WIPocalypse December Recap

Another year over, or almost and it's time for the WIPocalypse end of year recap, I've had one big finish and a few small, and am getting set to start another big, just have to wait for the fabric to come,
So here is what I finished this year. More than I thought I did actually

And this is my newest start, another baby thing and since the kid's name is George, I had to do a dragon

As for what I watched

Critical Role: and Talks Machina  

Teen Wolf Season 3-5

Various Christmas movies, probably the same ones as last year

Superman - The best one in my eyes, Christopher Reeve will always be MY Superman

Speed - Probably my favourite action movie, good story, good action and likeable characters it’s rare for an action movie to have all three

Star Trek (2009) I can’t believe this is 10 years old already, which is probably the last time I saw it, and I had forgotten how much I enjoy it, this is a great

remake.
Frozen 2: Highly enjoyable story and stunningly gorgeous to watch

The Addams Family - Found this really cheap and I remember liking it, so I bought it.  And it’s really good, The best thing about the Addams family is that they unapologetically love and support each other, which is really rare in most media 

All the Finishes

So once again I skipped a month, but I had a good reason, the end of October was Skate Canada close enough for me to go to, and go I did and had an amazing week. And then I came home and concentrated on finishing the Angel, which I did

and since that got done, I finished the baby thing as well.

 I am at the moment, not working on anything.  That will change in a couple hours when I start making ornaments. December is always a month of smalls

The WIPocalypse question for October was: Do you prefer to stitch on a rotation or one project at a time?
I am very much a one (or in my case two) project at a time stitcher, I'm not sure how rotation people do it, but they probably wonder about people like me also.

The WIPocalypse question for November is: What new stitches or techniques did you learn this year?
Actually nothing comes to mind for this one, maybe one of the December ornaments will have something for me to learn.

As for what I watched
Critical Role: and Talks Machina 

Carnival Row - Season 1 - This brilliance makes getting the Amazon Prime Membership worth every penny,  A historical murder mystery taking place in an alternate world where fae are refugees, It has a solid mystery and political intrigue and even a decent love story, and yet more proof that Orlando Bloom is always better in a period piece.

Teen Wolf  Season 1 - 3 I’ve previously watched the first three seasons and for a teen show from MTV it is better then it has any right to be, I own all of it now so I’m starting from the beginning and enjoying the whole thing, and am about to start the new parts.

The Skulls - I’m a huge fan of Joshua Jackson and this one was obviously made to due to his fame on Dawson’s Creek (it was made while he was on the show) but for a it’s type  this is better than it has any right to be.

The Skulls 2: It has decent moments, but  this is essentially a low budget rehash of the first movie,

The Skulls 3 - Same story as the other two, but with a woman instead, all these three movies really do is say that if you are in a secret society you will end up involved with murder.

Sleeping Beauty (Disney) - This is it, my all time favourite movie I love
everything about this, the original Tchaikovsky score, the slightly darker storyline than the usual Disney at the time, the gorgeous animation and most especially Maleficent, the best movie villain accept no substitutions, especially not that watered down version of the new movies that seem to forget that she’s a freaking DRAGON.

Sneakers - A great heist movie from the early 90’s, so the technology is massively outdated, but that doesn’t stop the story from being good, there are a lot of interesting twists and turns in this one


Sound of Music - I mean, it’s a classic for a reason, beautiful music, cinematography and story, also, Julie Andrews is my Queen.

Welcome to Autumn

I have to say, for me it's been a perfect summer, lots of rain, cooler temperatures and no smoke filled skies, which is rare the last decade or so.  Hopefully fall will make me just as happy.

The September WIPocalypse question is What finishing style have you never tried but would love to do?
While I have tried (once) the hoop finish I would like to do that more and get a lot better at it, also I don't think I've done a full 3D finish either which seems like fun.

The only update I have this month is on the Angel, my backup piece always gets abandoned in summer when Jeopardy is in reruns, so I've just recently started on it again, so it will get an update next month.

As for what I watched
Critical Role: and Talks Machina 

American Gods - Season Two - It’s weird and strange and fun, just like anything by Neil Gaiman

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance - Wow, just WOW The original movie was one of my childhood favourites and this is everything it should be.

Simple Irresistible - This is an incredibly strange rom/com dealing with a heroine that cooks her emotions into her food thereby becoming a great chef due to a magic crab/lucky earrings/guardian angel.  All while finding the love of her life.  It makes no senses, and I adore it, there’s something so lovable about this one.

Singin’ in the Rain - I grew up on musicals, and Gene Kelley is my favorite, so this is one of my all time loves as movies go.  It’s fun, it’s funny the music is great and the dancing is awesome, and in a rare event for romantic musicals it has a great story line.

It: Part 2 - I don’t really do horror, but  I have a soft spot for this book due to a great friend when I was a teenager (when the book first came out).  The movie is good, though I did find it a little rushed, a strange thing to say about a 3 hour long movie,  but so many good parts from the book were skipped, and now I want to read it again,

Sky High - This one seems really underrated, it’s a Disney movie about  the children of Superheroes and the High School they go to , it seems generic but instead it has solid characters and an interesting villain plot, Also this is the movie that gave me a soft spot for Stephan Strait, who played the character with the awesome name of Warren Peace

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow - More style than substance, but a pretty cool movie, it’s a pulp novel style story, alternate history, evil scientist, killer robots, what have you, designed to look like a late 30’s film reel.

Summer's End

Summer is never the best time for stitching for me, though this one I got more done than usual.  I missed the last WIPocalypse entirely and am a week late for this one so I'll start with the questions

July -  How do you get yourself out of a stitching drought?

I usually just let a drought run it's course, I stitch when I watch things obviously so sooner or later I will want to watch something and the stitching will come back, so really a stitching drought is more of a  I want to do something other than watch movies or TV mood, and that mood has never lasted to long with me.

August - What do you have on your stitching bucket list?  (for example, specific projects, designers, fibers, etc)

With the exception of the BIG projects, I tend not to plan very much and buy things on a whim. I don't actually have a stitching bucket list other than wanting to meed my stitching friends in person.  maybe someday.

So stitching I've got done in the last two months is just the Angel, I've almost finished another page so I'm 3/4 of the way through her, minus backstitching of course, I always leave that for the end as I enjoy it so much.

Speaking of bucket lists I did manage to go on a mini trip this summer and cross something of the lifes list,  I went to Vancouver and FINALLY got to see the Celebration of Lights fireworks show,  and it was everything I hoped for.  In fact the whole thing was a wonderful trip.  I splurged and stayed on Granville Island, which is one of my favorite places and a quick walk to Vanier Park where I went to see All's Well the End's Well at Bard on the Beach which has a special on fireworks night of the play a salmon BBQ dinner and a guaranteed place to watch the fireworks from.  While in Vancouver I also got to visit with my best friend and go to the Aquarium, another thing I've always wanted to do 

So have so pics from my trip as well

As for what I watched

Critical Role: and Talks Machina  

Shadowhunters- The final season, they did really well with this series, didn’t follow the books very closely, just really hit the main plots, but they built the world really well and kept the same feel as the books

American Gods - Watching season one as a refresher before I get to two

The Handmaid’s Tale - I had to read an Atwood book when I was in college, chose this one because it was the only one I could make it all the way through without wanting to kill the protagonist for whining, just.  I heard great things about this series so bought season one when I found it on an extreme sale, got about half way through and will try to finish it at some point, but I won’t be wasting my money on more seasons, As always with this story, the concept is wonderful, the people are just annoying. 

Yesterday - What one man does when he wake up from a crash in a world that’s never heard of the Beatles. This was charming understated and fun, and didn’t rely on the obvious clichés, Nice counter programming for all the bombastic summer blockbusters

The Lion King - The new one, again not sure why it was necessary as the original is perfect, but still an enjoyable way to spend the evening

Sharp’s Rifles - The first movie is a series by Sean Bean, I’ve never seen the rest but someday I want to. It is the story of an officer in the British Army promoted through the ranks during the Napoleonic War. 

Shrek 2: I always think I should like these movies better than I do, think I’ll give this one to Mom, it does have it’s fun moments, but not enough to take up space on my shelves.

The Secret of Nihm - To say this is different from the book would be a massive understatement, however I saw the movie before I read the book so it’s okay I’ve always been able to separate the two and love them both,  I have a harder time doing that if I’ve read the book first. 

She’s the Man - A really cute retelling of Twelfth Night based around soccer in high school 

I'm on Time, Don't Faint

It's WIPocalypse time again, and I'm weirdly on time, the question of the month is
Half-year recap:  How are you doing with your goals so far this year?

And the answer to that is very well, I finished my beloved Narnia, a couple smalls, and have done maybe half of The Angel of the Harvest, Her wings are done now and are sparkly and beautiful.

Also look at these fabulous needleminders I got from ShitPostSamplers 

 


I'm also going to participate in the One-A-Day challenge this month which feels a bit like cheating for me. Basically this challenge is for me to stitch as I have always stitched - at least one stitch daily on the same  pattern. As I'm not a rotational stitcher this is very easy for me to do except for the last two days of July when I shall be away on vacation. So I will actually fail this challenge now that I think about it.

As for what I watched

My watch list is a little small this month because I decided to try playing the Sims as it occurred to me this was like playing with Barbies, and I got kind of caught up for a couple weeks.

Critical Role: and Talks Machina 

Good Omens - I watched this series in a day, the day it released at that, sure it’s only six episodes, but still,  I ADORED this show and am seriously thinking of watching it again soon

 Shadowhunters - Season 2 & 3 Now that the series is ending, I’m starting from the beginning again

Aladdin - I’ll admit it, I liked this better than the original

Godzilla: King of the Monsters - These last two Godzilla movies have been so much fun. Also, this monsters were gorgeous.

MIB: International - I never saw three and but this sounded fun so I went, and it was.

Toy Story 4: Not sure why it needed four, but worth it for Duke Kaboom alone, Keanu Reeves is always good, but I wonder if non-Canadians found the character as hilarious as the Canadian audience did,.