life becoming a landslide

I'm back in Stockholm again, to see my mother who's visiting from Mozambique & also celebrate the first birthday of Alma, my niece. The original plan was just a quick weekend visit, but now I'm staying until Thursday (so if any friends read this, feel free to give me a call if you want to hang out this week).

The thing is that I managed to break my left leg after just one week in Gothenburg, when the brakes on my bike stopped working & I had to put my feet down to stop. Result: a tibia fracture where the bone got sort of crushed against the knee, the surgeon's description was "try visualizing it like a mortar". I spent one week at the hospital, the leg/knee needed to be operated on & now I'm on crutches until the end of October. The last couple of weeks I've been laying on my couch, popping morphine pills & eating candy, which migh sound great but I promise you, it isn't. I can't even begin to describe how much this sucks.

& like that wasn't enough, the suck-fest continued with the result of the general elections in Sweden last week; four more years of conservative right-wing government & a populist, racist party with it's roots in the neo-nazi movement got 20 seats in parliament.

Because of the pain & the pills & the general lack of enthusiasm I haven't had any energy or strength to do any stitching. I'm just feeling sorry for myself right now & because of that I'm thinking about buying this awsome and fantastic lamp. I think I deserve it.

there is nothin' fair in this world / there is nothin' safe in this world / & there's nothin' sure in this world

I think this is my first pre-ordered cross stitch piece ever, sold to one of my old gender studies teachers at Södertörn University as a wedding gift to some friends of her. The design is a mix of patterns from an old pattern book I bought last summer, but I think I've seen those roses in some other pattern archives/books too. I was a bit inspired by this old piece when I made it.

I wrap you precious around my soul / and now I'm letting you go

Okay, so I'm moving from Stockholm to Gothenburg tomorrow. Feels a bit strange, exciting and scary at the same time. I had a plan to post a better pic of the cross stitch above, but since all my stuff is in boxes and/or paperbags, I can't find either the cross stitch or my camera. So you will just have to do with this old, re-used photo.

And some songs about Stockholm and my love/hate relationship with this town.

BECAUSE I believe with my wholeheartmindbody that girls constitute a revolutionary soul force that can, and will change the world for real

First of all: go to Radical Cross Stitch and read what I meant to write about the cross stitch in the last post, but didn't have the energy or words for then.

Second: some time back I got an e-mail from a German publisher, asking if they could use one of my cross stitches for a book they where putting together. Last week the book finally arrived in my mail and it looks like this:

It's a compilation of feminist texts, from Sojuorner Truth, the riot grrrl manifesto, Emma Goldman, Audre Lorde, Judith Butler and a lot of other writers/groups that actually say something to me about my life. So if you speak German and you're into reading classic feminist critique, go to Orange Press, send them an e-mail and ask if you can buy the book, wait for it to arrive at your home and then flip to page 97 where this cross stitch illustrates the chapter on Valerie Solanas.

"Radikales Handarbeiten": Über Tätigkeiten, die lange Zeit als "weiblich" galten, werden subversive Botschaften in vertrautem Stil präsentiert - hier der erste Satz des SCUM-Manifests.

I have no idea what it means, but I'm hoping it's something good.

hello kitty kathleen (forever in her debt)

When I started stitching this I had some grand elaborate idea in my head about trying to make a statement about girl culture, pop icons, feminism, cuteness-as-a-subversive-tool, riot grrl, feeling like an outsider even in the alternative culture & of course a bit of a homage to Kathleen Hanna, my punk rock queen.

Here's the song that inspired it all:

...and nothing for ourselves

I've been stitching this for a while now and finally finished it last week. the pattern is originally from the rrrad and crafty Bee Listy, who you might recognize if you hang around Mr Xstitch a lot or just appreciate people who are

"mad as hell and sticks needles into things to sublimate [their] rage".

Except lovely flash tattoo stuff like this, she also blogs at queercraft and stitches amazing portaits that I could never finish, since I know how much time and hard work she must put into them.

I played around a bit with the pattern, mostly the colours (and now I think that maybe I should have stuck to the original, since I managed to fuck up the shadeing a bit) but also the text. The quote comes from the EZLN, the Zapatistas, in Mexico and in english it translates to "everything for everyone". Words that maybe should be the goal to set out for in any political project. I tried to make it come alive a bit more, using silver metalic floss for parts of the dagger, but it's tricky to photograph it well.

fuma, bebe, não pensa em trabalhar, fuma, bebe queremos é descansar (summer crafternoon in the park)

So, I've been away for a while again.
No need to explain that more than the usual total lack of creativity.

It's summer & the last week or so we've had tropical weather in Stockholm - it's too hot to do anything except eat ice cream & listen to Neurosis, Cult of Luna or ISIS. Yesterday I tried to break the vicious circle of sweat, sleep & work by gathering my craft crew for some outdoors activities.

There was food! & Emilia.

Helena was a happy crafter.

it's the Batscarf!

Cross stitch for the newborn.

Emilia is still working on what she herself calls "the Turd".

You could also be this happy if you had a new sewing machine to help you patch up your stuff.

This is cross stitch history in the making.

To the right - our newest member Jenni.

To the left - her first(?) finished cross stitch!

We are very colour coordinated, Nadja & me.

Picnic is always the best food.

The Cutest Cat Ever(tm) appeared out of nowhere & joined us.

She had a thing for cuddeling with early 20th century anarchists.

We named her Emma.