1979
Pip at Meet Me At Mikes has got this little thing going on at the mo where you pick your favourite year and then flickr it. (I think she’s determined to be a prophet to all the procrastinators in the world..)
Given that it’s my birthday this weekend I thought what the hey and flickrd my birth year 1979. It was mildly interesting. And then I thought a-ha! And searched 1979 protest and came up with some amazing images I have to share with you all.
1979 was a big year for Gay Pride marches, there’s some stunning photos but none more than Brian from Boston. Brian, you are a legend.
1979 was also a big year for anti-nuclear activism. This stunning black and white shot is from the Black Fox Nuclear Protest and shows the strength that the movement continues to be known for.
Of course 1979 will always be remembered in Iranian history and there was some pretty unreal protest action around the world both in support and against the Iranian Revolution. Here’s some spectacular images from those times.
03 Jan 1979, Los Angeles, California, USA Iranian Refugees Protest the Visit of Iranian Shah.
Iranian Hostage Crisis Demonstration by Marion S. Trikosko, 1979
The poet, short story writer and activist for peace and justice, Grace Paley, died at home on August 22, 2007, at the age of 84.
Grace Paley (left with megaphone) and Gloria Steinem (center), writers and feminists, lead a demonstration in NYC in support of the brave women of Iran, who risked their lives to demand their rights during the 1979 revolution.
Finally and a bit more locally, 1979 was a time of strength for the Aboriginal Land Rights movement. While the Referendum was now a bit of history and citizenship rights had been instituted, the policies of genocide and apartheid were still well and truly the norm. We still haven’t seen much change in the paternalistic policy approach of the governments of Australia. Another thing that still remains the same is the awesome solidarity actions from older non-indigenous women. Like these lovely ladies in Brisbane on May Day in 1979.
Always was, always will be, Aboriginal Land!
Green Craft Carnival
Crafting a Green World has started a new blog Carnival called the The Carnival of Green Crafts (naturally).
It’s twice monthly so there should be plenty of inspiration for all of us conscious crafters.
They’re also looking for more people to host carnivals so check out their list of dates and grab one. And of course submit your green craftiness! I reckon the Ninja should submit her new bag she made eh?
I’ll post a link to the carnival when it goes up.
All I Want For Christmas
I’ve been gently hassling Zoe, who you may remember from the last episode of the Craft Cartel Podcast to send me some pictures of her cross stitch so I can share with you all. Zoe does such ace work and it deserves a big showing!
I understand this piece was done as a commission for a friend. And I reckon it’s gorgeous! All I want for christmas is a pillow case that says ‘all I want for christmas is an anarcho-feminist revolution’!
So I’ve persuaded Zoe to come aboard the RCS team so she can share some more of her work with us all. So keep an eye out for her first post 
Stitch For Senate
I thought I’d already written about this but turns out I only thought about writing about it. Confused?
The Stitch For Senate Project is an antiwar craft collaboration underway to coincide with the upcoming US election. Participants will be drawing on the long history of war knitting projects to knit a helmet liner for every US Senator.
Building on the tradition of wartime knitting, a practice as old as the American Revolution, Stitch for Senate revives this cultural trend by engaging with public officials about the war in Iraq. The Stitch for Senate website will compile testimonies from contributing knitters, that express everything from charity, allegiance, patriotism, resistance, and radicalism; using the tradition of political organizing within knitting circles as a space for storytelling, discussion, exchange and protest. Hobbyists knit in solidarity to persuade elected officials to support the troops by bringing them home. All the senators will receive their own helmet liner before the 2008 Senate election, after being displayed in the seating chart of the US Senate at gallery venue. Once they are received, senators can opt to send helmets to a soldier.
And they’re still looking for contributors so if you can knit and you aren’t too fond of the whole war thing, get on board.
The Stitch For Senate project is the brainchild of Cat Mazza who is one of my absolute favourite craftivists. You can check out more of her work and her blog here.
Intermission and celebration
Hmm yes, well, for those of you who visited over the last 24 hours or so, you would’ve noticed a distinct lack of website. Yeah well that was a nice little birthday present from Yahoo who decided not to email me to let me know the domain name payment hadn’t gone through (wankers).
Which means that we’re 1 year old! Wow.
So a big thanks to all of you who have visited, contributed and commented over the last year. This has turned into a wonderful little community and we’re having a ton of fun putting it all together.
Imagine the projects we’re gonna pull off in the next 12 months!
Happy Birthday to us!
Yay! Eat cake!
xox
Reuse, redo, recycle
I wanted to try out some other techniques than cross stitch, so took the opportunity to make a grocery bag, which I needed anyway.
The bag itself was really easy to make – I simply used an old plastic bag as a pattern – but the stitching (chain stitch) turned out to be a little less fun than I expected. I don’t know what made it so, but it was only thanks to pure stubbornness I could finish it. But at least now that it’s done I like it.
The bag is completely made out of material I already had at home. The fabric is a piece of some old synthetic fabric that I bought at a thrift store because i liked the colour but would be too uncomfortable to use in clothing. Oh, and if anyone wants to know, the font is Guttenberg MF, available for free on dafont.com.
Dissent is Patriotic
I had this moment of trepidation when opening this email this morning. The subject was ‘celebrating the 4th in fine fashion’. There’s been a rash of July 4th crafts going round the internet at the mo. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with July 4 crafts, I just get nervous around patriotic fervour…
But I was much relieved to discover the link was to this super cool bookmark
It’s by RCSP crew Katie Lee and I reckon it’s ace. She has this to say:
Super simple, I know, but in order to celebrate any sort of “Independence” we must also celebrate the thinkers, artists and activists (including ourselves) who don’t follow or agree with the status quo, and are always questioning, learning, creating and sharing.
Hear hear! I reckon some of the ‘founding ‘fathers’ would roll in their graves if they could see the state of the empire.
Katie Lee and I have been working on a wee collaboration too. Stay tuned!
Firefox Pattern
One of our Radical Cross Stitch Posse members Emma put a call out the other day for a pattern of the Firefox logo. I couldn’t remember seeing anywhere. But I know they’re in demand ’cause people are always finding my website searching for linux cross stitch (there’s a big linux penguin pattern on the diy page).
So I thought, hey, why don’t I just make one. I can’t exactly help the project with my programming skills (read: none) so how ’bout just contribute some fan craft. Surely there is nothing cooler than nana core, nerd core fan craft?
So here’s a pattern, click on the image to download the pdf of the pattern and colours and complete cross stitch instructions.
Enjoy.
Pattern Birthday Sale!
Hi everyone
It’s my birthday next week, and for the first time in ages, I’m going out for a big night of partying. I’m sure you’d all want to join me and buy me a drink. But geography is a bitch sometimes. So, I’m giving you all the opportunity to buy me a drink virtually! But it’s the present that gives back. See instead of just giving me money, you get a pattern in return!
Confused?
From now until I recover from my hangover, which is about the 21st of July, I’m having a half price sale on all patterns in the Radical Rags store. Just ’cause I like you all and I can. And I really deserve a big night out!
xox
Some Crafty Things
If I wasn’t furiously cleaning the house before my mum comes to visit (just kidding mum, it’s ALWAYS this spotless!) I’d be going to this craft night at Loophole Community Centre:
Create Date Craft Night, Thursday July 10th, 7-9pm, 834a High Street, Thornbury
Enjoy a night with friends and crafts. Anyone and anything welcome; knitting, painting, pastels, sewing, etc. Bring your own project or start something new. Some materials are available here. Tea and coffee by donation
Hey and if you need some inspiration for some cross stitch designs TiGER has these ace links to some font tools.
Firstly this site has six great font charts. It’s not in english, but it’s pretty self explanatory.
Secondly the Stitch Point website has six ace text generators. You just choose your font and then enter in whatever text you want. Super groovy and useful for those of you who don’t want to use a whole software program to do it.
OK you’ve got no excuses now, get stitching!
xox