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

June? Where Did You Go?

Wow.. end of the month and this is my first post. Maybe it's the multiple posts from last month, but I just never seemed to have time. Even now I'm trying to get this done at work before the next thing happens. 

I do have a sort of plan for blogging when September comes. I'm adjusting my schedule again, this time I'll be working a set Tuesday through Saturday schedule and I'm thinking Mondays will be blogging days. We're hoping DD will be back in school, so that might be the perfect time to have a little time on my own to keep up with blogging again. We'll see how it goes since there always seems to be something that eats away at my time. I'm also wondering if I could attempt a fully finished object on Mondays, which would help with the fullness of the drawer of shame with all these smaller projects I'm going to have. 

Enough chit-chat though, here's where the month of stitching has landed me:

Universal Monsters SAL B&W version by The Witchy Stitcher

stitched as charted on 28ct Trick or Treat by BeStitchMe

There's still a long way to go on this one, but I'm starting to get close to one of the rooms. I think I was working on a FB challenge, so stitched a lot of black on this one to get some stitches in. It shows up in Pattern Keeper, so that's a nice bonus. 

Shamrock by Erica Michaels, found on Rainbow Gallery freebies

stitched 2 over 2 with Morning Glory (forget which company)

on 28ct white Monaco

And it's a finish! I ran out of the Morning Glory thread, so decided to add a little text on the top to finish it off and my initials. 

Easter Bunny and Moon by Chatelaine

stitched 2 over 1 with called for DMC 310 and subbed DMC 726 for 727

on 14ct Aida (Realgar I think) by Chromatic Alchemy

Another finish! This was an enjoyable stitch as well. I added the whiskers just for fun. I know it makes no logical sense to see white whiskers and a white tail on a silhouette, but the tail was charted, so I went with it. 

Patch Christmas Tree 1 by Angie Designer

stitched 1 over 1 on 28ct white Monaco with stash threads

 unknown Dinky Dyes, Caron Waterlilies parrot, Dinky Dyes Down Under Blues and Jodyri Oz the Great and Powerful, another unknown Dinky Dyes, DMC 3799 and Kreinik gold start, Etoile 699 for the lines

3 finishes, what? :) This one was pretty close, so just took a night to finish up the purple and the lines around the tree, the pot and star. Another fun one I'd like to try and fully finish before Christmas if possible. 

Christmas Assisi Sampler by Kincavel Krosses

stitched 1 over 1 with Crescent Colors Bejeweled

on 22ct white hardanger

There was quite a lot of stitching left on this one and it took 3 nights to finish I think, getting 400+ stitches in per night. I do really love the finish and I don't think the photo really captures how pretty that thread really is. I'm looking forward to finishing this one into an ornament I think. 

Halloween Freebie by Passione Ricamo

stitched 2 over 2 with DMC 310 

on 28ct Brittney evenweave Aries by Sparklies

I spent 2 nights on this one I think and got the moon complete in DMC Etoile white and added more of the haunted house and bats. I haven't decided about the word "BOO" near the bottom if I'll stitch that or leave it out, plus there's a witch's hat I'll probably leave out. Maybe BOO should be in Etoile as well, if they have a good orange one? Or purple? What would look good with this fabric I wonder?

Stormlight Archive quotes by Taylor and Cromwell

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct black Monaco

with DMC as charted

You may notice there's quite a lot done on this one. It's almost 50% complete according to Pattern Keeper and it was a little hard to put down for the last WIP I'm going to show, but I did manage it. I really love how it's coming together and how fantastic each section looks once I finish it. So excited about this one! Maybe it will be a birthday or Christmas present for the end of the year. 

Amazing Animal Kingdom by Aimee Stewart charted by HAED

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

I'm at 31,000+ stitches on this one, which is 2 full pages complete, plus almost 2 more pages done. I joined a Full Coverage Fanatics group for the Tour de France which has you adding 3400 stitches to your chosen project. I have a long way to go on this one, but I'll try and keep adding at least a few stitches per day for the Tour challenge. 

I hope you've all had a good month! I'm sorry I was so silent all month, it wasn't intentional and next month I'll be working on the Olympics at least half of the month, so it won't be so long again. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch