Showing Off Type Stuff

I have no idea why I've been so reluctant to post about this, as I've been inwardly flailing for quite some time now. I guess I'm just not very good at bragging when I really have something to brag about. Anyway, enough faffing about...

The upshot is that my Forbrydelsen cross stitch pattern is going to be in The Killing Handbook: Forbrydelsen Forever!

It's exciting enough that one of my patterns is going to be in a book, but it was all made even more fabulous by the fact that Emma Kennedy is writing the book (and I loooooooove her) and Emma Kennedy emailing me was enough to have me flailing around like a mad thing. Then she said this on twitter and I just about keeled over from too much squee.

As if that wasn't awesomesauce enough, Emma Kennedy, glorious human being that she is, showed my Sarah Lund cross stitch to the wonderful Sofie Grabol who plays her, and let me know that she "absolutely adore[s] it."

And then, blog-reader, I died of over fan-girling. I am typing this from beyond the grave. I am on the astral plane of people who like liking things, with my ghostly arms permanently stuck in Kermit-like wibblyness and my voice about three octaves higher than usual.

I think I may have perhaps slightly given the impression of how excited and chuffed I was. So here ends my not-so humblebrag. If you're a fan of the original-strength Danish version of the Killing think about buying the book when it's out on November 15th!

~~~

And in unrelated news about actually related persons, my mother is still the coolest Mum ever, and I clearly got my awesome from her. Not only did she send me this handmade Tatooine collage as my birthday card, but she has just started art school. I'm still having trouble imagining Mama Blaize as a fresher, but I'm ridiculously proud of her.

Forbrydelsen Forever!

While I was on my unexpected blogging hiatus I found myself in need of a craft project to keep me from going stir crazy. I had worked on a nearly completed pattern of the lovely Sarah Lund's face, from the original (and vastly superior) Danish version of the Killing, but there was something not quite ready about it. And then I had a sudden epiphany - I'd designed a Sarah Lund pattern that did not include the iconic wooly jumper! And that clearly wasn't right. But my attempts to actually render that amazing garment in cross stitch looked so weird that I gave it up, until it occured to me that the pattern of the jumper would make a fantastic border. And so that's what I did!

Here are the crafty stats: the design is 8x10 inches on 14ct aida, with 7452 stitches made up of 5 different colours of thread, and the project took me a little over two weeks. And here's how she turned out!