A long stitch ago in a Gallery not so far, far away, an alliance of crafty rebel artists was formed to honor the epic fantasy world of Star Wars. Wielding mighty tools of knitting and crochet, cutting through the great expanse of felt, these daring individuals used their handmade patterns of survival to restore freedom to the galaxy. Beginning July 18th, their Jedi mind tricks will bedazzle you and sway your thoughts to the Dark side of the Art World. May their farce be with you. Stitch Wars is group art exhibition featuring amazing handmade goods inspired by the most fabulous space fantasy ever made,...

It is a cold, dark, dreary day today… suits my mood perfectly. Every morning I log on to check to see if the job search sites have come up with anything remotely close to what I do; of late they have been lacking. Two months since being made redundant, and I still haven’t found a job, it’s depressing I tell ya. Adding to the all round misery I feel, yesterday my lcd monitor died. It started fizzing and sparking, and then poof! gone. I shouldn’t complain, I’ve had it for 8 years and it has served me well… but why did it have to die now? I mean seriously,...

Just a few things I wanted to write about; designs and kits that have recently been released that have me salivating. Being jobless means that I have to also be quite frugal in terms of the things I purchase; but let it not be said that I am denying myself completely! You’ll need to click the thumbnails to see larger versions. First off, these gorgeous little witches from Brooke’s Books. Aren’t they the cutest? There is something so adorable about these designs, and also the SpiritAngel series (check the site to see em.) The fact that they’re stitched on perforated paper makes...

A friend emailed me the link to the recent podcast about anime & manga in New Zealand, done by Radio New Zealand. It was an interesting listen and featured quite a few people I know, namely Dylan Horrocks, Seong from the GNC and Alex, a very well known cel collector! Stuff like this I like to share and track, because we very rarely get media attention on anime & manga here in NZ. Anime and Manga in NZ (MP3 File) In other news, Doujin Overload 2009 is only two weekends away! I am so incredibly excited about this event, and am looking forward to catching up with friends and enjoy gorgeous art by...

One of the things I have been trying to do now that I am back into cross stitching, is to sharpen my finishing skills. Finishing? As in, once I am done with the stitching, I do it up in some fashion that makes it useful/usable. Whether it’s done up as a simple ornament (as in today’s example) or a needlebook, pincushin or biscornu. I had initially stitched this design with the idea to do it up as a biscornu, but alas I made some mistakes that, when doing it up as a biscornu, the sides were lopsided. Not wanting to throw away such pretty stitching (well I think it is!) I decided to make it...