2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #8 - Hobbit Book Cover by Faylens Designs

I don't think this pattern is still available, and I can't get a good image of what it should look like, so here's an actual book cover:

The chart doesn't have the title or the signature, mostly just the gold mountain tops and the red sun. 

I can't tell you how many times I've read this book and watched the old '80s cartoon version. I will say I wasn't a fan of the Peter Jackson choices for the movies, but at least they didn't leave anything out? I've been trying to read it to DD, but she's very concerned about what's going to happen, so we haven't finished it yet. 

Here's the fabric and threads I found to use:

and my first day start:

Hobbit Book Cover by Faylens Designs

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct black linen

with Silks4U advent threads

It's very tempting to keep this out for a while since it's only 2 colours, but I would like to catch up on the new starts and my other stitching. Finishing Yellow Submarine felt amazing and was definitely what I needed to do, but it did make me adjust my timing for everything else. Worth it!

Hope you're all having a good stitching day!

Tiffstitch

January 2026 Stitching Update

Lots of stitching this month, a lot of which will be in the separate "new start" posts, but I did some other stitching as well, including one finish, and it deserves a post of its own as well. 

First some updates!

There was a new start in late December, the HAED SAL which I decided to try this year. I'm not sure if I'll get the whole 6 pages needed for all the charts, but there are a couple I'd like, so I might be able to do it. I think it's about 45K stitches to meet that goal, and I've done close to 3K so far. I chose Whisper of Wishes, which will look like this eventually:

This is about 10 pages total, so 6 pages would be the left 2/3. It might be possible. This is where I'm at so far:

Whisper of Wishes by HAED

stitched 1 over 1 full cross on 28ct Easy Count

with charted DMC

My very loose plan is to try and get 3-5K stitches done on this within the first 2 weeks of the month, then spend the rest on WIPs, new starts, etc. It's not very confetti heavy so far, so it's been enjoyable. It was nice to have a break for a couple weeks though. 

After I put this away, I picked up an old WIP that's been hanging around for a while. It's a small project, but it's Sweetheart Tree, so there's a lot of detail to it. This is where it was when I last picked it up in July 2024:

and now it's a finish! 

Honest Santa - I Didn't Do It! by The Sweetheart Tree

stitched as charted, 2 over 2 on last scrap of Tempest by Chromatic Alchemy

There was so much backstitch and the words are 1 over 1, which is so much harder now than it was 10 years ago. Even with my stronger magnification in my glasses! But it's done and I'm very glad. 

Another project I picked up, and hope to pick up every couple weeks is Stormlight Quotes by Taylor and Cromwell. I have quite a bit done, and it just needs time to get a finish. Last time I worked on it was in April 2024:

and now I've reached the top! 

Stormlight Archive quotes by Taylor and Cromwell

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct black Monaco

with DMC as charted

I picked up a smaller Qsnap so I could concentrate on getting all the way to the top of this one. It feels like it's closer now that all 4 sides are at least started. I have about 5K stitches until it's complete, and the plan is to work on it every couple weeks when DH has a meeting. It's usually for about 3 hours, which was enough for 450 stitches last time. There's lots of one colour to stitch with, so that will help it go more quickly as well. I think I can get it completed in time to have it framed for DH's birthday at the end of the year. 

The last project I worked on is a Mill Hill that I had kind of lost. I found it in a bag while I was looking for something else, so I pulled it out and got a few threadlengths into it. It hasn't changed much since you last saw it (April 2021), so I don't think a before photo is necessary. 

It's a Wonderful Life by Mill Hill

stitched as charted on 14ct perforated paper

And there you have it! All the other stitching I've done this month. There hasn't been much knitting since I'm trying to get all the starts in, we'll see how that goes next month. 

I hope it's been a good month for everyone,

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #7 - Yellow Submarine by Blackbird Designs

Back again with another new start! This is maybe outside of my usual type of stitching, although I think I'm fairly eclectic with what I choose to stitch. However, I don't tend to stitch a lot of prim style and I don't know that I've ever stitched a Blackbird Design either. They're lovely, but mostly not my thing. 

However, I could not resist this one:

I don't know if you've all seen the old Yellow Submarine animated movie? I grew up with it in syndication on TV, and purchased the DVD when I saw it available, plus have shown it to DD and she also loves it. It's just such a different, fun movie and this chart really seemed to capture the whimsy of the film. 

I didn't have any of the Gentle Arts Sampler Threads it called for, so used what options I had in stash and some DMC. 

The floss organizer is in the shape of a stocking and was in my stocking this year. It's been very helpful! 

Here's my conversion in case you're interested:

GA Apple Cider - Dinky Dyes oops pack 

GA Avocado - Dinky Dyes oops pack and Soie Cristale bright green

GA Bayberry - WDW Holly

GA Butternut Squash - DMC 973

GA Caramel Corn - Jodyri Sparkling Citrine

GA Endive - DD oops pack

GA Garden Gate - Classic Colourworks Cocoa Bean

GA Harvest Basket - GA Ale

GA Harvest Moon - DMC 728

GA Lexington Green - DMC 3023

GA Mountain Mist - WDW Blue Heron

GA Pomegranate - Nina's Threads Aztec Red

GA Roasted Marshmallow - DD Oops pack

GA Tine Buckey - WDW Father's Day

And you know how I said I was really excited about this one? I stitched this much the first day, after taking probably over an hour to get the threads sorted:

I love WDW Father's Day for the top motif, and fussy stitched it for the date and the anchor. It reminds me of the Blue Meanies from the movie. 

This was so much fun to stitch that I literally couldn't put it down. I started in January 21, and finished it January 27th!

Yellow Submarine by Blackbird Designs

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Spritely by Chromatic Alchemy

with thread conversion as above

You may have noticed the chart has blue fabric in the photo, but I chose this predominantly green fabric because of the lyric "Sea of Green" from Yellow Submarine. 

I'm so happy with this one, it was so fun to stitch. I still don't think I'm a prim fan exactly, but I did really enjoy stitching this. 

Hope you've all had a good stitching week!

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start # 6 - Irish Sampler by The Sampler House

The next new start might start to look familiar over the year as I think I've accumulated a lot of these Irish themed projects since my parents had a vacation in Ireland. They said it was the best place they'd ever visited, and they've been on quite a few vacations to different locations around the world. 

This is what the project will look like when completed. It has some specialty stitches and instead of just green and white I plan to throw some orange in there as well, so it will have the colours of the Irish flag. I managed to find some close colours in my stash of Silks4U Advent threads and will be using them on some stash fabric. I believe it's 25ct Jobelan since it's a looser weave than some evenweaves I've used. 

Here's my start after a couple threadlengths were added:

Irish Sampler by The Sampler House

stitched 2 over 2 on 25ct stash fabric

with Silks4U advent threads

I'm fairly happy with this start, although I kind of wish I'd stitched the zigzag line in orange. I didn't think of it till it was almost complete though, and it's not worth frogging the whole thing. Accents will be fine. I will very likely not stitch the alphabet on the bottom, although maybe I'll come up with something, like my parents initials or something like that. There's already a beautiful Irish phrase, so I don't think it needs another one. Unless I want to throw in something a little naughty? Pog mo thoin perhaps?

Probably not if it's going to be a gift for my parents. My dad would definitely look it up to see what it meant. 

This was lovely to stitch on so far and I'm looking forward to getting back to it. Hope your stitching days have gone well. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #5 - Arranging Microbes by Ink Circles

I'm fairly sure it's obvious I've been a fan of Ink Circles for years. I've stitched some smalls and one large Mandala that I still love!

Reflections of Canada by Ink Circles

stitched 2 over 2 on 25ct Jobelan 

with Ruby Slippers by Jodyri

So many fun details in that one, although I think my favourite is still the hockey sticks. 

On to the new Ink Circles start! Again, this looks like something I picked up from a LNS and I found a great fabric to stitch it on. I've been trying to go through my stash of Chromatic Alchemy since it really accumulated over the years I was a member of her fabric of the month club. 

And I didn't have any of the called for colours, but found some close matches in my stash threads box:

Note my new Caterpillar scissors that Santa brought this past year!

And I managed a decent start so far:

Arranging Microbes by Ink Circles

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Fruit Salad by Chromatic Alchemy

with stash threads (mostly WDW)

The tiny little motif that kind of looks like an alien is a bacteriophage and I did a project on this subject in Virology back in undergrad. It's kind of fun to remember that while stitching this. 

I'm debating if I can hang this up at work when I'm finished. Maybe in my exam room instead of the office bathroom? It's going to take a while, so no rush on deciding. 

Hope you've all had a good stitching day!

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #4 - Carré by Jardin Privé

And another new start, and another new start, another new start today! In case it isn't obvious, to the tune of "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen. 

I wish I'd kept better track of where I've picked up all these charts, but I believe this one is from one of the LNS's that closed in Vermont over the past several years. It's a fun little chart that I think I can stitch monochromatically as well. 

The combination of cross stitches and backstitches in these is fun for me. I know it's not for everyone, but I like how it adds some dimension to the project. Here's my start after one full thread was added:

Carré by Jardin Privé

stitched 1 or 2 over 2 on 28ct evenweave Elpis by Chromatic Alchemy

with Silks4U Advent thread

A decent start to what I hope will be a fun one to get out again when I need something less fussy to work on. Having just one colour helps this be easier to work on for me, even if you change up stitches now and again. 

This one is back in the banker's box for now, and on to the next new start!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #3 - French Country Reindeer by JBW Designs

I think many of us have accumulated these little charts from JBW Designs over the years. They're small, monochromatic and have so many fun little details in them. I believe I've stitched some in the past, but can't remember for sure, however, I'm happy to start this one. I picked up this unusual fabric somewhere and decided I could use it for these charts to make them useful for decoration as well, therefore less finishing work will be needed! 

I don't love stitching on soft, afghan style fabric, but with the Qsnaps I was able to get this tight enough that it wasn't too difficult to stitch. This is 18ct Zweigart Tannenbaum, which I stitched over 2, so ended up being 9ct. This was pretty fun to do, and although I did get off center a bit and changed up where the words go, I'm happy with the start and finish!

French Country V Reindeer by JBW Designs

stitched over 2 on 18ct Tannenbaum by Zweigart

with Silks4U PR 126

I'm thinking this will be a gift, but there is one more JBW with this fabric in the box, so we'll see if I keep this one or that one. I believe just some interface on the back will make this finished enough for use, although possibly something iron-on to make it look fancier would be nice? Suggestions welcome as always!

Hope today was a good stitching day!

Tiffstitch