If things can go wrong, Doujin Overload 2010 would have been the day they did go wrong. I spent all week boosting my immune system so I wouldn’t catch whatever plagues were going around work, only to spend yesterday with a migraine; I brought the wrong lens for my camera and forgot my mc announcement sheet… and yet, I pulled through without too many mis-haps (Friend: “Speak louder Zeb! Your sexy dulcet tones were not heard in the far corners of the hall!”) Most importantly, I had a great time! The atmosphere was fantastic; heaps of great artists and even more visitors than...

Guess what I did today? I created something all by myself *beams* I’ve always admired designers who are able to create beautiful one of a kind cross stitch patterns, so when I decided to sign up to a band sampler stitch along on a forum I’d recently joined, I thought I’d give it a go. The other ladies & gents in the group had already started sharing their own designs, and wanting to contribute, I came up with the following, which I boringly call the ‘Floral Band.’ My influences were definitely Indian/Pakistany in origin. I wanted to create something that reflected my...

I’ve been a cross stitcher for a very long time, but I’ve always been interested in other forms of needlecraft. So when my local needlework store mentioned they were attending the Association of New Zealand Embroiderers’ Guild Inc (ANZEG) 2010 conference, I wanted to check it out and my lovely friend Laura agreed to come along too. We met up at her place in the wee morning hours yesterday. It was chilly chilly chilly… the frost was so thick and mist so heavy the route down to Hamilton was spectacular, and for once I wasn’t driving so could enjoy the gorgeous views. Once we...

Depression and life problems meant that it had been a while since I picked up the needle and stitched. To try get back my stitching mojo, I signed up to a local craft exchange. After several mis-starts… where I started on a design but it just wasn’t “doing” it for me, I settled on stitching the pink lotus mandala from the larger sampler design by Joan Elliott called ‘Eastern Promise’ (found in her book ‘Cross Stitch Wit & Wisdom.’) I had originally planned to stitch this up as a needlebook, but of course, as is the case with me, I managed to stuff...