write a quick 1-2 sentence summary. If I feel like I may want to embroider an icon based on that day, I’ll then sketch out an icon on the corresponding icon page.
What do I prefer, Micro or Daily Embroidery Journaling?
For the first four years, Daily Embroidery Journaling was amazing. I loved it! I was constantly thinking about how I could represent my day in thread. That fifth year though, that was a bit tough! It started to feel like a chore. I wasn’t looking forward to my bulk updates as I used to. During that fifth year, I started asking myself if this was the end of Embroidery Journals for The Stir-Crazy Crafter. With some time and thought, I landed on decreasing the amount of icons I stitched a year and this has been a total lifesaver for me! I once again love updating my Embroidery Journal. It feels special and unique once again. I could see myself lasting another 5 years of creating Embroidery Journals this way.
Are there any resources that will help me create a Micro Embroidery Journal?
While I don’t currently have any resources designed for Micro Embroidery Journaling, I have plenty of Daily Embroidery Journaling resources that would work well! My icon packs and 2025 template would transfer well for Micro Embroidery Journaling. While my Create Your Own Embroidery Journal Guide is a great resources for Daily Embroidery Journaling, a lot of the tips will transfer well to Micro Embroidery Journaling as well.
Will I create a guide or kit for Micro Embroidery Journaling?
Time permitting, I would love to! In fact I may even be working on a new Embroidery Journaling Kit launching this Autumn… Sign up for my newsletter to be the first to know once it goes live!
Enjoyed this post? Then check out some of my other blog posts or purchase the in-depth embroidery journal guide. You can also join the free Embroidery Journaling Facebook group to chat with others working on Embroidery Journals. Follow me on any of the following social media websites: