Pixel Hobby Star Wars Stormtrooper

While browsing through the forums of my favorite crafting website - www.spritestitch.com - I came across a thread for a craft I had never heard of called Pixel Hobby. I was intrigued, so I pulled up the US website for them - www.pixelhobby-usa.com - and started to look into it.

It looked remarkably easy! And there are so many shades of color that you can make almost anything at all. I bought the supplies that I needed for a project I had in mind. It was so easy to do that I started thinking of other things I could make with it. On the website, there is a place to download some software that will make the pattern out of an imported picture, so there is no limit to what you can make.

 I started browsing through pictures trying to find the right one to strike my fancy. Finally, one did. My boyfriend, now fiance, is a huge Star Wars fanboy, so this was the perfect project for me to make for him. I bought all the supplies and started working diligently on my gift.

I didn't tell him what I was making, only that it was a gift and he would see it once I had it completed. This project takes up 16 baseplates, so I could work on it right in front of him and he had no idea what I was making.  Here is a picture of one of the plates as I was working on it:

Finally, after working on this for about a month, I had completed it. I took the plates and assembled them to show my fiance. He loved it! It did turn out pretty awesome. He wouldn't let me put away the plates for the rest of the day so he could look at them from time to time.

I still have to mount the plates onto some kind of board and I'm thinking of framing it, but for now, here it is.

It is truly awesome. The picture doesn't do it justice. It even looks 3 dimensional like you can reach out and feel the contours of the helmet.
Hope you like it!

Mario Tissue-Box Cover

While packing for a vacation to Las Vegas, I came to the conclusion that my current craft projects would not be good to take with me on a plane. The chain-mail belt would be too heavy, and my Pixel Hobby project isn't very portable. I had to quickly come up with something that I could carry around with me, but wouldn't be too heavy or take up too much space.

I started looking online for some inspiration. I came across a picture of a plastic canvas Super Mario tissue box cover. Aha! It was perfect. I already had some yarn from making the huge Mario latch-hook, so I needed very little in supplies. After a quick trip to the hobby store, I was good to go!

I started while in the airport, waiting to board the plane. I worked during the flight and got this far by the time we were there.

While there I grabbed some time here and there to relax and work on it. I didn't get much done at the time, but -hey- I was in Vegas on vacation!

When I got home, I ended up setting it aside while I started working on another project for my fiance. After a couple weeks, I came back to it and started working again.

While reading on some forums, I noticed that someone had the idea to take pictures every 2 hours of their project. I tried to do that, too.

I couldn't keep track of time very well, though.

Then, I finally finished it all and put it together. It ended up so cute! I'm toying with the idea of creating more patterns for other characters possibly from other games as well. If I do end up making it, I will be sure to post it up here!

My almost-finished belt

I love doing so many different crafts. When I find a new project, I get so excited motivated to work on that project. There is just one problem with that: I usually am either in the middle of a project at the time.
All my enthusiasm goes toward this new craft or project, and so I end up putting aside what I have been working on in order to move on to the new thing. I love starting crafts, but I usually have problems finishing them. Having finished my Mario latch-hook is honestly a miracle. Even then, I ended up setting it aside a few weeks in the middle then had to force myself to finish it.

After finishing Mario, I was browsing one of my now-favorite sites for crafting ideas, http://www.spritestitch.com/, and I came across a MegaMan chainmail inlay tapestry. Oh, Wow! It was totally awesome. I started getting more ideas in my head for more crafts and projects.
I began the research period of learning how to make chainmail. I found a few very awesome sites that were chock full of information and ideas and one in particular that has excellent tutorials on not only the tools and how to create the rings, but there were great step-by-step tutorials on more weaves than I will ever make in my lifetime.
To try out this new (to me) craft, I followed the advice in one of these tutorials and went to a local hardware store. I bought some basic inexpensive tools and some wire with which to begin making my own rings with.

Once I got home, I immediately began making coils and then cutting them into rings. Once I had a medium sized pile, I then started another pile of rings that were already closed.

It took me a little while to get the hang of it, trying to connect the rings in the right way and in the right place to get the weave pattern. At this point, I was just trying it out, but I didn't want to waste all this effort that I was putting into this first project, so I needed to think of something to make with it.
After scouring the forums on things I could make with the limited supplies that I had, I came across the idea for a belt. Now, I'm not really one who wears belts a lot, but this sounded perfect, especially since the sample I had made so far was already the perfect width.

Once the belt started getting longer and longer, I started thinking about what I could use for the buckle. I went to a local craft store, but I wasn't happy with the few options that they had. One day, though, I was working on my belt outside in a public area and a woman came up and began speaking with me about my project. She suggested that I look at a thrift store for an old, used belt and take the buckle from it. I felt stupid. This was such a wonderful (and cheap) suggestion that I almost felt dumb for not thinking of it myself.

I now have most of my belt done, I have the buckle ready to go, and I even looked up the steps on how to put larger rings in the middle for the belt buckle to attach to.
But, unfortunately, my enthusiasm started to wane...
I'm stuck at this point for now. I'm sure I'll go back to it and finish, but for now I'm working on bigger and better things!

My Mario Journey

My Mario Journey

One day I stumbled across the Mario Obsession crochet blanket online and I absolutely fell in love! I can crochet, but I am not very advanced and I didn't want to learn how to do the Tunisian crochet just to copy and make myself a blanket just like it, so I put that project to a side burner in my brain for a while to think about it.

About a week later (or so), my sister-on-law came to visit and she was working on a Disney latch-hook. Watching her sit there and work on it made me want to pick up a latch hook project myself. This was something that I knew I could do! I started looking around online at kits and patterns when all of a sudden the light bulb in my brain flipped on as I made the connection. I could make a latch-hook version of the Mario Obsession blanket!!

I immediately started scouring the internet for information or patterns. I was crushed when I discovered that a pattern was actually not made. How could something so epic not be preserved in pattern format for all to create and enjoy?! It was at this time that I came across spritestitch.com. Lo and behold, it was a treasure trove of just the information and know-how that I needed. It was perfect. With all the wonderful tutorials ideas from others, I decided that, Yes! I could come up with the pattern on my own, then make it into the latch-hook creation that I envisioned.

I started small. Beginning with the first panel/square in the top left corner, I began to create the pattern I needed. Using the KG-Chart for Cross Stitch program along with the individual photos of each square on the blanket, I began. The first one took a while to create. I wasn't very familiar with the program and had never tried creating a pattern myself, so I was actually coloring each individual pixel on the pattern to be the color I needed. Imagine my sense of accomplishment when I was done, though... I had just created my first pattern! Woohoo!

The pattern was only the beginning. I had seen pre-cut latch-hook yarn for sale at the hobby store, so I figured just for my first project I would go ahead and buy the cut yarn I needed. I bought all the supplies I needed and headed home to start my own epic journey.

Creating the first panel went a lot quicker that I thought it would. It looked so cute that I wanted more, More, MORE Mario!

For my next project, instead of the logical progression of moving to the second square next to the one I had completed, I looked to the one that I like the most. I was in total agreement with the original creator. I LOVED the battle scene at the end. I just HAD to make that one.

I knew that I would need to cut my own yarn for this one as it is 6x bigger than the small one I had done before, and the pre-cut yarn would get just too expensive. As it is, it took 2 full skeins of black yarn and most of a red one. I cut my own yarn for the black, white, red, light grey and dark grey. For everything else, I bought the pre-cut yarn since I could buy that in smaller quantities.

I started at the bottom with the red and made my way upward. The bottom part of the picture up to the bridge got monotonous and I got bored with the same thing over and over. I ended up setting it aside.

After a few weeks, though, I knew I needed to work on it some more and drive myself to the finish.



The more I got done, the more it became unwieldy and difficult to work on. I had problems carrying it around because it wouldn't fit into my bag any longer. I ended up having to buy a bigger bag for me to cart it around in.

Then, finally!, that great day arrived when I finally attached the last piece of yarn and finished it!


I'm taking a break from working on the rest. In fact, I think I may end up working 6 of the smaller panels at a time all on one piece of canvas rather than individually, which will make everything easier to put together once I'm all done.
What do you think?