MISOGYNIST COP: Surprise, police are sexist

HOLY SHIT!  I know cops are sexist assholes.  But this is an absolute atrocity.

Woman Says Misogynistic Cop Arrested Her, Punched Her, Grabbed Breasts for Carrying Pug in Subway

via Gothamist

JUNE STENCIL: Alice Walker

Click here to view this listing on etsy

VEGAN MINNEAPOLIS RECIPE BLOG: Rhymes with Vegan

Rhymes with Vegan is a vegan recipe blog run by this gal here in good ol' Minneapolis.  The recipes look REALLY good, Mmmm!

JUNE STENCIL: Alice Walker

ALICE WALKER

"Alice Walker is an African American novelist, short-story writer, poet, essayist, and activist.   Her most famous novel, The Color Purple, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in 1983. Walker's creative vision is rooted in the economic hardship, racial terror, and folk wisdom of African American life and culture, particularly in the rural South. Her writing explores multidimensional kinships among women and embraces the redemptive power of social and political revolution.  Walker began publishing her fiction and poetry during the latter years of the Black Arts movement in the 1960s. Her work, along with that of such writers as Toni Morrison and Gloria Naylor, however, is commonly associated with the post-1970s surge in African American women's literature."

That's just a little blurb, I'm in the process of compiling a little bio about her.

I hope to have atleast one shirt posted tomorrow!

VENDING: National Women's Music Festival

NWMF Offical Website

"The Festival is a four-day musical and cultural extravaganza that incorporates all facets of women’s lives. It’s a jam-packed long weekend where choices for things to do range from workshops, concerts, comedy, theatre presentations, a marketplace, newly released films and videos, a live auction, spirituality series, writer’s series, animal lovers series, and much, much more!"

I am REALLY excited to be attending/vending at the National Women's Music Fest!  I'm excited to be vending to my people :)  It'll definitely be the best kind of environment for me to be vending in!

I am disappointed because I'll be vending all day and won't be able to attend many of the workshops! :/  There is SO MUCH AWESOME STUFF going on!  Hopefully I'll be able to catch a few of the workshops.

If you are a feminist and need a little vacation I would suggest going to this!  It's a 4 day festival and tickets are around $230 but if you are under 25 they are half price!!!

Please click here to see the schedule of events

FEATURED: The Sister Project

Paige did a nice blog post about KM Stitchery. Sisterhood Looks Good On You by Paige Smith Orloff

DESIRE: Photography

I have been having an intense desire lately to throw myself back into my photography...

I have been wanting for awhile to start up a photography shop on etsy and perhaps I'll do that sometime before the year is up.  I really want to explore gender through photography, but also I want to explore personal struggle and emotions, self expression, and

 also juxtapositions, like beauty/decay...what is beauty etc.  I need to buy some b/w film, some camera batteries and just start shooting.

A couple female photographers I admire are Francesca Woodman:

And of course, Cindy Sherman

Father's Day: Me and my Dad

I love my dad!  He's here!  All the way from southeastern PA.  Yay!  I miss my parents so much!

My dad and I have the same eyes, nose and mouth :)  I look alot more like my dad, but my mom and I have similar bodies and are darker, italian style.

Tomorrow we're going up the Lake Superior, should be a good time.

Orders will be mailed out friday 6/26 <3

FATHER'S DAY PRESENT: Sticky Buns

Tomorrow is Father's Day and I'm getting a special treat!  My parents are flying in from Pennsylvania to spend the week with me!  YAY!!!!!  I'm so excited to show them around Minneapolis :D  I miss them so much!

We're picking them up from the airport and then I'm making a brunch for them (vegan french toast and apple/sage field roast "sausage")

My dad's gift is STICKY BUNS!!!!  Vegan of course, and baked from scratch by me :)  I slaved away today making them.  and voila!

I got the recipe from vegweb.com.  Here's the recipe: Sticky Buns (or as they put it, Cinnamon Buns)

I will have to post a photo of me and my dad tomorrow :)

FEATURED: Angry Asian Man and The Sister Project

My Yuri Kochiyama shirt is featured on Angry Asian Man

and my Charlotte Brontë shirt is featured on The Sister Project

The Sister Project will be doing a feature piece on KM Stitchery soon.  I'll post about it when they have it up.

MOVIE & BOOK REVIEW: Fingersmith

OK.  I am obsessed with this story!  I saw the movie a year ago and I just bought the book at a thrift store and finished it last week.  I've invited a bunch of gals over tonight to watch it.  

Check out the trailer.  I think it definitely has feminist themes.  It's a lesbian victorian romance crime thriller.  I like it because, well, I LOVE period films so much.  19th century England stuff.  But this is great because it is contemporary and it explores themes that are taboo for that time period.

FEATURED: Front Page on Etsy!

My Simone de Beauvoir shirt was featured on the front page of ETSY yesterday!

EXPLETIVE POLICE: My Mother

My lovely mother, Loretta, reads my blog. AND she has become the expletive police. She spots out every curse word that I use in my blog. Then, during our weekly phone conversations, will relentlessly demand that I remove the offensive word, and then she will follow up with emails if I still haven't done it.

Thanks for helping me stay creative mom! ;)

NEW SITE: Facebook

I have my own facebook page which is sort of Lindsay and sort of KM Stitchery.  But now I've created a KM Stitchery facebook page.  Become a fan!

KM Stitchery's Facebook Page

Promote Your Page Too

VENDING: National Women's Music Festival

Where can you get your KM Stitchery fix in person?

JULY 2-5 MADISON, WI

Check out the National Women's Music Festival's website here!

Get your tickets now!  Tons of awesome female musicians!  Workshops! Vendors!

I will be there all 4 days!  Hope to see you there! :D

THEIR LIVES OUR VOICES: Midwest Animal Advocacy Conference DAY ONE

I'm attending this AMAZING Animal Rights conference, Their Lives, Our Voices this weekend (friday night was vegan pizza and one keynote speaker, Victoria Moran who has been on Oprah, NPR, etc).

Highlights from Today:

Patrice Jones

PATRICE JONES IS FRIGGIN AWESOME.  She's a queer eco/anarcha-feminist activist and author!  I went to a talk she did today called "The Ecofeminist Politics of Milk".  It was pretty much the awesomest.  The talk about about the interconnectedness of, see all the bold words in the last sentence :) She runs a bird rescue and sanctuary in Maryland called Eastern Shore Sanctuary.  Her newest book is called After Shock.  Patrice Jones stopped eating meat in 1976 at the age of 15 and flung herself into the new movement for gay liberation. As an activist in a variety of movements since then, she has organized rent strikes, kiss-ins, and an assortment of unlikely coalitions. As a psychotherapist, she studied and worked to repair the repercussions of many kinds of trauma, including sexual and domestic violence. As a college instructor she has taught courses in psychology, public speaking, and social change.  She speaks and writes about the links among racism, sexism, speciesism, class exploitation, and environmental despoilation from an ecofeminist perspective.

Kenneth G. Williams

Ok, not only was this guy hilarious but he was so peaceful and loving, it was like he had reached a higher level of interacting with all humans.  So, Kenneth G. Williams is a professional vegan bodybuilder and animal advocate. He made sports history at the 2004 Natural Olympia in Las Vegas - the most prestigious natural bodybuilding competition in the world - by finishing third out of more than 200 competitors from 37 nations and becoming America's first vegan bodybuilding champion. He is an educator on diet, sports nutrition, exercise, and the treatment of animals in modern agriculture.  Kenneth's personal story is an inspiration as his life combines success as a professional vegan athlete with a deeply rooted sense of compassion for all beings. He illustrates that animal products are not necessary to attain super-strength and exceptional health. He hosts a half-hour television program exposing animal cruelty, Undercover TV and is coordinator for In Defense of Animals' vegan campaign.

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

This woman was super funny and has some great podcasts about vegetarianism.  Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is the founder of Compassionate Cooks, whose mission is to empower people to make informed food choices and to debunk myths about veganism and animal rights. Having earned her master's degree in English Literature, Colleen uses her writing and communication skills to raise awareness of the animal issues about which so many people are unaware. A sought-after and inspiring public speaker on the spiritual, social, and practical aspects of a vegan lifestyle, Colleen has appeared on the Food Network, is a columnist for VegNews Magazine, and she is a contributor to National Public Radio.  She is the author of The Joy of Vegan Baking and The Vegan Table, which is making its debut in June 2009! She is very grateful to witness transformations taking place in people as they gain the tools and resources they need to reflect their values in their daily choices

Also I went to a talk by this woman Erica who works for Compassion Over Killing, this group tries to get companies to offer more vegan options, Boca is offically by 2010 offering ONLY vegan veggie burgers (most of theirs have eggs in them).  Also, they got lightlife to use 1 million less eggs per year.  Really awesome!  Reaching corporations doesn't sound "fun" but I think it's really important!  The more options that are out there the more accepting people will be with the idea of veganism.

Tomorrow Lorrie Bauston is speaking!  She is the reason I went Vegan!  I was vegetarian and I saw Peaceable Kingdom, which was about her Farm Animal Sanctuary, and I realized the the egg and dairy industries are the same as the meat and you should boycott both.

If anyone is ever interested in learning more about vegetarianism, please let me know and I'd be happy to send you some helpful links and resources! <3

Pitseel: Delicious Mock Meats, on sale for a good cause!

Everyone should go buy some AWESOME mock meats from Pitseel!

Meat eater, vegetarian, vegan or whatever!  You should go buy some!  Hey, I used to eat mock meats when I was a meat eater and enjoyed them! (my favorite restaurant was a chinese vegetarian restaurant at one point when I was a meat eater!)

So anyways, hopefully that's convinced you!  This gal is moving off the grid to start an animal sanctuary.  She's getting dogs from shelters about to be euthanized, abused factory farm animals etc.

And 50% of her profits are going toward building her animal sanctuary.

She's having a HUGE SALE in her shop!  She's selling everything at cost because she is closing down her shop!  Place your orders by June 21st!

I will probably be buying the mock orange chicken and maybe the mock fried chicken  mmmm!

NEW PHOTOS: Hair crazy

Crazy hair photos.  I had so much fun doing these! :D

ANIMAL FRIENDS: Henry in my room/studio

Henry was just hanging out with today in my room/studio as I was printing up fabric tags.  Ok so maybe he just has severe separation anxiety :)  But he loves me.  

Currently listening to Julie Ruin...AWESOME!  <3

COPYCAT 101: How to not be original

What do you do when someone is copying off of you?

There is a gal on etsy who has basically COPIED my idea.  She even copied my descriptions and the people I had stencils of.  I have known about her for a year.  I thought if I ignored her she'd just go away.  But now I notice that people are hearting me AND her.  She purposely undersells me and makes it a POINT that her items are NOT recycled (hahaha!  that is ridiculous!  Great job, on NOT being green?) - as if she's better than me.  Hopefully people will know that my work is better, it was my idea first and that she's just a copycat.  Hmph!

I think I will just continue to ignore her.

End Rant.

FEATURED: Soft Spoken Blog

Check out this awesome blog post about KM Stitchery made by Rachael

Softspoken.blogspot.com

MY PARTNER'S BRAND SPANKIN' NEW AND FIRST EVER ETSY SHOP: Big Soup Photographie

Big Soup Photographie is my partner Allen's very first Etsy shop!  I'm so proud of him and excited for him!

Allen's background is in filmmaking so he definitely has an eye for film.  I'm really excited about the photos he's taking.  He's going to enter the darkroom again on Tuesday so he will have more photos posted later this week.

Photo of Allen taken by me.

NEW DESIGN: Tags!

I've redone my business cards, and hanging tags.  Before, I was hand stamping each business card and each tag (and hand writing on the tags).  Now I've FINALLY got a nice printer!  I'm still printing my hanging tags and business cards on cereal boxes.  AND I've got bio tags of the women!  That will definitely be a good thing to have for my shirts that are hanging in stores and at craft fairs!

EXCO: Free Experimental College of the Twin Cities

So some of the sweet activists in our community started Exco, the Free Experimental College of the Twin Cities.

Anyone can facilitate a class, anyone can take a class, no money is exchanged!  Some of the teachers are professors or have had alot of schooling or experience in what they're teaching.

Here's what I would to take: 

Basic Bike Maintenance at Sibley Bike Depot  (of course it's CLOSED!  There's 3 classes and they got full immediately)

Creative Art materials from businesses and dumpsters discussion and creation group

Introduction to HTML and Web Development

Eat 4 Free in the T.C.

Loom building and weaving

Taking Art to Action

I think I will definitely take the Html/Web class because it's going to teach you how to make your own website and I'd like to have one for KM Stitchery and not have to pay for it, diy style ;)

I am considering taking ONE more....hm....maybe the creative art materials.  I would love to talk about more ways to create items out of "trash" or used materials.

SMART GIRLS AT THE PARTY: Little Feminist

This totally made my day (which has been a REALLY crappy one).

PS: More montage dress are on the way!