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Ok, I haven’t updated in a little while. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been making things. Quite the contrary, really. Let me do a photo update in chronological order (which really saves the best for last anyway…)

First! The elephants. Yeah, they’re done. I’m not sure why, but now that it’s in threes, I don’t really like it as much as I thought I would. It still looks nice, but when it was finished, I didn’t feel the need to stare and marvel at it for hours like I usually do with completed projects. But anyway, here it is hanging above the window:

Second! I’m not going to share a picture of this one, partly because it’s still in progress and partly because of the nature of the project. My dad is a member of the National Cartoonist Society. He is putting together an NCS event honoring Frank Frazetta that’s taking place this fall. He’s asked the members of the NCS (who includes just about any cartoonist you can think of) to submit a caricature of Frazetta to put together in a scrapbook to present to him at the event. He asked for my help in putting it together, and in doing such, I get to put a caricature of my own in the book. Soooo, yeah. I’ve been working on that. It does, in fact, involve a woolly mammoth. Why wouldn’t it?

Third! Every once in a while, I pick up the crochet hook or knitting needles and just do something. I rarely actually turn it into anything and tell myself it’s just for practice. I’ve been “practicing” on a blanket since 2001. It’s just one of those things where I never finish what I start. So, I started something new. It’s just squares… They’re pretty versatile. I can make them as I feel and eventually turn them into something. A bag? A blanket? Who knows. But I’ve done 8 squares so far:

Fourth! In that huge box of beads I was working with last week, I found several pieces of jewelry that were already put together. They looked really old… They were made on regular string that was just, well, falling apart. I don’t know who originally made them. Big Mama? Granny? Mom? Who knows. It was done by someone in a previous generation. That’s all I know for sure. So I decided to take them apart and very carefully reconstruct them with sturdier material. They’re very vintage looking, but really quite neat:

Last! And best! And still in progress!

So, I keep seeing on the internets a bunch of people cross-stitching old pixelated video game characters like Mario and Zelda. I rarely played any of those Nintendo games. We were Sega kids… So why would I cross-stitch Mario? I wouldn’t, that’s why.
Instead, I tried to think of pixelated characters from my childhood. I bought some black cross-stitching fabric with the original intention of cross-stitching Missile Command from my Atari youth, but never got around to it. It just looked too easy. Something more complicated… Something more complicated…

One of my most favorite games ever! Sam & Max Hit the Road! Oh wow, did I ever play that game. Good old Lucas Arts with their good old pixels.

After working on it for a day and a half, I finished Max:

And no sooner did I start working on Sam:

As you can see, I’m not terribly far along with Sam, but let me tell you: That’s hours of work. And hours and hours. Either I’m extremely slow at cross-stitching (which is possible- my eyes aren’t great on small black surfaces) or it’s just one of the most time-consuming crafts there is. Right up there with quilting, crocheting, and knitting. Very tedious work, but I can’t wait to see the finished cross-stitch.

Fun!