Supernatural bullet

I think I mentioned yesterday that I had some people testing out patterns that I have drafted but not yet tested.  I feel really blessed to have them come along because I just don't have time to test all my own patterns, but I hate to see them languishing on my computer.

You might recall that a year ago some time back, I posted 16 Supernatural patterns available for testing.  Foxfire over at Needle of Sewing +3 (is that not the most amazing name for a sewing blog ever?!) has just tested out my Supernatural bullet pattern, so that one is ready to be submitted to Fandom in Stitches.  Right now she's working on the demon tablet, but that one is pretty embroidery-heavy and will probably take a while.

Here's the computer-generated image:

The computer-generated image.  It's poor quality because I had to steal it from my own pattern thanks to my computer going on strike.  :)

And here's her completed block!  I'll link up to her blog posting once it's published.  In the meantime, go check out Foxfire's Finger Paint blog ... lots of cute ideas for nail art there.  If I had any skill in painting my fingernails, I would definitely be trying some out.

Foxfire's completed block.  Photo used by permission.

This is a quick, easy pattern, and a great addition to your Supernatural quilt.  It might even be fun to make a bunch of these in a smaller size as quilt cornerstones.

You can download the pattern here for right now.  I will submit it to Fandom in Stitches and Craftsy soon.

Throne Thursdays: Lannister

It has been a very long week, spent preparing a million party supplies, dozens of goody bags, and food.  I had a temporary break with reality about a month ago and scheduled two parties for the same weekend: a Minecraft birthday party for my daughter, and a fancy tea party for my Girl Scout troop.  Quick, someone smack me upside the head!

However, I still made time for sewing, so I'm proud of myself.  I got a really fun block completed for the Project of Doom that I will share next week, and I got my Lannister block done for my husband's Game of Thrones Quilt.

The computer-generated image.

This block took me a bit longer than the rest, but mostly because it had more sections.  There were a few funny angles, but nothing outrageous.  I'd probably rate it about a 3/5 for difficulty.

My finished block!

His chin area isn't lined up perfectly, but he's got a mane so I don't think it's all that noticeable.  The colors are much more vibrant than they show here.  I get so excited when I finish a block, I get right to photodocumenting it without fixing my camera settings.  Maybe some day I will grow up and become a real blogger, but until then, it is what it is.  :)

I can't wait to see this as part of the completed quilt.

You can download the pattern here.  I will list it on Craftsy once we get a new hard drive for my computer, since the old one is toast.

I now have someone testing my Game of Thrones blocks along with me, which is super exciting!  I always enjoy seeing my patterns done up on someone else's fabric with their own special touches.  Allyssa will be stitching along with me, and I will be sharing those pictures as I receive them.  Here is the Baelish block, in a fun chevron print:

Allyssa's Baelish block.  I love the green!

I received my new, so-much-better grey fabric in the mail today, so I'm hoping to redo my Baelish block and finish up Tully this week.  Then it's on to Tyrell and Baratheon ... if I survive the weekend, of course.  Wish me luck!

Doctor Who Christmas cross stitch

Who doesn't like a touch of Christmas during these boiling days of almost-summer?  I know that I start prepping for Christmas as far in advance as possible, since so much of my decor and many of my gifts are handmade.  Also, I just adore Christmas.  Since I can't do much pattern editing, testing, or sharing right now thanks to my computer going on strike, I thought I would share a Doctor Who Christmas cross stitch project I recently completed.

Here it is, all framed up:

Doctor Who Christmas cross stitch.  You can create your own pattern with just a few simple steps!

My apologies for the pictures; I didn't take them before it was framed, so it was exceptionally hard to get a shot without showing you my entire living room in the reflection.  :)

There's no pattern for this one, because it's not my own design.  I can't even honestly remember where I found the source image for this one.  I'm really just sharing this as a geek sewing tip so you can learn how to make your own.

To make it, I found a t-shirt or sweatshirt pattern I liked and printed it out so I could work on it away from the computer.  There are tons of nerdy Christmas shirt patterns out there that you could easily convert to cross stitch, like this one.  You will find this to be much easier if the image appears to be made of v-shaped knitting stitches.  If you find one you like that is not already in stitches for you, you can use a cross stitch conversion program (like Pic 2 Pat) to create a pattern from the picture you found.  However, I discovered that did not work well for this particular project, so use it at your own risk.

I then printed up some free cross stitch pattern papers, taped them together, and carefully went through the original picture section by section, counting each v-shaped "stitch" on the sweater as a square on the paper, and coloring the paper to match.  You could use symbols as well, but if the pattern has few enough colors, it makes it easier to stitch it out if you just use colored pencils and color in each block.  I stitched mine on navy blue Aida cloth so the colors would pop.

I love how it turned out!

Almost the entire thing is simple cross stitch, with no half or quarter stitches, no French knots, and minimal backstitching.  I only added backstitching to some of the snowflake shapes and in the center of the bowtie to help give it shape.  The pattern lent itself to this simplified cross stitch really well.  However, I wanted to include the Christmas lights that wrapped around the TARDIS in the original image, so I backstitched a green cord and added tight lazy daisies in red for the lightbulbs.

The TARDIS centerpiece.

I'm looking forward to displaying this at the holidays.  There are always little geeky items and crafts tucked away around our house, and Christmas should be no exception.

I also recently finished a Hobbit-themed cross stitch for our dining room at the new house, and I'm really pleased with it.  I'll share that one -- with links to the pattern -- as soon as I have it framed up.

Throne Thursday: Baelish

So there's bad news, and there's good news.

The bad news is, my computer is currently sporting the blue screen of death.  It's like the cherry on top of the sundae of suckage this week.  I've narrowed it down to an issue with the battery or the fan, so replacements are on the way.  In the meantime, I'm working on the kids' computer, which requires installing all of the programs I need to share my patterns.  It's funny how nothing will remind you that you never back up your files quite like your computer breaking down.

The good news is, I had just emailed the Game of Thrones pattern pack to a tester, so I was able to pull it up on this computer from my email.  Today's pattern is the Baelish sigil.

The computer-generated image.

This pattern is incredibly simple to piece.  I would probably rate it at a 2/5, only because I think a 1/5 should be a true beginner pattern, preferably with few to no sections to put together.  But you can stitch this one up really fast, and the pattern is really versatile and doesn't have to be related to Game of Thrones.

The real deal.

I'm not actually happy with the color combination.  I thought I would try it out since this was the only green and grey I had that wasn't heavily floral, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to redo this block after a quick trip to the fabric store.  At least it is tested and ready to go!

The Baelish sigil.

Then again, I think I love that green.  It's just that polka dot silver that needs to go.  I'd love to find a nice tonal to replace it with.

Since my Martell block got such a crummy picture last week, I thought I would try to get a better one to show it off.  It didn't work out too well, but here it is, in some of its glory:

Martell block.

I've decided that because the quilt will naturally be so colorful, I'm going to reuse a lot of my fabrics throughout the different blocks.  When I find a grey I like, it will be the Baelish bird, the Tully trout, and the Arryn eagle.  That same red from the Martell block will be showing up as the Targaryen dragon and the background of the Lannister sigil.  I'm hoping that will lend some consistency and connection to the quilt.

My progress so far!  They are colorful, but I think they will all work out together.

Right now you can download the pattern here, but it won't be available on Craftsy until my other computer is up and running.  I will update the posting as soon as I have it listed there.

Side note:  I just came across this Ministry of Magic pattern by liljabs.  It looks simple and fun, and I have a feeling I may take a breather from my PoD and GoT and knock this one out this weekend.  Head on over and check it out!

Harry Potter Project of Doom "Quilt-Behind": Week 3

This week I knocked out a couple of the more difficult Project of Doom patterns that are available at this point:  the Deathly Hallows and the Dark Mark.  I am pretty pleased with how they turned out, and I'm glad I included them both in this block.  I am loving all the variations that Jennifer is including for us!  Right now, looking at what I have finished, I'm wondering if I made the right decision to go with a neutral background for my bookshelf.  I'm hoping that by the time I add in all the extras that aren't on here yet and do some quilting, it will look better.  I think having the wooden shelves and the busy wallpaper around it will help, but right now it looks so ... plain.

Some of my progress so far.

The Deathly Hallows was much easier than I thought before I saw the pattern.  It's only two sections that piece together easily, so as long as you can sew on the lines, you can make this one!

I had embroidered the rune dictionary last week in the hopes of finding the perfect place for it on my bookshelf, so I wanted to feature it here.  I didn't follow the original colors because I needed something that would stand out against this fun black and white fabric.  I wasn't sure it would work out on this pattern, but I think it does, especially in person.  Once again, this fabulous embroidery pattern comes from Susan over at The Bored Zombie.  She just released a new set of embroidery titles, and you don't want to miss out on them.  I'm looking forward to stitching them up next week, after I finish the yearly spell books.

Rune dictionary.

It absolutely kills me that the book doesn't quite touch the top of the Deathly Hallows, but I'm going to put on my big quilter panties and suck it up.  (Until I decide to go back and rip it out and fix it, of course.)  I decided I wanted the journal to look leather-esque as well as allow the green of the Dark mark to stand out, so I went with some browns for that part of the pattern.

The Dark Mark pattern.

The Dark Mark.  I thought it would be a lot more difficult than it was.  It was just a lot of tiny pieces and lots of sections that had to match up, but if you're familiar with my work, I don't shy away from tiny pieces.  It didn't end up perfect, but there's nothing that stands out and really bothers me, so I'm chalking this one up as a win.

On a side note, I am crazy excited about the pattern that was released this week and I just happen to have the perfect fabrics for it, so I will probably end up skipping around a bit.  I'm not holding myself to a strict schedule for this project, which is unusual for me.  We're going to test out this whole "spontaneity" thing that my husband keeps talking up and see how it works out.  :)

Where are you at in your PoD?  Just starting out, keeping up, or ahead of the game?

Throne Thursdays: Martell

Hey, it's still technically Thursday!  That means I can rest easy in the knowledge that I squeaked in under my personally imposed deadline.  We might actually get this quilt finished by Christmas!  Today's installment of my Game of Thrones quilt is the Martell sigil.

We were out tonight enjoying our eldest daughter's performance in her school talent show and having celebratory ice cream afterwards, so I started working on this block late this evening.  That would explain the one terrible picture, but it's documented so we'll call it good.  This was a really easy pattern to draft, which made it kind of fun to stitch up as well.

Computer-generated image.

I would rate the difficulty at about a 2/5.  Very few sections that are easy to piece, and there are only a couple spots where points need to line up.  Here's the finished product:

The real deal!

In real life, the colors are a lot more vibrant than this.  I tried to avoid getting garish colors so it didn't end up looking like McDonalds threw up on the quilt, and I love the three colors I found.  They are all tonals, and the orange is a beautiful burnt orange.  I think it will look great in the final product.

You can find the pattern here and on Craftsy.

Baymax gift wrap

Not much to report in the sewing arena this weekend, since our family is battling a stomach virus and Mom, as the only one not ill, has been playing nursemaid to the rest of the family.  However, I just wrapped up a few gifts for some events, and thought I would share a quick Baymax gift wrap idea.

Our family is, of course, obsessed with Big Hero 6.  I'd like to blame it all on the kids, but it is a cute movie and I haven't exactly discouraged marathoning it in my presence.

We've been doing some Baymax-themed things around the house lately.  My eldest daughter made her own Perler bead pattern that turned out really cute, both girls have squandered their allowances and ordered their Baymax Tsum Tsums (am I the only parent out there who has never heard of those?!), and even my little guy, when he's sick, has been requesting Baymax.  It breaks my heart that I can't offer him one to help him feel better.

So when I needed gift wrap for an upcoming birthday party for a Big Hero 6 fan and I couldn't find themed wrapping paper, I thought it couldn't be too difficult to make something, since Baymax is so simple.  I didn't take many pictures because I wasn't planning on sharing, but as you can see, it's pretty self-explanatory.

Our Baymax gifts.

All I did was buy a 96-cent white tablecloth (the store didn't carry any white wrapping paper or white gift bags), which was enough to wrap many more gifts than this, even after doubling it so you couldn't see right through it.  I wrapped it in the white and used white curling ribbon to match.  I then used my 1 1/4-inch circle punch to punch circles out of my black chalkboard contact paper that I keep on hands for a million strange projects.  A tiny strip of the contact paper connects the eyes.  You could easily hand-cut them out of paper and glue them on, but I'm lazy.  ;)

I love how they turned out.  As a little extra, we made a personalized key chain as a gift tag.

Baymax keychain

Pikachu necklace

And then, of course, I was informed at the last minute that it was actually a dual birthday party for a brother and sister.  This is why I keep a gift tote in my closet that I fill up with random toys and gifts at mega clearance sales.  My daughter dug through and found an Angry Birds board game, and we made her a personalized Pikachu necklace.  If you keep the supplies for these necklaces on hand, you can whip one up in about five minutes, and they're always a hit with the kids.  The kids who especially love them are the ones with unusual names, since they don't get a lot of personalized items.

I hope this gives you some ideas for your upcoming Big Hero 6 event!