Flosstube 50 - Celebrating a milestone (Aug. 18, 2026)

In this video I celebrate what I consider to be a significant milestone in the flosstube/youtube community. ❤️ I also share current works in progress, a fully finished object and a few new starts. (Even though I said I wouldn't start anything for a while. 😂) Thank you so much for spending time with me! 

Current Works in Progress

* USA 250 by Wrought Iron Stitching

Project name: USA 250

Started: April 12, 2026

Finished:

Designer: Wrought Iron Stitching

Chart purchased: Etsy, 2026

Fabric: 14 count Aida, brown hand-dyed by me

Floss used: 832, 824, 3866, 3777, 898

* Farmyard Friends by Lori Holt

Project Name: Farmyard Friends

Started: April 1, 2026

Complete: 

Designer: Lori Holt

Fabric: 14 count aida, dyed by me, green.

DMC: 347, 893, 151, 976, 3820, 3052, 3848, 3813, 926, 3768, 930, 3799, 535, 3866

Stitch-along with Alison, @Mrs.AZfamilyzooStitchesAlison. Chart was won in a giveaway hosted by Becca, of Sambrie Stitches, on her Instagram. 

* George's Frog by Mudpuppy Stitchery

Project name: George's Green Frog

Started: May 1, 2026

Finished: 

Designer: Mudpuppy Stitchery

Chart Purchased: Mudpuppy Stitchery patreon freebie

Fabric: 14 count Aida, "toast" fabric purchased at Hobby Lobby

Floss Used: B5200, 09, 11, 223, 304, 610, 644, 906, 907

Started this during #MudpuppyMay

Fully Finished Object

* Cherry by LumiStitch

Project name: Cherry

Started: June 26, 2026

Finished: July 1, 2026

Designer: Lumi Stitch

Fabric: Aida 

Fabric Color: White opalesence

Fabric Count: 14 count

Floss Used: DMC 321, 777, 816, 987, 3347

Link to pattern: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4530794096/picking-strawberries-cross-stitch-pdf?ref=shop_home_feat_4&sr_prefetch=1&pf_from=shop_home&pro=1&sts=1&dd=1&logging_key=81a2c6491a8c1bd6bda49b2ab28efde1ab68f922%3A4530794096

Birthday SAL chart.

Finished Project

* Secret Stitch is done! Will share it when I can. 

Started: June 23, 2026

Finished: July 26, 2026

Stitch Count: 3,540

New Starts

* Love is Patient by Artful Offerings

Project Name: Love is Patient, Love is Kind

Started: Aug. 5, 2026

Finished: 

Designer: Artful offerings

Chart Purchased: Gift from Denise of Black Ribbon Studio

Fabric: Aida

Fabric Color: Ivory

Fabric Count: 16 count

Floss Used: DMC 349, 606, 310, 646, B5200.

SAL with Denise at Black Ribbon Stitch Studio.

* Picking Strawberries by LumiStitch

Project Name: Picking Strawberries

Started: Aug. 8, 2026

Finished: 

Designer: LumiStitch

Chart Purchased: Gift from Jessica, the designer

Fabric: Aida

Fabric Color: Spa (kind of a green)

Fabric Count: 14 count

Floss Used: DMC 169, 310, 743, 815, 816, 869, 987, 3031, 3078, 3347, 3865

I forgot to take a progress photo of this project before working on it again. This photo shows more progress than in the video. This is the birthday stitch-along chart my friend Mair chose for her birthday stitch. 

Knitting

* Vanilla sock. The low-priced PDF is by The Crazy Sock Lady

Project name: Santorini blue socks

Started: July 11, 2026

Finished:

Designer: Vanilla sock pattern by Kayla, Crazy Sock Lady

Yarn: Knit Picks Felici Yarn

Color: blues

Needle size: U.S. 1.5 / 2.5 mm

* Porcupine Island Shawl by Denise Bartels

Project Name: Porcupine Island Shawl

Started: June 16, 2026

Finished:

Designer: Denise E.M. Bartels

Where I got the pattern: Ravelry link - https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/porcupine-island-shawl

Needle Size: U.S. 2 / 2.75 mm

Yarn: Deep stash Forbidden Fiber Co

Yarn Color: Wisp - Blue

Guage: We don't need no gauge. 

Crochet

* Premie Octopus and blanket

Project Name: Gift for Nephew and wife's first baby

Started: Aug. 1, 2026

Finished: Aug. 2, 2026

Link to pattern here: https://web.archive.org/web/20251006161815/http://mynomadhome.com/octopus-for-a-preemie-osmiorniczka-dla-wczesniaka/

*Battenberg squares

I started this project at the beginning of the year, with my friend Leann, as a crochet-along. As of Aug. 18, I have 120 squares. I think I need 800 total.

*Maeve Squares

This is a blanket crochet-along I started with my friend Cat. We are doing 20 squares total to make a blanket. I'll be mattress stitching my squares together. 

Link to pattern here: https://www.madamestitch.com/maeve-granny-square-crochet-pattern/

Spinning

* Shared about the wrap up of Tour de Fleece

Started strong, finished tired. 

In the Mail

Shared some goodies I received in the mail from a fellow flosstuber for a share.

Group 2

Group 1

Items I made:

Project bag, with matching thread bed.

I dyed some 14 count opalescent Aida fabric, using some rit dye. 

Life update

* Life stuff

* Garden stuff

* Family project

* Future family stuff

* Celebrating 50 episodes

Other channels mentioned

Alison ‪@Mrs.AZfamilyzooStitchesAlison‬ 

Jodi ‪@Stitchyplum‬ 

Jessica ‪@LumiStitch‬ 

Denise ‪@BlackRibbonStitchStudio‬ 

Mair ‪@sincity_crossstitcher‬ 

Leann ‪@leann.stitches‬ 

Cat ‪@StitchinWiththeGriffin‬ 

Patty ‪@StitchingWithMyKitties-xe8qz‬ 

Kayla ‪@CrazySockLady‬

Kenzie @MudpuppyStitchery

Almost time to break out the hazelnut creamer

There is a slight change in the air. Last week I had been waking up to cooler mornings. It was nice to sleep with the windows open. And the leaves are starting to change from green to red and orange. We haven't had any decent rain in weeks so I'm sure this is what is causing the color shift. 

Time to break out the hazelnut coffee creamer. 

Well, I might be a bit early because the last two days we've had enough heat that I've had the air conditioning on. 

Once again it's been a moment since I last put virtual pen to digital paper.  I've been busy-ish. 

Busy-ish and a bit in my own little world lately. My mind has been tangled up with all sorts of things. Thinking about the garden, hunting, canning, the animals, recording videos (☺️) and my projects.  Oh, and reading. 

Hunting season starts in about a month. We've been checking the game cams about once a week. 

Here's a couple fun photos. 

Turkey babies! 

The tomatoes are starting to ripen.  I harvested my first tomato. Yum! 

I pulled the first cabbage from the garden ... 

And made my first batch of sauerkraut from the garden cabbage. 

Then I sliced a whole mess of cucumbers up ... 

And made my first batch of dill cucumbers in what feels like forever. 

I am very sad to say that they did not turn out. 😢 I checked on the internet to verify this type of cucumber was good for pickles.  The internet swore up and down it was a good pickle cucumber on various sites. Alas. ... my hubby said they would make good relish ... I suppose. ... 

I've been doing some gift crafting, so I don't dare share anything on the blog, just yet, in case the recipients read my blog. 

The biggest thing that's been going on is the makeover we are giving the garage. 

My hubby will be retiring in a few years and he's very deserving of having a good work space. 

The last few weekends have been spent at various big box stores, looking at tool chests and other manly things that go in workshops. 

This was when we were wandering around a Fleet Farm trying to find where they kept all their tool chests.  Apparently tool chests that hold tools for working on cars is over by wood working stuff. (Yeah, we thought that was odd, too)

Checking out the weight on a tool box. 

Debating on which line of tool chests to go with. 

It was finally decided what to get and we put orders in for everything. 

One thing was in stock, and we brought it home. 

But first, painting. 

We cleared out the area of the garage we wanted to start the makeover with, and started painting. 

The painting went better than expected.  It also took longer than expected because we had to put several coats on.

White paint was chosen, to help make it brighter.  Then we decided to do something fun with the door that leads in to the house, and to match the color of tools chests. 

Fun, right? 

My hubby spent a LOT of time on the door, making it look as good as it does, and keeping those lines sharp. 

The garage is going to be a work-in-progress for a bit. 

In between the crafting I decided that I must have a notions tin that covers both cross stitch and knitting. I've had this container for ages. I started filling it up with this and that. 

Am I missing anything? 

Today I took the day off work. I had an appointment.  Afterwards, I swung by the library.  I haven't done that in *ages.* 

Yes, I was looking at knitting books. 

Since the C0v*d, I have barely gone to the main library. Usually I put requests in and have the books come out to the branch in my area. 

Almost all the people are new.  Well, new to me. It's a whole different vibe.  Especially since they remodeled the library a few years back. 

So now I have a stack of cozy mysteries to read, or reread, a few knitting magazines, and at least one knitting book. 

I chose cozy mysteries because ... well, because they are cozy. A few weeks ago I put a request in for a book that I saw that was causing a big discussion in a book group I'm a member of.  I didn't really know what the book was about but knew it was an important book in American literature.  

Before I got the book, however, I decided to read more about the book, besides what it was about.  Is anyone familiar with "Beloved"? Well, I can do tough topics.  

However, it was classified as horror and that's when I decided "nope." I haven't read a horror novel in years and I'm not about to start now.  

So I guess that's it, for the most part.  I'm working on my next flosstube.  The big 5-0.  I'm not sure when I'll release it, as I'm working on it in bits and pieces.  I'm hoping it will be a fun one for people to see. I keep watching how-to videos, here and there, on making and editing videos. It feels like the production of my videos are getting better. But, really, how much can you improve on flosstube videos? 🤷‍♀️😃 I'm always open to suggestions and tips. 

The rest of the week is going to be a quiet one. Of this I am fairly certain. 

Okay, that's my check in for now.  

As my friend Becky would say, "Laters!"

Garden Journal #8 Abundance in the garden (Aug. 3, 2026)

 

Produce is being harvested. I also have a few visitors to the garden, and around the garden. Thank you for watching my video. I am so glad you stopped by! If you like what you see, please subscribe and click the notification bell to be notified of when I load new videos. 

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Falling down, the back 20, and a beautiful sunset over the garden

One of the things I like about being a consistent writer is that I have an easier time with deciding what to put to virtual paper to start my blog posts. 

This isn't a coffee date, but I am drinking tea. 

Sleepy time tea, if you must know.  Will I stay awake long enough to write a blog post? Maybe. 

And I think I just broke a cardinal rule of blog photos. I think I read somewhere that the first photo should be really eye catching.  That coffee mug is more than 25 years old. 

Oh well. 

After a light evening of cross stitching I thought I should write something after almost two weeks since my last blog post. 

I've been steadily busy with things.  Not all things that are terribly exciting to write about. 

On the health front, I've leveled up a bit on how I feel. So I've been a bit more active. I wish I could say I had this significant improvement and I'm doing *so* much better.  I'm grateful for what improvements I have. It's slow going.

I took one day off work and went and participated in what I'm going to call a "Take your wife to work day." I went and worked with my darling husband for the day.  It was fun. Well, as much fun as that particular work can be. It was a nice day, weather-wise and there was a nice view of a river for riparian entertainments when we had lunch. 

I didn't have my phone with me so no photos of that one. Sorry. 

One day we decided to try fishing before the work day started. I think we got to the lake just after 6 a.m. Nothing was biting.  Pretty frustrating. 

As I was pulling the kayak back to the truck I stepped into a hole that someone dug out in the sand, and down I went. It was one of those slow motion things where I knew I was going down as soon as I felt my foot step in to that hole. I didn't feel anything when I landed. I think I might have even laughed a little bit. 

I certainly felt it the next morning. Ugh. ... 

And yes, I made it back home with time to spare before clocking in for the day. 

One weekend we decided it was time to head out to the back 20 and put fresh batteries in the game cams and make sure nothing was destroyed by bears. 

We found hazelnuts ... 

And blueberries.

We realized we haven't spent much time back there this summer.  Things are a bit overgrown and still very green, considering the lack of rain we've been experiencing.

Fortunately no damage to the shelters.

When I put fresh batteries in the game cams I was surprised to see the cameras were still turned on.  We forgot to shut them down when we finished hunting last year. 

It was fun going through the thousands of photos. There were some that were interesting and I'm going to share them here, in no particular order. 

Tom turkeys.

Porkie!

This one kind of hurts. But it's cool to see this fella made it through the hunting season. 

Hopefully this fox will stay far away from the chickens.  Though I have heard that one of my neighbors suffered a fox attack and lost some chickens. 

Turkey closeup!

Kitteh!

Wolf? I've heard wolves have been spotted in the area. 

Bear! 

Another kitteh.

Looks like two porcupines arguing. 

Same bear?

In other news, we picked our first cherries and raspberries. 

We've been eating the raspberries as soon as we see them.  I don't know if we'll be good and save enough for a small batch of jam.  Eating them fresh off the canes is just SO good! 

Cucumbers are coming fast and furious now. I harvested these this morning. 

In past years we've collected a couple each evening and enjoyed them with ranch, or in salads. This year the plants are really productive and I think I'll finally have extra to make some dill pickles.  Yum! 

The weather this week was not very conducive to recording a garden journal video.  I may be able to record one this weekend, depending on how things go. 

Yes, I have been crafting.  My crafting has taken a nosedive. I'm okay with that, however. 

My USA 250 cross stitch. 

And my Farmyard Friends. I finished July's assignment. It was a deceptive amount of stitches. More than 600, I think. It took me three evenings to stitch these five quilt stars.

When I went to tuck the girls in tonight, I remembered my phone so I could take a photo. 

They weren't too impressed with me. 

I'm glad I took my phone with me.  The sky was gorgeous tonight. 

I tried taking photos over by the garden.  This was the only one that turned out. 

So I guess you get a bit of a sneak peek of the garden.