February WIPocalypse

The fun new thing it week is I have another page finish on Fractal despite not working on it much the last couple weeks,  The next page has very little on it, so another page finish is imminent.

I have managed to get quite a bit done on Canada 150 as well,

Both these project are a bit strange for me, as they have little to no backstitching.  Which is relevant because.......
This months WIPocalypse question is:  What is your favorite stitch other than the standard cross stitch?  (bonus points if you provide a how-to link or diagram it on your blog post!)

That's right, I love doing back stitch.  So much detail happens with backstitch and as I almost always do it last. it also signifies nearing the end of a project.  And for the bonus points I found a how to video of back stitching.



As for what I watched

Critical Role, Talks Machina and Table Top

The Scotties Tournament of Hearts - In other words, the Canadian Women’s Curling Championship.

Sports Break

It is mid February so that means that tomorrow the Scott Tournament of Hearts (Canadian Women's Curling) begins which is for me the start of a month of sports watching,  Which also means less work gets done on downstairs project aka Fractal

and more gets done on upstairs project which is making it's debut in the blog, I am currently working on the Canada 150 logo, pattern designed by the wonderful Make it Pink and this lovely thing will become my pillow entry for the fair this year.

As for what I watched.

Critical Role, Talks Machina and Table Top

Shadowhunters S02 E05-07

Hidden Figures - I had really been looking forward to this one and it didn’t disappoint, it is about the African American female mathematicians and engineers at NASA in the 60’s. I know it’s been getting a lot of the awards this year, they are well deserved.

The Wolverine - This one was so much better than the first Wolverine movie, I like that they brought it to Japan as that is such an important part of the comics mythology. However Japan did look suspiciously like Vancouver

The Phoenix Incident - One of these “found footage” shaky cam fake documentary things that take a real incident and make it about aliens,  The fun of this one is that almost all the people in it  are voice actors, two (Travis Willingham and Liam O’Brian) are also from Critical Role which is obviously an obsession of mine, and two others  have also been on table top.  That’s the only reason I watched this, but it was amusing so not a waste of time, but I wouldn’t spend actual money on this.

Earthquake - This big budget disaster movie from 1974 has a stellar cast, but quite honestly it doesn’t take to long to start rooting their death.  There isn’t a likable character in this movie, on the other hand the disaster itself is quite satisfying and has pretty good special effects for the time.

Dirty Dancing - Another iconic 80’s movie, what can I say I was a teenager in the 80’s all the iconic 80’s movies are going to show up in this list sooner or later.  This one is out of order because my VHS copy was stolen and I just found the DVD dead cheap---finally.

Attack on Titan: The Movie, Parts 1&2 - I got these for Christmas, they are the live action version of the anime I watch a while ago, well done, especially the titans and while lacking the in depth storyline of the anime, still a good dystopian movie.

February Finish

I managed to finish a couple things, first I finished the second page of the fractal, which technically was page 3, now I move on to page 2 cause I'm strange that way.

Also I finished the little mandala. I have no idea what to do with it now, but it sure was fun to make.

 Pattern from Ink Circles,

Spawn  of RYO Mandala

13 colours, approx 4X4" 

This pattern doesn't have assigned colours, you get to "Roll Your Own" I started with the peach colour pulled up a colour wheel and went from there. 

As for what I watched.

Critical Role, Talks Machina and Table Top

Death Note - Ep 1-3 I read one of the comics a million years ago, so I thought I’d try the show, pretty good so far

Supernatural S12-E10 This is the second time Ian Tracey (a favorite of mine) has been on the show, two different characters and they’ve both died.

The Truman Show- This movie is BRILLIANT, I love it so much I can easily forget that it’s Jim Carrey, and he is brilliant in it as well, And the music is amazing too. 

La La Land - I’m not going to attempt to see all the nominated movies, but this one looked fun, and it was. It was beautifully staged and shot and story wise a lovely bit of fluff.

The Time Machine ( 2002 ) - As a long time fan of the Rod Taylor version and the book itself I could nit pick this one apart mercilessly.  But taken away from it’s source material it’s a pretty solid movie, I just have to turn my brain off when watching it.

The Trouble with Harry - The trouble with Harry is that he’s dead, and that’s really inconvenient  to the different people who think they may have killed him.  It’s a wonderful comedy from Alfred Hitchcock 

January WIPocalypse

To start, I love my job, I convinced my boss to let me start making gourmet cookies and so now I'm playing with recipes and getting paid to do it.

The question of the month is. What Stitch-a-Longs (SALs) are you participating in this year?

I don't do a lot of SAL's, for this year I only have this one, and a Halloween SAL with Carla, Leonore and a few others that I'm doing.  I haven't decided what pattern I'm doing for the Halloween one yet, but I have till August to figure it out.

I haven't quite managed to finish anything yet, but I'm close on the Mandala.

 And almost finished another page of the Fractal.

Weird bright light is my needle minder, the dragon fell off so now I'm just using the magnets, and it was shinier than expected.  Made me laugh so I didn't retake the shot.

As for what I watched

Critical Role Talks Machina and Table Top

Shadowhunters S02 Ep01-04

Supernatural S12 E07-09  Finally caught up again, that will change soon I’m sure

The Wave - Rock slide in a fjord causes a tsunami. Because Norwegian disaster movies can be fun too, though the subtitles make it challenging to stitch to.

Time After Time - Jack the Ripper steals H.G. Wells’ time machine and escapes to 1979, Wells realizes what happens and chases after him. How could this not be fun

Top Gun, - Some movies are just iconic to a generation, and this one is one from mine. Is it a good show? I don’t know, I don’t care, it just is necessary to my life.

Tomorrow Never Dies - One of the few James Bond I own.  A megalomaniac media mogul wants to start a war between China and Great Britain to improve ratings and get an exclusive media contract with China.  Bond and a Chinese agent (Michelle Yeoh, my favorite Bond woman) must stop him, explosions ensue.

Movie Project Resumed

I haven't really been doing a lot life wise since the last update, but I have finally got a rhythm going again in the movie project, which makes me very happy,  Winter sports season is just gearing up too with the Canadian Figure Skating Championships this weekend.  This will cause a slowdown of the movies, but one I can happily live with.
Of course updates are also here, on both the Mandala

and Fractal

As for what I watched.

 Critical Role, Talks Machina  & Table Top

Supernatural S12 E06-08

Maximum Ride - I read the book on a friends recommendation some time ago and enjoyed it, this movie isn’t bad, pretty low budget I guess, not great special effect which is unfortunate as  it’s a movie about teenagers with wings.

That Thing You Do - The rise and fall of a one hit wonder band in the 60’s, best way to describe this is charming.

Thin Ice - A skating instructor at  a Swiss ski resort falls in love with an incognito prince. Given my love of figure skating it should come as no surprise that I own a Sonja Henie movie.

The Thirteenth Floor - A really smart sci-fi murder mystery, if I remember correctly it was overshadowed that year by the Matrix, too bad really.

Titanic - Like most things that get immensely popular quickly, this movie has a lot of hate thrown at it now, but it’s a disaster movie at heart, and a big budget one at that, so of course I love it.  Also the score is fantastic, especially  how it goes all Irish any time they go below decks

One done

A quick little blog to show that I finished the first page of the fractal, it was only a partial page, but still it is done, never to be seen again, which is weird for me, I'm used to going back to pages for backstitching and beads, this whole stitch only is kind of different.

And here's an update on the Mandala as well, I ended up ripping out some of the orange and changed the shade of it as I wasn't really fond of the first blend I chose.

As for What I watched

Critical Role - And 2017 starts off with a resounding boom

Table Top - Season 4, I gave in and am watching this on Alpha,

Supernatural S12 E02-05  Trying to catch up on this year.

Rogue One - This very well might be one of my favourite Star Wars movies, so much good in this from the great new characters to the cameos form the original trilogy to the return of Darth Vader as a villain, it had so much for me to love

Twelfth Night - I always try to watch this on Twelfth Night itself, and this year it even lined up with the movie project, I just love this story no matter what the version I watch.

Toy Story - The original, accept no substitutions. Also I forgot, or never realized that this was written by Joss Whedon, How is he so great?

Teahouse of the August Moon - A comedy about the American occupation of Okinawa, really satirizes the American psyche. I. remember reading the play in school and seeing this movie then,  which baffles me a bit know as we studied very very little American literature,

John Tesh: Live at Red Rocks - Concert video includes Charlie Bisherat, my favourite non-celtic fiddler.  I love this video partly because Tesh and Bisherat look like they are having so much fun.

2017 WIPocalypse Introduction

So I've done this for a couple years now, and the only difference this year is that I'm not starting midway through Cindy,  I have new projects Mwhahahahaaha.

The question for this month is:  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 12 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.
My current projects are a RYO Mandala from Ink Circles,

And I am just starting THE FRACTAL

This one should be finished before the end of the year. It is 70 colours on 18ct aida and 200x300 stitches, but it also has nothing complicated, all whole stitches and no backstitching. This is my starting point, first stitch goes in tonight.

Other plans for this year include a Birth Announcement thingy for my niece's baby born on Dec. 24th, I couldn't find anything I like so I'm attempting to design this myself.  A pillow for Canada 150 with help from the amazing Pinky the Pink with the pattern.. Hopefully a few other things, and if I finish Fractal I'll probably move onto the Lurking Sock Puppet which shall get a redesign sometime this year or possibly the Angel of the Harvest which is technically next on the List.

As for what I watched.

Gilmore Girls S07 EP14-22 And a Year in the Life revival - I watched all 7 Season of Gilmore Girls and the revival because I wanted to see how they fit Jared Padalecki into the revival and needed to know the context of his 2 minute cameo. Completely worth it

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt S01 EP01-06- Life in New York after being stuck in a post apocalyptic bunker for 15. years.  It’s cute and almost relentlessly cheerful , For me not a great one to binge but good in small doses.

The Thomas Crown Affair - A solid caper movie,

Tron - Tron is the almost the only reason I spent any time in arcades as a kid, loved that game.  The technology and effects are incredibly dated which is only to be expected of a movie from 1982 but it has a good solid and still applicable storyline.,

Tron: Legacy - Not technically part of The Movie Project as neither Mom or I own it, but it’s sitting there on Netflix and had to be watched. While not as fun as the first it’s still a solid sequal and the way they deaged  Jeff Bridges was amazing.