crazy cat lady

a birthday gift for a friend, that i took me about two months to finish due to all the detail of the cats. but i think it turned out really cute... the quote (in english: "i don't know any nice people so the cats are good enough company") comes from a documentary about "animal collectors", socialy disfunctional people who fill their lives (& homes) with animals, most commonly cats or dogs.

so this is christmas & what have you done?

it's almost december again & that means christmas for a lot of people. & these days christmas = consumption for the greater part of the western world. last year the average swede spent 3000 skr (about 315 euro) on christmas gifts. many of the things that were bought for this money were made in sweat shops in the third world, by workers deprived of their basic human rights. i think it's time that we take a step back & look at the jolly season for what it is - a time for sensless spending of money we don't have, on things that we don't need. what we need is to realize that the way we live, eat & shop is based upon the work of others & that it's time to pay the real price for it. so, i'm thinking that this year i'm at least gonna try to make an effort, by creating my own gifts (guess what, haha), giving gifts that are activating in some way or buy them att the fair trade market en schysst jul! that takes place at ABF-huset, Stockholm 8-9 of december. i think you should too.

it's my strike & i'll cross stitch if i want to

well, this is really therapy cross stitching... i did it in response to the last months conflicts & strike at the place where i work. the quote comes from against me! & sort of sums up my view of how my bosses are acting right now. it feels sad & upsetting at the same time, that people involved in the animal rights movement, who themselves constantly are being ridiculed, questioned & seen as "anti-democratic" because of a political standpoint, can use the same type of accusations & name calling when it comes to other situations.

pretty boys make pretty graves

this is the master piece! it's one of my first ones & i love it. the quote comes from nirvana's song serve the servants. i've been a nirvana fan(atic) since i was about thirteen & always loved the humour behind these lines as they start off in utero, the album after nevermind - which really paid off well for kurt.

the chart/pattern comes from a shop close to mariatorget in stockholm, the only thing i changed about it was the text.

pretty vengeance taken for your relief

the photo is taken a while ago, it's actually finished now (even though i'm still looking for a suitable frame for it). it was supposed to be just a patch from the beginning, but i calculated the size all wrong.
instead i'm giving it to the guys in wolfbrigade so it can look pretty on the wall of their rehearsal space. i'm trying tro get them to promise that it'll be the next album cover, 'cause they should really try and get away from that old esthetic of bombs, grenades & skulls...

i'll start this off without any words

okay, some words. i'm starting this 'cause i'm tired of the old blog & can't really justify it's existence anymore... & i'll try to write in english so that the other radical cross stitchers can understand (but no, i don't do upper-case letters). just wanted a forum to present my work & maybe find others with the same passion. i know i'm not the only one to discover that cross stitching is the meaning of life... i made the diy bunny about a week ago, & it gets to represent the thought behind all this - steal, borrow, change & make up your own rules. just do it yourself.

& thanks to rayna at rcs for the alphabet chart i used for this one.