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