Third Place

1UP Mushroom Blanket

by Marlijn van de Wardt

This delightful blanket was made for the creator’s infant daughter, who Marlijn hopes to convert into a full-fledged Nintendo fan as soon as she’s able to manage a controller. Each of the granny squares took about ten minutes to make; the three-month project was largely done in front of the TV and during long car rides. She most enjoyed the process of watching the blanket take shape, as each row of squares was added and the blanket more and more resembled the iconic 1UP mushroom from Nintendo’s best-known video game franchise. Marlijn has been a diehard fan of Nintendo games from the very beginning with the NES (who could forget Super Mario Bros. 1 and Duck Hunt?). Currently, she is cross-stitching World 1 of Super Mario Bros. 3, and eventually plans to cross-stitch all of the worlds in the game. We can’t wait to see it!

Second Place

Pirahna Plant Toilet Paper Cozy

by Jessica Stebbins

This humorous toilet paper cozy was hand-stitched by Paula over three lunch breaks at work. Entirely made of the scraps left over from other projects (we love the eco-friendliness that’s built right in!). Making funny cozies is a bit of a hobby for Jessica. Other ones that she’s made include a TARDIS tissue box cozy and some Final Fantasy Black and White
Mage wine cozies.

First Place

Cross-Stitched Zelda Light World Map

by Matthew Ellison

This was just so impressive, we had to award it first place. While unemployed Matthew stitched this intricate pixel map over four months, which uses over 30 colours of embroidery floss. Matthew was introduced to cross-stitching by his mother, who used it as a way to keep him occupied as a child over the summer. Eventually, he realized that the stitches look an awful lot like the pixels that make up video game art. At first, he mostly stitched small video game sprites. This piece was his first major undertaking. His advice to anyone who would like to take on a similar project? Practice first, with something small, and make sure your stitches all face the same way (or it will look odd), and definitely pick something you’ll enjoy, because you’ll be working on it for a long time! Currently, Matthew is stitching something from Zelda: The Wind Waker which requires over 150 colours.

Tanooki Mario Quilt

For Christmas this year my boyfriend got to choose any quilt he wanted me to make for him. So who did he choose? Tanooki Mario of course!
Submitted by Toni Smith

Zelda Light World Map

This map of the Light World from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past took me four months solid stitching to make. It was something to do while unemployed and is still the biggest piece I’ve done. It contains 39 colours and is roughly 14 x 12.5 inches in size.
Submitted by Matthew ‘Servotron’ Ellison

Link

Submitted by Deborah Dodson

Boss Octorok

The Boss Octorok from Minish Cap!
Submitted by Diana Simpson

NES Controller Coffee Table

I made this coffee table for my boyfriend for his birthday as a surprise.
Submitted by Jennifer

Mario Bookshelf

I was out one day looking for new shelves at garage sales. I found a cute little bookshelf/dictionary stand that I thought would be perfect with a new coat of paint. I brought it home, cleaned it up and began painting the shelves blue and yellow and the legs that attach each shelf together bright green. When my husband came home and saw the bright green legs he commented on how they looked like warp pipes from Mario and then he commandeered my project. We then decided to hand paint levels 1-1 through 1-4 on the shelves and tada!!
Submitted by Yoshi Kumara

1UP Blanket

I made this to be made in to a blanket for my 5-month-old daughter. The sooner she’s in love with nintendo and 1-UP’s the better! It took me about 3 months to crochet and put to getter… And my daughter? She loves it! It nice and soft to play on.
Submitted by Marlijn van de Wardt

Wizzrobe

Well, this is a present for my boyfriend who’s coming home from Italy. I crocheted these 468 squares using single crochet and sewed them together as I went along. At my fastest, it took me about six minutes to make a square, sew it on, and tuck in the ends. I tucked in over 930 ends into this piece. That boy had better love this thing to death.
Submitted by Marika A

Piranha Plant Cozy

I enjoy making toilet paper cozies with a sense of humor.
Submitted by Jessica

Space Invaders Magnets

A complete set of needlepoint Space Invaders Fridge Magnets! All 50 aliens, a UFO, a laser cannon, and four bunkers – enough to reconstruct an entire level of the game.
Submitted by Lauren