Starry Night Stitch-a-Long, part 1

Happy 2026 everyone! 

It's been a busy SIX WEEKS since our last check in. We just returned from Antarctica, which was amazing, but I still managed to get a LOT of stitching done. 

First I want to share the secret projects that I couldn't share until after Christmas. 

Here's the lovely burgundy beaded project I kept teasing: 

It went to my pal Suz who loves her black cats. 

And here's an "American Robin" ornament I embroidered from my sweet mother-in-law; we often laugh that robins are totally different in the US and the UK: 

And, finally, here are some sardines for my foodie friend Rebecca: 

Okay, that's the past. Let's talk about the future. 

I've decided to dive in to another big, full-coverage piece: DMC's version of Van Gogh's The Starry Night. 

I am going to follow what I like to call "the Avis method" again, like I did on Great Wave -- and just stitch a column of the pattern every three weeks. That means it will take about two years of stitch-a-long to complete it, but I think that will still allow me to work on other projects. 

So far all I've done is grid the fabric and mount it on the frame... it feels overwhelming but I hope to get the first "top half of a column" done in the next three weeks. 

I have realized, however, that my roller bars are too short for this... so I am going to have to find longer ones. That will actually allow me to stretch the fabric taut.

Now, a little more history. I wanted to make a special notebook for my Antarctica trip. I found an amazing stitchable notebook, bought a pattern on Etsy, and stitched part of it on the front. I'm very, very happy with it: 

I had planned to have the notebook as my "travel project", but it was so fun to stitch I finished it before we left. 

So I dug up a few smallish projects that would be easy to work on while travelling. And, well, I finished ALL of them. (Nothing like 28 hours of travel each way to get some work done!). 

an old "stitch and zip" kit that has been languishing in my stash

a quick felt kit I picked up a few years ago

a tiny cross stitch card kit

Finally -- if anyone is still scrolling! -- here's a picture I took the night we got to camp (!!!) on Antarctica. I'll be writing more about the trip, eventually, when I can really process everything. 

gentoo penguins and a hungry gentoo chick

I can't wait to check out what my fellow stitchers -- Avis, Claire, Kathy, Margaret, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Mary Margaret, Cindy, Helen -- have been up to over the past six weeks. I'm sure it's amazing stuff!