S is for Spike!!!

S is for Spike!  YAY!!!

Spike is my favorite!  (It's possible that I have mentioned that before :D )  I like him so much that a few years ago, I stitched this:

Spike starts out as a bad guy on Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.  I thought he was awesome from the very beginning, though, bad guy or not.  Later he's more of an anti-hero, is the way people usually put it.  He's got a very long story, too - even longer than Angel's.  Here's his LINK.   

Spike's actual name is William.  His historical 'Watcher' name is William the Bloody.  If the story he told Buffy about his turning is true, he was first called William the Bloody by his contemporaries in Victorian London, and it was short for William the Bloody Awful Poet.  He looked like this then:

Not a great pic, sorry, but it's hard to find more than a tiny screenshot.  After he was turned, he changed the William the Bloody title into something much more violent.  And he looked like this:

Spike is my favorite for two reasons - one is his character; he is a very unusual vampire!  For all the 'William the Bloody' name, he is much less violent than the rest of his vampire family, and he is still able to feel 'human' emotions, like loyalty and love.  He tried to turn his mother to keep her with him, although it didn't work like he wanted.  Even she couldn't feel love after she was turned and was very nasty to him.  He loved Drusilla, whether she is his Sister or his Sire, and took care of her for over a hundred years after Angelus became Angel and abandoned them.  He loved Buffy before and after he got his soul.

Also, there's the fact that he deliberately sought to get his soul returned and suffered through the Trials for it, when Angel was cursed with his soul. Yet Angel is somehow better than Spike... and completely forgiven for all the mean things he does when he's Angelus when Spike is treated like dirt no matter what.  (I feel very offended for Spike, haha!)  Spike is also very snarky, sarcastic, and hilarious!  Beyond that, he is an awesome fighter; his other historical name is the Slayer of Slayers.  He is responsible for at least two confirmed Slayer deaths.  No other vampire is listed as having even one.

The cigarette is not my favorite symbol of Spike, but I guess his duster or his Doc Martins would have been too complicated?  Anyway, he often has an unlit cigarette in his hand or in the corner of his mouth.  It's actually very rarely lit, but that is not pointed out in the show.

Spike is played by James Marsters:

Like this:

  

That is the other reason why Spike is my favorite!

B is for Buffy

'B' is for Buffy in my Whedon-verse alphabet :D

Don't let the shiny satin floss fool you, it's not actually that messy :D

Buffy is the title character in Buffy: the Vampire Slayer.  Here's a LINK for her.  I'm not going to go in to her history and storyline as it is very detailed and complicated!  In the show, Buffy is played by Sarah Michelle Gellar:

Buffy first appeared in a movie where the 'Shallow-Cheerleader-is-a-Vampire-Slayer' was done for laughs.  Love the movie!!!

I love the show, too, but they are both entirely different in the atmosphere (and definitely the seriousness level).

The show is full of crosses, but I think the cross symbol was chosen for the project because Buffy usually wears a cross necklace (also given to her by Angel) in most of the episodes.

Buffy's a great character, though I will admit that I like her better in the earlier seasons before her story started getting really dark and convoluted.  Also, if there was no Buffy there would be no Xander, no Drusilla, no Angel, no Giles.

And no Spike.

Spike is my favorite.

'A' is for Angel

Ta-da!  My post is earlier than I thought it would be :D

Day one I actually got the letter done.  I hold out no hopes for the rest of the month, haha!

I did make some changes - dark red for the border, instead of purple, and instead of gold Light Effects for the big letters, some gold satin floss I already had.  It's very shiny and pretty!

Angel is the good-guy (most of the time) vampire in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and in the spin-off 'Angel; the Series'.  He's played by David Boreanaz.

Here's a LINK to read about him if you like :D  I like this part best: 'SFX magazine named Angel as the third greatest vampire in television and film, with rival Spike in first place. They claim that, while he could have worked simply as a brooding love-interest (Buffy) or redemption-seeking hero (Angel), the character also has a "wonderfully appealing, self-effacing humour, helped no end by Boreanaz's ability to look like a slapped puppy".'

I do like the character, but Spike is my favorite!  Angel is either Spike's Sire or Grand-Sire, depending on if you follow the fandom belief that when Spike told Buffy his backstory, he was telling a big ol' romantic-style fib because he thought she'd like it better.

Anyway!  The image with the 'A' is the Claddagh ring that Angel gave to Buffy before he turned back into Angelus, the bad-guy vampire.  When he's Angel, he has his soul, when he loses his soul, he's Angelus.  He loses it more than once - the curse that gave him his soul has more loopholes than a lace doily.

I'll be back tomorrow with letter 'B'!

Maybe a Bit Faster

Loki and Thor are now done:


Very handsome!  I stitched them and the next two Sprites on light blue fabric.  Looks grey, but it isn't.

I stitched two more outlines - Mr Scary-Skull-Face and Mr Could-Be-Anybody



Then turned them into Iron Man and Captain America.  I love Sprites!  Thanks, Missy!


I stitched Iron Man's arc reactor with bright white rayon floss for a little extra glow.  You can tell a little in the picture - the other white is B5200 - and it looks great in real life!

I finished the stocking:



And I had some issues with the Chibi of Severus, the main one being....


AAAAGGHHH!  He looks terrifying!  LOL!!! I'm hoping he improves with the other skin shade, otherwise I'm ripping that out and stitching some lighter color.  My other issue was that his eyebrows were in the darkest skin tone (actually a light brown) on the pattern, and that didn't look right - so I went and looked at the finished pic, and yup, they were supposed to be black.  Much better.

And that's mostly it, 'cause I ended up working a few extra shifts and got very little done on the cat-chair.

This weekend is IHSW, so I'm pulling Lovers back out for a few days - so next Wednesday will be kinda skimpy on Sprint-Stitching progress.  Ah, well.

Framing and a Finish (Picture Heavy)

I know, it's been forever!
I'm so sorry!
And wow! I have 101 followers!  When did THAT happen?!

I haven't been stitching much this summer - too much pool and jigsaw puzzles! But I have gotten some framing done and a little finish to show you guys :D




Going to Market  is now hanging on my Mum's wall in her Africa/jungle themed den.  She already had this frame and the glass, I only had to pay for the mat and the work.




Mermaid of the Deep will soon be hanging on my living room wall, as soon as I figure out where. Sorry for the flash burn, it was impossible to get her focused without it.  The framer chose to pick up the weird skin tones in her tummy for the mat - I like it!




I don't remember the name of this kit, but it's going in my living room, too.  I got the antique frame at a flea market, and the framer added the mat and glass.  The Mermaid's frame color was chosen to match the gold trim on this one.



and doesn't Spike look gorgeous?  I couldn't figure out how he was going to be framed so that he wouldn't blend into the mat, but my framer said to trust her and I'm glad I did!

Total for getting these four pieces framed?  $46.23!!!  I love my framing shop!!!  Small, independent business for the win!  :D :D :D

And here's my finish - 'Welcome Guests' by 2Needles.



I can frame this one myself - just got to get around to washing and pressing it!  It's roughly 5x7, and one of my Crazy January starts.

Four Fine Finishes :D

Sorry about the title, couldn 't resist the alliteration...

I've been way behind on my Bride's Tree SAL - I got stuck on June's 'fruit' theme - I wanted some small cherries, hopefully slightly realistic looking. For some reason, a pattern like that, free or purchased, I just couldn't find.

So I kinda winged it, and here are my Cherries:




I finished them easily, in a day, because they are tiny, so I decided to move right on to July's 'fish' theme. The Bride's Tree blog had a link to another tiny pattern, so here's my fish:

Done in less than an hour! And I adore him! I think he's so cute - I want to make more, lol! I've got special finishing ideas for both of these, so I wanted them to be tiny.

I finished this month's ornament kit a few days ago:





I think this makes seven this year.

And ...finally!
Here he is, in all his completed 10,000 stithes glory...




Spike!

My favorite-est vampire ever!
Patten: PC Stitch, from an online avatar pic
Stitched with DMC on 14ct antique white
About 8x8 inches square. Finished on 8/27/10

Now... what next? I think I'll do a motif on Mary and dig out my Angel of Grace...

Black, Black, Black...

I got lots of the black done on Spike - I didn't even work on any of the other colors for a while. I have now, but it was after I took this pic. I'm hoping to show him off finished, soon :D

Here's my latest Bride's Tree ornie - this one was for May or June... the theme was 'Birds'. The next theme I'll be doing is 'Fish', but I haven't found any small fish design that I like yet.

And here's my start on the July-December SAL at HAED - 'SK Sunny' by Myka Jelina. Once again, she will be for my sister when she's done. She's much bigger than the Mermaid that I'm working on; wider and a whole lot taller.

I'm trying out gridding for the first time with her! I can't remember where I saw this style of gridding explained, but it's supposed to pull out very easily. I didn't have the nerve to actually mark the fabric with dressmaker's markers like some people do; her skin is all stitched with B5200 and with my luck it wouldn't fade and would show through forever. Here's what she'll look like done:

I Did Not Die...

I just vanished for a while!

Had some dental problems and I've been really busy besides that.

I've got a little progress to show though -

My Mermaid has a completed face!

And Spike nearly has one, too!

I'll show off the few little things I got done tomorrow or the next day.

Some Progress

Here's my mermaid after her monthly 10 hours:

She's gone from looking like an alien to looking like she has leprosy O__o

And here's my 'fanart' of Spike after his first 10 hours in a looooooooooong time:

I finished the dark green background and I've moved on to his face and the seemingly vast expanse of black that I have to stitch :D I'd say he's very close to being halfway done if he isn't already. He is one of the six projects I want to try and finish this year, and I've moved him up to be the 'focus' of my rotation now that Going to Market is done.

I'm working on Angel of Grace now! I should have a pic of her soon!

2010 Goals in Pictures

Alternate Title: I Was Playing With My New Camera

I didn't stick to my 2009 goals very much, so I thought I'd try again this year.

These are the major WIPs that I'd like to finish:

From left to rights, starting at the top, they are 'Going to Market', 'Frederick the Literate', 'Brinkerhoff Home', 'Archangel', 'Angel of Grace' and 'Spike'.

.

This is the next Bucilla Christmas kit I'll be stitching (I let my Mum pick from the four I have left):

These are some ornaments that I've had stuffed in a drawer forever and I decided I I want to stitch this year:

I have one more already started that I forgot to take a picture of. It's a snowman with a birdhouse.

Let's see... also, I joined the Bride's Tree SAL.

I want to stitch one motif on 'Mary Wigham' each month.

I also want to finish the 'Mermaid of the Deep SK' freebie SAL at HAED.

Here's my start:

.
I'm not going to list what I want to start! Plus I'd also like to finish my DB & SIL's wedding sampler. It's barely started, not much worth a pic yet.

Hope you're all having a fun New Year's Day! Or at least a quiet, peaceful one :D