First of all, I'm finally starting to figure out (thanks to Carla, mostly) some of the things important to this whole blog-thingie - like putting lots and lots of colorful buttons there on the right, each representing a intersting project I intend to take part in! From top to bottom, we now have
2014: The Year of the Magnificent Teresa Wentzler, which I already explained about in my last post - stitching as many of her wonderful designs as possible during the course of the year
Stitch from Stash - the wonderful idea to 'force' each participant into using all this supplies that lurk in corners long forgotten instead of continuing to buy lots of new and shiny stuff we'll never use anyway - by limiting the stitching-budget to 25$ a month (or maybe €, in my case, since everything seems to be so much more expensive over here). I'm not that much of a horder when it comes to stitching, honestly, but over the last few months there was a lot og 'Oh look, it's on sale' and 'I really need to order from this shop, but the 5€ of wares is hardly word the shipping cost - let's get something else!', and now I have like half a dozend unopend kits lying around, on top of the supplies for my two big TW-projects. So I'll try to reduce that a little, saving some money - I do plan to move out be the end of the year, so my funds could be used to better ands than more and more suplus stitching supplies, huh?
International Hermit & Stitch Weekend, which requires (or rather encourages) participants to dedicate one weekend a month as purely as possible to stitching - which I do sometimes anyway, but I hope it will be a ahole new experience to do so conciously, and also, I'm in for the chatting with and getting to know lots and lots of stitchers from all over the world
WIPocalpsye, a pretty awesom all-year-long stitch along, because I love stitch alongs and find them highly encouraging, and I'm pretty proud that only one of the projects I started in 2013 remains unfinished, and I want to do just as good next year.
I suppose I still have lots to figure out about the layout here - for example, why are there ugly white borders on my shiny, pretty buttons when I used transparent pictures? - but I'll find the time for that eventually, so for now, let's just concentrate on the written content of this blog, mkay? I'm aiming for somewhat weekly updates, but no promises - life doesn't like to be planned ahead, if I learned one thing about it thus far.
Anyways, it looks like next year will be pretty busy for me - not only with stitching, but also with my other hobbies: My friend Steffi (who's also responsible for me starting Final Fantasy XIV some month ago, which is way away from finished still *coughs*) gave me Atelier Meruru for Christmas, part of one of my favourite video game series ever, and my boyfriend overdid himself by presenting me with Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix, the remake of two parts of another of my favourite series, and then I also preordered Final Fantasy X|X-2 HD and Tales of Symphonia Chronicles since I couldn't pass on this awesome Collector's Edition with the cute little figurines, and don't even get me started on all this other games that still lurk on my HDD and on my shelves. Oh well. I won't get into any more details now, but I'll keep you updated on my progress with this enormous heap of entertainment, provided anyone actually wants to read it xD
On the other hands, I also got my very first ebook-reader for christmas, the simple, non-touch version of the amazon kindle - I was pretty suspicious of reading on such a thing as I'm a big fan of paper, so I wanted to start with something non-expensive. And I have to admit, I love it! It's great how many books fit on such a small device, the display is reaaaly comfortable to the eyes, and I got the cover with an integrated lamp, so I can even read after dark. Sure, the kindle with its amazon-only-purchases might not be the best choice when it comes to buying books, but I'm manly using it to read old, free books anyway, since if I'm going to pay full price, I'd stil lrather have a physical copy than just some data. So I started by plundering Project Gutenberg which has some really great classics which are no longer unter copy right protection, and I started this christmas by reading the Christmas Carol for what I have to admit the first time in my life. To my defense, it's not really standard reading in non-english speeking countries, I guess, but nevertheless I regret waiting for the long, I loved it. Next up is The Complete Sherlock Holmes, which I now am reading in paralel with A Dance With Dragons (the latter one on paper) which I already started some time ago. And then there are some other fifty or so books already downloaded and waiting for me. Anyone knows of a cheap cloning facility? I get the feeling that one of me is just not going to be enough...
Okay, but enough rambling now, back to stitching! I decided that starting tomorrow at midnight (right after kissing my boyfriend, with whom I will spend the occasion, and calling everyone to wish them a Happy New Year) I'll start working on Peacock Tapestry. I spent some time studying the pattern, which seems really challenging, and I can't wait, it's sitting there on my bed and looking so absolutely tempting - narf, still 27 hours to go. So, to officially start this, here is my 'WIP Zero' of Peacock Tapestry by Teresa Wentzler:
And with that (way to much text again already), I'm taking my leave for now - still some packing and stuff left to do before I leave tomorrow. I hope all of you will safely arrive in 2014 and may the new year welcome you with open arms, lots of time and happy stitching!
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