Z is for Zoo

So I thought I would wrap this month's posts up with some 'leftovers'  -  I started to do Z is for Zebra but I only had one chart that I could think of!

'Stripes' is a WSnB design



And I have two of their elephant designs:





I have seen a picture of the second one stitched up on the Witchykitt site - it's gorgeous!

I have a monkey kit by Janlynn - very tall and skinny!


And this one, Artic Antics:



The only thing I will call a WIP with zoo-type animals, I think, is Teresa Wentlzer's 'Noah's Ark'.  There are some normal wee animals in there, too, and all the animals are over-one.



My progress, except I did finish stitching and backstitching the Pandas.  I need to take another picture someday, but if I get it out right now I will want to work on it!  and Fred is screaming louder.



So this was a fun month!  Not sure I would want to post that often again anytime soon, though!  It did eat up some stitching time!

Y is for Yarr

Another lovely one from Heaven and Earth Designs.  This is Yarr, by Marta Dahlig.



In June or July I'm supposed to go on a little vacation, and I plan to take Yarr with me.  It's not a busy vacation, it's a relax-in-the-middle-of-nowhere vacation, and I think I can have a pretty good start on him.

Especially if I leave my other projects at home!

Since I want to start him so soon, he is also kitted and ready to go.   I thought I would show you his components all spread out:



That's a 30x36 piece of 22ct hardanger, all his floss, and his pattern.  I only spread the pages a little, there are 36 total, although some are half pages and the bottom row of pages is only about 20 rows total.  He's actually medium-sized for a HAED, with not as much floss as some.  (Amanda and Axel, for instance, has less colors but takes 27! skeins of black).

One day to go!  Whatever shall Z be...?

X is for X-Men!

I finally remembered something in my stash that had something at all to do with X's!

This is a pattern I am working on in PC Stitch - Remy LeBeau aka Gambit, from the X-Men.



I have a little way to go yet - I have his cards, coat and hair mostly done, but his face and hand are much too pink!

And one of Logan - Wolverine - again, not finished:



Needs some confetti clean-up. He also has way too many un-needed floss colors right now.

These are both exported pattern pictures, using color blocks. They are somewhere between Witchykitt and HAED size.   Like I needed more huge projects!  But it will be awhile before I even start buying floss for them.  They just make me happy to work on, right now : D

W is for Wolves

Hoo boy - here we go again!

'In Harmony'


'Wild Call in Winter'


'Wolf Kiss'


'Soul Music' - this is one of the pattern-only kit 'leftovers' I bought on eBay.


'Circle of Wolves'


and this one.  'Wintry Wolf'.  Um.  I was in Hobby Lobby, which is even further away than JoAnn's (about 3 1/2 hours) and I had just gathered a huge amount of floss for HAEDs and was on my way out when I remembered I had a 40% off one item coupon and ducked into the kit aisle (oh, a store with a whole kit aisle!!! how I do love Hobby Lobby!) and I saw this.

























'Oooo', says I, 'never have I seen this kit before!'
'C'mon,' says my Mum, who was with me (naturally, since my Mum doesn't talk to me telepathically.  at least not yet) 'I want to go eat.'
'Fine, says I, and grab the kit, pay and leave.
And when I get home, only then do I behold the horror - three little words on the right side of the kit.
Stamped.
Cross.
Stitch.
STAMPED !
I do not do stamped!  I do counted!  I wail!  My mother finds this absolute hilarious and has no sympathy at all!
I decide (eventually) that no, it is not worth a 3 1/2 hour trip to take it back and get something else, and you know what?  I really like this picture.  Really.  I don't care if it is (shudder) stamped.  I'm stitchin' this beast.

Now I leave you with my last, the only WIP - 'White Wolves'.  Behold my massive progress!



Not quite as many Wolves as Tigers.  I always did like kitties best, I guess :D

Tomorrow is X!  I refuse to do 'X is for X-Stitch', and I have no Xylophone patterns, so I will be grasping at straws : D

V is for Vash

I honestly had no idea what to do for this letter.  Until I happened to glance at a picture hanging on my wall.

I love anime and manga.  Love it.  Japanese cartoon-movies and graphic novels.  They are not little-kid stuff.  Some of them have dark themes.  Some are really dramatic.  Some are full of angst and love stories and incredibly imaginative sci-fi futuristic plots.

One of the best is Trigun.  Once again, not for little kids.  Not even the cleaned-up version they show on Cartoon Network.  It's called a Space Western (!) and people die.  Lots of people.  And quite messily sometimes.

Then the next minute you're laughing out loud at this idiot - Vash.



Who, in the best tradition of anime, can go from this -



to this -



to this -



and beyond, in the blink of an eye.



Vash the Stampede, the sixty billion double-dollar man.  That's the reward that's on his head for destroying an entire city (which he can't remember doing, which is amusing at first and later it's really, really dark and serious.  I'm really not explaining this very well!)  He's also called the Humanoid  Typhoon.

Anyway, I adore Vash.  He's such an idiot! and then he turns around and is fierce and deadly and protective... I really recommend just watching some of the anime.  There's lots of it on youtube.  Lots of swearing, though, if you find the non-edited version.

I made a pattern of Vash in PCStitch a few years ago - the first one I made and then actually stitched!  Since he's all I could come up with for today, I thought I'd show you his progress shots.

I can't find the original picture, but this is the pattern picture.















Left half done:












And finished:



I also stitched Sprite versions of Vash, Wolfwood, Millie and Meryl, by Missy:



And that's 'V' done! For letter W - the last theme-collection of kits I have!

U is for Umbrella

A short post, to make up for yesterday!

I have one (1) yes, one! umbrella pattern!

'Umbrella Sky' by Marta Dahlig, from Heaven and Earth Designs, aka HAED.



She's worth a post to herself, though - she's lovely.  And weird.  Which makes her, in my opinion, pretty much perfect.  I'm particularly fond of the goldfish.

She's printed, kitted, and ready to start!



Y'know, someday...

PS - HAEDs are still on sale, until the 27th, at 45% off!  That makes QS patterns only like... $4.95, I think.  There will be more Hannah Lynn patterns in my stash soon!

T is for Tiger

TIGER, Tiger, burning bright

In the forest of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?





And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?





What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?





When the stars threw down their spears,

And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?







Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

- William Blake


(It's all stash.  I'm not allowed to die.)