2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #83 - Chat Noir by Art-Stitch

 Okay, that Restash store had some really interesting things. One I picked up is this one:

There were several Art-Stitch charts, all for $1! I kept myself at this one for now, since everyone should get a chance to check out the store. I also found a couple kits that I'd seen before, but never picked up. One that I'd been looking at for years and had just been talking about with another friend that cross-stitches as well. That might show up this year still. It depends on time since it's a time consuming project. There were some Mill Hill kits too, some of the Santas that are more rustic style and I resisted them this time! Although one of the other kits is a Bucilla that has a few Santas. That one also might show up soon. 

The store is accepting donations, so I might bring some things by another time. 

But for now, here's the small start:

Chat Noir by Art-Stitch

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Demeter by Chromatic Alchemy

with DMC as charted

I'm not sure if I'll be gifting this one or keeping it. DD was with me and they really liked this one as well. They found a few things to add to their crafting stash as well, some popsicle sticks and another ball of yarn in a dark green that they said they're going to use to make something for their dad (DH). We'll see if that happens. 

I hope you've all had some good stitching time!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #82 - Four de Lys by Ink Circles

This will be the last Fleur-de-lys for this year I think. Possibly the last pattern I have? Although a friend told me about a Restash store in the local city and I've got to check that out. They have just crafts that need a new home that were donated by the owners and their families to clear out their stashes. I think I can probably find some stuff to donate there too if they accept donations from anyone. 

Today's chart is another fun Ink Circles pattern. I don't remember when I picked it up, but it's the physical chart vs a digital one, so likely at a LNS. 

I debated a lot on fabric and threads for this one. I have a couple traditional blue fabric/white thread ones already, and then I found this fabric in my stash:

I think the design would fit perfectly in the middle, which is a bit of a wrench given how much fabric it will leave at the top and bottom, but those bits will be good for small charts, so it's okay, I think. 

Too late anyway, I've started it:

Four de Lys by Ink Circle

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct linen club exclusive by Chromatic Alchemy

with Silks4U unknown thread (advent?)

It does look really good so far. This is 2 full threadlengths of the Silks4U. I love their thread, so nice to stitch with, and it's nice to use up the advents as well. This is 3 years or so that I've been in their advent club, and it's nice to be using up some stash. 

I think this could be a quick finish when I get back to it as well. Hope you've had some good stitching days!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #81 - Alphabirds by Crossed Wing Collection

Clearly I've chosen too many big ones, but this one is really cool, and I'm excited to start it. Again, this might be for my parents when it's finished. 

Since it is a big one, I only had one piece of fabric that would work, which is a pretty big piece of light grey/blue 25ct. Therefore I needed to adjust the colours of the letters since they would have been almost invisible. I went with some light purples and it stands out well. I also chose a nice green for the leafy border and here's where I got to:

Alphabirds by Crossed Wing Collection

stitched 2 over 2 on 25ct grey evenweave

with DMC 210 and 211 for letters and Silks4U PR 130

This is a giant paper chart that you have to unfold for each letter. It's kind of involved, but fun to work on as well, besides one of my cats deciding it had to be his hidey hole and tried to dig through it. He's a little odd, inherited from a co-worker going through some medical issues. He's not 2 years old yet though, so the kitten is still strong in him. He's much cuddlier than my other 2 cats which is nice, and he's getting along with DD really well. 

Bandit

He's learned quickly that cross stitch is not a toy, so that's a good thing. Even my older cat likes to chase the threads sometimes while I'm stitching if he's on my lap. 

I hope you've all had a good day or two of stitching!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #80 - First Encounter No. 8 by Crossed Wing Collection

I love the detail in the Crossed Wing Collection charts. It does make them somewhat time-consuming to stitch, but they look so good! Today's start will likely be a gift for my parents if I can make it into something, possibly framed as it is in the chart photo. 

I managed a decent start and got in some greens for the leaves. I think it looks pretty nice on this fabric, another from the vast stash of Chromatic Alchemy I have from when I was in her FOTM club. 

First Encounter No. 8 by Crossed Wing Collection

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Celeste by Chromatic Alchemy

with DMC as charted

This will be one that takes a while, but it is very fun to stitch, so it will be enjoyable as well. I love the fabric and it has enough colours that it could be from almost any kind of sky/flowers/trees background in a sort of Impressionist way. 

In some ways it's hard to believe I've started 80 projects, but when I look at the banker's boxes full of them, it's easy to see it as well. I think I'm still at a good pace to get 100 completed, and am now debating if number 100 should be the Chatelaine I purchased ages ago and finally received the threads for last year. Hmm, it's an idea. Although pulling out a lot of the smalls to try and get more finishes before the end of the year would be nice as well. 

I hope you've all had good days of stitching!

Happy Stiching, 

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #79 - Pig in a Blanket by Designs by Lisa

Here we are again, another Designs by Lisa chart! She has so many fun designs, and I'm glad to be able to find a chance to stitch on some of them. This one will hopefully be for a friend who loves pigs. 

And I made a small start on this one on the top rows. I decided on a mottled mostly blue fabric with bits of beige/brown in it for the background and I think the colours will show up well. So far it's only the borders though:

Pig in a Blanket by Designs by Lisa

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct evenweave

with DMC as charted

This design also calls for Sullivan's threads, but I don't have any of those, so I'm sticking with DMC. I don't think this will be too long to finish, it's a lot of solid colour with some backstitch, so it will be okay. 

I just realized in the photo of the stitching you can see a pillow kind of glowing in the sunshine, ignore the bright blue bit, that's not on the fabric, but seen through it! I'll have to watch for that next time. That's one of those "mermaid" pillows, where it has sequins that you can flip from coloured to silver, and that one is bright blue to silver, and it will occasionally catch the sunlight and drive the cats a little bonkers trying to catch the light. 

I hope you've had some good days of stitching!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start # 78 - Celtic Circle Knot by Frony Ritter Designs

Another small start, but not a finish yet. Time has been a little short lately, but I did get a start into this one. This is another new designer for me, and it looks like it was a sale/clearance chart as well. I have so many of these from the LNS closing here in Vermont. Good for my stash, but not so much for the area. 

Here's how it looks so far:

Celtic Circle Knot by Frony Ritter Designs

stitched 2 over 1 on 22ct white hardanger

with DMC as charted

I was debating about doig all the blue outline, then figure out the rest, but not sure if it makes more sense to work on the border first since it somewhat connects? It's a question for when I bring it out again. 

I've been thinking about next year plans and what to do with all the WIPs. A lot of the Flosstubes I watch are using wheels to choose their projects, so I'm thinking about maybe a wheel for all the full coverage and pick one for the week to stitch on at least 1000 stitches, then maybe a couple non-full coverage to work on as well. But would it make more sense to have all the smalls on one wheel and larger projects on another? Or just all together? Ideas welcome!

I hope it's been a good few days for everyone. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #77 - Fleur de Lis by JBW Designs

Time for another Fleur de Lys! The last time I worked on one was back in 2023 and finished an all backstitch design. 

Fleur de Lys by Brodeuse Bressane

stitched 1 over 2 on 28ct blue Zweigart linen

with Caron Wildflowers

And this time I started another JBW Design:

Which is a small design, except I decided to make it more difficult for myself and use a small piece of scrap fabric, which meant I had to stitch it 1 over 2 on 40ct linen. So it's not a finish, but it's a decent start:

Fleur de Lis by JBW Designs

stitched 1 over 2 on 40ct linen by BeStitchMe

with DMC 5200

I do love the colour of the fabric, but it's not easy for me to stitch on linen. But it's a decent start and fits on the fabric scrap, so it will work and be a finish at some point. 

There may be another Fleur de Lys coming up later this year, if I can find the right fabric and thread to make it work. Again, DH is French Canadian, so a good Fleur-de-Lis is always appreciated in our house!

Hope you've all had good stitching days and a relaxing Labour Day weekend/or weekend!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #76 - Santa Stocking by Durene Jones

I'm sure we all know Durene Jones' patterns. She has a flair for creating colourful designs and I have so many of her patterns. She also often has 50% sales at her Etsy shop and I've purchased patterns from there frequently. I'm glad to be starting another one, even though this is a big one!

You don't stitch the beige colour, and I think I found a pretty good match for the pattern image. I also like that this doesn't have as much backstitching. I didn't get a lot of stitching into it, but that will come. Everyone else has a handmade stocking from me, so it's time to make one for myself as well. There's so many choices out there, but I'm happy with this one. And there's not a ton of colour changes, so that will help when I get back to it. Here's my start:

Santa Stocking by Durene Jones

stitched 2 over 2 on 27ct "370" by BeStitchMe

with DMC as charted

I think you can tell by this photo that I've started in the toe, but just in case, this is the very bottom part of the toe on the left side of the pattern. I was debating about how to start, but in the interest of less counting to find the right spot, I figured I'd start at the bottom left and work my way up. 

This pattern is somewhat okay in Pattern keeper. You have to do a little finagling, and add the thread colours into PK, but there's not too many, so it works out well. I really love being able to use PK again after using some paper charts. 

I hope you've all had some good stitching days!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #75 - Holly Jolly Farm by Hands on Design

I've seen these designs around for years now and finally picked this one up to start. I go back and forth a bit on these designs since it's not my usual thing, but this one is kind of fun, so we'll see how it goes. 

I actually had 2 of these, apparently I debated on this for so long I'd forgotten I had purchased a copy already. Kate, of The Suddenly Kate Show and I were talking about this and when I realized I had a second copy I sent it to her. I don't think she's started it yet though. 

After a couple nights I managed to get a full thread length of B5200 into this one. I'm fairly sure I remember the Stitching with the Housewives crew don't like B5200, but I'm using a lighter fabric than is called for, so I wanted the white to pop a bit. 

Holly Jolly Farm by Hands on Design

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Stygian by Chromatic Alchemy

with B5200 so far

I debated about keeping this out to get more stitches in, but I'd also like to keep rolling along with my 100 starts. We're 3/4 of the way now, so it's definitely possible!

This paper chart isn't as big as some of the others, and since I'm almost at 50 years old, this has definitely become more of an issue. However, still easy enough to tell where I was most of the time and I don't think I've had to frog this one yet. 

I hope you've had some good days of stitching!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

August 2026 Stitching Update

Here we are again, another month is over, how the summer flew by, I have no idea. I only had extra crafting time for knitting, so I managed to finish a couple pink dishcloths:

I have a huge ball of this cotton yarn to use up. I'm doing well with keeping up making one of these every time I finish something else, if not more often. 

I also started and finished a pair of shortie socks:

I used a vanilla socks pattern with a traditional heel to make it simple knitting for traveling, etc. I did knit these two-at-a-time, so they're identical, except for the stripe pattern being completely opposite on one sock compared to the other. 

There was also another conference I had to attend for continuing education for work, and I started a new project. I had this ball of colour changing yarn and couldn't figure out what pattern to use for it. I came across this pattern and it looked ideal for knitting until I used up as much yarn as I wanted. It's a simple lace pattern once you get the increases completed as well, so it's very easy knitting. 

Winter's Spine by Lani Stanistreet

knit with Queensland Rainbow Cake cotton yarn

The red is completely finished, so there will be a section of white before I get to orange. It might be the same length as the red. That will likely mean this will be a long project, but that's okay. I'm still using up stash and creating something interesting. Again, this is mostly knit while traveling since it's not a complicated pattern. 

And that's it for this month! I hope it's been a good month for everyone,

Stay well,

Tiffstitchin

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #74 - Don't Like Dogs by Taylor and Cromwell

I don't know if everyone is familiar with the Bad Kitty series by Nick Bruel?

DD was very into these from about age 5 to 10 or so. They still kind of enjoy them, but aren't as rabid a fan as they used to be. They even wrote a fan letter to Nick Bruel! 

So I had to pick up this chart when I saw it on Taylor and Cromwell's site:

It also fits DD since they've had a kind of fear of dogs since they were really little. I'm also trying to adjust my language because DD is feeling nonbinary currently. Their fear of dogs is a little better, I assume as they grew taller that helped? But also my brother and SIL have the gentlest dog ever. She's almost like a cat because she doesn't go up for kisses or pets often, just when she feels like it. She even moves away sometimes when I go to pet her! She's a doll, but is very old now too, so we may not have her much longer. 

Here she is, getting my mom's attention for something. She's very polite, never jumps up or anything. Well trained as well obviously. 

Back to the chart! I didn't get a full thread length of black in, but almost. It's a small start, but still counts!

Don't Like Dogs by Taylor and Cromwell

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Cassia-Rose by Chromatic Alchemy

with DMC as charted

It took me a bit to realize I needed to do 3/4 stitches on some of the chart, but I've got it down now and it seems like a good likeness so far, even with the empty eyes! 

I hope you've all had some good stitching days,

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #73 - Lost Souls Cemetery by Autumn Lane Stitchery

It's definitely time for Halloween stitching, right? And this will be my first Autumn Lane Stitchery chart. They're generally pretty big and I had been somewhat avoiding starting one since it's a lot of stitching. However, it is only a few colours, so.... it shouldn't take that long! :)

I found some nice fabric that seems to fit the fabric they used pretty well. I managed to get a full thread length and a bit into this one, so it's well started. 

Lost Souls Cemetery by Autumn Lane Stitchery

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct unknown fabric

with DMC as charted

This is a paper pattern, and it's not as large as the Primitive Hare ones, but it is clear, and again, not many colours means not too many symbols to keep track of. I don't think I have much frogging to do on this one, although the bat needs a little TLC to make it look a bit better. That will happen when it comes out again. 

I hope you've all had a good couple days of stitching!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #72 - Mother of the Ocean by The Primitive Hare

Another Primitive Hare today, and another nice chart. I'm fairly happy to stitch these despite not being electronic since they are pretty large and the instructions are clear. I love this one, so fun with the whale and I decided on a different fabric to sort of tie in both ocean and sky. The chart looks like this:

 And I didn't get much of a start, all black so far as well. The whale is a few different grays, some of them WDW, so I'm debating on if I'll do that or not. For now I stuck with DMC 310. 

Mother of the Ocean by The Primitive Hare

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Iolite by Chromatic Alchemy

with DMC 310 so far

This will be a fun one, and really not too much stitching, most of which is block stitching, so once I get back to it hopefully it will stitch up quickly. I just need to decided on the WDW or not and go from there. There might be another specialty thread in this one as well, so we'll wait till it comes out again to decide what to do. For now, it's back in the banker's box again!

I hope you've all had good weekends! I was away and didn't get any stitching done, but did get some knitting in. 

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #71 - Harriet Tubman by The Primitive Hare

Time for another start with only a few colours. So, remember, this won't take as long because there's less colour changes. :)

Of course, there's still a lot of stitching to do! 

I think this is my first Primitive Hare chart. It won't be the last, there's another one coming up next in a similar style. So far I'm happy with the chart, even though it's paper and generally I'd prefer Pattern Keeper if possible. It's very big though, A4 I think, so it's easy to see all of the symbols. 

I managed a couple days of stitching on this one and 3 different colours of brown. There's several still to go though!

Harriet Tubman by The Primitive Hare

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Vellum by Chromatic Alchemy

with DMC as charted

In case you're not familiar with Harriet Tubman and her important work with the Underground Railroad to help slaves fleeing from the US, there's more info here on Wikipedia. 

I'll be glad to get back to this one and get it framed and up on the wall somewhere. Possibly at work so more people can see it? We'll see. The finish will need to come first. 

I hope you've all had some good stitching days!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #70 - Haunted Library by Lola Crow

Of course charts can't travel alone, even when they're purchased online, so I had to pick up another couple charts from the Lola Crow site. If you like gothic style, there's a lot of options. I went with this one:

I didn't see this one during the SAL, but it is very fun. Lots of nods to different authors and gothic tropes, etc. It's going to be another massive project, but it does go into Pattern Keeper, so that helps. With her charts, because of the backstitch you have to use their legacy import instead of the newer one.

I found some fun fabric for this one and stitched over a couple days to get about 500 stitches in:

Haunted Library by Lola Crow

stitched 2 over 2 on 32ct unnamed fabric by BeStitchMe

with DMC as charted

This is going to be another epic stitch with lots of colours, etc. I think this is a good start to get it placed well on the fabric and it will come out again at some point. 

For next year, I've been looking at how Flosstubers use their wheels to select projects and I might do that. Possibly a wheel for unfinished SAL, which I'd add this one to since it was a SAL, another wheel for full coverage, and then a wheel for the rest? Possibly just 3 projects in a week to work on as much as I can, with a goal for the full coverage of at least 1000 stitches. 

Anyway, that's still some time away, but I've been considering how to get everything worked on since I'll have a lot of new WIPs now. Suggestions always welcome!

I hope it's been a good stitching weekend for everyone. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #69 - Museum After Midnight SAL by Lola Crow

Okay, I caved. I've seen a few Flosstubers stitching this one and I decided I needed to get it after I saw the dimetrodon! My favourite early dinosaur! Here's what it looks like so far, it's not quite complete. 

I've been disappointed by some SALs in the past, but this one is looking better and better, so I'm hopeful and love enough of it that I will finish it at some point. 

I managed about 600 stitches into this one so far:

Museum After Midnight SAL by Lola Crow

stitched 2 over 1 on 14 count Aida

with DMC as charted

Not a huge start, but it's a start! And I'm looking forward to getting back to it. 

I hope you've all had good stitching weeks. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #68 - Delivering Tricks by Country Spirit Collection

I really don't remember where I picked this chart up. It could be from one of the LNS's that closed in Vermont, or it could be from a destash. It's definitely a fun one though:

And the first, and possibly only chart I'll be stitching by this designer. It may be the only one I have. It is a paper chart, but is well marked and easy to stitch from. 

I had taken this with me while I was on a small vacation at my parents, but didn't actually get any stitching done there. So this was started just last night. I debated a bit on colours, etc., but then decided to just put a full thread length of black into it. Here's what it looks like now:

Delivering Tricks by Country Spirits Collection

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct gray evenweave

with DMC 310 so far

The chart calls for Weeks Dye Works threads, so I might pull out some of them for some parts of it, but haven't yet. The black is technically supposed to be Onyx, but I think if I use DMC 310 and try some specialty threads for the rest, that will help those threads stand out a bit better. That's my idea at least. 

It will be good to get back to this one. Probably just a few days of stitching would see it completed, so that would be fun. I'm going to have a lot of these kind next year I think. "just a few days", but those will add up!

I hope it's been nice weather where you're at, although let's all hope for rain out Clare's way. It's been almost 2 months with no rain there!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

July 2026 Stitching Update

It was a busy month, lots going on and not a lot of time for stitching other than the daily starts. However, I did get 2 small projects that had been lingering for years finished off. 

I believe the last time I touched this project was in January 2016, which means it's been lingering over 10 years!! Here's what it looked like then:

And it's now a finish!

December cat by Happiness is Crossstitching

stitched 2 over 1 on 14ct aida tea towel

mostly with DMC as charted

This was part of my 2015 Crazy January Challenge and it's nice to have it finally complete! The towel had yellowed a bit, unsurprisingly, so I let the whole project sit in the wool wash I use for socks and knits and it came out very well. 

The next project was also from that same Crazy January Challenge in 2015 and I managed to complete it as well. I had left it here when I got fed up with stitching on afghan fabric:

And it's also complete!

Day 4 Dragonlet by Dragon Dreams

stitched 4 over 2 on afghan fabric

with DMC as charted and some Kreinik in the dragon

It was nice to see this one completed and finish another afghan one. I'm debating about the sixth one. I still don't love it, but then the entire row would be complete, and that would be a nice accomplishment. 

They're smallish as well, so even though they're a pain to stitch, at least they don't take too long. We'll see how the rest of the year goes and how I feel. 

I did start a new pair of ankle socks, but haven't taken a photo, plus another dishcloth mostly finished. I'll add those to next month when they're actually completed. 

I hope you've all had some good stitching days!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #67 - The Gores by Sonova Stitch

This one is a little different. I've had at least one Sonova Stitch pattern on here this year, but this is a special one! 

You can order a custom design from Sonova Stitch for the sprites with whatever name you choose and what sprites you'd like. One year for Halloween, I dressed as Mario, DH as Luigi and DD as Toadette. That made this a perfect idea for a stitch! I'm looking forward to having this on the wall. 

I can't find the photo of the 3 of us together, so you get me (and Max) with DH. 

And here's the start:

The Gores by Sonova Stitch

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Minthe by Chromatic Alchemy

with DMC as charted

It's not a big start, but it is a decent one. I had planned to make Toad into Toadette, but not sure if DD will still want that. I'll check with them first before stitching in the colours. I have room to add Toadette's braids behind if needed. 

Hope your stitching has been treating you well!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #66 - Summer Bliss by Cottage Garden Samplings

This might be the last of these patterns for this year of starts! I can't remember if I have any more of the birds, but I do have some of the animals. 

My mom and Grandma both love orioles, and Grandma had this great peony bush near her walkway at her house. This is another one that has some good memories attached, so I'm looking forward to getting back to this one as well. 

Summer Bliss by Cottage Garden Samplings

stitched 2 over 1 on 14ct Aida, unknown name and designer

with WDW 

I really like how this has stitched up so far. It's fun to get to the words first, that's a change from the other designs. Also getting some of the bird started is fun as well. 

I'm looking forward to getting back to these next year. I think I'll try and finish one at a time, because a few of the WDW threads are shared between patterns. The gold colour in this one only uses that colour for the fill in the letter B, otherwise it's not used any more, but it's in at least one of the other patterns I've started. 

I hope you've all had some good days of stitching!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch