Hi everybody! It’s that time of year again – time for Plush You!

Plush You! is a HUGE gathering of plush toys put together every year by Kristen Rask of Schmancy. Here’s just a few of the awesome things that were made just for Plush You! this year.

Tempus fugit by Diane Koss

Coffee Pot by Scrumptious Delight

Adorare by Moxie

Strong Men by Pink Cheeks Studio

Pacific Giant Octopus by fog and swell

Untitled by mr muju

Excellent stuff. If you’re in the Seattle area, be sure to check out the show! You’ll be glad you did.

Moxie stole my heart (again) with this piece. See more of her awesomeness here.

Hi everybody! Remember when I told you all about needle felter extraordinare Moxie‘s new book, I Felt Awesome? Remember how you pulled at your hair and wept with longing for a copy, but you didn’t get yourself one yet because you were buying presents for everybody else in your life? Well, here’s your chance to get a copy direct from Moxie herself! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

*Cheers! Fanfare!*

Yes, our own Moxie has generously offered to give away a copy of her book AND a mini-kit from her store, Hi-Fiber. Exciting!

All you need to do to enter is leave a comment on this post by the end of the day on Friday, January 7th. A winner will be selected at random thanks to Random Number Generator and announced that weekend.

Want to comment, but not sure what to say? That’s okay. it happens to the best of us. Why don’t you just tell us what you’d like to needle felt if you had infinite wool and needles at your disposable, or who you’d like us to interview on an upcoming episode of Stitching n Junk, or just say hi! Good luck!

Moxie. She’s an all around awesome person, amazing artist and an incredibly talented needle felter. As you can hear in our interview with her on the Stitching n Junk podcast, she loves introducing people to needle felting and has a lot of excellent advice on the subject. Well, guess what? Now you can have access to her advice and over 35 projects to try for yourself if you check out her new book, I Felt Awesome!

I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at the book, and it’s a delight. The projects are varied enough to interest everyone – from little felt friends (like a bunny bobble head, a zombie sheep, and voo-doo dolls) to toys (like an actual working yo-yo) to wearable and usable items, too. The entire book has the benefit of Moxie’s friendly, funny personality, and the projects have plenty of pictures to help you along the way.

If you’ve ever even thought about trying your hand at needle felting, do yourself a favor – go get this book!

The awesome needle felting goddess that is Moxie is in a solo show at Schmancy Gallery in Seattle. The opening is this Friday, November 12th, and if you’re in the area, you simply have to check it out!

It’s February 8th! Does everybody know what that means? No? It means I’ve been posting here at MrXStitch for one whole year.

My, how time flies when you are having fun – and that is exactly what this last year has been. It’s so much fun to be able to share the stitchy stuff I love with the readers here, and getting to interact with you via comments here and in The Phat Quarter. I’d like to say thanks to Jamie for asking me to join the blog is the first place, and for being so much fun to work with. Thanks Jamie, ya big lug! ^_^

I thought I’d take this opportunity to look through some of my favorite Emporium posts from the last year. It was really hard to choose – the whole point of the Emporiums is that they filled with stuff I love! – but in order to keep this from being the longest post in the history of the site, I’ve narrowed it down.

Moxie. She’s got moxie, AND she is Moxie. Seriously, what’s not to love about her and the stuff she makes? This little guy in particular stole my heart when I first saw him. And since I wrote my original post I’ve gotten to know Moxie through a shared love of all things awesome. Thank you, internet!

Robots. I love ‘em. And Krupp is the Queen of robot cross stitch. She has a whole slew of robot stitches, and her patterns (including this one!) are available for purchase for in the MrXStitch etsy store. Go get some!

Dr. Horrible, one of the many things that has been brought to life by the wonderful Joss Whedon, is another one of my favorite things. I’ve made a stitch or two about it myself. Heck, it’s how Jamie and I met, so you know it’s a great way to bring like-minded people together. I already knew that Shae was a kindred spirit before she made this lovely stitch, but it definitely confirmed my belief in her awesomeness. You can see more Joss Whedon inspired stitches in my original post about them.

My friends and colleagues will tell you that it is difficult for me to get through a conversation without somehow referencing The Simpsons. I can’t help it, it’s like a compulsion. That’s why I’m always happy to see a Simpsons-related stitch, like this awesome group of Homer portraits from Brian Campbell.

I’m a huge fan of plushies – the more unusual the better. You can see examples of that in these few posts. That’s why when I first found and posted about the work of Monsterosity, I knew I had to own something he had made. Since then we’ve been involved in a swap, frequented each other’s stores, and become friendly internet acquaintances. Once again, I say: thank you, internet!

Thanks for indulging me as I took a look back at the previous year. It was a great one, but I have a feeling this next one is going to be even better.

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

We love pretty much everything made by Made by Moxie. Mr. Wonderful is no exception.

Whether he’s just being himself…

or if he’s in disguise.

See more from Moxie at her flickr photostream, website, or etsy store. You’ll be glad you did!

There’s a couple of pretty cool craft fairs going on this weekend, and if you’re in either the Seattle or Chicago areas, you really should go!

If you happen to be in the Seattle area, check out the Urban Craft Uprising on Saturday and Sunday, December 5th and 6th, at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall between the hours of 11:00 am and 5:00 pm. Admission is free and there’s going to be all kinds of wonderful vendors there – the amazing Made By Moxie, Schmancy, and Scrumptious Delight, just to name a few! You can see posts about what many of the vendors have to offer at the Urban Craft Uprising blog.

If you’re in the Chicago area, the Renegade Handmade Craft Fair Holiday Sale is happening this Saturday and Sunday, December 5th and 6th, from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse. There’s a lot of wonderful vendors to see (you can see the full list here) including Skunkboy Creatures and Craftster. I’ll be attending myself, so let me know if you’ll be there and maybe we’ll cross paths!

Do you love Made by Moxie? Sure, we all do! Well then, you’ll be thrilled to find out that she made some awesome needle felted critters exclusively for Schmancy!

Go buy one here! Or, see more from Moxie at her flickr photostream or her etsy store. Wonderful things await!

It’s that time again! Ready for some awesome? That’s what I thought.

This week I want to show you some fabulous felties from the marvelous Made by Moxie.

I like to think of this creation as a quite civilized monster. I imagine he might work as a car salesman, or perhaps a news anchor.

This piece, called Wiretap, was made as a gift for the host of the radio show of the same name, Jonathan Goldstein. I hadn’t heard of the show before I read about the making of this peice at Moxie’s blog, but now I am definitely going to check it out.

This is called Puppets Need Puppets Too. It made me squeal with joy the first time I saw it. I’m wondering, though – what about the puppet’s puppet? It looks lonely without a puppet, don’t you think?

Moxie also makes some facsimilies of everyday items that are pretty impressive, like these pills.

And this Twinkie looks good enough to eat!

Let’s face it. You want to see more. I know you do! Here’s how to go about it: flickr photostream, website, blog, and etsy store. Visit one or all of them. You’ll be glad you did!