stitch witchery

scenery porn and other stories

tli — Sun, 01 Oct 2017 10:51:21 GMT

So I went to Cornwall at the beginning of September. It was absolutely lovely despite the weather and I had a surprisingly nice time sharing a cramped caravan with my sister, dad and gran.

I took a ton of photos down there... most of them featuring my sister! She is very particular about how she looks in photos, which is fair enough. Here are a couple she wasn't in.

The beach at Padstow, which went on forever. Not pictured: actual sunshine a little later on!

Sister and I walked up to Pentire Point just outside Polzeath (where we were staying) during a rare dry afternoon.

Ironically it was on that hill surrounded by sea and more hill that I had an actual phone signal. None whatsoever at the caravan park. Sister and I read maaaaany books that week.

I was supposed to spend the night at mum's after getting back from Cornwall to break up the journey, only she did puppy eyes and I ended up staying another week at her's to get through a ton of work. And I mean a ton. I'm still wiped out from that, two weeks on. Oops. It feels like I've been mentally collapsed in a corner for a while now. I've been trying to shake myself out of it.

Side note: How is it October already? How!?!

More book bingo

tli — Mon, 04 Sep 2017 17:08:10 GMT

For context, I currently am on holiday in ~~deepest darkest~~ Cornwall. My phone has no signal and it being a holiday, laziness is contagious. So I have been reading.

I only read the blurb of this before downloading the ebook because it sounded interesting. And then I read it in its entirety this morning. I found it on my flashdrive while looking for something else, and it turns out that Windows 10's Internet Explorer thing can open ebook files.

The short description is that it's about a woman who is ripped away from her idyllic life with her husband and daughters and told by her captors that her entire life is a lie. I liked that I found out everything as the book unfolded as I usually lookup reviews before reading. Totally worth not doing that this time.

I finally FINALLY finished "It". I have owned this book for at least 12 years and never got around to reading it because it's so bloody long. I only made the effort this year because a) there's a movie remake coming out this year that I'd quite like to go and see (and book always precedes movie) and b) bingo card.

I started the book in maybe February? Ploughed through it for a couple of months and then put it down again until this week. I honestly wasn't expecting to read the final 400 pages in 2 days but here we are! I'm still not sure how I feel about the climax, but it was still a hell of a ride.

The book bingo card has duly been updated!

Book bingo update

tli — Sat, 26 Aug 2017 17:45:33 GMT

I know this has been forever.........but I finally finished a book!

Goodreads page HERE.

A few months ago explodedpen recced me this book. I say recced. She pulled her kindle out while we were on a tram and told me to read the first chapter. So I did. And I was intrigued.

And then last week I found the book in a charity shop. It was fate. Or something. Either way I read most of it in about three days, which is the quickest I've read a book in a long time. And it was really, really good! Without going too much into detail, it's character driven, the worldbuilding is gorgeous and I want to read the sequel already. Which I can't for a little while, because life. Bah.

But I can finally mark something off the bingo card! (Yay!)

2017 LJ Book Bingo Masterpost :D

tli — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 21:43:34 GMT

I'm doing a thing! Found ljbookbingo via fififolle's f-list and thought I would jump aboard :D

I'm seriously hoping this improves my recently dismal reading record.

~~I look forward to updating this as I actually finish books!~~

1st square, a book recommended by a friend
The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet

2nd square, an audiobook or e-book
The Girl Before

3rd square, over 400 pages long
It

Screencapping Tutorial

tli — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 18:23:58 GMT

I promised fififolle a tutorial on screencapping. It's not exhaustive and definitely not the only way to do it. But it's how I do it, and it works for me, hopefully it will work for you and anyone else who wants to give this a try :D

If something doesn't make sense, let me know!

Screencapping tutorial

This is going to cover the absolute basics of capping a show. In this case, Primeval :D

This uses Virtual Dub. It's a program I've used for years to cap anything and everything. It's very nifty in that you can control the quantity and quality of caps, and even which sections of a video file you want to cap. You can also set a batch job to cap all the things while you do something else.

Download VirtualDub here and install the program: http://virtualdub.sourceforge.net

Open VirtualDub. File>Open Video File and locate your video.

The second screen is only necessary for editing, or picking sections of video to cap.

Frame rates. This is the key to capping with VD. The frame rate is how many still images there are in a second. The standard for European/Region 2 DVDs is 25fps.

Open the frame rate control through Video>Frame rate

25fps is confirmed in the box at the top. In the second section, where it says 'Decimate by' is where you control how many caps you take. Decimating by 25 means one screencap for every second of footage. In a typical episode of Primeval this is around 2600 caps, which is plenty for most things. Decimating by 5 means there are 5 caps for every second of footage, which means I end up with a ridiculous average of 13,000 caps per episode. Whatever you do, put a number in that box! Otherwise you will end up with every single frame of footage as a cap. When you've put a number in, click 'OK'.

Time for the main prep work. Go to File>Save image sequence.

This is where it can get fiddly. Filename prefix is exactly what it says: this will be the file names of your caps. I use hyphens to stop it becoming a block, especially with large numbers of caps, and the episode numbers for obvious reasons. The caps will automatically be numbered as they are generated.

Click on the dialogue box at the end of the space under 'Directory to hold images'. This will bring up a menu. Find a folder to store your caps in. Sadly VirtualDub doesn't let you create a folder this way, you'll have to do this in a separate window.

The path for mine is visible along the top of the window. And this folder won't be empty for long!

Once you have selected your folder, click 'OK'. You'll then come back to the Image output filter menu.

The directory to hold images is now filled in. Also make sure you've selected JPEG as an output format.

Note: JPEG is a relatively low quality image but take up less space than other, nicer image formats. I've ripped my .avi episodes from normal DVDs, which are of a decent quality to begin with. Caps like this are perfect for icons and other small graphics. Using blu-ray quality source footage will obivously yield higher quality caps, but the process for making them doesn't change. Image quality and format both increase file size, which is something to consider if you have limited hard drive space. Don't use the BMP format, the files end up too large, there's no point.

If you just want to cap the one thing, this is where you click 'OK' at the bottom, and watch VirtualDub do its thing!

If you're like me and want to do other things while the caps are being made, click the box I've highlighted. Batch mode is a beautiful thing. Once the box is checked, click 'OK'. The caps now won't be made until you specifically instruct the program to start.

From here, open another episode and repeat the image sequence process with each episode as many times as necessary. Skip the frame rate, the program remembers that information for as long as it's open.

Just make sure the file names and directories match up with the episode. It keeps the caps for each episode in separate folders, which makes navigating them much, much easier. Check the box for batch mode each time as well.

To check on job control, hit F4, or go to File>Job control.

I've capped multiple things before, and there is a limit to how many jobs VirtualDub can handle, due to its limited processing capability, sadly I can't remember what the limit is! The complete series of Primeval, however, is a doddle.

Once you have all your jobs lined up in the Job Control window, simply hit 'Start'. If, like me, you like to go to bed while the computer is doing things, while in Job Control, go to Options and click on 'Shutdown when finished'.

The time taken to cap will vary depending on how you chose to decimate the frame rate. The lower the number you decimate by, the more caps, the longer it takes, etc.

When job control has finished, go back to your folders.

Ta-dah! Screencaps!

tli — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 20:19:44 GMT

I haven't updated this thing in an age, I know.

Mostly this is because life has become one overarching blur. Like the last few weeks, I've done 7-day weeks since just after my sister's birthday, and now I am wrecked. My entire body aches and I'm pretty sure exhausted has become my default state. Got tomorrow and Monday off. I know there are things I should do, like tidy up the mountain that used to be my sofa, but honestly I'll be surprised if I make it out of bed tomorrow.

Potentially interesting things I have done lately:
- watched, and enjoyed the hell out of, Pacific Rim
- watched, and gave up partway through, a bunch of other films (sequels and remakes, mostly, sigh)
- jotted down vague plots for original fic
- kept up the reading thing, a chapter here and there has got me through more books than I've managed in the past. Currently on 'The Burn Zone' by James Decker, and after that it's back to working through the books explodedpen reviews

I haven't had much energy for fannish things, but I'm determined to delve back into my wips folder at some stage and find something else to finish, or continue. May need poking with sharp sticks for that one!

...there might have been something else, but I can't remember.

tli — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:20:36 GMT

So a few weeks ago I listed some DVDs on ebay. Two of them were won by the same person... who has so far failed to pay, despite telling me he would today due to unforseen circumstances. I've resent the invoice and I'm now wondering how much longer I should leave it til raining hellfire on his feedback score and via ebay itself. I'm easy going but there are limits. Rargh.

In somewhat happier news I mnanaged to joint a bear myself yesterday (it took some doing). Going to finish the face tonight so it no longer looks like a Fringe event. Seriously digging the blue fur though.

Still suffering from writers' block. Or it's probably apathy. I'm just not enthused about anything, even the couple of WIPs floating around. Maybe I just need a new show to fire me up... any suggestions?

(And this new posting box thing is seriously annoying.)

snow day!

tli — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 10:41:11 GMT

This means a day off, not that I have any idea what to do with it. Probably reading or starting another bear. And tea. Lots and lots of tea.

tli — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 21:58:05 GMT

K at work brought in a teeny tiny teddy bear that she made from scraps of fabric.

How is that not the most adorable thing ever?!

Also, Criminal Minds: Whatever happened to produce this week's episode, kindly do so again as many times as you like. That was the single best episode I've seen from you in a loooooooooong time :D

no business like snow business

tli — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:10:34 GMT

Happy (belated) New Year, y'all!

Had a day off due to the snow, not that I did much with it. Story of my year so far, really. This was the first whole day I've had at home where I've not been exhausted, cold ridden or both. And what did I do with it?... Tinkered with my e-reader, played a lengthy round of spider solitaire and now I'm watching Life After People. (I ran out of Person Of Interest a few days ago and despite getting some more dvds for Christmas, I continue to be spectacularly lousy at rewatching things.)

I've been reading like a fiend lately, though. Currently on a reread of Chindi and I've ploughed through the first two Newsflesh books, with the third verrrrrrrry high up on my to-read list. (Check out the books, they're awesome.)

I'm partly hoping all this reading is going to help kickstart my writing again, but if past experience is anything to go by a Stephen King binge should be the tipping point. That or a shiny new fandom. Or something to kickstart my existing projects. Which would be nice either way, I don't like not having an outlet for the crazy stuff inside my head!

tli — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 21:23:58 GMT

I have finally watched the final season of Spooks.

...it may have broken me just a tiny bit.

watching Fringe...

tli — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 18:53:48 GMT

...THIS IS AMAZING.

hmm

tli — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 17:53:43 GMT

I haven't updated this thing in ages, so here goes.

Work: Meh. There were a couple of recent major cock-ups (none of which were our fault but we're the ones suffering for it, financially speaking) but otherwise it's been business as usual.

TV: Dull. Most of the US summer/cable shows I watch have been... flat. Samey. Predictable. I could easily drop most of them and not be bothered. That said, I recently (finally) started watching Grimm and I. Love. It. I'm midway through the first season and I've got about half a dozen more-or-less fully fledged plot bunnies on the go, most of which revolve around isolating Nick and putting him through every wringer imaginable. Very good times :D

Life & Other Things: My sister is staying with me this week while she's got early work shifts, and it's anything but dull with her around. Avengers marathon tonight \o/ Her first viewing of any of the Marvel films.

...Whoa, that's Amanda Righetti at the end of Captain America. Looks almost unrecognisable in 1940s getup!

What else? I'm getting blinds up in my kitchen and bathroom after almost 3 years of being in the flat! Batons are going up next week and I want to alter the blinds to go up asap. Oh what an exciting life I do lead.

We've just started on Avengers. This'll be a fun ride :D

tli — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 17:46:48 GMT

Went to the dentist this afternoon, was traumatised pretty much from start to early finish. Will definitely be taking massive headphones the next time creepy ass little saw type things are going to be involved.

There is a silver lining though. Hilary Bear's guns fiiiiiiiiinally arrived yesterday.

Planning to rewatch the latest episodes of White Collar and Warehouse 13 tonight. Anything to distract me, really!

I made something!!

tli — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 19:19:57 GMT

So a few weeks ago I went along to a bear workshop my mum ran. It wasn't my first choice of how to spend a Saturday but that's what ended up happening.

As it happened, I had an awesome time.

I even photo-documented the making process, much to everyone else's bemusement. Turns out I knew a few of the other... bear-makers? customers? however they're referred to, so at least there was banter, and even a bit of friendly competition between me and someone else.

This is the back of the mohair fur with all the mirrored shapes to make the different body parts. The patch of dark brown in the upper right corner is suede for feet pads.

All the pieces cut out and fur side up. I went with grey for my bear, for no particular reason.

The body parts were then tacked together, and inside out. Lots of teeny tiny stitches required for this stage.

They were then painstakingly turned the right way around via gaps in the tacking. I got mum to do a few of mine where I'd left the gaps too small. (I don't do fiddly - that well, anyway.)

Then we got to stuff the body parts! The head had little beady eyes attached before the stuffing went in, the little black dots in the upper centre of the face should be just about visible.

One of the feet. The thigh was left unstuffed so the joints could be put in.

Same with the upper parts of the arms. Teddy's got to have mobility.

And then the joints were installed! Something else I didn't do (to be fair, mum did the joints for almost everyone else as well). Bear's still a bit floppy at this point because apart from the head, nothing is completely stuffed yet.

That was a job I completed at home with the aid of some chopsticks and lengths of upholstery thread that I got wound onto awesome little wooden reels. The gaps in the limbs and torso were then tacked up once I felt Bear had enough muscle going on.

AND HE STANDS. Just a few things left to add...

The first ear, which was easier than I'd anticipated to stitch on, mostly because the fur hides most of the stitching.

And a rear view of both ears attached. The second one went on a little wonky compared to the first, but eh. Gives Bear character.

AND A FACE. That was easier than I'd thought as well, especially once I got used to the non-flat-ness of the face.

LOOK AT THAT MAGNIFICENT BEAST \o/

The bear on the left was made by K. Same pattern, same fur colour etc. and turned out completely different. I'm including this photo because Harrison (K's bear's name) has an AWESOME NOSE.

And of course, me being me, my Bear had to have a name as well. Not going to lie, the final factor in me going to the workshop was when I realised exactly what Bear's name and profession were going to be.

So. Without further ado (and a couple more accessories), I present to you...

Hilary Bear.

HE FIGHTS DINOSAURS.

(Primeval reference for anyone who doesn't know the show.)

Most awesome bear ever.

Even better was the reaction I got from le siblings. My brother *wanted* Hilary, my middle sister thought he was cute, and my youngest sister tried to cuddle him and thought he was awesome.

I'm making them all bears for their birthdays. It's going to be a surprise, don't tell ;)

my name is -

tli — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 21:34:01 GMT

There are things I should have been doing this week. Instead I've been rereading the Animorphs series *points to icon* It's been maybe 15 years since I first got into it, and the rereads have been glorious fun (and somewhat depressing, since I have vague recollections of what's to come for the different characters). I finished #24 this afternoon (just another bloody thirty to go!).

I've also been building a list of Questions that canon has left unanswered, and more general 'huh' moments. They may be answered in the form of fic. I haven't decided yet ;)

- What happened to the woman the team rescued from the pool at the end of #1? Was she tracked down and either killed or recaptured, a la the starvation victims from #8? Or did the Animorphs follow through and properly get her to safety?

- Jake and Galuit meeting post-war. Needs to happen.

- Ax' characterisation is wildly inconsistent. He just reads as played too much for comedy.

- In #19; how did Aftran leave Karen and nobody notice a formerly important Controller was no more?!?! There wasn't even an attempt at an explanation for that one. Just an attempt at a cutesy moment between a little kid and a self-important ex-butterfly.

- General observation. If there were rumbles of the Animorphs being human as early as #19, why not roll out the blood drive then? Yes, it would have taken resources, but a) pre-#19 they had a Controller with access to daddy's millions and b) instead of a lollipop, they hand out parasitic alien brain slugs. Up the freaking ante!! And on a related note, after #21 VISSER THREE KNEW THERE WAS A HUMAN ANIMORPH. HOW BIG A STRETCH WOULD IT HAVE BEEN TO ASSUME THERE WERE MORE!?!?

- After reading the David arc: His parents, post-war, meeting Marco. I vaguely remember what happens to David as of #48, but presumably his parents are still Controllers. And once they're freed... they'll still be looking for their dangerous psychopath kid.

- Gump. Whatever happened to Gump??

...I don't know if I'm brave enough to dive back into the TV series. Maybe just the one based on The Capture. Visser Three's an Observer, though. I read an Animorphs/Avengers crossover earlier - how freaky/awesome would an Animorphs/Fringe crossover be :D

tli — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 22:03:43 GMT

I haven't updated this thing in a little while. Not that there's been a whole lot to update about, hehe. Work's the same old unpredictable mix of mind numbing standing-around-doing-naff-all and manic crazy back breaking labour. I've taken to bringing my netbook in with me most days so I can poke at fic during the dry spells.

I've got myself a smartphone! It's a nifty little thing, if somewhat confusing. Lucky for me I also have teenage sisters who are happy to show me how things like twitter and smartphones in general work. I'm mostly chuffed I've found an e-reader that a) will let me import my own files rather than having to buy them and b) not encourage me to overshare my reading habits with the world at large.

And I've been slowly chipping away at my writer's block. Very, very slowly.

And that's it... that's it? Too much time spent playing games and gorging on Avengers fic, clearly! (Glorious fun, would definitely go to see it again!)

Random Things What Make Me Happy

tli — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:19:04 GMT

- Unexpected day off! Got some housework done and spent some quality time with my sofa.

- Buying coach tickets to visit explodedpen on Sunday \o/

- A pyramid of mugs on the drainer. With a slight sideways extension as the drainer is literally not wide enough for another stack.

- Catching a pixellated dragon in the computer game I've currently addicted to. And it only took me a whole morning!

- My brand new homemade netbook cover! Check this out :D

- Teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeea.

- COMMUNITY SEASON FINALE. SO. MUCH. AWESOME.

- And the Once Upon A Time finale - although that better not be a reset button Rumpel wielded!

tli — Sun, 13 May 2012 11:04:41 GMT

I've finally changed my LJ layout! I needed a change of scenery, and while this isn't exactly what I want, it's close enough for now. It's basically been way too long since I've tried to do anything with CSS.

Off to play with graphics now! ~~And make a better journal header...~~

tli — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:02:30 GMT

So I survived work. Not sure how, though.

Spent the weekend catching up on tv things.

Fringe. Part 1 of a 2 part finale, and it was distinctly underwhelming. It just seemed... random and cobbled together and I don't know, maybe part 2 will hold everything up and make things make more sense? I hope so, anyway.

ONCE UPON A FREAKING TIME. That is how you lead into a season finale. Though the season had better end with Emma believing in the curse otherwise... what was the point of everything? There's denial, and there's... Emma. So yeah. Snow White is made of pure distilled awesome and Mary Margaret is not far behind. Also August is finally growing on me now I know his backstory.

Community was... weird. It's clearly the opening part of an arc, so I'll withhold judgement until I see how the story plays out. I marathoned the first season of this on Fri/Sat with a friend, and it's kind of awesome seeing how far the different characters have come.

Honourable mentions: Revenge for Daniel possibly being a true blue Grayson after all; Russell Howard's Good News for continuing to bring the random and hilarious.

I still need to catch up with Hawaii Five-0, Castle and Homeland, not to mention the films starting to pile up on my shelf. And the books. And my fic and vid projects. And now that work is calming down a leeeetle bit I want to start doing more in general. So we'll see!

ugh

tli — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:36:12 GMT

Crawled home from work about twenty minutes ago. It's going to be like this all week, but there's a massive List that needs working through by next Monday.

But! This weekend I set myself up a blog for my original fiction and project type things. I've had several concurrently developing ideas in my head for some time now, and I decided it was time to maybe take them a bit more seriously and create a space where I can organise and plan things out a bit more coherently, and separately to my fannish identity. So that could be exciting.

I've also been rewatching the first season of Castle. I'd forgotten just how meta that show can be. Eventually I'll get around to a full on Primeval rewatch for vidding purposes, hopefully when work gets a bit less full on. Hopefully ;)

nnnnnnnnngh

tli — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:25:16 GMT

It's Thursday today, right? Just two more days until we get the second half of our farmhouse order finished at work (8 windows - 8 huuuuuuuuuge and in-need-of-insulation windows) and I can, I don't know, sleep. Remember how to formulate thoughts and words into coherent communications. That'd be awesome.

Still no writing mojo to speak of, but I've been bunnying myself lately. They're all completely ridiculous ideas, but they're ideas, so I'm calling that progress. Mostly I've been losing myself in reality tv and quick bursts of Monsters of Men between work sessions.

I just need to get this month out of the way then I can start to really focus on all the fannish things I've got queued up.

wip meme

tli — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 20:58:50 GMT

Snagged from lady_drace.

1. Go to page 77 (or 7) of your current ms.
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines – sentences or paragraphs – and post them as they’re written.
4. Tag 7 other authors. If you would like to do this meme, consider yourself tagged!

Hawaii Five-0; currently untitled
“But Moretti.” Danny pulls himself away from the matching bullets and looks around at the rest of the team. “Moretti was a scumbag of the very highest order. If this is the same killer, why'd he take out Thomson?”

“I'm still trying to figure that out,” Chin mutters, already flicking through files and windows on the touch-screen. “No arrests or convictions... no cautions or citations – not so much as a parking ticket.” He looks up and shrugs. “As far as I can tell, he's clean.”

“There has to be something, though, right?” Kono asks.

“Maybe,” Steve says.

Primeval; Another Philosophy
Dully, he realised he had no idea what Stephen was going to do next.

Did Stephen know?

“Don't do this,” Nick tried. “Whatever you're going to do, Stephen, d-”

A gun clicked behind him.

“Stephen, don't!”

Nick closed his eyes tightly – and a gunshot rang out.

walkies!

tli — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:18:54 GMT

It's been disgustingly sunny for the last few days, and today I decided to walk part of the way to my grandparents', about 3 miles.

If the weather keeps up like this I might go trundling off more often at weekends.

doobeedoobeedoo

tli — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 23:33:11 GMT

Ugh. Today started at 6am, thanks to early sunrises and the gap at the bottom of my blinds. Realllllly must look for some fabric so I can make blinds that fit the windows (yay novelty!). I might try and reduce light

But but but. I have spent the evening with digitaljessie and not only have we partaken of the new Sherlock Holmes film (late to the party, but at least we made it!) but I have also introduced her to the enormously cracky Bruce Greenwood led The River and Once Upon A Time which has completely suckered me in.

I've also introduced her to the utter perfection that is this House/Sherlock/Fortysomething vid. Greg House as BBC Sherlock Holmes' dad. Watch iiiiiit.

Still not much to report on the fannish front. I wrote a few hundred words at the weekend, mostly so I could say that I've actually finished something this year. Several vidbunnies waiting in the wings, mostly older ideas that again, I'd like to say I finished, or at least had a proper go at. I should make a list. A manageable list, even. Yeah, that'll do it.