May WIPocalypse

May seemed both long and short, I don't know the last few months have just being weird, seemed like a good time to treat myself to something I've wanted for years, to make up for all my 2020 vacation plans being cancelled. Behold! Swords

The Question of the month is Tell us about a piece that you absolutely loved stitching.
That would be my beloved Stroke of Midnight by Theresa Wentzler, There is so much detail to this and it took me two year and I adore her.

My projects this month include some more work done on The Lion King

Another bird from the Bird and Blackwork SAL by Lesley Teare

And this thing  from ShitPostSamplers I saw this pattern during the time at work we called hell week, that crazy time when every one "needed" all the toilet paper and bread. it made me laugh so hard that I had to stitch it.

As for what I watched

Critical Role: and Talks Machina 

Legends of Tomorrow S1 - At some point I’ll watch all the CW DC shows in order, but this is not that time, I got this one as a gift and wanted to see if I liked it enough to buy it all - I do.

Jack Ryan - S1 - Ep 1-3 No surprise that I had to give this a try, I’ve loved
the character of Jack Ryan since The Hunt for Red October Came out.

Upload - Season 1 - The trailers for this series made me interested despite the
fact that it seemed to be billed as a sitcom (which I don’t like) so I geave it a try, turned out to be a pretty solid mystery with a good cliffhanger ending. I’m looking forward to Season 2 if there is one.

Guys and Dolls - There seems to be a lot of musical in “G” and this is the first, Don’t quite know how Marlon Brando ended up in this with Frank Sinatra but he does a marvellous job.

By Jeeves - Another one from Andrew Lloyd Webber and the Shows Must Go On,  I’ve never heard of this one before which is a shame because it was awesome, and full out farce of a comedy instead of his usual high drama stuff, I adored this.

Gattaca - I’ve always loved this one and it’s hard to believe it’s already over 20 years old.  And as the science fiction in it becomes closer to reality it gets scarier and scarier.  Basically it’s a really smart sci-fi with a murder mystery wrapped in it,  also the first movie I ever saw Jude Law in, I’ve been a fan ever since.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks - Just got it on DVD so had to rewatch, it is now and always will be brilliant.

Great Big Sea - The Great Big DVD - Just a concert of my favourite band, wonderful background to learning how to clean the
VCR.

Geostorm - Solid disaster movie with a side of political intrigue.

April WIPocalypse

This month has probably being just like most peoples, I go to work, I come home and I stay away from people, which actually is what I do even when the world doesn't demand it.
The Question of the month is Talk to us about your longest-running WIP or UFO.
That would be this Dimensions kit I started it on January 1st during the 39 hour power outage (maybe the weird start to the year was a sign) I had planned to work on it a lot during the curling but then all sports were cancelled, but now that the nights are a little later I can work on it during Jeopardy so it has got some love the last few weeks

I finished the April Bird from the Lesley Teare SAL and can't wait for May's

I also finished the Shadow Queen from  Make It Pink 

I also started a fun rude little stitch from Sh*tpost Samplers called New Plan that made me smile during the hell week at work when everyone was hoarding Toilet Paper and Baked goods, it's going to be my project to look back on to remember the insanity once we get back to some form of normal

I did get a little done on Lion King, but not enough to show off, 

As for what I watched

Critical Role: and Talks Machina  
Supernatural S14 E14-20 S15 1- 13  Okay I’m ready and waiting for the series finale

The Witcher - A pretty solid fantasy series I know none of the background of this but still thoroughly enjoyed it.

Step Up 2: The Streets - The romance and story of this one is pretty generic, but it does introduce some side characters that are in more of the movies especially Moose who really should have being the star at some point, he’s great.  On the other hand the final dance of this movie is flat out spectacular 

Step Up 3 - This one was far more about the dance than the story,  and could never quite decide who the main character was.  But great dance as always, my only complaint about this one is they brought back Alyson Stoner’s character from the first movie, kept the same name but completely changed her character and backstory.

Step Up: Revolution - I enjoyed this one so much I didn’t get much stitching done.  While it still had the obligatory generic romance, the rest of the story was pretty good and the dance scenes were truly stellar. I have one to go, but this is probably my favourite after the  original

Step Up: All In - Similar story to all the rest, but this one does manage to get at least one dancer from all the other movies, I loved it just like all the others, 

Saltimbanco - 25ish years ago I rented this on a rent 2 get one free deal and I grabbed this at random, so this was the beginning of my Cirque du Soliel obsession.  It’s amazing and still gives me chills. I did get to see it live about 10 years ago as one of the 9 I’ve seen live, was supposed to see Axel (my tenth) this year, but it’s been cancelled, sigh. 

The Phantom of the Opera - Live from Albert Hall - I love this thing the theatre are doing about putting plays on YouTube for free during the pandemic,  Phantom is special to me, it was the first big show I saw live well over 20 years ago, My only complaint about this particular production was that the chandelier did not fall or rise for that matter, other than that, this was glorious

Love Never Dies -  Sequal to the Phantom and I’m really not sure yet how I feel about it yet, but the music was glorious so I’ll leave it at that.

Twelfth Night - Another live stage show from YouTube, gotta love all of these.  This is my favourite play and this version did not disappoint, 

Goldeneye - This Bond movie have both Pierce Brosnon and Sean Bean, so it’s got a great cast, but I seem to have lost my taste for Bond in the last few years, I think this one gets given to Mom.

March WIPocalypse - Title seems more apt than usual

I told myself I wasn't going to miss any months this year, that lasted one month oops.  Though in my defence the reason I missed February was because our whole family picked up a nasty (normal) flu, right at the end of the month, and I spent the end of February pretending to be a limp noodle.  So I have lots to show, though my upstairs stitch that usual gets a boost in March thanks to World Curling Championships, has not been touched, poor thing is sadly ignored at the moment thanks to the state of the world. 
So February question was In honour of “Leap Year,” tell the story of a time you had to make some sort of a “leap” in stitching – taking the chance on a new style of stitching, attending a meetup or class, etc.
This would have to be when I did the Vimy Ridge Sampler, I am for the most part strictly a standard cross stitcher, but I really wanted to do this piece for the fall fair that year and took a chance that I would figure all the other types of stitches out.  It was so much fun.

March Question is  Have you ever adopted a piece from someone else or gave up a piece to someone else? Which piece and why?
And this one is short, because the answer is no, I never have.

So I have two months of stitching to show, and I seem to be in the mood for smaller stuff at the moment,  I'm a grocery store baker, so I haven't been isolating, though I have been able to stay at home more on my days off which is nice.  I'll start with the big one - Lion King, this one is going to be slower going than usual for me, since I already have my fall fair piece for this year I'm not in a rush, so I've distracted myself with smalls. 

Mathysphere had a quick little Pi day SAL from March 1st to 14th, a pattern a day, but the trick was all the patterns were puzzles,  math, crossword, and even origami, it was so much fun, though I did realized how much math skills I've forgotten

I'm also doing the Lesley Teare Birds and Blackwork SAL so here are the first three months of that. All taken in completely different lighting, oops, fabric colour is closest to the last pic

And one more project is  the Princess Peach Stained Glass Pattern from Make it Pink, the Shadow variation, thinking I might stitch four of these and make a tower.

As for what I watched

Critical Role: and Talks Machina 

Quests and Chaos - Pandemic Legacy Season 1 and 2 - Another streaming board game show, I wanted to watch Pandemic Legacy and tried several different ones until I landed on Quests and Chaos, I like their dynamic and will probably move on to some of their other board games.

Teen Wolf  S5-6  I really enjoyed this series, but I tend to enjoy supernatural dramas so not really a surprise,

Supernatural S14 E1-10  Somehow I managed to fall behind on my beloved Supernatural and I want to catch up before the series ends, which just became easier as they had to halt production while filming the second to last episode

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider:  Enjoyed it just as much this time, thisone is far superior to the Angelina Jolie version, Alicia Vikander                                                              gives Lara far more personality

The Dark Tower - I meant to see this when it was in theatres, but I failed, so Walmart's boxing day sale was handy.  I read the book umpteen years ago and don’t remember it much which is how I like it for movies, This was a solid supernatural adventure, nothing spectacular, but not a waste of time either.

The Spiderwick Chronicles - This is such a fun kids movie, I adore it every
time I watch it.


The Stand - Mini series from the 90’s of Stephen King’s book I remember watching all but the last part back then, so when I found this dead cheap at Walmart I figured it was work $3 to see how it ended, and it was.  Not a favourite but still a fun.

Onward - The latest from Pixar and as per usual it was great, so geeky in all the best ways.

Stardust - I love how Neil Gaimen twists stories, and I really need to read this book, I have it, I just haven’t got around to it yet.  Anyways, the movie is wonderfully charming and well done, I rather adore it.


The Sum of All Fears - Another I should read this book - movies, Though I have read and enjoyed several of the Jack Ryan books, I love all the Jack Ryan movies but none of them are particularly related to one another, They are such smart action adventure shows, also this one stars Ben Affleck and he’s a favourite of mine.


Step Up - A movie like this depends a lot on the final dance and this one delivers.  This is one of my all time favourite movies, the story is good to, a little more serious than the typical dance movie which is another thing that elevates this one.

January WIPocalypse

So one month in of the new year and all of winter has decided to happen in this month, that should mean the spring starts in February? On the other hand, cold and snow does keep me inside to stitch so that's something. 
The question of the month is What SALs are you participating in this year?
Other than this one I plan on doing the Lesley Teare Birds and Blackwork Flowers SAL which I shall be starting as soon as I finish this blog, 
I finish January with a Finish - as just today I completed this baby name thingy that I adapted from a larger pattern by Smart Cross Stitch on Etsy, starting the year with a dragon is the best thing

The piece is just under 8X10" which makes it the biggest baby thingy I've done, I have tried to keep them all close to the same size but failed on this one because DRAGON
But this does mean it's time to start The Lion King and I can't wait

As for what I watched
Critical Role: and Talks Machina 

Quests and Chaos - I was looking for a play through of Pandemic Legacy and came across these streamers I enjoyed them so much I’m now watching them play Betrayal Legace

Jumanji: The Next Level - I was never a huge fan of the Robin Williams original, but boy are the Dwayne Johnson/Karen Gillian ones fun.

Clueless - Finally got this on DVD, it is  teen romantic comedy done right, incredibly outdated in fashion and slang, but that doesn’t matter because it is timeless

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Everything you’d expect from Star Wars, and a thoroughly enjoyable night out, also the cameo by Wedge made me inordinately happy