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/

https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://mynomadhome.com/*

Premie Octopus crochet pattern.

Pattern originally found on www.mynomadlife.com. Pattern by Gosia of My Nomad Home.

Try and I might, I can't get the link to the wayback machine to work properly. I already had a few people reach out and ask about the pattern. So here we go!  Disclaimer: This is not my original pattern. All credit goes back to Gosia of mynomadlife. Her website is no longer up and the wayback machine links don't appear to work. At least not for me. This is as original as I can make it.  I was also able to grab a PDF of the blog post.  If you'd rather work with the blog post PDF, that is here. 

ch – chain

sc – single crochet

2 sc tog – 2 stitches together

sl st – slip stitch

R1: 6 sc in a magic ring – here’s a tutorial

R2: 2 sc in all st (12)

R3: 2 sc in every 2nd st (18)

R4: 2 sc in every 3rd st (24)

R5: 2 sc in every 4th st (30)

R6: 2 sc in every 5th st (36)

R7-14: 1 sc in all st (36)

R15: *4 sc, 2 sc tog* – repeat *-* 6 times (30)

R16-17: 1 sc in all st (30)

R18: *3 sc, 2 sc tog* 6 times (24)

R19-20: 1 sc in all st (24)

R21: *2 sc, 2 sc tog* 6 times (18)

R22: 1 sc in all st (18)

R23: *7 sc, 2 sc tog* 2 times (16)

R24: 1 sc in all st (16)

R25: Here you start the arms: * 1 sc, 50 ch, turn and make 2 sc in each ch, finish with 1 sc*. Repeat 7 times so you get 8 arms. End with 1 sl st and pull the yarn through. If your arm doesn’t want to twist try making 3 or 4 sc in each ch. And here is a nice photo tutorial on the arms.

If the outstretched arms are longer that 22 cm, make fewer chains.

The bottom of the octopus:

R1: 5 sc in a magic ring

R2: 2 sc in all st (10)

R3: 2 sc in every 2nd st (15). Finish with a sl st and pull the thread through. Weave in the ends.

Fill the octopus with the fiber and sew the bottom to it.

As for the decorations such as eyes, hats etc. let your imagination run wild. For example, I made the octopuses’ eyes with 6 sc in a magic ring and then 2 sc in all st (12). Then I weaved in the dark yarn and that’s it:) You can find many nice tutorials on the Internet on how to make amigurumi hats, bows and eyes, e.g. this one here. Here is a very useful tutorial on how to embroider the details to the body.

*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

Enduring the heat

For all the talk I do about being a blogger, I sure am slacking in that department lately. 

I meant to write last week.  Seriously, I did! 

I have no idea what happened to last week. It was one of those weeks that just *flew* by. 

So this post is in part to remind all you groovy cats that I'm still here.  I've just been busy. With everything and nothing. 

On the work front we were headed towards a publishing day. 

I had a doctor appointment.  I got some good news. Yay! 

I did a whole bunch of crafting. A lot of it on the secret stitching I'm working on. ... I thought I'd record a flosstube this week.  The timing just never worked out. 

I decided to just let it be an "off" week.  If that makes sense. Just go with the flow and not have any structure. 

A few highlights from the week: 

On Tuesday we used our new fancy pressure washer to work on power washing the house.  And by "we" I mean my husband did the work, and I kept him company. 

Hmmm maybe I should have taken an "after" photo, too. 

Wednesday was my doctor's appointment. After the appointment I cruised over real quick to the mart of Wal (Ha!)

I picked up something that my hubby has been wanting for a while. So it is sort of an early birthday present. 

The boys brought it in to the house, and I started putting it together.  Another part of the birthday gift. 

I'm sure it took me less than an hour to pull together. 

A lot of boxes and packaging. The directions were pretty good. 

Voila!

To say it's been a hit would be an understatement. 

Friday I seasoned it and we've used it every day since. 

If any one has any tips please share them. Thanks!

Friday evening, after a chat with a fellow crafty friend, I decided it was time to *finally* make the sock project bag I've been wanting to make. 

I decided to follow a tutorial by Woolenvine and cut out the fabric. 

Saturday, once the weather got warm out, I went back in to the house and sewed the bag together. 

I only thought about taking a photo when I was making the wristlet band. 

It took me a little bit longer than I hoped to sew it together. I made a couple of rookie mistakes and had to undo a bit of work, before redoing it. 

Overall I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.  I haven't made a bag like this in many, many years.  Close to 10, maybe. 

I promptly grabbed some sock yarn and cast on a new vanilla sock. 

Okay, so it's hot out there, right? It's hot all over. My area is not used to really warm temperatures, because we are next to the world's largest air condition, which is known to everyone as Lake Superior.

I noticed on my camera roll that I was saving screenshots from various days showing what the current temperatures were. 

Tuesday, 10:57 a.m. - 74 degrees F, with a real feel of 87 degrees

Tuesday, 1:32 p.m. - 80 degrees F, with a real feel of 94 degrees

There were more, but I won't keep boring you. 

We had some pretty warm temperatures this weekend.  Each day last week was gradually getting warmer and warmer to what the local weather people were calling a heat dome. 

"A “heat dome” high-pressure system will keep the Northland hot, humid, and dry Sunday night and Monday. Low temperatures will remain in the 70s, with highs in the 90s. Feel like temperatures will be in the triple digits. A west breeze will not help in keeping us cool, and it will also keep fire weather dangers very high and extreme."

So yeah, it's getting hot out there. No. It is hot out there. Tomorrow is supposed to hit a high of 98. Who knows what the real feel will be like. The humidity is doing it's part to make it feel like a gross armpit out there.

Today I brought Feffer in to the house, after making sure the girls (chickens) had plenty of fresh water.

Sweet little Feffer.

This is him settling down into the sweet spot of where the fan was blowing across my lap/

He was a sweet boy while we was in the house. Though there was one time where I had to corral him while I went and took care of the evening meal.

Oh the thumps I heard! Even though he was right in the cross breeze of a fan and was just fine.

When I was done with what I was doing, I picked him up and set him back on my lap. He was so happy. He was bopping around and crawling all over me. At one point he climbed up to the back of my chair.

He sat up there like a little potentate who was surveying his kingdom.

When I sat back down, he came over by me and immediately tickled me with his whiskers, before crawling back down to settle in my lap.

He's such a good bun.

More than likely he'll be back in the house tomorrow.

So that's a "quick" little update on what's going on with me. I'm hoping to be more productive this week. With the heat how it is, we shall see.

A few photos from this evening, when I went out to tuck the girls in.

Beautiful sky tonite.

Midweek post

 A blog post on a Wednesday? That is just crazy. 

Well, being that it's the start of a new month, and I actually had some chatter to share, I figured it was as good of a time as any to write my thoughts down. 

Now what were they? ... 

Ha! I crack myself up. 

We are still in the phase of what I'm going to call "Quiet times" at work and at home. I've been taking advantage of the quiet times and catching up on a few work things that have been on the back burner for a while.  I went to the office today and it was like a ghost town there.  Then I remembered that it's holy week and people are either taking time off, or are out and about doing holy things. 

On the home front we've been dealing with cooler temperatures. Again. Currently it is 27 degrees Fahrenheit. Supposedly we are in for another storm.  Last I saw it was supposed to be a mixture of snow and ice. Who knows what we will wake up to tomorrow. 

Can this *please* be the last snow weather event? Please? 

Just about any time that the weather is decent I'm out in the greenhouse.  I'm starting to worry I might be starting some things too early. But, really, I think I'm thinking that because the weather keeps going cool on me. 

Last night I decided it was time to make the second patriotic-themed project bag. 

I love that I've figured out how to properly use a zipper foot. 

And this style of project bag is so great. 

I still need to figure out measurements for making a larger bag.  While I love how compact this size is, I want a larger size for the projects that need bigger hoops and Q-snaps. I still haven't figured out what style of project bag I want to make for those Peter Rabbit animals I want to make at some point. 

This afternoon I spent some time with my old man Feffer. 

Yes, he was on the table. Do I care? No. This could be his last year with us and I'm going to indulge the heck out of him. He was super lovey this afternoon, too.  I wonder if he senses the storm that's supposed to be descending upon us? 

With it being April 1 (and I totally forgot about it being April Fool's Day) I started a new stitch-a-long with my friend and fellow flosstuber Alison. 

We started Farmyard friends by Lori Holt. I keep wanting to call this one barnyard friends. ... 

Here's my start.  A whole 170 stitches. 

I'm using the called for DMC and 14 count aida that I dyed myself. 

I've been absolutely awful lately about posting my projects, updates and pertinent info on the blog lately.  I really need to fix that.

And this reminds me that I posted a new garden journal video yesterday. 

I've got kind of a funny story about this one.  Maybe not funny ha ha, but funny odd. 

I loaded the video to youtube early and had it unlisted, with the intention of making it live today. Yesterday I saw a youtube notification pop up from a friend leaving a comment, saying she had a hard time finding the video but eventually persevered in finding it. I was like "huh?"

This was me: 

I went, looked and verified the youtube video was still unlisted. How? How did Youtube sneak that one out? *shrug* I decided to publish the video early. If you watch, I hope you enjoy it. 

Another thing that happened this evening was the launch of Artemis II. We are headed back to the moon! This time it has nothing to do with the stock market. (Ha! There's that hilarious wit of mine again.)

I said to my husband that the last space launch I remember was Columbia in 2003. Well, wait, that's not true. I remember watching that one spaceship launch where it put itself back in it's spot. That doesn't sound correct as I type it.  Let me go google it. ... 

It was this one, though I didn't actually watch the launch. 

Pretty trippy. 

Tomorrow is my work Friday.  I'm looking forward to a four-day weekend. I have Good Friday and Easter Monday off. I don't have a game plan for the weekend just yet.  I do know I want to make a carrot cake. I haven't had a carrot cake in years. I'll likely end up menu-planning on Friday. I know what the main course for Sunday will be.  I haven't figured out the sides. 

Well, until next time. 

Oh look, it's raining again ...

I mean, "Hooray! July is here!" 

*ahem* 

I meant to write yesterday. The day got away from me.  I spent the evening working on my bunny stitch. 

I told my hubby that the closer I come to completing this stitch the more goof ups I make. 

Over the weekend I started stitching up the bee. 

And quickly realized I had made some mistakes stitching up the leaves.  I thought "I can make this work." until I realized I couldn't make it work.  

Bah!

So yesterday I spent my lunch hour ripping out stitches.  

Ugh ... no matter how I try to rip out a large number of stitches, it turns into a mess and then the mess takes longer to clean up than if I had been able to just take the threads out. 

Last night I diligently worked on this little bee and put the final stitches in around 9 p.m. 

Finally! Now the back stitching can commence. 

This cross stitch project has been my main focus. 

When I wasn't working on my February Lady Sweater.  Mostly I've been working on my sweater in the mornings, before getting ready for the day and work. 

I am done with the sweater body.  Yay!  Time to start the sleeves.  I have just over four skeins of the Temu yarn to work with.  I'm optimistic that each sleeve will need only 2 skeins each. 

I had the idea that I would write a post at the beginning of the month stating what active projects I have, and what I hoped to get done by the end of the month.  Overly enthusiastic, perhaps. The list will help me get things in perspective since I'm still kind of all over the place, project-wise. Frankly, until I get this bit sorted out I don't feel I can move forward and make a flosstube. 

So things that are currently in the works/percolating along. 

Knits

February Lady Sweater - I would like to get this complete by the end of the month

Monkey socks - Another project I'd like to get done by the end of the month.

Princess Passenger socks - No deadline since I'm only going to work on them when I'm a passenger.  I will pick up stitches on the heel flap in the house.  I don't think I'd be able to do so in a bouncy vehicle. 

Quilts

Sandpiper quilt - I have the top all sewn together and the backing sewn together. I'm debating on whether to put a label on, or not.  The binding still needs to be cut. I would like to have this done by the end of the month. 

Just picture all my squares with sashing and borders around them.

Yes, this is my quilt backing, all in a heap. I think the color will look fantastic with the front. 

Dancing stars quilt - I have about half the quilts squares to sew, still. ... I think I'm going to hold this one until August, unless I get the other things done. 

I have no current photos of completed squares. Sorry. 

Sewing projects

I now have fabric for five WIP project bags.  I want to make them by the end of the month.  I could maybe accomplish this.  It's something to strive for. 

Spinning

My spinning has been pushed so far to the back burner that I haven't touched it in months.  I would like to spend one evening each week of July spinning my little heart away.  Currently the Tour de Fleece is going on.  I've never been good at following any kind of a-long, so I didn't even try to start it this year. 

No current photos of the wool I'm working with. 

Cross Stitch

Currently there are three cross stitch projects going. 

Bunny stitch before the back stitching. 

Where One Piece is. I haven't touched it in a while.  The goal is to get it done by Christmas, at least.  If not, then February next year. 

You may be surprised to read that I *finally* started my porkie cross stitch.  I decided to make it a birthday start.  Well ... I started it during my birthday week. 

It's not much but it is a start. I was still a bit intimidated to start it, and then I just went ahead and set up the aida cloth on my q-snap and started it. 

All the colors ... all 49 of them. 

I've been on the hunt for a porcupine needle minder.  Most of what I find are hedgehogs or images that really don't look like porcupines.  I may end up making my own.  Though I'm not sure how I will go about it. 

Project Name: Porcupine cross stitch

Chart purchased from Etsy: Purple Stitching
Started: June 2024, during my birthday week, 

Finished: 

Floss in called DMC colors: 167, 168, 169, 310, 317, 318, 413, 414, 415, 433, 437, 451, 452, 453, 524, 535, 611, 612, 640, 644, 645, 646, 647, 648, 762, 779, 840, 841, 842, 844, 927, 928, 934, 935, 939, 3021, 3023, 3031, 3032, 3041, 3072, 3371, 3756, 3787, 3799, 3828, 3863, 3864, 3866

Needle Size: 26

Made For: myself. 

Against my better judgement I kinda kitted up a few more cross stitches up that have come across my social media the last month or so. ... I'm really tempted to clear the cache, so to speak and take them out of the bucket until I get less projects on my plate.  As I keep reminding myself, there are no deadlines or urgent reasons to work these projects. So I just may file the floss back in to my storage system and put the charts away for now. 

My WIP bucket. My February Lady Sweater is in the blue daisy bag. 

I have this other project going.  It hasn't been touched for a while.  

A month ago, or so, I saw something on a few flosstubes and I thought "Hey, that's a good idea."

What, you may be wondering ... 

Putting a master set of floss on floss drops and sorting them by color families. 

I don't remember who came up with the idea but it took flosstube by storm, I think. 

This is a set of floss from Temu. The colors match DMC.  It's amazing! 

So my idea is to use this floss for my master set of colors and fill in the few that may be missing with regular DMC.  Also, if I need some floss in a pinch, I can use the floss from my master set. 

I think it will also be helpful to make color subs in the event I'm not wild about a color listed on a chart. 

I don't know how many I have put on floss drops yet.  I sort of burned out on it after a weekend of punching out floss drops.  I think I might have done some damage to my punch. Or, the card stock I was using for making themed floss drops was thicker than what I'm used to.

I'll post more in-progress project photos on my Instagram

Something just happened and I lost the tail-end of my blog post. I guess that is my cue to go work on my back stitching.