2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #54 - Azure Medallion by Mill Hill

And now for something completely different! Or at least a little different. There's still stitching involved after all. This is the first time I've attempted a full beaded project from Mill Hill. I believe I picked this up from the LNS that was closing in southern Vermont several years ago. 

The tag for sale looks familiar from others from that lot that I picked up a long time ago. This is a great time to start it though, and dare we say, get finished for Christmas? Probably shouldn't jinx it. 

I debated a bit on this after reading over the instructions, and I decided to try and use up all the beads from one bag when I worked on it. There's 3 bags with 2 colours each, so this bag had ice (white) and sapphire. I used a bowl, dumped all the beads into it and ended up using 4 strands of doubled thread to use up all the beads called for from that bag. As is typical for Mill Hills I've done, there are enough beads left to do another 2 or 3 of these I think! 

Here's what 2 colours of beads complete looks like:

Azure Medallion MH21-1912 by Mill Hill

stitched 2 over 1 on perforated paper

with kit white thread and beads

You can definitely see the pattern emerging, so it will look great when complete. This was a few hours of work total, so I don't think a finish would be too difficult to get. 

This kind of made me want to get out other projects to work on, but most of the others aren't fully beaded and something sort of similar with less counting, etc. was where my mind was during that stitching session. So far no changes to my proposed starts besides eliminating a couple that aren't going to be fun to stitch when I actually took time to look at the chart. Too many fractionals, that's my least favourite type of stitching. 

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

Happy Stitching,

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

January Update

Here we are, almost a month into the new year, and as often happens, I've been able to get a fair bit of stitching in. We'll see how it goes, but I hope to continue on this year and at least keep up with one SAL I signed up for. 

Here's the update on the Starry Night full coverage blackwork SAL:

Starry Night SAL Parts 1-4 by Urban Stitches

stitched 1 or 2 over 1 as charted with charted threads on white 28ct Monaco?

It's not too late to join this one if you're interested, it's been an interesting project so far. You can't use pattern keeper or anything like that since it's all black work, but so far working each square as it comes out has kept me up-to-date, and kept it from becoming too overwhelming. There's a facebook group that's very helpful if people are having trouble. 

So far, the predominant colour is DMC 312. I think you need 5 skeins or so. There's also lots of DMC 799 and only 20 or so colours all told. DD was looking at my stitching and guessed it was Starry Night before I told her, so it seems to have a good resemblance. I took this photo with the scissors so you could have an idea of it's size so far. The SAL is going to be 2 years I think, so it's going to be big. There are a few weeks off over the year, so there's not a new pattern every single week during that time period. 

Without conscious intention, I happened upon what might be a good pattern of stitching throughout the year. I finished Week 1 of the SN SAL, then picked up a small WIP and finished it!

2009 Santa by Prairie Schooler 

stitched 2 over 2 with DMC blanc, 816, and 890

on 28ct Haunted by PTP

This was overdue a finish, it was started in November 2020, and now it's complete. Possibly a flat fold would be a good finish to have it out for the Christmas season? 

That took up most of the remaining week before week 2 came out, and then I worked on another WIP and finished it as well!

Winter's Feast by Mill Hill

stitched as charted with kit threads, beads and perforated paper

One of the smaller Mill Hills I have, and nice to have it finished. It should be fairly simple to finish with some felt and make it into an ornament for next Christmas. 

Then with week 3 I pulled out something that was still on the Qsnaps from November and December, Witch's Gate, started June 2020. Last time you saw it, it looked like this:

    

and now, after a few more days:

Witch's Gate by Whispered by the Wind

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Mirage by PTP

with DMC 167, 738, 3823 and 3866 as changes to the original colours

In case I didn't make it obvious, I worked on 2 smaller WIPs the first 2 weeks of the month and a larger WIP the 3rd week. I'll keep Witch's Gate out for the rest of this month as well. That will make my stitching schedule:

1st week of the month - finish Starry Night SAL first, then work on small WIP

2nd week of the month - finish Starry Night SAL first, then work on small WIP

3rd week of the month - finish Starry Night SAL first, then work on larger WIP

4th week of the month - finish Starry Night SAL first, then work on same larger WIP

Any extra days can be anything, plus there will be some knitting in there too. There hasn't been too much recently, just a little colourwork on a cowl that is going to take me a while. 

Very Merry MKAL by Claire Slade

And that's my month so far. I hope you've all had good months and are staying healthy with this colder weather. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Summer Olympics 2024 WIP Update

I decided to work on a bunch of WIPS over the Olympics. Not necessarily one per day, but I'm trying to get at least 2 hours on each WIP if I can. I don't have any particular order, basically the first one I get to in the case that holds all of them. 

The first one I came to was Winter's Feast, which used to look like this:

and now looks like this:

Winter's Feast by Mill Hill

stitched as charted with kit threads and beads on perforated paper

Next up was one that hasn't been out of the WIP box for a while (2020). It looked like this when I got it out:

and now it's  here:

2009 Santa by Prairie Schooler

stitched 2 over 2 with DMC blanc, 816, and 890

on 28ct Haunted by PTP?

Next up was another Mill Hill kit, I have a few of those on the go! Last time it looked like this:

and now you can see a bit more of the project:

Skating Snowman by Mill Hill

stitched 3 over 3 as charted with kit threads and perforated paper

And there's these little birdhouses by Durene Jones that I started a few years ago and didn't have many stitches then:

and now you can see a bit more of both of them:

Christmas Birdhouse by Durene Jones

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Monaco

with DMC as charted

And another one from 2020 came up in the WIP pile, it used to look like this:

and I'm posting this photo first because of the ironic mistake I made:

Can you believe it? How could I misspell school?!? Anyway, I couldn't leave it like that, so this is what it looks like now:

Official Snow Guide by Lizzie Kate

stitched 2 over 2 with random stash threads (DD, WDW)

I dug out another "small", because it's not small in 1/4 and 3/4 stitches and very fiddly, but I got quite a bit done. Here's where it was:

and now:

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

stitched 2 over 2 with charted DMC

And lastly, I picked up this one this morning:

And added almost all of one more colour:

Stocking ornament by Jane Henderson

stitched 2 over 2 as charted

on 28ct scrap evenweave

And that's where I'm at so far. And it's only been 3 and a bit days of Olympics. Of course this was while DH and DD were away one evening and while I was off work, so the next few days probably won't have as much stitching. That's partly why I tried to get a lot done this past weekend. 

Hope you're all enjoying the Olympics, there's been some amazing performances!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

Mid-February Update

Another weekly update on stitching and knitting. I added a few rows to the Wiglaf scarf:

Wiglaf scarf by Lizi Lowe

knit with Fiber Me This and Sassy Black Yarns

And I finished the PWHL hat! Still not in love with how the floats show, but maybe it will block out. That's the knitters way of trying to fudge something that didn't turn out quite right. 

and I love the top!

PWHL team hat by Sydney Gerzymisch

in Berroco Ultra Wool in a deep red, green and cream (although it looks white here)

I'm going to make another one in the same colourway, but watch a few videos on how to hide floats first to see if we can lose that kind of stripey look you get in the white part of the hat in the top photo. 

Next comes stitching!

Do Not Meddle came out a few times and I'm almost done the dragon on the left:

Do Not Meddle by Dragon Dreams

stitched 1x1 full cross on 28ct white with recommended DMC

I was debating about outlining the dragon on the right as well before going back to fill it in, but I really, really want to finish the dragon on the left. I had some lighter colour left over after finishing it on the left dragon, so started a bit on the right, but went back to the left dragon with the next darker shade of light green. I think there are 7 shades of green in this one?

I'm still not sure if it will be a finish this month, but definitely the dragon on the left will get finished and maybe the saying as well. It's mostly there as it is. 

I also pulled out Winter Feast again to get one night on it:

Winter's Feast by Mill Hill

stitched as charted with kit threads and beads on perforated paper

So lots of things worked on and a little progress on everything, plus one more finish! Not a bad week. I hope you've all had a good week as well. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

Smalls SAL - January 2024

The smalls SAL is now hosted by Rachel over at Ten Hour Stitcher, so you can find the link-up post on her blog. I have enough smalls that I should be able to finish at least one per month, and although I've already blogged about this one, here it is again:

MH18 - 2034 Santa Cruise

stitched with kit threads and beads on perforated paper

and I think this one counts as a small? It's certainly not as large as some of my WIPs!

Halloween Freebie by Passione Ricamo

stitched 2 over 2 

on 28ct Brittney evenweave Aries by Sparklies

And I also worked on another Mill Hill kit,

Winter's Feast by Mill Hill

stitched as charted with kit threads and beads on perforated paper

I might pick this one back up again as it should be a quick finish, but I'd like to finish a couple other things first. 

I'll see if I can keep up with this every month, it's a good way to try and work on some of my smaller WIPs. :)

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

End of December Wrap-Up

 You know what they say about the best-laid plans right? I had some hopes of finishing at least a few projects this month, but the universe decided differently. The day after my last post I tested positive for COVID-19. So, a mandatory week off, but my energy was so low I didn't manage any stitching. I tried knitting one day when I was feeling a bit better and ended up in bed all the next day! So I didn't try that again. 

It took a good 2 weeks to get any kind of energy back, so that was a long time without crafting. I had COVID-19 in 2022 and that took months to recover from. I'm grateful it didn't hit me as hard this time. 

My parents were going to visit earlier in December, but canceled of course because of me being sick. They ended up coming close to Christmas and stayed for Christmas for the first time ever. We had invited them many times, but most of my family is still close to where they live, so they tend to spend holidays with the rest of my relatives there. Santa brought them stockings and DD had some gifts using her art, so they had a nice time as well I think. They headed back to their home on Boxing Day/December 26 and we spent that day mostly vegging and relaxing. I did get a little stitching and knitting in on the days my parents were here, so without further ado, here's where my December crafting ended up. 

You last saw the Bibliophile bookmark here:    

and now:

Bibliophile Blackwork Bookmark by Kincavel Krosses

stitched 1 over 1 on 28ct white Monaco

with Flamenco by Jodyri Designs

Fortunately I don't need more than a skein for this one because Jodyri Designs has closed up shop. I also needed a break from blackwork, which I never thought I'd actually say, but I just needed something a little simpler, so I pulled out a Mill Hill kit, which last looked like this:

and now it looks like this:

I'm tempted to leave it like this without any explanation of what it is, but maybe some of you remember this little kit I started in 2021?

Skating Snowman by Mill Hill

stitched 3 over 3 as charted with kit threads and perforated paper

And that's it for stitching this month. I did do some knitting, as I mentioned. First a sort of completion?

Vanilla sock (meaning no special pattern)

with West Yorkshire Spinners yarn in colour Robin

Only one sock is complete, so that's why it's only sort of complete. I still need to knit the other one for the pair. I went a little nuts on WYS Christmas yarn this year since my local yarn shop had a lot of their colours this year. Especially the Candy Cane one that tends to sell out immediately. One year it sold out in hours and I never got any. This year I might have picked up 4 skeins or so of just that red/green/white colour. 

I knit on this intarsia blanket for DD while I had COVID, and although it's not complicated, apparently it was more than my body was up for since I needed the next few days to recover. It's over half way down now:

The pattern is Rainbow Days Blanket, but DD chose these colours from the LYS. They're all cotton, so it will be very cozy once it's complete. The top row is the center, then the pattern will repeat. I don't know if you've ever tried or know what intarsia is, but you use all those colours and knit across. Yes, the yarn gets tangled, no, I don't know how to make it not tangle. :)

And here we are, a less crafty December than hoped for, but still here and ready to ring in the New Year with a new start today, which is 12/31/23 in the US way, plus a new start for New Year's? We'll see. 

Hope you all have a had a great holiday season and Happy New Year!

Tiffstitch

Mischievous March 2022 Start #3 - Enchanted Moon

Mischievous March start 3 is upon us! And this time I actually did choose something that I might finish this year. Behold Mill Hill Autumn Harvest: Enchanted Moon:

and I managed a little progress to get to here:

This was only 3 lengths of thread, so the whole project shouldn't take too long. It's only orange and black and then beads. 

I hope you've been checking out Rachel's new starts, she's had some gorgeous projects from new-to-me designers as well. 

One more week to go and I still may change things up this weekend, we'll see how the week goes. It was a long full moon week for me, so a nice small project was the best choice. 

I hope you're all staying well and getting lots of stitching time!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Olympics Stitching Challenge Start #10

Day 10 brings another seasonal start! Any surprised readers out there? :) It is just a small start though since I joined another FB group that was having an Olympic-themed challenge event. One of the challenges was "specialty" stitches, which included beads, so I pulled out a little Mill Hill kit I had planned on starting. 

But first, let's learn a bit about diving. I've never attempted any kind of high diving, and am a little afraid of the higher dives. I jumped off the 3m board once when I was taking swimming lessons at a big pool, but mostly just stepped off, not bounced or twisted or anything complicated. And I'm satisfied to never do that again. DH actually went off a high platform when he was a kid at the Olympic facility in Montreal. He wasn't supposed to go up to the highest platform, but he did. And survived the jump, but was regretting it as soon as he leaped off the edge. 

I love watching the events in the Olympics. The skill and precision it takes to synchronize your dive with a teammate, plus just entering the water so cleanly to make barely a splash after a complicated dive? Incredible to see. China has overwhelmingly dominated this sport in the last few decades, in both men's and women's events. Great Britain took home gold this Olympics for men's synchronized 10m though, so it might still be anyone's event. I feel like the Chinese athletes dominate more in the women's events, but that could be because I tend to watch these more carefully since there's often Canadians competing in the women's events. Not only Canadian, but from Quebec, which is right nearby. 

The history of diving in the Olympics goes all the way back over 100 years ago to 1904 and had "fancy" diving and plunge diving, meaning someone would just do a dive and try and get as far down into the pool as possible. In 1908 they changed that out for springboard, because the plunge wasn't all that interesting. Women's diving was added in 1912, although not until 1920 did they also use the springboard. I'm thinking of women's bathing costumes back then and wondering how they managed!

Although apparently women's bathing suits were undergoing a significant change around then, so it might not have been too bad, that's nice to see. I was thinking of them struggling in those dresses after diving, which would not have been easy. 

Enough anticipation for my start now? Here's what it will look like eventually:

And my very small start:

Winter Feast by Mill Hill

stitched as charted with kit threads and fabric

Lots of colour changes in this one, but it's still a pretty small kit, so it shouldn't take too long to finish once I get back to it. This might make a good gift for my birdwatching parents. They put out tons of bird feeders in their backyard because they back onto some woods and get many different types of birds. They also put out oriole and hummingbird feeders and almost always have orioles. 

I hope you've all been staying well and stay tuned for tomorrow when I add a new one to my ridiculous amount of full coverage WIPs. :)

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch