Holy moley! It’s the Fifth Friday Festival of Fabulousness!

That’s right! It’s another day filled with goodies, including:

• A review of Carrie MacLennan’s The Busy Girl’s Guide to Sewing – and you can win a copy!
• A review of Leanne Prain’s Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery!!
• A chance to win a signed copy of PUSH: Stitchery!!!
• A new episode of Stitching n Junk!!!!
• And the doors are now open on a brand new swap over at our awesome Flickr group, the Phat Quarter!

Have a fabulous day everyone!

Here’s another great piece from the Phat Quarter food swap.

Well, then. My choice seems to have been made for me.

See more stitchy stuff from mindboggld in her Flickr photostream. You’ll be glad you did!

Hi everybody! This week I wanted to showcase MORE of great stuff that was made for the latest swap at the Phat Quarter, the official Mr X Stitch Flickr group. The theme this time around was food. Let’s take a look at all the scrumptious stitches, shall we?

Fish custard! by Disobedient Child

That’s How I Roll by Lisa Leggett

Death Paste by craftyanddevious

Good Eats by lizzibabe

Ice Cream by FiberArtsy

In the Beginning by jojobooster

There’s even more to come! In the meantime, head over to the Phat Quarter and check out all the great stitchy stuff to be seen there. You’ll be glad you did!

Hi everybody! This week I wanted to showcase some of the great stuff that was made for the latest Phat Quarter swap. The theme this time around was food. Let’s take a look at all the yummy stitches, shall we?

A Magical Animal by paghababian

Existential Sushi by riann

cAke by jojobooster

Coffee by Liz Brown

Will Fuck for Sushi by ruby42

Fish Fingers and Custard by lynnefloorMore to come! In the meantime, head over to the Phat Quarter and check out all the great stitchy stuff to be seen there. You’ll be glad you did!

Hi everybody! This week I wanted to show you even yet STILL more of the cool stuff that came about from the Phat Quarter Book Swap – check it out!

Fiction Reveals Truth by Frau Shizzle

Monster by Giddy99

CosmopoliteB by Lizziebabe

Fear and Loathing by jojobooster

Vanity Fair by Impostor75

Swap Piece by DanaK

Bite Me by taff1973

Swap piece by LadyHazard

Fantastic stuff!

Mr X and I would like to thank the amazing Giddy Girlie for coordinating and running this swap for us. We love you, Mia!

Be sure to join us in the Phat Quarter, and keep an eye out for the next swap!

Hey everyone! It’s a Fifth Friday! And that means it’s another Fifth Friday Festival of Fabulousness!!

Yay!

Woo!

Ow!

In honour of the imminent release of PUSH: Stitchery, this time around we’re getting all literary on your asses with a whole heap of book reviews throughout the day. You will have a chance to win one of three stitchy books as well as find out about three more books that will be hitting the shelves soon! All of these books can be ordered via the Mr X Stitch Amazon store just to make it nice and easy for you.*

We’ve got information about an exciting project that you can be involved in!

We’ve also got a new episode of Stitching n Junk queued up and ready for release as well!

And as if that wasn’t enough, we’re opening the doors for the next 24 hours on a brand new swap over at our Flickr group, the Phat Quarter. The theme is Books, and given that the last swap had 40 participants, you can’t afford to miss out!

So, welcome to the FFFoF, Beefranck and I hope you have a great day!

*It may be that you can only order books in the UK via our Amazon store – sorry if that’s the case.

I was thrilled to be invited to have a stand at this year’s Stitch & Craft show at Olympia in London. With three floors of crafty action, it’s one of the biggest stitching shows in the UK with thousands of visitors looking out for new ideas in knitting, stitching and papercrafting. When the organisers contacted me about having a space at the show to pump a bit of the Mr X Stitch vibe into the show I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Using the power of community, I sought submissions of amateur stitched work from our Flickr group, the Phat Quarter. The exhibition was themed around pop culture and humour, and it was great to receive so many submissions from different parts of the globe. I wanted to be able to showcase the work that people were doing right now, and as the Phat Quarter is a fantastic place to visit and understand the memes being explored in stitch, with a whole heap of logistical jiggery-pokery (technical term) I managed gather together work from over 30 embroiderers to inspire the visitors to the stand.

As well as the inspiration station on the walls, I also wanted people to try cross stitch. Cross stitch is a gateway craft – it’s simple to learn, is a great way to realise the pleasures of stitchery and is my preferred stitch, so I was keen to give people the opportunity to have a go. I put some feelers out and with the help of the crew at Stitch London, before I knew it I had a list of volunteers who were willing to come along, hang out at the stand and teach passers-by how to cross stitch.

I figured that if we inspired them with the stitching on the wall, and then showed them how to do cross stitch, they could buy the raw materials at the show and get their stitch on! And, on the whole, I was right!

The show began with a trip down to London on the Wednesday to set the stand up. After an amount of standing, looking at the stand scratching my chin, I leaped into action and hung the pieces on the wall. Through a mixture of good fortune and (towards the end) desperation, I managed to install the exhibition, and without breaking anything.

And then it was Thursday and the show began! But I’ll tell you about that later..!

Hi everybody! This week we’re going to take a look at some of the wonderful pieces that were created for the music swap at the Phat Quarter. Check it out!

Rest in Peace by Shaebay

Beth Ditto by Giggly Mama

Smile by Jessica Kelly

Guru Guru by Giddy Girlie

AND a bonus Guru Guru Plush by Giddy Girlie

If you want to destroy my sweater by lockedinthepark

Sugar Lumps by Riann

Party like it’s 1996 by rollerderbysinner

Aladdin Sane by Salvaged Mutiny

Beautiful Boy by Schinders

Awesome stuff, as always! There’s more to come, but you can always check out these and other great pieces by visiting the Phat Quarter – great things await!

Hi everybody! This week I want to show you some of the amazing things that were 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!

Jubileed by Salvaged Mutiny

1950′s & Modern Horror by filmresearch

Zombie Cow by Riann

Vampire Bots by krupp

The (Brains for) Breakfast Club by vegkat

Hell(o)raiser Kitty by lizzibabe

Gingerbread Mayhem by DanaK

Breakfast Club Vampires by paghabaian

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies stitched by lockedinthepark

In Case of Emergency stitched by crafty & devious

Pretty amazing stuff, right? And these are just the tip of the iceberg. I’ll be sharing more pieces from this fantastically frightening swap soon. In the meantime, be sure to check out all of the wonderful things posted in the Phat Quarter – you’ll be glad you did!

Oh! And while you’re at it, go show Giddy Girlie some love. This swap might not have happened were it not for her volunteering to coordinate it, and I think we can all agree that she has done a fabulous job! Thanks so much, Mia! You’re the best!

Hi everybody! It’s a fifth Friday, and you now what that means…

SWAP TIME!

Cheers! Fanfare!

The theme for this swap is OMG! The Horror! in honor of the fifth Friday being so near to Halloween. The idea behind this month’s theme is a mash-up with a ‘horror’ twist. Read more about it and find out how to sign up here.

Big Love to Mia, aka GiddyGirlie for organizing this swap for us. Thanks so much, Mia! You rock!