skater43 stitches Zelda games

[skater43]

Very pleased with our progress since our last update. Most obvious thing is we've moved the hoop down. And, as you can see, we can stitch the bottom of the picture from here. So once we finish this hoop, we're heading to the right and starting our third column. But within this hoop we've done quite a bit. Had some nice big sections of colors, so that has helped move things along. Right where I'm stitching is this particular color, the patch at the top of the hoop is another color and the bit in the middle is two colors. So by the end of the week, we'll have this section of the train done for sure. And a lot of the train that curves under what we've done is patches of colors, too. Not saying we'll have this hoop done by next WIP, but the left half/two thirds will be. The right side of the hoop, to the right and down from the train light, under the blue and red is where Link starts, so we'll be doing at least part of one of his arms before we move the hoop. So looking forward to adding him to our picture and seeing how he turns out. For a reference point, the pen cap is about at the halfway mark right to left, so by the time we finish this hoop, we'll have finished all of the left half of the picture. However, I think the right side of the picture may have more fine detail stuff, as we get into Link and the other train cars, so I can't say we're over halfway done time-wise. 186 hours in now, including today's work (and we're caught up with this past weekend. I was able to stitch an hour and a half or so on Saturday and then did the same today to make up for yesterday, so we're still keeping with our average of an hour a day). Finishing near the end of December would put us at about 400 total hours, which I think is a fair estimate at this point. Of course, lot can change in the next few months, so we'll see how things shake out.

As for giving Dad his retirement picture, that was a huge success. Took him a sec to grasp that it wasn't just a picture, but one of my projects. And he was absolutely stunned and thrilled with it. He's got a couple of other retirement things up on the wall: recognition from the sheriff he retired from, local state representatives, and such, and he's hanging my picture right there with them, too. He was impressed with the fingerprint, so credit to my sister and friend for their tips, feedback, etc., and appreciated the text underneath. So all in all, we hit that one out of the park.

[Firehawke]

Congrats on moving the hoop...and yay for nice big sections! It's looking so good!

And I'm so glad to hear that your day loves your present!!!

[skater43]

Thank you. Love making progress and hoop moving is always a great sign of progress. Have one patch of color to do in the middle of the front of the train that I might be able to finish tomorrow, but likely early Saturday. Couple of colors on the front of the train are also on the bottom of the picture, so that's where we were working on some today. Next week will be more train stuff, rounding things out and I don't know, maybe we will be close to moving the hoop again before the next WIP pic, or shortly thereafter.

Yeah, that was really great to see Dad's reaction, especially after it dawned on him that it was one of my projects/that I'd made it for him. Better to give than to receive? Definitely.

[skater43]

Ended the week with some lost time, but overall, pleased with the progress we've made. Still have a little bit on the right side I want to do before we move the hoop, looking mostly at the white for the puffs down in the lower right corner, but next couple of days, we'll get the hoop moved to the right. We lost about a day with a couple of mistakes, but I don't think that would have made a difference as far as moving the hoop before this pic anyway. But start of stitching Friday, I realized the 15-20 stitches I'd finished Thursday with were the wrong color. So we had to undo/redo those. And then near the end of stitch time Friday, I again put in the wrong color. Grabbed two threads because they were both in the area I wanted to work and just put the wrong one in the wrong spot. So we lost another 10 or so minutes there undoing/redoing stuff. Not the end of the world, but a setback. But, I'd rather it be right and these things happen. But still, the fact that we almost did a whole hoop in these three weeks is impressive. 205 hours in now, through yesterday and we've done everything to the left of the halfway point. And up top, we've done quite a bit to the right of halfway, so 375ish hours will be our total time finishing this? 170 hours left would have us finishing mid-November or so, which is faster than previous estimations, but we'll see how the next few months go. The bottom right of the picture is going to be more intricate/slower going I think than the upper part, since we'll have Link and the other train cars, as opposed to sky and a tree, so getting through some of that will give us a better idea of when we'll finish. Does mean, too, that I need to start putting in some serious thought and effort into not only next year's GDQ stuff (AGDQ 2027 I've got a couple of possibles and just a matter of picking one and manipulating sprites. SGDQ 2026 I've got a concept, but not sure how to depict it), but also what I plan to do to represent Phantom Hourglass. Got some vague notions, but need to nail down something more concrete. So next few months, we'll be working on those ideas, too.

[blackmageheart]

Oh it's turning out so well! <3