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.

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