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

January, bleak and drear

 It's a day early for the WIPocalypse but for good reason, tomorrow I leave on my TRIP. I have taken along a little Mill Hill kit, but I don't expect much stitching to get done, as I've never managed to stitch while on a moving vehicle, I like to spread out to much. And I suspect once I get on the cruise ship I'll be doing other things, but you never know I might have a quiet night here or there.

The question of the month is: If you have been to retreats, what are your must-bring items and supplies?

I have never been to a retreat but it sounds fun, so I shall watch for everyone else's answers to find out what to bring when I get to one

I've made quite a bit of progress on Lion King and now I set him down till March, and then maybe finish him.

As for what I watched

Critical Role and the first 6 episode of Legend of Vox Machina season 2

Bridgerton Season 2 - I do love how they have done this series, can’t wait for season 3 to come out

Avatar: The Way of Water - This movie was so pretty but I suspect the plot will be fairly forgettable for me, like the first one one, but so pretty

Jurassic World: Dominion - I know this one got panned, but I liked it, it’s a solid entry to the series and I really enjoyed the melding of the Park and World characters. 

Les Girls - I adore Gene Kelly and this is perhaps my favourite of his, it’s a story told three times with three different viewpoints as a former dancer sues one of her old roommates over a tell all book, and the truth comes out in flashbacks with lots of great music.

The Lion King - As always the first 5 minutes are worth anything to watch. This show is amazing and beautiful and obviously I’m talking about the original, accept no substitute (except the broadway musical, it’s pretty awesome too.)

Labyrinth - Why do some many good shows start with L, especially 80’s fantasies 

Hello 2023

 It's 2023 and it's going to be a good year, I insist on it. Mainly because this is the year I'm finally going on the trip that has been postponed twice.  But I have other plans as well. Let's start with the WIPocalypse Update, I'm not sure how long I've been doing WIPocalypse now, at this point it's probably the only reason I maintain this blog at all, so on to a new year we go

Question of the Month: Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!

Hi, I'm Nancy and I live in western Canada  if you search for me around the internet I lurk here and there as Katjakay especially  on Deviant Art, Tumblr, and Instagram  I've been stitching for around 15 years now and have a tendency towards doing bigger projects, I am predominantly a one or two at a time stitcher and seldom rotate, I like to finish before I start something new.  I've strayed from that a little the last couple years which is why I'm starting my third year on The Lion King, but this will be the year I finish, I'm aiming for April

Other projects I have planned is to finish Bellatrix

and to start the Gothic Cathedral Temperature stitch. I'm already keeping a record of the temps this year.

I'm also thinking of putting aside a week each month to do a Mill Hill ornament, I want to give them away at Christmas I did finish one already this week 

The other thing to know about me is that when I started this blog in November of  2013 I also started watching every movie I own in alphabetical order, but starting at each end and working towards the middle, I will also finish this this year, possibly also in April and it is the source of  the What I Watched section of this blog

As for what I watched

Critical Role

Bridgerton Season 1 - This was a lot of fun and while it differs greatly from the books it still maintained the feel of the series.

Legally Blonde 1 and 2 - The first is the best by far, it has such a good sense of humour,but they came as a set so I had to watch both cause that’s my rules

Ladyhawke - So here I am in the middle of the “L’s” and I only have Ladyhawke, one of my all time favourite movies on a very old and faded VHS. It seemed like the perfect time to replace it with DVD, but none was to be found, apparently it is only available in North America, on Blu-ray - so did I buy myself a blu-ray player just so I could own a better copy of Ladyhawke - you bet I did.