Catching up
I haven’t posted in a while, but that doesn’t mean I’ve not been crafting. So i thought I should do a roundup of what I’ve been doing.
Let’s start with the most recent finished project: I’ve seen a few blueprint embroideries around (the first was this beautiful rendering of a Frank Lloyd Wright blueprint by Craftster member muddlepud), and wanted to make one of my own. And what would fit a textile nerd better than a part of a Jacquard loom?
I’ve also made a new cross stitch, based on one of a quote from Mythbuster’s Adam Savage. Free pattern here!
And some of the other things I’ve been up to: apart from stitching I’ve been screenprinting, knitting and sewing. Both printing and sewing are techniques i haven’t worked a lot with in a while, so I’m trying to find my way back to them. I’m also trying to get out of my comfort zone by trying new crafts: I’ve signed up to a carpentry class that starts in september (and which I’m looking forward to so much). Hopefully it’ll be inspiring and lead to lots of new ideas.
Back to school
After years of dreaming, planning and saving money I went back to school last year. I’ve found a course that combines my nerdiness with my love for textiles: I’m now on my way to becoming a textile engineer! One semester down, this far we’ve had courses in knitting and weaving (and lots and lots of math).
In knittning class we’ve learned to use both hand knitting machines and big industrial ones, and in weaving class we’ve worked with several kinds of weaving looms. And I love it, especially the labs. It’s not often that school is so fun you forget the time. 
A sample of what I’ve been doing:
Owls from an old cross stitch book that me and my lab partner modified to work as a weaving pattern. The owls are about 2 cm wide.
A knitted skull fabric I made on one of the big circular knitting machines. Each skull is about one cm high. (I put the coin there to show the scale, and only afterwards realized that it’s probably not so useful if you don’t use Swedish money and know how big it is. )
I just can’t get enough
As 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. Size: 59 x 18 cm on 21 count Aida. It took just under nine months to finish (although I did mix it up with other projects during that time).
(Click for a bigger image)
And a close-up to show off the stitches.
Back from Craftwerk 2.0
Some pics from Craftwerk 2.0, the exhibition in Jönköping, Sweden, where Kakariki and I participate. The exhibition was amazing and I could not stop smiling as I walked through. Lovely to see all these things that I’ve seen only on pictures in real life. Anyone near Jönköping should go see it, not to mention all the workshops and lectures they’ll be having during the fall and winter. The exhibition runs from September 19 until January 17 2010.
(I was all nerves and excitement, so I had some problems focusing on taking pictures, but at least some of them turned out ok.)
Entrance hall of the exhibition: "Craft for a better world"
QR codes by Kakariki, Mario Map by Cross stitch ninja
A part of four panels by Faythe Levine
"Oh, Sorry was that your land?" by Kakariki, "Homes for all" by Cross stitch ninja
A fabric world map of craft zines. Strings tied to them to show where they come from. Click on the picture to see a bigger version.
And a clip from local news programme Smålandsnytt (in Swedish).
You are not alone
The text says “You are not alone”. Sounds comforting, right?
Well, look closer…
Homes for all
Praise Seitan!
Craftster user torrance made a cross stitch and when I saw it I immediately knew it would be perfect for a vegan friend of mine. So when it was time for his birthday I decided to make a version of it for him. I’ve been cross stitching so much so I decided to do something different this time and screen print it.
And a close up for good measure:
I had some serious trouble getting a good print and I almost gave up for a while, but after some advice from a friend I finally succeded!
It’s about 20 x 30 cm, and the font is KaizerseitGotisch that I found for free on dafont.com.
Return of the Ninja
In my last post I promised that I would return back to the radical stitching from the nerdiness. And so I did!
This is what I’ve been working on for the last six weeks:
I loved making the Youth house cross stitch last year, so i wanted to explore the theme a little more.
This one is 32 x 37 cm big and made on 20 stitch/inch Aida.
And lots of other things have happened too, but for some reason or another I haven’t gotten around to posting anything about it. I was invited to the group exhibition Strich und faden in Germany. I wasn’t able to go see it, so it still feels kind of unreal, but it’s been so exciting anyway!
The exhibition itself has ended, but it will be a part of the Berliner Kunstsalon too. So if you’re on your way past Berlin, make sure to check it out!
On a personal note I’ve been in a bad mood lately despite everything good that’s happened, but things are looking up. I’m finally going back to school after thinking about it for years, and I’ve got a new apartment that I love, so it feels like this winter is going to turn out good after all!
Just one more…
Ok, so I just had to make one more video game stitch… More precisely the map from Zelda – Link’s awakening, my absolute favorite game when I was little.
And some close ups:
Finished size about 24,5 x 22 cm (9,5 x 8,5 inches), 160 x 144 stitches.
This was fun, but now I’ll leave the game nostalgia alone for a while. Time to retun to the radical stitching!
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.