Bicycle Beautification
So what are you doing on Sunday?
This weekend is the Interventionist Guide to Melbourne weekend of interventions. The artists will be out and about on the streets creatively intervening with the city. Or as the Craft Cartel blog puts it: an interactive artistic wake-up call to confront all that is predictable and boring in our city.
Initially I was gonna keep mine to sneaking about putting bits and pieces up in strange places for people to find. But I got convinced that it would be much more fun to do something where other people can join in.
So…
The Melbourne Bicycle Beautification Society in association with Radical Cross Stitch and the Interventionist Guide to Melbourne are on a pilgrimage to reward Melbourne’s cyclist for their contribution to leisure, saving the planet, looking good and stopping oil wars.
In an effort to encourage spontaneous and uncontrolled acts of creativity, we invite participants to learn the art of bicycle basket cross stitch.
Materials and instructions will be provided during this casual afternoon of direct action against the pervasive boring of everyday life.
Participants need only turn up to Flinders Lane near the corner of Degraves Lane any time from 2pm until about 4.
This free event is part of the Interventionist Guide to Melbourne intervention weekend. Artists will be out and about from the 17-18th of October encouraging and even inciting random acts of public creativity. For details on other artists and how to engage in their interventions visit http://interventionistguide.org
Not brought to you by any government department or arts funding organisation.
RSVP on Facebook
The Great Xtreme Destash
With an expanding family it was time to make some tough decisions about space in our house. I made the big call and offered to hand over my craft room to be the new guest room. Then the existing guest room (which adjoins Tara’s room) can become Tara’s new big girls room.
It was a tough call to make. But when I looked at it from an efficiency perspective it was quite obvious. I don’t actually craft in there very often. I was limited to being in there when Tara was asleep otherwise a) I couldn’t watch her or b) she’d tear the room apart. So I really wasn’t in there much. And it was turning into a giant hoard room. Hardly practising what I preach when it comes to sustainable crafting.
So I decided to set myself a challenge to consolidate the room to one filing cabinet and one tall set of shelves. I’m only allowed to keep what will fit in there. This means getting rid of a heap of stuff.
Readers might remember last year Cate from Polka Dot Rabbit started the Buy Nothing Craft Month. It completely changed my crafting. Rather than buying piles of crap because I might make something out of it one day. I stopped buying and started making. It did truly radical things to my output and my savings! Other than embroidery floss and sometimes aida fabric I’ve pretty much stopped buying stuff. But I got given a fair bit so the stash wasn’t going down too far.
But now I’m getting serious!
My mission is to make, give away, or sell as much out of that room as I can over the next couple of months. And I’m gonna share the results. But to add a bit of a challenge I’m going to try not to throw any of it away. So I’m trying to find uses for all the scraps too. Given the massive environmental impacts of the textiles industry, I believe we’re obliged to at least try to find uses for our scraps. And given the resources out there, it shouldn’t be too difficult.
A little while ago a friend gave me the book Generation T – 108 ways to transform a t-shirt (warning – last time I opened their website there was a blimmin loud auto play video on it that started with an ad. I’d mute before clicking..). It’s a fantastic resource and filled with heaps of ideas on how to reuse fabric. While most of the projects do rely on t-shirts in an existing form, a fair few of them don’t. And a bunch of them don’t even need t-shirt fabric.
I’ve been inspired by a couple of projects. Firstly there’s a great tutorial on how to make an ‘it’ doll. A nice wee baby friendly gender-neutral soft doll. Given how livid the mainstream toy industry makes me, I thought it made perfect sense to get organised and make my own. Now I have a stash of future presents and stall items for markets!
The first bunch I made I used some terry towling I had lying around.
Believe it or not, I wasn’t actually intending to make aliens. It was just a fluke I picked the green fabric. And it wasn’t until I finished them I had that ‘would you look at that’ moment. I gave one to the neighbours wee boy and he loves chewing on it. The best things about them is that they can be thrown in the washing machine if they get dirty – perfect baby toys!
I decided to have another go making them but with a bit of variation.
I call these ones ‘little hugs’. Gave them extra long arms so they can give their friends lots of big cuddles. And I gave them faces; stitched on, so there’s no dangerous fally off choky bits.
I’m quite proud of them, they look really cool! And were nice and easy to make. I think all up it took me about three hours to make four of them at a time. Can’t wait to give them to some certain little people…
Next up is still a WIP. But I decided to get into my scraps bag and make something fun with all the crazy unmatched scraps in there. Another project in the Generation T book is a couple of great patterns for rugs. I decided to make a braided one as a new mat for our toilet. Our existing one is pretty damn ugly. And it’s a room in our house that needs more craft in it!
All you have to do is cut your fabric into strips, stitch the strips together (I used a zig zag stitch on the sewing machine but you can hand stitch it no problems), braid three lengths together and then using a running stitch/whip stitch, stitch the braid on the under side into a spiral. It’s a bit slow to do but it looks cool! And a great way to use a heap of fabric. I started with three lengths about 3 metres long and I’ve got a rug about 30cm wide. I need to add another couple of metres worth I reckon, to make it big enough for a loo mat.
This last shot shows the underside. The red thread is my running stitch holding it together.
This is a great project for using very different types of fabric since they get mixed up so nicely. I used everything from nice japanese cottons to upholstery fabric selvedge. It’s a fun way to remember all your past projects! Will post a pic when it’s finished.
My craft room is also supplying all the resources I need for the Interventionist Guide. Other than a roll of gutter guard I picked up from an op shop. Everything in the show is coming out of my stash.
I’m also planning to sell a few things. Mostly things I know other people could really appreciate that I’m simply not appreciating enough. All in the Radical Rags store and living in the vintage supplies section. Yesterday I listed a couple of Golden Hands books. They’re in excellent condition. Don’t think the original owner ever used them. And I haven’t either.. I’ve got a few of them to list yet so if you’re a collector and have a hole in your collection, let me know and I’ll let you know if I’ve got it.
So it’s a blimmin big mission but one I’m determined to complete. Stay tuned for updates.
In the meantime I have to share this pic of Tara. I so wish I was as cool as her 
Not one, but three (and a half..)
It’s been a bit quiet on the ol’ RCS blog as of late. Partly due to the never ending joys of pregnancy (promise not to bore you with the details..) but also partly due to the busyness of preparing for some upcoming exhibitions. And it’s about time our lovely readers got to hear the details!
Firstly, opening next week in Jönköpings, Sweden, is “Craftwerk 2.0: New Household Tactics for the Popular Crafts”.
Craftwerk 2.0 is an exhibition that explores the new “updated” textile crafts that are developed by a new generation of serious amateurs, innovative craftsmen, engaged entrepreneurs and political practitioners.
This is one of the biggest craft exhibitions on the calendar this year and the RCS crew is most excited to be a part of it! Both I and the Ninja have pieces in the show including ‘Oh Sorry, was that your land?’, ‘Homes for All’, Mario map, and an as yet unseen series of QR codes. There’s some really interesting events running with the show and I urge anyone anywhere near Sweden to put this show in your diary! The exhibition runs from September 19 until January 16 2010.
The next exhibition on the agenda is Explosive Expression, an Art Auction and Exhibition in commemoration of the second anniversary of the State Terror Raids in New Zealand of October 15th, 2007. For more info on the Exhibition and the Auction (online bids are welcome for those not able to be in Wellington) check out the website and the Facebook event.
I was most honoured to be asked to contribute to this show. As readers will probably know, I am friends with a number of the defendants so have paid close attention to the developments of the cases. But aside from that I am appalled at the massive amounts of money being spent by the NZ counter terrorism unit investigating activists. As the Greens warned when this legislation was first introduced, it’s about giving massive powers to Police which encroach on civil liberties. And they warned from day one, due to the complete lack of domestic terrorism the legislation would inevitably be used to monitor and stifle dissent.
Whether or not the defendants are found guilty on the charges they all face is quite irrelevant to the overall issue that the Police spent over $10million investigating, using intensely intrusive surveillance techniques, a significant proportion of the NZ activist community in the name of counter-terrorism. They executed warrants on homes across the country and literally terrorised entire communities and homes containing small children.
The small group of people now facing relatively minor charges in comparison to the hype created around the initial raids now have to face the ‘justice’ system and receive a fair trial. To do this they need massive contributions towards their defence. Not just to cover the legal costs but also the costs of travel for the defendants and their families every time they need to be in court.
I urge anyone out there with an interest in collecting art, particularly political art to check out the works on the website and consider making a bid. Especially those of you in countries with strong currencies! The NZ Dollar is buying about 70 US cents at the mo’ so money coming in from overseas will go further
The piece I have contributed is called ‘Security Glam’ and is based on this image that came out of a collaboration between our friends at the Groundswell Collective and Artists at War
I will post an image of the completed piece once it’s on the Oct 15th Solidarity site.
Thirdly, I was asked a while back to participate in a Melbourne show (finally!!) and there was no way I was going to say no to this one! Curated by the super inspiring Lynda Roberts from Public Assembly, the Interventionist Guide to Melbourne is a group show of work by artists who focus their work in engaging with the urban fabric.
The show is both gallery and street based with the Platform Gallery being transformed into a virtual map of Melbourne revealing sites for individuals and groups to creatively and temporarily intervene within the existing urban fabric.
Each artist will contribute work in various mediums but each will be editing a zine guide as to how to go out and ‘do’ their form of intervention. The works will inspire members of the public to go out and do their own interventions which can be documented and will add to the show.
My work is very much focussed around challenging notions of space, particularly around issues of ownership, construction and access. I’ll be sharing the skills for three types of craft based intervention and am pleased to say none of it involves yarn bombing..
The opening is on October the 2nd at Platform (FB event here) and continues until the 30th. Contributing artists will also be out on the street on Oct 16-18 intervening! Keep an eye on the website for more details.
Finally – and this is the half – I’ve been working on a page for the 2010 3CR Calendar. It’s one of the major fundraising activities for Melbourne’s best grassroots community, activist radio station. And I was super honoured to be asked to contribute. So it’s not really an exhibition as such, but a group show appearing on a wall near you! I understand the calendar is about to go to the printers and I think the launch is in November some time. Will let you know details when I know them.
The piece I contributed is an antique inspired sampler with an anti-consumerist theme. Reckon you old skool cross stitchers out there will love it. I’m also going to release the pattern as a fundraiser for 3CR, it’ll be available in the Radical Rags store sometime later this year.
So I reckon there’s been about 80,000 or so stitches over the last few months which hopefully explains the lack of blog words! I’ll update this site over the next few weeks with more images and details as they come to hand.
Thanks for stopping in to make sure we’re still here
xox
You are not alone
The text says “You are not alone”. Sounds comforting, right?
Well, look closer…
At long last – a new pattern!
It’s been a long time between drinks. I’ve been so busy doing work for some upcoming exhibitions that I haven’t had time to design many new patterns, let alone stitch them up! But when people started hassling me for some fresh stuff I got my A into G!! I ended up asking around for people to help stitch some patterns up for me and the lovely Belinda stepped up the the plate with this one.
And she did a wonderful job!!
You can buy the pattern in the Radical Rags etsy store. And it’s only $5!
It’s one of my favourite quotes, especially as an ex Wellington resident!
This pattern is perfect if you’ve never cross stitched before and want something easy to start with. Or if you’re a pro stitcher and want a quick project!
All proceeds from sales of this pattern between now and the end of the month will go to my awesome mate Alex and her outback fundraising adventure! Go Alex!
Proper tea is theft
I made this tea cozy the other day, with a little help from the internet for tutorials and my cousin for some of the materials. The cross stitch is pretty simple and something I’ve been working on since around May Day. I really like how it turned out. I found the picture at Radical Graphics and then turned it into a pattern.
Except it’s awesome cuteness, I also like the notion of that something is brewing – that underneath the surface we can create our own little pockets of resistance and counter culture and that one day, it might boil over into the rest of society.
You wanna make you’re own tea cozy? Here’s a tutorial and here’s the pattern that I used for this one:
Or just make up your own pattern!
Green Renters
Anyone who’s ever rented a place will know how hard it is to get your landlord to fix something when it’s broken. Unless you have a dream landlord – or your landlord lives with you – it can take bloody ages.
I remember living in a flat at university which was owned by a lecturer and managed by her daughter. They were pretty good landlords but were right into spending as little as possible on the place. That meant the daughters husband was made to do any alterations on their houses. He was a lovely bloke but not really that competent.
One day we were told that they were going to fix up our (centuries old) side footpath. This was great – we thought – until the work fixing the footpath broke the (centuries old) sewerage pipes under the footpath. Needless to say we went without a loo for far too long for a house of four twenty something women, and the place stunk for weeks!
Everyone has a story like this. It does seem so much easier to own your own place. But with housing affordability at its worst point since WW1 in Australia for far too many owning is just way out of the question. (And for those of you considering buying? Don’t. Read this.)
So for those of you out there in rentland who are conscious of the fact we live on a finite planet and are looking for ways to reduce your house’s impact on the earth, there is a brilliant new site for you!
Green Renters is “a blog for those who rent but still strive to lead an ecologically and environmentally sound existence”. The site is chocka full of tips on how to increase the efficiency of your home life without major renovations and also good strategies for convincing your landlord that the major sustainable renovations are a good idea.
Did you know that the home insulation rebate is turning into a properly funded thing on July 1? That means that people on lower incomes can get their home insulated for free from July 1. The grant is only for owner-occupiers but there’s a few people I know that live with their landlord, so if that’s you, make sure your lord sees this!
Green Renters is a super resource and I recommend you all take a look. Even if you do own your own home there’s a ton of good resources on how to do things cheaper and better for our lovely earth.
Hooray!
See You In Inner Space
I don’t tend to get too worked up when famous people leave this world, but the passing of J.G. Ballard certainly gave me cause for more than a few moments contemplation. A friend tweeted the quote above – which I thought was quite a sweetly ironic thing to tweet – and I thought it deserved to be immortalised in cross stitch. But certainly not a traditional design.
Rest in Peace brother.
Thanks for the inspiration.
Pattern piece 1 and piece 2 – I recommend stitching it on black aida with white and DMC666 Red floss.
Especially not on THIS carpet!
I love, love, love it when people send me photos of finished stitches done from my patterns. And I was super excited to get this email from Christy after reading the brilliant story about who the stitch is for:
Just wanted to send along a photo of my completed finished “Don’t Bleed on the Carpet” piece. When I saw this on your etsy site I absolutely knew I had to get it to give my sister for her birthday, as she is a preacher’s wife and has 3 young kids…bleeding on the carpet in a parsonage is NEVER a good idea, as we know from growing up as preacher kids ourselves. Anyhow, she loved it and especially appreciates the irony of an antique floral border with this particular admonishment!
Brilliant As a grandchild of an Anglican Minister I can absolutely remember how spotlessly clean their house always was and how I crept around being careful not to spill anything!
You too can have this pattern to stitch, and at only US$8 it’s a bargain, especially compared to some of the truly hideous patterns out there…
I heart the interwebs
And of course titling a post as such causes the interwebs to hate me right back and trash my post. Sigh..
I wrote this great thing about how cool cross stitchers are ’cause we’re down with our roots and are ace at subverting traditional design, exhibit a, Kate Westerholt. Then I talked about how there’s this super ace pattern floating about which not only gives props to the old skool but also gets down with the nu skool in a mad sampler/pixel art/nerd joke remix.
Here’s the pattern:
And here it is in actual stitches:
And in true web styles, someone else had a go
And woah, it’s taking off now!
How freaking awesome is THAT? I’m tempted to join in the fun and do one myself, but my WIP pile would seriously scream at me..
Props Mr X Stitch for the delicious find.
Oh, and speaking of nerdcore, Elle Carpenter (of HTML Embroidery fame) is up to no good in Sweden, and the Swedes, man, they know ALL ABOUT cross stitch! Check it out.
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