A Maize & Blue Finish

Last night, shortly after 12 AM, I put the last stitches in Biff the Wolverine! I finished the hat Friday night and filled in teh block M last night. He took just short of 2 months to finish (I started him the first week of March). He was a fun stitch and I can't wait to take him to be matted and framed Tuesday! :D

Here are all the progress pictures I posted of Biff along the way. Hard to believe he was ever just an eye and some nose!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend - we're enjoying another weekend of wonderful, Spring weather here in Michigan! Thanks for stopping by! Nick

Happy Easter!

I hope every had a wonderful Easter yesterday! We were lucky enough to get a break from the gloomy, gray & rainy weather we've been having lately. The sun was out all day long and it warmed up to almost 60 degrees! I spent the day with my family, we watched movies and had a wonderful dinner. Honey ham, scalloped potatoes, baked beans, corn, fruit salad & deviled eggs, not to mention a turtle pie for desert! Needless to say, I'm still full! lol

The Easter Bunny made a late delivery today. This little fella was delivered this morning from Williams-Sonoma - a felt & mohair Steiff chick.

So much detail & love for a such a little thing! He was created from the pattern of a chick made by Steiff in 1951. The pieces were all hand cut and sewn together, with hand airbrushed detailing. He was an Easter treat to myself, a little pricey, but sometimes you have to indulge!

I worked on Biff some more since my last post, but didn't quite finish him. The only thing left is the blue part on the top of the hat and the blue block M! Excuse the wrinkles, I didn't think to iron it before I snapped the picture. He should definitely be finished this week. I also put a hand full of stitches into Boo Club, but not enough to take a picture. I started the haunted house, but most of the stitches were extending the black & white border down to the next block.

I think I found my next project. While on a long overdue trip to Barnes & Noble Friday I came across a sampler in Just Cross Stitch. It's called "Four Seasons Band Sampler" by Sally Hesketh. There is a new season in each issue, starting with Spring in the March/April issue. Luckily B&N not only had the May/June issue with Summer's pattern, but a copy of the March/April issue with Spring. I think I'm going to order the kit (reccomended fabric & Anchor floss) from Just Cross Stitch. The only places near by that sell cross stitch supplies are Hobby Lobby & JoAnne's and they don't have the best selection of colors and counts when it comes to cross stitch fabrics.

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

All You Need Is A Hat!

The title says it all, the only thing Biff needs is his block M hat! I'm hoping to be finished by the end of the weekend, most of the hat is just big solid blocks of blue or yellow stitches, so it won't take too much counting, just a little tedious. I can't wait until he is finished so I can take him to be matted and framed.

I wanted to share this video that I saw posted on the blog, Purple Peacock. It's about the Royal School of Embroidery in England, and it's really cool. I would love to go and take a tour and take part in a class!

Thanks for stopping by! Nick

It's hard to believe it's been a little over 2 weeks since I last updated! Between work and life it's been hard to fit in stitching time. Every time I pick something up it seems like I put it down after only putting in a couple dozen stitches. I haven't touched Boo Club in what seems like forever, I need to find a new spark to get the last couple blocks done, hopefully once Biff is done. Speaking of Biff, that has been the piece I've been concentrating on. I got a big chunck of the left side of his face and around his eye.

I actually took the picture several days ago in an attempt to get an update posted, but that didn't happen. Since then I've finished the face, so now the only thing left is the hat. Hopefully it won't be much longer until Biff is done! I thought about seeing about having it double matted (blue & yellow) and having the mat cut to trace the outline around Biff.

Hope everyone had a great weekend & thanks for visiting! Nick

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

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

Lost & Found

Wait, what, I was supposed be updating my blog? lol Holy moly, where did the last 6 months go?!?! It was unbelievable to me when I logged in to Blogger and saw that my last post was at the end of July and that I had started this blog almost a year ago. I didn't fall off the face of the Earth, or forget about stitching & blogging...well, maybe I did for a little bit, but I found my way back. Even after being lost.

The last 6 months have defenitly been something else, full of many ups & downs. Not too long after my last blog post a new chapter in my life started, and not necessarily by my own willingness. After almost 22 years of marriage my parents decided to seperate. That was really the start of my blogging & stitching hiatus. My attention was turned to packing and moving, and in a way, starting a new part of my life. I now share an apartment with my mom, I help out with rent and bills until we fully get back on our feet. Sometimes it takes a radical shake up to realize how truly lucky we are to have the things & people we have in our lives. It hasn't been the easiest six months, but we've survived!

Work has been another major obstacle. Twords the end of summer and into the fall, I started disliking my job more, and more. I'm at the point now where I completly dread the thought of going in almost every day. I only stay out of neccessity. I've tired applying several places, before Christmas and in the last few weeks, but never hear anything back. I started training as a manager but little has come of it. They did a massive overhaul of all the stores in our district, replacing our general manger and several of our shift managers. We also lost many employess to transfers, fireings and quits. I think only about 3 or 4 people are still there that were there when I started almost 9 months ago. Since all of this has happened, my managment training has been put on the back burner.

Since then I've rarely thought about stitching. I haven't worked on any pieces, started any new ones, or even purchased anything new. In fact, I don't even know where a majority of my stash is. It's unbelievable how many boxes it takes to pack almost 21 years of your life in! lol

Some things, not even the unpleasentries of life can spoil. My dad & I enjoyed another season of Michigan football. Though is wasn't a perfect season, despite the amazing start, it was full of wonderful memories. We were able to make it to Ann Arbor for 4 games, the opener against Connecticut, and the games against Iowa, Illinois & Wisconsin. You couldn't give me a million dollars to spend Saturday with any other person (my dad), in any other place (Ann Arbor). We've been saving out extra pennies and are looking forward to purchasing season tickets this year. GO BLUE!

The new press box and one side of the new box suites & luxury seats at The Big House.

At the end of October I celebrated my 21st birthday. I loving being able to order a beer with my Big House Burger on game days! lol This past Thanksgiving was the first Thanksgiving we didn't spend as a family, in fact my dad was out of town for Thanksgiving. We did spend Christmas together and we enjoyed it. It was hard to get into the spirit at first, sually I'm the first person to put up the lights, start theChristmas music and go overboard with the decorations, but this year was a little harder. I manged to find my Christmas spirit and did the best that I could with what I had to work with. It actually takes a little more ingenuity to go from decorating a large yard & house to an apartment balcony.

A scaled down vesion of my Precious Moments Nativity display.

Just before Thanksgiving we adpoted a kitty from a local cat shelter. He's black with a white belly and paws, and a little white mustache. I named him Bo Schembechler, after the legendary Michigan football coach. We usually just call him Bo or "Schems". He's grown into quite a spoiled stinker, he likes to jump and climb on top and everything, but I love him!

Bo Schems, sitting in a box. He thinks he needs to climb into/ontop of everything! lol

Recently, maybe now that we are more settled in, I have had an itch to get stitching again. I didn't really feel like pulling out an old project, I wanted a fresh start of sorts. The heavens must have lined up because at the exact same time, I stumbled across a great deal on the Lizzie Kate "Boo Club" set. This set has been on my wishlist since it came out, so I figured it was a sign to get back into stitching with a project I really like. The couldn't find a piece of the fabrics I picked out, long enough to stitch the entire piece, so I decided to color my own fabric. I wanted a brown shade to really show off the black and white border around the set. I took a piece of white aida and coffee died it a nice shade of brown. It's drying as I type, so hopefully I will be able to start soon! :) I also found some candy corn buttons from Just Another Button Company that I think I will get to replace the stitched candy corns at the bottom of the border.

Lizzie Kate's "Boo Club"

This week I started visiting all the wonderful blogs that I used to check daily. It really lights a fire under me to once again see so many amazing projects. I can't wait to get back into the swing of things. Thanks for taking the time to catch back up, I'll make sure it won't be another 6 months.

Nick

"What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise."

-Oscar Wilde

Happy 4th of July!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!

Hope everyone has a great, fun & safe 4th of July! Also may we remember all of those who have fought for our country, and, even though its far from perfect, all the wonderful things we do have so that many others do not!

Since I have the day off I am hoping to spend a majority of it stitching before going to a cookout and watching the fireworks with some family & friends. I started the Baby Princess birth announcement on Thursday. I only stitched the "Our Little Princess" in the middle, so I will hold off on posting a picture until some more is done. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to do any patriotic stitching this year, though I did find this Bent Creek pattern while browsing for stash on Friday. It's called "Patriotic Branch" by Bent Creek. I absolutely love it, and may just have to order the 3 patterns/buttons when I get paid Tuesday. Bent Creek also has 2 other branch patterns, one with woodland animals and the other Christmas themed.

The picture is from www.silverneedle.net - They were the only site I could find with a picture of all 3 patterns together.

Yesterday before work I went with my parents downtown to the art fair. Starting at the end of June until a little after the 4th every year we have a big thing downtown called Summer Celebration. They have a huge carnival set up, concerts every night, activities during the day, fireworks shows and over the weekend of the 4th a huge art fair. They always have the nicest things down there. This year I found several new things to add to my Michigan collection, as well as had some fried Oreos.

The GO BLUE mat was $10, and I plan to put picture of my dad & I and my friends & I behind the letters. They had several framed mats for sale with generic pictures of/around the stadium as well, for Michigan as well as other colleges. The small metal sign was only $5.99 and the larger sign was $10.99. The booth had tons of similar signs for all kinds of college and professional teams. There was also a booth that had really cool air brush painted signs for different teams and pool/beach/drink themed signs and I'm kicking myslef for not buying the Michigan themed one. It was a wooden tiki like face with a big block M and football on his head. You could buy just the faces for $15 or have it added to a sign for $35. I think I might head back today and hope the booth is still there!

Hope everyone has a great day and thanks for stopping by! Nick

I think I forgot how to stitch...

Geeze, it's been so long since I've stitched, I think I might have just forgotten how to! lol Work has absolutely consumed my life this week. I'm used to the 36-40 hr weeks of working until 1-2 AM but this week has been something completely different. I've already worked almost 42 hours this week (still have a 9.5 hr shift to work tonight), including a 14.5 hr day yesterday, which was supposed to be my day off. It's soooo tiring now, but it will be worth it when payday rolls around, especially that 11+ hours of overtime! Apparently, and I'm not tooting my own horn here, this is what I have been told, I am one of the best workers they have hired in a while, that's why they always ask me to come in early, on my days off or stay late. Even though I have only been there for a little less than a month and a 1/2, they are talking about starting to have me train to be a manager!

Like I said, that has left no time for stitching. It seems like when I'm not at work I'm sleeping, and vice versa. I did find time (where I found it, I'd like to know because I need some more! lol) to make a trip to JoAnnes, where I found yet another kit. If only I could find the finishes to the kits I already have as easily! Since receiving the Suzy's Zoo Train Birth Announcement kit, I have been a little on the fence about it. I had purchased the kit with the intention of stitching it for my best friend's daughter, who was born at the end of December, but it's just not as girly as what I really wanted. Well, this is the kit I found at JoAnnes and I think it fits the bill perfectly!

It's another kit by Dimensions (I swear they don't sponsor me and I don't own stock lol) and as soon as I saw it, I knew I would end up stitching this birth record instead of the Suzy's Zoo one. I haven't even had time to think about starting it, but I'm hoping to change that this week, even though another new start is just what I need, not. If all goes as planned, I have Tuesday AND Wednesday off! That should certainly open up some stitching time and for framing Hot Stuff, nope I didn't forget about that being on my to-do list! ;-)

Also sadly this week I suffered a little loss. After 6 wonderful years of game day service my beloved 8' inflatable Michigan Wolverine died. :-( He let the neighborhood know every Saturday that this house was Wolverine territory. He was packed away at the end of last November in a rush because of the incoming winter weather, so I had planned to inflate him, wash him, let him sit out and dry since it was a very hot summer day and then pack him away. When I plugged him in though the lights came on and the motor started running but the fan wasn't working. Unscrewed the motor/fan cover and sure enough, the fan had died. Unfortunately the motor is mounted to the top of the fan, which is mounted to the base, so it can't really be replaced. I have been able to track another Wolverine down, like I said I have had him for 6 years, and they no longer make them so I would have been upset if I couldn't get another one. He is made by the same company that makes all the Christmas & Halloween inflatables like the Grinch, Snoopy characters, the carousels and stuff, that you see in people's yards. Here is a picture of him this past fall...

Hopefully I will be able to catch up with what everyone else is up to soon! Have a great day & thanks for stopping by! Nick

The Simple Things...

Last night I was going through pictures on iPhoto, sometimes I'll do this just to go through all the pictures I have on my computer, most I've forgotten were on here. I was going through the hundreds of pictures I have from Michigan football games and when I came across this one it just made me really smile. I remember when I took it, it was my first time ever going to The Big House for a football game. Michigan played Michigan State on my 19th birthday and my dad took me. In Ann Arbor around The Big House all the fire hydrants are painted this way, to look like the football helmets. I'll never forget the feeling the first time I walked into The Big House, in fact I still get that feeling every time I walk in there. I hope not matter how many games I see there, win or lose, I always get that feeling.

While I was going through the pictures my favorite commercial came on the TV. No matter what I’m doing or what kind of mood I’m in this commercial always makes me smile. I love the part where the spaceship zaps the slice of bread into a piece of toast, I don’t know why, I just love it! lol

I did do a little stitching this weekend, I got most of the May SanMan calendar piece done. I'll probably finish it off tonight when I get home from work. It was so nice to stitch for a little bit since it's been more than week since I last stitched anything.

Sometimes it's the simplest and smallest things in life that truly make you smile. :-D I hope everyone had a great weekend! Nick

M GO BLUE!

Wow, Friday already, another week that just flew by! No complaints though, it was a great week here, especially with such wonderful weather. Unfortunately the weatherman still says rain/snow & temps back in the 30s this weekend, though I think the nice weather is supposed to come back after, and it's more than welcome! lol

Haven't had a chance to even think about touching any of my projects since my last post. The one good thing about this upcoming weather is that it should make me want to stay in and stitch, Wash Line Blues is calling me! lol Also I won't feel bad about sitting on the couch watching March Madness, with no nice weather begging me to be outside.

While in Ann Arbor on Wednesday my friend & I went to the M Den store in the Briarwood Mall, I had never been there before, only to the M Den on Main Street and the temp stores they set up outside the Big House on game days. The store was AMAZING, a Michigan fan's dream come true! Everything and anything you could image...and it was all U of M themed! They had everything from stuff you would expect like clothes, hats and car stuff to things you might not, like block M cookie cutters & ice-cube trays! They also had a real stuffed wolverine on display among some other cool things, like a 3 ft Bo Schembechler bobble head. I managed to to control myself and only pick up a few new souvenirs! lol

I thought I would share the Michigan pattern I charted. The leaflet I bought had the old logo, the block M with the wolverine on top, but not the newer one, since the leaflet was printed in the mid-80s before the logo was changed in the early 90s to what it is now, a block M with Michigan written across it. I don't think too many will be interested but since a few follows mentioned they were U of M fans I thought I would share anyway, the picture should enlarge when you click on it.

I'm not sure how close those 2 DMC color actually are to Maize & Blue. They looked good on the cross stitch program so I stuck with them, I haven't checked my colors to see what they look like in real life. Any darker blue & darker yellow would do I suppose! lol

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their Friday & the weekend, thanks for stopping by! Nick