December WIPocalypse

 Once again it's been two months since I posted, but nothing much happened in November so no loss. 

This months question is Recap your accomplishments for the year! (Your finishes, your final before/after photos, etc).

So let's start with the ornaments I always do in winter, I had two from Mill Hill kits

One from Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue 

And this one which is a gift that didn't quite get finished in time form Irina Zagordskaya  on Etsy

I also did a cute Halloween Mill Hill Kit

Other than that. my year was mainly focused on Winter Snowfall 

and Lion King 

Start of 2021

End of 2021

As for what I watched (two months worth)

Critical Role Campaign 3 has started!!!!!

Sleepy Hollow - Season 4: They really should have stopped at three, but the series finale was satisfying 

Arrow Season 2 - I’m going into the unwatched episodes, considering I bought the whole series I better like it.

The Legend of Korra - Season 1 - This looks so good

The Princess Diaries 2 : Just as charming as the first

Dune (2021) - A really good adaptation, I was glad that I had watched an earlier version not long ago so the storyline was familiar as Dune is a very dense story.  Also Timothee Chalamet made a surprisingly good Paul.

The Puppet Masters - One of those really good alien invasion movies that no one has heard of. It’s a bit more subtle than most but a good cast and really good storyline, though it does have some of the expected clichés.

The January Man - A dark comedy murder mystery starring Kevin Kline and Alan Rickman, it’s kind of great. 

Johnny Mnemonic - It’s always fun to see a near future dystopian movie that takes place in the far off year of 2021 and realizing that because of the way technology has evolved the whole plot is rather pointless.  This movie has not aged well.  However if you turn your mind off to that problem, it is a fun action movie.

Journey to the Center of the Earth - The Brendon Fraser one - I’ve always liked that this in not a remake or adaptation but more of an homage, and a really well made one too.

Julie and Julia - The story of Julia Child and of Julie Powel who baked her way through Julia’s cookbook, the stories are meshed seamlessly and its a fun watch

Jack the Giant Slayer - Nothing spectacular but it’s a fun romp

Jumanji - The original, I always preferred Zathura, but this came in a pack with the new ones so a rewatch was in order, and I actually liked it better than I remembered.

Jumanji - Welcome to the Jungle and The Next Level - These sequels are so much better than the original. They are fun and funny and so good in all ways

The Nightmare Before Christmas - I always meant to watch this and never got around to it. But a show I want to watch soon references it a lot so I thought it was time, and I really did enjoy it.

Jumper - It’s a decent show, the concept is great but the character of the lead is not that likable and the female love interest behaves  profoundly stupid. But it does have it’s fun moments,

Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island - I grew up with the original show so it was pretty easy to imagine it as a horror. And this movie does the job pretty well actually.

October (and September) WIPocalypse

 I somehow missed September so you get it now but I haven't got a whole lot of stitching to show. But first the questions 

September: List five projects you have unstarted in your stash that you’d like to start in the (relatively) near future. I don't know if I can come up with 5 but the 2 I think of immediately are Bellatrix by Bella Filipina  that will be recoloured by Make it Pink

And Waiting by Tilton Crafts, art by Victoria Frances 

I've had this pattern for years and it's likely to take longer than the Lion King is taking, also it is huge, but so, so pretty. I also have several different dragons I want to do.

October: Do you prefer Halloween or Christmas stitching? Christmas gets the edge on this one, but only because I like making ornaments so much

It's been a good couple months, I have even managed to go waterfall hunting a couple times. and found one I'd never been to before, Moses falls in Revelstoke

Stitching has been good, but I don't have a lot to show as one thing I was working on is a gift, but I did do this little Mill Hill kit

have made a bit of progress on Lion King

As for what I watched

Critical Role and the start of Campaign 3 

Avatar: The Last Airbender - Season 3 - Such a wonderful series

American Gods Season 3 - Such a weird and yet great show.

His Dark Materials - Season 2 - It’s so well done, can’t wait for season 3

Sleepy Hollow Season 4 - This was kind of a reboot, they ended it fairly well in season 3 and it seems they weren’t sure where to go for 4,

Pitch Perfect - The Trilogy - There are parts of these movies that go a little over the top for me, but other parts (like the music) that are wonderful. The good definitely outweighs the bad for me. 

Pompeii - Disaster Movie with Gladiators, can’t go wrong there.

The Princess Bride - I mean, it’s the perfect movie, it’s “inconceivable” that there is anything more to say. 

Poseidon - Cruise ship capsizes and a ragged assortment of people try to survive, in other words a typical disaster movie, and a decent one at that.

The Emperor’s New Groove - It’s so different from most of Disney’s animated stuff, but so much fun. One of those movies that is made so much better by the quality of the villain

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - While there are very few actual Persians in this movie about a mythical version of Persian, it is still a great adventure movie. Lots of unexpected twist and a great deal of fun.

Angels Fall - A made for TV romance based on a Nora Roberts novel, which I’ve read, but long enough ago I wasn’t picking this apart too badly, Could have been better, could have been worse, wasn’t a bad way to kill a couple hours.

Reign of Fire - Dragons take over the world in the near future - 2020.  It’s a pretty good adventure movie and was the first thing I saw Gerard Butler in, been a fan ever since.

The Prince of Egypt - Epic without being preachy, And the music is phenomenal 

Top Gun - The Commentary, I watched the movie not long ago, but finally got it in DVD and thoroughly enjoyed the commentary, which was done 18 years after the movie was released.

The Princess Diaries - There’s no other way to describe this other than charming.

August WIPocalypse

 I have a good reason for being a little late, I really wanted to finish Winter Snowfall which was my piece for the Olypmic marathon And I did, then I washed it and had a minor heartattack wehn the red fabric (which I had prewashed) ran, and made my lovely white stitches, pink.  Well a full day of soak rinse repeat got it back to where it should be and this and it's thousand plus beads was finished.  Haven't decided how to frame it yet, but I usually have to think about that for a while.

So here it is.

Winter Snowfall

12"x13.5" on 32 count Laguna

Pattern by shannonchristine.com 

Now it's back to Lion King which has been horribly neglected this month.  but I also have to find patterns for a new great nephew, and another great nephew on the way.  

The question of the month is Which of your project finishes made you the most proud? The most relieved?

Relived would have to be this Elephant baby announcement, for some reason it fought me the whole time. and it was so nice to be finished it. Luckily it was loved by the parents. 

Proud is a harder choice, I have a lot that I adore but I suppose I have to go back to Theresa Wentzler's Stroke of Midnight.  It's so detailed and beautiful and my mother, who I made it for and is a huge all things Cinderella fan, adores it. 

As for what I watched

Critical Role - Exandria Unlimited a summer mini series while they prepare for Campaign 3

Blind Spot: Season 3 - it looks like this is the last season I can get on DVD which is distressing

Avatar: The Last Airbender - Season 3 The Commentaries

Olympics - It’s an obsession

The Jungle Cruise - This one is a lot of fun, very reminiscent of 1999’s  The Mummy with a dash of The African Queen

Pirates of the Caribbean: 2,3,4, and 5. - I love the original trilogy with all my heart, I find four enjoyable but very forgettable, and 5 has some of the old magic, but still not quite up to the first three. 

Dune and Children of Dune - The TV miniseries and a really well done show, though not as flamboyant as the one from the 80’s.  Can’t wait to see the new one and compare.

July WIPocalypse

 This one will be short because the Olympics are on and I get obsessed and am not willing to spend spare time on the computer.

The question of the month is Have you ever attended a stitching retreat? If so, tell us about your experiences.

I have not, but it sounds like fun so maybe someday.

Due to my Olympics obsession I am doing the Olympics challenge and have, of course, chosen the Marathon – pick one piece, and dedicate yourself to progress on that single piece for the duration of the Olympics.

And at the halfway point of the games I am here on Winter snowfall

As for what I watched

Critical Role - Exandria Unlimited a summer mini series while they prepare for Campaign 3

Game of Thrones Season 1 - Such and epic start to the series.

Blind Spot Season 3 

The Pirate Movie - Back in the early 80’s Canada had a Movie Channel called Showtime, which like all movie channels of the time played the same movies over and over again.. This was one of them, and I watched it every chance I got. I still have the thing memorized. It’s a spoof on Pirates of Penzance with some of the original songs and some new ones, and it’s fun and hilarious and I adore it.

Pixar Shorts Volumes 1 & 2: Just what it says, a collection of the short films from Pixar, I prefer the ones that aren’t movie tie-ins, but they are all cute, and For the Birds is amazing.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl - When Disney first announced it was going to make a movie based on a ride, everyone thought it was a joke and would be horrible, instead they produced this cinematic masterpiece 

The Hidden - A low budget thriller from the late 80’s, and it’s a really smart one.

And of course the aforementioned Olympics 

June WIPocalypse

 This is very late as I didn't want to post until I got to a certain point in Lion King, and then I forgot. I blame the heat, the very, very hot heat.  Now I get cranky and tired if it goes much about 25ºc so needless to say the 40º+ weather made me very unhappy and to tired to even stich, and that was for nearly a week at the end of June.  This town has never been that high before. 

But eventually it cooled down and I'm happy and stitching again.  

The Question of the month is Half-year recap:  How are you doing with your goals so far this year

Which is just my regular update actually, I still am stitching Winter Snowfall 

And the good news is I got to the half way point in The Lion King. it only took me a year and a half.

As for what I watched

Critical Role - The end of Campaign 2  and the beginning of Exandria Unlimited a summer mini series while they prepare for Campaign 3

Sleepy Hollow Season 3 - A surprisingly solid season with a decent bad guy

Game of Thrones Season 1: Watching the commentaries first as I like to do

Pacific Rim - I grew up on Mecha so this movie hits all the right buttons

Pacific Rim: Uprising - As enjoyable as the first, probably because the leads are so likable

Inferno - Another Robert Langdon movie and  but I have not read the book of this one.  It’s a solid adventure movie with some good twists and turns, but I’ve never been a big fan of Tom Hanks playing Langdon.  There is apparently a new version coming I wonder how the new guy will be

Paint Your Wagon - This is a westernish musical starring Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood, and involves such things as the California Gold Rush, kidnapping prostitutes, a women with two husbands and a really unique way of mining gold, it’s silly and fun and Harve Presnell singing Mariah is amazing 

Patriot Games - This is my least favorite of the Jack Ryan movies, partly because it’s just a revenge thriller with far less of the political intrigue of the other movies and partly because I never did like Harrison Ford for the roll of Jack.  On the other hand the music is gorgeous. 

Percy Jackson: The Lightening Thief - This is a great example of how not to make a movie based on a book, but if you turn your brain off and disregard that there was source material, it’s not half bad, at least it’s fun.

Percy Jackson: The Sea of Monsters - You have to admire the gall of a series after killing of the books main bad guy in the first movie and then realizing you need him for the second by explaining away his death with the line “ I can swim”

Pete’s Dragon - This one is an old school Disney movie, very sweet, the good guys win, the bad guys get run out of town and everyone ends up happy.  I haven’t seen the remake yet. I’m a bit leery of it since I love this one so much.

The Philadelphia Experiment - An experiment to make a 1943 warship radar invisible goes awry and the ship disappears completely, two of the sailors onboard are sent to 1984.  It’s a pretty smart movie. 

The Phantom Of The Opera - The movie of the musical, this was a well done adaptation and as always the music is phenomenal 

Police Academy - One of the few slapstick comedies I really enjoy, but it is very dated now.

In The Heights - A solid musical and more importantly the first movie I’ve seen in a theatre in a year.

May WIPocalypse

 It's hard to believe May is over, the month has been a chaotic one for me thanks to work.  One of the graveyard shift cut her hand not serirously, but then decided to take the whole month off, or possibly forever she hasn't really specified, but when the graveyard is short I am the one who replaces people. so my schedule this month has been 6am on Saturday, 5 am on Sunday, midnight on Monday and Tuesday and 6 or 7 on Wednesday. Needless to say I've been tired and confused. 

The question of the month is What was the first project you ever stitched? (whether you finished or not)

My first project was a Learn to Stitch kit I found at Micheals, I desperately wanted to do this huge dragon pattern from Dimensions and knew I better learn how first.  

This did eventually lead to me doing the dragon.

I'm still going strong on my two projects, Winter snowfall looks like it will be done before fall though there is half a ton of beads to add to it when the stitching is done

And I have officially finished a page on Lion King (1 of 4) and when I reach the bottom this time I will officially be half done

As for what I watched

Critical Role  - Including the final boss fight of this campaign, on more episode to go and then Campaign 3 to look forward to

Arrow Season 1 - As good as I remembered

Shannara Season 1 - I started reading the Shannara series when I was 10 so it
lives pretty strong in my heart, the show does not do the books justice. That being said, it’s not a bad fantasy series at all.

Spartacus - Vengeance (Season 2) 

Into the Storm - Pretty much the same storyline as Twister but with documentarians instead of scientists. Pretty corny at time but a solid disaster movie so it makes me happy.

It - The 90’s TV Miniseries, I have a special bond with the book but have not read it in decades, but this is a good adaptation though not as detailed or gory as the new movies. 

Pippin - This is a dark musical stage comedy that was filmed in 1981. They did a lot of stage films from Canada around that time, but not many of them came to video and are lost somewhere in time.  Weirdly I found this one for sale in Los Vegas on VHS in 1998. 

Pavarotti and Friends 2 - I think Pavarotti did several of these concerts in the 90’s, this is by far my favorite mainly because of the pure joy on Bryan Adams’ face when singing with Pavarotti.

The Peacemaker - A really solid action movie from 1997 starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman, and they are both written as intelligent people who actually listen to each other  while there is a obligatory romance it’s barely there and instead all the focus is on the action and twisty storyline that starts with nuclear weapons been stolen from a train in Russia, in fact Clooney and Kidman don’t even show up until 15 and 20 minutes into the movie.

Police Academy 6: City Under Siege - It’s just a bit of fluff really, not much to this movie but fun to watch when you want to concentrate on other things.

Pleasantville - A couple teens from the late 90’s find themselves in a 50’s sitcom, and change everything, this is a cute social commentary, not particularity hard-hitting but with wonderful cinematography and effects

Phoenix 2772 - Anime from 1980 I think I got this as a gift 30 years ago and have only watched it once before and couldn’t remember a thing about it, with good reason, it’s all style and no substance. 

The Parent Trap - It’s cute and really well done once you get over the cruel notion of separating twins at birth. Also interesting to see and remember that Lindsey Lohan was a really really good child actor.

The Pirates of Penzance - There are two nearly identical versions of this, both starring Kevin Kline, Rex Harris and Linda Ronstadt. one is from the stage and the other a movie based on the stage play with the same cast, I prefer the movie version but that may be because I saw it first. 

Prelude to a Kiss - Technically this is a rom-com, but it’s subtler than most, an old man kissed the bride on her wedding day and they accidentally switch bodies,  what I’ve always liked about this one is how quickly the groom figures it out. 

Pocahontas - Not one of my favourites, but still a good movie and it’s visually gorgeous 

Pride and Prejudice - The Keira Knightly version, I grew up on P&P as it is my mother’s favorite book and this is a solid screenplay for something that got condensed so much, if you want more dedication to storyline (and the dreamiest Mr. Darcy) watch the Colin Firth one, as I will be soon. But I really enjoy Keira as Elizabeth 

April WIPocalypse

 I feel like April flew by, but also like I was in some sort of holding pattern waiting for something to happen,  I miss movies and concerts and going shopping in another town on a whim(which I almost never did, but the fact that I shouldn't just makes me want to) And I want to get my shot and B.C. has been slow about that and I NEED to get it so I can go on my trip in February if that actually happens.  Maybe today wasn't the best day to blog, I'm just feeling so blah about life.  But stitching is great so lets go to that 

April's question is: Have you found yourself to be more or less productive in your stitching during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Probably more, though not by much I still have the same routine for before except for movie nights, in truth my life didn't change a lot, despite my rant above, I have always been a stay at home and stitch type person, no social gatherings for me. But I do miss being alone in a dark room with a bunch of people that love the same things I do, as long as I don't have to talk to them.

Stitching done this month is of course The Lion King and Mufasa has shown up 

And Winter Snowfall still gets love once a week and is coming along nicely

As for what I watched

Critical Role

Avatar the Last Air Bender  Season 2 

Arrow Season 1 I only ever watched about half of the first season when this
aired, the time it was on was all wrong for me so I just figured I’d buy it and watch it then, well I have all the seasons and am finally getting around to it, and it’s as good as I remember

Independence Day - My absolute favourite disaster/sc-fi movie - I love it when they start with people all over the place that eventually end up gathered to fight for a common goal and no movie does it better than this one.  It also has the best presidential speech in movies and possibly real life.

Independence Day: Resurgence - This is a worthy sequel, different enough to be it’s own movie but enough recurring characters that it’s obviously not forgot it’s origins

In Time - A smart twisty sci-fi action movie formulaic at times but a good concept and well acted, I watched this one first on Netflix but when I found it really cheap I realized it’s one I’d enjoy watching again, and it was.

International Velvet - When I was a kid - 40 years ago, our local theatre would play Saturday matinees, and they had around 20 movies they rotated, this was one of them, and for around five years Mom would drop me off at the movie and go shopping, or home, or sometimes come with me.  I never missed this movie when it played, not once, and to this day it still remains a favourite.  Given how few people I’ve met that have even heard of it, the show has a stellar cast, including Christopher Plummer and Anthony Hopkins.  Anyways this is a horse movie, and a coming of age movie and a movie about the Olympics, and I can almost quote it word for word.