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.

Three Months Later

 Somehow I keep getting later and later at this blog, so I'll get this months up early, of course that will have to include the two months before as well

September question: Are you a seasonal stitcher? If so, which seasons do you find yourself more productive or less productive?

I am not a seasonal stitcher in the slightest. 

October question: How do you begin planning for the next year with your stitching? Tell us your process.

I honestly don't plan a lot, it's just a case of finish the one I'm working on, and sometimes I have a vague idea of what I want to do next, sometimes I just wing it.

November question: What is your favorite way to finish ornaments and/or smalls?

Whenever possible I like to have it two sided and finish with whip stitch, this does work best on biscournu style or Mill hill snowflakes.  After that I will look up a method that will work best. 

So progress for the last few months has been mainly on the Temperatures stitch and once November started I dropped pretty much everything and started in on ornaments, I'm having such fun with them.

So here is September and October of the Temperature stitch 

And Two more from the Durene Jones Polar Pals collection

And Three more Mill Hill Ornaments

Star Crystal

Golden Snowflake

Crystal Snowflake

I'm sure I have some progress on Bellatrix, but I put her away for ornament season and forgot to take a progress shot, I'll have one next month.

As for what I watched

Critical Role

Dimension 20

Kelsey Dangerous’ Sims 4 playthroughs

Game of Thrones Season 5 and 6 Now I’m caught up to where I watched originally 

Men with Brooms - This  Canadian movie about curling is as ridiculous as it gets, it’s so fun.

Mulan - An absolute favorite I love the story and the music and everything about it.Mulan 2 - However I’m not sure why this even exists, but I got it in a two pack so it had to be watched.

Barbie - I enjoyed it so much I went back

The Martian - one is brilliant, it’s smart and funny and heartwarming, everything I love about a disaster movie

Also it has been determined that the movies have spent up to 900 million USD  rescuing Matt Damon. My Big Fat Greek Wedding - It’s so hilarious and romantic, the perfect summer foil to action movies, which is why it did so well when it first came out, kind of like the Barbie movie this year.  

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 - It’s a decent sequel for a movie that didn’t need one

A Haunting in Venice - I rather loved this, Kenneth Branagh isn’t my favourite Poirot at all, but the movie itself is wonderfully atmospheric, he directed it brilliantly and the cinematographer was amazing

Branded - My brother leant me this, possibly to get it out of his house quicker, this is a weird movie about the evils of advertising that weirdly takes place in Russia and morphs into a strange alien movie, it actually sounds better than it is.

My Fair Lady - This was the first movie I ever bought, way back in the 80’s on VHS, rather appropriate that it’s one of the few Blu-rays I own now. There is a reason this is the last movie of my movie project, it has always been my very favorite there is so much joy to this movie and I can’t even count the number of times I’ve watched it, but I love it to death every time.

 And that is it.  I have now watched every movie (not series) I own, it only took me 10 years

Ba’al: The Storm God - Another low budget disaster movie my brother leant me. This one has a decent storyline and a supernatural aspect that made it quite enjoyable.

And Then There Were None - Another one from my brother, this one the truly excellent most recent version of the Agatha Christie book

Summer of Smoke: Part who knows

 Once again my fair province is covered in forest fires, and therefore most of August has been hiding indoors avoiding the smoke, good thing I've never much liked summer anyway. Note, none of the fires are a danger to where I live (at the moment) though one is a little close for comfort,. 

The July WIPocalypse question is: Which are your favorite and least favorite fabrics to stitch on?

Least favourite would have to be 14 count Aida, I just find it so stiff and bulky. In general I prefer linen and evenweaves, and my favourite would have to be 36ct evenweave though I have a lot of 28ct.

The August question is: What is your comfort zone regarding the number of projects to have kitted and in progress at any one time,

I have 3 projects on the go at the moment, which is about one more than I like to have, and none kitted, I very seldom kit anything in advance. 

So in the last couple months I did a couple more ornaments, one more of the Durene Jones Polar Friends series,

I will finish finish these when I have completed them all. And one Mill Hill Ornament, Holiday Polar Bear

I also caught up on the days for the Gothic Temperature stitch and will now just fill it in a week at a time.

As for what I watched

Critical Role

Dimension 20

Kelsey Dangerous’ Sims 4 playthroughs

White Collar Season 6 - It was a short season to wrap up the show, and had an acceptable ending, but the first couple years were my favorite

Game of Thrones Season 4 - I thought this was the last one I saw, but I must have lost track in the middle of 5.  So much happened this season. It was awesome

Game of Thrones Season 5

Good Omens Season 2 - Such fun and such a cliffhanger ending, can’t wait to see what happens next, but that may take awhile.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - It’s nice to see Indie swashing buckles again, it was a satisfying addition to the series and I loved his goddaughter 

Men In Black - This one is so much fun and still has really satisfactory effects after all these years

The Maze Runner - This is a great twisting mystery of a movie, it has a cool premise and leaves a lot of questions

The Scorch Trial and The Death Cure - Unfortunately the answers to those questions were zombies and the second two movies do not live up to the promise of the first, I do enjoy the main actors though

Pokemon: Detective Pickachu - I heard a lot of good things about this, but have almost no interest in pokemon, but I found this in a bargain bin and thought “Why not?” and boy am I glad I did, this was so much fun, and rather beautiful as well.

The Man from Snowy River - This one is always  sensational, great story about the old west in Australia. It has soaring scenery and music as well. In fact I sometimes find myself humming it randomly and have done so since 1982 when it first came out.

Return to Snowy River - A very good sequel to the first.

Spearphishing 3 - Now I have never seen, nor heard of 1 and 2 and would have no reason to even know about this low budget independent film out of Edmonton. Except that an old friend from high school that I hadn’t seen in 30ish years stopped by and handed it to me as he’s the star of the show. And it is a fun cops vs Russians in an attempt on the PM's life movie, maybe I can find the other two somewhere. And apparently they are going to make a fourth.

Miss Congeniality - Always a fun watch, Sandra Bullock is one of my favs and this one is a hoot, there is a second, but I wasn’t that fond of it.

Barbie - As a Barbie collector I was a little leery of this one, but was it ever good. It told both the positive and negative aspects of Barbie without demeaning those that liked to play with her. It had great social commentary and a brilliant soundtrack, I especially enjoyed the cover of Matchbox Twenty’s “Push” given that I saw them live in May.

Moana - I didn’t see this one until years after it came out, and it is a fun Disney with the usual great music.

Monster’s University - Another one I bought sight unseen, but it was very worth it, a nice prequel that actually did add to the story of the original

Monster’s Inc - I love this one and a lot of that is because in general I do not enjoy children in movies, they tend to be written as rude and/or smart alecs but my beloved Boo is not. She is adorable, and I may have a lovely porcelain figure of her and maybe a doll in my car as well. The movie itself is great as well.

Mary Poppins - It’s a lovely piece of my childhood, so much fun, and as I have said previously. I adore Julie Andrews

Half Year

 It's been a fairly uneventful couple of months except for a quick trip to Vancouver in May to see Stars on Ice and Matchbox 20, they were two days apart and I couldn't resist.  

The WIPocalypse question for May was What project brings you the most joy and why?

This would have to be Wentzler's Stroke of Midnight, she was so intricate and fun to stitch as well as a beautiful gift for my mother.

The question for June is Half-year recap:  How are you doing with your goals so far this year?

I've been doing really well on my goals, the main thing I wanted to do was finish Lion King and work of ornaments a bit more often and I've done both. The week once a month for ornaments is working well for me and I have finished one and started another,  I'm having such fun with this polar bear/penguin creations by Durene Jones. They will make great and very appropriate charismas gifts from me.

I've done a bit more on Bellatrix, but I also ripped out all the green vines and redid them in a darker colour, so while a lot was done, it doesn't really look like it

I am concentrating on the Gothic Cathedral temperature stitch at the moment since it's so much easier to do the repeating complicated patterns all at once. I suspect this won't take me too long and then I'll get back to Bellatrix and the ornaments. 

As for what I watched

Critical Role

Kelsey Dangerous’ Sims 4 playthroughs

Carnival Row Season 2 - Takes off nicely from where the first season left off, I really enjoy this series.

White Collar Season 5 - Not as good as previous seasons but still a fun show

Gambit - A satisfying heist movie with Colin Firth, 

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again - Not sure this needed a sequel but since they did one you would think they would follow the history that was so clearly laid out in the original, but nope. On the other hand there is still great music and fun to this.

The Mummy (The good Brendan Fraser/Rachel Weiss version)  This is one of those rare perfect movies, it has the best balance of adventure, humor, romance and horror, something that seems to be very hard to do

Major League - As previously stated I love sports movies and I think this one is my favorite, it has the perfect blend of scrappy underdogs and humour, unfortunately it has a completely unnecessary almost creepy stalkery thing going on that passes for romance in the 80’s, but that’s it’s only downfall everything else is perfect

My Science Project - This is a fun little 80’s flick about a couple students who raid a military trash heap, find some alien tech that warps time and space and try to use it as their science projects, it’s not a great movie, but it is a good one.

Much Ado About Nothing - Typical Shakespeare comedy of misunderstandings. this is the Joss Whedon version that has an amazing cast.

Monte Carlo - This was a bit of fluff aimed at fans of Selena Gomez in 2011, but it’s a very fun piece of fluff about mistaken identity and romantic shenanigans.

The Matrix - I remember the first time I saw this, opening night in the theatre and thinking that it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.  I still think that, it’s such a fun stylish movie, accept none of the massive amount of copycats.  This is still the best.

The Matrix: Reloaded and Revolutions - It’s well known that the sequels are nowhere near the original, but I bought them as a set so I have them all, accept the newest, might pick that up soon out of curiosity

Finally Finished

 The best news of this month was that I finally after three years. finished The Lion King 

The bonus of that means that I get to work on Bellatrix more 

and I've started to do my ornaments throughout the year, this won't look like much until the backstitching goes in.  

I also started the Gothic Cathedral temperature stitch

and I finished these little daffodils that are from a keychain kit a friend gave me

And after assuming that I woulnd't be doing anything else this year after my trip, I bought tickets for two shows in Vancouver in May

The WIPocalypse question of the month is

Give us five projects in your stash right now that you’d really love to start – and why you haven’t yet.

And I don't really have an answer to this one. It implies a level of planning that I just don't have. At this point I'm not even sure what my next start will be after I finish Bellatrix.

As for what I watched

Critical Role

Kelsey Dangerous’ Sims 4 playthroughs

Carnival Row Season 2 - Takes off nicely from where the first season left off, I really enjoy this series.

The Mighty Ducks - I do love sports movies and this was my first introduction to Josh Jackson and I’ve followed him through a bunch of shows.

The Mighty Ducks 2 - Whoever wrote this movie seems to know absolutely nothing about sports

The Mighty Ducks  3 - This one is actually pretty good, much better than the 2nd 

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor among thieves - This one was a whole lot of fun, good storyline and follow the rules of D&D in a clever way

Matilda - A wonderful kids movie that is very satisfying for non-kids 

The Merchant of Venice - I knew very little of this Shakespear play and while I can’t call it a favourite if I had the chance to see it live, I’d probably take it.  This was the Al Pacino version from 2004

Mamma Mia - This movie is just pure joy.

Time of my Life

 Once again I skipped a month, but for good reason as I was away all February on the trip I booked three years ago and have been planning for around 10 years and it was completely worth it, I went to Argentina,

Uruguay,

Chile

and spent 5 days in the Antarctica, 

 

So February's question was What stitch-a-longs (SALs) are you participating in this year?

Other than this one, I don't have any going this year.

And March's question is Tell us about your favorite places to buy stitching supplies.

Online I try to support Traditional Stitches as it's one of the few Canadian supply stores that deliver and locally I love a shop in Kelowna called Yarns and Needlecrafts, they are mainly a knitting/crochet store but carry a decent amount of cross stitch stuff and at least a couple of the people there stitch themselves so a good conversation often happens

As for this months stitching, I did take a Mill Hill kit along on my trip, I don't think I stitched more than 50 stitches on it the whole trip, but here's proof of Antarctic stitching

Once I got home, other than organizing my pictures, my focus was on The Lion King, and I finally got everything done but the backstitching, I will definitely finish in April

As for what I watched

Critical Role and the last 6 episode of Legend of Vox Machina season 2. Critical Role has been my main focus, I have a month to catch up on

A Star is Born - the new one, pretty good but not really my style, though it did kill time well on the plane

Everything Everywhere All At Once - This one was weird by good, also watched on the plane and the sound was not stellar, so I think I need to watch it again to see what I missed

Crazy Rich Asians - Another plane movie, and really typical romantic comedy, didn’t really stand out at all

Maid - The final of the plane shows, I wanted to see this one because I follow the cinematographer on Instagram and it’s filmed on Vancouver Island