Tonia Smith contacted me several months ago about her pincushions. What she didn't know was that I continuously hunt for weird, super-neato pincushions. Man, are they hard to find. So I went nuts with delight when she showed me her designs. Dirty Designs that is. Hailing from Canada, Tonia has studied jewelry making, tattooing and now has returned to her love of sewing. Lucky for us. There's also a Voodoo Doll Pincushion that I'll put up soon. Get one here!
Do you read Juxtapoz Magazine? True, it's not for everyone, but I'm thrilled to see that it's flourished these last 10 years. After seeing the first copy in 1994, I've pored over every issue since. No other magazine has inspired so much ire, joy and confusion in me. And I was sneaking my brother's re-issued Zaps at thirteen, so imagine what it can do for you. Rage on, Juxtapoz. 10th Anniversary Party April 1-30th Minna Gallery, San Francisco.
Hair relieves stress. I started this portrait of Syd Barrett in the fall of 2002 when my father entered the hospital and subsequently, a coma. My favorite thing to embroider is hair, and Syd was a perfect subject. There's no mapping it out, I just make it up as I go along. Zone out, stitch and see if dad wakes up (he did, three weeks later). Click Syd for a closeup.
You know those piles of discarded, embroidered pillowcases you find in flea markets? Yeah, I know. I pick them up too, thinking how cute they'd look on my bed until I see those icky, brownish-yellowish stains. You know they won't come out in the wash. But what about that needlework? Isn't it a shame to see it languishing? Well, I had me an ideer. I took a set of horribly stained vintage pillowcases with lovely pink lotus flowers and recycled them into pillows! All you have to do is carefully cut off the ends of the pillowcases, sew them wrong side together, leave a small opening for stuffing, turn them right side out, stuff, sew up the hole and ta daa! You have just salvaged some embroidery. Congratulate yourself.
Patterns make good donations. I was recently asked about donating to a craft group in Atlanta, and I gladly obliged with instruction sheets and some patterns. Stephanie of Violet Designs kindly put up a photo gallery of their SnB. Get a load of all these happy gals sitting around stitching with my transfers! I get such a thrill out of seeing pics like this, it'd nauseate you.
Remember my survey? Well, over a thousand of you kindly filled it out, and made no bones about what you want, and don't want. Paypal, check. A new shopping cart? Check. More embroidery. More patterns. More kits. More more more. Mind if I take a snack break? Did you see the cute stitches on the homepage? Huh? Oh, congratulations Anna!, You looked lovely last night.