Mr X Stitch is the place to keep your crafty finger on the pulse of all that is great in the world of embroidery and cross-stitch. Where did the site come from and why? Only Mr X Stitch himself can tell you. Lucky for us Joetta Maue decided it was about time they asked.
Joetta, who writes regularly for the Mr X Stitch site decided it was about time the site's founder, Jamie Chalmers and his stitching genius, was put under the spotlight. Her interview, Future Heirlooms: the man himself, does just that.
From learning to embroider through stitching a small piece of the Bayeux Tapestry at school to subversive stitching and what it's like to be a 'male needle lover' Jamie's story is all kinds of fascinating. His crusade for cross stitch and embroidery rather than simply showcasing his own work is inspiring stuff too.
It is certainly very clear why Mr X Stitch is 'number one contemporary embroidery and needlecraft blog on the planet'.
Mr X Stitch, we salute you. Long may you stitch.
Your pillow is an important place. It's where you rest your noggin to drift off and dream up all those craft projects you will one day bring to life. Therefore you should treat your bed with the respect it deserves by getting some inspirational bedding on there.
I saw these Sleepyhead Pillows on Domestic Sluttery and immediately fell a little bit in love with them. Not only do they cater for the head of the sleeper but also the head of their furry friend and bedfellow.
The pillowcase cheekily reads "Instructions: place heads inside dotted lines for best results" across the top for those too sleepy to think for themselves too.
An inspirational use of embroidery and the perfect crafty present for snoozehounds everywhere.
Craftivism is about taking what you make or can make and using it to give voice to people who can't speak for themselves. Hands can make more of a statement than countless words sometimes do. This is very apparent in the case of the latest project to stride bravely onto the Craftivism scene.
Desconocida Unknown Ukjent, by artist Lise Bjorne, is an ongoing community art project that uses embroidery to highlight the plight of the growing number of women who disappear on the border between Mexico and the USA.
Since 1993 there have been 800 documented cases in the area but unofficial numbers suspect many many more. The cases go unsolved due in part to the Mexican Government remaining passive, and often hindering the process of justice.
Workshops on July 24th at London's Pallant House Gallery invite you to embroider labels containing the names of the dead and missing women of Juarez. These will be exhibited in the Contemporary Eye: Crossovers in October.
So far 2100 individuals in 27 countries have so far participated in the project. If you feel strongly then join them to speak out with your craft.
Recently I went to the Enchanted Palace exhibition at London's Kensington Palace and was utterly entranced by the whole thing. What was great to see was that one of the exhibition's main pieces was a fabulous knitted throne. I took a closer look at the fibre-based work of the lead artist on this part of the project.
Linda Litchfield, once a barrister specialising in criminal law, is now an artist who "who makes work which frequently incorporates stitch and knit'. A lady after my own heart she takes what most people expect from knitting and makes it a work of art.
Along with her contribution to the Enchanted Palace working with the Stitches in Time group and Wildworks, she also creates one-off books and some evocative handstitched art too.
You can see some examples of her splendid stitching at the New Embroidery Group Exhibition in East Grinstead which runs till the 25th of May.
What's not to love about the craft-based musings of a small angry bird?
Bad Bird is the home of the craft and art of Andrea Zuill. She says quite simply "Hello. I am Andrea Zuill. I am an artist, and this is my blog." Straight to the point and not indicative at all of the cool and crazy stuff that lurks there.
She features free embroidery patterns every month which invite you to sew wide-eyed kittens, a rather unholy Octo-bunny and some shifty looking squirrels onto anything you fancy.
She'll also happily embroider a picture of your beloved mutt on commission and her art prints a full of handholding hamsters, rabbits with socked ears and a fair few seriously annoyed sparrows.
See some prize stitching gems and awesome artworks in her Bad Bird Etsy shop here.
Leanne Prain, co-author of Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti, is looking for unexpected embroiderers. She's not talking about falling asleep and waking up finding that you've sewn the image of Cliff Richard's face onto one of your throw pillows. She's searching for those who embroider outside the box.
Like her Yarn Bombing book Leanne is hoping to bring together folks at the forefront of subversive stitching once more for Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery. This time they have smaller needles but similar values. They're the folks taking their craft and turning expectations of tweeting birds and blossoming flowers on their heads.
To put it simply "If you describe your stitch-work as arresting, subversive, quirky, or conceptual, Hoopla should feature your design work."
Full details of how to submit can be found here.
Go forth and pimp your subversive stitching. Go on.
Stitching is coming on leaps and bounds from mending holes in long-worn socks and lurking hidden in the form of hems. On a crafty campaign for a new respect for embroidery is Jenny Hart whose embroidered art has been stitching a new path for needlework.
Jenny, artist and founder of Sublime Stitching, brings images to life with her needle and thread. The Texan-based artist has sewn portraits for many of music and fashion's biggest names. From Marianne Faithfull for Venus magazine to an Iggy Pop concert poster for Nylon.
For a bit of a weirder turn she also embroiders pieces for exhibitions. Her 'Oh Unicorn' piece was made up of her own hair embroidered on leather. It doesn't get more personal than that.
You can also get a fascinating insight into how she creates each piece on her Flickr photostream here.
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