Woah.

See more from Giddy Girlie here.

Friend of Mr X Stitch Giddy Girlie made this awesome embroidery of the Mighty Eagle from Angry Birds. Be sure to check out her Flickr photostream for more awesome stuff!

Hi everybody! This week I wanted to show you some stitches and plushies that I loved so much, I just had to have them! Here’s the latest things I’ve bought from some of my favorite shops on Etsy.

Tiny Oyster Designs won my heart with this Green Stripy Gibbler.

I’ve always loved jackalopes, so I had to scoop this one from Pilous Percilla up as soon as I saw it.

This piece from PeelaPom was actually a present for Mr X. It seemed to fit his aspirations both in Foursquare and in the real world.

Who could resist a smile like that? Not me. That’s why I adopted this little guy from Dolls for Friends.

I really like the way Giddy Girlie presented this quote from Kurt Vonnegut.

I guess I was on a little bit of a Vonnegut kick, because I also purchased this lovely piece from Little Sasquatch.

And this fun, silly stitch came from Cappywanna, who makes lots of things that make me smile.

I hope you enjoyed this little lovefest! See you next week!

Hi everybody! This week I want to show you more of the great stuff made as a result of the latest Phat Quarter swap. The theme this time around was OMG! The Horror! The idea was to do a mash-up that incorporated horror in some way. The Phat Quarterans did some truly marvelous things with that theme – check it out!

Peeves the Poltergeist by shaebay

Addams Family Guy stitched by Giddy Girlie

Chernobyl Kinsmen in the light…

and Chernobyl Kinsmen in the dark by relaxolotl

Kali Pony by VSC

Alien Madonna by BurntChicory

Haunted House by nerdsoup

Nosferatu meets the Shining by taff1973

Frankenstein and Wife by jojobooster

Shaun of the Dead/Galaga mashup by NDBex

Whale Doom by leftwingedmama

Awesome stuff, right? Be sure to check out all of the wonderful things posted in the Phat Quarter – there’s always something in there to see!

Also, thanks again to the fabulous Giddy Girlie for coordinating this swap. Thanks so much, Mia! You’re awesome!

Hi everybody! This week I’m showcasing space-related stitches.

Fellow crafty blogger Rachel Hobson inspired this theme with this Hubble cross stitch inspired by John Grunsfeld. It combines Rachel’s love of space and stitching AND it won first prize in the Funniest category of the ESA Hubble Pop Culture contest. Neat!

This piece by I Doubt It celebrates the Sputnik, the first Earth-orbiting satellite.

This embroidery by Matt of Veronica and Matt has a joyful tone to it. He just seems like one happy spaceman to me.

GiddyGirlie stitched this astronaut after hearing a comedy routine dubbing them nosy for going to the moon.

Shootcoward uses space travel as a way to remind us not to limit ourselves.

Tod of Flying Haystacks made this piece, entitled Three Celestial Studies.

Mr Stitch illustrates the importance of having a reliable traveling companion when traversing through the void.

And this piece from naomicayne features the scientist who figured out where all that space came from in the first place.

Beefranck’s Emporium is brought to you by Kreinik Threads – go get some!

As I mentioned in my last exploits post, August was a great month for getting out and about in the Stitchiverse. After the thrill of the workshop at Vintage at Goodwood, a few days later I found myself boarding a transatlantic heading for Chicago!

Chicago, for those who don’t know, is Beefranck country and having worked with her building the Mr X Stitch empire, I decided it was about time I went to visit her. I arrived on the 16^th August, got my lips around a classic Italian Beef Sandwich, and spent a few days relaxing, observing Americans in their natural environment and being mostly confused by interesting American foods.

On Thursday we made out way to Wicker Park to meet up with our good friends Joe and Kelly (and Baby Seth). We visited the Renegade Handmade store, buying lots of groovy craft items and ended up getting a mention on their blog. We visited a trendy burger joint called Hot Chocolate, where Joe enjoyed an accidental penis artisan milkshake and ate some extremely fine burgers. This was followed by a trip to Quimby’s Comics, a store with a fantastic array of zines, graphic novels and erotic comics!

I bought myself a couple of cool zines with embroidered covers and hope to write about those in more detail at some point.

On the Friday of my visit (the 20^th) we spent a day at WizardWorld Chicago, searching for comics, gawping at the cosplayers and getting some groovy sketches from people. I was pleased to discover the Little Brass Bird Collective in amongst all the comic people and spent a surprising amount of time talking about stitching to anyone who stood still for long enough…

On Saturday we hit the town! At Millenium Park we met up with Benjibot, Adam and Emily Moe, Vegkat (and her awesome family), Shane and Lia (Omaha posse!), Giggly Mama and Giddy Girlie. After a light lunch at the Institute of Modern Art, we ventured to Navy Pier and took a collective photo around the giant Macaroni – of course!

A quick whistle stop tour of the Pier, including some cheeseburger action, and some well received Slushies at a nearby 7-11, and we were off to our final destination, the Signature Lounge.

96 floors up the Hancock Tower we spent a fantastic couple of hours drinking expensive cocktails, laughing our heads off and as the sun went down and the town lit up beneath us, I felt extremely honoured to be there. It was great fun being with all these people who are not only amazing stitchy artists, but are brilliant people and firm friends from this point forward. It was truly the high spot of the visit.

The following day we ventured to Geneva, a suburb of Chicago, to celebrate Beefranck’s birthday! We ate good food, Beefranck was showered with gifts and love, Shane got the accidental penis this time and to celebrate the occasion we discovered that the town had hosted a concourse car show. Which was nice.

We also visited the Designers’ Desk, a truly fantastic stitchery shop with three floors of all manner of embroidered marvellousness. As the posse descended on the store it was great to wander around and talk stitchy stuff with each of them, particularly Vegkat’s kids, Bridget and Graham, who helped me choose some threads from the overwhelming array of choice. More about the store later…

After a great day looking at threads and cars, and drinking iced coffees, it was time to say goodbye to the GGs, and I want to thank them for taking the trouble to come from California to hang out with us. You guys are the best!

The next few days were spent recovering from the weekend, and relaxing. We returned to the Designers’ Desk on Tuesday and spent more time looking at the wide variety of threads – something like 40 different brands – and being truly inspired by the amount of stitchy supplies available. The store has an online presence and they ship worldwide, so if you get the chance to visit it, take it! It’s the way a stitchy shop should be!

It really was an amazing visit and fantastic to spend time with so many great people. I have to thank Beefranck and Yimster (and Shampoo the cat) for their hospitality, as well as everyone who came out to play with us. As I boarded the plane back to the UK, I felt inspired and honoured to have had such an experience, and committed to having many many more…

But wait! That’s not the end!

I sat on the plane, exhausted and exhilarated, and got chatting to my neighbour, a Greek guy called Sakis. After a while we got talking about stitching and he explained that his father had cross stitched some large pieces that hung in his family home. As the journey progressed and I continued stitching, eventually he asked if he could have a go. Before long all he asked me about was untying knots…

All in all it was a tremendous trip and I can’t wait until the next time I can pop over the pond for more exploits!

Exciting news! Friend of Mr X Stitch Giddy Girlie will be featured in Fleeting Immersion.

Fleeting Immersion is a pop-up installation and concept shop celebrating art, handmade, vintage & more. The event will take place September 17-25, 2010 at the Tinlark Gallery, 6671 Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, CA.

Get more information about the show here – and if you’re in the area, be sure to check it out!

If you’re already a member of the Phat Quarter, the official MrXStitch flickr group, you might already know that there is a comic themed swap going on there. If you aren’t a member, go join! Now!

This week I’m showing off some of the awesome stuff that has come out of the swap so far. Check it out!

A Chick Tract from Snarkypants

Bender Bending Rodriguez from NDBex

Brak from Vegkat

Felix the Cat from Gigglymama

Lex Luthor Took Forty Cakes by Shaebay

Mr Gosh from Lenore, the Cute Little Dead Girl, also by Shaebay

A piece based on a 1965 Playboy cartoon by Schinders

A mash-up of Garfield and Steamboat Willie by Sailormouth

An xkcd cartoon from Crafty & Devious

Wonder Woman embroidering Snoopy by GiddyGirlie

Great stuff so far! I’m going to follow up with another post in a couple weeks as more pieces get posted. Until then I’d like to say thanks to the talented Penny Nickels for organizing and coordinating the swap – you’re the best, Penny!

See you in the Phat Quarter!

Beefranck’s Emporium is brought to you by Kreinik Threads – go get some!

The talented GiddyGirlie embroidered this from a drawing by Scott Campbell. I’m so glad, because I just love it.

Read her blog post about it here, and make sure to check out her etsy store for all kinds of awesome things.

Jinkies! It’s the Scooby Gang in Mini Pop form!

Giddy Girlie stitched this lovely little piece of pop culture. Check out her etsy store for more great stuff!