January update

Well my plans changed again.  But only by a little bit.   I'm still working on Fairytale for the HAED SAL and aiming for 6 pages, still working on Mini At the Steps, aiming to finish in November  and working on Cat Nap.  However I've changed my mind about starting both the Aimee Stewart Sanctuary for stitchers and Lakeside Cabin Crop.   I know Aimee Stewart patterns are hugely popular, but I feel a lot of detail is hard to make out, even in the super sized versions. I would never do a supersized version, as I want a chance of finishing and even the regular sized version is bigger than what I want to work on.

I toyed around with cropping the Lakeside Cabin crop, but it was still too big and do I really want a huge picture of basically an armchair, on my wall. So I abandoned that idea.

 So here is what I did in January.

Mini at the steps.

In January I put in 5829 stitches over 10 stitching days and did 28 hours.  This takes me to a total of 27,152 stitches out of 61,200 and 44%

Cat Nap was started on Xmas Day and this is what it looks like now.

I have a page finish.  I've done a bit more than in this photo, but havent taken another picture.

In January I did 5561 stitches over 7 days and did 22 hours.  In total I've done 9826 stitches out of 179,000 for 5%.

On 1st January I started Fairytale for the HAED SAL.   

I've done the first page for a total of 7795 stitches out of 88,650 for 8.8%. I worked on this for 12 days and spent 22 hours stitching. 

  I had a yearning to do another Long Dog piece.  I decided on a small one called Flirtation, from their Peccadilloes range.  This is what the finished piece will look like.

And this is what it looks like now. 

I'm using Silks4u left over from Sans Souci and it is 2 x1 on 18ct Aida, full cross. I started on 14 January. 

I am stitching 1 thread a day on this, which gives approximately 100 stitches in 30 minutes. I've so far done 1581 stitches and worked on it 14 days for 8 hours.   1581 out of 7643 for 21%.  This is a small project so I expect to finish in April.  

In total for the month, I did 20,766 stitches, 19185 on full coverage,  stitched on 29 days and a total of 101 hours.

Plans, continue working on the above. In February I am going to start my first Stitches Sew Beautiful pattern.  The one I want to do is Gloria and the Gargoyle by Alisa Smith Williams.

I just love this picture. It just makes me feel happy when I look at it. 

I will be entering the Stitches Sew Beautiful Sal. The conditions are to stitch either  250 full cross or 500 tent each week for a month and get a reward chart at the end. I will be doing my usual 25 count 2x1 tent. 

I also finished a knitted garment, the zipper vest by petite knit.  I havent taken a photo yet,  so will add it in when I get a chance.

That's all for now.  I will update again at the end of February. 

2026 plans

Well predictably my plans have changed. 

I'm going to start the HAED sal. There are 12 patterns and you pick 1 to stitch on.  It was due to start on 1 January, but we received the pattern early on Sunday 28 December .  I am going to be stitching on Fairytale. 

There are various rewards for finishes.  The plan was if you completed 1 page you would get an Aimee Stewart chart that she was making exclusively for the SAL.  However they decided to give it too all participants,  so I downloaded it on Sunday with my Fairytale pattern.   This is Sanctuary for stitchers

I had thought I would do just 1 page to get the Aimee Stewart, but now I am hoping to complete 6 pages so I get all 12 charts of the SAL.  These are the 12 patterns in the Sal.

These are the size of minis, but have been designed exclusively for thr SAL, so shouldn't lose definition as the minis may.

 Other achievement charts are awarded for 1000, 2000, and 3000 participants.   I was hoping we'd get 3000 participants as I really liked the reward chart for 3000 participants.  I was disappointed we only got to 2600.  However, wouldn't you know it, they gave us the 3000 reward chart also.   So generous.

This is Lakeside Cabin crop.

So my plans for 2026.  I will have 2 focus pieces.  

One is Fairytale to get 6 pages finished.  I will need to complete 3730 stitches per month.  

The other focus is At the Steps.  I want to finish this in November,  so will need to complete 3473 per month. 

Once these are done for the month I will stitch on other projects.

I have started Cat Nap, this was my Christmas Day start and I am itching to start Sanctuary for stitchers.   I want to get 10,000 in each of these before starting another one.  I will then put in 10,000 on the new one , plus an additional 10000 on cat nap and sanctuary before starting another.   I am trying not to be focused on a finish on these, but instead just enjoy the. stitching. 

The projects I've started are Mini At The Steps.

And cat nap, artist Jeff Haynie, charted by Heaven and Earth Designs 

This is what they will look like when finished

I'm excited for 2026 to see how my plans work.

At the Steps page finish and WIPGO plans

I have a page and a bit finish on Mini At the Steps

I've completed 9805 stitches out of 61200, for 16.02%.  Working 2 over 1 in tent stitch on 25 count easy count lugana.

 I thought it would be fun to try a WIPGO board in 2026.  This is what my board looks like at the moment.

Gossips and Witching Hour will be new starts.  I will also do a decision wheel spin to select a mini for another new start

From now until Christmas I will continue working on At the Steps.  I'm aiming to finish this in November 2026.  On Christmas Day i will start Cat Nap and work on that until the end of the year. 

Each month I plan to stitch on At the Steps, enough to finish in November, which will be around 4000 stitches per month. I will then work on whichever 2 are selected from wipgo,  stitching a bit less than 2500 stitches on each.  I also want to do some knitting some days, evenings will be knitting time.  If I have free time once all those are done, I may either spin the decision wheel,  or work on Cat Nap.   Once Steps is finished, Cat Nap,will probably become my focus piece. 

Yet more plans

Someone here's what I'm planning now 

I have 5 scroll frames and would like something on each.

The frames i have are 8, 14, 20, 24 and 31 inches wide

I currently have Iris Keeper and Mini At the steps on the 8 and 14 inch hoops. Here is what they'll look like when finished.

Way back in 2017 I started Gossips. It was abandoned when I stopped stitching gor a few years. I can't find it so must have thrown it out.

I still really like it, do I'm planning to restart it on my birthday in April.  This will be on the 24 inch frame. This is what it will look like.

As a Christmas start,  im planning a new purchase from HAED.   This is Cat Nap by Jeff Haynie. This will be on the largest frame, 32 inches 

This leaves the 20 inch frame needing filling.  I'm thinking either QS Old Friends, Mini Little Puppy or mini childhood sweethearts 

I don't have a plan for when to start one of these.  Both old friends and little puppy were previously started, but must have been thrown out.  The little puppy reminds me so much of my Gracie.

At the Steps will be my focal piece, aiming to finish in November 2026

At the Steps, third time lucky

Now i have my magnifying lamp i decided to give 25 count another try.  I was doing 2x1 tent on At the Steps  on 18 count and wasn't altogether happy with the coverage.  I experimented and found placing my needle through the holes of fabric was actually much easier than the 18 count Aida.  Using my magnifier was much easier.

So I pulled out my mini At the steps that had been started on 25 count and continued.   For this one,  I am using the typewriter method, per page.   I had already done 1029 stitches and increased it to 1630 in one afternoon.   On my 18 count I had reached 2730 stitches, so I not too far behind where I was.

I am finding the typewriter method so much faster than diagonal parking.

yet another plan change

I was not enjoying stitching on 25 CT fabric. I had a small clip on magnifier that i constantly had to move to get into the correct position.    I decided to restart on 20 count.  That meant a trip to The Ribbon Rose for fabric.  They had a sale on magnifying lamps, so I treated myself to a Triumph Led light magnifier.

What a difference this has made.  I can see the stitches much more clearly and enjoying it much more.  You can see the tiny start I made on At the Steps. 

Before purchasing fabric, I had a small piece of 20 count that is just big enough for Iris Keeper, so tested that first. I did a mix of tent and full cross and decided i enjoyed full cross much more. I will stick with full cross in future.

Before the HAED  sale ended, I ended up buying another chart.

Mini The winter reading nook, by Aimee Stewart.  I may start this on Christmas day instead of childhood sweethearts 

MKAL finish. cross stitch plan change

Every year in October Stephen West runs a mystery knitalong.   This is the fifth year I've taken part.  This years shawl is the MusiKal.  I finished in record time, less than 4 weeks.

It is currently on the blocking mats and is too big to fit in the frame, so I took a video. There was an option to make it bigger, which i intended to do, but wasn't going to have enough yarn.

I love the bright colours.  The yarn was a kit from Mamawooling. 

Now onto cross stitch.  I decided i wanted to try scroll frames. I've used qsnaps  for years, but all the excess fabric on a project was annoying me.  So I  bought a set of 3 Frank A Edmunds handiclip.   I also wanted to use a higher count fabric,  so have gone back to 25 count.  Mini Minervas Melody was on 16 CT and would have been too big to fit the scroll rods.   I didn't want to restart the design as it would mean restitching what I'd just done.  Maybe one day I'll go back to it, but for now I'm going to start some new projects.

In the recent Heaven and Earth sale I bought 3 patterns.   Iris Keeper Storykeep by Josephine Wall,  Mini At the Steps by Leonid Afremov and Mini Childhood sweethearts by Jim Warren.  

Each will fit onto a different size scroll frame.   I have just started At the steps and will start childhood sweethearts at Christmas.   Iris Keeper may be my birthday start.

I am stitching on 25 count fabric 2x1 tent. I just started yesterday, so no photo yet.  I need to use a magnifier and am considering buying a magnifying lamp for my Christmas present.   In the meantime I have a small clip on magnifier and readers and am experimenting to see which I like best.

The plan at the moment,  is to have At the Steps as my focus piece and work on it every other month and do a minimum of 2200 stitches each month to have it finished in 2 and a half years.  I'll work on it every weekend, knitting during the week. Other cross stitch will be done the month its not being worked on.