2026 Stitching Plans

Yes, I know I say the same things every year - doesn't even matter if it's knitting, quilting or cross stitching. Same things. I'm definitely a repeat offender when it comes to bad behavior with my hobbies.  Maybe 2026 will be the year I do better.

Purchases:

The absolute truth is (1) I have more charts than I could stitch in five times as many years as I have left (2) I LOVE probably 90% of the charts I have here and really would like to stitch them. So . . why do I continue to buy charts? I'm not! I may buy one or two or five <G> next year but 2026 is going to be mostly a "no buy" year for me. Definitely the same with linen. I'll buy floss IF I need it but not just for stashbuilding.

New Starts:

There will be new starts. I can think of a dozen projects I would like to start but the main concentration is going to be on WIPS. 

WIPS:

Today I spent quite a bit of time going through WIPS and making decisions on which ones are a priority for finishing. I'm not saying these are the only WIPS I plan to work on this year but these are at the top of my list and I may still do some tweaking between now and the end of the year.

One that isn't photographed is The Lord's Prayer by Lila's Studio. I cannot find the project bag with the floss. It's here somewhere and I may find it and I may not but if I do find it, I will move that project to the front of the list for 2026.

1. Live on Little by The Scarlett House - The charted verse says: "How great the blessing and how vast the art to live on little with a thankful heart". I changed the verse because, as I look at so many around us, many are suffering and I don't feel like we live on "little", though I'm sure that's a bit "in the eye of the beholder". What we live on, many would consider us poor and others would consider us wealthy. I always think about this Statler Brothers song - Different Things to Different People. It's so true what different people think about us or how they see us but . . I changed the verse to say "How great the blessing and vast the art to live every day with a thankful heart". There's a lot to be done on this one. The water and the gray house are very stitch heavy.

2. Winter Rose Manor by Brenda Gervais - This one is fairly close to being finished.

3. New Year Sampler by Owl Forest Embroidery - This is a Russian designer and I'm not sure the status or ordering her charts. The link is to a PDF. Be aware that there is a chart with an English alphabet and one with a Russian alphabet. There are also paper and PDF charts for both. Also, there is not a number "3" but there are places to add it in.

4. Away We Ride by Blackbird Designs - This is one of the first "larger" charts I started - in early 2021.

5. Rejoice Evermore by Brenda Gervais - This one is not far from being finished and I LOVE the colors!

6. Noel Sampler by Brenda Gervais - There's still a lot to be done but maybe I can get it done for Christmas, 2026.

7. And Heaven & Nature Sing by Kathy Barrick - Another one that needs a good bit of stitching but I'd like to have it finished for next Christmas.

8. This is the Day by Plum Street - This one could be finished in a week or so.

9. Mary Ellen Turner by Fox & Rabbit - This is a PDF available from Fox & Rabbit. I love the pink linen I'm using for this one.

10. Forever & Ever by Brenda Gervais - This one isn't huge and could be finished fairly easily.

Of course, I'll keep you posted on how things go with the stitching in 2026.

Winter Has Arrived

 We knew snow was in our forecast but we didn't get much. Vince is supposed to go to Kansas City tomorrow and that trip may have to be rescheduled. I think it's kind of a mess up there.

This morning before daylight I was out with Oscar and it was sleeting. He was so funny. I don't know if he thought it was little animals or what. He kept running around like he thought he was going to catch it but then he never could actually find it because it was hitting the ground. It was hitting him on the head and that kinda scared him. Cooper never paid any attention to it at all. They're so funny.

Then I spread straw across the patio - the part that water and snow fall down onto from the deck above. It will get icy and we have to walk across about 10' of it to get to the covered part where there's no ice.

Then Vince got the propane heater in the basement hooked up and showed me how to use it. It's the same heater we had in the greenhouse in Texas and I used it there but haven't messed with it since. Don't worry - we have plenty of carbon monoxide detectors. This heater is meant for indoor use and is supposed to be totally safe. I will only use it if the power goes out and the house is freezing. It's actually going to get warmer each day so I'm not real concerned. If the power is off, I will need a battery for the thermostat on the heater to work so Vince brought in a battery and showed me how to do all that. Now that I know how to do all the things I need to do, he probably won't even be able to make his trip. Also, there's a gas stove in the basement and a gas stove upstairs and gas fireplaces on both levels so I'm not going to freeze. The gas fireplaces burn through the propane way more than does the heater or the stove so those will be my last resort.

Here are a few pictures from this morning. We really didn't get much snow but the first snow is always the best!

When I'm in the kitchen, I can see out this window. I can see the road and kinda judge the road conditions because the traffic headed west is coming up on a BIG hill and if there's any ice at all, no one makes up that hill.

Our magnolia tree is beautiful with snow. It reminds me of Louisiana because the Louisiana state flower is the magnolia. Seems like the tree should be state tree too but that's a bald cypress and I love those too. The snow reminds me of how lucky we are to be living where there's a little snow but not too much. Having grown up without snow, I will always be like a child on snow days.

You can see that the deck has a thin coating of snow and all the roofs have snow. 

Tomorrow I will make a cross stitching post! There hasn't been a lot of stitching going on but with Thanksgiving behind us and a few days to myself, I expect to get a lot done and have a good report in a few days.

Thanksgiving 2025 is History!

There's nothing really interesting to report from here. Monday and Tuesday of last week, the windows were replaced. On Monday, the guys got the four downstairs windows done. There are two more smaller windows but they are on the north side and hadn't had nearly as much sun damage as those on the east side that were all replaced. Then they moved upstairs and got two very large windows that are at least 7' tall done. By then, the weather was looking very threatening and they decided to come back the next day and get the remaining six windows done. I was expecting another full day of barking but those guys were here a little after 7 and were done by 10:30.

On Tuesday, Vince had an early appointment for bloodwork; then we had an Azure pickup east of Carthage, then we both had haircuts. It was coming and going all day.

On Wednesday, I went to meet Debbie and we spent the day talking with a bit of stitching! I went to her town so it was an hour driving there and an hour driving back.

Thursday we ate at the Thanksgiving buffet at one of our favorite local restaurants. Chad, Nicole and Addie were coming Friday so once we were done (and stuffed) at the restaurant, I came home and started cooking. I made cornbread dressing, sausage dressing, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie, pecan tassies, sweet tea and unsweetened tea, and boiled the giblets for the gravy. I spatchcocked the turkey - first time I had ever done that and I will definitely cook the turkey (and probably chickens too) that way from now on.

Friday morning I peeled and cut the potatoes for mashed potatoes and waited til later to boil them and make the gravy. I also roasted the turkey and I think it was the best I've ever made. Should have taken pictures but didn't.

Chad, Nicole and Addie arrived and we visited for a while, then ate, then visited more. They left and I had a huge mess to get cleaned up. Got that done and as I'm sure everyone who cooked Thanksgiving dinner will agree - I was totally exhausted.

I'm writing this post Monday evening and I have not left the house since we ate Thanksgiving lunch out!

I'm supposed to have PT tomorrow morning but not at all sure the roads will be clear enough for me to drive. We had a bit of snow today, are supposed to have more tonight and it isn't going to be above freezing til tomorrow afternoon. We'll see.

Saturday, we had turkey sandwiches and turkey clam chowder for dinner. Sunday we heated up turkey, the two dressings, the sweet potato casserole so I didn't have to cook anything. Today I made turkey bone soup (boiled the bones/skin with carrots, celery and onions, strained it. Added fresh carrots and celery and onions, then added pastina. We were going to have grilled cheese sandwiches but decided all we wanted was soup. I had cooked breakfast a bit late. So, I have not done much cooking. Oh . . there was a good bit of broth and I didn't need it all for the soup so I canned 4 pints of rich turkey broth.

I'm always super happy to get good broth.

That's about it. Sorry to have been missing for almost the entire week!

The New Windows

This house was built in 2003 and we didn't think the windows were bad but the sun had caused the vinyl to get brittle and when Vince would open the windows, he used all his might and the piece you pushed up cracked so we were going to replace the ones that were cracked, which were two in the downstairs family room and two in the upstairs family room. I really wanted to replace the three in the dining room because they're on the west side and so much afternoon sun comes in there and the new windows are more energy efficient but Vince said no . . not doing it.

Then there was the hail storm and all the windows on the west side of the house were damaged, including those three dining room windows. The one in the front bedroom (Vince's "office") has two windows together with the half round window on top. Not even sure what you call it but I've heard it called a fanlight. I've always said "I hope we never have to replace that whole window set". The hail got it too so insurance ended up paying part of the costs of replacing the three dining room windows and the bedroom window with the fanlight.

Then, Vince opened a window in the sewing room . . another one cracked! So he decided to replace all the sewing room windows except I have metal shelving units in front of two smaller windows and I did not want to deal with taking everything off those shelves (there's LOTS of stuff on those) and moving those so we'll save those for two windows for later.

This morning, a little after 7:00 a.m. the window guys showed up and they got the two bigger (about 3 x 6) windows in the sewing room changed, the two windows that were the same size that were in the basement family room changed and the two windows in the main family room. They're about 3.5' wide and I think they're 7' tall. That was a job since they were doing the outside part using a ladder. I kept saying I couldn't believe how different the windows looked and he said "You should see how much more the new ones weigh!" The weather had gotten a little threatening and at one point, they almost decided to stop not start the third window in the basement. I pulled up radar and it looked like it was going to go around use so they kept on. We had just some drizzle and I think they were happy they got the big windows on the main level done.

The three windows in the dining room are three windows together. I think each one is a about 34" wide. I had measured the whole "window" and it was 106" wide. They said that was a big hole to have deal with if it really started storming and they said the round window takes a bit more time to install so they didn't get to any of the windows on the front of the house. They will be back, bright and early in the morning, to get the job finished.

The installers told me that one thing people really notice is how much quieter it is with no road noise or hearing neighbors' dogs bark. I think I've gotten used to those things and I don't notice them but when we first moved here, after having lived in the middle of nowhere with no neighbors in Texas, I really noticed the noise here. I'm anxious to see if Vince notices it.

One thing I did notice - when we added the porch a couple of years ago, I wanted a metal roof and Vince wanted a shingle roof so they put the shingles on it that matched the house. After the hail storm, all the roofs had to be replaced. Vince knew how much I really wanted a metal roof so he had them put a metal roof it the porch and I've been able to hear the rain falling on that roof but . . no more. It's raining now and I can't hear it. I can barely hear the rain hitting the vent on the chimney and it's only about 3' from where I'm sitting. Oh well . . can't have selective noise blocking I guess. 

I'm really happy with the new windows and will be even happier when the front windows are done. That's the last of the hail damage to the house. The contractor and Vince had a different of opinion or some kind of difference . . I stayed out to fit. Vince ended up re-staining the deck and he will re-stain the wood fence but that will probably have to wait til spring. Except for the fence, once the front windows are done, all of our hail damage has been repaired/replaced.

Colour & Cotton Sale

Through the years I've mentioned funny things that happen with Denise and me. Denise and I met through an internet quilting group many years ago . . I don't remember when but it was probably close to 30 years ago. Then about 15 years ago, we met in person at a quilting retreat in Arkansas. I keep trying to convince her to move next door to me. By the way, there's a house next door to me for sale. Anyone want to be my neighbor? There are only two houses on my street so it would be just us and y'all.  When they put up the sign my first thought was . . maybe a cross stitcher will buy it. I'd be happy with a knitter or a quilter though. Seriously, I think someone reading this should want to be my neighbor. I share sourdough bread and garden veggies. You could be besties with Cooper and Oscar! Ok . . maybe not.:)

Anyway, Denise sent me an email this morning reminding me of Colour & Cotton's sale on floss. I had not even looked at most of my email this morning so I went and checked it and, of course, placed an order.

I writing Denise to thank her for reminding me and tell her what I bought. Mainly, well, not mainly but some of what I bought were reds for a specific project. I was telling her that I want to stitch Dasher & Dancer from Hobby House. I have a lot of floss but mostly it's one, maybe two skeins of the colors I have. Hobby House says this project needs 134 yards of one strand for 40 count linen. I'll probably stitch it on 36 count but I'll still use one strand so I'm counting on needed at least 200 yards.

The Colour & Cotton floss is 48 yards per skein (8 one yard cut pieces with 6 strands each) so, according to my calculations, that's 48 yards per skein. I always figure at least one extra skein because I'm famous for losing a skein, even if it's on a floss ring, and there are dogs that can shred a skein of floss before I can get it away from them. I really do try to keep floss totally out of their reach but I think it's like a paper towel - they know when I see them with it, the chase is on and they love playing chase.

I had already ordered a hank of NPI 505. A hank of NPI, again - according to my calculations, has almost 400 yards so that would be plenty but I'm not sure that's the color I want to use.

So, from Colour & Cotton, I ordered enough skeins of Merlot, Ruby, Red Velvet, Dracula, Naughty List and Dracula Red. I think what I want is a bit of variation in the color, not a BRIGHT red, and not a brownish red. Somewhere between a true, deep red and a burgundy. When I get all the floss, I will lay it out on whatever linen I decide to use and go from there.

BUT . . the funny part . . and there's always a funny part when Denise and I are involved . . I typed "Dasher and Dancer" in the email, then I went to Hobby Houses's website to get the link. Nichol Spohr was on Youtube and I glanced up at that while grabbing the Hobby House link and she was talking about Dasher and Dancer and had the photo up on her video. I chuckled, kept writing on the link to Denise. I was telling her the colors of red I had ordered from Colour & Cotton and just then, Nichol mentioned that her linen was from Colour & Cotton. I had to share that all with Denise. 

Those funny little things that happen with me and Denise crack me up.

Chicken Stir Fry

 Last week I had chicken out to cook. The menu said we were having chicken piccata but that didn't sound like what I wanted so I made chicken stir fry and it was so good. I used this recipe for the sauce. Next time I will double the sauce recipe. 

I made enough that we had it a second day and yesterday Vince finished it off for his dinner. I think the only thing I added was Jerusalem artichokes from the garden. I don't think the recipe called for coating the chicken in cornstarch but I did that before frying it. I like a little "crust" on the chicken.

The peppers, Jerusalem artichokes and ginger came from the garden. That's the last of this year's peppers . . the last of the fresh ones anyway. I have plenty that are freeze dried. I would have added mushrooms to the stir fry but I didn't have any of those!

It was a super easy, and quick recipe and the leftovers were just as good as the first time. 

For anyone who hasn't seen Jerusalem Artichokes, here's the ones I dug, scrubbed and scraped the skin off. The skin is similar to fresh ginger skin - comes off very easy with a spoon.

They're very similar in taste to a water chestnut. The best thing about these is that they are fine left in the ground and can be dug up as needed until probably early April. By then, they're starting to sprout and produce another year's crop!

Thanksgiving Week

 Vince, Oscar, Cooper and I would like to wish you all a very happy and safe Thanksgiving. 

We've been SO busy and the next week is going to be crazy.

You may remember that we had ordered replacement windows for our windows on the east and west side. They get so much sun and the vinyl on the part where you push to raise the windows had cracked. These are the windows that were put in the house when it was built in 2003 so I'm sure new windows are much more energy efficient. Then the hail storm damaged six more windows before the window guy had replaced the others and since three of those involve tromping around where the Jerusalem artichokes are planted, I asked the window guy to wait til after a frost to replace the windows. They're coming in the morning at 7 a.m. to start changing out windows. It will probably take all day tomorrow and at least part of Tuesday to get them all done. I'm not looking forward to listening to two little dogs bark for two days but it will be nice to have newer, nicer windows.

Vince had to take down all the blinds/shades. We kinda decided we like having nothing over the windows - at least in some of the rooms so we'll see how that goes.

Monday he has three or four things he has to do in town so I'll stay home with the window guys. Tuesday he has a video conference in the morning and a bit later we have to pick up our Azure order. Since we have a 55 pound bag of Allulose, one of us needs to be home while the windows guys are here, I guess Vince will have to pick up that order. Wednesday I'll be stitching with Debbie. Thursday I Thanksgiving Day. Nicole and Chad are having Thanksgiving with Nicole's family so Vince and I are going to a buffet at a local restaurant. Friday Chad, Nicole and Addie will come here for our Thanksgiving.

Busy week, huh? Hoping I can find some time for stitching!