This is a must for any of you who are having a Harry Potter movie party.
However you’re preparing for the return of your favourite wizard, whether it’s having an epic 6 movie marathon, getting dressed up, or reading one of the books to your kids (friends/dog?). You can really add a touch of the supernatural to it by serving up some magical colour changing drinks.
“I have no plans to love you,” said Coraline. “No matter what. You can’t make me love you.”
— Neil Gaiman (Coraline)
That may be what Coraline said to “the other mother”, but you won’t be able to say it to this adorable amigurimi by Ravelry poster, Sharon Rose, aka Homemade Obsessions.
I love her little yellow boots, her key necklace, and the drapey blue hair, and of course the button eyes are perfect. (Even though, I have to admit, they creep me out a little bit.)
The blog post includes the pattern, and stepped-out photos for attaching the pieces and hair.
Also be sure to check out Sharon’s patterns for Wybie and the Ghost Girl.
In case you haven’t heard about Coraline, it’s a fantasy/horror novella by British author Neil Gaiman, published in 2002. There was a graphic novel adaptation, published in 2008, and illustrated by P. Craig Russell. The stop-motion animated film was directed by Henry Selick, and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2009. [Historical facts per Wikipedia]
Now, unrelated to Coraline, but related to Neil Gaiman…have you seen the footage of the Minnesota Public Radio interview with Neil Gaiman, where they call Mythbuster’s Adam Savage and he does a short singing stint in the voice of Gollum? According to theonering.net, it “contains so many different brands of geekery it might shut down the internet.” You simply must see.
LINKS OF INTEREST:
In my household reading the Hitchhickers Guide to the Galaxy is a rite of passage. It’s lexicon is the language of our everyday social interactions within the house. It’s a beautiful thing.
It’s very confusing for visitors.
So looking in the Flickr pool for today’s feature, there was only one choice for me.
Amazingly LadyHazard has never read the books, but she certainly captured the spirit (or lack thereof) of our favourite paranoid android. Its a beautiful piece (but just a slight warning, her photostream is awesome… but NSFW!… there you were warned, now go there anyway :-) )
Awesome work LadyHazard
Last night, I had the extraordinary pleasure of attending “An Evening with Neil Gaiman,” in Berkeley, CA.
Not only was the audience graced with the company of the author himself, but the surprise addition of Mythbusters host Adam Savage as moderator made the night even more extraordinary.
Though the initial focus of the program was the 10th anniversary of American Gods, the conversation meandered through topics ranging from the pitfalls of publishing to Neil’s unabashed fanboy love for Dr. Who.
The night held a beautiful congruence of numerous energies, from the deliciously geeky to the downright mystical (hearing Neil read a passage from American Gods in a historic church made my scalp tingle).
If you ever have the chance to hear Mr. Gaiman speak, do yourself a favor and go. Between his dry sense of humor, his amazing storytelling abilities, and his easygoing manner, he’s remarkably fun to listen to.
In honor this wonderful night, I found this simple, yet lovely letterpress print of a Neil Gaiman quote. It’s available from Fate Hope Destiny Luck Machine, an Etsy shop “operated by a circus artist and printmaker out of Portland, OR.” How friggin’ cool is that?
These may not be Neil’s exact words from last night, but the quote definitely captures the spirit.
[Sketch via Neil Gaiman’s WhoSay.]
Shel Silverstein’s stories and songs were a big part of my life when I was growing up. He seemed like a fun, cool uncle that never got tired of spinning yarns and cracking jokes, and he was always as close as my nearest bookshelf.
I got that warm, fuzzy childhood feeling all over again when I spied LilyVanilli72‘s spot-on embroideries depicting Mr. Silverstein’s wonderfully weird illustrations.
I love how this traditional blackwork method of embroidery lends itself perfectly to Shel’s art style. Lily’s meticulous stitches don’t hurt the sketch-like effect either!
So far she’s done “Razor-Tailed Wren,” “Who Ordered the Broiled Face?” and “Running Giraffe.” I’m hoping she’ll stitch some more, like the classic “Boa Constrictor” (a personal favorite of mine).
Makoto’s Cross-Stitch Super Collection by Makoto Oozu is, as it says on the cover, very cool! and not lame! Originally two books published in Japan (Hop, Stitch, Jump! and My Stitch Book), this is an awesome compendium of tiny, geeky patterns and projects to stitch. It’s got robots, dinosaurs, monsters, aliens, insects, sea creatures, travel, and electronics to choose from.
I love the way the book is organized. Part 1 shows you all of the designs stitched in full color. Part 2 is full of an interesting variety of projects with everything from shirts to pillows to an amazing pegboard wall panel (who needs Aida?). Part 3 goes over cross-stitch materials and tools, basic stitches, and detailed instructions for all of the projects.
As much as I would love to make the pegboard wall panel, I don’t have room for that in my house (seriously, I need to make room for this!), so I went small and stitched on a Moleskine notebook cover.
To get the holes in the right place, I was going to draw lines with a pencil, but the book had great advice–photocopy the pattern from the book and use that as a guide for punching the holes. I opted to use my Japanese screw punch with the smallest tip instead of a book awl and decided to go with the purple pterodactyl. I punched the holes and started stitching.
Since the design is so small, I was able to use threads from my loose stash and stitched with two strands. I think that the next time I stitch on a notebook, I’ll use more strands, but I’m still very happy with how my dinosaur came out.
These designs are so quick to stitch up–I think the pterodactyl took me 15 minutes–these notebooks would make great last-minute gifts.
Rad news! I’ve got one copy of Makoto’s Cross-Stitch Super Collection to give away. Leave a comment telling me your favorite dinosaur and why by Friday, June 24th at midnight ET and I’ll pick a winner at random. Respond to another reader’s comment and get an extra entry (limit one, please). [Edit – midnight ET. I can only stay up so late :)]
