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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Firstly, Megan bought the Question Authority pattern the other day and finished it already! Quickest stitcher in the world award I reckon! And it looks great

Looks cool in that frame too!  Which incidentally is way more organised than me on that front..

Also Hali has finished the Firefox pattern!

It’s beautifully stitched and looks gorgeous on the ivory fabric.  Yay Hali!

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Just before Christmas I was approached and asked to participate in The Streets of Melbourne Festival.  It’s the first time this Festival has been run and it’s been designed to showcase and celebrate street culture.  Be it dance, performance, music or art.  The Festival was run over three days in Federation Square in Melbourne.

I decided to use the opportunity to experiment with some ideas I’d been having about large scale cross stitch works.

Given that Federation Square is a privately run space, I was a bit limited in what I could do in terms of overt political statements.  So I decided to go covert.

I’ve been working on stitching QR Codes for some time now.  I’ve been doing them on regular Aida fabric (14 count mostly) and they’ve been working really well.  So I decided to do it large scale.  This project was stitched with black and white finger knitted wool and stitched on animal fencing (which is tough to work with but has a lovely strong and square grid).

QR Codes, or Quick Response Codes are an open source mobile phone read bar code type technology which originated from Japan (download the free reader here).  While the Japanese tend to use QR codes for communicating public service information ie public transport timetables.  The introduction of QR Codes to Australia has largely been based in advertising (ugh).

So I’ve been working QR Codes in cross stitch as a way of exploring non-corporate alternatives to this potentially very interesting and useful communication medium.

The piece designed for The Streets of Melbourne is designed to make a very clear statement on the irony of a privately owned and operated city square.  A space that, within Western culture, has traditionally been the primary space for free speech.  And of course this space in particular is part of the traditional gathering grounds for the people of the Kulin Nations.

It is to the Kulin Nations that this piece, QRacks in the Land, is dedicated.

A very special thanks to Emma for support in making this happen!

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During 2008 the situation in Zimbabwe has gone from bad to… well, catastrophic. I’ve been following the reports from Zim before, during & after the election in March last year & it feels like the whole country is turning into a black hole, like it’s slowly imploding. Zimbabwe was once a prosperous country but years of bad government & raging inflation has left it devastated & unable to care for it’s own people. The people who actually tried to do something about the situation by electing a new president but got robbed of their democratic rights by Robert Mugabe & the Zanu-PF party. Today there is no sufficient health care, hunger & cholera is killing the people, those who dare to speak up are getting arrested & are “disappearing”, Mugabe still holds his office & the talks between him & MDC about sharing government have collapsed. The money situation is bizarre, the inflation has reached heights that are pretty hard to grasp. In august 2008 it passed 11 200 000 %. As Anna Tibblin, a Swedish aid worker living in Harare, puts it: In English it’s called a quadrillion. In Swedish there’s not even a word for it.

So, with that in mind I’ve spent December working on this advent calendar. I used a pattern made from an old ANC poster (which unfortunately didn’t turn out quite as well as I’d hoped) & a quote from the anthem of neo-colonialism as I know it: the slightly bizarre Christmas song Do they know it’s Christmas? by the 80′s Band Aid project.

If you’re wondering why the dates of the calendar only goes up to 24, it’s because in Sweden we traditionally celebrate at Christmas eve, not Christmas day, so here its’ the 24th that is D-day…

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From my utmost favourite vintage style Etsy store Betty Oatmeal.

I know someone out there has money to spare…

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From the Facebook group, there’s been all sorts of interesting things pop up recently. I LOVE this one by Aruna, what an awesome present.

And this is from another Johanna. What is it with all these awesome cross stitching Johanna’s!?!

This beautiful, beautiful piece is from Heather. Visit her blog to know more about it. But I’m happy just looking at it. The stitching is incredible and the words are brilliant ones to ponder on.

As for me, I’m busy busy preparing for an installation!  I’ll have news on that soon.  And Christmas present pics coming even sooner.  And I’ve been sending Hooplas everywhere!  Y’all obviously like your stitches subversive ’cause I’ve had tons of orders.   Yay!

Hope you all had a wonderful safe christmas and are planning a kick ass new years!

xox

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A wee bit beyond deadline but Hoopla #3: Radical Inspiration is now available for sale.  It’s been a bit of a mission and my plan to get it out in October was a bit overshot.  But finishing a project before the end of the year is always satisfying!

Contents include:

creative action inspiration
projects
two patterns (cross stitch and menstrual pads)
plus more writing, pictures and fun!

The first three online orders will get FREE shipping!

Hoopla available in all usual stockists (soon).  If you have a zine library or store, infoshop or craft store and are interested in stocking Hoopla, please get in touch.

Thanks to all the wonderful contributors this issue: Cate, Nina, Camille, Katie Lee, Rayna, Zoe, Johanna, Angela, Sarah, The Baronness, Estelle, and Cross Stitch Ninja.

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I know some of you out there have been keen to get your hold of the Alternative Energy Pattern so you can wear your bike love with pride.  But you’ve been hanging for the day that it finally got upgraded to a kit.

That day is here!

And not only is this kit supporting the Austin Yellow Bike Project but proceeds are also going to the Loophole Bike Repair Centre in Melbourne.  So this kit is an intercontinental(inanantiglobalisationkindaway)hummersmashing machine!  Thanks always to Katie Lee for this great design.

Each kit comes with everything you need including needle, thread, cross stitch fabric, pattern, instructions and inspiration.

Get your kit in the radical rags store today.

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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

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