Lets Get Radical

Study Goat

2009-08-10T01:39:00.001-07:00

Took a few hours, just found a stencil of a goat and stitched away, so again, no pattern. I really need to start making patterns. For Steve, to make sure he writes his dissertation. Study Goat will kick his arse.

I love Riz...

2009-08-04T00:43:00.000-07:00

So much I made him this xstitch of a shitty band that he inexplicably loves. Played it by air, no pattern. Hopefully no one would want one anyway!

Pin Up Girl

2009-08-04T00:38:00.000-07:00

A pin up girl xstitch from City. Took fucking ages!

Bogan stitch

2009-07-16T19:19:00.000-07:00

Made for Steves 23 birthday, because he is rad. Fucking killed my hands/spine getting it done in time. No pattern, just played it by air, hence the wonkyness.

2009-06-18T00:09:00.000-07:00

I think I may just stop updating my LJ. No one posts over there anymore, and the whole point of it was to keep in touch with old friends. But who knows. I don't know if I wanna put my boring rants on this, so perhaps it's good to have a place for them to go where no one reads them.
Anyway, we will see. I have a exam tomorrow, but I also have a broken finger on my right hand. So the exam should be fine; it's on the history of warfare, but the writing of two essays with a broken finger should be interesting. I guess I could get help, but that aint my style yo.
I signed up for my papers next semester. I'm doing Blood and Body, Anglo Dutch history, German film, and sexual histories. They all look pretty rad. So I'm pretty excited about it all.
Sigh. I need to eat. Ciao Cats.

Birthday fun times

2009-06-15T12:04:00.001-07:00

For bean's first birthday, I am making him a quilt after his old clothes. Because I sort of forgot he was premature, I had in my mind his due date, I ran out of time. So I decided to make him a bucket of birds for his actual birthday. There are a dozen of them, they all have bells in them, and are all different materials. They are adorable, I found the pattern somewhere, but as the case with me most of the time, I forgot where. I also made him a max costume. I can't find many photos of the birds, but he sure loved the bucket.
Bean had a great birthday, and was thoroughly spoilt. Thanks everyone for everything. Check out Adrians blog for more photos.
xxx Mouse.

Wild things, dresses and quilts.

2009-06-03T21:50:00.000-07:00

Beans where the wild things are costume is almost done, just needs a tail and crown. His quilt is about halfway done, heres hoping I can get it done in a week. And I recently whipped up a cherry print dress with xstitched heart detailing, for my friend Mel's little girl Seirra Cherries 2nd birthday. Forgot to take photo, will try get one of Mel.
I have been neglecting my blogs of late; Bean has awful flu and may need to be hospitalized for dehydration, I'm stressed about missing uni, and have exams in a few weeks. Plus I have had flu myself! But will get some photos up soon, and do a better blog entry.
xxx
Mouse

A is for...

2009-05-07T14:52:00.000-07:00

Rubbish photo, but this is the first of four xstitch. The image is from a old abolitionist children's book, that I turned into a xstitch. It says:

A is for Abolitionist -
A man who wants to free
The wretched slave - and give to all
An equal liberty.

Will chuck up better photos at some point.
xxx
Ciao cats!

Not Craft,

2009-05-01T21:46:00.000-07:00

But it made me cry, and wish I could do more. I do what I can, always give my change to homeless people, donate old clothes and furniture to womens refuge, old magazines and games to starship, but damn I wish there was more I could do. So anyway, those of you out there who have any spare cash floating around, think of this family.
http://tangobaby2.blogspot.com/2009/04/kelayas-story-and-you-can-help.html

To 20 more years.

2009-04-08T03:03:00.000-07:00

On 14 February this year, my grandmother Rae and her lovely partner (now wife) of 20 years, Pip, got married in Birkenhead. It was a beautiful ceremony, for a amazing couple. Rae is my step grandmother, and in the few short years I have known her, she and her family have been overwhelmingly welcoming and generous. So I made this small token of my affection, albeit very lately (I did start it well before hand, but life got in the way of me finishing it in time). I plan on giving it to them on Friday at a family lunch, I hope they like it. And if they don't, they are kind enough to pretend otherwise!
So, to Rae and Pip, I thank you for being so wonderful, and heres to the next twenty+ years. I hope they are as wonderful as you deserve.
A note on the x stitch. It was a image I found on the net somewhere, and altered it, using a combintation of knit pro and playing it by air. I think the tree could of done with more leaves, and there were a few more things I wanted to do. But when I sketched them into the pattern I had made, it looked far too busy, so I went with basic. Perhaps to basic, but the squirrels were the main point, and they turned out well.

Freakangel.

2009-03-20T21:11:00.000-07:00

Those of you who don't know, FreakAngels is a wicked cool Warren Ellis weekly web comic. I was going to buy a t-shirt, but the shipping to NZ was 30 Yankee Cowboys, so I decided to make my own. So here we go, a DIY Freak angels singlet. Just in case Ellis finds out about this and comes for my blood, I will be buying the comic. Even though you can get it for free on the net. I was concidering buying it before, cause its so damn pretty, but now I have to. Cause ya know, Ellis is a scary, angry old man.

More boring political stuff.

2009-03-12T11:58:00.000-07:00

http://www.beppegrillo.it/iniziative/freeblogger/

Do it!!!

Truffles.

2009-02-26T17:37:00.001-08:00

Adrian has been having a really shitty week, so yesterday I decided to surprise him with my killer truffles. Everyone loves them, but one bite will kill. Luce ended up coming over and having a end of dissertation truffle, and my mam is looking forward to hers! Really simple, just oreos and cream cheese, coated in dark Ghana chocolate, and then put in a cup with white chocolate and macadamia nuts in the bottom, squiggles of white chocolate on the top, and edible glitter. I have a couple of x stitches almost finished, but they have been put on hold as my grandmother died the other day, and so have been flat out with family wars and the funeral. Anyway, less words, more truffle!

Lets get Radical!

2009-02-16T23:55:00.000-08:00

Join the internet blackout; http://creativefreedom.org.nz/blackout.html

Bean Carrier.

2009-02-06T16:03:00.000-08:00

We recently got given a carrier for bean, as he has grown far too large and heavy for his sling. The problem was the carrier was pretty basic, a bit broken, and horribly ugly. So yesterday, while fixing some of the problems, i decided to re cover the whole thing in cherry print. The result is quite pretty! I have a few more x stitches I will be posting in a wee bit, one has to be done by the 14th, so keep your fingers crossed for me!!

Banksy girl #1

2008-12-20T14:03:00.000-08:00

A xmas present for my pa, done in about 2 days. I will hopefully be doing a few more uploads in the next few days as I get through the xmas presents I'm making for everyone. In this case, deadlines did help!

2008-11-27T01:41:00.000-08:00

Sorry!

2008-11-07T21:43:00.000-08:00

I know it's been freaking ages, I can see the tumbleweeds. I will update soon, I have a few things to post. Hunter is teething and has given up on sleep, and therefore, so have we. I'm making excuses. I'm actually quite lazy. Anyway, I hope everyone voted, and fingers crossed for the Greens, ok!

Dr House sez....

2008-09-28T22:29:00.000-07:00

You can see the tumbleweeds around here, can't ya. I haven't forgotten, I've just been busy. So here's something I whipped up for ya'll, and with lies on my lips, I promise to post again soon...
xxx

I'm still here!

2008-09-07T01:02:00.000-07:00

But after the great disappointment with the amazing disappearing Gogol X-Stitch, it took a while for me to get back on the thread. When I did, I decided on a massive project that I'm quite excited about. It's almost done, so expect a awesome post within the next week. I post this, so I have a deadline of sorts. I only work well with deadlines! Anyway, to tide ya'll over with craftyness, I show you a sample of what I am doing more these days. We (well, I) are patching up various items of Beans. He has patchy nappies, sweaters and wee onsies. I'm also making him a punk rock leather jacket; so far we have a Subhumans back patch for it, and a Rockabilly denim vest with pink faux fur, some swallows and a stray cats back patch. I will post more photos when I'm done, and will finish the awesome xstitch soon!
xxx
Maus.

He's my son, I'll corrupt him as I see fit.

2008-07-07T18:53:00.001-07:00

I need help; should I frame this and put it on his wall, or should I put it on his teeny tiny little denim jacket? Bearing in mind he's a grub, and xstitch ain't all that washable.

Pattern is thanks to Radical Cross Stitch, those guys are awesome (link in sidebar). Took about a hour, interrupted by the Bean several times. I was having withdrawals, I needed to do something!

Black hole of crap has stolen my life.

2008-07-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

I made this awesome Gogol Bordello X-stitch, and its almost finished. But then I had a child, and it has disappeared into the black hole of crap that is our house. Bean's shit is everywhere. I will hopefully find it soon, as I slowly sort the crap out, but for the meantime I will have to start another one and hope the Gogol one turns up soon!
I'm a bit slack.

Update will happen one day, I promise!

2008-06-25T04:29:00.000-07:00

But I need sleep, and typing one handed is hard. Sadly, Bean is having problems sleeping away from me after hospital shenanigans. Cute, but not all that practical. Anyway, go to the dear boys blog for real updates, as I am slack.
xxx

Wow

2008-06-14T22:06:00.000-07:00

I'm far too tired to write much, but our wee man Hunter entered the world on the 12th of June at 12:29pm. It was pretty hellish, and we had some fucking scary moments, but it was worth it. I will write more later, but for now I'm going to blob, and enjoy being home with my boys.
I have some xstitch half done, but as he was three weeks early, I haven't really had time to do much. And you can see; my hands are fucking huge. The swelling is only going down now, and my hand is bruised to fuck from the drip. But a big Gogol piece will be up soon!

Vines.

2008-06-06T21:54:00.001-07:00

This was done for a friend, who needed it for her friends art project. Or something. Basically, I had to make a book cover with my friends name on it, to hold her place in the fine arts library at Elam. She wanted vines, but she didn't know what kind, or how they would work. So I drew a few ideas up, and this was the one she liked most. I was originally going to be thick green vines all around the book, but halfway through, a very good friend of mine died, and it kind of crept into the design, I think for the better(not that it was for the better Skoota died). So although it was started as a basic project for someone, it has turned into something very personal. And I'm glad it will be shared with many people, even if they don't know what they are looking at. I intend to do something in Skootas memory, but for the meantime, this will have to do.
A few technical points.
1. I didn't have a pattern, it was just playing around. This is how I do about half my work, and the rest I either have a pattern, or just a basic idea of a pattern (like a knitPro thing). It works for me, but I know I should start making patterns for my work.
2. The lettering sucks. A lot. I do realize this. What happened was I had a week to do this. I started out well, and then lost about 3 days due to the death of Skoota. So I ended up doing the majority of it the night before, finally finishing at about 2 in the morning. Or so I thought. MC was coming over early the next day to pick it up, and as I was drifting off to sleep, I remembered I was supposed to write her name down the spine. I was going to get up and do it, but I just couldn't. You try and get a 8 months pregnant woman up in the middle of winter at three in the morning to do fiddly shit like that. I'll get up in the morning and do it, I said to myself (deluding myself, more like). I woke up at eight, exhausted, blurry eyed, with massively swollen hands, that were cramped into this strange, puffy, claw like monster. I had a really pretty font picked out, but in the end all I had time to do was backstitch it, and badly at that. I ran out of room. In my defense, it was early, I'm not allowed coffee, and she has one long arse name. So yeah, the name is crap. Sorry. Aside from that, I am pleased with the way it turned out.
I know this is not very geeky, or very radical, but it is something. I'm working on a couple of things, so perhaps they will be better.

So hi.

2008-06-02T04:38:00.000-07:00

Hey cats. I realized I have just jumped in here without saying anything about myself; awfully rude of me I know. I'm a geek who usually studies history and film, but after finding myself knocked up and unable to go to uni, I found I needed to occupy my hands to stop me smoking. So I chose xstitch, something I loved as a child, and something I find extraordinarily soothing. Its awesome to be able to have something in my hands that doesn't involve too much thought, but is just distracting enough to stop me thinking. Because lets face it, thoughts are overrated.
So I have made this blog to put pictures of my pretties that I make whilst being housebound, and needing some kind of output. I will have more up soon, but I am currently working on a big thing for some student's final project at art school, and my hands are so hugely swollen it's making things difficult.
Sorry this is not all that well written, I had some really bad news today. There will possibly be more about that later; if I can organize my thoughts. One day my brain and my words will come back to me.

When the big hand meets the little hand.

2008-05-28T01:33:00.000-07:00

I made this for a girl who has amazing taste pretty much everywhere else, her obsession with Micheal Jackson being pretty much her only lapse as far as I can tell. Anyway, I found the pattern somewhere on the web, but can't for the life of me remember where. It called for a single colour, but I used a combination of black and purple threads to give it a jazzier look. If I have time I plan on making a frame with rhinestones around it.
Ten points if you get the title. ;)

Instead of shooting where I was....

2008-05-28T00:33:00.001-07:00

This one combines my love of Futurama, Geekdom, and X Stitch. It took about a day, but over a series of days as I kept getting distracted by shiny things and getting bored. I want to do more Space Invaders, as they are such cute little guys, even if they are currently en vogue, and absolutely everywhere. The way I see it is don't let a Hallensteins t-shirt stop your love of geeky things. Because in a few months, the jocks will be corrupting something new, and this will still be awesome!

Wii Stitch.

2008-05-27T23:52:00.000-07:00

I saw this when looking for geeky pictures for Valentines day, and decided it would make a good xstitch. I was going to make a pattern, but then decided I couldn't be fucked, ending up just playing it by air, and hoping for the best. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, and it started my obsession with geek stitch. I think its romantic in its own special way, and a huge amount of love went into it, even if it is somewhat silly.