Of course long time, no stitch, as well.
This past weekend I went to visit some friends and have a stitchy get together. I'll blog all about that later (tomorrow? Friday? I dunno!) I'll even blog WIPocalypse soon, because I have an actual update (yippee!) But for now, let's talk about PUPs
PUPs is something my friend Terri said she does with her quilt guild (I could be wrong, don't thwap me if I am). Their group has Poor Unfinished Projects, and people bring a few to the guild meeting and they have to focus on finishing it over the next timespan.
My stitching group decided to adopt PUPs and (some of us, the deadline isn't for a couple of weeks) put some PUPs up to vote on finishing by next year. I chose Fantasy Sampler, BoInk, and Freshwater Pearls. I had intended to finish them up this year, but then house stuff and health stuff and puppers got in the way (I'm not sad about the pupper, because she's great, I am a little miffed about the house issue, because it had to do with someone else not doing their job and I will never hire that handyman again... I digress). Oh, and Diablo. I've been playing a couple of the seasons, I SWEAR I'll get to Level 70 Greater Rifts someday! In the meantime, I'm just having fun being a Necromancer ;)
Back to PUPs...
Here is where the three of them currently stand:
What totally surprised me is that (so far), BoInk is off to a VERY strong lead (5-1), so it looks like BoInk will most likely be my 2018 PUP. I think that because it was a mystery broken into smaller blocks, I can break it down into nice segments; but I'm super happy I have a reason to focus on it. To be perfectly honest, I thought that Fantasy Sampler would be the one.
Which brings me to another topic: Teresa Wentzler.
The topic was brought up in the TW group on FB that she had taken down all of her dragon patterns from PatternsOnline. Someone asked her about it in the comments of a recent blog post and she mentioned that she'd taken them down and would not care to discuss it, but used language that pretty much screams "religious reasons." I'm not gonna lie - I'm super bummed about it. I do not have a lot of love of religions, particularly not more strict or extreme ones. I also remember how much she would enjoy talking about her dragon designs and she expressed a great fondness for dragons at various stitching shows where I met her. I think it sucks. I had also sold a few charts because I thought "oh well, I can always get them on POL" only... maybe not so much any more. I did keep the most "important" charts (those I think I have a real shot at doing), but I suppose I'll have to stop drawing on my originals.
I remember being heart broken when she announced her retirement. We had a glimmer of hope when she posted a small shot of Illuminata way back when, but I know she's stopped stitching because of her arthritis and she likes to stitch her own pieces (not just design them on a computer), so we'll never see that piece.
I think when I work on TW pieces, it'll be with a little stab of sadness that she doesn't take the pride she should in some amazing designs.
And because it's Wednesday, let's end on a positive note with a WIP Wednesday!
Zenia by Mirabilia!
I won't be stitching the "frame" or whatever that was around her. I just want the witch in a beautiful red dress with a cocktail in her hand. She's being stitched on Storm by PTP, and I'm liking it so much that I'm thinking I might use it for Red when I get around to stitching her.
Oh I just love Freshwater Pearls but any of your WIPs is great indeed. I started BoInk and quickly gave up haha. I stitched TW's freebie Stretch while collecting her dragon charts. Then I realized how difficult she was to stitch. I finished Stretch and promised myself to not stitch her again haha. I didn't enjoy the color combos and the hard backstitching instructions. Sorry to hear she pulled her dragons though. She did a GORGEOUS job with them. Zenia looks great!
ReplyDeleteThanks! And I totally still intend to finish stitching Freshwater Pearls... I find that I stitch so much more in the fall/winter, when the weather is yucky than the summer when I can do so much more in the yard and outside (I just can't handle cold at all, and I know people make fun of me, but NC is at the edge of "too cold" for this extreme heat lover!).
DeleteI have two large TW's finished - Storyteller and Egyptian Sampler, and I just think they're so beautiful. Her color schemes are my favorite, and I still intend on stitching The Castle Sampler, but I really, really want to get done with other WIPs that have been languishing first :)
That does remind me that I need to frame my Stretch :)
Nice to see the old UFOs coming out to play. Both BoINK and Fantasy Sampler are on my list of stuff to stitch one day.
ReplyDeleteI'm also very upset about Teresa Wentzler, not so much that we can't buy the charts as I have most of them but that she is being distanced from her work that she loved so much. Those dragons bring so much joy to people.
re: Teresa - Right? I mean, I remember how much she used to love/enjoy those dragons. I just can't imagine having that taken away after all of the joy it once gave you.
DeleteI love the term 'PUPs' - it sound so much friendlier than 'UFO', like you are really taking care of some poor abandoned little critter, haha. All three of your projects are lovely, so I won't be sad regardless of which one wins.
ReplyDeleteTW's decision to pull her dragons really bummed me out as well :( I am glad enough to have most of them (the only ones missing that I'd really be interested in stitching are the Keeper of Needles and that Dragons hidding in the roses...Tracery Dragons or something?), but with her giving that little information (which I understand...I wouldn't want to discuss my religion with random people online, either!) it just leaves so much room for speculations. I'm scared she has fallen pray to some kind of extremist sect, and that she might start pulling off her other fantasy designs as well!
As to also end on a happy note, I do love Zenia - in fact, the whole Bewitching Pixies series are probably among my favourite Mirabilia designs ever :)
Yeah, I mean, it's so sad to go from being happy about creating beautiful creatures and then being ashamed of them :(
DeleteI think of all of the smaller 'faceless' designs, her Bewitching Pixies are her best :)