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

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #20 - Celebrate by Kitty's Pretties

Time for another actual small! This was a pretty quick stitch and a fun chart as well. If you haven't heard of Kitty's Pretties, she has an Etsy shop you can find here. She has finished cross stitch projects that she sells as well as charts. You can find the charts in the labeled area. There's lots of fun ones, and she has several fandoms covered. I've been tempted by several, but only have this one so far. 

Here's the finish!

Celebrate by Kitty's Pretties

stitched 2 over 1 on 14ct scrap white aida

with DMC as charted and Wisper for the Santa hat

To add a little pizzazz to this one I had some Wisper in the right colour, so I used that for the white on the hat. I think it makes it just right. 

My dad is a huge Doctor Who fan, gets the magazines, etc. and has been his whole life, so this will likely become a Christmas ornament for him. It should be a quick finish when I get to it. 

Hope you've all had a good stitching day!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #19 - Batman cartoon by AvrovaCS

Another fun nostalgia project for me today. The Batman cartoon that was on in the '90s is one of my favourite versions of all time. I've watched most of the movies, but the voice actor in this one, Kevin Conroy, was amazing! Mark Hamill was the Joker, and it's difficult to recognize his voice, he does an outstanding job as well. 

I couldn't find this chart anywhere any more, so it doesn't seem to be available from this seller, but there may be similar ones out there. I don't have a good cover photo either unfortunately. I'll be stitching this one as charted, since it seems very similar to what I remember from the show. 

Here's my progress so far:

Batman by AvrovaCS

stitched 2 over 2 on 14 ct scrap fabric

with DMC as charted

I feel like you could probably figure this one out by the photo if I hadn't said who it was, but I've already given you one mystery one this month. This has a fair bit of cross stitch to go since it's going to be wider than this, and full coverage for the entire stitched area. 

I'm going to put it down for now, but it was a fun stitch so far. 

Hope you've all had good stitching days!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #18 - Initial This by Nancy's Needle

And now for something completely different. Well, at least somewhat different. I actually know where I picked up this chart, and it's at least 10 years ago at a now-closed LNS in London, Ontario, called Thread & Eye. They had a nice little shop, with framing by the husband of the owner. Lots of great fabrics that were hung up and showcased almost like a clothes rack, Dinky Dyes threads, etc. Sad to have them close, and I haven't checked recently if there have been any new ones, but there are some local-ish online needlework shops that dye their own threads and fabric, so at least there's something to support there. 

The chart cover looks like this:

I phrased it that way since I won't actually be stitching any of these letters. I have lots of leftover Caron Watercolours from various projects and picking them up 50% off or more, again when LNS's were closing. So it's nice to use them for something and I always feel this kind of repetitive stitching is relaxing in a way that is different than cross stitch. 

With the paper chart, you choose your letter and you have to figure out how to center it yourself on your fabric. It gives you some choices for the backing pattern and the fill pattern for the letter, but it is left up to you to figure things out. 

They recommend starting by stitching the letter in a colour that will stand out from the background thread. I was fussing over colours a bit and then ended up choosing one that practically matched the fabric. I wish I'd taken more photos throughout the process, but I did not. After the letter is in, then you start adding the background threads, and that I do have a photo to show you how it's going:

You can kind of see how the letter S is picked out, and as you do the background fill you just have to kind of count around where the letter is to keep up with the pattern. Once the background is complete, then you fill in the letter:

This is for DD and she really liked the background threads and how they worked up. She says her favourite colour is black right now, and I had a dark grey that looks pretty good. There are 4 different fill patterns for the letters and you have to sort of figure out how to fit them in the letter on your own. It's different than what I've worked on before since there were more instructions in the other projects, but I did manage to complete this, with only a little bit of undoing threads. With these thicker threads, it tends not to damage them when you have to unpick a section as well, so that's helpful!

Here's the finish: 

Initial This! by Nancy's Needle

stitched 1 over various on 18ct cream aida

with Caron Watercolours and Impressions

I'm pretty happy with this finish. I think I'd like to do more letters, but only had this on my project list for now. I think it took me 3-4 days total, so it's definitely a quick finish. Possibly with this one under my belt the others would be easier as well. I still have lots of thread left!

I hope you've all had good stitching days!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch