The People Chose Subversive

  

This SAL is all about what you want to see on the blog.  I asked for suggestions for themes from followers of my blog and then put them up to the members of the IHSW Group on FB to vote for their choice.  We are currently working our way through the choices.  This is what was chosen:

April - Subversive

May - Embellishments

June - Rainbow

Subversive - seeking or intended to subvert an established system or institution.

Subvert - undermine the power and authority of (an established system or institution)

Pretty radical stuff, eh?  There is a lovely article here - Nursing Clio - Subversive Samplers which talks about a sampler stitched by a young girl called Patty Polk in the early 19th Century.  Patty's sampler looked very traditional but contained the words “Patty Polk did this and she hated every stitch she did in it. She loves to read much more.”

Another early example is this one from the V&A Museum's collection.  I was lucky enough to see this in person back in 2014.  Elizabeth Parker stitched this long essay on a bedsheet.  It is described as "a very moving act of repentance sewed by a young girl who was badly abused by her employer, suffered from depression and found salvation in the Bible."

More information  - here

These days "subversive" can mean anything from swearing to political commentary to craftivism.

This is a piece I stitched back in 2011 for a Railway Protest:

This is one of my favourite pieces, stitched for a challenge back in 2013.  Anna the Stitch Bitch challenged us to do something with a Plum Street Sampler design of a bird atop a tall flower and the motto "To Thine Own Self Be True".  I decided to be true to mine own self and added a tattoo themed design which co-ordinated beautifully with the bird.

If you're looking for some humerous snarky subversiveness, then this is a great Etsy shop - Cross Stitch Traveler.  Here are just three of my favourites:

Now it's over to you.  All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Subversive, mention The People's Choice SAL (you can copy the picture I used at the top of this post and in my side bar) and my blog. Please link up using the URL of the actual blog post, not the home page of your blog.   I look forward to seeing what you all post.

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Finally, I need your suggestions for the next poll.  Anything, no matter how obscure, weird or random will go into the poll.  Keep the theme suggestions to a single word or two - so you could have Cats, or Green, or Holidays, or Warmth etc.   Really anything which could be illustrated in cross stitch.