2026: September update

Where did September go? I think many people are asking this. It started off ok, then just whooshed by. Even so, I was able to get my one card made due to it being my mother-in-laws birthday month and managed to stitch more than expected at the end of the month.

This month I don’t have update photos to accompany the stitch counts. It’s been too much mentally with other things going on to also take photos and edit them. Hopefully next month will be better. But know, progress has been made and you can see official updates on my Instagram and live stitching happens twice a week on my Twitch channel.

Thanks for your understanding and continuing to read the blog when you can. 🙂 It’s appreciated!

The big 5 update

If you would like to read the origin stories, you can find that here. Follow my Instagram to see official progress photos when they are released.

Cats Library, Heaven and Earth Designs.

+1,478

Disintegration, Heaven and Earth Designs

+1,387

Universal Monsters, Witchy Stitcher’s SAL from 2019

+1,371

McGonagall, Cross Stitch Studio

+1,524

Super Mario World Map, Box Cat Shop (Etsy)

+1,270

Monopoly update + new game in October

My first roll of September landed me on Safari. I don’t remember the last time I picked that one up, but it now has over 800 stitches completed.

After that Monopoly was pretty slow. There was a community stitch that required 200 stitches and I happened to have McGonagall’s Library on the frame, so that’s the pattern I worked for it.

Baby Bear is started and I’m on the moon. After that it’s backstitching and I guess turning it into a finish! I’m not sure there’s enough left if I do land on it for Monopoly, which I should have a turn again come October.

I also signed up for new Discord stitching game called “Stitch Manor.” It’s a murder mystery where you earn Investigation Points by submitting stitching each week. There was a pre-game period the last week of September to get the hang of everything. It only runs for the month of October and there is a limit to how many points you can obtain each week.

How did September go?

My total stitching in September went better than I expected. I reached over 7,000 stitches on the Big 5 for the second month in a row. Which should put me at finishing all 7 projects (even though I say 9 – I don’t know what those extra two are…) within the next 25 years.

I also briefly tried Markup, which didn’t solve the problem of partial stitches as promised by the internet so I decided not to persue that as a paid thing at this time.

I also downloaded something called StitchWIP, without paying I could add 3 projects. While I haven’t uninstalled it, I’m not actively using it since I have my spreadsheet set up for all the game tracking and when I’ll finish guestimates. StitchWIP also offers an estimated completion date when you log stitches/time against a project, but I’m not sure how accurate it is. I have mine set based on overall elapsed time since starting the project. Mine is showing about 20 more years needed than the app. In the end, I’ll finish when I finish.

Another small update, I was accepted as a vendor on Fybe. I haven’t started anything yet, but I may be switching the shop over to there since there are search features and may result in some card sales.

Here’s how I did in September for chipping away at these: 7,030 stitches across the five. This didn’t quite match August, but I came much closer than expected.

The Big 5 have a combined stitch count of 1,295,620. I’m 6.68% complete with all five.

It’s an FFO

No new finishes besides the one card. I have started Baby Bear which could result in a finish at some point.

Happy crafting!


See project updates and finishes on Instagram @craftyk.3

and watch live on Twitch CraftyK3

2026: August update

The beginning of August was the opposite of July. By the 6th I already had over 1,000 stitches in on my Big 5. By the 10th I was over 3k in and needed to put in something on Cats Library again.

I’ve been taking some marketing classes that will expire soon and figured out a way to watch the classes and cross stitch. Extra motivation to get both done. I’ve also been able to keep just ahead of Chat with my stitch count for the first time since implementing that incentive. (in case you missed it, I won!)

The big 5 update

If you would like to read the origin stories, you can find that here. Follow my Instagram to see official progress photos when they are released.

Cats Library, Heaven and Earth Designs.

+1,309

Disintegration, Heaven and Earth Designs

+1,562

Universal Monsters, Witchy Stitcher’s SAL from 2019

+1,105

McGonagall, Cross Stitch Studio

+1,646

Super Mario World Map, Box Cat Shop (Etsy)

+1,902

Monopoly update

I started August off by rolling my first doubles. I owed 500 stitches on a full coverage and chose McGonagall’s Library for that one. My second roll resulted in a property trade.

I also landed on Luxury Tax and had to relinquish a property. Not much stitching for the game. I did start Baby Bear on my own though.

How did August go?

August brought about more stitching than I thought possible. While my card making is still lacking in volume, I made some good progress on my Big 5. Including a finish on page two of McGonagall and the first island finish on Mario.

Here’s how I did in August for chipping away at these: 7,524 stitches across the five. This was my highest monthly total for the year so far, beating out last month’s record.

The Big 5 have a combined stitch count of 1,295,620. I’m 6.11% complete with all five.

It’s an FFO

Does making my one card a month count, again?

Happy crafting!


See project updates and finishes on Instagram @craftyk.3

and watch live on Twitch CraftyK3

2026: July update

July got off to a rough start. No stitching happened until the 4th. But then it was three days of power stitching. Going from zero to almost 1,400 stitches on the Big 5 in that time.

I managed to make one card in July. I haven’t been feeling card making lately. But I’m trying to stay committed to my one card a month goal.

In later July I unexpectedly inherited more puzzles. Those have taken a huge backseat to cross stitching. But I decided for the sake of my shelving to pull one out to work on. Which then puts cross stitch farther behind.

I see similarities between puzzles and cross stitch. You have the final image for both, but it’s been chopped up and needs to be pieced together. Cross stitch is the ultimate in tiny pieces though. And thankfully comes with a “map.”

The big 5 update

If you would like to read the origin stories, you can find that here. Follow my Instagram to see official progress photos when they are released.

With two raid trains and two Monopoly boards, I kept busy putting stitches in this month. Cats Library saw the most progress. Everything except McGonagall reached 1,000 stitches this month. I stitched just a bit more than I did in May. There’s hope for me finishing these yet!

There is a discrepancy between the stitch count and the image for Mario. I worked on Mario on August 1 before taking the end of month update photo. I finished a row of blue that was only a few squares in when I started.

Cats Library, Heaven and Earth Designs.

+1,734

Disintegration, Heaven and Earth Designs

+1,042

Universal Monsters, Witchy Stitcher’s SAL from 2019

+1,161

McGonagall, Cross Stitch Studio

+971

Super Mario World Map, Box Cat Shop (Etsy)

+1,308

Monopoly update

You may have noticed Cats Library had quite the jump in stitching. I happened to get that project on both boards.

Some of it overlapped, but essentially I had to complete 1,100 stitches in on Cats between the two boards. It actually took about a year off my predicted end date.

How did July go?

My tracker has been motivating. I am trying to cut time off the estimated finishes every month. I now have math showing how many stitches I need each day/month to finish in 5-25 years. As of right now I’m tracking to finish between 25 and 30 years with all seven of the large projects.

Here’s how I did in July for chipping away at these: 6,216 stitches across the five. This was my highest monthly total for the year so far.

The Big 5 have a combined stitch count of 1,295,620. I’m 5.53% complete with all five.

It’s an FFO

Does making my one card a month count?

Happy crafting!


See project updates and finishes on Instagram @craftyk.3

and watch live on Twitch CraftyK3