Double the Fun WIPocalypse

I kind of missed last months WIPocalypse. I was in the middle of GISH (An online scavenger/treasure/do good things hunt) and completely forgot about the blog, so this update will be long

July question is Half-year recap: How are you doing with your goals so far this year? 
My big goal this year was to finish the fractal, which I did, Smaller goals include the Mini mandala of the month which is coming along great, I got the border finished and am keeping up with the monthly mandalas without problem. I also wanted to finish the Celtic Cross, which finished at the beginning of August. August to October goal is the Carla and Leo  Halloween Stitch-a-long which is coming along nicely  and hope to do a second one as well.  Final goal of the year will be to do a bunch of Christmas ornaments
Here's what I managed to get done in July and August,  First the Mandalas

Jul

July

August

I finished the Celtic Cross,info on my dA page

I did a super secret project which cannot be shown yet.

Started the Carla and Leo SAL with the Boo Cat from Lucky Star Stitches 

And since Carla and I are only working on Boo Cat during Critical Role related things, I am also doing some of the Spooky Critters from Brooke's Books

GISH even had an embroidery challenge this year,  specifically Create a handmade replica of a widely-known website homepage in needlepoint. I had grand ambitions, (hence missing the blog in July) and got this far

before I realized there was no way on earth that I would finish in time, we only had a week. So I restarted on the opposite corner of the same fabric, it was the only black I had and managed to get this done with about 5 hours to spare.

August question is Which is more satisfying to you and why – the process of stitching a piece, or the finish?
A bit of both for me, though specifically I'd say the most satisfying part is when I finish the cross stitch and move on to the backstitch, I love backstitching.

I think I've managed to stitch more in August than usual this year, while there are no major fires nearby, we have been blanketed in a cloud of smoke for most of the month, as a result I've spent most of the summer just hiding in the computer room watching shows and stitching.

As for what I watched

Tour de France - My annual  “Look at all the roads I want to drive” sporting event. Also the reason I don’t get a lot of stitching done in July

Critical Role: and Talks Machina

Sense 8 - S02  Love this show  how dare they cancel it

Frozen Planet - I can’t stitch watching these, they are too beautiful to see

The Shannara Chronicles  - Season 1- The Shannara series of books was the
fantasy I grew up on, so I watched this with a bit of trepidation.  But it was well done and sort of followed some of the story.  Also Manu Bennet made a fansastic Allanon,

Avatar: The Last Air bender Season 1- I have always had a fondness for Anime and this one comes highly recommended so I finally got around to watching it, the accolades are deserved

Penny Dreadful - Season 1 - My brother lent this to me knowing it was my type of show. It has a great cast and story and a few good cliff hangers as well, here is hoping he already has the second season

Allegiant  - This one confuses me a bit, they said they were making the last book into two movies, (which is never going to happen now) but ended this movie where the book ended. Still enjoyed it though even if they deviated from the book immensely

Jurrasic World   - Dinosaurs and volcanoes, why wouldn’t I love it

The Incredibles 2 - Pixar wins again

Christopher Robin -  Took my mom to this as she’s the Winnie the Pooh fan in the family, and this was sweet as it should be.

June WIPocalypse

Once a month seems to be the best I can do blogging this year,.  But so much to show,  to start
I FINISHED FRACTAL

this beloved thing is done and currently stretching nicely to get ready for it's pretty frame for full info go to my dA page
Since I got this done I've been able to work on the borders for the mandala

And the Celtic Cross has been proceeding nicely as well

This month question is Tell us what you think the ideal stitching retreat would include.
This one is fairly easy, my stitching friends and a cabin on an ocean beach, kinda like this 

We've actually talked about this place, that or a castle in Germany







As for what I watched

Critical Role: and Talks Machina

Weave  - another RPG show from Alpha

Shadow hunters - S03 E01-E12 Can’t wait for the next half of the season, though I hear it will be the last, too bad, they’ve done a good job with this series.

Sense 8 - S01 E01-  Rewatch of the first before watching the second I forgot how much I enjoyed this, such a smart concept

American Gods - Season 1 - I love all things Neil Gaimin and this did not
disappoint, can’t wait for season two

Hamlet - The Benedict Cumberbatch one, I love that you can go to the movies to watch live(ish) theatre,

The Greatest Showman - I still adore this movie

Solo: A Star Wars Story - I enjoyed this far more than I expected to, when all is said an done it’s just a fun heist movie, and the guy who played Lando was awesome

Treasure Planet - One of Disney’s more forgotten animated movies, but it’s a
lot of fun with good music.

Ocean’s 8 - I love a good caper movie and this one definitely qualifies

Divergent - Rewatch as I now have all three movies, still my favourite of the ream of teen fiction from the last few years, I love this world

Insurgent - Rewatch continues

May WIPocalypse

This will be a shortish one, I'm so close to finishing Fractal I can taste it.

Also being working  a little on the Celtic Cross

And this is May's Mini-Mandala

The question of the month is
 Where do you love to shop for stash? I have ONE LNS called Thread and Paper that carries basic supplies and run by wonderful people, but for anything fancy I have to go online,  and for that I have found Traditional Stitches out of Calgary while not the selection of 123 they have the advantage of no exchange and much much much cheaper and quicker shipping.  Also the customer service has been stellar

As for what I watched

Critical Role: and Talks Machina 

Supernatural S13 E15-23  Including the Scooby Doo crossover and the heart wrenching finale, after all what’s SPN without the cliff hanger finale

Avengers - File this under the I just wanted to watch it category

Thor: The Dark World - still catching up on missed MCU movies, this one is better than the first but I still prefer the third.  At least Jane is slightly less useless in this one. 

Ant-Man - Of course I like this one, it’s a caper movie.







Doctor Strange - Another of the I just wanted to watch it again category, this is such a fun movie to look at.


Captain America: Civil War - This is what started the whole I have to catch up thing, I knew I had to see this before Avengers so I would have a knowledge of what was going on. And look at all the other fun things that forced me to watch

Spider Man. Homecoming - I didn’t go see this one in theatres because I’ve never been a huge Spider Man fan and the last few movies didn’t change my mind, however this one was a lot of fun, I will go to the next

Avengers: Infinity War - About as epic as I expected, can’t wait for
part 2

WIPocalypse of April

It seems this is now a once a month blog, and if it wasn't for Wipocalypse I probably wouldn't even remember to do it that often.  I do believe however that 30 for 30 crafting will be starting on Tuesday over on Tumblr so I'll be having daily updates over there, It's here if anyone is interested, it is usually just a random and fan thing the rest of the year, but for May it is stitching.

Question of the Month – Talk to us about your longest-running WIP or UFO.
Longest running thing that has been going over a year now would be my beloved Fractal, and it is getting close to finished, just 3 and a half pages to go, and not only that, I already have the frame for it ordered, it will make it to this years fair, I promise.

My other projects at the moment are the Celtic Cross

and The Mini-Mandala-a-Month

As for what I watched

Critical Role: and Talks Machina 

Supernatural S13 E12-13 Catching up slowly

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider:  This was a good adventurous romp, thoroughly enjoyable

Ready Player One - Yay, I can read the book now.

Pacific Rim: Uprising - I love these movies, I grew up on old school Battletech.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - I have to brush up one the MCU for
obvious reasons and watch some of the ones I missed over the years.

Guardians of the Galaxy - Didn’t miss this one, I just love it and wanted to watch it againg

Thor - Didn’t miss this one either, however I barely remembered it and thought I should brush up before Dark World, which I do have to watch. And yeah I guess I didn’t remember it much because it’s kinda boring to me, Thor’s great, but could they have had a more insipid romance, I mean, what was the point.

It's Supposed to Be Spring

.... And yet the snow is still everywhere, melting slowly but still evening temps are below zero, I'm tired of it. I want spring, and I want spring to last until fall. Summer I can do without. But I did get a pretty sunrise out of it all






I tell myself that I should do more than a once a month blog, but here it is, WIPocalypse time again, and the question of the month is

What newer designers and product creators (fabric or floss dyeing, etc) out there have you discovered and recommend?

And I freely admit I don't pay enough attention to know who is new or not. I will firstly mention Pinky the Pink though I've been stitching her patterns for several years now, but I think in the grand scheme of things she would be considered new, she's probably  best known for her patterns of Hannah Alexander's Disney princesses, but check her shop, she has lots of designs and does amazing custom work as well

My new favorites that I have been having fun with areSatsumaStreet, I've stitched one pattern of hers already and have another ready to go.








  And Brodeuse Bressane, who does the  Mini Mandala-a-Month and other amazing blackwork stuff  This is up to March as well as the start of a random border. The squares will go away before it is done, they are just for placement.

Other things I'm working on include......

yup, the fractal is back and getting close to a page finish

 And I have started the Celtic Cross from Vickory designs

As for what I watched

Critical Role: and Talks Machina 

Fullmetal Alchemist - The new live action movie, one of the better anime adaptations I’ve seen, and now the original series is on Netflix so I can watch it all-ish

Women’s World’s Curling Championships - More Sports, it’s that time of
year for me

World Figure Skating Championships - You can never have enough Figure Skating though I must say the coverage from CBC has been fairly abysmal

Black Panther - The MCU does it again, they put out such.consistently good movies, and the Black Panther has never been one of my favorite heroes, he’s supposed to be a king but he’s always running around in a suit instead of ruling his country (I have the same issue with Aquaman and Sub-Mariner.  But this was not an issue in the movie as it was about him becoming king

Wrinkle in Time - Not a bad version of the book, not great either but really pretty to look at.