July 1

Nyan Cat Roundup

Pauly’s awesome and fuzzy Nyan Cat scarf got me thinking… there must be more Pop Tart kitty goodness available. Lo and behold, there is. I present to you my favorite Nyan Cat crafts from Etsy:

Nyan Cat Cross-stitch Pattern

If you’d like to make your own Nyan Cat, thatquietchick has a cross-stitch pattern. How long would you make your rainbow?

Nyan Cat Keep Calm Print

Why keep calm and carry on when you can keeep calmz and nyanyanyanyan with this print from DesignNoy?

Nyan Cat Key Chain

Let Nyan Cat keep watch over your keys with this tiny kitty keychain enclosed in resin from BitOfSugar.

Nyan Cat Mouse Pad

Nyan Cat will help you navigate the interwebz with DesignNoy‘s mouse pad.

Perler Bead Nyan Cat

NostalgicNerd made this Perler bead Nyan Cat extra special with neon and glitter beads.

Nyan Cat Plushie

Cuddle up with this plush Nyan Cat from Cinnamonstitch.

Nyan Cat Rubber Stamp

Stamp this hand-carved Nyan cat from xxNostalgic on all of your important papers. Add your own rainbow.

Nyan Cat Vinyl Wallet

 

I might have to buy this Nyan Cat vinyl wallet myself from kittencamaro.

June 25

And the winner is…

Makoto's Cross-Stitch Super CollectionRandom WinnerThe totally random winner of Makoto’s Cross-Stitch Super Collection is number 19 – Catherine! Catherine, please send me your full name and mailing address to pandora75@gmail.com and I’ll send you your copy of this awesome book. Congrats!

 

Category: Craft, Geek | Comments Off on And the winner is…
June 22

Book Review: Makoto’s Cross-Stitch Super Collection

Makoto's cross-stitch super collectionMakoto’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.

Makoto's cross-stitch super collectionTo 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 :)]

June 8

Anime Girl Cross Stitch

I’m always amazed at the patience of cross stitchers. I did a small, simple robot photo booth cross stitch and it drove me crazy. So when I see something as big and gorgeous as this my mind boggles! The whole thing is 140 x 180 stitches, on 14 count cream Aida. HistoricalNeedle sewed this over a couple of months. She based it on an Anime style picture she found on the web (if you know who the original artist is, feel free to post it in the comments). HistoricalNeedle plans on getting a Gothic style frame made for it, so I can’t wait to see that!

Category: Anime, Craft, Geek | Comments Off on Anime Girl Cross Stitch
May 26

“A New Hope” Cross-Stitch

Luke Skywalker Cross-Stitch“That boy is our last hope.”

If Luke Skywalker had run for New Republic president, he undoubtedly would have asked Shepard Fairey to design his poster, too.

“Manbroiderer” whateverjames made this detailed cross-stitch of Luke in all his starry-eyed earnestness, riffing on Fairey’s iconic “Obama Hope” poster. It’s roughly the size of a hardcover novel, just to give you an idea of how much work went into this.

Whateverjames is such a fan of Star Wars stitching that he created his own Flickr group for us needlepoint Jedi: Han Stitched First. Looks like he also has plans to expand it into a blog, so keep your eyes peeled for more Star Wars stitchery from this guy!

[Via Mr. X Stitch]