Robot treasures

I've been so busy indulging in my new addiction to craft swaps that I haven't posted many of the goodies I sent or received.

In my first swap I got an adorable purple monster cross stitch (see a few posts below), and then my second promised hoop never appeared.  My partner flaked.  But never fear the organizer, TroubleT, stepped in as an 'angel' in swap parlance, and made me a replacement hoop.  Best of all, she made a robot hoop!

I absolutely adore the starry background and felt robot.

Then in my second swap, the 'anything goes embroidery' swap, I once again struck gold and got another robot hoop!  This hoop is so adorable, the robot is riding an elephant (which it apparently helped escape from the zoo) against a city skyline.  'The Raging Sloth' did a fantastic job and this hoop even got posted on one of my favourite blogs, Mr. X Stitch.

Feminist Crafts Rock My World

Yesterday I ran across this post about a brilliant feminist project in the US, sending knit vaginas to Congressmen to support women's reproductive rights and control over our own bodies.  In the era of Republican/Conservative misogynistic attacks on women's rights it seems powerful to use humour and style to celebrate women's anatomy, and autonomy.

http://www.happyplace.com/14939/male-congressmen-now-being-inundated-with-knit-and-crocheted-vaginas

This crafty approach to feminist politics makes me laugh and my heart sing with joy.

But I don't knit.  So, I wondered about cross stitching a vagina ...

I mashed that idea up with an interest I have had in trying some 'blackwork,' the cross stitch technique of using stitch patterns other than solid x's to create texture.  Traditionally done in black thread, but I've seen it done with other colours.

Et voila!

A little arty, a little elegant, a little funny and a little sexy. 

A lot political.

Be vigilant, be unapologetic, stand up for women's rights and reproductive freedom.

Resistance is Futile

Next up in Swapland for me was the Anything Goes Needlework Swap.  I was given my partner's questionaire, with a variety of her interests, likes and dislikes, and pinterest link.

One thing she said she liked was mystical creatures, wizards and dragons and that sort of thing.  I love dragons so made that my first theme.  I had a serious, even scary looking, dragon in mind but some google image searches (which I never tire of) yielded a simple cartoon dragon drawing that I was really taken with.  I reached into my bag of vintage fabric samples and pulled out this striped and flowers piece.  I almost chickened out on the fabric, not sure if it would just look too goofy or busy, but in the end just went for it.

I modified the dragon to make him holding a flower and tried to make it similar to one from the fabric.

In the end I am in love with this piece and it was hard to let go of it.  The fabric rocks and the flower is adorable, if I do say so myself.

Definitely encouraging me to do more embroidery.

For a second piece I went back and forth on a few ideas.  I almost did a felted hoop of an iguana but in the end couldn't resist a geeky Star Trek cross stitch.  My partner said she loves the borg, and I thought a borg cross stitch could be just the thing.  I worked off a picture of Picard as Locutus.  My developing style is not to do completely solid coverage, and I didn't have two different grays so I decided to not stitch the skin but rather add a little bit of paint.

It was a good experiement and I think the paint works well.  The end result is cool but I feel like there's something magical missing, maybe the overall piece needed to be darker. Still, you will be assimilated. :)

My partner says she loves them both and agrees that geeky is the way to go with hooplas.

Cinema Swap

The month of swaps is in full swing! 

Did I mention that after I completed my first official craft swap through www.craftster.com I was instantly addicted and signed up for four consecutive swaps?  Well, true story.

First up, the "Golden Age of Cinema Swap."  My swap partner listed a few of her favourite movies and stars and I picked two for inspiration.

Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's is beautiful and iconic. 

I designed and stitched this hoop, mixing some embroidery and cross stitch techniques.  I like the simple elegrant graphic look of it (with just a dash of cute).

Next I decided I wanted to do a print of some kind, and was inspired by the gorgeous Vertigo poster for Hitchcock's classic film.

For a twist I thought the female figure should come to the fore in my version.
I made a linocut for the background, printed it in red, and then cut a stencil for the figure and painted it in black.

Here's the original poster to show my inspiration.

 

The whole package has arrived in Australia and I am anxiously awaiting my partner's creations.

My part of this swap was definitely fun and challenging.  I like that the swap structure pushes me to create things I would not normally think of or choose.

Now on to the next one!

fishy felty

I have been spreading the good word of crafting, and in particular have started a few friends off on the needlefelting adventure recently.  One friend turned out to be a genius at the felting and love it, even organized a party one saturday afternoon in February where we pulled others into the addictive stab stab stab of needlefelting.

I took the opportunity to work on a little piece that grew out of some curly blue roving I ordered online.  It said to me 'I am water.'  So I started with a watery background.  What goes with bright blue water? A fish of course!  Little yellow and orange fish emerged from the felting fiesta afternoon.

It needed something a little more to be finished, so I decided to paint a small canvas (from the pile of craft supplies cluttering up my kitchen) orange and yellow and spackled blue.

The colours make me happy.

Stitch Trooper

Craftorama led to cross stitch, which led to craftster, which led to 'hoops,' which led to embroidery.  After seeing some very adorable and also cool stitched up illustrations I had to try it.

First step, order some vintage fabrics from etsy, subtle backgrounds.  Then pick a design that's cool and incongruous with the background and medium.  Oh Star Wars, yes, that will do.

I started this once, abandoned my first messy stitches, and started again after a few youtube tutorials.

My stitches are still a bit wonky in places but overall ... success!  And I love how the black Stormtrooper helmet looks on the yellow flower background.

Craft Swaps, my new addiction

If you are a fan of crafts you must run to check out www.craftster.com (tagline, no tea cozies without irony).  Under the 'Community' drop down menu you will find areas for different crafts, such as sewing, fibre arts, glass, paper crafts, needlework, jewelry.  In each area people post pictures of their latest creations, comment on them, have discussions, share tutorials.  It's great to cruise the pictures and admire, and be inspired (or intimidated).

But wait there's more!  Once you've been a member for a month you can sign up to participate in a craft swap.

That's right, I said CRAFT SWAP!

Swaps are organized either on a content theme (The Dr. Who swap) or a craft theme (embroidery hoops).  Fill out a questionaire and send it to the organizer, who approves you to participate, then you get matched to someone, receive some information about what they really like, make up an item or package (swap will have guidelines for number/size of items) and mail it off!  Next thing you know YOU will receive a magical package from a crafty stranger.

My first swap ------  Hoopla Swap (embroidery or cross stitch left framed in the hoop)

This swap was done with a signup chain (person b makes for a, c makes for b, etc) rather than partners.  You give a list of content themes you might like a hoop on and the next person in the chain picks one and makes you a hoop.

I chose someone's theme 'street art/graffiti inspired.'  I noticed another of her themes was 60s french films.  This made me think of some graffiti I had take a photo of in kensington market a couple years ago, a stylish woman's face in black, white and red.

Here's the original photo which I glued to the back of the finished hoop to show my inspiration.

I printed the photo in the right size, traced the shape, transfered it to my cross stitch fabric, and worked from there.  It was my first free flow xstitch (no pattern) and I found it challenging but also a lot of fun and very unique and rewarding. 

I was thrilled with the result.  It was hard to send it off but I did.  The recipient posted a picture to the 'swap gallery' and said she loved it!

I then received an adorable hoop made on my theme of 'cute monsters' from someone in Alberta.  My monster is adorable and I love it!!

You know how with some drugs it only takes one time to be addicted?  Well craft swapping is like that!!!  At least for me, since I'm a big geek.

I signed up for a second time in the chain, and this time I chose someone's theme of 'greek mythology,' because it seemed like not my normal sort of thing and a challenge.  I emailed with the woman I would make it for and she told me that the story of Arachne was one of her favourites.  Arachne was a weaver turned into a spider.

I used some nice off white fabric I had and started with a spider.  Then came the loom, and the idea to make a loon and then stitch on the weaving in the loom, actually weaving the threads a little.  To add some sparkle I broke out the metallic rainbow thread I hadn't tried yet.  It was devilish to work with but is pretty thread.  The design was still looking plain so I looped the thread off the loom and stitched Arachne along the bottom.  It's not as good as my graffiti hoop but still unique and interesting I think.

The woman who received it said she loved it (though you know these craftster types, they're all so dang nice).

I'm waiting on my second hoop to arrive.  This one is on my robots theme!!

Now that I have successfully completed my first swap (proved reliable on the sending) I am approved for up to 5 swaps at a time.  I've already signed up for four that start soon: Golden Age of Cinema Swap,  Anything Goes Embroidery Swap, 80's movies Swap, and Whedonverse Swap (think Firefly and Buffy!).

If anyone wants to do a personal one on one craft swap just hit me up, I am totally up for it.