~Arts - Crafts - Creativity~

I've been working on my first big cross stitch pattern, Aurora Cabin by DMC, for a while now. I did a decent amount over Christmas* break (see cute lil animation here, hopefully that works because at this point I've forgotten how to make things public, wow gd job me). I've been doing a lot over the past week now that I've finished uni (yay free time).



By my estimates, it'll be done sometime in the next 2 years. 

So I've reached 'the end' technically. The original pattern has 24 blocks plus a bonus which was Dr Mario. I knew I wanted to stitch the bonus as the last block all along. BUT. I have extra space. I actually have enough space to have another ENTIRE COLUMN on the right and still leave enough room for framing. As much as I want to be done with this project, I feel like I need to take advantage of the extra fabric. So I'm thinking of stitching the original block #24 (it says 'let's play' with a game cartridge) right next to Dr Mario and working my way up from there.

I actually already charted a square for the game 1942, and I got permission from a girl in the SAL group to stitch her custom Super Mario 3 square (my favorite game ever). That leaves 3 more blocks to design.

Here were other requests from my husband as possibilities:

Ice climber
Marble madness
7up
Gallagher
Metal gear
Master blaster

I also really loved the game The Black Bass, but I'm having trouble charting it without it just looking like blobs. I think marble madness would translate really well though, and maybe 7up.

so there's a gaming youtube channel i really like, & which helped a lot during my fight with crushing depression this year. the guy who runs it is super positive & friendly & really cares about his community, including replying to nearly every comment he receives from his nearly 200k subscribers. he's been so kind to me personally that i was driven to make him a gift.

my favorite game to watch him play is super mario, in all its various incarnations. the newer games have a checkpoint system, & he ALWAYS loves when a level has a checkpoint, especially the tough levels, because then he won't have to repeat stuff if he messes up. he usually says "it must be christmas!" or similar when he gets a checkpoint.

so i made him one. :)

here are two examples of checkpoints - they're all different, but i based the real one primarily off of these two.


the final project is about 8" tall. the base is weighted & has a metal frame in it for stability.


i shaped it so it looks like the waving flag in the games (& preserved this with custom packaging).


i signed the bottom with a dremel. (& since he totally loves his wife, i specified in the note that it's a platonic-only heart :) )


he received it today & sent me a very pleased email saying i made his day & thanking me for making him a gift. he's going to put in on the shelves in his recording room, which is exactly what i'd hoped he'd do. :)


it was nice to make a nice present for a nice guy, & it's nice to get a nice note & a nice picture from the nice guy for the nice present. ^_^

thanks dewi, & everyone who 'liked' too. :)

for your project, you might switch to fabric paints instead of markers - you can 'water' them down with solvent if you want them more liquid, but paint will cover a white shirt easier than markers in my experience. :)

in my experience, it would totally cover. but you can test pretty quickly on a sock or something with a similar texture/absorbency.

what you've done with the markers doesn't look bad, though - just striped. :) don't feel like you have to "fix" it or anything; it's super cute as it is!

would one of you want to cross-stitch/needlepoint me a thing in exchange for capitalist moneys? if so, please PM & we can discuss the project & your price. :)