The Chao Trio

Here's all three Chaos framed in their hoops and ready to go to Retrogamebeurs Deurne!

Sunday WIPs

Sorry for no posts the last week. I'm back in Birmingham for Christmas!

Here's a couple of WIPs I'm working on while I'm here. Can you guess what they are?
 

This one's quite hard to see yet. It's going to be Guile from the Street Fighter series.

Some may be able to see what this is. It's the Blue Falcom from F-Zero. I've completed it as much as I can, I've not got the rest of the colours yet.

And meet Benny, he's the adorable little bear my mum got me from Build-a-Bear Workshop. Isn't he sweet?

Kung Pow Pixel: Games inspired by crafts

First of all, if you haven't seen my article over on Nintendo Life, please go and check it out!

This week I'm going to take a look at some games inspired by crafts, mainly in their design, but also in their mechanics.

Kirby's Epic Yarn

I bet you saw this one coming. Its big selling point was that it is set in a handcrafted world. On launch day Nintendo even had people yarn bombing London with fantastic Kirby themed knitting. In Kirby's Epic Yarn you play as Kirby who in this game is made of wool. He can change his shape and he can suck up enemies and turn them into little balls of wool. He can even affect the patchwork scenery around him my pulling parts of the background down or unzipping it. The feel of the game is very relaxing, sort of like crafting in that way!


Super Paper Mario

I suppose the other Paper Mario games would count too, but this is the only one I've played. In Super Paper Mario Mario is a 2d paper cut-out in a paper cut-out world. You can collect Pixls, which are little fairy-like creatures who give you extra powers, for example, as the characters are in a 2D world you can turn so that you become invisible. I think I would have loved to have a Paper Mario sticker book when I was younger, creating my own adventures for Mario.

Little Big Planet

The main character of Little Big Planet is Sackboy, he's a small knitted doll who you can dress up. There are loads of clothes and accessories you can add to him to make him look however you want. The surroundings feel almost like a toy box, as you use stickers to change the environment and parts can be pushed and pulled around as they're on wheels. Sackboy himself has inspired numerous amounts of crafts.

Dynamite Headdy

The world of Dynamite Headdy is a stage and the characters are puppets, literally  You play as Headdy, who is himself a puppet, and your main weapon is your own head, which is detachable and thrown at enemies. It's a very hectic game, which I imagine reflects a real life stage production. You can see people working in the background and sometimes the backdrops even fall down. Maybe not so crafty, but I like the idea of using puppets in a game.

Dark Chao

Here is the last Chao of my trio of Chaos from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. You can see the Neutral Chao here and the Hero Chao here.

I'm quite happy with my trio. I hope you like them too.

Some more Hama beading

My boyfriend's brothers had their birthdays a few months ago, but due to financial restraints we weren't able get them anything. My boyfriend asked me if I could make them something small we could take with us to England and give them while we are here.

So, what I ended up making was more Hama (Perler) bead coasters, as they are quick and easy to make, and useful too.

Up at the top we have Knuckles, Tails and Sonic, from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. For these coasters I modified sprites from Sonic & Knuckles.

At the bottom is Wario's head from the final stage of Wario Ware Inc.

I was happy with how they came out and I think they were quite happy with them too.

Hero Chao

Here's a little friend for my other Chao, this one is a hero Chao. I hope to frame him in a wooden hoop like the Neutral Chao sometime, but I don't have any suitable hoops at the moment.

I'm having a lot of fun with these!

Ciao Chao

Isn't he cute? I have been really enjoying embroidery and trying out new things. Chaos are little creatures you can breed in some of the Sonic the Hedgehog games.

You can have Hero Chaos if you treat them very well and Dark Chaos if you don't, but I stitched a Neutral Chao. He might get some little friends sometime though!

Ristar

Here's Ristar, a Sega character that doesn't seem to get much attention. He is part of another attempt at different embroidery techniques. I'm quite happy with how he came out.

The yellow was done with perle cotton, which was much easier to embroider with than the stranded cotton. I would like to use it again if I do another of this kind of stitch, but unfortunately I only have it in the yellow!

I would really like to use some of these threads some day!

Sonic bookmark

My boyfriend came of from England to visit me for a week while my family were away on holiday in France. We had a lovely time, and I was very sad to see him go this morning.

Friday was his birthday, and he had been asking for a new bookmark, so I stitched him another one.

It's a bit longer than a traditional bookmark, because I didn't take any measurments and didn't notice it would be until halfway through 'continue'. But it'll work for graphic novels and larger books.

I said a couple of weeks ago that I was getting some stuff from JJ's Collectables, as they were having a sale. Yesterday my parcel arrived!

I got this dragon kit from Janlynn. I started on it today. I was a bit worried about using the blending filament, as I never have used any before, and I thought it might be a lot like metallic thread, but it is ok, and doesn't really make a difference to my stitching.

 
This is all I did and it took me 1.5 episodes of CSI.

I also got this Lizzie Kate kit (well, it includes everything but the thread).

I also got some gold plated needles, and I'm excited to try them out on my Epic Pokémon pattern.

Speaking of which, I got a bit of that done this week while my boyfriend was playing Bomberman.

I know it's hard to see what's actually been done, which is why I upload all my Pokémon photos to a Facebook album, so I can just flick through them.

Birthday presents and Sonic

Monday was my birthday and I got lots of lovely presents, including a couple of comic books from my boyfriend, and one from his brother, and some fancy biscuits and tea from his parents. From my dad I got two Scarlett Thomas books, two cross stitching books, the second part of the Pokémon Black & White guide and a cross stitch kit, I also got a tenner from my grandma with which I went down to one of the local charity shops and bought another cross stitch kit.

The books are the two on the left. The Newcomer's Guide to Blackwork by Lesley Williams and Twisted Stitches by Phil Davison.

Twisted Stitches has some interesting and fun designs in it and I hope the blackwork book will inspire me to design some of my own things.

I love the warm, rich colours.

The cross stitch kit from my dad is Klimt's Tree of Life from Yiotas Xstitch.
I've started on it already and can't wait to see it done.

I got this Marks & Spencer's anniversary kit from St. Elizabeth's Hospice charity shop.

I've been looking at it for a while and decided as it was my birthday I should just get it.






On to Sonic. I finished him yesterday. I need to give him a wash as I left him in the hoop and it discoloured the fabric. I also need to add markers for the numbers, and find a clock to fit him onto.

Finally done.

Lookin' good! Sonic update.

 

I've finished all the black, pink and blue. I've run out of white, so I need to wait until I can get some more, also need to figure out which yellow to use for his buckles.

Sonic update

Craft club today, and I took Sonic along. He's been a bit neglected lately, but I got a chunk done.

Sonic WIP

My boyfriend wanted a new clock for our bedroom, and asked me if I thought I could make one. We had a few ideas that didn't work out, and then he decided on having Sonic the Hedgehog from the PAL cover of Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast.

 

Once I've done Sonic I'll be adding the numbers around the edge and then finding some way to get the clock hands through the middle of Sonic without damaging the stitching.