Netflix and Crafting

Whenever someone sees me crafting for the first time, they tend to react in a similar way: "Wow, I could never [insert craft here]," or "I don't know how you have the time to do that!" Once someone says this, I fell almost sad that they have never experienced crafting. 

Think about how many people crafted a hundred years ago. Sure, a lot of it was required. You kind of had to be able to sew a button back on or knit socks for the winter. But it also had to do with having some to occupy yourself. Before the glorious invention of TV people had much more time to fill up. Ok, they could read a book or write in their journal. But what if they wanted to be a little more social? Crafting allowed people to sit together and chat while they worked on their handiwork. The beauty of crafting is that you can multitask. 

Fast forward to modern day.

I am one of those people who can't sit still to watch TV. Many others cope by being on their phones also. I admit that I will spend a lot of time on my phone while watching TV. 

Unless... 

I craft. If I can keep my hands busy it makes sitting still and paying attention much easier. I have been known to make it through entire movies like Mad Max: Fury Road (which I would recommend if you enjoy weird characters, cartoon violence, and minimal plot or character development) with cross stitching in my hands.

This is my newest project. It's from FiddleSticksAU and it's going to read "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." It has witnessed Iron Man 2, Thor, Mad Max: Fury Road, A Ballerina's Tale, and other TV shows like America's Next Top Model thus far.

So the next time someone asks me how I can do such a tedious, complicated thing, I'll answer: "Lots of Netflix." 

Oh my Glob!

Here's a second Lumpy Space Princess cross stitch!  The pattern is in my Etsy shop as an Instant Download (cool new-ish Etsy tool).

I attempted to make the original into a card with so-so results.  Apparently there are cards made specifically for this, so you don't have to spend 30 minutes with a ruler, pencil, and scissors to get the window made.  Despite reading that double-sided tape was the key, I forgot that I had some and just kind of MacGuyvered it.

Anyhoodle, I like how it turned out!  My current cross stitch project is Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony.  She is all pink, and it took *ages* to find the right pinks.

Lump Off!! Cross Stitch (In Etsy Shop)

Lumpy Space Princess is one of the funniest, weirdest characters on Adventure Time.  She's always saying "Oh my Glob!" and "Lump off!" like a weird space princess Valley Girl.  Yesterday I was itching for a small project to do and came up with this.

It took a few hours to complete, and I am in love with the result!  I don't have a plan for the piece, so I cut it into a rectangle and pulled some of the Aida strands off.

Artsy angle!

The pattern is now for sale in my Etsy Shop!  I'm going to be putting patterns into my shop for the first time.  It's cool because there is no shipping to deal with; someone buys the pattern and it is immediately sent to their email. 

Next up: Another LSP cross stitch!

Cross Stitching. Forever.

I decided to stitch a picture that I really like of me and my mom.  It was taken in a photobooth at the Renegade Craft Fair in Los Angeles a couple years ago.  Hence the mustache on my mother.  Now I'm not really sure why I thought this would be a good idea.  I mean, it's cool and unique.  But it's about 100 times bigger than any of my other projects.

Current progress of portraits.  Will it ever end?

 The first stitches were those in the highlight of my mom's left cheek.  After completing that little blob of purple, I (foolishly) thought that it wouldn't take too long. 

Let's take a break here and talk about math.  There are 12,025 stitches in this pattern.  That little blob?  About 75.  Which is just 1/160th, or 0.6%, of the entire pattern.  I probably should have thought more about the time needed to complete this piece... it was supposed to be a Father's Day present.  Oops.

There are 7 colors of thread in this piece.  When I first went to pick out the colors, I had a list from the KG-Chart program's generated pattern.  After picking up all the colors, I noticed that I had some blues and some purples in my hand, all mixed together.  Not a smooth gradient!  So I used my Color Sense (thanks, Mom!) to pick out my own gradient.  Now I know that KG-Chart doesn't have super accurate colors.  Or that my computer monitor is extremely off.

Well, I'm going to go watch My Little Pony and stitch some more. (Don't knock it 'til you try it--it's a charming, funny show.)

Scyther Pokemon Cross Stitch WIP

Since finding the sprites for all video games in the depths of the Internet (Spriter's Resource, back atcha!) I started my own cross stitch sprite.  I played Pokemon on my fuchsia GameBoy Color when I was younger, had lots of the trading cards (which are still in my room somewhere in  a neatly organized binder), and even went to the Pokemon movie as soon as it came out.  Ah, childhood!

My first sprite is Scyther, the green bug-looking Pokemon with sharp blades for hands and wings.  It was the answer to "What is your favorite Pokemon?" asked of the DBF. 

Here it is so far!

 

It was in the making of this pattern that I realized KG-Chart colors aren't exactly like the DMC colors.  There are two types of green here, but they are almost exactly the same!  If you look on the right blade, the top is the "darker" green and the middle is the "light" green.  Unfortunately, outside of bright light, they look the same.  

I have also created patterns with Gengar, Mew, and some pokeballs.  They will be posted soon!

KG Chart Image Conversion Tutorial

Here is how I convert a sprite to a cross stitch pattern.  I use KG-Chart for the cross stitch and an old version of Photoshop for the image editing.  You can use Paint just as easily for this type of work, but then you don't have as many options for layers and undoing steps.  Though I am doing this with a "sprite", it will work with any small image. 

This tutorial will show you how to go from a small sprite to a cross stitch pattern.

--->

Tutorial after the jump!

Resources for Video Game Cross Stitch

If you want to get away from the "cutesy" style of traditional cross stitch, there are many ways to update it.  One such way is to render video game characters and scenes in cross stitch.

Sprite Stitch is both a forum and blog that lists cross stitch patterns based on video game "sprites."  There is an archive of many patterns already created, as well as a forum in which users frequently create patterns for others based on requests. 

This is a wonderful place to go to see amazing cross stitch projects!  Many people post their finished products that will just make your jaw drop.  One example is the below, a project stitched by inkdnjabd that contains all of the original pokemon.

Amazing pokemon cross stitch project by inkdnjabd on Sprite Stitch.  Click for the forum post.

Another great resource is The Spriter's Resource.  Though not specifically for cross stitchers, this is a website that has sprites from hundreds of games.  For those of you who don't know what a "sprite" is, it is a small pixel picture of a character.  This makes it super easy to translate to cross stitch because it is often pixel-for-pixel. 

For example, I looked up Pokemon and there is a picture with all the Pokemon for each game.  I took this picture and grabbed just one--scyther.  Below you can see how big it is:

 Whatever program you are using to edit the picture, there will be a way to determine the size of the image.  I wrote down the size, in pixels, and then imported the picture into KG-Stitch with those dimensions in stitches.  The colors may not always be spot on, so you may want to alter them once imported.

Another step that you have to take in KG-Stitch is to "erase" all the background stitches.  The background of the photo was imported and read as white stitches, so you must use the erase tool to remove those stitches and to get an accurate count.

I am currently stitching the outline of this pattern and will post a progress picture soon!

Cross Stitch People: Clothes 1

In continuing my series of cross stitch people, here are some clothes!  It is super easy to mix and match them and change the colors to get the perfect outfit.  You can also add stripes and other designs to your own cross stitch.

Click on the picture below to see it larger.  

Here is the larger pattern, with the colors that I used.

Cross Stitch People Part 1: Hair Styles

I've seen all sorts of pixel people cross stitched on the Internet, and thought I would try creating some different designs.  Below you can see my first set of hair styles.  There's long hair, wavy hair, short hair, and pigtails.  If you want a slightly different style, it is very easy to change. 

Here is the link to the pattern!  For personal use only, please.

Next, clothing styles and more hair!  Also, I'll be adding some men.

Futurama Cross Stitch Gift

For the past week, I have been working on this cross stitch from WeeLittleStitches.  All of the patterns are amazing!

Here it is, Futurama:

 
The pattern is *free*, so yay!  You can find it here.  Now, poor Hermes did not make it into the final product.  I'm stitching with a deadline!

This is the largest cross stitch project I have done so far, and it dragged on forever!  So many different colors of thread (some of which were actually the recommended colors) and ends to weave in.  I finished and stared at it for a good few minutes and then realized 1) the Professor didn't have any shoes, and 2) The top row of Amy's jumpsuit didn't have the second leg of the stitch.  After grappling with my inner lazy, I pulled the thread back out and fixed those two spots. 

Next up... IT Crowd!

THREAD!!

Today I went to the craft store and bought some embroidery floss for my cross stitch stash.  A LOT of it, too.  Well, at least more than I've ever bought at one time before!

I was buying mostly for patterns that I have and am *attempting* to use for presents (1 week to go!).  There's also some that were just too pretty to pass up, such as that bright turquoise on the left and lime green slightly over.

Now, onward with the frantic gift cross stitching!

Block Letters Cross Stitch

So I have been making my patterns in KG-Chart, which is a great free program.*  It doesn't have a fancy text input tool, so you have to do all of it by hand (which is actually kind of relaxing... see my Rorschach quote).  I haven't decided yet if it is worth it to shell out some money for a better program--like Pattern Maker Pro. 

Anyhoodle... that means I am doing all the text by hand.  So I decided to try making my own "fonts" in the program so I don't have to be constantly trying to remember what kind of letter I want.  The first one is very close to what I use for my woven friendship bracelets.  I had to tweak a few letters for them to look right with the others, because they look different when I weave them.

While making this, I realized that I have NEVER EVER made a bracelet with a "Q" in it.  And I've done more than a hundred.  It's not a very common letter, apparently!

So, here is a link to the PDF.  Feel free to use however you want! 


*Just, for the love of God, don't try to switch to backstitching when you have some cross stitches selected.  They will disappear.  And then you will "undo" and the cross stitches will be in the spot that they were before you selected and moved them.  Hopefully.  But, hey, it's free!

Mitosis Cross Stitch Pattern

I LOVE the process of mitosis.  It's one of the first things that drew me to Biology in High School.  I have embroidered it before, but now I have created my own cross stitch pattern.

On it, you can see one cell going through Mitosis and then Cytokinesis to form two daughter cells.  I wanted it to be small, so it is very simplified.  (Like, no homologous chromosomes!  So these cells belong to some haploid organism with only two chromosomes.)  But it's still pretty.    

Click for bigger!

Here is the link.  Have at it, ye scientists!

Next, I will try to figure out something to do with genetics, because genetics rocks! 

Christmas Cross Stitch Label Free PDF

Quick and easy Christmas label to add a custom touch to your gifts.  Your recipient can then turn it into an ornament if he/she so chooses!

See below for a link to the PDF of the pattern.

Here is the pattern! I'd love to see any finished (or mostly finished ;) ) projects.

Anatomical Heart Free Cross Stitch Pattern

 I first designed this pattern over a year ago and got about 50% done with the project before abandoning it (I have learned that I lose interest quick if there are huge swatches of color.).  I have tweaked it a little and put it into a fancy PDF for you. 

Anatomical hearts are cool, right?  As a biologist, I feel that I must present at least one organ pattern.  Though I must admit, my knowledge of anatomy and physiology is pretty basic because I am a Cell Biologist.  So expect some awesome cell patterns!

 Want a PDF of the pattern?  Here it is!  Just, you know, link back and whatnot. :)

Dumbledore Quote Free Cross Stitch Pattern

 Here's my second cross stitch pattern!  I was thinking about what I should do next when I remembered that Dumbledore said a lot of cool things in Harry Potter.  This quote is from the first book, The Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) Stone.

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live." ~Dumbledore

 Here is a link to the free PDF!  If you use the pattern, I would to hear from you (and also a link back). :)

Now, what to do next...?  I have no school or work for a month, so lots of time to come up with patterns!

Cross Stitch Pattern Designer Program (With free Rorschach Quote Pattern!)

I'm the kind of crafter who follows patterns but also MUST design my own patterns.  I've spent hours looking through cross stitch patterns online and got the urge to make my own.  So I started to search.  There are so many cross stitch pattern makers out there!  But most are for converting images into cross stitch (want your baby's face forever remembered in 50 shades of fleshtone thread? Bam!).  And the ones that have the tools I want are $50 and up.  Seriously?  For a glorified Paint program?

After much searching, I found the perfect program: KG-Chart.  It lets me draw stitches and shapes and add in backstitching.  When you go to print the design, it gives you a handy dandy table with the DMC numbers for all the colors and how many stitches are in each.  (Though I must admit that I choose colors for my projects by squinting and comparing to the printout.)

My first pattern is a Rorschach quote, from Watchmen.  Though it's a kinda long, loud movie that I *may* have fallen asleep during my second viewing... it's a really cool quote.  Every time you read it, though, you must imagine Rorschach saying it with his crazy-awesome voice.

Here is a PDF of the pattern.  So go for it, cross stitchers!  If you post your completed project, please link back and let me know. 

"ooh wee ooh" TARDIS Cross Stitch

I recently decided that I need to craft more, because in the busyness of my senior year of college, I had stopped doing any crafts.  Cross stitch was the craft that called to me.  It took a few hours to find the perfect pattern, but I instantly knew when I saw it!

Here it is, the TARDIS.  I bought the pattern from Elf Stitch and was super excited to make it.  It took me almost 2 weeks to complete, and is my largest (completed...sorry Flying Spaghetti monster, you're just so much boring noodle-colored tentacles!)  project yet.

Oh, that border, it was almost the end of me!  It turned out looking great, but the border took longer than the actual TARDIS and text.  Note to self: seek out patterns with simpler borders.  I think one of the reasons it looks so cool is the backstitching on the TARDIS.  I thought about not doing it in a fit of laziness, but decided to just go for it (I'm a risk taker!).  So now I am all "Me + Backstitching Forevever!" 

Now I am working on some TARDIS ornaments from the pattern.  It's flying by!