Pricked: Extreme Embroidery at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, November 8, 2007-March 9, 2008

The average person encounters embroidery in daily life mainly in the form of tea towels and certain types of clothing. Few people think of the craft as a medium to be explored, a medium whose boundaries, capabilities and functions can be stretched. Pricked: Extreme Embroidery lifts the craft out of the realm of royal or religious vestements, out of the everyday table and bed linens and places it firmly in the realm of artists working not just as craftspeople but also as interpreters of contemporary life.

The exhibition is divided into 6 themed categories: NEITHER MORE NOR LESS concentrates on works incorporating text and words.
Judy Chicago, the doyenne of embroidery in contemporary art, is represented with Its Always Darkest Before the Dawn, where embroidery plays its traditional role of adding depth and luminosity with colorful silk threads.

Tilleke Schwartz’s two works are like embroidery sketchbooks, with motifs, words and images overlapping and interplaying on hand dyed fabric. Count Your Blessings, a travelogue of the artist’s visits to Australia and the US, intersperses phrases and sentence fragments with the question: Are craft people making money on the Internet?

Andrea Dezso’s Lessons from My Mother, a wall with dozens of 6”x6” embroidered illustrations of her mother’s adages. Each one begins with “My mother claimed that…” which is followed by some very interesting statement and an illustration of the sentiment.

Every visitor seems to read them all, and once read, the viewer can’t help but feel that she has just spent a few moments with the artist and her mother in the flesh.

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I’ve been interested in the beautiful bunting flags that I’ve seen popping up in shops, blogs, and in etsy stores and waned to make my own. I wasn’t completely happy with any of the tutorials that I found so I ended up coming up with my own pattern. This tutorial is for double-sided bunting, so that you can appliqué letters or a design to one side and still have a blank side to use for other occasions. Bunting can be a quick and easy way to brighten up a child’s bedroom, would make a great gift or New Year decoration, and a lovely way to make a personal (and re-useable) Happy Birthday or other celebratory sign. It would be great made out of recycled or vintage fabrics that would have meaning to friends and family – and make the bunting a family heirloom.

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You Can Save the Planet by Richard Hough Published by A & C Black Publishers Ltd (July 13, 2007).

Following on from yesterdays post on greening up your christmas – this book would be a wonderful addition to your children’s ‘caring for the environment’ shelf of your home library. Teaching your children the value of caring for our planet and lowering our consumerism this christmas is a great gift – and what could be a better gift than the gift of fresh air, clean water, unpolluted rivers and lakes, etc etc.

This book is specifically aimed at children, lots of quick tips and ideas in bold bright breakout boxes are accompanied by serious information and real statistics. Its all aimed at children and what they can do to help. Along with the usual suspects of recycling there are other ways to help like having shorter showers and getting the kids to be the house water and electricity monitor. Learning about the importance of buying fair trade and the terrible state of people trading in exotic pets. It explains what carbon footprint means and talks about where our food comes from and how far it can travel from farm to plate. All of these issues are really important things to think about for kids in the world we live in.

cute stuffed christmas ornaments by my paper crane

both of these via craft – led gingerbread man at kitchen budapest on flickr. and felt gingerbread cuties by my paper crane

This laptop sleeve is a breeze to make with the help of an 18mm bias tape maker. It’ll keep a 15” laptop very cosy and safe from scratches and bumps. The flap is secured by Velcro set at right angles so that it can be adjusted to fit varying bulk carried in the pouch. [great idea for pressies too]

Materials: 45cm medium-weight fabric (cotton drill, canvas, duck-cloth or denim) for the outside of the sleeve (or you can use lighter fabric fused to medium-weight interfacing) + 50cm contrasting medium-weight fabric for lining and binding + 40cm Fusible wadding (pellon or batting) + 45cm Woven, iron-on interfacing + 60cm Velcro + Matching threads

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I might have missed the boat this year with getting my advent calendar organised in time – but I do love this one by wise craft.

ruthless knitting and dogged knits

[to find out about patterns etc go to the blogs]

Whip Up is now taking article and tutorial submissions.

We are looking for tutorials and submissions that fit within our feel – read our Manifesto for more information.

We are looking for thematic articles and tutorials to fit within the months themes – see monthly themes below – but also timely articles outside of these themes will be considered such as exhibition and pattern reviews, craft memes, fun, frivolous and extreme ideas, etc that cannot wait and do not fit within the theme.

Submissions now being accepted for January, February and March 2008

- January: Children’s crafts
- February: Alternative crafting
- March: Ephemeral art and craft

To learn more about how to submit an article read the submission guidelines here

Knitted from Alan Dart’s pattern from the 2005, Issue 8 of the British magazine Simply Knitting, which I first saw knitted up here on Hege’s blog and many more later, here on Ravelry. This one is for my mom’s birthday but there are plans in the works for at least one or two more. When I first saw this pattern I thought I wanted to make a hundred but knitting one up has tamed those ambitions. from Knitting iris is pretty much the most adorable christmas item I have seen this year.