Miss Clawful's Cross-Stitch Projects

[LinkIsMyHomeboy]

Can't wait to see the StarTropics piece finished. That is one of my favorite games of all time and it's nice to see it get some love.

Also, I think I'm going to copy your notes method. I've been curious for a while as to how much time it actually takes me to stitch something and I love your method.

[Miss Clawful]

Hello Dolly's Nursery

Before (front):


Now (front):

Note: yeah, I know, I ran it all way too close to the top edge, but couldn't be helped, it was centered and with plenty of room around it at first but then I just had to add more to the picture, but it looks great and it'll all hold together fine, and besides, now that its framed, I don't think it'll be removed so if taken care of it should last decades.

Before (back):


Now (back):


PATTERN:
65w x 95h pixels = 4.5"w x 6.5"h

Original:


Updated:

Spoiler

note: I wanted to make something for someone that has done so much for us (my mom and I, and our dog) with taking us from being homeless to having a place to live and given my mom a job caring for her with her cancer treatment. But what can you do for someone that has done far more for you than anyone could ever imagine? The amount this kind lady has done for us, what can I do to show her how much I appreciate what she has done, and bring a smile and maybe some happy tears to her eyes? What I do best...a cross-stitch! But what? It took me over a week to find that perfect something to stitch. First, I had done a Felix the Cat one, but even while stitching it I kept thinking, is this the right piece for her? Sure, I'm sure she would have loved it, just for the thought and work I did even if it may've not been her thing. But, sometimes the thought that counts just isn't enough, because if you are really putting enough thought into it you'll give someone something that speaks to them, that represents who they are, what they like, not just something random.

Dolls! It has to be something doll related. So I got to exploring, hunting down the right NES sprites for just the right picture which I'd have to create piecing them all together. I had taken elements from several games to create a picture that would represent Hello Dolly (her Youtube name), using the little girl from Gimmick from one of the ending pics with her cuddling Gimmick but removing him from the picture. I put her in front of the toy shop background from River City Ransom, editing out the teddy bears prior to that and changing the colors from purples to pinks (she likes pink, plus the purples were too hard and dark for the feeling of gentleness I wanted to depict). I had put the little boy and girl from the intro of Bubble Bobble 2 into the girl's arms as she is holding them to herself (also changing some of their colors - I reborned them). But I also had to edit one of the girl's hands--so it didn't look like a fleshy lobster claw--so as to look better cuddling her reborn dolls. Still found the picture to be lacking something, spent many days trying to find baby related items in NES games (such as stroller, cradle, crib, and other such things) but with no luck I thought, hell, Laura has a cat, so I hunted down cat sprites, found the purrfect choice with the one from the Uninvited.

And, I stitched on something other than my usual black aida. Black made everything look too hard, too dark and gloomy, and I didn't want to emit sadness in this picture. So I went with tan (or whatever the heck this color aida is called) because it went well with the colors I would be using in my stitches. Originally when I started I had begun with the dolls in the girl's arms, stitched their outlines using black floss, then after stitching the girl's outlines I had done the cat as well, also in black. I wasn't quite pleased with how I knew this would turn out, the black color floss would make the dolls and cat stand out too much, and while I wanted them, especially the dolls being held, to be noticable, I didn't want the girl to be as if she were a background. So, tore out my outlined dolls and cat and started over on them later with another color that would make so everything is in harmony. Soft colors that bring out the tenderness and love that this young girl's dollies bring to her. Also, one dilemma I faced before stitching, while still in the pattern creating mode, was that I was trying to make this girl, Laura herself, hair color as well as the room, and reason for the cat, but settled on it just being a little girl (maybe her inner girl) that happens to have a lot of dolls just like her, as well as a cat too.

Now all I've got to do is get a frame for it and find a time to present it to her. Even though it was a lot of work, total time probably well over 40 hours, somehow I still feel I haven't done enough. Will have to see, her reaction may tell me otherwise. I do hope she will love it. And that she'll stay with us a while longer.

Note: there is a massive update to this cross-stitch, read on.

MATERIAL USED:
Tan Aida (14ct) cut to 5.25" x 7.25"

COLORS USED (DMC):
Red Copper (#919)
Ultra Very Light Dusty Rose (#963)
Very Light Violet (#153)
Salmon (#760)
Medium Plum (#917)
Very Light Plum (#3608)
Dark Rosewood (#3857)
Medium Mahogany (#301)
Light Pale Yellow (#745)
Light Tawny (#951)
Light Old Gold (#676)
Dark Lavender (#209)
Dark Baby Blue (#322)
Light Sky Blue (#3761)

total colors: 14

DATE & TIME PROGRESS LOG:
Started stitching: April 6th 2013
Finished stitching: May 10th 2013

Spoiler

4/6/2013
3:15pm-6:20pm - got red copper outline around girl done

4/7/2013
10:55pm-12:00am

4/8/2013
12:00am-1:10am - got half of her hair done
3:30pm-4:55pm - got the girl's face and hands done
11:50pm-12:10am - started girl's pajama sleeve cuff

4/9/2013
1:30pm-3:00pm
3:20pm-5:25pm - got very light violet done on pajama sleeve
6:45pm-8:40pm - got very light violet done on pajamas

4/10/2013
10:25am-10:50am - got very light violet on shelf edges done
10:55am-12:45pm - got the girl's hair done
12:55pm-1:05pm - got all salmon color done on the girl

3:00pm-4:15pm
5:50pm-6:25pm - girl is done!
6:35pm-7:50pm
9:55pm-10:55pm - got dolls in background on bookcase done

4/12/2013
11:50am-2:10pm
3:45pm-5:25pm - got background behind dolls in case done

4/13/2013
1:30pm-2:15pm - got dark rosewood outline around cat done
2:20pm-2:35pm
3:15pm-4:20pm - got the cat done

4/14/2013
9:20am-10:50am - got dark rosewood outline done on reborn dolls
12:30pm-1:25pm - got dolls' faces done
1:30pm-2:05pm - got dolls' hair done
2:25pm-2:50pm - both reborn dolls done!
7:50pm-10:20pm - got entire dollcase done

=1875minutes (31 hours 15 minutes)

Okay, so I wasn't quite finished with this project afterall. And so it also seems that everything works out exactly as it should for the better good. One day a couple weeks ago Laura had called and said that she wanted to visit us, well she was going to come over, but as the day went on, she never showed nor called again, turned out she had a doctor appointment and after that was so worn out that she completely forgot. Good thing she didn't come over that day as I was going to present her gift to her then, and the whole time after it would have nagged at me that I never completed it to my fullest satisfaction as even though it looked nice I felt it was still missing something. Which is also good that I decided against just filling in the blank spaces with just a solid color because a couple days ago when I went to Michael's and got a frame for it and after putting it in the frame, it was then that relief flooded over me for how things worked out and that I still had time to do more with this picture.

One thing I knew for certain which kept popping up in my mind was that I really wanted a window in the background behind the girl, something with nice curtains. One of the first places I checked was Maniac Mansion since it is one big house and pretty much has everything a house should have, and thanks to maps uploaded by others I was able to do this without playing through the game. The curtains in the living room in the U.S. version of Maniac Mansion were too big and not quite what I was looking for, too bulky, heavy looking, I needed something more sheer, something that hangs down lightly. Ah, Japanese version of Maniac Mansion had the perfect window and curtains! Just what I was looking for! I spent some time trying to fit them into my unfinished image, as well as attempts at a decorative carpet--fail on that--and being that I wanted to move the picture down so that the bottom of the girl's body don't look like its cut off and floating in the air, I now had this big gap of blank space at the top of the picture as well that needed filling.

Originally I was thinking of keeping the curtains white but with very light plum highlights as well as making it light blue outside but problem is, even though it looked pretty it now stood out too much as if it had greater importance than the dolls on the shelves also in the background. I fiddled with this window a lot, from changing colors to increasing the width as well as adjusting its position a little, but something still wasn't sitting right with me. I did away with the carpet, solid color here would be fine since the cat fills the space nicely enough. but I didn't like the gap between the dollcase and the curtains, just didn't look right, felt both incomplete and unbalanced, so I took the same color used on the carpet and in the depths of the dollcase, medium plum, and filled the wall with it. Did away with the bright outside seen through the window, as well as the colors I was trying to use as the wall border background. In order to make this work I had to stick with the same color throughout the entire background, same as how the toy shop in River City Ransom is all the same shades of purples, well, just as I started out with Hello Dolly Nursery's background being several shades of plum pink, the whole background no matter what it is will have to be those same colors. Things in the background are there, they exist just as everything else in the picture, but the emphasis must be on the girl and the dolls that she is cuddling (and the cat only because its not an inanimate object).

In gathering sprites, maps and such I came across something in Little Nemo the Dream Master that I thought looked pretty, in dream 2, all of the bundles of grass and flowers in the flower garden. So, found me a group of flowers, made a wall border out of them.

But later after stitching them in, removing and stitching in again a little higher up, I kept looking at them and thinking maybe those won't work either, even though supposed to be flowers looked more like stars to me without grass or leaves, and so I'd once again go on the hunt for something that would strike me as perfect. There was a time ago in Battle of Olympus that I was looking at the the decorative spritework with heart in the center just above your health meter and thinking, I just gotta find a use for this in one of my projects--because its very pretty--and I thought back to that. So I clipped that out of one of the screenshots, pasted to my latest Hello Dolly edit in place of the flower border, recolored it to the background colors...now I am happy. I was able to add some elegance to show that this isn't a child's playroom anymore, this a the bedroom of a young lady. Perhaps she is still a girl who is starting to grow up, or maybe what we're seeing is the inner girl of a grown woman, either way regardless of what happens in her life she will always hold dolls close to her heart.

Only thing still missing would be some baby items which I had originally wanted somewhere in the picture when first planning out this project, but hey, can't have everything. And besides, perhaps it is for the better as such things could cause confusion as to whether the babies she is cuddling are dolls or real babies. At least as it stands with those dolls in her arms and shelves full of them in the background there is very little question, she is the proud mother of a fine doll collection. And maybe later when she grows up she'll make a tender loving mother to real children of her own.

I had also played around with putting in a music box, the kind that has a ballerina on top and plays music when you open it to put trinkets in. And well I actually did create a pattern with this in it,

but alas this idea came way too late as I had already had the space where I would have liked it to be filled in completely and would just have to live without it. Besides, again I didn't want this to be too much of a little girl bedroom with too many other things not quite of dolls only. I certainly like the idea of creating such a piece, someday I may just have to go a little further, creating a room with dolls, cute plush toys, the ballerina music box, as well as other assorted things. But as it stands this piece is perfect, any more fiddling with it would be overkill and possibly ruin the special moment instilled here with this girl and the only world to her, her dolls.

5/5/2013
1:00pm-2:10pm
2:45pm-3:45pm - got very light plum and very light violet done on curtains
10:15pm-10:55pm - outlined the curtains with medium plum

5/6/2013
9:30pm-9:45pm - got horizontal line done on carpet

Note: I did spend 110 minutes working on a flower border along the top edge of the wall. Actually this was my second time stiching it, first time from previous day which I had spent 45 minutes stitching in the flowers but had to remove to move it up a few pixels, this time though its because I found something much better in place of it, so once again removing it.

5/7/2013
10:25am-1:45pm
3:20pm-4:00pm - got carpet done, also created one more vertical row along left edge of picture so as to fit completely within matted area of frame
6:00pm-6:45pm - got gap between dollcase and window curtain filled in as well as outside of window

done with the original pattern perimeters (64x79 pixels + 1 added to width)

=470minutes for this section (7 hours 50 minutes)

total stitching time so far:
=2345minutes (39 hours 5 minutes)

5/8/2013
4:15pm-5:20pm
8:15pm-9:15pm - got wall decoration done

5/9/2013
1:05am-2:00am
3:35pm-6:30pm
7:15pm-7:40pm
8:20pm-9:15pm

5/10/2013
1:50pm-3:20pm - got wall completely filled in - all done!

=525minutes for wall details (8 hours 45 minutes)

grand total stitching time:
=2870minutes (47 hours 50 minutes)

TOTAL STITCHING TIME FOR THIS PROJECT:
2870 minutes = 47 hours 50 minutes (...that's just for the finished stitches seen in the final picture, doesn't include all the many hours spent finding sprites and creating the pattern as well as time spent stitching something in then removing it because I just wasn't pleased with how it looked. I don't really know how long I spent on the project altogether, but regardless it'll be well worth it once I present this to her and seeing the joy--at least that I hope--it'll bring to her)
TOTAL STITCHES:
6080 + 95 for extra vertical row along left edge = 6175

Framed pics:





I am so pleased with how beautiful this cross-stitch turned out:

[blackmageheart]

Wow...I didn't think that project could get any better but it really has. I love the fact that it's a composite work, I don't think anyone could tell just by looking. And the pink frame with black mat just sets it off so wonderfully.

Definitely one of my current favourite projects from the forums - fantastic job!

[LinkIsMyHomeboy]

Wow. That project is just stunning! I agree with BMH...didn't think it could get better, but somehow you did just that. This project really shows how important matting/framing are to a project. It was a great project on it's own, but the mat/frame combo just takes it to a whole new level. I see a project that should be on the blog soon...

[blackmageheart]

I see a project that should be on the blog soon..

I think the previous version already was! But no reason it shouldn't go up again (with a link to the other post of course.)

[LinkIsMyHomeboy]

I see a project that should be on the blog soon..

I think the previous version already was! But no reason it shouldn't go up again (with a link to the other post of course.)

I'm pretty sure it was, too, but after the additions and mat/frame, it definitely deserves a reappearance.

[blackmageheart]

Agreed!

BLOG PLZ STARRLEYYYYYYYYY

[Miss Clawful]

Thank you's for the nice comments. I put a lot of love into this project, glad it shows.

Anyone curious as to where I got each piece from, here's some screenshots, and each sprite or background removed from the rest of the screen for editing:

River City Ransom - Toys Galore (this was the first element I used, but change the purples to pinks)


Bubble Bobble 2 - intro (second things I needed, so now I have a case with dolls on it in the background and two up close ones with more color and detail, and I also changed their colors as well as adding more, also for more fun put a pacifier in the little boy's mouth)


Gimmick! - ending (this girl looks so adorable taking comfort in her plushie that just rescued her, but now she'll be cuddling baby dolls instead, but I did have to edit one of her hands to make it look right with the new sprites in her arms)


The Uninvited - the three animals in the maze (Laura has a cat, so I didn't want to leave it out because it stays so very near to her all the time, watching over her like a guardian, and I wanted something somewhat realistic so thought back to this game and searched on the internet for a sprite of it, came upon a full map instead - http://www.spriters-resource.com/nes/un ... heet/13564)


Maniac Mansion (Japanese version) - living room (I wanted a window behind the girl to fill the big empty corner there, found the perfect one with nice pretty curtains here - http://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/NES/ManiacM ... ansion.png)


Battle of Olympus - any screenshot (even though the boundries of my original idea had been filled, ran into a problem when framed, it left two big horizontal gaps of unstitched space above and below, eh, this isn't going to do, I needed something more to complete this picture, so went hunting for possible borders to put up on the wall, after working with one idea and still not quite doing it for me I looked some more and recalled the pretty intricated detail sprite work above your health bar in The Battle of Olympus, that would be absolutely gorgeous!)


I know it don't look like much, but everything was put together gradually, probably made 30 or so major edits, changing things, rearranging, adding more stuff, taking some stuff away, replacing with something else, a whole lot of chaos to make something nice.

[RMDC]

I definitely agree that it's much improved, and I think I've stated how awesome I thought it was already.

[starrley]

Agreed!

BLOG PLZ STARRLEYYYYYYYYY

I think I get your subtle hints...
Look for it Monday!