I'm a piece - are you?

I've made a piece for the #imapiece jisaw.  It's going to be a piece in a big artwork for Save the Children's Race Against Hunger Campaign.  I made two stamps of babies looking sad and crying, by carving into an old rubber.  I found a pale blue/green fat quarter in my stash, mixed up some fabric paint, and printed my babies onto the fabric.  I ironed the piece to fix it, and started embroidering.

 I chose to focus on the fact that 2.3 million children die each year becasue they don't get enough of the right sort of food.  This was the most depressing thing I've ever embroidered - and that's as it should be.  It's outrageous that children are still dying of hunger and malnutrition in the 21st century.

But I'm not stopping there.  I'm going to make another piece stitched with the words "I'm a piece" to give to my MP, and a piece for myself as a reminder to be part of the solution.  Want to join in?  You can find more info and templates to download here.

In which I am half way through

I'm halfway through Fiona's red stole - I've done one side.  It's looking like this (on my groovy ironing board).

The next side will be the same, but with a mirror image of the figures.  Does it need anything else adding?  I'm wondering about adding radiating lines from the figures to their haloes - not lines showing where they've thrown their haloes - but more like lines from fireworks going off in the sky.  What do people think?

In which I swear

I'm not a huge fan of Christmas.  But I am a huge fan of 'The Thick of It' and Malcolm Tucker.  So I came up with this cheerful Christmas card design last night.

I don't think I can send it to my mum.

In which I am a piece

I've finished the first half of the red stole (more on that tomorrow) so I'm putting it aside for a bit to get involved with a brilliant project.

Various brilliant crafty types (including Mr X Stitch, Deadly Knitshade, Hilary of Craftblog UK and the Craftivist Collective) are making a giant jigsaw embroidered with provocative messages to support Save the Children's Race Against Hunger Campaign. The project will create an art installation to raise awareness of the issues of world hunger and injustice.

The idea is that crafters like thee and I make 3 jigsaw pieces - one for the big jigsaw artwork, one for yourself to keep as a reminder to be part of the solution, and one stitched with the words "I'm a piece" to give to your MP, to ask them to be the positive change they wish to see in the world.  You can find more info and templates to download here. 

So why is this project happening now?  In 2013 Britain is hosting the G8 summit.  It's a great chance for the Government to use its power and influence to tackle child poverty, and the "I'm a piece" project and giant jigsaw artwork will hopefully remind us that we are all part of each others' live, and our actions can help or harm other people.  When I write to my MP I'll be asking him to urge David Cameron to make the most of this opportunity to end child hunger.

So, get stitchin'!  If you're sharin', use the hashtag #imapiece.  I'm thinking of organising an event in York in early December to encourage people to get involved.  And in the meantime, you can sign Save the Children's Race Against Hunger petition here.

In which I sketch Frida

I decided to sketch Ms Kahlo the other night.  Here she is!  I just used a pencil and my watercolour pencils to start with.  I'd given the pencils a quick brush of water to blend them, and then decided to give her skin a wash of red wine with the brush.  It looked lovely and blushy pink at first when it went on, and then turned a bit purple-grey when it dried.  Kids - don't paint with wine.