Updates and WIP Parade-Part 1

So, a lot has happened since my last post and I debated going in chronological order, but it would just be stupid of me to avoid the biggest elephant in the room...my Mother died on October 23rd. I'm not going to say "passed away" (I hate that phrase), because she didn't just pass. She suffered for four days and then she died. It wasn't expected, I'm not sure she was even conscious the entire time I was there (which was just about 24/7 other than pup feeding time). She was drugged pretty heavily because of the pain, and once they started cutting on her, I'm not even sure she was "there" anymore. There was a lot of bad ju-ju between us that will never get sorted out, but there is nothing I can do about that now and it's useless to dwell on it. I have good days and bad days, last Thursday would have been her 79th birthday, so I've had nothing but bad days since. This probably sounds a bit cold, but it's really the only way I know to deal with it. I guess that's life now so, moving on.

I went to Disney World in September around my birthday and I'm glad I did. It didn't completely wipe out the memory of the last horrible trip I had and it put a more positive light on my favorite place on earth. I also went into serious debt because of it, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to go back again, but I definitely will be going back, and that's what's important. But as of now, I still haven't gone through my photos, and I don't really have a lot (I know, a shocking statement from me). About mid week, I got fed up with carrying a camera around, so I just stopped. What little pics I took after that were on my phone and were sparse and I'm glad I did that. I enjoyed things a lot more rather than spending a crazy amount of time taking pics.

I really want to start a FlossTube channel, but everyone that does FlossTube has either an amazing craft room, or a really good place to film videos. I do not. I have a Disney-hoarded trailer that I would be ashamed to put on the internet. I do plan to do some little renovations this year if I can get my debt down a bit, so maybe I can clean an area good enough to film videos in, but for now, that is on hold. When I renew my Adobe Lightroom to edit the Disney pics, I'll get Photoshop so I can take all these progress pics and align them up enough to make a video slideshow out of them. That is as close to FlossTube as I can get for now, but I have YEARS of projects, completed and still in progress, that have daily pics, so it could be pretty cool for timelapse progress videos, from start to finish. It's just taking the time to do them. I should also mention that I do post several times a week over on Instagram with my current progress, if anyone wants more routine updates.

Now to the reason why most of you are here...WIPs. Considering I have 26 of them in rotation, this is going to take a while and be pic heavy, so buckle up! It looks like the last time I did an end of year review was at the end of 2024. I apparently didn't do one for 2025 at all. I did start some new projects in 2025 and I have even started one or two in 2026, so let's save that for part 2. For this part though, let's go back to where I left off at the end of 2024 and show where it is now. I don't see the need to post 2024 stats (and I'm just too lazy to dig it all up). If anyone has a question about the previous stats, just let me know.

Let's start with my oldest WIP, one that has no stats because it was started before I kept stats...Tartan B. I figure I started it in either 2014 or 2015, but I'm just not sure. The last time I worked on it was Jan 1st, 2022!

Do NOT ask me why this took over 10 years to finish, but here it is. I finished it on Nov 26th, 2025. I did iron it, but it's just in a drawer right now because I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it now. I was going to have my Mother help me make a pillow out of it because I can't sew, but I guess we know why that's not going to get done now:

Alice and the Bouguereau Princesses, a Jasmine Becket-Griffith charted by HAED is now my oldest WIP, started on Jan 4th, 2015 on 28ct Monaco, 1x1 full stitches. As of the end of 2024, it was here:

I did stitch on this a bit in the beginning of 2025, but I really kicked it into gear at the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026. It is now 847.7 hrs in, 194,366 out of 329,175 stitches and is at about 59% done as of Jan 14th, 2026:

The biggest pain in my butt, Christmas Contest Suteki, Aimee Stewart, HAED, hasn't been touched since 2020, even though it was started Jan 1st, 2016 on 28ct Monaco, 1x1 full stitches.

I did work on it this year though, for exactly one day on Jan 18th, 2026. It is currently at 183.27 hrs, 32,790 out of 89,662 stitches, and about 37% done. We'll see when it comes back out again. The older I get, the harder cross country stitching has become for me, but I'm also not the kind of person that could park because the loose strings would drive me insane. I could do a modified typewriter method, but just knowing there is a stitch a couple of boxes away in the next row down would also drive me even more insane. For now, I just can't handle it.

Next up is Night Wish by Anne Rodrigue, charted by HAED. It was started on Jan 2nd, 2016 on 26ct Monaco, 1x1 full stitches, and the last time I touched it in 2024 was Feb 13th.

This is going to get worked on probably by the end of this week, but the last time I touched it was Mar 9th, 2025. It is currently 202.12 hrs in, 47,806 stitches out of 206,000 and is at about 23%.

The furthest along is now Snow White, a retired HAED chart by Jessica Clark. I started this Jan 3rd, 2016 and, because of the weird fabric, have had a really tough time with it, but it's moving along better now. As per my usual, it is on 28ct Monaco (although really crappy Monaco), 1x1 full stitches. Nov 22nd, 2023 was the last time I touched it before I started back in 2025.

This one has probably gotten the most love in 2025 and even 2026, and she is now 270.75 hrs in, 52,682/69,374 stitches in, and about 76% done. This was the last pic from Jan 27th, 2026:

Sleepy Hollow Mural, another retired HAED by Lewis T. Johnson is slacking as well. I started it Jan 9th, 2017 on 28ct Monaco, 1x1 full stitches. I started it in a Q-Snap, but I absolutely HATED working on it, so I finally got scroll rods long enough for it. The issue has been that my stand has a heck of a time holding it. I got a VERY expensive attachment for my stand, but the mounting screws are too big and I just haven't gotten new ones so, when I do work on it, it's a struggle. Feb 11th, 2024 was the last time it was touched.

But it also got love in 2025 and 2026, even if it was sparse. And, I've switched it between enough scroll rods that I managed to clean up the crookedness caused by the Q-Snaps. I just don't know how you guys do it! It is now at 159.55 hrs, 12,382/246,000 stitches done for a total of about 5%. The last time I stitched on it was Feb 15th, 2026:

Happy Haunts, an Etsy project by a designer that has changed their name so many times, I couldn't tell you the name of the store now. I'm pretty sure they are still in business though. I started it Jan 23rd, 2017 on 18ct Aida, 2x1 and, although I love the design, I absolutely HATE stitching on it! It should be finished by now, but alas, Dec 31t, 2023 was the last time I touched it before the end of 2024:

I have tried and tried to work on this, but I just can't stand it for long. It is now 178.97 hrs in, 30,922/62,775 stitches in and is about 49% done. If I'd just focus on it, I could get it done, but geez, what a pain! Apparently, the last time I touched it was April 14, 2025 (although I'm questioning that and I need to look back through my phone to see if there is a later pic)

The Bride Doll Making, a retired Medusa Dollmaker kit from GeckoRouge was started on Jul 16th, 2017. It came with 25ct fabric, but I changed it out for 28ct and, of course, I'm doing it 1x1. At this point, Monaco became harder to find, so the rest of the projects I can't say for sure if they are Lugana or Monaco unless they are Easy Guide, so we will just go with evenweave from here on out. It was last touched on Nov 8th, 2023, nothing in 2024:

We are now up to 258.6 hrs, 49,050/107,269 stitches and about 46%. Nov 17th, 2025 was apparently the last time I touched it (time for it to come back out I guess), but she is here now:

Hook by Daniel Kordek and Tilton Crafts is still a massive pain in my backside. I still haven't decided whether or not I want to start it over and skip all the white background or not, so he's just been sitting in limbo. It was started on Feb 12th, 2018 on 28ct evenweave, 1x1, was touched in 2024, Feb 1st to be exact:

I'm ashamed to admit, I touched it once on Apr 15th, 2025. It is 63.3 hrs in, 14,726/148,750 stitches in for about 10%. I really need to decide what to do with this:

On a more positive front, a 2018 start (Mar 6th, 2018 to be exact), Faces of Faery by Jasmine Becket-Griffith, charted by HAED, has gotten some recent attention. I can safely say this is on 32ct Lugana because I HATE it! I am too blind for 32ct and 1x1 is super tight, but that's where I'm at. The last time this was touched was Jan 29th, 2024:

But I've done some major work on it in 2025 and 2026 and actually managed a row finish on Feb 2, 2026! The first one in a VERY long time! It doesn't look like much work, but 32ct makes it much more than 28ct in my opinion. It's now at 84.18 hrs, 17.996/50,175 stitches for 36% finished.

Everest, another Etsy special by a store called Addict to Cross Stitch (and I'm not sure they are still in business). Ironically, when I started this project on Jan 12th, 2020, this bridge was still at Animal Kingdom park. It is now long gone and is a construction zone for the new Encanto land. It was one of my favorite places in Animal Kingdom though, so I'm going to keep going on it. For this count, Jan 21st, 2024 was the last time it was touched and it's on 28ct evenweave, 1x1 full stitches:

And it will be coming back out soon since it was only touched once in 2025, April 6th to be exact. It's at 51.82 hrs, 8884/136,528 stitches for a total of 7% complete. I think I'm slowly figuring out that long, horizontal projects are hard and I need to come up with a better stand solution for them. But here it is:

Now we are up to the 2024 started projects, the ones I started as Leap Year starts. There were originally only supposed to be 4, but it ended up being 7. Not sure how that happened. On Feb 17th, 2024, The Harry Potter US Bookcovers was the first start. I originally was going to do the one with the author's name (who shall not be named) at the bottom, but I have since changed it to the unnamed one. It didn't affect my progress so far though. It's on 28ct Easy Guide, 1x1 full stitches. I managed to stitch until Feb 25th, 2024 and didn't touch it again for the remainder of the year.

But 2025 and 2026 upped the ante and its now become another row finish for me this year. It's 74.9 hrs in, 18,385/121,975 stitches (but I think the final stitch count changed when I switched to the unnamed pattern), and it's at about 15% as of Feb 9th, 2026.

Evil Queen, a Once Upon A Time pattern by Thread Geeks is next. It was started on Feb 26th, 2024 and that was the only day in 2024 I worked on it. It's on 28ct evenweave, 1x1 (although I'm pretty sure it is Monaco):

Last touched on Nov 16th, 2025, it has the Hook effect in the opposite because there is a LOT of black background, but it's a much easier stitch. It is also supposed to be very blue-y and purple-y, but it obviously is not. The colors worry me. It should be coming up again pretty soon though. It's got 34.85 hrs worth of work, 8926/81,648 stitches for a total of about 11%.

I started three projects on Feb 28th, 2024, so these will be in no particular order. First up is Merida by DoNa Stitches. I blazed through DoNa's Rapunzel in a few weeks. This one isn't going as quickly. It's on 18ct opalescent evenweave 2x1. I worked on this for two days for 2024, start day and then this last time, Mar 8th:

I picked it up some in 2025 and just recently last week, so we are here as of Feb 15th, 30.93 hrs in, 6990/41,836 stitches and about 17% complete:

Next on the 28th new starts was The Blue Marble is so Fragile by Unconventional X Stitch, artist is Borda Danut Adrian. It's another HUGE project. It also got two days in 2024, last being Mar 1st. It's on 28ct Easy Guide evenweave, 1x1 full stitches. It was also another one I started on Q-snaps before I remembered (again) how much I hate Q-Snaps.

It got three more days in 2025 for a total of 12.1 hrs, 2733/298,350 stitches for a total of about 1%. It is now in scroll rods, although I apparently haven't stitched on it since putting it on scroll rods, so I'm having the same issue with my stand (which is probably why I haven't touched it since), but it should be coming up again soon in rotation (not that I have a rotation, I stitch what I want when I want or else I get too bogged down with it all and it feels more like a job):

At this point, I start to sound like a broken record...started on the 28th, yada yada yada, hate Q-snaps, yada yada yada, it's now on super long scroll rods, yada yada yada, etc. This is SS/MC Once Upon A Fairy Tale Bookshelf by Aimee Stewart, charted by HAED. It got one day of love in 2024:

And only a couple more in 2025. It's now at 9.52 hrs, 2103/713,265 stitches (and it is my biggest WIP), and it's WAY less than 1% done. It actually shows up as 0% on my spreadsheet (which I'll talk more about in part 2). March 24th, 2025 was the last time it was touched and obviously (again) not since it's been on scroll rods.

We're almost at the end! Two more starts on Feb 29th, 2024, Leap Day. First up is Mini Wisdom by Cherie Gerhardt, charted by HAED. It's on 28ct Easy Guide evenweave, 1x1 full stitches. Even though it only got one day of love in 2024 (start day), it's moving along well. Here is where 2024 left off:

The last it saw action was Oct 19th, 2025. It's now at 37.98 hrs, 8828/84,500 stitches and it's sitting at about 10%. It's very confetti heavy, so it's taking more time than I would like, but HAED's minis are notoriously harder than a regular pattern, and that's a hill I will die on.

Last one, Belle of Bonaventure by Jasmine Becket-Griffith, charted by HAED. I had trouble deciding between this and another JBG, and this one won out, but not surprisingly, the other one became a 2025 start which we will discuss in part 2. This one is, of course, 28ct Magic Guide evenweave, 1x1 full crosses.

Of all the Leap Year starts, this one got the most love. I absolutely adore stitching it and, because it was before HAED started dithering, it just makes it that much more enjoyable! It's got in 94.13 hrs, 24,185/118,000 stitches, and is sitting at about 20% done. It was last touched Jan 18th of this year.

And that's it up to the 2024 starts! Doing these long posts just got too hard, then a bunch of bad life stuff happened, and it all just got away with me. Even now, I expected to have all my WIPs in one post, but we are just sitting way too long right now for this to continue for the 2025 and 2026 starts, so until next time with Part 2!