Catching you up on some New Patterns

I mentioned in my previous blog post that I've released a lot of new patterns over my recent 8 month blogging hiatus.  I thought I'd try and catch you up on a few of them.

In celebration of the new Star Wars film, there is the Episode VII: The Force Awakens line-up:

Available from www.fangirlstitches.etsy.com

 Continuing in the Star Wars theme,  is the Star Wars character alphabet, featuring 26 of my favourite characters from the franchise (or the-only-character-that-starts-with-that-letter).

Available from www.fangirlstitches.etsy.com

This pattern was originally designed before the release of The Force Awakens.  Tonight I have released the Force Awakens additional letters!  Now when you purchase the Star Wars Alphabet, you receive a second pattern featuring 5 alternative letters for the main characters of the new film.

If you've already purchased the original Star Wars alphabet, don't worry - send me an email with proof of purchase and I'll send you the updated pattern FREE OF CHARGE!!

Happy Stitching!

Ros

Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-nana - it's a new MINION pattern!

You know the Minions, the cute yellow henchmen from Despicable Me?

Did you know they have their own songs?

Did you know they have a song about bananas?

Did you know this song has actual lyrics, so you can sing along?

Did you know that these lyrics are now in cross stitch form so you can create your own sing-a-long picture?

Now you do!

My ex-housemate and good friend is totally Minion-mad so for Christmas I designed her her own sing-a-long piece, and now you can join in the fun too.

Introducing the Minion Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-nana Cross Stitch Pattern

And because the piece is predominately back-stitch, it's very quick to whip up so you can make one for all of your minions.

I've got so many Minion-themed cross stitch pattern ideas racing around my head at the moment - I just need to find the time to get them down on paper.

Happy Stitching!

P.S. For those who haven't seen the Minion's song yet (or who want to sing along!):

WIP Wednesday

This week I've started work test stitching a new pattern!  This one has been in the design stages for almost a year but I finally managed to finish the pattern last week with a bit of input from a couple of friends.

I started the piece on Friday, and this is where I've gotten to today:

I'm stitching this on "Rose Garden" 14 count aida from Sew It All

Not the fastest of stitching, but I've been working on a few other new patterns as well - which is why they take so long to design - I keep distracting myself!  On that note, stay tuned - I've added several new patterns to my Etsy store and will be detailing them in full over the next few blog posts.

Any guesses as to what this one might be? ;)

Happy Stitching!

Once Upon A Time Character Alphabet - it's a new pattern!

Today's new pattern was suggested as a comment on one of my blog posts - Kellie asked if I was going to do a Once Upon A Time character alphabet, as she wanted to stitch one for the April A to Z blog challenge.  My first thought was "what's the A to Z challenge?" (which I've also now signed up for); my second thought was "That's such a cool idea!".  So, after a OUAT marathon to remind myself of the characters (and to catch up on season 3) I now give to you

The Once Upon A Time Character Alphabet!

I couldn't choose between the Enchanted Forest and the Storybrook versions of the characters, so instead I used both.  And it looks so much better that way, in my opinion. :)

A is Princess Aurora
B is Belle and Belle French
C is Cora the Queen of Hearts
D is Prince Charming and David Nolan
E is Emma Swan
F is the Blue Fairy and Mother Superior
G is Rumplestiltskin and Mr Gold
H is Robin Hood
I is Ingrid the Snow Queen and Sarah Fisher
J is The Mad Hatter and Jefferson
K is Captain Hook, originally Killian Jones
L is Grumpy and Leroy
M is Henry Mills
N is Baelfire and Neal Cassidy
O is Pinocchio and August Booth
P is Peter Pan, originally Malcolm
Q is the Evil Queen and Regina Mills
R is Red Riding Hood and Ruby
S is The Genie/Magic Mirror and Sidney Glass
T is Tinkerbell
U is Ursula the Sea Witch
V is Victor Frankenstein and Dr Walsh
W is Snow White and Mary Margaret Blanchard
X is Felix the lost boy
Y is Jiminy Cricket and Archie
Z is The Wicked Witch and Zelda

Happy Stitching

Turning 30 Whovian style

It was my birthday on Friday :)  I turned 30.

The cake my Dad made and
decorated for me

I had very mixed emotions about turning 30 - I'm sure many people do.  Part of me was happy or unconcerned, part of me was using it as an excuse for multiple shopping trips, and part of me was totally dreading it.  I was feeling like I hadn't achieved all these things I thought I was supposed to do by 30, feeling like my life didn't have a lot of direction or purpose, that I wasn't sure what the hell I was meant to be doing with my life. 

I got over it (mostly) and life seems to have carried on as normal.

In the end, my 30th was a pretty relaxed affair with work for the day, and then a family dinner to the Chinese restaurant.

On the Saturday we had a bit of a 'do at my parent's place.  It was Doctor Who themed because I am a geek and proud of it.  However for the guests (none of whom are Whovians and very few of whom are into dressing up) I told them it was Time and Space, which meant they could dress as anything from time and/or space.  Most people didn't get into it, a couple wore themed shirts, but a few went right out which was awesome.  The main thing was that I had a lot of fun decorating everything in blue and silver, pulling out every Whovian thing I owned.  I even bought a TARDIS dress especially for the night.

My TARDIS dress

Ancient Greeks and an astronaut dropped in for the night

David Tennant with his TARDIS, Mr Spck and Princess Leah

Whovian decorations on display

The main celebration for my 30th birthday though is this weekend: a few friends (including my parents, who I count as my friends) and I are heading to Brisbane for the weekend.  We're meeting up with some other friends for a High Tea Saturday afternoon, and then some of us are off to QPAC to see Wicked.  This will be the fourth time I've seen Wicked and I am so excited!

In other news...

I've been posting stitching updates on Instagram lately, including a Super Hero Swap I've been involved in, and the Floss Tube Photo A Day challenge.  I'm @FangirlStitches on Instagram so jump on there and follow me.  I'll post a bit of a project update on Blogger too next week.

Happy Stitching!

I'm a Marshmallow - It's a new pattern!

I admit it.  I'm a Marshmallow.  I've been one for years, since I saw my first episode.

Marshmallow is the term given to a fan of the awesome television show Veronica Mars and comes from a quote from the pilot episode "You're a Marshamallow, Veronica Mars." Veronica Mars met all my criteria for a good show while I was at Uni - there was a mystery element, there was sass, there was great script writing, there was intrigue.

Meeting some of the VM cast - Wallace, Sherif Lamb, and Logan

I was one of those who was upset when the show finished far too early (and other rubbish was kept on) and who wished there could be more.  It was my second Firefly in that respect.  When I heard they were campaigning to make a movie, at first I didn't believe it (too good to be true) and then I jumped on board to show my support, contributing to the now-famous Kickstarter campaign.  I waited eagerly for the movie, devouring each of Rob Thomas' email updates.  I loved the movie and have re-watched it several times since its release earlier in 2014.  Now I am eagerly waiting for the delivery of the second post-movie novel which I pre-ordered back in July (I received an email last night to say it's on its way - hurray!).

As I said, I'm a Marshmallow.

All of this (there was a point, really) brings me to the exciting news that this week's new pattern on Etsy is...

The Veronica Mars Alphabet

Available from my Etsy store

I had a lot of fun with this one, coming up with different characters, quotes and locations to fill the different letters.  As always, if your favourite is missing you can order a custom pattern instead.

A is for Aaron Echolls, Logan's actor father

B is for Backup, Veronica's faithful companion 

C is for Dick Casablancas, the class clown

D is for Duncan Kane, Veronica's first boyfriend

E is for Logan Echolls, Veronica's true love

F is for the theme song "We used to be Friends"

G is for Gia Goodman, classmate and daughter of Woody Goodman

H is for Neptune High, the main location for the first two seasons

I is for Mars Investigations, Keith's detective business

J is for Jackie, Wallace's girlfriend in season 2

K is for Keith Mars, everyone favourite father

L is for Lilly Kane, who's murder was the basis for season 1

M is for Mac, Veronica's only female friend

N is for Weevil Nevaro, head of the PCHers 

O is for a pilot quote "Be cool Soda Pop"

P is for the PCHers, Neptune's biker gang

Q is for Questions and Answers, the basis of any detective show

R is for Rob Thomas, the creator

S is for Sheriff Lamb, who we love to hate

T is for the eternal debate - are you Team Piz or Team Logan

U is for Undercover surveillance, what every detective must do

V is for Vinnie Van Lowe, Keith's not-really rival

W is for Wallace, Veronica's best friend and ally

X is for Felix Toombs, who died.

Y is for the ultimate quote "You're a marshmallow, Veronica Mars"

Z is for Piz, Veronica's season 3 boyfriend

Happy Stitching!

Geeky Christmas Designs

The count down to Christmas is on.  Advent starts next Sunday, and the Christmas decorations will go up.  The stores have had them on display for at least a month.  Tuesday will be one month to go.

However, there's still plenty of time to start and finish your Christmas stitching!

I've designed a number of Christmas cards and decorations that are now for sale in my Etsy store.  As a true fangirl, these designs are all geeky in nature, incorporating as many fandoms as I could.

Ron and Harry wish you a very Magical Christmas.

The TARDIS Christmas set, featuring a pair of earrings, and two different cards.

How cute are the earrings?!

Why not say "Happy Christmas" in Klingon?  Perfect for any Star Trek fans

In case you were wondering, it says QISmas DatIvjaj 'ej DIS chu' DatIvja 

Death as the Hogfather, as portrayed in the film Hogfather

Death as a more modern Hogfather.  Both cards are available in the one set

On a side note, these designs also don't have snow.  My biggest bug-bear about standard Christmas designs is that they are predominately just snow scenes.  Being Australian, snow doesn't really feature in my Christmas celebrations, so it doesn't appear in my designs.  Christmas designs for the Southern Hemisphere.  But feel free to use a few white beads or extra white stitches to add some in if you're in the Northern Hemisphere! :)

Happy Christmas and Happy Stitching!

Gotta Stitch'em All - Pokemon memories and a new cross stitch pattern

Pokemon dominate a lot of my teenage memories, in particular family holidays.  Bare with me - there is a stitch-y point to this blog I promise.

When I was growing up, my father's family lived an 8 hour drive north of us, and my mother's family lived a solid 2 day drive (as in 10 hour days) south of us.  So any holiday involving visiting the family meant a lot of driving.  Flying wasn't an option to visit Dad's family (cattle station in the middle of nowhere), and with a family of 6 it would have been too expensive to fly to visit Mum's family.  So we drove.  We got good at driving.  In my memories we were pretty good travellers - it was just what we did on family holidays.  We learnt to entertain ourselves.  I tended to stitch, my three brothers tended to read or play Game Boys.

Family camping holiday 2004
Mum, Dad, Grandma, three brothers, and exchange student
from Japan

 The game of choice tended to be Pokemon.

In fact, I don't remember their Game Boys being used for anything else.

One particularly strong travelling Pokemon memory is in 2004 when we went on a four-week driving holiday around Central Australia.  Dad had fitted cigarette lighters in the back of the Landcruiser and the boys (my three brothers plus our exchange student from Japan) had adapters so they could run their Game Boys through the cigarette lighters and charge their Game Boy at the same time.  This did mean though that as soon as Dad turned off the car, the Game Boy would shut down.  The catch-cries of the camping trip quickly became:

Family camping holiday 2004
All 8 of us (I'm taking the photo) crammed into the car
Game Boys were down long enough to smile for the photo!

"Don't turn off the car, I haven't saved yet" and "I can't save, I'm in the middle of a battle".

"I'm in the middle of a battle" is still the catch-cry of our family, particularly when someone doesn't respond immediately!

At Uluru (Ayre's Rock) 2004

Although they are now all in their 20s (or almost - 2 months to go for the youngest), Pokemon is still a favoured game amongst my brothers and I.  My eldest brother recently loaded a version of Pokemon onto my iPad... not a lot else was accomplished for a good few weeks!

To celebrate this awesome, long-lived, much-loved game I have designed some cross-stitch patterns (I told you there was a point to this ramble!)

It started with a Pokemon Alphabet.  This is the Pokemon Alphabet as determined by my youngest brother.  I tried to get my brothers and sister-in-law to collaborate on designing the perfect Pokemon Alphabet but that proved too much of a challenge!!  To make everyone happy though, custom orders are available for this pattern - choose your favourite 26 Pokemon and have an alphabet designed just for you - check out the Etsy page for details.

For all those people (like me) who never managed to catch all 151 Pokemon, there is now the "Gotta Catch'em All" cross stitch pattern, featuring the original 151 Pokemon.

It is a massive pattern, fitting into an A1 frame, but how cute are they?!

While I was looking out mini sprites to turn into cross stitch patterns, I became a bit overwhelmed with how big the Pokemon universe has become!  I tend to only think of the original 151.  No - now there are over 700 Pokemon!  719 to be exact I think.  Well, I can't stop at just 151, now can I?

So now there is the Generation II Pokemon cross stitch pattern, featuring the Pokemon from the Silver, Gold and Crystal versions of the game - numbers 152-251.  This also fits into an A1 frame.

Generations III, IV, V and VI are in the planning stages and will probably be finished over the Christmas holidays when I have 4 or 5 weeks off work :)

Happy Stitching, and remember - Gotta Stitch'em All!!