Brummie Blogger

It's nearly that time again

Formula One time, that is. The first race of the season is this weekend in Australia and I can't wait. Stephen has just persuaded me to join him in playing Fantasy Formula One on the Autosport website. We've started our own league of just the two of us and will be competing madly with each other all season. Obviously I'm going to beat him. (and now I've said that, I hope, I really hope that I do)

We've been enjoying the new F1 channel on Sky so far and are looking forward to all the live coverage and extra magazine programmes that they've been advertising. Lots of lovely Grand Prix stuff.

I'm afraid that I may have to brag on here each race if I beat the pants off Stephen pointswise. If I don't mention anything, you'll know he may have squeaked past me by a point or two.

Let the battle begin.

 

Hamilton cross stitch update - Silverstone

I got a fair bit done on this during the Saturday chatter and qualifying but not a lot on the Sunday. As usual I was busy watching the race, and there was just too much going on during this race to take my eyes off the screen. I've been doing a bit during the week which is why it's only just being put up.

I'm quite happy with the progress though. The tyres on the one side are almost done and it's starting to look like a Formula one car now.

I've hit another block of fiddly bits now which is slow going but I'm hoping to get plenty done next weekend.

Hamilton cross stitch update - Europe

I didn't get as much done on this as I'd hoped. I'd wanted to finish the first page but I didn't quite make it. I made a start on the fiddly section to the top right which is the top centre of the design. This takes in the back spoiler and Hamilton's helmet, which I was very keen to get done. I managed to get almost all of this done on the Friday and Saturday and planned to finish off the easy filling in of the tyres on the Sunday. I just didn't feel like stitching on Sunday when it came to it, so what you see here is as far as I got. I'm still happy with my progress though and I have strayed quite a bit over into page two so that'll help.

This is what it looks like now.

 
There's just a small band to do on the helmet and that bit of filling in on the tyres to finish off page one. It should get done during the next race and hopefully I should get a good crack on into page two.

I'm now working on August's Winnie the Pooh and should have that finished in a day or two unless my current book calls me too strongly. It is a very good book so it's a toss up which one wins to be honest...

Hamilton cross stitch update - Canada

I didn't get as much done to this as I thought I would. Even considering that we spent two hours of the race with the cars sitting on the grid in the pouring rain under a red flag. Usually, I spend quite a lot of the three race days stitching but this time I only stitched during qualifying and the race itself. I think it was because it was an evening race so the timing threw me out a bit.

Even so, I can see a bit of progress. You can just about see that the grey blob on the left is a tyre. A wet tyre, of course. What else would it be after that very soggy race in Canada? I think the next race should see me finish the first page as there's just a bit of tyre left and the top of the spoiler plus Hamilton's helmet. I'm going to change the yellow provided for the helmet for one from my stash as it isn't quite the right shade. Almost, but not quite and it'll bug me if I don't change it.

This is what it looks like now.

 
I've just started on August's section of the Winnie the Pooh calendar, although I'm itching to carry on with an old friend that got picked up again last week. Photos of that to come soon. And a nice parcel arrived from Sew and so today containing another two Victoria Sampler kits, the fabric for the Pixel People Firefly chart and some 18ct Aida.

I've decided that I really don't like the fabric that I started Starry Night on so I'm going to restart it on Aida before I go any further. I've been thinking about it for a while, which is why there's been no progress on it. I decided it would be best to restart it now while there's only a tiny bit done than to carry on and not be happy with it. I'm not keen on redoing that corner with all the confetti but I know what to expect this time and will be able to keep the back tidier so that'll be better. I may finish Winnie the Pooh before restarting it so I can give it more attention. Or not. I'm undecided. Sigh. So many projects, so little time.

Hamilton cross stitch update - China

I managed to get a fair bit of stitching done during the practice sessions for the Grand Prix last weekend. And then again during qualifying. This was fortunate as the race itself was so exciting that I got very little done while it was on. The few minutes before the race were nail-biting as it looked for a while there as if Hamilton would be starting from the pit lane, if he started at all. He made it out with seconds to spare and then gave us an amazing start.

As for the race itself. Quite often I spend most of it with my hand suspended over the stitching with my needle hovering over the fabric. Last weekend, I just gave up and put the needle down. I didn't dare take my eyes off the screen. It was that good. And Hamilton won! What a result.

I'm quite pleased with how this is coming on. It really is a pleasure to stitch this one. You should be able to see what it's meant to be better once I've stitched a bit more, but those are his fingers on the steering wheel.

 
It's going away until the next race now. I've decided to stitch easier projects during the week after work, and tackle this one on race weekends and Starry Night on the other weekends. We'll see how that works out.

Pixel People

Etsy. I'd heard of it. I'd even been to look at it occasionally. Nearly always in response to a link posted by a friend. You know the sort. The look at this, isn't it fab/cute/pretty sort of link. And I'd dutifully click on the link and agree that yes it was fab/cute/pretty or whatever. Assuming it was, of course. I'd never actually bought anything from Etsy, or even registered or joined or whatever they call it.

All that changed at the weekend. There was this discussion, you see. The type of discussion that persuades you to idly reach for the mouse and start Googling. Mmm, that type. They never end well, do they? We were discussing TV, mostly cult TV and cross stitch and would we stitch or had we stitched our favourite shows. It suddenly popped into my head that it'd be an amazing idea to stitch something to do with Firefly. Yeah. And, before I knew it I was Googling Firefly and Cross stitch. A few photo realistic ones that didn't do much for me came up and then I found this on Wee Little Stitches.

 
How cute is that? Look at Jayne in his hat. And Nathan Mal in his brown coat. And there's Inara in her pretty frock. You can clearly tell who each and every character is. It's just perfect. I fell in love. I may just add "Cowboys in Space" beneath the characters, just because I can though.

And obviously I didn't stop there. There was so much more to look at. Ferris Bueller's day off - I love that film. Pretty in Pink too. Lots of Star Wars stuff. And then I spotted this next one. Another must have as it's one of the funniest things to be aired recently and I can't wait for it to come back on.

 
Words almost fail me. Just look at them. Sheldon...

So I had those two in my basket and was resisting Ferris Bueller when I spotted this last one. Oh my. I nearly fell off my chair with excitement and that's not easy as it's a big chair with arms on it.

You know I like Doctor Who, due to the slightly enormous task that I've set myself in Starry Night with Tardis. Well how on earth could I resist this, considering that I grew up watching some of the earlier Doctors from behind the sofa. Hey, Daleks were scary when I was a child. 

 
All eleven Doctors plus the Tardis. I love it to bits. And needless to say it got added to the basket with the other two and was purchased.

My charts were emailed the next day. They're of excellent quality with detailed instructions. I'm very impressed with Wee Little Stitches, and there's a chance that they may be pixelating Red Dwarf at some point as apparently I'm not the only person to have asked about that possibility. Yes, I had to ask. Oh, come on, can't you just see Cat done in this style? So, fingers crossed and with a bit of luck, I may even find time to stitch all of these charts that I'm piling up.

I am just so chuffed to bits with these though. So cute!

 

 

A fast stitch

Well not a fast stitch in that I'll be stitching it quickly, but fast in that the subject is super speedy. I've made a start on the McLaren/Hamilton kit. I know I've got plenty of other projects on the go at the moment but I just like the idea of stitching this one while I'm watching the races. This is what it'll look like when it's finished.

 
I had it ready to go in time for this weekend, but wanted to get another project finished on the Saturday so didn't start it while watching the qualifying otherwise I'd have got quite a lot more done. It took me the first hour of the race day viewing to get used to working over two again, and then once the race actually started I got very little done. Sometimes the races are so exciting that instead of doing any stitching, I spend the entire race with my needle poised over the fabric and my eyes glued to the screen.

On the odd occasion that my gaze dipped to the chart or the fabric, Stephen would shout out "Did you see that?" And I'd have to get him to rewind so I could see what had happened.

This is the small amount that I managed to get done.

 
I really enjoyed stitching it as it's a great chart. The instructions, chart and thread organiser are all excellent. They even provide a gold needle. I did replace the Aida with some Evenweave because I prefer stitching on it and I prefer the look of it when it's finished.

I should have another update after the next Grand Prix, when I should get quite a bit more done. I'm hoping that if I stitch faster it might help Lewis drive faster...

Heat Wave by Richard Castle

I was writing a few words on this for my Books read in March post, when I realised that it seemed to be taking over the whole page. I thought it might be best to give it its own post as I seemed to have rather a lot to say about it...

I got quite excited when this arrived from Amazon, as you'd have noticed if you saw my earlier post. I love the TV series Castle and the concept of reading the book that was written by the fictional author in the series was just awesome. No other word will do, I'm afraid. Usually new books sit on my desk until they get registered on BookCrossing and then they sit there a bit longer until I summon the courage to shoehorn them into the To Be Read bookcase. Not this one. I read it the same night. It was calling to me.

So, how was it? Intially it was weird. It was exactly what you'd expect, but odd to read. The characters in the book were only based on the characters in the series, just as if Castle was real and had actually written the book. Nikki Heat was similar to Kate Beckett but wasn't her. There were two male detectives in the book, just like the series and again they were similar but not the same. They bantered back and forth and their wisecracks made me laugh. I really loved their nickname. There was a character called Jameson Rook who was a journalist that was shadowing Nikki Heat, and was like Castle but again was different. So it was like watching the series in a parallel universe, if you know what I mean.

Once I'd got used to the characters in their own rights though, I settled in and started to enjoy the book for what it was. It wasn't half bad. There was the same humour running through it that you get in the TV series and the same amount of clever detective work coupled with action. It was fun spotting the parts that the fictional Castle would have used from his research, aka from the TV series, but strangely after I'd got over the intial weirdness, that didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the storytelling.

It was a good plot with several suspects, plenty going on and a familiar setting. I've no idea who actually wrote the book but it was well written and was true to how it was described in the series as far as I can remember. I loved that it even had the dedication in the front - "To the extraordinary KB and all my friends at the 12th." It was slightly more adult, but only very slightly more, than the TV series, but for anyone who loves Castle and who loves books, I'd recommend getting their hands on this. It's great fun. Trust me.

I couldn't resist

I don't watch that much TV but there are a few shows that I really like and one of them is Castle. I liked Nathan Fillion in Buffy and I loved him in Firefly so I was predisposed to like the show to start with. I really love the show for itself though. It's one of the few shows that we both watch together and enjoy equally. It's funny, it's got a great plot, the actors are excellent and I just love it.

So, in the series, for those who don't watch it, Nathan Fillion plays Richard Castle. He's an author and he writes a book called Heat Wave during the course of the first season. There's a lot more going on obviously, but that's the important bit of information for the purpose of this post. You see, I had no idea, absolutely none at all, that the book in the series actually existed. Well, they don't usually, do they.

This one does. Look

 
That's my desk that it's sitting on - hence the title of this post. How on earth could I possibly resist? It looks exactly like the one in the series. It has a dedication on the front by James Patterson, with whom Castle plays poker in the series. There's even an interview with Castle in the back of the book. It's perfect.

I'm so excited about reading this and seeing if it matches up to how it was described in the series. I keep grinning every time I look at it and Stephen is quite bemused, especially as I waved it in his face babbling ten to the dozen when he got in from work. Even the postman looked a little worried when I thanked him a little more manically than usual when he handed over the nice Amazon box. Hey, I knew what was in there, ok?

Heat Wave. They actually wrote it. Awesome!

So much for good intentions!

My plans to keep my blog updated a bit more frequently were scuppered by yet more migraines. One last Sunday, one on Monday and just a small one on Tuesday. Then the big one hit. From 2am Wednesday morning to 7am today, meaning that I completely missed Christmas. Just as well I didn't have anything planned, I suppose...

I did managed to read a few books inbetween migraines. I polished off all three of the Twilight books and can't wait to read the fourth book which Tree is going to lend me. I also finished The private lives of Pippa Lee which was ok. I'm planning to read that new Clive Barker next and I've popped one of my new books by Joyce Carol Oates into my work bag.

I've had a couple more arrive from Amazon marketplace sellers. I ordered The green man which looks a good story as well as being for the colour challenge. I also got Crome yellow, again for the colour challenge. That was a real bargain as it looks pretty much new.

My young neighbour, who loaned me all those books a few weeks ago, spotted that I was reading the Twilight books and told me that her dad was having problems getting them for her. That was easily remedied with a quick visit to Amazon and those are now on the way for her. In the meantime, she's reading my copies.

I must be getting a reputation as a book buyer as a friend at work asked if I could track down a book that she wanted to get for someone else. It took some doing but that is now on its way from the US. It's even more fun spending other people's money. *grin*

I've managed to catch up on the two 'must-watch' Christmas programmes, Doctor Who and Dancing on ice. Both excellent and great news that Dancing on ice is back on Jan 11th. Whoo hoo!