Thursday, June 12, 2014

2014: off to a good start

Ok so I decided I will do the update blog of 2014 in several pieces. And I know they'll be more overview, but still, at least I'll make the effort.

Ok . . . so 2014 started off rather wintery and with an imminent finish, that being QS Salvatore. And oh my goodness, I got sooooo sick of pink! And on January 7, 2014, I finally finished the shoe. Yay!

QS Salvatore Tcherekov HAED 20 ct lugana I hand dyed myself 2 strands stitched over 1 for full crosses Started: 7/7/13 Finished: 1/7/14



And then I got it all framed:





My sister adores it. She picked it up in March (I think) and took it back to her home and it's in a place where she sees it every day. She loves the pieces I pick to make her.



In February, we had the 2014 Winter Olympics, which marked the 22nd anniversary of when I learned (ok taught myself) how to cross stitch. And that reminded me, I hadn't done much on my Olympic piece. Which, if you don't remember, was my HAED Rendezvous, which is basically Tannith & Corsaire.

And in case you don't remember:



Now if you don't remember (and I cannot remember now if I actually blogged about it or not), the Olympic Project doesn't have anything to do with the Olympics. Rather, it has to do with someone's post on the bulletin board where she stated she starts a big project during the Olympics and then the idea is to get it done by the following Olympics. So I picked Rendezvous for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Now, I silly thing that I am, thought "I could get that done by the 2014 Winter Olympics" hahahaha that only works if you actually work on the thing! I will blame the 2012 and 2013 HAED BB SAL pieces . . . yeah I'll go with that . . . So . . . that means I've got until Rio to get this piece done. There are 4 rows of pages, so I figured, if I get the bottom row done this year, the next 2 in 2015, and the last/top row in 2016, that'll work, right? I mean I really do want to be able to start the piece I'm planning on for Rio for 2016. I'm stitching Rendezvous on 18 ct with full crosses - 3 strands for 310 and 2 for everything else.

So . . . here's the starting point, well what little I got done in 2012:



Not nearly as much as I hoped for. I decided to attempt to work on it each day during the Olympics (ok didn't stitch each day, but a majority of the days). I even took it with me when we got snowed in at work and I and a couple of co-workers were put up at the hotel across the room. I had my own room, which was nice, I got to spread out on the big bed. So . . . here's what it looked like at the end of the Olympics:



I have gotten further along than this, but I don't have a pic of it yet. I do intend to work on it more this year.

And here is the one I am planning on doing for Rio in 2016:



It is called Mayan Aztec Montage and is decidedly a MCBAP ("massively complicated big-ass piece") - lol I am so not thinking I'll get it done by the 2020 games, I just really liked the idea of starting it for Rio.



Speaking of things I want to start, I saw one of the new releases, Make Merry, and went "omg!" He looks like my dad, there's something about the mouth/beard that looks very much like him. And the glasses he wears are half-moon shaped. Not half-circle glasses, half-moon. Like Dumbledore. So . . . I shall call him Daddledore. (Dad likes this.) My original intent was to start him on May 30th, as it was not only a 5th weekend, it was also his birthday. Unfortunately, I've yet to start him - I have all the materials tho. I blame it on the "secret stitch" project I'm not allowed to post the name or pics of yet (tho that will be coming soon to a blog near you in the not toooo distant future). It was kind of complicated and confettilicious, so the idea of starting another BAP, kind of intimidating. But here's Daddledore:



See how awesome he is? He'll be epic.



Let's see . . . what else in the first quarter of the year? Um . . . oh St, Distaff's Day. There's an event at our local library, run by the lady who runs Yack & Yarn, who taught me to spin, which is basically a yarn swap and crafty time. It was a lot of fun, even if I didn't bring anything to swap. I think next year, I'll probably help her run it as there were a lot of people there.

I also started stitching another character picture. I play Pathfinder (like Dungeons & Dragons, but better). And I started playing a character I've tried playing twice before. Melena Belden, my half-orc-who-doesn't-look-like-a-half-orc ranger who eventually gets magic. We get to dual level/gestalt, so I get to do both ranger and sorceress stuff at the same time, plus fighter. (Actually I'm not sure if she kept her maiden name or changed to Cartwright.) She loves her great axe and is very good at using it. And like Tannith, I picked a HAED as what she looks like. I decided I will only work on her during games (or a little bit for the weeks we don't game).

So . . . I started her on January 11, 2014, on 22 ct Hardanger with 2 strands for full crosses:

What Melena looks like:



I don't have an updated pic and I'm not going to post the last one I took as it doesn't look like anything.



Dad got me some alpaca yarn and I made a scoodie for myself. It's very warm.

I also decided to start the outline only of QS Tagalong aka QS Penguin Lady. I think I'll wait to post a pic until I have finished her.

I started and finished this little treasure for my sister - perfect for her bathroom:



Both Tannith and Legend got a bit of love, as did Expecting:



And I did a little desert scene:



And a baby rattle to welcome my friend's friend's baby boy - I realized afterwards the colors are the colors of Mardi Gras, which is appropriate, as they live in Louisiana:





And in March, my friend Stefy came to visit me! Woooo! And left with a pair of crystal pink socks. :)



Ok I think that's everything I can remember for January - March 2014 . . . not including the spinny stuff. Stay tuned, more blogs to come.

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