Actually, more than halfway, even by the numbers but definitely by area. I ran out of thread shortly before finishing town #24 (West Fairlee, the skinny tall one near the top) and left it so I could make an update now without unnecessarily starting and stopping a thread, but after it there are only 22 towns left. Three of them are like-size to West Fairlee, and three of the towns in the easternmost “column” are also small (that won’t help me finish faster, though, since I’m rationing my stitching).
This time I sewed a little casing into the bottom of the fabric before washing it. I used warm water and dish soap instead of laundry soap to be sure to cut through any oils from my fingers. When I hung it to dry (via large binder clips around the top of a metal deck chair) I slid a dowel into the casing for weight and even stretch. I think that helped get more of the embroidery hoop marks out, compared to the previous update. The dowel came in handy later as well – rain was threatening, so after the fabric was mostly dry I brought it in and hung it between two chairs inside via the protruding ends of the dowel.
Onward and upward! Well, some upward, but more rightward and then downward. You’ll see this again at the 3/4 mark, in a month or so.