2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #29 - Be A Cupcake by StitchLife

Does anyone remember StitchLife magazine? I had joined for a while, they were on Patreon I think and it was fun for a while. I don't think they still exist, I couldn't find much online. I still have some of the patterns that came with the subscription, and I thought this one would be a fun start. 

There were a few different options as far as chocolate or vanilla icing, and I chose vanilla, here's the floss toss with the vanilla icing:

And my total progress:

Be A Cupcake by StitchLife

stitched 2 over 1 on 18ct mauve aida

with Silks4U threads

The fabric got a little washed out in this picture, but fortunately I took a photo of how well my cat was helping me stitch, and the fabric is pictured correctly there:

Such a good helper right? And why all my stitching has "specialty thread" added, whether I want it to be or not. :)

Hope your stitching day went well! 

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #28 - Antisocial Cryptid Club by Witchy Stitcher

Time to get out the black Cone of Doom! For yet another all-black Witchy Stitcher pattern. I actually am not using DMC 310 on this one though. Here's what it will look like when it's finished:

I had some fun fabric for this one, and instead of DMC 310 I grabbed some of my Madeira black silk. I picked up several skeins on deep discount when Stoney Creek was getting rid of them, and the coverage is better than DMC, so it should look great on this pattern. 

I didn't get as much done as I hoped, the lighting wasn't great at the conference, and this was the second day of it, after not sleeping well for 2 nights, but there's definitely a start. 

Antisocial Cryptid Club by Witchy Stitcher

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Midnight Tryst by Chromatic Alchemy

with Madeira black silk

Although the first cryptid is likely intended to be Nessie from Loch Ness, in my head it will be Champ, our local cryptid lake monster that was discovered before Nessie, by Samuel de Champlain, who Lake Champlain is named after. I believe Lake Champlain is the largest lake after the Great Lakes in North America. 

Here's a bit more on the Champ legend if you're interested. There is a photo of Champ that people use as evidence:

The person who took the photo disposed of the negative and didn't remember exactly where they took the photo, so that leads to some question about it. Plus the lake isn't very deep in that area apparently. 

More cryptids to come when I can get back to the stitching!

Hope it's been a good stitching day,

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #27 - Acceptance by Bendy Stitchy

A new designer for me, Michelle Bendy Stitchy is newish on the scene as well. She's got lots of interesting patterns, and I think they're pretty popular as well. I'm not a huge fan of the prim style, but I liked the message this one had, so picked it up. I can't remember if this was maybe for a charity as well? She does that often, which is fantastic too. 

I was away over the weekend, so I had sort of more and less stitching time. I was at a conference, and it helps my attention span if I keep my hands busy, so I had time to stitch. However, the chairs aren't the most comfortable, so I usually have to switch to knitting at some point to give my neck/arms a break also. So I had the time, but not the ability. Plus I tend not to sleep well in hotels, so I need to keep any WIPs very simple. 

I've stitched and knit so many things over the years at that conference, the lighting matters for cross stitch as well of course, so knitting often takes over most of the time. 

Here's where it's at:

Acceptance by Bendy Stitchy

Stitched 2 over 1 on 18ct Aida "Cassia-Rose" by Chromatic Alchemy

stitched with stash threads

The border repeats, so it's an easy stitch so far and this should be fun to get back to at some point. I think I chose colours that fit well with the initial design, and all from stash, which is nice. I'm definitely whittling down some things and my overstuffed specialty threads bin is starting to close properly. :)

I hope you've all had good stitching days!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #26 - Wind Waker by Avocado Stitchery

For those of you keeping track, we're not quite 1/4 of the way through the year, but I'm a little over 1/4 of the way through my starts! So we're doing okay so far on the end goal. I haven't had as much stitching time this month, but I did manage a small start on this fun project. Eventually, it will look like this:

 And my small start is here:

Wind Waker Story by Avocado Stitchery

stitched with DMC 310 so far on 25ct gray Jobelan(?)

Not a huge start, but it's still a start and I'm looking forward to getting back to this one as well. 

I have to be away this weekend at a conference and I've been debating whether I'll bring a few new starts or take one of these monochromatic ones to work on. I have to decide tonight since I leave right after work tomorrow. 

I hope you've all had good stitching days!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #25 - Gotcha! by SonovaStitch

SonovaStitch has some really fun patterns, and he has a fairly active Facebook group if you're interested in joining. I've purchased a few patterns, and in October he does a free pattern every day, so I've donated as well during the month. You have to check every day to download the pattern for free, and most, maybe all, of them will end up on his website to purchase as well. 

This is a tiny project, and has 7 colours! But it does stitch up really nicely. I skipped the words, so maybe that's 8 colours? Anyways, I only stitched the main part of this pattern, and it's a finish:

Gotcha! by SonovaStitch

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Monaco

with DMC threads as charted

I added the DMC scissors (gift from DD) and needleminder (gift from DH) so you could see how teeny-weeny this stitch was. It took a bit since you have to use different colours, but it is a really great finish, nice dimension to the chart to make it look more 3D, very cool pattern. 

Definitely more of these patterns in the future, but I'm glad to have this finish complete for now. The word "gotcha!" is in the pattern below the Pokeball, but I only wanted the Pokeball and have already gifted it to DD. She loved it! 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #24 - Mackintosh Rose Blackwork SAL by Lakeside Needlecraft and Peppermint Purple

This SAL is still available on the Lakeside Needlecraft Facebook group if anyone is interested. There's a few other things in the files I hadn't noticed that I'll have to check out as well. This was an interesting pattern and again, something I might change up a bit with some variegated thread. 

Here's the chart image:

I debated a bit about the fabric, but decided I wasn't sure if I wanted to add the blackwork in the background, so chose an opalescent fabric. I might just stitch the flowers since it has a stained glass look. I worked on it for a few days and here's where I'm at so far:

Mackintosh Rose SAL by Peppermint Purple and Lakeside Needlecraft

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Hurricane by PTP

as charted so far

I found the leftover Lanarte black threads from Animal Parade and decided to use them up vs. having them take up space in my stash threads box. I did manage to use up everything I had left, so now I'll have to check if DMC works best or Anchor to finish off the black outlines. 

This is another fun stitch and I enjoyed the progress. I'm a little disappointed I ran out of the thread, but I'm also glad I managed to use it all up. It would have felt nice to get all the black complete, but since I ran out of the thread I left it here for now. 

I hope you've all had good stitching days!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #23 - Plan Ahead by Subversive Cross Stitch

I've collected a few of these fun patterns over the years, and it's finally time to start another one. Most of them are fairly small, so a finish can happen quickly sometimes with these. Their website is here if you want to check any out. They have random sales and sell kits as well as patterns. 

This is the one I finished way back in 2018:

This pattern is a fun one, and is easy to adapt colours, etc. I took a couple days and finished it up, and it looks like this:

Plan Ahead by Subversive Cross Stitch

stitched 2 over 1 on scrap opalescent 14ct fabric

with Jodyri Santa's Sleigh (border) and WDW Crepe Myrtle (words)

I  wanted to make it more colourful and I thought playing with the variegated thread in the border would be fun. I like the patterns that it made, definitely fits the saying! And it was nice to find 2 different thread companies that had somewhat similar colours, so you can really pick out the pink colour in the border. 

It's great to have a finish, and go through some of my stash to work on this one. That's the goal, hopefully to not have to buy anything, just work through what I have and enjoy the process. 

Hope your stitching day went well!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch