Slow Sunday Stitching - July 5, 2026 AND 2026 Rotation #5 Slot #1 (Not Counted X Stitch) Changeover

First of all, Happy Birthday to both Canada and the USA!  We had the annual big patriotic service at the church, and the handbells played my favorite version of "Amazing Grace" (and the "Finlandia" intro for "God Bless America" - which I also like a lot).  Then we had hours and hours of fireworks all over the neighborhood (Dela is not a fan LOL - but she did better than last year.  She just needed to be under my feet instead of pacing and shaking the entire day.)

But having a dog glued to me meant that I got a lot of stitching done, and I actually finished ten hours on the vintage German needlepoint piece "Alter Bauernholf / Old Farmhouse".   60 hours in it now.  

And the back so you can see the progress without the painted canvas

I had hoped to get more of the yard done, but the house was more fiddley and took longer than I thought it would.  To make matters worse, I ran out of white and the DMC "Blanc" is a bright white instead of the creamy white from the kit.   I was able to at least color block the part of the house facade that is the farthest forward instead of having a diagonal line or some other obvious break, but I wish I'd put some of the bright white into the clouds and mountain snow instead.  Not pulling out those areas - it doesn't bother me that much.  I did notice just now that I forgot to put in the long straight stitches for the wagon wheel spokes; I'll do that the next time I have black on the needle.

And where I was last rotation (end of May) for comparison:

I have also been working on the "Santa of the Forest".  During the last three days of last month, I put in 402 stitches for a June total of 4,701.  Then so far in July, I've managed 645 stitches.  That's a project total of 15,682 or approximately 45.19%.  Total for the week was 1,047.

 

Linking up with the SSS crew (a little later than usual because we slept in after the fireworks went on until almost 3 am!!!) - this week's link party is here.