Saturday 27 September 2014

September IHSW & SFS - Mamooth Update

So with all the stuff going on, my posting times tend to become a little unstable, and I beg your forgivness for that - I know I wanted to post on Monday for the end of IHSW, but as I was leaving for a university/business trip on Tuesday, I decided to rather stitch a little more than to write about it, and I think that was a good descision :D I'm also able to distinguish pretty well between what I did on IHSW and what I did in the time after that, so no information was lost, hooray! Okay, enough chitchat, let's get on to stitching stuff...

During IHSW, I worked a bit more on Angel of Frost. Just as I had planned to, I did a bit more of her cloak, then went on to stitching the left wing, which went really smoothly and is now finished as well. Now I'm starting to fill in the head, which is quite a lot of detail in a rather small area: the hood of the cloak, the hair, and, of course, the face. The latter is stitched over one, and will be kind of a test run for any big over-one projects I have planned for the future. I'm a little nervous, but really looking forward to the challenge as well :D



On Saturday evening, I also got to take part in my first IHSW-hangout in almost a half year, and for the first time ever (I think) we also got to have all four of us (well technically there are two more of us, but while we deeply love both of them, they are not as 'involved' with the group at the moment, if that makes any sense) online at the same time. It was great, and imagine what fun it would be to have all six online together!

While on the hangout, I worked on a quick little project from a kit I picked up really cheap on ebay earlier this year. It was a birthday present for our hairdresser, who's also a friend of the family and who loves sheep. The kit was a bit strange, as it didn't come with stranded floss, but rather some kind of really thin cord to stitch with, but after some getting used to it, it became really fun and easy to work with - it stitched up really quickly and I'm more then pleased with the result! It also came with this little plastic hanger in the kit, which is a really smart and fun way to finish such a cute little project, don't you think?


As I already mentioned, Felix and I both went on a universtiy business trip to Saarbrucken starting Tuesday, and only got back yesterday afternoon. It was fun, we learned lots of interesting stuff and we got to meet a lot of people from both Oldenburg and Saarbrucken that we really enjoy working with but don't get to meet in person really often. We had booked a cozy little room in a lokal hotel, were we got to spend quite some time (schedule wasn't as busy as usual), so my Halloween Town Sampler which I had brought with me made a little progress, both on the actual journey and on those breaks - I finished block three on the right and continued working on the middle block. I also brought my knitting along, which I had terribly neglected during the past weeks, but it was just the right thing to keep my fingers busy and my mind focused during the discussions and presentations, and so Hitchhiker (that's the official name of the design in case I didn't mention it before) has grown quite a bit :)


So much for my stitching, now for me SFS report! With our move looming over our heads and all the expenses waiting for us, I wanted to be a little more careful with my spending, but still make use of my budget because there are SO many things I still need to build a proper stash! So in order to compromise I decided on some digital download patterns and to save on the shipping and tax (which can get quite a lot when ordering from overseas). I got the Whacky Witches Halloween Sampler from cloudsfactory (I'm kinda hooked on Halloween stitching right now, and scared it won't be avaiable anymore next year) for $16,99 and Impossible from Satsuma Street on Etsy, which I want to hang on the wall in my future office one day, for $6.00, so my total for this month is $22,99 without any further strings attached - hooray! Also, both are patterns I reallyreally want to stitch, nothing to massive either, so I have a good chance of actually doing so one day :D

Of course, non-crafty stuff happend as well this week - I finished a book I was reading, Alan Turing: Unlocking the Enigma by David Boyle. It's more of an essay than an actual book (maybe 60 pages), but how I got it was a real strange coincidence: I had just answered one of those tag-blog-things on dA and was asked what famous (contemporary or historical) person I'd liked to meet, and never really having thought about it I chose Alan Turing - one of the great pioneers of computer science who died much to young, when he commited suicide aged 41. Later that day, I was browsing the kindle deals on amazon and there was this book, for 99ct or something like that, and I just had to get and read it. Is's actually quite informative - the math described is mostly wrong, sure, but I've known the foundations of Turing's math for long enough, I don't need to read about those again - in the ways it describes his life. I guess I will get a 'proper' biography eventually, and I also learned that there will be a movie about his life staring Benedict Cumberbatch which I HAVE to go and see (called 'The Imitation Game' - if you are in the US or UK, it will start showing in November, I will have to wait until next February :/ ).

Also, Felix and I visited a friend yesterday, and we finished a game we had been playing together for a few years (because we got together way to rarely) - The Book of Unwritten Tales, or more precisly the expension, The Critter Chronicles. Both are really good pont & click adventures that kind of make fun of fantasy games in general, but are great fantasy games by themselves at the same time that we really enjoyed, despite all the bugs.

For watching stuff, there was, of course, more Supernatural (S1, E12-21, we will finish season 1 later today) and also two movies: Bad Grandpa, a Jackass production featuring lots of people who had no idea that they were being filmed at the time it happend (they were told later, of course, but their reactions were priceless) and Not Another Teen Movie, which bascially makes fun of every highschool comedy ever made - do you know that feeling that you shouldn't be laughing because this is not really funny and also kind of offensive, but you have to laugh anyways? That's what both of these movies made me feel like; I still can't really decide whether I enjoyed them or not...and while I will continue thinking about that, I will just hit post and let you read through this really long update; have fun :D

Friday 19 September 2014

September Pre-IHSW

Another week has passed, and it's time for another post - and is this weekend is IHSW, I will also show you guys were I'm standing right before this wonderfull weekend of stitchiness! So without further ado (nothing much interesting to tell anyway, work-stuff and thesis-stuff and hours of looking at and comparing washin machines and stuff like that), let's jump right into it!

I have, of course, been hard at work on Angel of Frost. Last time we talked I had just started working on the trees, and those realy went much quicker than I thought they would...half of them are in half stitches, and altogether there are much less colors than in the wing (honestly, I think after working on this wing, everything else will feel like color blocking for a while :D), so I rushed right through that and got to the moon - which felt kinda special to me, because that's where I wanted to start at first, before I decided on the lower left corner instead. Now the moon is done (not so many dfferent shades as well), and from now on it officially doesn't matter anymore where I started! Woohoo! Also, of course that meant another page finish - double woohoo! As you can see, I already started on the next page, and the angel's right wing is now officially finished. I guess I will treat myself to a bit of delicious red cloak now, then tackle the left wing (which is much less visible and detailed), and after that it's right on to the head and face part, which I'm terribly excited for!

I also continued working on my Halloween Town - as you can see, I finished the bakery and also the cute little witch that goes with it. All that's left now is a owl (can't wait to stitch that, it's cute as a button!) and a few details in the sky, and clue 2 will be done (not that I have finished clue1 yet...). Yesterday, the final clue was released, so I can now see what the project will look like finished, and I really, really like it; it's so very enjoyable to stitch - the last clue will have 'Halloween Town' written under the whole thing, and also use lots of my beloved bubblegum pink. Can't wait to get there!


Over IHSW, my little spooky people will have to pause, however, as I have started a very cute and very small project that I need to finish for an upcoming birthday - can you tell what it's going to be yet? It's a small kit I bought off ebay for only 1€ a while ago, and so far I'm not disappointed.

Everything else is coming along nicely as well, only I haven't finish and games or books latel - but soon! For now, it's just watching, which is also due to the fact how much stitching I'm doing at the moment. So, in order to get my page finish on AoF, I finished season 1 of New Girl (episodes 16-24) and also a bit of The Nanny (Season 2, E19-20), but then I decided I needed something other as comedy and started The Lost Room, a six episode mini series about...I don't really now what it's about yet, I've only watched the first episode so far, but that was rather interesting.
Felix and I also continued watching Supernatural (S1, E3-11), and we really love it now, can't wait to watch and stitch a bit more this evening. This show is great for stitching, everything something scary or otherwise interesting is about to happen, you can tell in advance by the music, and have enough time to look up from your stitching! Unless you are as absorbed as I am and miss the interesting stuff anyways, but that's why I have Felix next to me, he's become quite good at telling me stuff that happens in pictures only so I always know what's going on ^_^

So that's it for today, I will now go and have my hair done so I'll be all pretty for our hangout session tomorrow night, and then I'll try and get lotsa stitching done over the weekend and show that off to you on monday ^_^

Friday 12 September 2014

September WIPocalypse

Yeah, I know, I'm a little late for posting once again...but thankfully, WIPocalypse isn't that strict with it's dates, and if I had posted on the 9th I would have had bearly anything to show of! Also, I like to post on fridays, with a whole glorious weekend of stitching ahead ^_^

So this month's topic is Who is your favourite person to stitch for, or do you prefer to keep your stitching yourself? That's actually quite an easy question for me - I hardly keep any of my stitching to myself, in fact, most of the projects I have done worked somewhere around Seeing a pattern/kit, thinking of a person it would be perfect for, giving it to them! It might be different now that I'll have a place of my own to actually hang stuff, but I guess I'll still continue enjoying giving stuff away, My favourite person to stitch for is, without doubt, my grandma - she's the one that got me into all kinds of crafts in the first place, and also one of the most appreciative people I know because she full well realizes how much time and effort it takes. My boyfriend is slowly catching up on that front because he sees my stiching in real time usually, but for him it has to be something 'useful' to actually make him happy (like that shirt I stitched for his birthday), so for now, grandma remains #1, even though I really enjoy stitching for everyone else as well, as long as they're happy about what they get.

In fact, the main project I'm working on right now is supposed to be a christmas present for my grandma (although I'm starting to doubt that it'll be done in time, so maybe...birthday present instead?), and it's Angel of Frost by Teresa Wentzler.

Progress has been rather slow this week as I didn't have a chance to work on it Wednesday to Sunday, but since Monday I was at least able to finish the wing-section on this page and start on the trees in the lower left - the greens are a nice change after working only wing for some time, and they are coming along nicely. I'm really starting to look forward to the other half of the design, however, as there will be a lot of actual angel to stitch there!

The main reason for not stitching this past weekend is that Felix and I went on a camping trip/outdoor party with a few friends. It was really nice, quite some time to sit in the grass or by the fire, relaxing, talking, and stitching! Of course I didn't take Angel of Frost with me (she's not really portable with more than sixty threaded needles and stuff), but instead, I took my new side projekt, Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Halloween Town Club.

After finishing the bit I was working on last week - fence and pumpkins and scarecrow - I showed the pattern to Felix and asked him what direction I should tackle next, and he decided on the bakery to the left which is actually clue 3 - but when he takes an actual interest in my work for once, who am I to deny his wish! So bakery it was, although it's not quite finished yet. I really enjoy working on this design, especially the Week Dye Works and Gentle Art overdyed Floss is really fun to stitch with - I think I will need to do a lot more designs that require that kind of floss! I really adore the bubblegum (pink) one, but it's used very sparingly so far - which is kinda sad but means, on the other hand, that I will have quite a bit left over to play with later! (Providing it won't be used heavyly in the final clue, which I kinda hope for).

Given that we were away for the weekend, watching was considerably slower as well - Felix wanted to watch Hancock with me, which I found to be a fairly decent movie, although it kinda raises more questions than it answers, and I got him to start a new show with me (we really should finish either Viking or Breaking Bad first, but they are bot a bit...heavy to watch in the evenings, I think. They are both awesome, but kinda pull my mood down.) and he chose Supernatural which he had seen the occasional episode on TV of and I didn't know anything about yet - as we've only started yesterday we've only seen two episodes so far, but those were really enjoyable and I think we shall see quite a bit more over the weekend. For myself, I chose something lighthearted to watch at the moment, and startet New Girl (which is even avaiable OV on prime, hooray!) and watched the first 15 episodes so far. I think as sitcomes go, it's a little more serious than HIMYM or BBT, but still fun, and I guess I'll go through the two seasons avaiable rather quickly ^_^

Now for the next week, I will mostly be at home, and with the weather turning more autmn-y every day I guess stitching will be done, a lot of stitching. I have to admit that I kinda hope that the fall weather will bringt back other people in the mood for stitching as well, it has been a little quiet in my blog-world over the summer and I miss seeing everyones beautiful progress! (I am, of course, happy for everyone having fun outside, don't take this to seriously please :x)

Wednesday 3 September 2014

Progress on every front!

It's not quite a week since my last update, but tomorrow Felix and I will leave for some kind of weekend camping thingy (if the weather descides to play along, which we sincerely hope), so I'll have to show you my newst progress today :D

Last time I was afraid the motivation for Angel of Frost would leave me and that big chunk of wing ahead would considerably slow me down...today I'm here to tell you, that was not the case at all! In fact, the contrary was true: Just look at that marvelous, marvelous wing, I'm totally in love with it.

To be honest, at first it was quite intimidating, and the first two days or so of stitching it felt ever so slow...but than I managed to cast away that thought of neatly finishing one area before moving on and just picked a symbol that made a few appearances in the area I was stitching, than worked that color as far as I could, and suddenly, the wing started to grow, both on me and on the fabric! Not much more to go and I'll be able to start on tha trees there.

The bad news is, I ran out of needles again, so I ordered about 30 more...good news is, once this angel is finished I don't think I'll have to buy any more needles for at least a few years ^.~

There was actually something else as well that helped pull me through the difficult part on the wing - and that was a new start: Frosted Pumpin Stitchery's Halloween Town Club. I have been receiving the clues for this for three months now, the material was sitting ready in my stash, I just needed to start it, and so I did - for several reasons. One was, as I mentioned, the upcreeping frustration with my angel, the second that I'd really like to finish this in time for Halloween, and the third, well - as pathetic as it sounds, but I was really sad when I read that a stitcher whose blog I used to follow has passed away last week, and since she always had a few dozen WIPs on the go it just felt right to start something new in her honor as well.

Despite the sad occasion, I'm already in love with this projects - it uses little more than 10 colors, so it's an easy stitch and going rather quickly, and the design ist just so cute and lovely. It also has some hand dyed threads with really subtle color changes and, most importantly, sparkly fabric! I've only done a little bit now (due to the reawoken motivation for angel wings) as you can see, but I'll take this one with me for the weekend (instead of my GoT bookmars, those can wait a little longer), and hopefully I'll be able to show you much more once I return!

Also, some knitting has happend - I finished the second wristwarmer, or at least I finished the knitting part - I still need to sew it together, but I wanted to show you guys what it looks like before that last step (or that's what I like to say, really I was just to lazy to sew it together yet). I also startet the scarf to go with it, and that's another project I'm going to take with me for the weekend, campfire knitting sounds really cozy to my ears ^_^

Of course there are other things to tell again this week - in fact, there are a lot of those! I finished another game, which is not to spectacular (it was PlayStation Vita Pets which a friend had lend me, it's really cute and fun and everything, but clearly aimed a younger audience, so for me it was mostly a quick platinum), and, more importantly, I finished a book (I've become to lazy with reading when finishing a book actually becomes a big deal...). It was another one of the Zamonia novels by Walter Moers, The City of Dreaming Books, and I loved this one as well; it the story of Optimus Yarnspinner who ventures into the book-loving city of Bookholm in search of a mysterious author and gets lost in an adventure or two. I already got the sequel here right next to me, and I'll start as soon as I'm back home ^_^

As for watching, Felix and I continued with Breaking Bad, S2 E5-9. I still enjoy the story, but Walt is starting to be a serious pain in my neck, really, right now he's about the least likable protagonist I've ever met. I really hope he'll get his act together eventually. We also watched Chicken Run, one of thoe modelling clay movies like Wallace & Gromit, but witch chickens. Felix had never seen it before, and I had seen it once and liked it, and we both enjoyed it quite a bit. What we enjoyed even more was Meet Joe Black, we both didn't know a lot about the movie before we started it, but we were both pleasantly suprised.

I also finished watching Haven, Season 3, that is, Season 4 is not avaiable yet. I really enjoyed it, though it ends with a massive cliffhanger, maybe I should get Netflix because they have the next Season already - but for now, I'll need to decide on another show to watch next, let's see, there's so much to choose from...