I've hit the bottom ...

... of the Mead Dragon that is.

Reached on stitch 87,740 of 94,500!

Slow Sunday Stitching - February 1 AND Full Coverage February 2026 Plans

Lots of progress this week.  Let's start with the FFO.   Finished the Autumn Roads Musselburgh Hat. (Link to my Ravelry project page for all the details).  I do love this yarn!  It's a great snugly hat, warm and soft.  5 stars, recommend.  I almost hate to donate it, but it will keep someone nice and warm.

Next up is the rotation changeover on the vintage needlepoint piece, "Old Farmhouse / Alter Bauernhof".  Ten hours got the sky finished as well as the belltower and church roof.   See the changeover post for the back side pictures and progress details.

And for the current WiP, we are on to the Finish / Frame slot in the rotation.   And I have a plan of work for the assembly on the KC Plaza Stitching Bag.   This is the only project from 2025 that isn't to an FFO status.   So past time to get it done and dusted.   Here's the pile of materials including the rest of the fabric that matches the finishing on all the Guild Smalls, tape for the drawstring casing, perle cotton to make the drawstrings, interfacing, etc.   Since I have no finishing directions, I'm sort of figuring it out as I go.

Last, but certainly not least, the Mead Dragon.  Here is the month end report for January with all the stats and the comparison picture.   

I need to talk a bit about what's next on this project.  Today kicks off "Full Coverage February".  I just have the one full coverage project.  As is my usual practice, I'm not doing any of the challenges that have bingo boards, decision wheels, acrostics or similar ways to select between multiple full coverage pieces.  (That way lies madness!)  But I am planning on working on her monogamously in February (other than the hand sewing on the KC Bag). 

I only have about 8% left, but that is still about 7,400 stitches per Pattern Keeper.  I have never even come close to that many stitches in a month, so doubt I can get her finished in February, but I intend to see how far I can get. I am going to challenge myself to finish as many colors as I can in the run up to getting this project done.   I'm starting with 10 colors completed as of January 31.  I'll report on her weekly just like I did last year.

Linking up with the SSS crew for this week's roundup.  Accountability and Inspiration.

Full Coverage Month End Report - January 2026

Progress on the Mead Dragon was decent in January.  My goal was 100 stitches per day, which I met with 3,640 stitches for the month.  That is the YTD total, of course, and also brings the project total to 87,102 stitches or 92.17%.  

And where I started the month for comparison.  It's really filling in at the base of the drinking horn, but there's the 25 rows of reflections still to do (and just a tiny bit of the curve of her tail.  I'm on Row 317 of 350 at the moment.) 

I have completely finished 10 colors now and with only 8% to go, I'm at that weird tipping point where I both want to work on this ALL the time and don't want it to end.

2026 Rotation #1 Slot #3 (Not Counted X Stitch) Changeover

Ten hours on the Vintage German Needlepoint Kit "Old Farmhouse / Alter Bauernhof".  I finished the rest of the clouds and sky, and then I did the bell tower and the roof of the church that's in the background.

As usual, back to show progress better.  Also note the additional color swatches!

And where I started this rotation (back) for comparison. I also like working on it better now that it is on proper stretcher bars.

When this comes around again in March, I'll work on the mountains next.   

Slow Sunday Stitching - January 25, 2026

 I hope everyone in the US is safe and warm.  Here in eastern Kansas, we missed the forecasted ice storm.  It was already well below freezing when the precipitation started, so we got snow - about four inches so far and it's supposed to end soon.  We need the moisture - it's been a dry fall and winter.  But I have discovered that those lovely windows with the northern light in my new sewing room means that it got a little too cool to be comfortable.  So no quilting in the snowstorm!

I moved into my bedroom where it's warm, hunkered down, and stitched all day Friday and Saturday though.  So this week saw a bunch of stitching.   I already have over six hours in on the Vintage German needlepoint 'Old Farmhouse / Alter Bauernhof'.  My grandson did an AI search for this pattern and identified it as a "Vintage Tapex Vienna printed canvas needlepoint kit".  AI likes my stitching LOL, and described it as "in good condition with consistent stitching on a sturdy frame".  Carl can obviously work image search better than I can because I just came up with similar very vague Ebay listings when I tried it.

As usual, you can't really see the stitches against the painted canvas, so here's a shot of the back side.  I finished off all the clouds and got all the way to the left upper corner with the sky blue.  (Also note that the canvas has been edged and mounted on stretcher bars.  I am much happier with how it feels to work on now.)

Not too bad, considering that I only really started seriously working on the "Not Counted X Stitch" rotation slot on Wednesday.  The first couple of days this last week, I finished up the ten hours on the Blackbird Design piece "And to All a Good Night".   See the changeover post for the details. 

I've also been keeping up on the 100 stitches a day on the Mead Dragon full coverage piece - more details and a picture on that next week.

Knitting is also coming right along.   I have about two inches left before I start the second crown.  This is admittedly a rather confusing photo.  The cast on crown is tucked up into the body of the hat all the way to where the white marker (center of straight section) is at the eventual start of the brim.   The red marker (which almost disappears into this warm colored yarn) remains the edge of the cast-on crown and when the current knitting reaches that point, I will start the cast-off crown.   So somewhere around 70% complete, I would estimate.

Linking up with the SSS crew (this week's roundup).

2026 Rotation #1 Slot #2 (Historic) Changeover

 I got to ten hours on the Blackbird Designs project "And to All A Good Night".   I've put in about 1,035 stitches this rotation, and I am at around 75% complete.  My pace on this project is a lot slower than some of my projects since this is 2 over 2 and I'm railroading both legs of every stitch.  That really slows me down.

This rotation saw the completion of the mortar in the center section of the house (down to the row of the door transom), the big swag of fruit and greenery over the door and the start of the bottom window and door area.  When I pick this back up, I'll do the windowsills on the lower floor.  

I am not wanting to put this down, but that just means I'll be excited to pick it back up when it comes around again in the rotation. 

For comparison, here's where I started this rotation round. 

Slow Sunday Stitching - January 18, 2026

Well, this was an interesting week.  I had my mammogram on Tuesday (everything looks OK on the initial consult - always an outcome to be desired).   And I had lunch with an old co-worker and got all the low down on what's been going on since I retired.  Fun and good to catch up.  

I did get quite a bit done on the Blackbird Designs piece "And to All a Good Night" this week.   This is about seven hours in, so the changeover will probably be in the middle of this upcoming week.

I got all the mortar done down to the transom of the door and filled in almost all the floral swag over the door.  There's just a little of the light sage background to finish up on the right side.   I'll see how much of the ground floor window area I can get to before I hit ten hours.   I did change up the colors of the fruit or baubles in the swag, by doing them in a solid DMC instead of the overdyed cotton of the chart.  In the cover photo, they just blended into the background way too much.

And the Musselburgh Hat is past the halfway point of the hat body.  The white marker is at the midpoint.  I'm also glad to see that the pools of color break up and move around a bit as the hat grows.  This is a great dyer and I'm still loving the colors in this project.

Linking up with the SSS crew (this week's roundup).