If you are signed up to the Facebook page you might already know, but something super duper extra exciting happened over the weekend! The lovely folks over at Frankie Magazine featured The Shy Lion on their website!
Oh, look! That’s me! *ded* – clickity-clack to look at that –
If you’ve never feasted your lovely peepers on an issue of Frankie Magazine or their website, you truly are depriving yourself of some serious blissful stuff! I heart them so intensely and back in my poorer days I would forgo a meal to buy the next issue. Yes, I used to be that poor (and that in love with Frankie!) so for them to notice little ol’ me… well, suffice it to say that I’ll be shivering with wide-eyed glee like an overstimulated chihuahua for weeks to come.
They featured my Totoro iPhone case, which peeps seem to love so that’s very nice! If you’re new to The Shy Lion, or you missed it, you can see the finished product here, and get the free cross stitch chart here. Best of all, you can do anything with the chart, not just an iPhone case!
But, the excitement doesn’t stop there! The incomparable Pip Lincolne, the editor of JustB. has been so kind as to let me write an article for them! I’m totes stoked because it’s about my Mama, and I love her face off so much it’ll be hard to stick to a word limit! I’ll keep you posted on when it goes up.
The next goal? Get published in actual, physical, on-paper print! Hmm, we shall see. ^_~
What’re your fave publications to read? Sharezies!
Gentle reader, As promised, I’ve done up a fancy, clean, non-chicken-scratch version of the chart I made to do my Totoro iPhone case. Feel free to download and bring some crafty Ghibli love into your life, but – and I feel like a douche for saying this, but you can never be too careful – […]
You peeps and my pals on FB seem to have gone properly mental over my Totoro cross-stitch phone case! Y’all are crazy! And completely sweet, and I heart you all. So, not to disappoint, I’ve worked as fast as I can, and, now, I present to you my Toto-phone!
Mmm, shall I do a Cat-Bus one next?
I’m pretty happy with it. The case itself is a great, snug fit for my iPhone and I was glad to get rid of the stretchy, loose silicone one. The design itself turned out in the end; I did have to make a few slight changes to my original chart, but I’m pleased with him now. I will do up the chart and post it in case anyone is interested in doing their own cross-stich Totoro. ^_~
To recap, if you want to do your own cross-stich iPhone case, you can get yours online here or here, or you can buy them in store at Morris & Sons (Sydney and Melbourne).
If you could do one, what design would you go for? And if you actually do do one, you MUST share it with me! I’ll pretty much love you forever!
Do you have an iPhone? When you got your iPhone were you like me and obsessed about just. the. right. case? My gadgets are my children, and it just won’t do to put them in just any ol’ case. I bought a case that was designed to make my phone look like a green monster, and I loved it. But it was made of this stretchy silicone type stuff, and it’s since stretched a bit out of shape and I’m terrified of it slipping out and getting damaged. Eek!
Well, Morris & Sons – in their infinite wisdom – recently got this piece of awesomeness in the store, and it’s the answer to my prayers!
Image credit to Leese Design
It’s made by a Korean company called Leese Design, and you can buy them there or at Morris & Sons (for $25! That’s cheap for an iPhone case). The case is a snug fit, which is what I was after, and each case comes with the needle, a few threads, and a little design booklet. But, me being me, I had to do my own design, natch, and I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m faaaairly cray about My Neighbor Totoro.
I want a Totoro all of my own so I can hug him and pat him and love his face! So, I got out my graph paper and drew out a design and got to stitching! I’m using some floss from a cheap bulk pack that we got from somewhere, so I don’t know how it’ll turn out color-wise. If they turn out totes fug, I’ll drop back into Morris and gets some decent ones. I’m properly stoked with the chart though. I’ll do up a clean copy eventually and share it with y’all.
What’s your name? TOH! TOH! ROOOOOOOAAAARRRRR!!! ❤
I’ll have to keep my stretchy green monster for a bit longer until this one comes together. It’s perhaps a bit sad, but I can really see myself getting a few more of these treasures and doing a few different designs so I can switch them up on a whim. They’d also make really neat gifties for any Apple-fan peeps.
Look at his little face! ^_^
What phone do you have, and what case have you got? Share some gadget love. You can even go post pics of your funky cases over at the Facebook page!
As many of you may know, I moved to Melbourne from Brisbane about a year ago and these holidays I’m spending two weeks in my home state of Queensland. Week one is almost down, and here are a few highlights! (Please forgive the iffy picture quality; some of the shots and all of the editing were done on my iPod and iPad!)
First, the flight from Melbourne to Brisbane!
I LOVE flying, and I love flying even better when you take off before dark and are still in the air after dark. These pictures don’t do the amazing horizon justice. Also, I love photographing clouds. I think they’re totes amazing.
Clearly, she is a model and I am not.
My best friend Panda picked me up from the airport and I stayed at her place in Brisbane which she shares with Audra and Eden who are also amazing peeps and were so generous with their hospitality.
Over the few days I was there, we checked out some great stores, got a Totoro phone trinket, ate crazy amounts of Bread Top, went to visit our lovely friend Kath and her beautiful shop, Handmade High Street. We also went on a wild goose chase for yarn stores – one was shut and one didn’t exist anymore – before we finally made it to Tangled Yarns, which is AMAZEBALLS. They stock Berocco, Pierrot (my fave!), Cascade 220, madelainetosh, and Malabrigo. I’ll definitely be going back there. We also wandered through an antique/bric-a-brac store where I picked up some delightful old knitting patterns (more on that later!). I also got to catch up with my adorable friends, Alf and Robert.
Suzie, the lovely lady, and Larry, the resident water dragon.
On the Sunday, I visited Judy, one of my favorite people ever (you may remember her from my post about the crochet bolero I did a while back). Her and her husband Peter made the most delicious BBQ lunch, and we relaxed on their back veranda while Suzie and Larry kept us company.
Judy's hat, made from Noro Kochoran.
I also snapped Judy in the hat I knitted for her (and finished the night before). I made it using the Hurricane Hat pattern by Andrea Goutier with Noro Kochoran yarn. I’m not sure what color way, because it was just a left over ball from something with no label. I don’t know why, but all those shots came out blurry. Oy. But, Kate will be pleased that I’ve posted another FO. Happy, Kate!? Geesh. ^_~
"Sah-kurity!"
I also managed to get a bit done on my Bon Qui Qui cross stitch. The picture is terrible, but you get an idea. I drew Bon Qui Qui on some graph paper and then used colored pencils to figure out my color blocking, and then started stitching. I’ve got a looooong way to go, but it was nice to do something a bit different.
Pan-Pan! I miss you already! (Also, is my bottom lip really that big? Oy.)
Finally, on Monday, Panda dropped me off at the bus depot to catch a Greyhound to my home town. I was super sad to say buh-bye to Pan, and there were some friends I just didn’t have time to visit. But, I was so excited to see my folks, and we’ve been having a great time so far. More to come!
It has been very remiss of me for not posting sooner. I have taken on a casual office job on top of my yarn store job, and between those two and teaching, I’ll not have a single day off for two weeks! Eeep! I have many things on the go which I can’t wait to show you, but they had to go on the back burner while I finished off my Pa’s birthday present.
Some background… my immediate family has many in-jokes and sayings that make rather little sense to anyone else, and many of those are what you might say are call-and-response style things in so far as certain expressions require a certain reply. One of these is a farewell that Pa and I often use, usually at the close of a phone conversation. One of us will say “Cheers, Big Ears!” to which the somewhat… colorful… response is “F*$k you, Noddy!”. Apologies for the cussing! I have no idea where the expression came from – I suspect it’s an old pub toast perhaps – but it tickles us. We will often try to incite the other to say the Noddy half of the exchange in the most inappropriate of places (Pa has the trophy so far – he managed to get me to say it quite loudly in the university library during study week).
Noddy & Big Ears (Mr Pod in the background)
And so, in the spirit of Subversive Cross Stitch, I decided that this would be an excellent birthday present for my kooky father (and I will not lie, the ‘sequel’ for his Christmas gift is something I’m looking forward to!)
Poor Noddy...
Next up is Mothers’ Day, but I don’t think I will be making anything for that (I have a gift picked out already), so I will have plenty to show you soon. Until then, hug your folks if they’re there to be hugged!
They featured my Totoro iPhone case, which peeps seem to love so that’s very nice! If you’re new to The Shy Lion, or you missed it, you can see the finished product here, and get the free cross stitch chart here. Best of all, you can do anything with the chart, not just an iPhone case!
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