Roll up roll up!  Spring Craft Fair at Sheffield University Students Union!

Saturday 17th March, 11-5

See you there!

 

I’d like a vintage Cthulhu cross-stitch sampler please!

Longer ago than I care to admit, I received a request for an HP Lovecraft inspired cross stitch sampler.  The commissioner has seen other Victorian-styled samplers I’d done – mainly this one:

(From Joss Whedon's 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer')

and sent me a request that ran thus: “The main things I’d like is for it to look old fashioned, to fit in a space 12″ tall and for there to be an octopus/squid hidden in it somewhere. The text I’m wanting is “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn”. You can totally do what ever you like from there if its more fun.”

Cool! I totally did whatever I liked, and after an embarrassingly long time, I came up with this:

Let sleeping Cthulhus lie

I confess I was a little concerned at what I was being asked to realise here, so double checked this wasn’t an incantation to summon the great octo-thingy himself. Was assured: You can’t summon Cthulhu, you have to wait for him to awaken when the stars are right. That translates as “In his house at R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.” Phew.

I did have a lot of fun.  I managed to include the Elder sign, and applied subtle use of variegated thread,  inspired by the story “The Colour Out of Space” (a colour which is unrecognisable as any one colour).

I also filled in space with a lovely peacock – both a traditional sampler motif, and a bird of which I know this person to be particularly fond.  And here he is, the great squid himself, hanging in there at the end of the alphabet

I love doing work like this.  To give an idea, this took me about sixteen hours to stitch, and probably at least two hours to chart up.  If you want to see what other geeky stitchiness I’ve been getting up to recently, check out my Flickr photostream, and if you’d like to talk to me about commissioning your own piece of antique pop-culture, please get in touch!  Past commissions have included a Neil Stephenson quote sampler, and a Nintendo birth sampler.  I believe anything is possible; challenge me

PS: This sampler was also blogged by the recipient, here.

 

Sharing the love

**GIVEAWAY TIME** Right then you ‘orrible lot! Once Picky Miss reaches 150 ‘likes’ on Facebook, I’m going to give away a random parcel of crafty stuff to one of my likers. I’m not sure what’ll be in it yet, but it will be a veritable magpie-trove of crafty bits and bobs. Some things made, some things to make yourself! So please get the word about, tell your friends about Picky Miss, and let’s see how quickly we can hit 150. Here’s the link to my Facebook page. Or, not wishing to exclude those who choose not to engage with Facebook (and good for you, btw), add a comment below telling me what you like about Picky Miss, and I’ll include you in the grand prize draw And….go!

 

Don’t take the art out of Sheffield!

If anyone has come to this blog looking for the Shefftopia picnic bunting in support of Sheffield Museums and Galleries, it’s over this way –> http://disobedientchild.wordpress.com/  But hello, anyway, and thank you if you made some bunting.  Congratulations, you are now a Craftivist

Sewing their love for Spike the Woolly Rhino

 

 

New fluffy things on Etsy!

Well, the monsters and I had a great time at Reet Sweet‘s fabulous Christmas Fair on Sunday, and it was only then I realised how few monsters I have actually put up for sale on my online shop.  So today I’ve been posing and snapping, and cropping and pasting, and generally making my Picky Miss Etsy shop a much more fun place to hang out.

Thinking ‘What the heck can I buy [insert name here] for Christmas?’  Why not go take a look?  I’m sure you’ll find something. And yes, you really are allowed to buy *yourself* presents at this time of year

Dumbledore, now with added flamingoes

 

Everybody, needs somebody…

All quiet on the creative front.  I’ve been a busy bee with Other Things, as expounded on my Disobedient Child blog, but I have finally gotten round to tidying up my storage area.  One day I’ll have a proper studio, or at least a workroom, and then I can pretend to be a Proper Artist, but until then I’ll just shuffle boxes around in the corner of my bedroom, and tell myself that putting labels on them is just as professionally fulfilling. Anyhoo, I found an awesome sock lurking in my Crate of Sockness (a bit like a Heart of Darkness.  But not very.), and after some Picky Miss Jiggery Pokery (and yes that is a technical term) it became…. this!

He so happy!  He can make you so happy, too.  I have no idea what his name is; he won’t tell me.  But anyway, I can’t keep him here, I don’t even have a proper studio, so I’ve put his lovely cuddly self up for adoption.  He’s not on Etsy or Folksy yet, because of camera problems, but he really wants a new home by Christmas.  Studio not a requirement.  UPDATE: He is! He is on Etsy! Still The Nameless One, though.

 

Swings and Roundabouts.

Yes, I’ve been swapping again! I have been a quiet Picky Miss over the summer – on the blogging front, anyway; everywhere else it’s been chaos. But now school’s back, holidays are over, and it’s time to get back to work. Or play. Call it what you will (and I’m very lucky that those two words are interchangeable).

Mmm, yum. Can you tell what it is yet?

So, my first fun of the new academic year has been swapping stuff. I loves craft swaps, they are so much fun. You make something for someone, they make something for someone else, they make for someone else, and so on, until it comes round and someone makes something for you. I’m a member of the Phat Quarter Flickr group, and they run a themed swap every time there’s a fifth Friday in the month. In July, the theme was “food”. My swap giver contacted me and asked if I liked Mexican food, whereas I took the more indirect (and possibly sinister) route of looking through my swap receiver’s Flickr pics to guage what kind of thing she liked. It looked to me like she was a Doctor Who fan (all the best people are), so I set my geek brain to maximum and came up with this cross stitch sampler

And after several scintillating emails about Salvaged Mutiny‘s attempts to find a post office whilst cruise-ship-working her way around the Baltic (‘I went to the post office in Helsinki but it was closed; I’ll try again in Copenhagen’?!), I received this piece of Mexican craziness

I'm Nacho Mama!

I *LOVE* it! I confess I was a bit thick, and didn’t get the joke until my brother said it out loud, but it makes me smile every time I see it

And because I can’t get enough swappety fun, I signed up for a Facebook-based ‘handmade’ swap at the beginning of the year. I have to make five things, and completed numero dos last week: a Neverwhere (Neil Gaiman) quote worked in cross-stitch. I think it’s a sentiment we can all relate to at some stage

Phantoms Siren has said she’ll hang it so it’s the last thing people see as they leave her house. Awesome.

Numero uno can be found on Flickr, but it’s a bit naughty, so I won’t display it here. I love the surprise element of swapping – you never know what you’re going to receive in return. I also love the challenge of being given a broad theme and just running with it (I made this for the last Phat Quarter swap – the theme was music

based on a bluegrass tune and my swap partner’s crows-in-flight tattoo). I especially love using the medium of a traditional cross stitch sampler to create something personal and (preferably) geeky I do them to order, so get in touch if you’d like to commission a bespoke, unique gift – for someone else, or for yourself! I’m currently working on a C’thulhu quote sampler; I’ll let you all know when it’s done.

In the meantime, it looks like September has a fifth Friday! I’d better keep an eye on my Flickr and see what comes up

 

Tinker – a sock monster

Such a wee cutie! Well, so you’d think.
Doesn’t like raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, or bright copper kettles, or warm woollen mittens. Does like sharp objects and the colour black. You win some you lose some, eh?

Now available in my Etsy shop, along with a host of other cuddlies. Go on, go take a peek! They all need homes you know.

 

How to make a sock monster

It has been brought to my attention that a fair few visitors to this site are looking not for quirky cross stitch, cuddly monsters, or how to season crocodile soup, but are in fact thirsting for the knowledge that will enable them to go away and make *their own* sock monster. Well hey, as an obsessive trawler of internet crafty how-to’s myself, let me see what I can do to help.

Without further ado, I give you:

How to make a sock monster

Warning: I am much better at showing than explaining. You may need to stretch your imagination to get much sense out of these instructions (or better still, book me to do a workshop party See what I did there?).

OK, let’s start with this little lady, Princess Katoosh. Ain’t she a dainty?

You will need:
*Two socks - one for the body, one for arms
*Needle and thread (contrasting thread is better for seeing where you’ve stitched. Matching thread is for confident sewers and crazy people)
*Pen or chalk – for drawing where to stitch.
*Buttons, stuffing, and embroidery silk/cotton
*Imagination

 

Craft Candy Mini Fair!

Just to let everyone know, at very short notice (oops), that Picky Miss will be at the Craft Candy mini this Saturday (9th). 1-5pm at Bungalows and Bears, Division Street, Sheffield.

There will be monsters and stitchings and the chance to create your own stitched bunting carriage for the Fair Fares Now craftivist action.

See you there!