Finish #2 for 2026

Finish #2 for 2026.  Swedish Horses from Modern Folk Embroidery.  Used 6 skeins of dmc 3799, one over one, on 28 count Colour and Cotton lugana in the color Haunted.  A start and a finish this year.  

Sampler Game Board was added to - from way back in 2018.  I had 2 houses finished before, and I finished 4 more houses this time, and 2 more are almost finished.  There are 32 houses total.  But just a couple days had me wanting to pull something else.

This is Alphabet Song from Courtney Collection.  I added just one word....   Why.... which does not show in this photo since this was a picking it back up photo, not an after photo.  It was last worked on in 2019.  I was actually looking for a different Courtney on this fabric, so after one word, it got tossed back.

Long Dog Samplers - Life After Death.  This was something that was also a random grab, and with another pattern in the same bag.  I started Death By CrossStitch - Long Dog Samplers - but I could not tell you if I ever finished it or not.  I knew I certainly would have bought Life after Death, and it was last worked on in Dec 22, 2022 according to random notes that could be wrong.  So I picked this back up, and I have worked on it for a day so far.  I'm enjoying adding to it.  Below shows my progress.

The last two photos certainly show how far off the colors are on my camera.  Neither is correct.  It's a bit more golden than the bottom photo.  But not as golden as the top photo.  I am using Anchor black. 

Almost Halfway...

Back to Courtney Collection's Alphabet Song. 
This is now about the size of a piece of paper sideways.  It is six skeins of dmc floss used.  That 'T.' at the bottom center, that is the center of this.  This is 13 of 28 rows of text completed, also 13 of 28 pages are are now completed. I know it is hard to read, so I will simply write out what is completed.
"Once There Was A Poor Seamstress who had been orphaned as a child, and widowed as a young mother and knew only a life of drudgery.   Nevertheless, as she stitched from dawn into the night, she sang.  Sometimes aloud and sometimes in a whisper.  Year after year she sewed and sang.  The garments which came from her hands were many and varied.  She repaired a farmers overalls as carefully as she embroidered a bridal gown.  Yet the song that she sang remained the same; it wasn't a song at all, over and over, to whatever melody came to mind she sang the letters of the alphabet.  Finally her neighbors............   "
Nice to have it filling in, but I can only do a few days of this at a time.

Eight Rows Completed

Eight rows completed of twenty eight rows.  There are eight more rows not even started that still need to go at the bottom.  Eleven pages completed of twenty eight pages.  
Need a break from it, and some color.  But I will come back to it.  It is nice that it is readable and has a story to tell. 

Letter by Letter...

Random Threads - Erica Michaels.  40 count Legacy, one over two, silks.  

5 dmc skeins used.  9 pages of 28 complete.  Text is 10 inches wide.  One over one on 28 count is much easier.