Jun
29

For the geek in me

Lately I haven’t been doing so much politically inclined crafting. Instead I’ve entertained my inner geek with an enormous cross stitch I’ve been wanting to make for a couple of years. The thought of the amount of time it would take to finish has put me off, but finally it’s done!

A cross stitch of an entire map from Super Mario Bros 3!

And a few close-ups:

It took about three months to finish, and since I was in between jobs for most of those months I had lots and lots of spare time to work on it. Finished size 28 x 34 cm (with about 50 000 stitches…).

Now I want to make the “Zelda – a link to the past” world map! But maybe that would be taking on too much?

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Tags: geek stitch, mario, video games

Posted in Craftiness Fun stuff Geek stuff xstitch
18 Comments Posted by Cross stitch ninja

casey says:

June 29, 2008 at 1:52 pm

But it’s beautiful! Why geeky? Old skool computer games are, like, totally cool, man. Or maybe I’m so deeply uncool that I’ve lost touch with what’s hip & what’s not. Or I’ve always been oblivious. Nyah! Who cares? It’s beautiful x

Cross stitch ninja says:

June 29, 2008 at 9:54 pm

Thank you!

Maybe I misunderstand and miss nuances, since English isn’t my first language, but I don’t see geeky as something bad. Especially not when crafting is involved! To me geek craft is about people knitting computers, or even making working NES controller coffee tables! And what could be cooler than that?

Oh, and the table: http://ultra-awesome.blogspot.com/2008/05/nes-coffee-table-final-post-rah.html

kakariki says:

June 30, 2008 at 1:03 am

wow you are amazing! And so quick. It would take me about a year to finish something like that.

Super, super ace!

Lilith says:

June 30, 2008 at 7:39 am

You crazy ! You could have left the white parts unstitched but no, like that it is a sort of ode to the geek ironwill (“I won’t give up till I finish this level !”) ;o)

Liliths last blog post..J’ai pas trouvé de jeu de mots qui tient la route avec Pratchett…

Tiger says:

June 30, 2008 at 10:47 am

oh! i luv it! <3

Tigers last blog post..SPELL WITH FLICKR

damian stewart says:

June 30, 2008 at 10:49 am

omg

you == (awesome)^2

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xx
d

damian stewarts last blog post..Is Google making us stupid?

James David says:

June 30, 2008 at 7:58 pm

Send this over to BoingBoing (dot net) for some serious geek love.

James Davids last blog post..WonderRoot on Radio Free Georgia Today

Kysmet says:

July 31, 2008 at 7:51 pm

Would you mind telling me where you got this pattern? Its incredibly awesome and I want to give it a go

August 3, 2008 at 7:55 am

Thank you! This is so great, I’ve got so many requests for a pattern for this! I had never expected that.

I simply took a screen shot from the game and zoomed in real close so I could see and count the pixels. One pixel=one stitch. If you view the picture with a grid it makes it easier to work with.

Or if you want to make a regular chart there’s a tutorial at Sprite stitch: http://www.spritestitch.com/?p=391

Good luck!

Mattias says:

November 11, 2008 at 7:11 pm

I´m amazed. You´re my new hero!

Rochelle says:

November 20, 2008 at 4:16 am

That is amazingly awesome. Is there a pattern/guide for this? I would love to do this for a future project?

November 20, 2008 at 10:22 am

Rochelle > I don’t have a pattern, but if you look at the link I posted in my reply aug 3 ( http://www.spritestitch.com/?p=391 ) you’ll find a tutorial on how to make a pattern. And you can find screenshots from the game at sites like http://www.spriters-resource.com/

melissa says:

June 7, 2009 at 8:13 pm

where can i get the pattern for this?

Weekly Roundup #2 says:

February 20, 2010 at 6:28 am

[...] Super Mario Bros 3 Cross Stitch @ Radical Cross Stitch [...]

Greg says:

April 14, 2010 at 2:26 pm

This is featured on the Huffington Post. The article title is The Most Epic Cross-Stitches Ever. This is amazing. I seriously thought it was a screenshot not a cross stitch. Do you make more than one? Is this for sale? You’ve got quite the talent for perfection.

Radical Cross Stitch » I just can’t get enough says:

April 15, 2010 at 7:54 am

[...] you’ve probably noticed by now I’m a sucker for big projects. So I just had to make another one. One more Super Mario Bros 3 map, world 2 this time. [...]

April 15, 2010 at 10:19 am

Greg: Thank you. I’ve made two more: another Mario map and one from Zelda. http://radicalcrossstitch.com/2010/01/12/cant-get-enough/ http://radicalcrossstitch.com/2008/08/10/just-one-more/
I just make one of each though, and don’t sell any. They take so long to make that I can’t part with them once they’re finished.