365 DAYS: WEEK FIFTEEN…

Hey you hot thing,

I sincerely hope that you’re having a bloody good Good Friday,

Buy good I mean, sitting around in your PJ’s and cardigan, in rabbit ears, downing endless mugs of piping hot tea, watching a DVD box set and eating something quite delicious every 45 – 90 minutes.

Bonus points if there is a viewing of Jesus Christ Superstar in there at some stage.

Week fifteen eh, lets do this so that I can get back to my rightful place of under the blanket on the couch:

• This week saw my 100th photo. Bloody nora…100 photos!!!!
• Christchurch had the Royal Visit, this week, from Wills and Kate. Whilst I was unable to get down to the CBD for the actual mid morning visit, I did know that I wanted the event to be the subject for at least one of my photos. When I was slowly waking up on Tuesday morning, at 6am, the radio said that there were already people gathering in Latimer Square for it, so I decided to stop by on the way to work, and sure enough, at 7:30am on this cold morning, was a whole army of people out to secure a prime spot. They were very friendly, enthusiastic and more than happy for me to capture them…however my conversations were very limited as TV crews for the breakfast shows were all wanting to interview them.
• Very happy that I got to capture and be a part of Julia Holden’s Wish You Were Here project at the Inconvenience Store. If you want to know more about Julia’s project please visit the Boosed page. The great news is that, overnight, as the deadline for the funding campaign passed, Julia reached 101% of her funding target, which means that the project will go ahead. Yay.
• Winter is approaching thick and fast in Christchurch. I am realising that this is going to make photos trickier, as not only am I less reluctant to venture out to populated places, but so are others. In Christchurch this means that either 1) you stay home 2) you go to the mall. As I the thought of the mall makes my blood curdle, it means that Winter will force me out of my comfort zone, once again, and make me rethink my sources and approach.

365 DAYS: WEEK FIFTEEN

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Please feel free to browse, follow and share my project over at Pinterest.

Right, you little bunnies, I need a top up of tea and to put some serious thought into my viewing playlist for the day…

Life: it’s all about priorities.

xox

AN ODE TO THE PALLET PAVILION: MONSTER MARCH MARKET…

Bonjour!

Two weeks ago I had a stall at my first market of 2014, the swonderful Lost & Found Monster March Market at our beloved Pallet Pavilion in the CBD. The market was held in conjuction with Anissa Victoria’s Vintage Market, so it was one wonderful giant baby of a market, and a rare thing happened, the CBD was heaving with people!

I’ve been meaning to write a post on this glorious day for the past week, however my doing this today seems somewhat fitting because in 48 hours the Pallet Pavilion will be no more. It will be deconstructed and cease to be the very unique hub of the arts community that it has become over the past 18 months.

I admit, that during the first six months of the Pallet Pavilion’s short life, I was slow to adopt to it. However over the past year I’ve attended so many events; markets, talent shows open mic poetry, open air cinema, speed dating, live music, eaten so much good food from resident food trucks, met new and interesting people from all around the world, and have been amongst the last to leave the place a little worse for wear after too many beers, or smuggled in rum, than I’d like to admit…and now tonight, for the final ever night of the Pallet Pavilion, I will be attending a very special event indeed. A marquee is bering erected and we will witness the ‘Deconstruction Orcestra’ perform a musical piece composed especially for tonight. I don’t know much about it, but it looks crazy cool, and I’m really bloody happy that I get to join the rest of the Pallet Pavilion community to say farewell. I have a feeling it’s going to be a big night to remember…

The Pallet Pavilion really is a unique place, like nothing Christchurch has had before, or will likely see again. I’m acutely aware that a huge gap is going to be left with its departure. I guess we have to remember that we are living in a transitional city. These amazing temporary venues came out of rubble, at a time when we thought excitement was not possible, and whilst we are now reaching a point where they are being taken away from us, I try to be optimistic and remember that we are simply entering a new phase where new and exciting things are going to be born in their place. Still, part of what makes the transitional sites like the Pallet Pavilion so special is the artistic, makeshift and bohemian vibe that is unlikely to be recreated in a new permanent build that commands sky high rentals and therefore can only ever be occupied by corporate tenants and soulless bars. But we must have faith, and I hope that the bonds the artistic community that have forged over the past three years are strong enough to ensure that we create a new place for us by any means necessary.

So before I get all morose thinking about the end and start listening to Leonard Cohen, let’s look back at the Monster March market. It was the most fun, beautiful and sunny autumnal day, and as ever, it was very much the people that made it so fab. I bloody love these guys:

The Pavilion looking towards the Arcades, market in full swing. 

Queenie at your loyal service.

Cake stash. The stall holders secret weapon. 

My beau and creator of trouble, Tali, from Kotsu and Pandemonium, looking as graceful as ever.

Mel of Copper Kowhai, my stunning stall neighbour and taco buddy.

Purveyor of the best smelling candles in NZ, and freaky owner of additional limbs, Sue of Kandle Co. 

Cool as a cucumber, Rob K, from Shit’s About To Get Dainty. As per usual, a large portion of what I earnt on the day was given to Rob in exchange for some of his fine wares. A picture similar to the one in the bottom of the picture now proudly sits in my hall.

The suave styles of Clint from PORTA Stencil Art and Nick of The Dear Ones Photo Booth Co. (WILL YOU LOOK AT THOSE BILL MURRAYS?!). I very much appreciate their posing efforts here. Nice work boys.

The gorge Anissa, mistress of Anissa Victoria’s Vintage Market, and now, her new CBD shop, Anissa Victoria Loves Vintage. My soulmate in all things Leopard Print, and fellow Pinterest junkie, Jane of Remember When You Used to Be a Rascal.

And, of course, the woman behind it all – the Queen of Lost and Found herself – Abbie of Marcel and Bear. What a lady! 

The Queen was catered by some mighty tasty tacos from Mamacita’s food truck.
A sunny Saturday market calls for beers (they made me do it).

No market is complete without some pissing around in The Dear Ones Photo Booth Co.…

…but my fridge door is very much the better for it.

Post match beers at Smash palace.

Awww…I’m feeling a little sentimental now.

*wistfully stares off into distance* as slow piano music plays and we fade to black.

GOODBYE PALLET PAVILION. THANK YOU FOR PUTTING UP WITH ME!  Waaaaaaahhh….

Mwa! Mwa! Mwa x 1000

xo

365 DAYS: WEEK TWELVE…

How you doing there bud?

Another week down. A crazy, fun and WOW SO BUSY week:

• I bloody love every single one of my subjects this week. Of course I always love them all…but these were quirky, funny, well dressed and vibrant individuals.
• As you will quickly figure out, these photos were taken over two days . However before you scorn me and throw your coffee all over the screen, remember that I still had to find and approach the same number of folk. Well that’s what I tell myself anyway.
• Having said that – I did actually get an individual photo each and every day. This is the first week where I had an excess of photos that I had to edit down. I ended up with a total of 11 photos this week – which can only be called progress, baby.  I just happened to like the ones from these two days the best – they were the most interesting for me, and captured some very fun days:
• The first set were from last weekend’s Lost and Found Market at the Pallet Pavilion where I had a stall. Chch does have a culture of quirky, individually dressed people, but they are often hard to come by. I always look at Humans of New York and a little bit of me is “gah, where is MY fabulous drag queen. I want a girl with green hair dressed as a unicorn!” Well the market brought some of these individuals together and I managed to get me some wonderful fashion.
• The second was a beautiful, long, sunny, wine laden Sunday at the Waipara Food and Wine Festival. I love how these photos look as sun and booze soaked  as the day itself – the early evening light really captures that “end of summer” vibe. Everyone was having so much fun. At the end everyone was pissed on good wine and dancing like crazy on the sunny grass – it was like some fantastic hippie festival from the 60’s.

365 DAYS OF PORTRAITS – WEEK TWELVE:

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Why don’t cha hop over to Pinterest where you can track and follow the entire project?

Be good xo

MARKET MAYHEM: MONSTER MARCH MARKET…

Hello baby dinosaurs,

I am here to announce that The Queen Stitch will be appearing at her first market of 2014 THIS VERY WEEKEND!

Monster March Market – Saturday 22nd March.

I have been a little lax with the posts as of late as all of my precious spare moments have been busy creating strange little stitch babies just for you.

Despite the usual final rush of prep and stress I am super crazy excited about this particular market because not only am I going to have a ton of new works to show off, like a proud mama, but also:

• It is a Lost and Found Market – which I always adore as all of my favourite neo-crafters are always there selling alongside me. It’s pretty special to be able to get to hang out with all of your insanely talented friends for the whole day whilst pawing over their goods, frolicking around, meeting new people whilst getting to be your own boss (i.e. no one to tell me off for swearing or taking too long to buy coffee).

• It’s being held at the Pallet Pavilion – one of my very  favourite “new Christchurch” spots. The Pallet Pavilion is very sadly is being deconstructed on 6^th April. My very first debut as the Queen Stitch was made at the Pallet Pavilion a little over a year ago, therefore it’s rather lovely that I get to return for this very last hurrah.

• As well as Lost and Found, Annissa Victoria Vintage market is co-hosting with us – so there will be an abundance of vintage frocks and wares alongside us neo-crafters. That’s two markets for the price of one (…which is nil, zero, free – so that’s a bloody good deal)!

So please, for the love of god, come by, bring cash (as no onsite EFTPOS or ATM’s), say bonjour, give me a hug, bring your cute bearded man friends / puppies/ cake / gin/ coffee / all of the above.

In return I’ll wear a flouncy frock, twirl, talk to you incessantly about True Detective / Breaking Bad/ Jarvis Cocker /Whatever obscure pop culture thing you desire, laugh at your jokes, do my hair extra good and I PROMISE that you will have a fucking amazing time.

And would I ever lie to you?

Lost and Found Monster March Market

10-3pm – Saturday 22^nd March

The Pallet Pavilion

Cnr Kilmore and Durham Street 

Full market event page HERE.

See you there, bitches.

xo

P.S – Do you follow The Queen Stitch on Facebook? If not you should – it’s where my new works get posted first and you know, if you love me you’ll do it…

STITCH: COLOUR MY LIFE…

Happy New Year, bitches!

(Yup, I’ve been watching so much Breaking Bad I’ve started talking just like Jesse. Pfft. Gatorade me, bitch.)

I guess this is where I’m meant to go on about goals and dreams and resolutions and how 2014 is THE YEAR etc. etc. and yeah, I do  have some pretty clear goals set out. But… *shrugs* don’t we all at the start of a New Year? Isn’t that kind of the point? I mean, we can sit and talk about them all we want, but unless we actually get on with it and actually start doing these things and working towards our goals, then it’s all stupid, pointless, hot air.

They’re just empty words, a waste of paper, a waste of time. Yeah, sure, they are filled with nothing but the very best of intentions, but they are still pointless. For example, it’s like when you’re at the pub and you’ve had a few drinks and you and your friends are all “No but SERIOUSLY. Listen. To. Me. We WILL go to Russia next Christmas. You. Me. Her. ALL OF US. Like, for reals. No no no…hey….no. Listen. LISTEN. I mean it. I know we say these things, but RUSSIA IS HAPPENING. It is. Seriously. We’re fucking doing this. You. Me. Russia. Christmas. Seriously.”

It’s like that.

So right now, that is my priority. Just getting on with this shit. Getting things done. Forming habits and cementing the mindset. Oh, well that, and also finishing Breaking Bad and sourcing a download of the new Sherlock once it’s aired in the UK tonight. Like I said, priorities.

Therefore, lets start as we mean to go on. Here is my first stitch for 2014:

“Colour my life with the chaos of trouble.”

I’d like to say that this piece started out of passion for the quote and how I really felt impassioned to nail that inspirational wordy bad boy in stitch form.

However…uh, no, it came from me blankly staring out of my window, yesterday morning, with a big mug of tea, and thinking “Squee! I LOVE CRAYONS!”

So I drew a crayon.

Then I felt, a bit, oh I dunno, hmm how to put this…I felt like a fucking moron toddler for considering the prospect of a lone crayon on a stitch. I mean, no offence to the child species, but I don’t really want Queen Stitch to go down the “kids bedroom decor” avenue. I fear that if we steer ourselves that way then before I know it I’m only stitching Peppa Pig and Dora and ZERO swear words. And then I would feel very sad indeed.

So I sat trying to think as to what text I could put with my simple, lone, crayon. I felt I would never be able to think of anything…ever.

Then like magic, within about six seconds, one of my favourite Belle and Sebastian lyrics popped into my head: “Colour my life with the chaos of trouble”. This is from the very wonderful and earwormy song ‘The Boy With the Arab Strap’ from my favourite B&S album of the same name.

And all in the world was bloody joyous and rainbowy because it’s a fantastic line and was made to accompany a crayon.

This is a 20cm piece. Black hand stitched outline, with watercolour infil.

Now, ONE THING, I need to actually remember to say, which I always forget to say on my stitch pieces, is that this piece, as well as every one of my works shown on this site are available for purchase, and of course, custom orders are adored. 

If you are interested in purchasing anything on this blog, please send me an email to thequeenstitch@gmail.com and we can sort the deets from there. 

Okay, lovers! That’s me, for now.

And really, Happy 2014. May it offer up everything good in life… and then so much more.

xxx

 

FESTA 2013: NICE ONE, CHRISTCHURCH…

Sup’ home-fry?

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to participate in the Lost and Found market, as part of the second annual FESTA (Festival of Transitional Architecture).

FESTA is one of the best examples of what everyone likes to call “New Christchurch”.  You know, heart-clutching-spangle-wow-happy-good-shit that makes me smile, feel warm feelings and say “YES! HELLO! THIS IS WHY I LIVE IN THIS WEIRD MOTHERFUCKING BROKEN EXAMPLE OF A CITY”.

Because it is. Whatever way you look at it, Christchurch IS a weird place right now. I love it to death, I can admit that now. But it’s still a strange old place, like no other on this earth. But we’re now talking ‘weird’ as in ‘Mighty Boosh weird’. You know; a good, surreal, exciting, creative as fuck and sometimes, if you’re lucky, a really magical ‘weird’.

You can read more about FESTA here.

These are the good guys.

The other thing I love about events like this is that I feel I am perfectly justified to don a cape, leopard dress and top hat adorned with birds then prance around all night being my own boss, drinking whiskey from a hip flask, dancing, loitering in photo booths and meeting many many cool people.

Yes. For six, goddam, beautiful (if not slightly chilly) hours, I had my dream job!

Enjoy the pics – it really was as illuminated, surreal, sparkly and exciting as it looks.

*FISTPUMP*

xo

Lost & Found market: Cathedral Square 26-10-13

Worcester Blvd Bridge

Worcester Blvd Bridge

The sick old lady

Beautiful deconstruction construction

Queen Stitch – now with added fairy lights and plastic animals

My delightful stall neighbour, Clint, from PORTCO volunteering as glow worm / funky bugger

‘Canterbury Tales’ humungous puppet procession

Where there is a photo booth, there I will be…like catnip…

I Went to The Craft Fair….

Let’s just skip right past the elephant in the room that is me saying i would do those eight pictures for eight consecutive days.

I will continue that LATER ON OKAY. I’ve been busy. I mean, you’re not the boss of me *burys head in hands*.

No really, I have, For this Queen has market on Saturday!

Elements Market is a brand spanking new Christchurch market and it’s starting this week.

See, there’s a picture and everything which proves I’m not lying!

Elements- A Market Experience

Saturday 24th August 2013

10-2pm

Southwest Baptist Church (formerly Spreydon Baptist Church), Spreydon, Christchurch

You know the drill by now…please come along, say hi, bring cash and a hot single bearded friend, buy me cake. That’s all I ask. In return will dress up like an extra from a piss poor production of Grease and spend an extra five minutes teasing my hair into some abstract birds nest.

So, yes, there has been the usual mad scramble to use my weekends and free evenings to make a few extra pieces for the market,  recreating a few market favourites that I have sold and a few new pieces.

I was in a bit of a sarcastic mood the other night so made the following. I don’t really know if anyone will like it…but well, that’s the joy of all of this isn’t it? I find that certain pieces really resonate with some whilst others are left completely cold and cautiously walk away whilst giving me slightly baffled looks. It’s the thrill of the bespoke, baby!

Laters baby. xo

*EVENT* : Dead of Winter…

Hello Toffee Pops,

Brrr it’s cold out there – So why not come and bask in the eternal warmth and magnificence of the Christchurch craft community at this weekend’s “Dead of Winter” market, hosted by the Craft Collective.

The event is so HOT it’s basically like hanging out on the sun (except prettier and with less blisters).

I have been hard at work sewing a variety of curiosities for the event.

This is my first Craft Collective market, and I’m very bloody excited about being selected to sell alongside so many talented and very nice crafters. I love them!

So put on a nice hat, bring your pennies, come and say hi. We can even have cake if you want. I’m excited already! xo

Market, Guv’nor? …

Brrr, blimey, it’s suddenly got very cold here in the kingdom of Stitch.

Queen Stitch will be appearing at the Encraftment Market, this Saturday. If you are in Chch region, you should pop along! Come say hi (bring me cake and tea, even?).

The whole affair will have a British theme due to it being Queens Birthday holiday weekend.

I mean, what else would you be doing with your long weekend?

xoxo

Long Time No See…

Golly Gosh Batman, it’s been a while!

You know that old saying about fingers and pies? No, not that one, the OTHER one. Yes. That one. Well that’s me right now. Too much good stuff going on chicas.  Good good pies (no $1 mince pies here, I’m talking Steak and fucking cheese pies)

There is big exciting news on the horizon for Queen Stitch (no, it has nothing to do with babies or rings, Jesus, you guys, can’t I just be a happy spinster existing in my craft habitat?) – I can’t tell you what it is quite yet, but I am busy busy and it is going to be fan-flipping-tastic.

Last weekend I did another market with my dearest vintage gals Alice and Naomi at the Pallet Pavilion and we were lucky enough to have a very lovely and dashing photographer named Jason present (it may have something to do with very-exciting-and-secret-project…not that I can say).

So… as a result I have some quite lovely photos to show you.

Enjoy! xox