Contemplating stitching for 2026 on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello - I hope you had a great Christmas! Mine was very nice... spent the day with family and ate waaaaay too many appetizers and sweets... lots and lots of sweets...sugared pecans, iced cookies, fudge, cinnamon rolls, toffee... and speaking of toffee, I was gifted a box of Flaherty's Irish Top Of the Evening Dark Chocolate Toffee... OMG... that stuff should come with a black box warning about how addictive it is!!!  The only thing that has kept me from not ordering another box is that they are sold out... here's a link to their website... glad I went and got that fasting blood test earlier in the week...LOL 

The weather has been decidedly NOT Christmasy ...we've had almost a week of days with temperatures in the upper 60's and the forecast for today is 70....what??? I'm not complaining... it reminds me of the Christmases I spent in California... I'd be fine if it stayed like this, but Mother Nature is returning from her Christmas break and by Tuesday the high will only be in the 20s. Not seeing any snow in the 10 day forecast so that's a good thing.  Nick and I are going to put away the Christmas inflatables today while it is nice. I have a big snowman I might put up where Henrietta the 8 ft. chicken was...

 So now it is that time of year when I need my phone to tell me what day of the week it is... and where I contemplated what I did in 2025... what I  got started  (turns out there were a lot of starts), what I finished (an okay amount), and what I want to do next year ( more than I will get done...LOL). 

I'm looking ahead to 2026... I don't make New Year's resolutions but I do try to make a little list of projects I would like to get around to... nothing set in stone ... and definitely subject to change... which if you've read this blog for any length of time you know I change my mind A LOT...LOL 

So let's start out with a Blessings Sampler for January 2026... at first I said I was going to do the Chilly Cardinals Sampler... 

I even picked up the DMC flosses for it at Hobby Lobby... and it is very cute and not a really big piece... but I changed my mind. I moved on,  thinking I'd do a patriotic sampler as I want some new pieces to display for the 250th birthday of the United States of America this July... and Scarlett House's Patriotic Alphabet seemed like a great choice as it is small ... only 79 x110 stitches... 

But I got thinking... and that always gets me into trouble... years ago Brenda of Brenda and the Serial Starter did a video showing all the beautiful samplers she had in her home... you can see that video here... and like everyone who saw it I just drooled over her collection. Brenda spoke the name of each sampler and the designer for every sampler she showed EXCEPT one... a long skinny piece tucked back in a little space that she had done years and years ago... if you watch the video you can see the sampler at the 29 minute mark... and of course THAT was the sampler that I wanted to stitch... but she didn't know anything about it and  I didn't know anything about it ... so how could I find it?  No name, no designer, no company, no nothing. I resigned myself that I would never be able to locate it and then one day out of the blue I was looking at a website that was selling a bunch of old charts from someone's stash and BAM!! there is was!!! It is called Alpha-bits by Wild Heart Designs and the price was a whopping $2!!! 

Well I immediately purchased it and I've thought about starting it several times but never got my butt in gear. It is 30 stitches wide and 585 stitches long so on 32 ct linen it will be 36.56" long...so it is a BIG BIG BIG piece....each letter is separated by a band of specialty stitches... I came to cross stitch from doing needlepoint and I LOVE all the specialty stitches so this is right up my alley...  this pic is a little better...

I ordered the Wichelt linen I like from 123Stitch and I'm going to paint it ... I'm thinking Rit Apple Green and Aquamarine ... not sure exactly what thread I'm going to use ... right now I'm contemplating 3 different ones... and my goal is to get this stitched before January 31... one letter  and one dividing band a day... here's an example of each decorative stitch diagramed...

it seems doable ( okay this may be the sugar high I'm on talking)..and having a deadline to meet should keep me motivated... fingers crossed...

Oh I googled the Alpha-Bits chart and I found it here ... for $18... which isn't a bad price as it is 12 pages  with the cover. 

I've done a Blessings Sampler for the last 2 years...  

In 2024 I stitched Prairie Schooler No. 64 The Christmas Alphabet...

In 2025 when I was laid up with a fractured knee I stitched Ninon by Jardin Prive...

I know I'm being ambitious with Alpha-Bits but I'm going for it!!  

As for the rest of the year, like last year and the year before that and the year before that, I'd like to go back and finish up some of the pieces I've started. There are 3 that stand out to me at the moment  and where they currently stand: 

1.  Summer Schoolhouse Lessons in Abecedarian by With Thy Needle and Thread... instead of individual little pillows as it was charted  I'm doing it as one long piece like that picture below. This pic does not show how gorgeous the linen is that I'm stitching on. I painted it myself and I just kept adding more and more colors as it didn't look anything like I thought it would  ... but it came out even better ... and there is no way on God's green earth that I can ever duplicate it... I might even consider this patriotic as that blank spot on the side of the blue house gets an American flag. 

2. Blackbird Designs Crowns & Shields ... I plan to stitch about 3/4th of the total design... this is a leftover from my "7 for my 70th birthday" debacle...

3.  American Sampler by Primrose Cottage... a nice new addition to my patriotic collection... can't wait to get down to the alphabet part!

Now I'm certain more "new to my stash" projects will show up, and there are plenty of other UFO's that are aging in their private little project bags. I'll NEVER run out of things to stitch... and that is a very good thing, isn't it? 

I looked back on my calendar and according to my list I finished 19 different cross stitch pieces... some tiny and some quite substantial... I also realized I started a lot of charts but I'm not going to figure out how many...it is what it is. What I also need to do is get several of these completed pieces to the framer... that's a nice goal for 2026. 

While making these cross stitch plans I did a bit more knitting ... the last 2 weeks have had a lot of sitting around waiting for others to get appointments completed... I finished this pair and gave them away as a Christmas gift...

And I finished this sock... and I have its mate pretty far along... another one where I'm alternating 2 different Opal yarns... 

 have a hankering to start another pair where I alternate 2 different yarns with a pink color palette.. because what I really need in my life is more projects... that's sarcasm...LOL

This is the entire box of little mini Opal goodies that was in my Advent calendar... I'm happy with this purchase...now to wind them into little balls and knit some super scrappy socks with them... more projects!

By my calculations I should be able to knit about 4 pairs of scrappy socks out of this box... and I really liked how they labeled each one... 

I'm resting up today... I watched Elliott on Friday and I'll have him here tomorrow. His Mom and Dad are both playing catch up at their workplaces.  Nick has a doctor appointment on Tuesday. Probably take a certain family member to lunch on New Year's Eve and afterwards I will be safely tucked into my cozy house for the evening. An individual one street over always  provides fireworks, whether the rest of the neighborhood wants them or not.  I might even put in a few stitches on my Blessings Sampler project  as it will be a little while before he exhausts his supply of fireworks.  I've got my New Year's Day activities all planned out... I will spend it engaged in all the endeavors I want to pursue throughout the year... I will cross stitch a little, I will knit a little, I will spend a little time at my sewing machine, I will nap a little  and I will go out to eat... the kind of day I could repeat over and over and over and over!

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts for the final time this year...  and I send you best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2026!

happy stitching-

carol fun