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

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #17 - Mini Block: Canada by Hinzeit

 Although the Olympics are over now, I started this one a few days ago while watching Canada in speed skating and hockey. It was quite the Olympics, and although I'm a little sad Canada lost both gold medal games in hockey to the US, at least both the men's and women's teams played really hard. The men's team sang the national anthem at the end too, and that was pretty amazing to see. 

Here's what it will look like eventually and the fabric I chose for it:

These have been around for a while, and the charms are pretty fun for each individual chart. I believe this was purchased at one of the LNS' that closed here in Vermont, as are so many of my charts. Hard to pass up 50% or so off when they're trying to sell up. 

I was debating on following the straight DMC for this, but instead I think I have enough red leftover from the reindeer finish to do the red in this one. I might choose plain DMC for the letters, or possibly WDW Kohl or something similar. The fabric is very plain, no variegation, so a little in the letters might look nice. You'll see below there is some in the leaves, but they'll mostly be covered by the charms, so I'm not sure how noticeable it will be in the actual finish. 

Here's where I got to:

Mini block: Canada by Hinzeit

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Jobelan light blue

with Silks4U advent threads so far

A decent start and you can maybe see that I figured out a kind of rhythm to the red to make sure everything lined up properly. I'll be happy to get back to this one, again, it shouldn't take too long once I can. 

I hope everyone that watched the Olympics enjoyed them! One of my favourite sports that isn't hockey is short track speed skating. It's so chaotic, you really don't know what to expect. Lots of different countries seem to do well in it also, so that's nice to have things spread out. There's an Italian woman that's been to 5 Olympics and has 13 or 14 medals! That's incredible. I definitely wouldn't have been speed skating still at that age (mid 30s), but my fun pick-up hockey groups are great. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #16 - Frogs in Your Underpants by Nebby Needle

This pattern has been around for a while, so maybe you've already stitched it up? I've been wanting to stitch it for ages and finally purchased a few years ago, so now it's time to start!

Eventually it will look something like this:

I wanted something a little more cheery in colour, plus a lot of green since I think it's a cheeky Irish blessing. Here's the floss toss:

I found a lovely parchment style fabric as well, so that will showcase the colours well too. 

I don't have a massive start since I was still trying to get some stitches into the HAED SAL, but this was 2/3 of a full thread length of 6 threads. 

Frogs in Your Underpants by Nebby Neddle

stitched 2 over 2 on 32ct Scroll by BeStitchMe

with Silks4U advent threads

I plan to do the words in blue and the accents and other objects in green. I haven't decided if I'll pull out other colours for the motifs, that will likely wait till I get there. 

This should definitely get hung up when it's finished, maybe in my office? How can it not make someone smile when they read it?

I hope it's been a good stitching day for everyone,

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #15 Mystery? by FiddlesticksAU

Okay, I have a different idea this time. I've started this chart, and I think there's enough of it completed that if you know the movie, then you can guess what it is. If it's too soon, then I'll get back to it soon I hope. It's a fun stitch and not too complicated. First a floss toss:

There are several words and I think I have a good mix of threads that go together well enough, but are still quite different too. 

I managed to get most of 2 words completed:

Mystery by FiddlesticksAU

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Buttermilk by Chromatic Alchemy

with Silks4U advent threads

The second photo shows the fabric a bit better, it's a lovely light yellow, which is similar to parchment in a way, which fits this movie as well. I hope this isn't too vague. I would know it from these 2 words, but I've loved this movie since it came out, which I saw in theatres, even thought most people didn't. My dad read a review and thought it would be a great movie for the family, and it was, and still is. Fantastic movie in every way! Although I believe it fails the Bechdel test. 

Hopefully that's enough hints and you've all had good stitching days. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start # 14 - Michigan by Print and Decor

Today's new start is one of the ones I've intentionally bought to finish and gift for someone. We met this family at pre-school story time at the local library many years ago. DD and their second daughter became fast friends, meeting for the first time when they were only a few months old. They were in pre-school together, but didn't have classes together after this since teachers noticed they tended to distract each other from paying attention in class. 

They spent tons of time together over the years, but they had to move to Michigan to look after a family member a few years ago, so we don't see them as often. DD and her friend do video chat sometimes and we've managed to squeeze in some visits over the years as well. 

This chart seemed to encompass Michigan pretty well, and I can't remember if these were designs on quarters in the US or not. They've come out with several designs, and this might be one of them. 

This company still exists on Etsy and you can find other fun charts here. 

I found a nice variegated dark silk in my Gloriana stash, and a kind of stormy blue which fits Michigan well. Lake Michigan gets some truly epic weather. 

Again, this is a lake, but a Great Lake, so they can have some severe weather events. I grew up near Lake Huron, and it does not have the same extreme weather as Lake Michigan or Lake Superior. Even in areas of Lake Huron you can't see the other side though, so it's still really big. 

Random Lake Superior fact, it has an island in the middle of it that also has a lake in it! It's called Superior for a reason, it's the largest and deepest of all five of the Great Lakes. 

Back to stitching though, here are the materials:

And I managed to stitch on this for 2 days and got a decent amount completed:

Michigan by Print and Decor

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Rai by Chromatic Alchemy 

with Gloriana #001

I made an error somewhere on the right, but I think I can frog it and manage to keep it looking like the chart by the end. Hopefully I'll remember that when I get back to it too!

Fortunately this is on Pattern Keeper as well, so that makes it easier for me to keep track as well. 

I hope you've all had good stitching days!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #13 - Get the F*@! Out by Taylor and Cromwell

Okay, so there's definitely a curse word in this pattern, and I left it out of the title, like it is in the old comics, etc. It's perfectly okay if you don't want to read this post because of it, I know we all have different sensitivities, triggers, etc. The actual chart I'm going to stitch is meaningful at this present moment with all that's going on in the US, and we all react differently to stress. This one felt right to start at this point. 

Here is what the chart looks like:

I purposely tried to find the most rainbow fabric I could for this one and with DH's help, chose a single thread colour for this one, so it will be another monochrome. 

Here's my start:

Get the F*@! Out by Taylor and Cromwell

stitched 2 or 1 over 2 on 28ct Chromatic Alchemy fabric

with Silks4U advent threads

I don't know if I'll ever hang this one up, but it feels good to stitch it right now. Hope all your loved ones are safe and keep them close. 

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #12 - Burlington by Awesome Pattern Studio

Time for a sort of local cross stitch. I forget where I came across these city patterns, but they have one for the closest large city to where I live. I purchased this way back in 2018 and had not taken time to start it yet, so here we go! Eventually it will look like this:

 And the shop is still around, so the link is here to get it or something similar. 

Since this design is so colourful, and Burlington is on the waterfront, I chose a fairly plain blue/green fabric, again from Chromatic Alchemy. 

I didn't get a huge start, but it's definitely started! 

Burlington by Awesome Pattern Studio

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Eden by Chromatic Alchemy

with DMC threads as charted

If anyone is familiar with Burlington, technically the whale tails are in Williston, and they were originally moved from near Randolph (1+hr south), but you definitely see them on the way to Burlington on the northbound main highway. They even have lights on them now, which is kind of fun. When my mom first saw them, she thought they were like modern art cats, which I can kind of see now. I think I had been told they were whale tails, so that's all I could see before she said that. 

Also, there was this whole big deal that the artist didn't want them near the "big city", but they were purchased by someone who moved them, so the artist made new ones in Randolph. 

Here's what they actually look like:

Reverence by Jim Sardonis (1989)

and the new ones in Randolph:

Whale Dance by Jim Sardonis (2019)

They're made of granite, about 36 tons, and if you're curious why whales in the middle of landlocked Vermont, over 10,000 years ago this area of Vermont was under water. In 1849 the bones of a beluga whale were found in a swampy area a little south of Burlington. Since then, they've found 20 or so ancient beluga fossils. 

The artist's intention seems to be to show the fragility of nature. They're very beautiful. 

If you ever come to Vermont, try and see at least one set of them!

Hope your stitching day has gone well,

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #11 - Time Spent with Cats is Never Wasted by Valentina Stitch Shop

Another fun monochrome today, and I'm sure no one is surprised. I purchased this way back in 2020 on Etsy and the shop doesn't seem to exist any more, so I'm not sure if you can find it anywhere. I had a really fun fabric that I thought would work well for this, as I'm also working through my Chromatic Alchemy FOTM club stash with all of these starts. 

Here's what the chart will look like eventually:

and the materials:

Fun fabric, no? I thought it gave a kind of motley look that you get with some cat fur patterns. Here's my start so far:

Time Spent with Cats is Never Wasted by Valentina Stitch Shop

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Chocolate Orange

with DMC 310

Fortunately, this pattern is compatible with Pattern Keeper. I really don't know how well I would stitch without it now, it makes life so much easier. Less counting, less stress with stitching, it's excellent. If you're eagle-eyed, you may notice some of the letters are slightly tweaked. I grew up making bubble letters, as all Gen X did, and I like the idea of making the letters look a little more like those letters from my childhood. 

Hope you've all had a good stitching day, 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #10 - My Beautiful Village by Maggi Co's Village

Okay, so this isn't a small, but it's something that can be stitched mostly in one colour, so let's pretend it won't take very long. 

I debated about what threads to use for this one, and what fabric. I ended up choosing a fairly simple blue fabric without much variegation, and that made me think about some variegated threads instead of black. I dug through my Silks4U advent threads, again, trying to get through them instead of just having them sit there, and here's what I chose:

And here's my start after a few thread lengths of the PR124:

My Beautiful Village by Maggi Co's Village

stitched 1 and 2 over 2 on 28ct blue evenweave

with Silks4U threads

The top photo shows the fabric much better, but the variegated thread seems to show fairly well in the lower photo. I think this will work well, and be a little more interesting than plain black. I have enough black stitching in my WIPs and new projects to come, so I'm glad to have some colour. 

Hope your stitching is going well and the weather is treating you well,

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #9 - Green + White by Bent Creek

Time for another Irish themed stitch! And a nice small project too, I told you I had some in the boxes. :)

I had a scrap of what I think was 14ct aida in white, so chose that and two of the advent threads from Silks4U. 

Then, as I was stitching, I realized I didn't actually need or want to do the white/cream colour, so I stuck with only the green, and it's a finish:

Green+white by Bent Creek

stitched 2 over 1 on 14ct scrap white aida

with Silks4U advent thread

A nice quick finish, and with any luck I'll actually turn it into a card to send for St. Patrick's Day. We'll see. That might depend on how the rest of the month goes. 

I hope you've all had good stitching days,

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

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