OCTtoOCTSAL - Set up and October 2023 Section

 I did something that I may regret.   I started a year long stitch a long prompted by YouTube.  It is hosted by Collette (The Highway Stitcher) and endorsed by Brenda (Handwork Maniac).  The SAL is called the "#octtooctsal" and it starts and ends at the Stitch West Retreat in Salt Lake City, Utah.  I'm hoping to go to the retreat next year, so I gave in and started the new SAL in the hope that I will finish the last few stitches there.  

Now "Whatever A Longs" and I have a somewhat checkered history.   I have given up on mystery knit alongs, quilt alongs and stitch alongs.   I have finished just one where I love the final project, where I would have done it without the whatever along.  But the vast majority have been successful only in the fact that I finished the project.  My sister loves the one Knit Along lace wrap where I really disliked the asymmetrical design that came along in the next to the last clue, there's a Bonnie Hunter yearly mystery quilt top in progress from years ago that will be donated to be finished for charity (at some point), and there are two needlework ones where I trashed part of the linen, put the rest and the threads back into the stash.  So, yeah, not a good track record.   I'm better with the ones where you see the project in advance (no mystery) and you either get a part of it every week/month, etc OR you are assigned a section every week/month etc.  

This project is the latter.   The pattern is Jardin Prive "Au Fil Des Nichoirs"  aka "Above the Birdhouses" (link to the pattern on 123Stitch).   The birdhouse row and garden behind the picket fence is more or less a seasonal calendar, so I wanted to stitch each section in it's month.  I thought I was being very clever to do a right upper corner start and work the top border over to where the October section is, but Brenda outshone me; she did the entire top border once the pattern had been announced.   I'm going to wish I did that because December is going to be a scramble to finish the usual section plus all of the top border to get over to where January will pick up.

40 count "Vintage Country Mocha" on the Newcastle Linen base, DMC threads as charted, 1 over 2 full cross plus a bit of backstitch.

I have been stitching on this obsessively for the last week or so (started when everyone else did while the retreat was going on).  Much to the detriment of my actual rotation.   Oh well, at least I'm having fun.