One of the main reasons I craft is for the joy of process.

I find nothing more calming than sitting down with a cup of tea, a good podcast or tv show and picking up some stitching.  Sometimes though, stitching can turn in to a bit of a chore.  I do most of my stitching for exhibition or testing designs for sale as patterns.  And I enjoy both equally.  But it is super important that I give myself a balance between the two otherwise it does sometimes start to feel like work.

And occasionally I like to sneak in a stitching project just for fun! We truly can’t take ourselves too seriously all the time otherwise it’s easy to lose perspective on why we’re being serious.

I’m guessing I’m not alone in the craft community in feeling like crafting is a form of meditation for me.  What I find particularly interesting is how my wandering thoughts change depending on what it is I’m stitching about.  I have spent time stitching and thinking about craft history, feminist organising, radical parenting, environmental activism, identity politics just to name a few things.  And I very much enjoy this intellectual space crafting provides for me.

However, when I’m working on a bigger project I sometimes find I need a BREAK! The problem when you’re on a deadline though is that it can only be a little break. It’s times like this I often crack out the sewing machine and make a small project or two. Or I do a small cross stitch project, often on a kids tshirt or something.

My latest short break was inspired by a dig in my craft room and I stumbled on a wee frame I got in an op shop. It had been lying around for a while and I decided I’d had enough looking at it and wanted to use it.  So I grabbed an opportunity to make something new and little and frivolous.

And I’ve decided to give this one away.  I want to give this to one of our readers just to say thanks for your ongoing support.  Despite not having too much time to blog at the moment it makes me so happy that people continue to visit and say hi.  And people keep joining up on Facebook, Twitter & Tumblr to share ideas, projects and thoughts.

So to enter this give-away, just comment on this blog post and I want to hear what it is you get out of your craft? What sort of fulfilment do you appreciate from having time to make stuff? Comments before July 16 go in the random draw.

xox

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As readers of Radical Cross Stitch will know I am a big time fan of Melbourne community radio station 3CR.  There is nothing like turning on the ol’ wireless to hear people from my own communities talking about news and issues that are relevant to me and the lives of the people around me.  And it’s even better that I never hear any loud voices screaming at me to quickly empty my pockets into the hands of giant corporate consumerist empires!

So I didn’t hesitate for a second last year when the fine folk there asked me to contribute to the 2010 Seeds of Dissent Calendar.  I still consider that piece to be my greatest stitching achievement so far and I was super happy over the weekend to finally pick it up from the framers after a 12 month hunt for the PERFECT vintage frame.

Well I promised that I’d make the pattern available and at long last it’s now in store.  And if you hurry and grab it over the next couple of days it’s half price (sale ends Friday).  Proceeds go straight to 3CR! If you don’t already know the 3CR Radiothon is on NOW! So you should pop over to their website and become a subscriber. The theme for radiothon this year is Handmade Radio and subscribers get a copy of CRAM which contains a fab pattern to make your own radio! Including some wee cross stitch embellishment patterns from me.

Need more reasons to love 3CR? Check the spunks in this wee clip

3CR Radiothon TVC 2010 from 3cr on Vimeo.

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Heads up pattern nerds, for a strictly limited time, all Radical Cross Stitch E-Patterns are HALF PRICE! Yip I’m saving desperately for a trip home to see my family to introduce our beautiful babies to everyone. So at this price I’ll need to sell about 400 patterns just to cover the airfares… Reckon you could help? Prices start from just AUD$2!

The cold is settling in for the next few months and the perfect way to pass the cold nights by is a lovely wee craft project!

And of course there’s some completed original pieces in the store too if you’re after the instamatic version of some cross stitch love on your wall!

Also in the pipeworks is some new Radical Cross Stitch Kits! And these are shaping up to be extra special with some hand printed loveliness included. Stay tuned for announcements on these, but in the meantime I’d love to hear what patterns people would like to see immortalised in kit form. I won’t be doing all of them, probably just five. So which is your favourite RCS pattern? Comment below and a random person will win an e-pattern for free!

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I’m super pleased to present the latest RCS collaboration, this time I got together with Katherine Beefheart who designs some super awesome pieces.  I said ‘go on, make one for our shop!’ and awesomely, she said ‘for sure!’.  So everyone, say Hi Katherine!

Helloooo,

I’m Katherine Beefheart and this is my design.  I’ve been embroidering for what feels like forever, mainly for my own pleasure.  But in the last few months I have been encouraged to put my stitchings out there which meant taking it a lot more seriously and consequently producing some huge pieces which have taken me months to complete.  My inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere….overheard conversations, music lyrics, my beautiful family and friends, literature and my constantly twittering inner monologue.  To me, there is an enormous sense of creating when many hours, days, weeks and sometimes even months go into a piece along with a sizeable chunk of my heart and soul.  It’s ridiculously therapeutic for me which relates to this particular pattern.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it

www.behance.net/BeefArt

You can buy the pattern in our store (AUD) or in our etsy shop (USD) and you should grab it now while it’s at our special introductory price.

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See I think internet censorship is silly, rather pointless, and inevitably ineffective. I would even go so far as to say that it is a policy equivalent of fucking for virginity.

Our political leaders are supposed to introduce policies that REDUCE the problems in the most cost effective way. Not flick rubber bands at problems in a way that not only makes them harder to solve but creates a whole new raft of problems in the process, not to mention costing a big bundle of dollars.

If the government really wants to deal with the problems of sexual exploitation in our society perhaps they might want to start by looking at their own policies that treat women and children like tradeable commodities. Perhaps if the exploitation of women and children wasn’t so wholeheartedly endorsed by business, media, police, our governments etc etc then people wouldn’t find the sexual exploitation of women and children so enticing.

But big picture issues and solutions don’t fit so neatly into electoral terms do they?

What gets me the most about this whole internet censorship thing is the AUDACITY of the Minister to say that it’s to help parents protect their children.

Excuse me? If I needed help protecting my kid, I’m afraid the government is probably the last place I’d look. I would much prefer tax payer dollars were spent educating parents, teachers and anyone else who has interaction with kids and computers on the issues surrounding net safety, respect for women and how to empower kids to protect themselves.

Do we seriously think rape and sexual assault would be such big problems if our kids were empowered to respect all genders. I know thinking back to my teenage years there were far too many guys who thought it was ok to treat girls like objects and even more girls who just did not have the skills to stand up to it.

At some point we, as a society, have to do something real about this issue. And sadly, despite the rhetoric of ‘Australia Says No’ I doubt it’s gonna come from the government. So it has to be up to us as parents, aunties, uncles, grandparents, siblings and friends. Anyone wanting to read more on feminist parenting might want to start with ‘Raise Some Hell’. And if anyone reading this post knows of any good resources it would be awesome if you could share them in the comments.

Finally, I urge you all to drop a line to Stephen Conroy. He really is being quite a fool about all this malarky. And the more people who tell him the better.

http://nocleanfeed.com/

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This cross stitch was hand stitched on antique linen. In between breast feeding, changing and entertaining twins and feeding and hanging out with a three year old, it took me about 3 weeks to complete.  It has been framed in an antique brass frame with the original mounting board to complete the aged feel of this piece.

This piece is for sale and proceeds will go to the campaign to stop internet censorship.  Maybe someone out there wants to buy it for Stephen Conroy?

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Last year I was so busy stitching for various shows I didn’t get any time to stitch up new designs for the shop.  So over summer I was determined to get some new ones done.  In anticipation of the newbies hitting the shop, I built a new store on site.  As much as I love Etsy as a marketplace, I really want to be able to offer patterns and pieces in Australian Dollars since the USD can be a bit high for us non-US buyers.

Now when you click the Go Shopping button on the right, it takes you here!

Hooray!

There’s some new patterns in there like the Every Heart is a Revolutionary Cell pattern and the Choose Your Own Rebellion pattern.  Plus there’s some more coming. PLUS there’s going to be some more kits available soon.  Fan us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter to keep up to date.

I’m a bit excited!!

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I’ve been promising new patterns for a while and here’s the first of a new bunch.

This design is getting back to some old school roots with a lovely redwork antique border.  And a quote from one f my favourite films of all time, The Edukators.  This quote was sprayed on a wall in the film and I love it!

And I have a guest stitcher for this pattern, the adorably ace Curegreed who you may also know from her guest blogging at Mr X Stitch about her studies at the Royal School of Needlework (for which I am INSANELY jealous).  We met last year at a Craft Cartel crafternoon when she was visiting these fair shores for a wedding.  And I’m so excited to be doing more work together.

You can buy it in the Radical Rags store for a special intro price of only $5, score!

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(Click for a bigger image)

And a close-up to show off the stitches.

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Further to the rad things in the last post is this awesome new group that’s just popped out of Adelaide.  So if you live in the crazy hot city – check out Radical Craft Adelaide.

They’ve been holding some crafternoons.  Next one is on Dec 12 for those who want to stitch and bitch radically.  It’s gold coin and funds go to ActNow Theatre for Social Change.  Bring along your current project or they’ve got cross stitch kits on hand for a few dollars.  RSVP and check out all the details on Facebook.

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I’m sure most of you have checked out the handmade internet sensation regretsy.com – it’s a hilarious site and has quite the cult following these days. I was very proud to have not one, but TWO products featured on there! First off (and not that surprisingly) was the embroidery porn piece I did for the Craft Cartel Trashbag Rehab workshop earlier in the year. It sold within hours of being posted on regretsy and I’ve had tons of custom orders. It’s been quite surreal.

What was then even more surreal was the email I got from Regretsy asking if I’d be keen to be part of a card series they were planning. Yeah why the hell not?

So you too can own your own piece of embroidered gay anime porn, and even better – share the love with your friends and family!

That’s mine discretely being censored by the others..  You can buy 8 of one design or a set of two of each.  And at $10 a set, that’s quite the bargain.

And in other regretsy news, they’ve managed to sign a book deal with Random House.  I’m thinking the porn might not pass their censorship standards.  But luckily I have another product on regretsy’s site – the legendary Plug Rugs!  Which have, of course, now sold out.  These also popped up on the salon.com story about regretsy.  So hopefully they get in the book.

The other rad thing I’ve been meaning to post for ages is the pdf of the Interventionist Guide zine!  If you go to the website and click on Guides, mine is about halfway down.  The zine features a whole lot of my thoughts about urban spaces and how we relate to them as humans.  As well as the tutorial on how to cross stitch a heart on a bicycle basket.

Finally, have you checked out the London-based Craftivist Collective yet?  They’re getting up to some seriously ace stuff.  This latest pic popped up on Facebook and I reckon it’s a big bucket of brilliant.  They’ve got tons of things going on so if you want to join in go join them on FB.

xox

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