The Lost Week

Wow, it's been almost 2 weeks since my last update! I feel like I completely lost last week, I was sick all week so when I wasn't at work I was dead to the world. I had a horrible headache and the worst body aches for several days and then that turned into a bad cold, complete with runny nose, sore throat and all that fun stuff.

The past couple days though I have been on a roll with Biff. I finished his nose, mouth & chin. Now I have the left side of his face & hat to finish. Michigan beat Tenesee to move on to the third round of the NCAA tournament but then lost to Duke. It was a great run while it lasted, their season looked like it was in trouble at the end of January so it was surprising they turned it around and got several rounds into the tournament.

I added a little bit to my stash as well. I picked up the Sue Hillis pattern, "America the Beautiful", which I've had my eye on for a while. It's a map of the United States with state names, capitals & little symbols representing the things each state is known for. I was surprised to get the chart and see it was one big piece of paper instead of spread out over several pages. I had originally thought about just stitching the state outlines along with the names and capitals but I'm not sure if that's how I will do it now. I decided to wait until either Biff or Boo Club is finished to attempt to start it, that way I don't end up with too many {more} unfinished projects! lol

Thanks for stopping by! Nick

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

It's been a very busy week since my last post but I have managed some stitching time. I finished the Pumpkin block of Boo Club and worked some more on Biff.

Once all the blocks are done I will add the buttons, so the pumpkin will get his eyes eventually. The next block is one of my favorite, "Fright" with a haunted house.

Biff is really starting to come along. I finished the left side of his face and started filling in his nose. I'm hoping to finish off his nose and mouth tomorrow while watching some more NCAA tournament games since I have the day off. Michigan plays in the afternoon against Tennessee. GO BLUE!

Last week a seller on eBay listed several prototype and archive sample Annette Funicello bears. There were several I bid on but I only won this one set. These 3 mohair bears are archive samples, but I don't believe they were ever produced. They don't have names, style numbers or edition numbers. Each one is wearing a lace apron with a little corked bottle on a beaded chain around their neck. They are very detailed, the aprons are hung over their shoulders and tied in the back with the same ribbon as the bows on their heads, and are also attached in the back with the little rosettes. My favorite part is the shaved muzzles and matching colored noses and suede paw pads. After I won this set the seller listed some more prototypes and samples including this set in gold, cream & grey.

Hope everyone has a good weekend & thanks for stopping by! Nick

GO BLUE!

TGIF! This week has been pretty hectic, we lost several closers at work so I have been there almost every night this week, today is my first day off since Sunday. In the thime that I have found to stitch, usually in the mornings/afternoon before going to work, I've been working on Biff the Wolverine. I got the other eye done and started the right side of his face and muzzle. It's a fun stitch but several areas of the chart aren't printed in the boxes right, so sometimes it's difficult and takes a little bit of guess work to know which stitch is which color. He's really starting to fill in and you can kind of see what he's supposed to be now!

My what big eyes you have, Biff! Progress on Biff from 03/07-03/11

I also worked on the next block of Boo Club - Pumpkin. I didn't take a picture because it's just the first couple letters in the word pumpkin. I had planned to work on it more and finish it, but I've really been into stitching Biff. I'm going to get back to the Big Ten quarterfinals, only a few minutes left in the game and Michigan's down by several points to Illinois. We need this win to make it to the next round! GO BLUE!

Update: Michigan came back to beat Illinois 60-55, now we play #1 OSU tomorrow in the semi-finals! GO BLUE!

Hope everyone has a great weekend & thanks for stopping by! Nick

Old School Maize & Blue

Last week while searching eBay for U of M memorabilia I came across a really cool old cross stitch pattern. As soon as I saw it had a buy it now, I couldn't click buy fast enough, especially since it was only $4.95. I've never seen it before, it looks like it's from the 80s and the main design is the vintage U of M wolverine logo that I call "Biff". The back has a U of M basketball design and a maize & blue rose design. I started the pattern on Sunday and it is a lot larger than I expected. So far I've managed to stitch his right eye, around the nose and some of the space between the other eye. I'm going to stitch just the head and not the block 'M' behind it.

The wolverine face logo was originally from the 1922 and was used again for some merchandise, such as t-shirts and pennants, in the late 80s and early 90s. He has made sort of a comeback in the last few years thanks to Adidas College Vault merchandise. I have several shirts, a hat and a hooded sweatshirt with Biff's face on it. Because the image is rarely used and popular with big U of M fans the stuff is hard to find, most stores that carried the Adidas College Vault clothing sold out. I purchased all of my stuff in Ann Arbor through out the last football season and am glad I did because most of it I haven't seen available since.

I call the old wolverine logo Biff because that was the name of one of the live wolverines from the 1927 season. Michigan doesn't have an actual mascot, they are just called "The Wolverines". They actually use the block M as their logo. During the 1927 season though they had 2 live wolverines from the Detroit Zoo brought to the stadium for big games and they were named Biff and Bennie. They were only used for that one season, and they have never had wolverines in the stadium since. Since then many fans, including myself, refer to wolverines that appear in merchandise as Biff.

Bennie & Biff being carried into the Big House - Bentley Historical Library

Hope everyone had a great weekend & enjoyed the mini Michigan history lesson. Nick

The 6 Days of Christmas

After finishing Creepy, Lizzie Kate's Boo Club is halfway done - 6 blocks down, 6 more to go! After stitching the grass on the sides of the tree and the orange blocks under the word, I realized that everything was a row off, so I had to frog that stuff and re-stitch it a row down. I added the "RIP" to the headstone because I thought it looked a little empty. Once all the blocks are done and I add the buttons the owl will get his eyes. lol

I actually took these pictures Tuesday, but I can't seem to find the cord to upload the pictures to computer, so I had to wait until I could go to my dad's house and use his computer, since it has a memory card port on tower. Since Tuesday I've extended the black and white checkered border and yellow inside border down to Creepy. I also started the next block, Pumpkin, so I should finish that up over the weekend.

Boo Club Block #6 - Creepy


While looking for a pattern I came across this unfinished piece that I started about a year and a half ago. It's Prairie Schooler's "The Twelve Days of Christmas". It's charted to be stitched as 2 rows with 6 blocks in each, but I thought it would be cool to stitch it as one long row. The first 6 days are (almost) done. I would like to finish the last 6 days and get it matted and framed by Christmas.

Prairie Schooler's "The Twelve Days of Christmas"

Hope everyone has a great weekend & thanks for stopping by! Nick