Needlework Monday: Embroidered Patches
Hey Needlework Steem! It's your friendly sporadic crafter here, joining in with a small post because I actually did some embroidery this week. :)
If you follow my blog, you've probably seen the patch I embroidered for my first aid kit:
This week, I decided to make a few more patches in that style (which has officially been dubbed "grandpunk," after I asked if it was extra punk or extra grandpa that I embroidered my own patches). The first one was for a friend who posted an article on the origins of the expression, "Be Gay Do Crime." I thought they'd appreciate it. :)
Then I made a couple more with no particular purpose in mind. I have offered to sell them to try and raise money to take my cat to the vet* (update on that below), but the problem is that embroidery takes HOURS to do and nobody is going to pay an amount that makes it worth my time to sell them as a way to earn income, you know? It's such a simple thing, it just takes a lot of work. If I priced my work at $10/hr, which is below my state's minimum wage but above the federal minimum wage, one patch would be $35 and one would be $50, because they took me 3 1/2 and 5 hours to make, respectively. Even in a fundraising-for-my-cat sense, no one would pay that. So I'll probably just end up decorating something of mine with them or giving them to friends.
The first one:
Compost The Rich
If you've never seen the origins of that one, I believe it started on Tumblr or Twitter, but someone said, "Eat The Rich," and then someone's reply was that because of bioaccumulation, the rich, being at the top of the food chain, would contain the most toxins. So you don't eat the rich, you compost the rich. That just tickled me, so I embroidered it.
The next one was my own idea for a slogan:
Will Revolt For Food
I keep wondering what will be the tipping point for USAans to go all yellow vest movement. In other countries, it's always a straw that broke the camel's back issue, like bus fares or gas tax or WhatsApp tax or whatever, so you never can tell. Maybe in the States it'll be a tax on coffee. Why not, we snapped over a tea tax once. ;) Anyway, so this is my play on "will work for food" signs that you often see homeless people holding. Because yeah, people are literally going hungry and houseless in "the richest country on Earth," and it's wrong.
So that was my embroidery for the week. I think the last time I broke out the sewing box prior to this was when I repaired one of my cloth bags again, lol. It's a nice bag but very delicate. So I had to make a rare NWM post!
MAGGIE UPDATE: Maggie was making these snargle-horking sounds for a few days, like she had a stuffy nose or something caught in her throat. I thought at first that she had a hairball, so I gave her some of the hairball gel that she likes. That calmed it down for a few hours, then when she ate dinner that night, I found blood in her food dish, like she had sneezed and blood came out. I freaked out. She then proceeded to make the noise for another ...day and a half or so? I gave her another dose of hairball gel since it seemed to help, and started to try and scrounge together some money to take her to the vet.
Much to my relief, she has stopped making the noise, and there has been no more blood! So I am really hoping that it was something not serious; maybe she had a kitty cold and a dried out nose like humans can get when it's winter and the heater is on, drying out the air. I don't know if that can happen to cats, but maybe? My nose has bled a few times this winter, and my ferns have suffered from the dry air, even with me running a humidifier just about every day. I would still like to get her checked out at the vet just to be sure - plus she's way overdue for a checkup, and she's 16. But at least I think I have time to round up some money somehow and take her in then on a non-emergent basis (my vet does not accept payments. I used to have Care Credit over a decade ago, and then when the stock market crashed in '08, they closed my account because I had a zero balance - punished for being responsible, woohoo - and nowadays my credit score sucks [whereas back then it was good!], so they might not give me one again). So I always have to come up with money to see the vet beforehand.
I don't wanna go to the vet. I will protest pee. Passive pee resistance.
Anyway, that's about it from us. I hope y'all are having a good 2020! Stitch on!
Plant a tree for free at One Tree Planted
Buy the Druid a coffee (or Maggie's vet bill, more likely):
I love the slogans and stand 100 % with them. I so often wonder why people endure so much without revolting. Both my husband and I - he for work, I for charity - are engaged in a kind of NGO which cares for poor people (the very young and the very old) and for refugees. THere is so much pain... many people without healthcare, without a room etc. And as the US, I would count Germany under the rich countries.
So, a big yes to your slogans and your beautiful grandpunk art <3
I hope your cat will stay healthy for long and that it only was a short episode.
And with the selling crafts like knitted socks, or handsets clothes or embroidery... I have written it so often, but in Germany it is impossible. You will get such a meagre Reward for this, no way near minimal wage (which is even less in Germany).
Thank you, I'm glad you liked my slogans! :) Yeah, I'm akways saying the only reason the US doesn't have slum areas the same as developing nations is because the police punish the homeless people and throw out their tents and blankets, even in winter, and make them move or arrest them. The government only wants to hide that there are so many suffering people so the rich people can go about their day without feeling guilty. It's infuriating that instead of helping people they would rather kick people who are already down. :(
Thank you for the good wishes for Maggie. :) And yeah - Etsy tells crafters to pay themselves an hourly wage, but that would make hand knit or embroidered or woven or any other slow craft HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS. Unless you have a celebrity endorsement maybe, most people won't buy that!
I sometimes dream of this celebrity endorsement... you know I knit a sweater and someone pays 400 Euro without asking :-DDD (while calculating in my head, its still much too cheap, as the good quality wool - which I never use- would cost around 60-100 euro)
And with the police, its the similar here. Homeless people are not allowed to stay in warm places like the subway or train station, they get reported and/or expelled. But it varies from town to town, how hard the administration takes action.
These are really good slogans! I like 'Compost the Rich' and especially 'Will Revolt for Food'
Ha ha, thanks! I hope you've been having a wonderful 2020 so far! :)
Congratulations @pheonixwren! Your post has been placed in the spotlight for this week's @NeedleWorkMonday Featured Posts #72!
Thank you for your quality post and for being a part of the needlework community!
Aw, thanks so much! ^_^
!COFFEEA