2021 Tokyo Olympics Stitching Challenge Start #13

Lucky number 13 today! At least it is in some places. Today I thought I'd talk about track cycling. I can ride a bike, and used to ride all the time as a child, but don't get as much time for it now. DH loves to bike and managed a 45 mile ride a couple weeks ago on a converted railroad track. The nice thing about riding these is there's no extreme uphills to deal with and it's fairly well maintained. 

Track cycling is completely different though. You're inside a velodrome and have a special track bike and ride around an inclined track. This video explains a bit more if you're interested. 

I was watching some of the highlights from the Tokyo Olympics and there have been a few wipeouts. Your rate of speed is much higher than in normal cycling, around 60kph (~35mph) and above and therefore accidents can be more damaging. With the incline, if there's an accident, the riders that have fallen slide down towards the middle, so you have to try and get to the highest part on the outside to keep out of the way. It sounds quite difficult to me, so not sure if I'll ever have a go even if I have a chance. 

Track cycling has been in the Olympics for over 100 years and has been a competition since the 1870s. Velodromes used to be in a lot of different locations, but I think they're a little less common in North America than Europe. There's a wide range of countries that win medals in track cycling and that makes it a fun sport to watch as well. 

For today's start I chose another project I've had hanging around for a long while. Eventually it will look like one of these:

I stitched the bottom left design for my Grandma and had made it into a coaster. I'd wanted to get back to the others, but haven't had a chance until now. I started with the one that has my favourite songbird, the goldfinch. 

We can't leave out feeders here in the spring/summer/fall in case of bears, and we tend to forget to in winter, but I used to leave them out when I lived in Indiana in the midwest USA. They're so fun to watch and their coats darken in winter to more greeny-grey, then brighten up as soon as spring appears.

Here's my start:

Thistle Stop by Crossed Wing Collection

stitched 2 over 2 as charted on a scrap of Cumulus? by Chromatic Alchemy

As with most Crossed Wing Collection designs, these have a ton of different colours. I managed to get a lot of the least used colours completed for this feeder full of thistle seed, although it's usually darker when I find it. There are many lovely little finches to stitch and most include the same colours, so the rest of the design will be just 8 colours, and I think I used at least that many already for this small start. 

If I manage to finish, this might be a gift for my birdwatching father. He's the one that takes care of all the feeders my parents have at their house that backs onto the woods. He also put up the squirrel baffle to try and keep the squirrels out of them. It's mostly successful. Did I ever mention that where I grew up there are mostly black squirrels? I always thought it was weird to see a grey one and didn't realize that most other places have never seen black squirrels! Plus there's a white variety in a nearby town, a recessive gene colour I think. 

I hope you've all been having a good week and are staying well. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch