WIP Parade-Part 2

Hopefully, this post won't be as long as the last one, but I make no promises! Instagram has caused me to be way less wordy, but I miss a long blog post where I can give more details, vent a bit, and just generally chit-chat with you guys!

First up though, I thought I'd tell you about the spreadsheet I bought on Etsy to keep track of my WIPs (there would be no way in Hades I could create a spreadsheet on my own, so it was worth it. For an I.T. person, I am incredibly Excel stupid and there is no amount of classes, videos, or tutorials that is going to fix it apparently (and believe, me, I've been through a few). It's from a store called Rainbow Sheets Studio. There are some things that could make it better...tracking my stitching time, being able to change the display colors to a more purple theme, or being able to track my progress and give me estimates for when a project could be finished with certain parameters. But maybe I'm asking too much and I definitely wouldn't know how to create my own. Overall though, it was a good purchase. It does show I'm making progress and makes me more motivated to beat monthly totals. Like, for January I did 19,211 stitches, but I'm already over 22,000 for February, and the month isn't over yet!

But let's get to the good stuff, the 2025/2026 WIPs (so far). Almost all the 2025's were kitted up at the same time, but the actual starts were spread out for various reasons. I don't really remember the theme behind the 2025 starts. I do remember some of my picks were projects that were 2nd choices to the 2024 starts. And there is one I've kitted up that I still haven't started yet. It's on plastic canvas, so I'm a bit scared of it for some reason.

Anyhoo, first up is The English Garden, a kit from the Heritage Collection by Lynn Hollyn. I have literally had this thing since the late 80s! I had to replace the fabric, but the thread seemed to be OK, so that's what I'm working with. It's on a new piece of 18ct Aida (very stiff Aida), 2x1 stitches and I started it Apr 18th, 2025. Here is the cover of the kit:

This is literally the project I'm working on this week, so the stats are probably going to change and I haven't "officially" uploaded this pic into its Flickr album, but here is where I'm at as of Wednesday the 18th...33.73 hrs, 7180/50531 stitches, about 14% completed. Oh, and I'm not going to show where I was at the end of 2025 because I really only worked on most of these a couple of times and didn't get very far, so let's just go with where I am right this second.

I am having issues with the back-stitching. I don't think the brown color they provided is dark enough. It worked meh on the fence area, but the vase barely shows up at all and I dread to think how bad it will be on the chickens. I'm debating switching it out for a darker brown (I think black would be too much)...what do you guys think?

I never got rid of this one because I loved the design and, at least so far, it's been a joy to stitch. But the more I stitch on it, the more I realize this is SO not my style and I cannot see it hanging in my house. I may end up giving it to someone at work or something, which is odd for me. It may sound horrible, but I'm not a fan of doing something for someone else because not a single giftee ever appreciated it, even when they asked me to do one. I can't tell you the number of birth stitches I did back in the day and they are just like "oh, isn't that nice". One lady actually had the nerve to tell me that her kid's got eaten by mice when it was put in the attic! If her kid had been older at the time, I wouldn't have taken so badly, but she was still in the crib (although the kid now has kids of her own, so I should probably let it go).

Next up is Strangely Lonely, another Jasmine Becket-Griffith by HAED. This one was a neck and neck with Belle of Bonaventure, but I chose Belle because it was the old style of HAED (undithered) and you guys know how I feel about dithering. In the end though, Strangely Lonely is my favorite piece of JBG art (not including the Disney ones), so it was driving me nuts not stitching it. But now, I'm having issues with the design. I broke down and bought the Unconventional X Stitch version of this pattern, because it's less dithered, thinking I could just swap out the colors in the kits, but there are barely similar colors and I'll have to kit up a whole new thing and, for financial reasons, that's not going to happen right now. Plus, the UXS one has some questionable color choices. If I do get the UXS kitted up, I thought I might stitch them both for a while and see which is better. The HAED one is on 28ct Easy Guide fabric, 1x1 stitches and I started it on Apr 20th, 2025.

As of now, I'm 13.13 hrs in, 2787/273,150 stitches, so I'm about 1% in as of Nov 22nd, 2025. It hasn't decided to come out this year yet because I'm avoiding dithering altogether for another reason we'll get to later.

Amour et Vengeance, a GeckoRouge kit that I have replaced the fabric for (I went with 28ct Easy Guide instead of the provided 25ct) and, per usual, 1x1 full stitches. I started it on Apr 21, 2025. Here is what it is supposed to look like:

Like The Doll Making kit from Gecko, the colors are really weird on this one. You'd think the borders would be black, they are 939 (there is actually no black whatsoever in this kit). I just hope that the actual art part of this isn't pale like my little doll maker. Here is where I am as of Jan 30th, 2026 with 22.27 hrs in, 6489/18,366 stitches for a total of about 4%:

Monet's Garden Path by Yiotas is my next one. This was a kit that Yiotas sent me to try out YEARS ago, then she got in trouble with Blogger for doing that and asked us to rescind our reviews. I didn't because I was impressed with the kit. I'm doing it on 28ct Easy Guide instead of the included fabric (it was probably 28ct too, but don't quote me on that), 1x1...my typical style. Here is what it is supposed to look like:

I've literally stitched on it once, on May 3rd, 2025, it's very first day. I knew this would be confetti heavy and not great detail from the pic on the cover, but I don't think I was prepared for the confetti until I actually started it. It just hasn't come around again and every time I'm deciding what to do next and I scan over it, the confetti just throws me off, even though it's pretty small:

On May 24th, 2025, I started two projects that are at opposite ends of the design spectrum. First up is A Discovery of Witches from Modern Cross Stitch. It's basically just the promo pic from season 3, but I absolutely love it! I'm doing it on 28ct Easy Guide, 1x1 stitches:

This is my second largest project and, like all the others, I'm having issues with the super large scroll rods and not having a stand that can hold it good enough. I'm barely into it, 11.23 hrs in, 3112/499,999 stitches for about 1%. Shameful considering how much I love this one! The last time I worked on it was Feb 15th of this year, so I do keep trying!

The other May 24th start was A Girl In A Red Dress at the Castle by Magical Moonlit Stitches. It is, of course, on 28ct Easy Guide, 1x1 full stitches. This was a last minute start because I had Disney on the brain at the time and, even though she's skinny and I definitely am not, it reminded me of myself:

I did kind of figure out that I goofed up by mixing up a color in the sky (all the goofage happened 1st Jun, 2025):

And because of Disney planning and life stuff, it got put on the backburner until I picked it up again this year. I frogged all the red out and steamed ahead until Feb 12th of this year, where I left off at 41.87 hrs, 9759/67,500 stitches and about 14% complete. I do so love block stitching.

On June 21st, I started the Vivster's Scottish Flag Quaker Tiles. It's on 28ct opalescent Easy Guide, 1x1 full stitches with the called for silks.

I'm not sure if it was because I was so deep into Disney planning or what, but I kept goofing up my stitches and I didn't want to waste the expensive silks, so I didn't pick it back up until this year for one day, which was Feb 13th and did much better stitch-wise. I'm now 13.13 hrs in (I think that time comes up quite a bit in these projects, have you noticed?), 3438/48,333 stitches, and it's about 7% along. I now remember why I don't stitch with silks very often! They are weak, fray-y, and hard to work with! I don't think I'll be doing it again unless I have to (and I'm glad I figured this out sooner rather than later because I wanted to buy a bunch of silk for potential upcoming projects!). I also tried out some new scroll rods and they are absolutely HORRIBLE! They have clamps like Q-snaps that go over the wood and it's just useless. I probably should just use my extra EZ Stitch velcro (normal velcro doesn't work), but with American Dreams losing their distributor, I don't want to waste my only roll. We'll see. Sometimes I like to use the packing tape with string in it, but I'm now out of that too.

Now we are getting into unplanned projects. The last start of 2025 was Nov 26th, Mini In the Arms of an Angel, a HAED by Mandie Manzano. After my Mother died, I looked and looked for a project that my Sister and I could stitch together in memoriam for my Mother. My Sister just started stitching in the past year or two, and I thought it would be something great for us to work on together for my step-dad (her dad). But she didn't feel confident enough to stitch on a HAED, so it's all on me now. I worked on it exclusively from it's start all the way through December. January was supposed to be the switch off month with my Sister, but since the plan changed and I was working toward the January break, I got so burned out on it that I didn't want to touch another dithered project for quite a while (and I really have only touched a couple). It's on 28ct Easy Guide, 1x1 full crosses...which reminds me of another issue...apparently, I stitch \ then / instead of the way every other human on the planet does, / then \. I tried to start this going the "right way", so when my Sister took over, she would be set, but I just couldn't do it and I switched pretty soon in. You can't really tell where the switch is, so it's fine. If we were going to stitch this together, I just figured it would add character with the stitches in different directions, now it doesn't matter and, I've decided just to keep it for myself instead of making it a gift. Anyway, here is what it will look like:

I am now 86.07 hrs in, 16,113/78,975 stitches, for about 20% complete as of Jan 4th. The dithered confetti in the wings was just killing me and I couldn't take it anymore. Right now, I can't stand to look at it because it's just a reminder that my Mother is dead. Maybe I shouldn't have started something like this so soon after she left.

I didn't plan to start anything else until the Memorial was finished (that's what I'm calling In the Arms), but I got the bright idea to take a lunch at work and stitch (after listening to numerous FlossTube people talk about stitching in the car, or on the train, or at work). I don't take lunches unless it's an important event (which doesn't happen often)...I never have. But I made a "on lunch" sign and started Jan 20th, 2026. I have literally stitched 6 days on this and it was supposed to be a really quick finish. Not only do I feel really guilty stitching at work, but even with the lunch sign, I feel like people are judging me for stitching at my desk. We have a breakroom, but I don't like going in there and I would have to interact with anyone in there because "breakroom people" like to interact. I am not an interact-or. Anyway, this is on fabric I tea-stained myself (because I thought it needed to be on colored fabric and the stash I had just didn't work for this project). I tried it at 28ct, but it was too tiny, so I re-did some 18ct Aida and it's much better. Since it's 18ct, I'm stitching it 2x1. Oh, and I forgot to tell you what it is! It's The Legent of Sleepy Hollow by The Witchy Stitcher:

I can't really give you stats because it is a paper pattern, but I figure I've put in a bit less than 7 hours (even though it's only been 6 days of work, sometimes I find it hard to stop and those extra 10-15 minutes really add up apparently, I'm just calling it break time, something else I don't take). I'm also stitching it with Q-snaps, my mortal enemy, so it's taking longer. I thought I could just stitch one-handed, I'm apparently not built for that anymore, so I have to prop it up on a gum cube box and try two-handed. It slows me down considerably. Anyhoo, here we go:

The last one was SUPPOSED to be a 2025 start, but because it's on scroll rods vertically, I have to use a certain lap stand that I absolutely hate, so I've been putting it off. During a snow day, I finally started it (Jan 26th, to be exact). It is a kit I did many many years ago and it used to hang in my kitchen, but my ex-husband knocked it off the wall and must of tripped over it, because the glass literally shredded it. I re-bought the kit to redo it and it's just been sitting in a drawer ever since (probably mid 90's). I have all the mice kits from Design Works, so eventually I will finish them all and frame them together so they all match. As of now, you guys have seen the other one I did, Tea Time (I'll show it at the end), but it's been sitting in a drawer for years as well (at least it is finished). Anyhoo, Kitchen Fun by Design Works. It's on 14ct Aida, 2x1 full stitches:

And on that one day of stitching, I got 3.38 hrs in, but because it's paper, I got no stats for you, sorry!

Oh, and here is the finished Tea Time, another mice stitch in the set (although I'm not sure they are actually a set, just matching patterns):

I think I will do a part 3 for upcoming projects, because I've got some nagging desires to start a couple more. I've been digging through my stash of patterns that aren't digital, making sure I have all the beads and specialty threads before they are no longer available (some of these patterns are super old) and it's made me want to start a couple of them, although one or two of them may be good work projects once I finish Sleepy Hollow (if I can bring myself to work on it). Anyway, I think that's enough bombardment of pics for now. Next up, part 3 and plans!