CUNT

I’m doing a NSFW swap a friend is organizing on Facebook and this is what I came up with. It’s not really a super original concept to put a word like “cunt” on some floral or otherwise feminine background but I have all of this patterned fabric I never embroider on because I think it’s too distracting. I really like how this turned out though.

 

Home is where your mugs are.

I made this as a housewarming present for one of my darling friends, but I haven’t decided how to frame it yet so I haven’t given it to her (sorry Larissa, you’re going to see it here before real life!).

 

The teacup and wreath are from the Black Apple pattern pack from Sublime Stitching.

The back of this one also turned out very nice and clean before I got it dirty with an old gross iron.

 

Don’t worry, I got a clean iron soon after this picture was taken.

Reproductive Diagrams

These are two pieces I just finished baed on sketches I did of diagrams from my human sexuality class in college.

I’ve been meaning to stitch these for a long time, funny thing is, I’m not even sure where the diagrams are anymore so I can’t name some of the things that are numbered on the male cross section (my memory is the worst!).

 

I am also particularly proud of the backs of the work I’ve been doing lately. It makes me feel really good to have a nice clean back with no knots.

 

 

Here is the sketch they are from-

 

I tried to make them look as much like a sketch as I could. The drawing has black pen and colored pen. Since it is ink you can see the black from under the color and that was the hardest thing for me to figure out how to translate to embroidery. I ended up doing everything in the colors with two threads and then doing the black with one so you would see the color around it. You can click any of the photos to go to my Flickr page and see them in much bigger sizes.

Make Things: Spring Swap!

Spring has sprung, even if it’s a little confused about what kind of weather it’s supposed to bring with it.

Thankfully, March had 5 fridays so it was time for a Phat Quarter swap. The theme is “spring” and I had lots of wild ideas about making a really crazy weather forecast thing, but it wasn’t going to work out the way I wanted it to, so I took this as an opportunity to practice some stitches. I don’t often do fill stitches, because I  forget they don’t all have to be satin stitch to fill something well.

The S is just running stitch, the P is filled with french knots, and the R is filled with fern stitch.

The I is satin stitch. The N is a detached chain stitch (also known as lazy daisy) but I kept the entry and exit points wide so it would look scalloped. The G is done with running stitch.

I probably should have painted the back of this frame too, huh? Oh well! Having a frame with staples in it makes it easy to finish a piece. I cut a piece of thin cardboard to the size of the frame, wrapped the fabric around it and stuck it in the frame. Then I folded the fabric down and pushed the staples down.

I thought about putting a nice piece of fabric on it to really make it look “finished” but I don’t want it to be complicated if the recipient needs to take it out to wash it.

I did add some string so it can be easily hung up though.

I’m going to send it out in the mail tomorrow, but I wanted to show it off today!

What have you been making lately?

Wild Olive Stitch Swap!

I haven’t mentioned yet, but I’m taking part in the Wild Olive Stitch Swap!

I sent out my piece last week (but forgot to take a picture first, as I often do in swaps, oops!) and received a beautiful piece from my other partner on Tuesday!

I love the design that she chose to stitch for me, a little bird with a cage with a button on top! I love it!! She was sweet enough to also send along some really pretty thread, a great Burts Bee’s chapstick, and some yummy chocolate as well as a lovely postcard.

I love doing swaps because you get to connect to people all over the world. My piece came from Arizona and I sent my work to Australia! It’s always cool filling out the customs form, I don’t know why but I think it’s such a novelty.

This March has a 5th Friday coming up, so if I’m lucky there will be another Phat Quarter swap coming up!

December Phat Quarter Swap

Every month that has a fifth Friday we do a swap over at the Phat Quarter group on Flickr. December’s theme was “it’s not the end of the world.” Sometimes I think I take things too literally, but I also think I put a funny spin on this.

The fish on the jacket is my way of paying a little homage to my swap partner, filmresearch. He does a lot of amazing embroidery including his coelacanth (it’s a fish!) collection. I was lucky enough to receive an awesome piece from him in a previous music themed swap. It’s here if you’re interested.

I stitched this on canvas and decided afterwards to back it with a fun polkadot fabric I had on hand. I ended up sewing it together like a pillow without stuffing. I think it would have looked a bit less like a pillow if I had ironed it as well- ah hindsight!

My partner’s already received this and I’m happy to report he likes it very much, which makes me ecstatic!

I also received something pretty great in the swap.

SalvagedMutiny made this for me and I think it’s awesome! The fabric is hand rust-dyed, which is a process I had never seen before, and the red thread is metallic! I love swaps because you get to see such a wide variety of techniques.

Favorites on Friday

This Friday’s favorites are all about embroidery! I am so inspired by all the talented stitchers in the Phat Quarter group on flickr and these are some of my recent favorites.

One:

This faux doily by Smallest Forest

I love the simplicity of the white on the blue (my favorite kind of blue!). Her blog is also filled with beautiful embroidery, illustrations, journaling, and other crafts.  As someone who’s really just starting to blog I look at hers and find myself very inspired.

Two:

Pretty much anything Lucky Jackson stitches!

I love her illustrative style and I am jealous of her drawing and stitching skills. Not only does her 365 project make me want to try and stitch something every day, but I want to get better at drawing too!

Three:

Bec Groves work.

Four:

Abstract stitching by Sarah Hennessey

I love the abstract city she’s created here. Very striking. Using different thread thicknesses gives it a lot of depth and is something I always forget I can do.

There is so much amazing embroidery being made every day and I am so overwhelmed with inspiration. Hopefully I’ll put down the knitting needles for a little while and embroider some more in the near future!

The Vulva Mary

The Vulva Mary is one of the embroidery works I’m most proud of. I conceptualized it, I drew up a pattern, and I made it real. It also marries two of the things I am passionate about- embroidery and feminism. One of my missions in college (and in life) when I was running The Alternative Clinic was to get people to recognize and use the word “vulva”. The vulva is the outer part of the female genitals, pretty much what you can see without a flashlight or speculum. but many people just refer to the whole kit and kaboodle as the vagina, which to me erases important parts of people bodies. You don’t call the whole face a nose or mouth if you mean the whole face, so why say vagina when you mean vulva?

The concept for the Vulva Mary came from a realization I had and then some googling I did that lead me to this essay by Anai Bendai. The essay is about how many variations of the image of the goddess were used to inspire images of the Virgin of Guadeloupe and other images of “The Virgin.” I am not a very religious person, so my concept is more about the power of the Vulva and an interest in how many organized religions oppress its women but worship the Vulva, perhaps without realization.

I’ve also stitched some related body parts.

I think I may stitch some more like this soon, perhaps a series of male genitalia or some non-binary genitalia.

Home Sweet Home

This is one of my favorite pieces! I combined the Black Apple patterns (the houses and the bee) with the simple and classic “Home Sweet Home.”  I’m pretty proud of the color palate I chose as well because choosing what colors go together is something I struggle with.

I think I’m going to make a pillow with some of these patterns on it as well!

I can’t wait until Ryan and I have our own Home Sweet Home for me to hang this in!

Keep Stitching,

 

Radical Craftacular

On May 3rd (I know, I’m super late on this) I held an event at my (now ex) college called the “Radical Craftacular”. I wanted to teach people how to embroider while also touching on the radical possibilities of needlework.

I purchased canvas fabric to stitch on because I wanted everyone to be able to participate with as few supplies as possible. Canvas is sturdy and doesn’t require an embroidery hoop.

To help my guests learn I made a zine with stitching instructions and some info about why embroidery can be so radical. I’ll post that another time when i locate the PDF.

Most people made patches or small pieces. It was wonderful! All these people in one room, learning how to embroider (and loving it)!

Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera so all I have are a few cellphone pictures. I know it doesn’t look like much but that’s because the room we were using was a mess from a previous event.

Sublime Stitching very kindly donated this “Floral Fantasy” tote for a raffle at my event.

Having a giveaway really was the icing on the cake for me. I was so happy to be able to give someone a project to keep stitching. I’ll try and get in touch with Harley, the winner, and see if she’s stitched it yet!

I can’t even explain how warm and fuzzy I got doing embroidery with everyone who came to my event. Teaching people how to do something new is always a great feeling and something I hope to do more of! If anyone in the Mid-Hudson Valley wants to have a stitching event, let me know and we’ll plan something amazing!

Keep Stitching,