Pixelated MsStitcher

One of the Birthday challenges over at Sprite Stitch recently was to make a pixel version of yourself.  All of the entries were really good, and a few have now been used as their avatar.  Including my own!

Pixel Me

I am genuinely debating stitching this, because it is a bit fitting. With it being for Sprite Stitch, I have put something about everything game related that I have made since being a member.   I may have gone slightly OTT... But it is nice to see a pixel version of myself.

Treble Clef Cross Stitch Pattern

My MiniSwap partner has received her parcel recently so I can show you the little package I sent off to Belgium.  I was quite excited to be sending something I made off into the world, and I was very relieved when it got there.  I made her a mobile case with a treble clef on, a Maplestory meso pouch (with some chocolate coins in) and a Fable bookmark:

The other side of the Fable bookmark is this little sword.  

I am slowly getting used to the KG software for making patterns and was quite proud of the way this sword turned out.  I am going to have to go and search through my camera to find the photo of it, but this pattern was the first one I have made and stitched where I have had to tweak the actual pattern a bit.  Then with the normal list of favorite games and information that I got about my swappee, it was mentioned that she loves music, and her icon on the forums is music related, so before I decided to do the mobile case I did a quick search for a free treble clef cross stitch pattern.  I couldn't find one anywhere, so although I didn't use it I thought I would share this little pattern that I made in preparation.  After Christmas I am going to have to make myself a bookmark with this on.

Unfortunately I can't show you anything else that I am working on until after Christmas.

The Door to Moria

I received the best swap gift last week.  I genuinely could not have chosen a better hand made gift for myself.  So first of all Thank You to Starrley - go and check out her blog here .  
Now I was having dog issues when the postman knocked and I desperately needed to take my mind off of it so it couldn't have been better timed. ( Lets just say that our neighbours poodle got into our garden and my boxer was rather pleased to see her...nobody should have to deal with boxer/poodle love first thing in the morning!) Anyway...
The first thing I saw was a card with this image:

Now this was exciting enough as I love Dune, and when I listed it as  one of my best games/books etc I really didn't think many people would have got it. So this card alone cheered me up, then I look at the framed item and all I can say is WOW!!!

The Framed Door to Moria

This is so beautifully stitched and just looks so right in the frame. Also this was sent all the way from Texas so the fact that she actually added the frame is so lovely because it would have increased the postage by a ridiculous amount.

The Embroidered Door to Moria

The elvish on this is tiny and detailed and done so neatly.  I know that I am being overt with my praise but I still can't believe someone sent me this, so so so happy with it!
Also for a quick comparison, this was the image that it was based on:

The Door to Moria

If there was ever an incentive to hurry up and get my map done, this was it!

Big Swap Goodies

I took part in the Sprite Stitch "Big Swap" in the Spring. Unfortunately no one had heard from my "swappee" or get in contact with her, which was a shame, but the guys on the forums were great and I know a fair few people offered to make something.   Well you can imagine my surprise when a box arrived from America! Unfortunately it took a little longer than that to actually get the box because it was stuck at a ParcelForce depot for a couple of weeks while I tried to argue against the extortionate import charges I had received, considering it was a gift.  Hubby kindly paid in the end and I finally got my Big Swap!!!YAY!!!

The box from America!!

All was forgiven!!!

The first thing I saw was this sweet photo on the top of a note to say sorry for being so late.

Angry Bird Magnets

I have to keep these on the microwave, out of reach of little hands, who keep trying to steal them!! My 5 year old has already suggested I make some squishy pigs and we play "real life" angry birds....hmmm.....
For the next gift you need to see this image first

Jayne

If you don't know who this is then firstly you need to go watch Firefly and Serenity. Now! As a side note I'm just going to throw it out there that we need to somehow scoop out the ideas formulated by Joss Whedon's brain in case anything should ever happen to him....Geek Rant over.

Jayne The Badass Teddy!

Jayne Hat!

I'm not entirely sure that I can really pull off the Jayne's Hat look BUT it looks adorable on one of my childhood ted's so is now perched atop the telly!

Portal Latch Hook Rug

Having done latch hook I can assure you that the time and effort gone into this would have been crazy! This is definately my favourite! I have been thinking of cross stitching some of the portal logos for a while, but it would never have occurred to me to make them in to a rug! GENIUS!

Yay! Totally worth the wait. It is a shame about the charges though, but I know it has been brought up on the forums since the Mini Swap is now nearly over, there will be a few more parcels arriving and departing with lovely geeky crafty things in!

Sprite Stitch Swap

I am long overdue posting these pictures. After taking part in the mini swap last year I took part in the Sprite Stitch Big swap this summer.  I love Sprite Stitch and was thrilled to pieces to be part of the big swap....until I found out who I had to make for...I got BlackMageHeart (BMH) who is one of the most talented people and who does so much cross stitch that one of the other members actually went off on a rant and worked out how much she must stitch per hour relating to things that she had mentioned on the site. She is also the lady that runs the swap and the person you go to when you need help.  The only reason I was daunted by making something for her was because I wanted to make something good enough, because actually she is lovely - go and check her out at her blog BlackMageHeart.
So after much deliberation this is the package I sent:

A Phantasy Star online biscornu.  This was the first biscornu I made but I am so happy with how it turned out. It is also something just a little bit different.

"The Rant" stitched

 This just had to be put into stitch form and if anyone was born to stitch it is BMH

Black Mage Tote

Over the swaps BMH has always taken part and she has recieved many different forms of black mage, but I found a new one!  I like the idea of this tote bag though because you could have any 8-bit character relatively easily....maybe.....

Unfortunately my swappee seems to have disappeared into the void of time and space, but I am quite excited as I know several people are making up stuff to send out so no one gets left out, since I am the only person not to recieve anything I know that I should still recieve a lovely little parcel at some point. Yay!

A Little Cross Stitch Pacman

This is just a quick post that does what is says on the tin. Here is a little cross stitch pacman that I made for my brother's birthday

I got him this pacman alarm clock for his birthday:

 Which he thought was hilarious, he probably finds it less so now that he has to wake up to "WackaWackaWackaWacka" each morning.But I thought that I would make him a little something to go with it and he has been reading a lot more recently so I thought I would make a little book mark for him. 

I got the pattern for the Pacman and ghost from Sprite Stitch and I think it's quite cute! 

Threads!

My lovely hubby is unfortunately working on Sunday, so as a treat he took me and the kids to Hobbycraft on tuesday, and not only bought me the particular thread I needed - but bought the rest of the threads I need aswell!Yay!

DMC threads

You have got to love a man that will happily spend money on threads! (I use the term happily, rather loosely, but he did and he offered!) There were about 12 colours I needed all together and there was only 1 out of stock. Having bought a couple of threads here and there as and when needed, I am now getting a lovely little collection of DMC threads, next I need to organize them....Organization isn't really my strong point, but next on the list of craft stuff that is needed is going to be a nice little thread box.
Aside from this we then went wandering and I came away with this gorgeous mixing bowl aswell!

I feel very "betty crocker" with a proper ceramic mixing bowl like this but I do enjoy baking and the family enjoy my baking (most of the time) so all is well.
I have an update of the charity quilt block that I am working on, which is starting to look like something a bit more than a block of purple now. However you will have to excuse the shoddy photograph, I know that decent photography is the first rule in Craft Blogging but the nice camera has ran out of battery and I'm not entirely sure where the battery charger is....Will be round here somewhere - but in the mean time I have my phone's camera....

WOW Cross Stitch Square

I am going to be cross stitching a World of Warcraft square for this years Sprite Stitch Childs Play quilt. Last year over at Sprite Stitch they came up with the brilliant idea of getting a load of gaming crafters together to do a project for charity. The charity they chose was Child's Play.  Child's Play in their own words are:

 A game industry charity dedicated to improving the lives of children with toys and games in our network of over 70 hospitals worldwide

Having had a child in hospital for a short amount of time, I can completely appreciate what a difference this would make. Also it is really nice to see Gamers in a positive light!
 In the end Sprite Stitch created a beautiful quilt, with each person doing one (or more) squares completely cross stitched from different video games.
This is what it looked like completely finished:

 Each square was completed separately and then all put together.  Well in December it went to the Child's Plays dinner auction and raised over $2000! And they are doing another one this year!!!!
Having missed this last year I jumped at the chance to get involved.  From the looks of things so far they may well need to do two quilts because so many people have signed up!
This is going to be my square:

For those of you not in the know, this is a Murloc from World of Warcraft! Once I'd (finally) found an image I liked and would suit all the requirements several very kind people turned it into a pattern for me. All I have to do now is get the supplies in and get started. This doesn't have to be sent off until August so I have plenty of time. But I am very excited to be part of it this time around!

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Handmade Christmas Presents

Happy New Year everyone.
I thought I would kick off the year with some photos of some of the lovely handmade Christmas Presents given and received last week.

The Tardis iPhone case

I've started with this beauty that I made for my brother-in-law. He is a huge Doctor Who fan and I knew that this would be hugely appreciated. You can buy the iPhone4 case covers from amazon here and the pattern was free from The Zen of Making
(It always amazes me how generous people are with their patterns!) I was worried what it would be like to stitch on but it was really easy and I think it looks good. I know that my brother-in-law likes it because I made him open it while on the phone to me so I heard the scream of excitement!
I made another of these covers for my Aunt, but chose a red case and stitched a white tea pot onto it. Unfortunately I completely forgot to get a photo of it though...Doh!!  

Raaar

My other handmade gift was for my lovely hubby who loves dragons. Again this was a free pattern online at Carolyn's Stitchings. I have a tendency to substitute colours needed for ones I have, but made sure I got all the right colours in for this one and I'm really glad I did because they look gorgeous.  Also there isn't any backstitch needed for this as it has a shaded kind of effect.  My two year old son "helped" me stitch this as I could only do it during the day when my hubby was at work and he was very impressed that I was making a "raaaaarrrrrr" for his Daddy.
Also I have been lucky enough to have received some rather lovely handmade presents aswell.These were all made by my very clever and generous Grandma!Thank You!!

I might have mentioned a few times I love bags....

A knitting needle case which was very much needed!

A very lovely needle and sewing accessory book.

And this very cute pin cushion.

 Then there was this beauty made by my Aunt:

I love to give and receive handmade gifts, so next year I am going to make sure that I am a bit more organized so more of my gifts can be handmade.  Also I am very lucky to have people in my life that can make such lovely gifts as well!







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SpriteStitch Swap

My Swappee got their gift this morning, so I can finally show you all what I've been busy doing!
I have absolutely loved being part of this swap, as it is the first that I have taken part in and Sprite Stitch is a really great little community.    
Firstly I made a needle book, with embroidery on the front and cross stitch inside:

This was quite an easy make, but looks good. This was all hand stitched, as my poor sewing machine is holed up in the corner at the moment, feeling very unloved.  I was initially going to do the whole thing out of felt, but decided that a fabric cover would be better.  I quite like the effect of mixing different fabrics and textures and I think I've pulled it off here.

Secondly I made a Pokemon Pincushion! Which I am actually really pleased with because it is soo cute! (What more can you ask for - cute and practical?!)

This was quite difficult to make, and is quite rough around the edges, but I don't think my swappee minds.
After I get all my making for Christmas out of the way I think  I am going to have to make myself the needle book.  But at the moment it is just going to have to go on the To Do pile which is getting a little bit too big for my liking.

Stitched Map of Middle Earth

I am going to stitch a map of Middle Earth. But first I needed to get the image across to my fabric, and I can announce that Middle Earth is (finally) on linen! Given the amount of time it has taken me and my better half to get this far I dread to think of the total man-hours that this project is going to require. However it is looking really good, if not somewhat big.

To put this into perspective, I had to stand on a chair to get this photo, and the linen and paper map cover my dining room table completely!
I am going to completely embroider Middle Earth before deciding on a border style although I am debating whether or not to make the border circular and repeat the elvish inscription from the One Ring as a border. However I think I may be biting off more than I can chew:

Inscription from The One Ring

I am going to leave any final decisions until I can see how everything looks stitched.  Which will probably be quite a while as
the detail involved in this map is ambitious to say the least.It does look rather impressive close up though:

Mordor

I am currently trying to figure out how to start the gargantuan task of stitching this wonderful map.  Due to it being such a large scale project, I am trying to decide whether to stitch it section by section or whether to stitch say all of the lettering, or mountains or lines in order.  Most probably I will sit down and decide what I want to stitch as I go, as I'm not normally the most organised person....

Middle Earth

If you look closely and compare 'my' map to the original, then you can see where some parts have been somewhat squashed into place. It has been quite difficult to keep lining everything up and keep everything in place.  If this had been a smaller image, I could have found a way to keep everything in place, or at least lined up with the image below.  Luckily though I don't think I know anyone that knows the map of Middle Earth off by heart, so it should be alright. So, just to start stitching......