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

February 2026 Stitching Update

Hello again! No finishes this month, but lots of starts, as you may have noticed. Still trying to keep up with the 100 starts for the year and I think it still seems possible. 

This is the post for anything besides the new starts though, so let's start with the HAED SAL. Here's where it was last month:

and another few thousand stitches got us to here:

HAED SAL: Whisper of Wishes

stitched 1 over 1 full cross on 28ct easy count 

with charted DMC

Some people have already finished their projects and I assume they're more one-at-a-time stitchers. That is not me, and hilariously not so this year. 

My other main project to work on at least monthly is the Stormlight Quotes. There's not a ton of progress, but here's where it was:

and I spent some time going back to make sure all the little details on the swords were correct, so that's where a lot of my time was spent, plus lots of letters again! Here's what it looks like now:

Stormlight Archive quotes by Taylor and Cromwell

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct black Monaco

with DMC as charted

I don't remember where I picked up this fabric, but it's exactly the right size for this one, as if it was meant to be. I still enjoy stitching on this one and Pattern Keeper tells me I've hit over 10K stitches, so that means about 3.5K to go. That should still be possible before the end of the year and someone's birthday. 

And that's it for stitching other than the new starts. Lots of new starts this month though. Even if I haven't got all the blog posts up yet, there will be more to come! I hope to spend the next couple weeks on the HAED SAL, so I try and start several projects in the previous 2 weeks to then spread out the blog posts with new starts so they all get their time. Not worth rushing through things, they're all fun projects. 

Hope you all had good stitching months!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #22 - Spaceballs the Cross Stitch by MegC

I don't know if any of you are fans of Spaceballs? The movie with John Candy, Bill Pullman, Mel Brooks, Joan Rivers voice and Daphne Zuniga from 1987. 

It's a favourite of both mine and DH's, and we recently introduced it to DD, despite her protestations. To explain a bit, she gets anxious with anything "new" or that we like since it's "old". Anyways, she loved it and wanted to watch it again the next day, because obviously, it's fantastic! 

That inspired me to start this fun stitch:

This is someone's finished project that they posted on the Etsy site. You can find the pattern here if you're interested in getting it as well. 

I only managed a tiny start, and am maybe using a different colour than the model stitch, but here it is so far:

Spaceballs the Cross Stitch by MegC

stitched 2 over 1 on 18ct black aida with DMC B5200

My photo is a bit blurry since my camera doesn't seem to like stark contrast? Or I was too close, either is possible. This will need a lot of time since there's a lot of stitches, but it is Pattern Keeper compatible, which does make it much easier for me to keep track of what I've done and minimize errors. 

I don't know if this will be done before the next movie is out, they're making Spaceballs 2 if you hadn't heard, so I'm looking forward to that as well.

Hope your stitching days have been fun!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #21 - Don't Be Suspicious by Ketty

Another small start today, it's like I'm being reasonable or something? I'm sure that will change as time goes on and I feel like starting another BAP. But for now, let's take the small wins! 

This is a pattern by Ketty from Supernatural Stitchies by Ketty on Facebook.  I'm not sure if you can join the group right now because she was having computer issues at the end of last year and I didn't see any recent posts. The pattern for this stitch still exists in the files section though, so it should be available. Possibly I could send an invite if needed? Let me know if you need any help joining. 

The original pattern has 2 colours of DMC pink charted, but I made this for DD, and when she plays Among Us, she prefers white or cyan. I changed up the colours to make this one cyan in colour and will list my colour changes. This was another fairly quick stitch and I think it only took 2 nights of work. 

Here's my finish:

Don't Be Suspicious by Ketty

stitched 1 and 2 over 1 on 18ct scrap fabric

as charted but subbing DMC 597 and 598 for the body of the character

It seems like this could maybe use some back stitch to outline the character, but it's not charted, so I'm going to leave it. Maybe, if you know the Among Us game, you can think of it as fading out like the imposter? Anyways, it's a finish, whee!

I hope you've all had good stitching days,

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch