September, October, November 2024

It's blog time again, and it's been a few months, so let's get to the WIPocalypse questions.

SEPTEMBER: How did you learn to stitch? I am predominantly self taught form a Learn to Stitch kit. Though I'm sure my mother taught me some embroidery when I was a kid

OCTOBER: How do you organize your WIPs and stash? I have a cabinet behind me that I keep most of my stash in, it's semi organized at the moment

NOVEMBER: How do you begin planning for the next year with your stitching? Tell us your process. I don't really plan much, I might have an idea for my next project and when I'm a month or so away from starting I'll start gathering the materials that I don't already have. But I don't have a year to year thing going on.

It's been a quite few months with the exception of a show tour to Ontario that I took. I saw 10 shows in 10 days, including going to the Stratford Festival which I have wanted to go to since I was a kid. Saw two shows in Toronto, Life of Pi, and Come From Away, it was my second time seeing Come From Away and it's an amazing show. Then it was on to Stratford, where I saw, Wendy and Peter Pan, Twelfth Night, La Cage Aux Folles, London Assurance, and Something Rotten. It was my second Twelfth Night of the year, and I have to say I preferred Bard on the Beaches version, but that doesn't mean that this one wasn't good as well, the highlight were La Cage and Something Rotten, probably my favorite two of the whole tour.

Then it was off to Niagara to see those amazing waterfall and to Niagara-on-the-Lake for the Show festival where I saw Witness For the Prosecution, Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Human Hearts, and My Fair Lady. It was an amazing trip.

Stitching wise I've been fairly busy. I've got quite a bit done on the Panna Elephants,

I finished the Mill Hill Fairy Garden 

And also another Mill Hill kit, Halloween Owl

I've also started a birth announcement thing for my nephews new baby girl, but no picture until they get it.

As For What I Watched

Critical Role and Quests And Chaos and I recently discovered No Roles Barred 

Bridgerton  - Season 3 - This was my favourite of the books and I did thoroughly enjoy it. There were a lot of changes, but they didn’t hurt the storyline.

Arrow Season 3

Flash - Season 1

Borderlands - Another movie based on a video game that I know nothing about, it was an enjoyable ride and the actors looked like they were having fun. I have no idea if it followed the game story at all, but I liked it.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit - It’s too bad they didn’t make more with Chris Pine.  He was the best Jack since Alec Baldwin for me,  and this one made me want to pull out the books again.

Flawless - A heist film my brother leant to me,  decent show elevated a little because it stars Michael Caine

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice - A little too slapstick for me, but made for an enjoyable evening out.

Twelfth Night - The Stratford Festival version from 1986, when this one first aired on TV it was my introduction to the play which has forever since been my favourite,  I am finally going to see it live at the Stratford Festival in October and in a funny full circle way the actor that played Viola (Seana McKenna) in 1986 is the director of the one I’m about to see, I can’t wait.

Transformers One - I enjoyed this one far more than the live action ones. Reminds me of the old cartoons.

The Wild Robot - A really good kids movie, intelligent storyline and really pretty to look at.

Red, White, and Royal Blue - A LGBT Romance about the First son and a royal Prince, it follows most of the usual romance tropes without being boring, I haven’t watched a romance in a while, forgot how much I liked them when well done

The Birdcage - I’ve been wanting to see this since I got tickets to La Cage aux Folles, and it finally showed up on Prime.  The play was a great deal better, but it was still fun

Red One - Santa gets kidnapped,  I enjoyed this one a lot more that I thought I would,

May, June, July, August, What Month is it anyway?

 Wow, I knew it had been a couple months, but I didn’t think I hadn’t updated since April, where did the time go? I have a few WIPapocalypse questions to get to, so let’s get to it.

MAY: How do you personally distinguish between a Work in Progress (WIP) and an Unfinished Object (UFO)? I actually don’t have any UFO’s so this question has no answer

JUNE: Half-year recap:  How are you doing with your goals so far this year? Pretty good actually, I finished Bellatrix, got a good start on the elephants, have nearly finished the Mill Hill Fairies and even did some Diamond Painting

JULY:  Which of your current WIPs do you consider your most difficult piece to stitch? That would be the fairies, the elephants are straight forward cross stitch, just the amount of greys and browns make it a slight bit challenging, but anytime you add beads (and I love adding beads) it gets more difficult(and fun)

AUGUST: Do you belong to any stitching groups or guilds (either in person or virtual)? If so, tell us about them. Only one, a very small virtual group that we call the Dragon Lordettes, there is just six of us, but it’s been going on for over a decade. We “met” way back in the heyday of DeviantArt

As for life during these last few months, it’s mainly been work and movies like normal, I did get back to Vancouver to see Twelfth Night at Bard on the Beach and the Celebration of Light Fireworks show. I also booked a trip to Iceland for June of next year.

Now for what I’ve been working on, I have the Mill Hill Fairy Garden, which I’m just starting the beading on

The Panna Elephants that I’m about half way on, maybe I’ll finish before the end of the year, but there is no rush

And I tried my first Diamond Painting that was my project all through the Olympics, what fun this was, and my brother gave me three more kits for my birthday. 

 As For What I Watched

Critical Role and it’s sister show Candela Obscura

The Great British Baking Show - Season 4

Doctor Who - The rest of Tennents reign

Sandman - Got the DVD for Christmas so I’m getting around to rewatching, such a good show

Shadow & Bone - Season 1 - I bought the book recently so I had to watch before I read it. Pretty good, though I might take a break before bingeing season 2

Dead Boy Detectives - Season 1 - Sort of a Sandman spinoff, a fun one, but lacking some of Sandman’s magic

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - Not the best Godzilla Movie I’ve seen this year but still an enjoyable entry, though I missed the last one of this series.  I should get it.

Daybreakers - One of those films that take place in the near future (2019) after a vampire plague has wiped out most of humanity.  This one is very good, 

The Fall Guy - I remember the original series, and this has very little to do with it, but boy was it fun, This one will be a must buy when it comes out.

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves - Speaking of buying, I just picked this one up. 

IF - The right one this time, very much a kids movie, which obviously doesnt’ bother me, it was charming and fun, with a couple unexpected twists. 

500 MPH Storm - One of many disaster movies from Asylum Pictures, now I’ll put up with a lot from disaster movies, but this one was like they only filmed every second page of what might have been a script. And the special effects were….. laughably bad. This one made Sharknado look like a masterpiece, and I didn’t even bother finishing it.

Inside Out 2 - This was as fun as the first, I really did enjoy it and actually hope they make a couple more sequels

Eurovision Song Contest - the Story of Fire Saga - This really is my type of movie, though I resisted watching it as I’m not a fan of Will Ferrell's brand of comedy, but this was wonderful, I’m so glad I finally go around to it.

The Super Mario Bro. Movie - Finally got around to this one, it was fun and cute, but not one I’d worry about buying

Fly Me to The Moon - I usually enjoy Channing Tatum movies and this was no exception, it is a humorous look at the events around the moon landing, and a very enjoyable watch.

Twisters - Now the original Twister is one of my all time favourite movies, and this is actually a pretty worthy sequel I really enjoyed it.

Twisters  and Fly me to The Moon  - I liked them both so much I saw them twice

Deadpool & Wolverine - It was a ton of fun, and I love seeing Hugh Jackman back as Wolverine

Twisters - Yes again, I loved it and had friends that wanted to go

April Update

 It's time for the April WIPocalypse update, the question of the month is 

Which designers have you discovered lately?

I haven't really discovered any new ones in the last couple years, Shannon Christine would be the last new one I really started with and that's been a while

I did get a couple finishes this month. I finished the Mill Hill ornament Aqua Mist Snowflake, with these ornaments I do two of the same and whip stitch them together to make a two sided ornament.

I also finally finished the heavily modified Bellatrix from Bella Filipina with colour modifications and wings done by Make it Pink for a stich-a-long with our small stitching group where we all did different colours of the same pattern. I've been working on here since the beginning of 2023, but she was always my back up piece until this January.

I also have made progress on the Mill Hill Fairies 

My next project will be some an Elephant kit from Panna that my brother gave me several years ago

 As For What I Watched

Critical Role and it’s sister show Candela Obscura

The Great British Baking Show - Season 4

Doctor Who - Most of Tennents reign

Shadow & Bone - Season 1 - I bought the book recently so I had to watch before I read it. Pretty good, though I might take a break before bingeing season 2

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - Not the best Godzilla Movie I’ve seen this year but still an enjoyable entry, though I missed the last one of this series.  I should get it.

Daybreakers - One of those films that take place in the near future (2019) after a vampire plague has wiped out most of humanity.  This one is very good, 

March Update

 It's been a good month all round, I booked a trip to Ontario in October it see a whole bunch of shows. A very disruptive person at work has quit, so it should be calmer there hopefully. And I got a bunch of stitching done. 

The WIPocalypse question on the month is What colors – and brands – of floss do you love using? Do you have a particular color that you absolutely love?

Brand wise I use the standard DMC and for the dreaded metallics I use Kreinik. as it makes the metallics a little less dreaded.  I can't say I have much of a brand preference for fabric, as long as it's evenweave I'm happy.  I do adore using Mill Hill kits. Colour wise give me pretty blues and greens I love them

So this month I finished the stitching and backstitching on Bellatrix so now all I have to do in the thousands of beads

I've also got a decent start on my Mill Hill Fairies back up piece finally.

As for what I watched 

Critical Role

Blown Away - All four seasons, I binged this one, it’s a standard reality competition just like the baking ones, but in this case it’s about making blown and sculptured glass.

Doctor Who - On to David Tennent, like many people, he is still my favorite.

Avatar the Last Airbender - Live action - This was pretty solid, I’m looking forward to the next season

Dune - Part 2 - This was really good, a lot of changes from the other two versions I’ve watched (I’ve never read the books) but that didn’t stop it from being a really entertaining and well done show. Also really terrific use of sound and music

Kung Fu Panda 4 - I haven’t seen 2 and 3 and didn’t really intend to see this, but I went to the theatre to see IF but I had misread and it was Imaginary that was playing.  I’m not into horror so I went to the movie that started next.  It was fun.

The School of Good and Evil - One of the kids at work recommended this Netflix movie to me, and she has good taste, I really enjoyed it. 

Cabrini - The story of the USA’s first saint, it was a really interesting movie and very well acted.

Just a Little Update

 It's time (or slightly past time) for the February WIPocalypse and the question on the month is

What stitch-a-longs (SALs) are you participating in this year? Well this one of course, and technically Bellatrix is sort of a SAL as my friends are doing it as well, but not really in any sort of order or plan.  There might be more to come, who can say

I do plan to do the focus month for March, strangely I always seem to miss this, but March looks good for me this year.  

So here is my progress on Bellatrix, I'm skipping the ornament this month as I'm on a roll with her and don't want to leave it. 

As for what I watched

Critical Role

Kelsey Dangerous’ Sims 4 playthroughs

Doctor Who - starting a rewatch. I do love Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor

WKRP in Cincinnati Season 1

Avatar the Last Airbender - Live action - Just watched the first couple episode and really enjoyed them, while not as good as the original, it is fun

Barbie - It was a playing again and a friend wanted to see it, so back I went

Argylle - This one was really good, a lot of fun unexpected twists and turns,  The trailer that seemed to show the whole movie actually hinted at very little of what was going on, so good

Dune Part 1 - Rewatch to prepare for Part 2

WIPocalypse January 2024

Will I actually keep up with this blog on a monthly basis this year, only time will tell. But going on tradition it's unlikely.  On the other hand it a new year and I'm off to a good start 

This months WIPocalypse question is Tell us about the oldest WIP you have in your stash.

That would be Bellatrix, from Bella Filipina, she's been my back up project for a while now, but as of the first of the year, she will be getting all my love, except for the one week a month set aside for ornaments.,

I had to look back and found that I actually started Bella in January 2022, what have a been doing the last couple years? She is suppose to look like the first image, but my friend Pinky (Make It Pink) revamped her so our friend group could do there own versions. As you can see, my Bella is heavily modified, and here's where she is now.

As for what I watched

Critical Role

Kelsey Dangerous’ Sims 4 playthroughs

Random stuff from Dropout TV including the start of Fantasy High

WKRP in Cincinnati - Season 1

His Dark Materials - Season 3 - This was my least favourite of the books and so it is with the show, but it’s still and enjoyable adaptation and very well done, I’ve just never liked the final end plot point.

Godzilla Minus One - This is the new Japanese Godzilla movie no connection with the Kaiju series with Kong. I heard a lot of great reviews so off I went, all the gushing was correct, this was an awesome movie. I highly recommend it to people who like disaster and/or monster movies

January 2024

Another year of WIPocalypse - the one thing that keeps this blog going, as usual posting on a Friday as that's my day off

Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!

I'm Nancy, known on most random sites such as Deviant Art  as Katjakay, I'm a baker in British Columbia, Canada and have been stitching for 18 years or thereabouts. I'm also a two at a time stitcher and almost always finish one before starting another, in other words my only WIP's are the one's I am currently working on. I have no UFO's, yes my stitching friends find this strange.  Last year I started doing Christmas ornament for one week a month and enjoyed it so much I'm implementing that again.

 So my projects at the moment are to finish Bellatrix by Bella Filipina designs. She's been my back up piece for a while, so this year she takes the lead and shouldn't take too long at this point

My ornaments are mainly Mill Hill ones, but other things might slip in as well, I just finished the final one of Polar Pals by Durene Jones and will fully finish them when I get around to it.

My secondary piece is Mill Hills Fairy Garden that I started on the cruise last year and set aside. This will be picked up again as soon as I finish the jigsaw puzzle that is on my working table

I also want to try diamond painting this year and bought myself one with a Christmas gift certificate. I'll probably work on it during the Olympics this year.

As for what I watched

Critical Role

Kelsey Dangerous’ Sims 4 playthroughs

Game of Thrones Season 8 - True it wasn’t as good as previous seasons, but it also wasn’t bad.

WKRP in Cincinnati - Season 1 - This was one of my favorites growing up and it holds up surprisingly well

His Dark Materials - Season 3 - This was my least favorite of the books so we’ll see how the season goes.

Wonka - So it was movie night and I didn’t know what to go to, so I went back to this, it was still good a second time.

Cinderella  - The jukebox musical one from 2021 with Camilia Cabello it’s light hearted and a lot of fun

Migration - Cute little animated comedy about a family of ducks

Year End 2023

 It's been a surprisingly good year for me, despite losing my father at the end of 2022 and having a summer of smoke (B.C. Wildfires, luckily none that close). I did finally get to go on my trip to the Antarctic and it was everything I had hoped for and more. I assumed that that one big trip would be it, but no, then I went to Vancouver for Stars on Ice and Matchbox20 and September was Bryan Adams in Kamloops and my nephews wedding in William's Lake

The WIPocalypse question of the month is: Recap your accomplishments for the year! (Your finishes, your final before/after photos, etc).

I had a really good stitching year, finally finishing The Lion King after 3 years

I was gifted the patter for the Gothic Cathedral Temperature stitch and finished it today (that's why this is a day late) 

And I did a ton of small things, mainly ornaments. the polar bear/penguin set have one to go and then I'll finish them all, all the Beaded ornaments are from Mill Hill kits, which I adore doing.

I need to find a new blogging site, this one drives me nuts with how it does photos, any suggestions?

Also I won a year long pass to the local theatre so my what I watched section should be full of new stuff this year

As for what I watched

Critical Role

Dimension 20

Kelsey Dangerous’ Sims 4 playthroughs

Game Of Thrones Season 7 and 8

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - I really enjoyed this, the story was intricate and had a lot of unexpected twists. I need to get the book now, and maybe even reread them all.

The Polar Express: The annual christmas movie watch

The Muppet Christmas Carol - The Best Christmas Carol movie, accept no substitutes….. Actually there several really good versions, this one just happens to be my favorite

White Christmas - It’s not Christmas without it.

Wonka - I was a little leery of this given how much I disliked the Johnny Depp version,  but this was actually fun and charming, and I’ll probably go back to it.