2026 Rotation #6 Slot #4 (Pictorial) Changeover

 4,980 stitches this month / rotation period.  That brings the total stitches to approximately 25,413 or 73.23%

Here's where I was at the beginning of the month for comparison:

The month was mostly about the left side cloak and the animals it shelters.  That dove was a lot of fun, as was the rabbit.   The area to the left of the wolf's head is down to row 200.  The voided outline of the wolf is a little wonky looking because he is in 3/4 profile.   He'll look much better when his colors are put in, but that will be after I get the right-side cloak down to the same row as the left. 

Like the dove, the wolf is a tall motif. He's about 65 rows high and goes all the way down to the bottom of the piece, so I'll be doing him in two sections.  I'll take that area down to the same spot (a bit beyond row 200 so that I can backstitch the eye and mouth) before I move the fabric up.  BTW, the checkerboard patterns in the cloak that are empty will be filled with goldwork at the end.  

Still loving this pattern, still putting in an average of 150 stitches a day on it first thing in the morning.  Somewhere between 100 and 150 seems to work well for a daily stitch for me.  I get enough progress over a month for it to really show and still have time to work on other projects. 

Slow Sunday Stitching - August 30,2026 AND 2026 Rotation #6 Slot #3 (Historic) Changeover

 First up, bells.  As I mentioned last week, today's main service had a lot of bell music.  Most times when we play, it's one piece for either the prelude or the communion music.  Today we did both of those and procession music.  A total of three full pieces and some incidental music.  Basically, we covered for the fact that the choir is on vacation.  It went pretty well, a few mistakes, but nothing glaring.  I'll take it for the win!

On the needlework front, it's been a 'start-a-paloza' this week!  With the reorganization of the rotation to add the Blackbird Academy SAL, I needed a NOT Blackbird project for the historic or historic inspired piece.  I have been itching to do a Quaker and "A Christmas Quaker" by ByGone Stitches has been on the short list for several years.  It's an older pattern (2007), but Quakers are classics!

I have also been wanting to try Sulky 12 weight thread since several of the Floss Tubers I follow rave about it on 36 or 40 count - great coverage with one strand in the needle.  I can say, I LOVE it.  The coverage is as good as people reported, and working with one strand is my personal preference.  I choose a variegated green moving from deep pine to Christmas green as my main color.  There is no obvious repeat in the color order, and the color length (according to their website) moves randomly from two to five inches.  This makes the color pooling and overdying a lot more interesting and easier to work with than some more regularly variegated threads.  Highly recommend.  I also picked up dark red and medium green solids and a DMC metallic gold for the letters / numbers, the motifs where I wanted green without variegation, and the angel and star motifs respectively. 

This is a good-sized piece, even on 40 count linen.  10.25 inches (26 cm) H x 16 inches (40.6 cm) W.  The picture shows 10 hours; I was so excited to work on this project that I finished the rotation slot already! I'm working from a paper pattern, so no stitch count or accurate percentages will be available.  However, the pattern is three pages across and 1.5 pages high, which breaks naturally into a 9-block grid of rectangles.  And it's pretty densely stitched.  To give you some idea of the size of a section: the left side motif is half a page or one section high, and I'm halfway across the width of a page or section at the center of the half motif just above the "4".  

Carl had a haircut appointment this week and wanted me to go with him to meet the new stylist.  He has curly hair and has been having issues finding someone who can handle curls that are not tight and give him a cut that shows off his curls and is still easy to take care of.  But the result of that is that I got to start on the next perforated paper ornament; it's underway at 15.58%.

And finally, I picked out the next project for the Blackbird Academy SAL.  This is Loose Feathers #40 "Hedgerow Birds".  I'm using the kit materials and stitching two over two.  It will be a project bag finish per the pattern instructions.  This one I will start on September 1.

"Santa of the Forest" will have its month end picture on Tuesday, so look for that changeover post with the stats and progress comparison picture mid-week.

Knitting is progressing on both the new LOSY hat and the yoke of the sweater.  I'll try to remember to snap pictures for next the next update post.  In the meantime, enjoy the work of all the other Slow Sunday Stitchers.  (Current week's round up here.  And I should be back to my usual posting time next week.)

Slow Sunday Stitching - August 23, 2026 AND 2026 Rotation #6 Slot #2 (Modern) Changeover

 Well, my grandson and I survived the first (partial) week of school LOL. We aren't exactly into the routine yet, but we will get there. And bells are also off to a good start, with our first service next week.   We are playing a lot more pieces than we normally do in a single service because the choir is on break - I'll post after church next week (so later than usual) and will hopefully have good news.  Luckily, since we only have a couple of rehearsals to prep, most of the pieces are fairly simple to execute. 

I had a little more stitching time than I thought I would this week.  Carl is actually taking more responsibility for his online learning schedule this semester.  (Something I am very glad to see.)

I managed to get ten hours in on the "Collaboration Sampler" and finished the Shepherd's Bush section (top area of the bellpull, part 1 of 3) - except for the beads that will go in at the end. This brings me to 20 hours on this project so far.   It's cute - basically a mini band sampler.  The shadow stripes and checkerboard patterns in the sheep are my favorite part in this section!

Then I started in on the Just Nan area (bottom of the bellpull, part 3 of 3).  I'm leaving part 2 in the middle to the end due to all the specialty stitches in that area that would not like to be squashed onto the scroll rods when the fabric moves up and down.  This section is a small pictorial, so I took the time to put just this one area into Pattern Keeper so as not to miss any stitches.  It's dense and full of confetti stitching with over a half dozen colors just in this one floral branch!  This section is at 9% (not counting the corner eyelets and beads).  When I pick this up again, I'll be working on the first peacock of the pair.

And there's a finish in the Blackbird Academy SAL slot!  I got the stitching done on "It's Berry Time".  (Finish post is here.)  I won't be working on the actual finishing into a drum until next year in April, though, because I have another project that will go on the same piece of linen.  It's the strawberry emery that came as a bonus chart in the Berry Time pattern.

I'm leaving the linen on the scroll rods until both the projects are stitched, then cut them apart for finishing over the SAL "summer break" in June/July.  Hopefully the Academy will continue since I have MANY more BBD projects in the stash (30 of them including the planned December restart on "And to All a Good Night").

The prompt for September's Academy assignment is "Birds".  SO many BBD designs have birds, I'm spoiled for choice!  I'll report next week on which one made the cut.

Santa of the Forest got some attention this week as well. 1,133 stitches, which brings me to 69.39%.  I did make it over the 2/3 mark this week though, so progress milestone!

Linking up with the SSS crew for ongoing accountability and inspiration! (This week's link party is here.)

FINISHED NEEDLEWORK: "It's Berry Time" by Blackbird Designs

 

Pattern: "It's Berry Time" Loose Feathers #37

Designer: Blackbird Designs

Fabric: 30 count "Iced Cappuccino" linen by R&R Reproductions

Threads:  Crescent Colors / Classic Colorworks as charted

 

Stitches:  one over one full cross, Smyrna cross (instead of eyelets), outline, lazy daisy

8 inches W x 3 inches H

 

Started 4/29/2026, needlework completed 8/22/2026

44.5 hours

Blackbird Academy SAL - August 2026 (prompt = alphabet)

Will be finished as a drum over BBD Academy summer break 2027

Slow Sunday Stitching - August 16 , 2026 AND 2026 Rotation #6 Slot #1 (Not Counted X Stitch) Changeover

 Wait, halfway through August and school starts this week!!!  How did that happen?  Got to admit, I don't like it, not ready for school AT ALL.  

But at least the crafting has been going well!

From the top.  I finished the ten hours on the vintage German needlepoint piece:

The back so you can see what I worked on.  I was all over the place - finishing the pump and water trough, doing the big bush in the bottom right corner and the yellow/orange bush by the house, rocks and grass and fences.

Where I was last time for comparison:

Also, it's mid month, so here is the current status of "Santa of the Forest".  I've moved the fabric up again, so you can no longer see the upper part of the piece but look there's 2/3 of a dove and an entire rabbit!

I added 1,146 stitches and I'm now at 66.06%.  I'm going to work around the bottom wing on the dove with the cloak colors next.  

I've also worked on my weekly Blackbird Academy SAL piece and got the third basket almost done - just the rest of the handle left.  There's still a leaf under the handle arch and two large floral areas on the right side to finish that motif, but it's coming along. 

On the knitting front, I did get back to the colorwork area after re-knitting the first dozen rows of the yoke starting with the joining round.   I'll take a picture when the colorwork starts showing up.  I finished charting the next Santa paper ornament into Pattern Keeper, but I haven't had an occasion to start stitching on it yet.

The other travel project (the LOSY hat) did get a couple of rounds in before choir practice on Thursday.  Yes, bells have started up again and I'm not ready for THAT either LOL.  Darn it, summer isn't supposed to be over until after Labor Day!

Good thing I have the SSS crew to keep me on track every week (this week's roundup is here).

Slow Sunday Stitching - August 9, 2026

 Most of the crafting this week ended up being knitting.  I took my grandson to his school physical.  At 17, he still needs an adult to check him in and sign paperwork. I did not have any travel project, since I'd just finished both the Muchness Cowl and the Toy Maker Santa ornament in the last couple of weeks.  So, another LOSY hat happened abruptly.  This one is in reds and oranges; Maple Leaf LOSY Hat (Knitting links all go to my Ravelry project pages).

I also finished the "Swatch Hat" for the colorwork sweater.  It looks very funky with the different chunks of pattern and slouchy fit, but I got the numbers I needed.  It will be fine as a "barn hat" for outdoor work, since I won't care if it gets lost or ruined. 

And last but not least on the knitting front, when I picked the "Brown Study Sweater" back up, I discovered a mistake on the short row section at the back of the yoke start.  When I tried to drop the stitches down to fix it, I created an even larger issue and ended up frogging the whole thing back to the join round!  It's all back on the needles, double counted and a lifeline run.  I'll redo the short row section this week and get back to the point where the colorwork starts ASAP.   But that took several hours last night.  Luckily, this yarn is not at all slippery so pulling the needles out and ripping back wholesale was practical.

On the cross-stitch front, I have a confession.  Over the last six months or so, I have expressed a bit of frustration that the 'historic' slot on my needlework rotation has been full of Blackbird Designs to the exclusion of the other historic projects in my stash.  In the past five years, all but two projects designated as "historic reproductions" or "historic inspired" have all been BBD patterns.  Now, I LOVE Blackbird Designs, and I still have over two dozen kitted projects from their Loose Feathers original series waiting in the stash.  But I would like to have a bit more variety.  I debated at the first of the year doing every other project as a BBD, but that hasn't worked out either.  I had determined that when I reset the rotation at the end of 2026 that I would add a "prim" slot and break the historic slot into two parts. That was the plan, until last week.....

This year, I have not participated in any larger Stitch A Longs or temperature stitching.  That slot in the rotation has been sitting empty since January.  I was watching Floss Tube as one does and stitching away on "It's Berry Time" when I stumbled across a couple of planning videos for a new Facebook group called "Blackbird Academy", which is hosting a ten month SAL with monthly prompts.   Any BBD project, new or WIP that fits the prompt in any way is welcome.  I looked at the prompt for August, which is "alphabets", and I looked at the WIP in my hands and BINGO.  I signed up right away.

I'm planning on working on the Academy on weekends (Friday and Saturday), continue the 111 stitches or a bit more on my pictorial every day and try to get in at least an hour on my regular rotation Sunday to Thursday.   Even with school starting up on the 19th, I'm hopeful that this is not overly ambitious.  Time will tell. 

Here's where I'm at on "It's Berry Time" after four hours (so effectively the first two weekends of August).  I'm making pretty good progress on the rose basket.  

For the record "Santa of the Forest" got 1,367 stitches this week and is now at 62.82%.   And I put in two hours on the vintage needlepoint.  Plus I set up the next Santa ornament and will hopefully get the chart into Pattern Keeper this afternoon. It's been a productive, though scattered, week!  Off to link up with the SSS crew (this week's round-up). 

FINISHED NEEDLEWORK: "Heirloom Santa: Toymaker Santa" by Willmaur

Willmaur Heirloom Santa:  Toymaker Santa

Designed by Sandra Cozzolino

Added Mill Hill beads

• to door handle - gold metallic MH00557

This ornament is in honor of my father-in-law, Jim.  After a 20 plus year career in the United States Army, he opened a snack and gift shop near the Kansas State University campus.  When he retired from that after another 20 years, he took up woodworking as a hobby and part-time job.  He specialized in wooden toys and garden trinkets (windmills and painted edgings and such).  I am 100% sure if any of his grandkids had been girls, he would totally have made a dollhouse like our featured ornament Santa is working on.