Manga Cross-Stitch: Make Your Own Graphic Art Needlework by Helen McCarthy. Andrews McMeel Publishing; Har/Cdr edition (August 1, 2009).

‘Stitchers often get stereotyped as middle-aged ladies in cardigans, anime and manga fans as geeky teenage misfits. Both stereotypes are equally inaccurate – because both groups are just people who love beautiful things and want to create and enjoy beauty in their own way.’ Helen McCarthy

With a compelling voice, Helen McCarthy, reaches out to those with a curiosity for everything Manga and needlework. McCarthy is a well known writer and speaker on Japanese animation and comics and with her other love of historic and fantasy costume and embroidery designs – it wasn’t long before these two loves would meet in the middle.

She has done a fine job with this authentic manga design book – with short engaging passages that contextualize the manga aesthetic, along with instructions on how to use the included CD/DVD – where you can find all the customisable and printable charts – McCarthy also has included instructions on how to make your own cross-stitch charts based on your favourite character – using the included software found on the DVD.

(Needless to say this book is just as thorough in learning how to cross-stitch as how to design – with the basics covered – thread, materials, charts, there are also good close up photos of how to stitch.) But really this books main feature is its dedication to helping you design your own cross-stitch patterns – and the manga – its all about the manga really – who and what are these kawaii characters / cyber beings / heroes + villains / samurai + ronin / monsters … and more fantastic run down on these character types – how to add in text + special effects, change the texture and tone, and how to change the facial features to give different expressions – this is better than many ‘how to draw manga’ books that are so popular with kids these days.

The readership will not be confined to needle-workers or manga fans but to anyone who wishes to be creatively guided and engaged.

Felties: How to Make 18 Cute and Fuzzy Friends by Nelly Pailloux. Andrews McMeel Publishing (October 20, 2009)

Here are some tiny little felt characters sure to win your hearts, with their engaging personalities and almost manga aesthetic, with their big heads and eyes and funny simple style.

Felties is well served by glossy gridded pages, and to-scale illustrations and templates, and the book’s modest scale still allows each character a dedicated page spread with easy to understand instructions. There is a very brief intro/techniques section at the front – but as each project is quite simple I can handle this briefness, although I would have liked a bit more background about the designer/maker as this personalises a book for me – but I know others like to get stuck straight into the projects.

The little guys are cheek-squeezing cute – with oversized heads and eyes and tiny bodies – I love the sun loving rat best, and the retro alien and little bears, puppies and pandas all won our hearts + the projects are so quick that you can easily make up a whole set to make some kids very happy.

Am a little late with this weeks newsletter – but a quiet sunday morning is the perfect chance to catch up with whats been happening this week. It seems I am ridiculously busy with too many projects on the go at once + my boy has been begging for a new quilt, so somehow that has become top priority – we had some fabric printed with his drawings a while ago so I think this is the perfect project to use it for – will post results when done. Yesterday I spent a lovely afternoon sewing next to my daughter – she made a soft felt block of chocolate and I made an afternoon quilt (well half made anyway), then we sat down to read some harry potter and do some crochet.

In other quilt news I am organising a 65 roses quilt for charity – find out how you can participate here.

FIND OUT HOW to get your 2010 whipup crafty collectible calendar here .

FIND OUT HOW to advertise with whipup – before rates go up for the silly season - for the next 10 days I am discounting all ad slots by 10% – use this coupon code when booking your ad pre-holidaysxweEBn valid until 18 November.

1. DID YOU MANAGE TO SEE the felty lunch tutorial – wasn’t that so cute … and some japanese fabric stores … wool felt week …
2. LOTS OF HOLIDAY CRAFTING Burlap napkin ring … snowman kit … fabric wreath … pompom wreath … lavender and hay wreath …
3. AND LOTS MORE: … argyle sock vases … cloth book for kids … pixie moss tutorial … felt rainbow ball … apple burlap placemats … refashion – sleevy pants …

Happy crafting!
Kathreen
xxx

Did you miss last weeks roundup? get them all here or subscribe to this weekly newsletter via email here – if you already subscribe why not forward this email to a crafty friend you think may enjoy it.
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Dear Friends and crafters across the globe – I am organising a quilt block drive for a project very near to my heart and to my family. With a nephew with Cystic Fibrosis and a mother-in-law involved in the CF foundation in Australia, I have been thinking of a project that I could organise to help out. The 65 Roses quilt is that project. 65 roses day is named after a folklore story – and raises awareness of Cystic Fibrosis.

Would you like to make a block and send to me to be used in this quilt? All the details and the pattern can be downloaded from THIS PDF – the pdf also has 2 rose applique designs and 3 rose embroidery designs – however you can use your own design as well.

Its a simple block, comprised of 4xfive inch charm squares – one of which you will embroider/applique a rose design onto, the other three squares can be comprised of vintage/found/floral bits of lovely fabric – you can make one block or more and send to me to be made up into the 65 roses quilt.

The quilt – comprised of 65 blocks will be auctioned at the CF Australia annual gala auction event in Canberra in September 2010.

Please contact me with any questions [whipup at gmail.com] – and I will be keeping whipup posted on progress on this project.

PS. If you want to take this idea and run with it – using this pattern to make a community quilt for your local CF foundation then please do – would love if it if you told me about your project – but there is no obligation to do so … ADD YOUR IMAGES to the 65 roses quilt flickr group.

pps. you can download the graphic and link to this post if you would like to help promote this effort.

Myrtle & Eunice has a fabulous tutorial/pattern download to make this adorable felt sandwhich - I love the detail on the lettuce and tomatoes. fabulous playfood.

Am writing this post all garlicky from making aioli (it didn’t work out but am going to try just one more time – it looks ridiculously simple but there is a trick to it I have yet to figure out). Have also been working on a quilt this week (another project that is causing me grief), but in good news I made some delicious butterfly cream cakes (check out the recipe over here) and have made 2 pavlovas this week – oh such gorgeous summery fare (we like ours topped with cream, raspberries and passionfruit).

FIND OUT HOW to get your 2010 whipup crafty collectible calendar here .

FIND OUT HOW to advertise with whipup – before rates go up for the silly season - for the next 10 days I am discounting all ad slots by 10% – use this coupon code when booking your ad pre-holidaysxweEBn valid until 18 November.

1. DID YOU MANAGE TO SEE … more in the quilt festival roundup here and here
2. A couple of BOOK REVIEWS this week – the two latest books in the Make Good Crafts + Life series Japanese craft books translated into English… Embroidered effects Jenny Hart’s latest lovely offering … Indie artists e-book – crafty tree trimmings - just in time for the holidays …
3. ALSO doing a series of posts with our fabulous artists who are featured in the 2010 whipup calendar – Amy Bethune … Eva Monleón and Maya Donenfeld
4. DON’T MISS Craftapalooza’s button wreath tutorial …
5. MY FAVE CRAFT THIS WEEK: … linen drawstring bag - perfect for gifts.
6. AND LOTS MORE: … Cashmere baby hat + beast tutorial … crochet flower earrings … strawberry pincushion …

Did you miss last weeks roundup? get them all here or subscribe to this weekly newsletter via email here – if you already subscribe why not forward this email to a crafty friend you think may enjoy it.
Access our blogging tips series here. Grab a featured on whipup button here and find out about advertising on whipup here.
Follow us on twitter: whipup: @whipup and Nicole: @craftapalooza [and visit Nicole's shop here]
Feel free to send in letters, ideas and links to whipup[at]gmail.com
Join the Whipup.net flickr group here.
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Find out more about our fantastic Whipup 2010 calendar

For the next 10 days I am discounting all ad slots by 10% – use this coupon code when booking your ad pre-holidaysxweEBn valid until 18 November.

Leading up to the holidays ad rates have increased – up to now they have been super duper cheap cheap cheap – while I have been trialling the new system (have you tried out the new system yet – just click on the ‘advertise here’ in the sidebar to give it a test run) (if you want to use this on your website to run ads I use igloohq.com)

While I have increased prices in the main ad section – I have also added a new section (lower sidebar) just for indie businesses – the smaller ad sizes will only be available in this slot.

Carefree Clothes for Girls: 20 Patterns for Outdoor Frocks, Playdate Dresses, and More (Make Good: Crafts + Life) By Junko Okawa. Trumpeter; 1 edition (October 13, 2009).

Felting for Baby: 25 Warm and Woolly Projects for the Little Ones in Your Life (Make Good: Crafts + Life) By Saori Yamazaki. Trumpeter; 1 edition (October 13, 2009).

The latest additions in the make good series (Japanese craft books published in English by Trumpeter) are 2 books for parents or those who love to make things for children.

Felting for baby has instructions and patterns to make lovely tiny felted shoes, felted teddy bears, hand puppets and other cute accessories with lots of adorable little details. The best thing really about this book is the exquisite detailed photos of the felting process, and includes both wet and needle felting techniques. A treasure of a book.

Carefree clothes for girls is filled with adorable romantic and rustic clothing for active little girls. Some outfits are more practical than others – depends on how many trees your little girl likes to climb. However these outfits are so gorgeous with some beautiful detailing – such as raw edges, buttons and hand stitching, antique lace and found fabrics, layers of fabric, the use of natural raw unbleached linens and simple cottons. The designs are not difficult, a-line styles, ruffled skirts, square front bodices, and wrap-over tunics. This is such a sweet, sentimental, romantic book of designs for little girls – and mothers who love to dress up their little girls. [You can download full size patterns of the designs from Make Good Crafts Website + download a couple of sample projects.]

Embroidered Effects: Projects and Patterns to Inspire Your Stitching (Sublime Stitching) by Jenny Hart. Chronicle Books; Spi edition (September 9, 2009).

This is not just a book with groovy embroidery designs and lots of transfers to help you re-create the groovy designs, it is in fact an extremely comprehensive book on embroidery for beginners.

Jenny really goes into such incredible detail with her explanations of techniques and tools and materials, it is obvious she loves her craft and has thought deeply about how to explain it those who may be not quite sure how to get started. Along with chapters on the basics (fabrics to use, threads to use, tools to use) there is a fantastic stitch dictionary with excellent clear illustrations and instructions – showing where the needle goes in and comes out, where you are supposed to hold the thread and which direction you should be heading. Often a second technique for doing the one stitch is described – I love that Jenny is not precious about how you get it done and she allows for different styles of stitching in her instructions.

There is a whole section on the different patterns/designs – with transfers in the back to help you get just the right look – the designs are shown stitched onto outfits, aprons, shirts or as framed pieces, pillows, tablecloths, even shower curtains, but alas no doilies.

With Jenny’s usual fun and slightly subversive designs you will find tattoo embroidery for you sleeve shirt, colourful day of the dead skulls for your summer skirt, cute little bluebirds for the fronts of your jeans, adorable framed child’s art, embroidered text and more.

For more of a taster – check out these free online tutes from the book

Mahjong embroidery tablecloth
Floss blending tutorial

This past week has been so so busy – a craftin’ and a workin’ and not to mention yuk wasted day sick in bed. Despite that set back I have managed to get to 2 quilt projects – one of them was started a year ago and the other is for a baby due soon – click on the images for more details.

FIND OUT HOW to get your 2010 whipup crafty collectible calendar here .

FIND OUT HOW to advertise with whipup – before rates go up for the silly season.

1. DID YOU MANAGE TO SEE … refashion roundup – part 4 of an ongoing series … you people are so clever … the last of the halloween roundups for this year – have a good one if you celebrate …

   sort of going a bit mad with quilts – love the quilt festival and have a series of roundups to keep quilt fans busy one + two + three + more next week.

   ALSO doing a series of posts with our fabulous artists who are featured in the 2010 whipup calendar – April - March – Cover – January + more next week…

   Check out my recipe for lemon butter and angel food cake — yummy!

2. MY FAVE CRAFT THIS WEEK: … ruffle hedgehog softie – very cute! …
3. ITS A QUILTY WEEK: … Read up on long arm quilters … and the virtual quilt project …
4. HOLIDAYS + GIFT GIVING: … partridge tree ornament …

Did you miss last weeks roundup? get them all here or subscribe to this weekly newsletter via email here – if you already subscribe why not forward this email to a crafty friend you think may enjoy it.
Access our blogging tips series here. Grab a featured on whipup button here and find out about advertising on whipup here.
Follow us on twitter: whipup: @whipup and Nicole: @craftapalooza [and visit Nicole's shop here]
Feel free to send in letters, ideas and links to whipup[at]gmail.com
Join the Whipup.net flickr group here.
Igloo self service ads: igloo
Find out more about our fantastic Whipup 2010 calendar