2021 Tokyo Olympics Stitching Challenge Start #9

Day 9 and I've managed to post before the end of the day this time. :) Today I've got another sport to discuss, softball! This is another one I played when I was younger, and even slo-pitch into undergrad. That's still almost 20 years ago now though. I definitely never played at the Olympic level, the pitching is pretty intense. I'm impressed how fast they can pitch underhand, although the windmill effect must be difficult on the shoulder. 

The above video gives tips on how to pitch if you're interested in the details. 

The softball diamond is a little smaller than a regulation baseball diamond. There's the same number of players and positions, so the main difference is how the pitchers address the plate. Underhand for softball and almost any other way for baseball. Some pitchers in baseball go sidearm, although overhand is the most common. There's the same 3 outs, although it's usually only 7 innings instead of 9 innings like baseball. 

This year the Japan team beat the USA women's team for the gold medal match. It was really close, with some amazing plays. At one point a member of team USA was able to keep a home run ball from going over the wall by making an outstanding catch. Canada was able to get the bronze medal in a hard fought game with Mexico. It was a really close one, 3-2 was the final score. 

There won't be softball or baseball at the next summer Olympics in Paris. I'm not sure if it will return in 2028, maybe since I think that's in L.A. again? 

I didn't have a lot of time to stitch last night either, so just a smallish start on the last ornament. Here's how they'll all look again:

And here's the last ornament:

Joyeux Noel by Hands on Design

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Chromatic Alchemy

with DMC C321 Etoile

I had to check with DH on this one to make sure the French was correct. I've seen other patterns where it isn't. Bonne fête is Happy Birthday in French, but Bonne fêtes is Happy Holidays. They're pronounced the same, so as long as your birthday isn't near the holidays, you'll understand which one is meant. :) 

Again, once I spend some time on each one of these I don't think it will be more than a couple good stitching sessions to get them completed. There are only 2 colours really, besides my change on the first one. That will make it easier, even with a little backstitch on each one. 

I hope you're all staying well and will tomorrow bring something different than yet another seasonal project? Stay tuned to the same bat channel, same bat station!

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Olympic Stitching Challenge Start #8

Better late than never right? Unless maybe you're running an Olympic marathon. For Day 8 I thought I'd talk about soccer/football/futbol. This is another sport I played from about age 5 to 17. I was on my high school team as well as keeper/goalie. Soccer was a lot of fun, but hockey is still my favourite sport. 

Soccer has been at the Olympics every year except 1896 and 1932, but was only for men's competition until 1996. Women's soccer was added in Atlanta and is still going strong this year. Apparently the World Champions almost never win Olympic gold as well and the USA women's team was hoping to get both this year. They had a rough start with a shut-out loss to Sweden (meaning the US team didn't score any goals). They've battled back to be in the semi-finals against Canada. I have my doubts Canada will win, so the American team will likely move on to the final and the gold medal game. The opponent will be the winner of Australia and Sweden. Whomever doesn't win the semi-final games will compete against each other for the bronze medal. My guess is that will be the Canadian team and the Australian team, but we shall see. 

I just realized this is one sport where the women and men's teams all wear the same equipment, so there hasn't been any uniform controversy in this one. That must be a welcome break for the women's teams not to have to fight over that as well as the lower pay most teams battle compared to men's teams. 

For today's start, I continued on with yesterday's set of 3 ornaments. I didn't have a lot of stitching time, so there wasn't a big start, but it's still a start!

Here's how they'll look again:

and this is the start of Bonne Annee:

Joyeux Noel by Hands on Design

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Chromatic Alchemy

stitched with DMC C321 Etoile

These will be fun little ones to finish up and should be done before Christmas if I manage to get back to them. I'll have a fair few of these to work on I think by the end of this round of starts. :)

I hope you're all staying healthy!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Olympics Stitching Challenge Start #7

Here we are at Day 7! That means a week since the Opening Ceremonies, and if you haven't had a chance to see the pictogram section, I found a video on YouTube. 

It was so funny, and I hope you enjoy it. 

Today I thought I'd talk about one of other sports I've played, but not one of the most action-packed events. Golf. This wasn't always in the Olympics, it was played in 1900 and 1904, and then not again until 2016! Interestingly, in 1904, the event was won by a Canadian, George Lyon. He and 2 other Canadians played against 31 Americans in an elimination style event. There were 12 nations at this Olympics (held in the USA), so I don't know why there weren't any other countries involved in this one. Also, check out the natty golf uniform:

I wasn't that great at golf, but enjoyed it when I had a chance to play. I haven't had a chance in many years now. DD has expressed an interest, so maybe we'll go out someday and see how she does. Another interesting fact, both men and women competed in golf in all Olympics. 

I don't think they've started the golf tourney yet this year, at least I haven't seen any info on it, and it's one of those games where I don't mind watching highlights. :)

Today's start is sort of a 1 of 3, as you'll see by the photo of the eventual finish:

And I got a good start on one ornament last night:

Joyeux Noel by Hands on Design

stitched 1 or 2 over 2 on 28ct Chromatic Alchemy (I forget the name!)

with DMC C321 (Etoile), DMC 310 and WDW Okeefenokee

I used up the last of my Okeefenokee on this one, so the other ornaments will be more similar to the picture of the design. They only call for 2 colours, but I've had this strand of Okeefenokee hanging around and wanted to use it up. I like the look, but I like the look of just 2 colour as well. 

These will likely be for DH's family since they all speak French as their first language. I've had this for a few years now and only needed a good excuse to get them started. Thank you again Rachel!

I hope you're all staying healthy and Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Olympics Stitching Challenge Start #6

Day 6 and it's time for another holiday/seasonal stitch. I don't know if any of you guessed it might not be Christmas/winter themed this time, and if you did, you're right! 

First a quick fun fact for the Olympics, did you know that gold medals are actually mostly made of silver? I only recently found this out. They're over 90% silver content, and enough gold to make it look golden. Apparently if they were entirely made of gold they'd be worth over $30K USD. So I can see why they can't use solid gold for the medals. 

Onto the new start!

Which will eventually look like this:

I'm changing up the fabric a bit though, and I think this might be a fun pillow some day when I finish it. Here's where I managed to get last night:

Pumpkin Patch by Lois Winston

stitched 2 over 2 on Pumpkin King by Chromatic Alchemy

with Cauldron by BeStitchMe

Another seasonal start; I have so many now! But it's all good. I'm starting a lot of things I've wanted to work on, and I don't think I'll quite get to triple digits by the end. :) 

I hope you're all staying healthy and enjoying your day. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Olympic Stitching Challenge Start #5

Today it's time to talk about a sport I've never really attempted besides an old video game called "Skate or Die" back in the old Commodore 64 days. 5 1/4" floppys, those rolodexes full of disks, you remember those days too? 

Check out those graphics! I wasn't very good at this game either, I remember it being fairly difficult to do anything interesting with the keyboard setup we had. 

DD is interested in getting a skateboard and learning how to ride. We have friends who can skateboard, so hopefully we can figure out a time for a few lessons once we get her equipment. She's been saving up her money, although she keeps dipping into it to buy books. And I can't fault her that. :)

Skateboarding is a new event this year in the Olympics. Japan swept the men's and women's street events, and the gold medalist in the women's event is only 13 years old! I think all the medalists in the women's event were under 20 years of age. One interesting fact I noticed was that the younger competitors wore helmets and the older ones did not. A women in her 20s had no helmet and none of the men wore helmets, but I think they were all above 18years old. I'm not sure if it's required by Olympic rules or just a good idea. I've watched other skateboard competitions where helmets are not required for the younger competitors either. 

And onto my new start, which again is not a seasonally themed project. This might be the last one I have that's not seasonal though? I'd have to recheck my pile of to-be-started projects again. 

Eventually it will look something like this:

And here is my start:

Normal is just a setting on the washer by Lizzie Kate

stitched 2 over 2 on kit linen included with the chart

with stash threads, all WDW so far (Bethlehem, Bayberry, Blue Bonnet, Azalea and Americana)

I didn't quite get 500 stitches into this one, so I may get a few more in tonight before starting the next new one. Something more holiday oriented again maybe? Any guesses which holiday? 

I hope you're all staying well!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Olympics Stitching Challenge Start #4

Day 4 here we go! And make sure you're checking out Rachel's posts. Her day 3 start is a must-have for me. 

Today I wanted to give you a little background on table tennis or ping pong. There's a 12 year old girl competing in the singles event this year, and I don't think she's moving on to the finals, but just getting there at 12 years old is a pretty big deal. I'm always amazed at how fast they can hit the ball back and forth. I've played table tennis, but not with the skill and speed these athletes show. 

Table tennis has been in the Olympics since 1988 and China has dominated the medals in both women's and men's events. The first medal in table tennis this year was an upset though, the host country, Japan, beat China in mixed doubles. I can't imagine how difficult it is to learn to keep out of each other's way trying to play doubles in table tennis! 

Today's start is <shock> not another seasonal project! I found this one while visiting my parent's LNS several years ago. It's been closed for at least a couple years now, so this has been hanging around for a while. It will eventually look something like this:

and I managed about 500 stitches to start:

Symphonie Romana by Summer House Stitche Workes

stitched 2 over 2 on 28 ct Sparkling lemonade by unknown designer

with WDW Grape Ice

I'm happy with the start on this one and love how the threads look on this fabric. I haven't chosen the colour for the central motif yet. I'm thinking about a dark lavender maybe? But don't have anything in mind yet. It will definitely take a while, so I'm sure I'll find the perfect colour someday. Please let me know if you have any suggestions!

I hope you're all staying well and Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Olympics Stitching Challenge Start #3

Day 3 for me and have you been checking Rachel's posts as well? She has some great new starts for you to add to your wish lists. I feel like I forgot to mention that the first day, and that's remiss of me given it's entirely her fault idea. :) 

Today I've been excited watching some swimming. There were some amazing medals, from an upset by a Tunisian swimmer to some Olympic records by Canadian and American swimmers. Did you know swimming has always been in the modern Olympics? And both women and men have been competing since 1912. It's always exciting to watch, and there's events for almost everyone interested, from short one length sprints of 50m to 10km marathon swim. There's almost as many swimming events as there are track and field, so that's a lot of different competitors and a lot of opportunities for countries to medal. 

Swimming is another sport I competed in when I was in elementary school, on the local swim team. I wasn't the fastest in most of the strokes, but I could win front crawl at some meets. We won't talk about what kind of swimming shape I'm in now though. :) 

Today's start is yet another seasonal one, I seem to have a lot of these somehow. 

I managed a pretty significant start on this one, over 700 stitches, but it will definitely take a while to finish. 

It's a Wonderful Life by Mill Hill

stitched as charted on 14ct perforated paper

I like all the details on this pattern, even though it will mean a lot of colour changes and beadwork. 

I hope you're all staying well!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Olympics Stitching Challenge Start #2

Hello again! I hope everyone who's interested has had a chance to enjoy some of their favourite sports in the Olympics, or outside of the Olympics. For today's sport fact I chose a sport I played in high school and really loved, what I call field hockey, although most of the rest of the world just calls it "hockey" and calls what I call hockey "ice hockey". 

I used the pictogram for the sport after learning in the opening ceremonies that Japan invented these for the 1964 Olympics. Even if you have no interest in the opening ceremonies, you may want to try and find the section where they acted all 50 of these out, it was hilarious and amazing! 

Back to field hockey, which was introduced to the Olympics in 1908 with 6 teams competing. In 1924 it disappeared because a lack of international presence/interest? But that helped the fans and athletes form an international hockey committee and from 1928 on, it's always been in the Olympics. Naturally (?) it was only for men until 1980! 1980? I swear my sister played it in high school around then, so that's way too late to add it, but at least it did get added eventually. 

And on to more fun things than the patriarchy, another new start! 

I'm going international today, for no particular reason, and I believe this is my second pattern from this designer:

I think I chose this one after I had purchased this amazing rainbow BeStitchMe fabric. I don't think it's quite long enough to get all the colours, but I started in the middle to try and get as much colour change as I can. Here's the 435 stitches added last night:

Ondulations by Jardin Prive

stitched on 28ct rainbow gradient by BeStitchMe as charted

I plan to leave the colours alone. I was debating about a full silhouette, but went with DH's advice to keep it coloured. This will definitely take a while to finish, even if there's mostly black to it. 

I hope you've all had a good day and are staying healthy. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Olympic Stitching Challenge Start #1

It's here! The Olympics is upon us, and whether or not it's a good idea, they're doing it anyway, so the new starts commence today. Or actually yesterday to try and give me time to get a post up daily. 

My new starts will have absolutely nothing to do with the Olympics, but I thought I'd try and post a bit about events I like to watch and some history. I'll start with the favourite for a lot of people: gymnastics!

Perhaps the rest of you are also just about to learn that the word "gymasium" is from the Ancient Greek word gymnazein which means to exercise naked. That would certainly be a new way to watch the Olympics. Speaking of that, have you heard the German women's team is going with full body suits, whether they get fined or not? Good for them. It should be about the sport and there's been enough over-sexualization of mostly young girls' bodies. 

Gymnastics was added to the modern Games in 1898, but only for men. Women's gymnastics was added in 1928 in Amsterdam. The events differ for men and women, and I think we all know most of them, so I won't get into that. If you'd ever like more info, please let me know. 

I'm looking forward to watching the incredible strength, flexibility and training these athletes have gone through to get to this point. Canada usually doesn't medal in gymnastics, so no disappointment if there are no medals for Canadians. It will be exciting if it happens. 

And now, onto my start!

You may pick up early on the seasonal theme of these again. :) This is what it will look like eventually:

and I managed a little over 500 stitches to get to this point:

Noel by Bent Creek

stitched on 28ct Chromatic Alchemy fabric scrap

with WDW Fathom and Blue Bonnet, odd Dinky Dyes for orange and the grey is Silks4U PR026 

This was a fun little new start and should only need a few days to finish. It's just finding those few days. :)

I hope you're enjoying the Olympics if you're interested, and if not, at least enjoy a new fact or two. 

Happy Stitching and stay well!

Tiffstitch

Christmas in July 2021

Rachel has a new SAL this month, Christmas in July! If you're interested in working on some Christmas patterns to try and get a few finishes before Christmas, now is a good time to start. Check out her link-up post on her blog. 

In the lead-up to the Olympics and a bunch of new starts, why not another one? :) I recently found Holiday Quaker and decided to try and stitch it up this month until the Olympics start. I'm going to alternate with Amazing Animal Kingdom to try and catch up a bit on that one as well. I had a goal of trying to get 100K stitches into that one this year and I'm only a little over 30K, so I'm well behind on that goal. I'm still quite impressed with that amount of stitching though!

Here's Holiday Quaker as it will look when complete:

I debated about fabric, but eventually chose a 14ct opalescent green from Jodyri. I'm also going to try and use a lot of the Silks4U monthly packs I've been receiving so they get used and not stay stashed away. Here's the colours I've chosen so far:

My rough idea is to stitch about 1000 tent stitches on Animal Kingdom, then stitch a motif on Holiday Quaker. Here's my start so far:

Holiday Quaker by Lila's Studio

stitched 2 over 1 on 14ct opalescent Christmas Elf by Jodyri Designs

with random stash threads starting with PR043 by Silks4U

This is pretty outside my normal pattern choices, but I do really love Christmas patterns and this one just fits somehow. 

I'm due to stitch another motif on this one tonight since I've now reached over 33K on Animal Kingdom:

Amazing Animal Kingdom by Aimee Stewart

stitched 2 over 1 tent stitch on 32ct experiment by Chromatic Alchemy

We'll see how it goes over the next couple weeks until the Olympics!

Happy Stitching and stay well!

Tiffstitch