Get to the chopper

Get to the chopper, a photo by doaflip on Flickr.

An homage to Predator *salute*

I don’t make monkeys, I train them

I don’t make monkeys, I train them, a photo by doaflip on Flickr.

I finally framed something! Huzzah! I finished this at the end of 2010, I think. Inspired by my childhood and of course Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.

Music Monday #1: The Bad Touch

Welcome to the first of my Music Mondays! I decided to put my own slant on the Twitter meme by stitching some of my favourite lyrics. Well actually, I’d been wanting a regular feature here and had already stitched one of my favourite songs, but let’s not get caught up in the details shall we? ;)

So, here we have a sadly as yet unframed and badly photographed (Sorry! Pic update tomorrow hopefully) cross stitch from The Bloodhound Gang’s The Bad Touch. Stitched on 14 count aida, if you’re interested.

For the uninitiated, here’s the song in all it’s video glory. (Possibly nsfw!)

I remember listening to this on the radio in my Nan’s car in the summer of 2000 I think, with her tapping her fingers on the wheel and nodding along. I choose to believe she never noticed the lyrics. I got hold of the Hooray For Boobies album and have loved The Bloodhound Gang ever since. They’re vile and witty and damn catchy. Go buy their albums!

So there you go. Expect some more musical stitchery soon. I’m hoping to do this at least once a month, but honestly who knows. And I’d love to see any Music Monday stitches you might come up with yourself. :D Post a link to your work in the comments if you make something.

Happy Little Kawaii Poop cross stitch

I love this little guy. I suspect he shall be the first of a series. But I really need to concentrate on a few gifts for people before doing stuff purely for fun. Because we all know crafting poop is pure fun, right?
View his Etsy listing here

Rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock!

So, I’ve been working on this piece for a while. A long while. Although it’s really a very simple design, I just couldn’t get it in stitches the way I had it in my head. When I showed the first version to some friends, somebody guessed the images as “rock, marshmallow, key, lizard, fire.” Another friend suggested my scissors looked like a robot penis (which is actually a kind of cool idea, it’s on my inspiration list now.) So I nitpicked it over and over, until last Friday I was finally happy with the pictures. Then I knocked out the text, and voila. I can still see imperfections, I’m just hoping other people can’t, or don’t care.
This is the first piece I have stitched that wasn’t intended as a gift for someone, or for myself. I’m actually considering taking the plunge and listing it on Etsy, which is exciting and scary. I’m confident someone will appreciate the quote and will give it a good home. Even if it has to be me ;)
Anyway..

In it's full 7x5 glory

So, there we have it. Comments and criticism are muchly appreciated.
I love that crafting is a learning process, but so rewarding. I’m still pretty new to cross stitching and crafting in general. Some things I learnt from this project:
1) Be patient with yourself.
2) Take a break before getting frustrated. It’s hard to work well when you’re frustrated.
3) Metallic and pearlescent floss is a pain in the bum. I will learn to tame them though.

For those unfamiliar with the reference, here’s a clip from The Big Bang Theory, which is easily one of my favourite shows. (The quote is from the end of the episode, which I couldn’t find a clip of. It probably exists, but hey, I’m lazy)