One of the reasons I haven’t been posting on here much recently is that we;ve been BUSY BEAVERS building a new website for the Craft Cartel.  Yip, seven podcast episodes, a great market season and a public talk later.  We decided it was definitely time to move out.

So go check it out, we’ve got HEAPS of stuff coming up.  Get on the mailing list.  And of course get in touch if you wanna be a member.

Today is the International Day of Action in solidarity with Palm Island man Lex Wotton who is due to be sentenced in the Brisbane Court for a riot conviction. Despite being the member of the community that assisted police out of the justifiably angry crowd, Lex was scapegoated and is now facing ten years in prison. While the man who murdered his nephew walks free with a $100,000 compensation and a medal.

There are actions happening across the world today. Check the Facebook group for the full list.

My wee contribution to the legal fund is some patches I whipped up. They are lovingly handmade on calico. No screens, just diy, cut and spray. Perfect for your bag. And all proceeds straight to Lex.

Get one (or lots, but probably contact me first re postage) here.

In solidarity

For those of you people like me, living overseas, you probably should’ve voted by now. If you haven’t, get on to it quick smart!! I dare say it’s too late to post your vote and faxing is pretty damn expensive I hear. So you might want to check and find your closest voting place. All you aussie-based kiwis can get the voting locations here or check the elections website for the full list. I went and voted in Melbourne last week and I was in and out in less than 3 minutes.

And when all that fun stuff is out of the way, you can come party with us on Saturday at Horse Bazaar, featuring The Nomad! And the best news is that we’ve scrapped the door charge. So yes the rumours are true, this gig will be FREE.

Still not sure who to vote for?

You might remember a while back we put up this pattern designed by Katie Lee and the profits have been going to the super awesome people who run the Austin Yellow Bike Project. We’ve sold quite a few of these patterns and it’s nice to think we’re helping get Texans out of their cars and onto bikes.

I really wanted to stitch it at some point and when I got this old school fluro sweatshirt, I knew this was perfect. It’s been produced especially for the first Craft Cartel market of the summer, which is a bike-themed market we’re running at the Bicycle Film Festival Street Party on Nov 23rd. So if you MUST HAVE this sweatshirt you better get along. I probably won’t put this online for sale.

I just adore the shininess of old clothing labels.

I’m also planning on producing some little kits for the market of this pattern. I’ll be donating half of the proceeds to Austin and half to a local bike recycling project. Although I haven’t decided which one yet, anyone got any tips? If you can’t wait to get a pattern or don’t need all the thread, fabric, needles etc, you can get an electronic one here.

And stay tuned for some very exciting new craft cartel news!

xox

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.

National Day of Action – Emergency Rally

FREE LEX WOTTON!

Free all political prisoners!

Stop Aboriginal deaths in custody!

Jail Hurley and all killer cops!

Rally and March

12 noon

Saturday 1st November, 2008

Old GPO, Bourke St Mall

For more information:

Tel: 03 9388 0062

0419 53 84 25 or 0401 806 331

Initiated by the Indigenous Social Justice Association, Melbourne

If you don’t know about this case I urge you to visit the facebook camapign page and read more about these gross injustices.

Or on a bike, or just somewhere in the general vicinity of a bicycle…

The Melbourne Craft Cartel is running a bike themed craft market at the Bicycle Film Festival Street Party on Nov 23.  So we’re on the hunt for crafters with arts and crafts to go on bikes, use on bikes, make bikers look hot, or have crafts that have bikes on them.  Sound like you?

The Street Party is gonna be super neat and will have tons of music, beer, hot boys and girls doing ace bike tricks, a bike fashion parade, and a bike-themed art jam.  Check out the BFF website for more details http://bicyclefilmfestival.com.au And of course this is our FIRST market for the summer season so we are PUMPED!  (that was a bike pun, be warned, there will be more).

Stalls cost a measly $10 or $15 if you want to be a full Craft Cartel member (which means you get a whole page on our soon to be snazzy website for just $5 - deadly!) and you need to provide your own table.

Your stall can have non bike related crafts on it but it needs to have at least one bike related.

So if you’re keen to join in the fun of this awesome day send the following details to

casey@craftcartel.com

Name:
Email:
Mobile:
Website:
Table size:
What crafts you sell:
What bike crafts you’ll have:
Member? Yes/No
Wanna be? Yes/No

If you want more details about membership, the bike crafty pageant, the Bike Love bicycle mating project, the Art Jam or whatever check out our facefuck page or give me a buzz and I will ramble at you about it all for a while.

love & rage

casey & rayna & crew

casey-0439 354 560

Revolutionary Craft Circle, Thursday October 30th, 7-9pm

Get your craft on and get down to Loophole on the 2nd and fourth Thursday of the month for a Sewing good time! No experience necessary, spontaneous skill-sharing predicted, bring a project you have or start something new! Patches available by donation, BYO pants/clothes to sew, other DIY Projects welcome. Sewing machine available to use. People of all gender identities welcome.

At Loophole, 834a High Street, Thornbury, Melbourne. Say hi from me!

All aboard!

Seriously folks, if there’s a good cause to craft for then this is surely one of them. Goods 4 Girls is an amazing group that assists young African women in sustainably managing their periods in order to keep them in school. And they do a fantastic job!

10 points to the lovely Ms Cate for coordinating this! The bonus is learning to make your own pads if you haven’t before. So you can be inspired to go home and make some for you too!

I’m gutted that I’ll miss the first one, but definitely on board for session two.

Pass it on!

Craftster user craftcore has done these two gorgeous embroidered graffiti pieces. I especially like the crochet one. Especially in this time of a global economic crisis, I’d rather think we were using at as an excuse to create sustainable and self-sufficient communities rather than have a violent uprising. Sounds much more interesting (and less painful) to me.

Craftcore has also made some contributions to the upcoming issue of Hoopla which is perilously close to the photocopier!

Also found on craftster was plavalaguna’s version of the Firefox pattern which has been getting a fair few hits recently. So if you’ve been wondering what it looks like finished, here it is!

Check out her website and deviant art