Winter Pastimes: 30 Things to Make, Do, Watch and Enjoy in January

January can feel a bit quiet after the chaos of Christmas, but it’s one of my favourite months to settle into something new. The long evenings are perfect for picking up a needle and thread—there’s nothing like sewing to slow down and feel grounded—or trying out something different to spark a bit of joy. I am not one of those who thinks January is the perfect time to pick up a new fitness regime or become a miraculously better person, instead I think it's a time to be kind to yourself and ease into the new year. So I’ve rounded up 30 ideas for you to make the most of this time, whether it’s starting a new project, discovering inspiration, or simply enjoying a moment of calm. There’s no pressure—just some thoughts to help brighten up your winter evenings.

1. Get disciplined with how you use time on your phone by downloading an app blocker, so you don’t spend the dark nights in January just scrolling on your phone. I use this one and set it on an automatic schedule so everyday all my distracting apps (Instagram, email, YouTube etc) are blocked from 7PM to 8AM. It gives me weekends free of distraction.
2. Start a new audiobook series to do whilst you stitch. Earlier this year I devoured the Slough House series by Mick Herron and I am currently onto Book 7 of the ironically named Dublin Trilogy by Caimh McDonnell. I could spend hours in the company of Jackson Lamb or Bunny McGarry
3. Start a stitch sampler – every week for 2025 we will be publishing a short new stitch video to our YouTube channel. Even if it's a stitch you’ve already done before, sometimes revisiting a stitch can teach you something new or learning a new stitch can bring a bit of challenge and feeling of achievement to an evening at home.
4. Explore some gallery and museum archives – start discovering inspiration for new projects by spending some time just exploring online archives and downloading pictures that take your fancy. My top five favourite museum online archives for textiles and folk art are British Museum, International Folk Art Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Winterthur Museum and Compton Verney. Just have fun having a browse without the pressure of what to do with it.
5. Alternatively, if you can, go out and visit a local museum or gallery (do check first to make sure they’re open, as opening hours may be different over the festive period!). Even if its one which you aren’t sure is completely up your street, you may surprise yourself with something you see and like, or learn about a new topic.
6. Take a trip to your local second hand bookshop for an inspiration search. You never know what you can find - old auction catalogues, art books, exhibition books are all great sources of inspiration. Or if you can’t make it to a shop, then look online for books. Two Artists at Home is a great reference for second hand books (although I never have been quick enough to buy one of theirs). But once you see the titles on their website, you can go down a rabbit hole looking around the topic through WorldBooks or AbeBooks.
7. Take a deep dive on the journal and read some of our articles you might have missed. There are some deep-dives and personal reflections on the creative process, such as The Importance of Creative Rituals, Embracing Embarrassment or Stay True to Your Vision. If you fancy watching rather than reading, catch up on our past studio talks such as an exploration on Choosing Colour or how to Play with Composition. Or if you want to discover some of my favourite artists, then take a look at the pieces on Jessie Oonark’s applique, Gerard Rigot’s furniture, Matisse’s cut-outs or Josef Frank’s patterns.
8. Start playing with paper: one dark January I spent many many happy evenings making a whole load of different patterned paper and then using it for collages (you can read about it here and here). So much so I recorded videos to show all of you the methods I used. So get yourself lots of cartridge paper, order some inks, and have a go at paste paper, or monoprinting, or layered designs. Here are some of the videos, all you need are some materials: How To Monoprint Patterns and How To Do Layered Patterns
9. Paint a table cloth! The house can feel a little dreary after christmas so take some time to paint a tablecloth - use personal touches, things for each family member. If you use a fabric paint medium and set the paint fully afterwards with an iron, then you can wash and reuse the table cloth! I made lots of them for my wedding a couple of years ago (pictures here), and recorded a video to show the process here. For the fabric, I used a medium weight calico to work on, just a couple of pounds a meter. For the fabric I used a mix of standard wall emulsion paint and a fabric paint medium. Whilst they recommend working 1:1 ratio, I worked in a 2:2:1 paint:medium:water. I liked adding more water in as it meant you get more tonal variation in how the colour saturates once it dries, helping the table cloths look painterly.
10. Make a batch of Kings Ginger to warm your cockles in the evenings – ever since Berry Brothers changed the recipe on this ultimate winter drink it isn’t the same, so we have resorted to making our own which is the simplest thing and the ultimate winter drink – whether added to a hot chocolate, in a pudding, or just straight. I don’t even like whiskey and I love this. The recipe has two ingredients, whiskey and stem ginger. I recommend leaving it for 3 months before drinking though so best to get on it now!
11. Settle down with a puzzle. It’s a great solitary or group activity, with less talking if your social battery is running low after Christmas. If you want to invest in a fiendishly difficult jigsaw, Wentworth Puzzles do beautiful wooden ones, with internal shapes so that a straight edge doesn’t always mean it goes at the edge of the jigsaw. If a group of you work hard at it each day between Christmas and New Year, you might just about finish!
12. Book yourself onto a course. Whilst we don’t often feel like venturing out in the evening in January, it’s often a time for setting new goals or dreaming of creative projects. Last January I booked myself onto an etching course at East London Printmakers for the Spring. When spring came around I was so glad I had been organised booking the course, otherwise I probably would’ve allowed another year to go by without learning how to etch!
13. Make and decorate your own gingerbread people (this recipe worked well for me). Give them fun geometric clothes - think dots, stripes, zigzags - use the icing like embroidery stitches! Look at the Musicians range for inspiration.
14. Make some pine cones fire starters. Last year Harry and I went out foraging for pine cones and he made some scented fire starters for all his family (using the method from this very lovely little book). There are lots of video guides online, but honestly I think its best to keep it super simple. Just buy some very basic candles and melt them down in a can in a bain-marie adding some essential oils (like this). Then pour the wax into cupcake liners and put a big pinecone in the middle. You don’t really need a wick - the pinecone is the wick!
15. If you live close enough to friends or family, you could start a recipe club where you take it in turns to host dinner, and everyone brings a different dish, either from the same recipe book or on the same theme. Its a good way of spending time together whilst each learning something new.
16. The most successful gift we ever bought my dad for Christmas was a pasta maker. You can spend a fortune on pastamaker but this one really does the job amazingly. Once you start making fresh pasta, it’s quite hard to go back to bought. So if you have a bit of time on your hands in January, this is definitely a craft worth exploring.
17. If you have used wrapping paper (and if you don’t re-use it), you could upcycle it for collage, or make paper cut-outs. If you choose to do cut-outs and are stuck for ideas of where to start, you could start off by cutting fish based on these prompts, and create Christmassy fish.
18. Start pulling together an inspiration folder - take a look at our very popular Finding Inspiration series on YouTube all about how and where I collect inspiration. Have fun just finding ideas, not worrying just yet about how you are going to use them.
19. Throughout the festive period, it can feel quite hard to slow down and relax. So sometimes it better to wait until January to give yourself a proper self-care day. Take the time to do whatever it is that makes you feel pampered and relaxed, lie in and read in bed, light some candles and take a bath, simply getting a haircut or doing a facemask. Treat yourself to a little self-care!
20. Watch some old episodes from Alan Yentob’s ever fascinating Imagine series on BBC. Over the years, Alan Yentob has interviewed writers, musicians, artists, creatives - gaining an insight into their creative process, their ways of working and their approach to art. Whilst it can sometimes feel easier to sit down in front of old re-runs, I never regret the time spend watching Imagine, even more so if I didn’t know anything about the person. People in the UK can catch some of the archive on the BBC here or internationally on AppleTV but sadly a lot of the older episodes get removed. So it’s also always worth searching YouTube, such as this amazing 2006 episode with Howard Hodgkin or 2015 episode on Anthony Gormley.
21. If you don’t already keep a diary, now could be a good time to start. It’s always useful to take time to reflect, or have a space to process your thoughts. You could take a different approach and create a happiness journal, choosing to just write about one moment from each day where you felt happy about something or proud of yourself. My dad always tells my sister and I that a positive attitude is a choice, so this one is quite a good way of looking on the bright side at things in 2025.
22. Do a book swap with a friend - each select your favourite book you’ve read this year, and swap books. Then you can get together after you’ve both finished, and have a mini book club to discuss what you thought.
23. Planning your year ahead of crafts- do you have projects you want to finally get finished, new skills you want to learn, designs you have been planning or a space on the wall that needs filling? One of the things lots of us struggle with when we enjoy making things is having a bit of accountability to finish one thing or power through the hard stages when a design doesn’t feel like it is working. So make yourself a schedule - what projects you want to do when. Set yourself a daily or weekly time you want to dedicate to your craft. So you never have to decide “what” you a doing, you can just relax and get on with it.
24. I am a bit of a foodie, so one thing I want to do this year is try out a lot more recipes. I have always wanted to take a cookbook and work through it from start to finish. Here are five of my all-time favourite cookbooks for lovely wintery meals: Nigel Slater Real Food, Simon Hopkinson The Good Cook, Lucas Holloweg Good Things to Eat and The Winter Cabin Cookbook (if you really feel like hunkering down)
25. Whilst I did already include one TV recommendation earlier, sometimes all you want is a gripping, intense, long series to get totally lost in. I am maybe one of the few who has never watched The Wire, so that’s on my winter to do list. Something I can get hooked on every night whilst I stitch - although I am sure the combination of the relatively hard going The Wire with some nice needlepoint is a little unusual, I do like a proper drama.
26. For Christmas, I bought everyone in the team a new sketchbook and pencil case full of drawing pens. The start of a new year is the best time to start a new sketchbook - not to one to be precious about, one to just doodle in and do some really bad drawings. Throughout December, I started recording a 40-day Sketchbook Challenge will be going live as part of our Maker’s Space in February. So if you fancy the idea of pushing your drawing in a structured and supported way, do sign up to the waiting list here to find out when it all goes live.
27. Start working on Christmas Stocking’s for next year - as much as it feels like you are only just getting over this Christmas and maybe the last thing you want to think about is next year’s, you’ll be grateful to yourself if you start on your stockings now. We have a range of Christmas stocking kits inspired by the Just So stories - designs you can hand down from generation to generation. So if you fancy a needlepoint stocking, now is the time to begin!
28. With the sketchbook challenge in mind… one you have your empty sketchbook, go out and find motifs. Walk around your town, village, local area and look for patterns. The moment you start looking, you’ll suddenly find them everywhere, from railings, to shop signs, to drain covers… It’s a good way of getting out of the house with a purpose, and to start filling some empty pages with ideas.
29. Do you have an item of furniture in your home, or a feature in a room which you could add some interest to. Now I am, of course, a maximalist and proud. So it’s quite hard for me to leave surfaces undecorated. So much so I wrote a big guide for you here on how to Decoratively Paint and have a full virtual course on it here. Whether it’s tarting up some picture frames, or adding interest to the edges of bookshelves or doorframes, or maybe a bigger project such as a cabinet. Spending some hours decoratively painting can completely transform your home!
30. Last, but by no means least… take up sewing! I could rhapsodise all day about why sewing is simply the best hobby in the world and the impact it can have on your life, but the best way to really understand that is to give it a go yourself. Head to our beginners section of the website and pick yourself a project to get started on. You will never regret the time spent stitching!