2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #32 - Joyeux Noel by Susan Ache

Today's start is one of those epic projects designers came up with in 2020 when a lot of us had more stitching time all of a sudden. This is still free from Aurifil on their blog. Although I have some Aurifil, I don't have the colours they asked for in this, so I'm going to try and use up more of my Silks4U Advent threads. Here's what the project will look like eventually:

And my floss toss looks like this:

I managed a bit of a start over a couple days of stitching as well:

Joyeux Noel by Susan Ache

stitched 2 over 1 on 20ct opalescent aida by BeStitchMe

with Silks4U Advent threads

I was debating about the green, it has a faint hint of blue to it, which I think holly leaves do sometimes,  so I think it will work out well. The floss toss shows the full hanks, and I only took about half a hank for most of the colours and set it aside with this project. I don't think I'll need a full hank for this, even though there's a lot of stitching to go. 

This is probably going to be one of the ones that sits for a while since there's so much more to go, but that's okay. It's about getting to these projects that I've really wanted to start, not so much about the finish. 

I hope you've all had good stitching days!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #30 - Your Future by Lollypop Stitches

This is one of the charts designed for the Michelle Bendy Stitchy January 2020 Fundraiser for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Fittingly, it's a quote from Back to the Future, one of the best movie series out there. Eventually it will look something like this:

I think I'll stitch the side parts since it has the flux capacitors, but I was most concerned about the right fabric and threads for this one. DH and DD helped with the floss toss and here's my start:

Your Future by Lollypop Stitches

stitched 2 over 1 on 18ct opalescent Bedrock by BeStitchMe

with Silks4U threads

I really like the look of it so far, and maybe the colour will pick up the blue in the flux capacitors as well. It's interesting to switch between aida and evenweave. I think I still prefer evenweave over all other fabrics. 

Hope everyone had a good stitching day!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #29 - Be A Cupcake by StitchLife

Does anyone remember StitchLife magazine? I had joined for a while, they were on Patreon I think and it was fun for a while. I don't think they still exist, I couldn't find much online. I still have some of the patterns that came with the subscription, and I thought this one would be a fun start. 

There were a few different options as far as chocolate or vanilla icing, and I chose vanilla, here's the floss toss with the vanilla icing:

And my total progress:

Be A Cupcake by StitchLife

stitched 2 over 1 on 18ct mauve aida

with Silks4U threads

The fabric got a little washed out in this picture, but fortunately I took a photo of how well my cat was helping me stitch, and the fabric is pictured correctly there:

Such a good helper right? And why all my stitching has "specialty thread" added, whether I want it to be or not. :)

Hope your stitching day went well! 

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 #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 #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

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 #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

2026 Year of 100 Starts: Start #2 - Walk With Mom by Handblessings

I have a very scientific way of picking my next project. I open one of the boxes they're all stored in, and look through till I find one I want to start. We'll see how this experiment works throughout the year, and if I end up changing anything out. 

I was definitely feeling like something fairly easy, so although this is a little larger than Start #1, it could be done with just one colour. I decided on 2, in a similar way I finished it's companion piece several years ago. Here's the companion piece:

    

Walk with Dad by Handblessings

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct scrap evenweave with WDW Lucky and DMC 895

I've had this chart for a while, but it was finally time to start Walk With Mom!

I pulled some of my Silks4U advent threads to use and had a decent start:

    

Walk With Mom by Handblessings

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Bryophyte by Chromatic Alchemy

with Silks4U Advent Box threads (2023 and 2024)

I've received the Advent Box from Silks4U the last few years, and I'm so impressed they managed to still get it out last year with all the postage issues. I'm not sure if they're having one this year, and I might skip anyway as I'd like to work through all the threads I have. This will definitely help. 

It might be obvious, but green is DH's favourite colour, and blue is my favourite colour, so that's why the colours are different for each one. 

Hope things are good and you've had a good stitching day!

Tiffstitch 

2021 Tokyo Olympic Stitching Challenge Start #1

It's here! The Olympics is upon us, and whether or not it's a good idea, they're doing it anyway, so the new starts commence today. Or actually yesterday to try and give me time to get a post up daily. 

My new starts will have absolutely nothing to do with the Olympics, but I thought I'd try and post a bit about events I like to watch and some history. I'll start with the favourite for a lot of people: gymnastics!

Perhaps the rest of you are also just about to learn that the word "gymasium" is from the Ancient Greek word gymnazein which means to exercise naked. That would certainly be a new way to watch the Olympics. Speaking of that, have you heard the German women's team is going with full body suits, whether they get fined or not? Good for them. It should be about the sport and there's been enough over-sexualization of mostly young girls' bodies. 

Gymnastics was added to the modern Games in 1898, but only for men. Women's gymnastics was added in 1928 in Amsterdam. The events differ for men and women, and I think we all know most of them, so I won't get into that. If you'd ever like more info, please let me know. 

I'm looking forward to watching the incredible strength, flexibility and training these athletes have gone through to get to this point. Canada usually doesn't medal in gymnastics, so no disappointment if there are no medals for Canadians. It will be exciting if it happens. 

And now, onto my start!

You may pick up early on the seasonal theme of these again. :) This is what it will look like eventually:

and I managed a little over 500 stitches to get to this point:

Noel by Bent Creek

stitched on 28ct Chromatic Alchemy fabric scrap

with WDW Fathom and Blue Bonnet, odd Dinky Dyes for orange and the grey is Silks4U PR026 

This was a fun little new start and should only need a few days to finish. It's just finding those few days. :)

I hope you're enjoying the Olympics if you're interested, and if not, at least enjoy a new fact or two. 

Happy Stitching and stay well!

Tiffstitch

Stitch Maynia 2021 Start #18

Day 18 is here and I was so close to a finish with this one! I derailed adjusted my plan a bit when Circus Stitches was having a sale and decided to do this quick little one. 

Here's my almost finish:

Oo-de-lally by Circus Stitches

stitched 2 over 1 on 18ct damask Aida by Silkweavers

with Silks4U PR 069 

Right now, the Disney Robin Hood is one of DD's favourite movies and it's always been one of mine, so I'm happy she enjoys it too. For a while when she was younger, she wanted me to sing this to her every night. 

I might try and get back to this one and finish it tomorrow as well. 

I hope you're all staying healthy and Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch